Growing up in the 1980s, WLIR was like. Mecca in a sea of top 40 radio stations because I was and have been and always will be a fan of New Wave, College Music, Alternative as well as the roots that lead to it and some of the music that followed. In late 1987 WLIR lost it's broadcast license and a legendary musical trendsetter that broke bands during the second British Invasion, was an influence on other radio stations on the west coast as well as MTV, disappeared. Well sort of. The documentary focuses on the origins and development of WLIR, a small midrange broadcaster located on Long Island that rose from relative obscurity to being cancelled essentially as it was reaching new heights that put it in direct contention with the radio establishment and despite their vaster resources, could not compete with LIR and so the documentary implies that they collaborated with the FCC to get LIR off the air.
After LIR ceased broadcasting, a station called WDRE continued where LIR left off with many of the DJs moving there as well as certain contests and catch phrases being slightly altered so that they would not infringe upon the intellectual property that the people who got the LIR license owned as a result. Again, the documentary does not cover this part, but you can read about it on Wikipedia. WLIR is now back complete with an app to stream live broadcasts online available on iOS and Android. In addition, any fan of LIR should visit their website, which is:
http://wlir.fm/
The documentary is a must see for anyone nostalgic for LIR and the music they broke over the airwaves in the 1980s and super fans will also want to add the DVD to their collections.
Featuring interview clips with Curt Smith of Tears For Fears, Lol Tolhurst of The Cure, Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, and Billy Idol among many other music personalities of the 1980s, the documentary also gives a voice to the people behind the scenes like Progrqm Director Denis McNamara, and Staff members that include Daphne Blue, Ben Manilla, Jeff "Beck" Carlson, Donna Donna, Malibu Sue McCann, Larry "The Duck" Dunn as well as McNamera's children, Dan McNamera and Cassie Reilly.
The DVD for New Wave: Dare To Be Different presents the documentary in a 16 by 9 enhanced (1.78:1) aspect ratio. With a choice of either an aggressive English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and a full sounding English Stereo Soundtrack as well as English Closed Captions for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired encoded as options.
Bonus clips featuring Denis McNamera (1:35), Documentary Director Ellen Goldfarb (1:01), stories by the musical artists about WLIR (6:08) and DJ stories (7:58) wrap up the bonus content on this DVD.
New Wave: Dare To Be Different will debut on DVD-Video on December 7, 2018 at retailers on and offline courtesy of MVD Visual.
(C) Copyright 2018 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
