Surge Radio

Infobox Radio Station
name = Surge Radio


area = Lancaster, California
branding = Surge Radio
slogan = "Respect The Music!"
airdate = December 2000
format = New Indie Music
owner = XRQK
website = [http://www.surgeradio.org/ http://www.surgeradio.org]

:"This article describes Surge Radio from Lancaster, CA. The article describing Surge Radio from Southampton, UK is Surge 1287am.

Surge Radio was an internet radio network broadcasting from Lancaster, CA. It was owned and was operated local high school and college students, mainly from Lancaster High School, Quartz Hill High School, Paraclete High School and Antelope Valley College, but were not associated with the schools in any way. Surge Radio has been silent since May 2007. After Surge Radio went off the air, the station's domain and servers were sold to XRQK. XRQK has stated they have plans to reopen Surge Radio, but after more than a year there has been almost no action. A new studio was rumored to be under construction in Bakersfield.

The website [http://www.surgeradio.org SurgeRadio.org] is well known for its games, photos, and videos pages, including "Mini Jackass" which is an online series produced by Surge Radio's own DJ Zombie featuring ridiculous stunts. The site still receives a fair amount of traffic considering the fact that no new content has been added to the site since March 2007.

History

Early FRS Days

The station's history begins with the TDP1 Simplex Repeater System, which was an autopatch capable FRS simplex repeater system on Channel 8 (467.5625 MHz) with a connection to the telephone network. It was powered on December 28, 2000. [ [http://www.surgeradio.org/index2.php?page=history SURGE Radio ] ] It was founded by a online gaming and web design clan known as K&J Domain a.k.a. The Dark Paladins. TDP1 was originally supposed to be apart of a nationwide autopatch capable network of simplex repeaters, synchronized through the internet via Jobrap Voice Chat software, but TDP1 was the only one to launch. The K&J Domain website had an application available for people to talk on the repeater through the internet using a computer mic, there was also the option of typing a message and a computer voice would read it over the TDP1 Simplex Repeater. The computer voice was Apple PlainTalk's "Fred" voice. TDP1 was nicknamed the Yak Bak by its users.

The simplex repeater later became known as the DPI5 Simplex Repeater, when it was taken over by Destruction Productions in late February 2001. The connection to the telephone network and internet were severed, however the simplex repeater was still available to people via FRS walkie talkie only. In the afternoons, the simplex repeater controller was turned off, rendering the repeater service unusable, and ran automated music sessions from 3 PM - 8 PM daily, and repeated the audio from USA Network from 8 PM - 9 PM (the TV show airing during that time was Nash Bridges). Music played on the DPI5 Simplex Repeater's music sessions were usually a blend of Active Rock, House music, Video Game music, and Theme songs from TV shows, however, the playlist only consisted of 48 songs at first but it expanded over time. The first song to emanate from the DPI5 Simplex Repeater was Collective Soul's Shine. The studio for the music sessions was built in a residential home near Avenue K and 40th Street West. In March 2001, the DPI5 Simplex Repeater began regularly airing Evropiskaya Zorka 8 PM - 11 PM (which was 7 AM - 10 AM Moscow Time), which was the morning show from Europa Plus in Russia. By April 2001, the DPI5 Simplex Repeater started running music sessions all weekend long, starting Friday morning at 7 AM and ending Sunday night at 10 PM. During the music sessions, the DPI5 Simplex Repeater frequently had problems with people jamming, or overlapping, the signal with their two-way radios.

In June 2001, Destruction Productions shut down operations. Ken Santarelli assumed ownership of the DPI5 Simplex Repeater system. Soon after, the DPI5 Simplex Repeater changed focus and gave music and radio programs a priority over the simplex repeater service. The DPI5 Simplex Repeater was rebranded as FRS Radio Station DPI5, the first widely known FRS radio station in the USA. FRS Radio Station DPI5 was launched with Creed's Higher. The station had a relatively weak signal outside of the areas around Avenue K and Avenue L between 30th and 40th Street West but depending on the radio could be heard up to 12 miles away. They became the inspirations for several other FRS radio stations across the country. Much of FRS Radio Station DPI5's programming was simulcasted on the short lived FRS Radio Station B182 on FRS Channel 14 in San Antonio, Texas.

FRS Radio Station DPI5 broadcasted a mixture of local programming hosted by a computer voice (Apple PlainTalk's "Fred" voice, the same voice used in some tracks composed by Benny Benassi), an automated playlist, simplex repeater service, and simulcasts of Europa Plus radio 106.2 FM in Moscow and 1220 KIISAM in Santa Clarita. Weekday programming included Rick Dees In The Morning, Rush Limbaugh's talk show in the afternoon, Europa Plus's Evropiskaya Zorka at night, and an automated music playlist in between programs (possibly with a computer voice announcing artist and track names) or simplex repeater service (usually at night). Weekend programs included Europa Plus's programs: Garage, Bolshoi Ludi, and Euro-Hit Top 40, as well as Rick Dees Weekly Top 40, Leeza Gibbons Hollywood Confidential, and Golf Talk. Friday nights consisted of local programming hosted by Ken Santarelli (later known as DJ Whammy), Brendan Gordon (later known as DJ Stoner), and Michael Gordon, as well as occasionally other guest DJs. FRS Radio Station DPI5 also sometimes aired live coverage of Dodger Baseball. The simplex repeater function was officially removed from the system in November 2001.

After 1220 AM in Santa Clarita flipped to all News Talk in November 2001, FRS Radio Station DPI5 began simulcasting 97.7 KIISFM during much of the daytime for several weeks. Afterward, FRS Radio Station DPI5 ran on its automated playlist full time with the exception of simulcasted programming from Europa Plus.

In January 2002, FRS Radio Station DPI5 introduced a sister station on FRS Channel 3 (462.6125 MHz) known as FRS Radio Station SW87, which was a simulcast of FRS Radio Station DPI5 but Channel 3 better covered Quartz Hill, while Channel 8 better covered West Lancaster. The signal on Channel 8 was always slightly quieter than Channel 3 which had a louder and fuller sound. Both channels 3 and 8 transmitted at 0.5 Watts. FRS Radio Station SW87 broadcasted from a Radio Shack FRS Intercom inside the studio.

Europa Plus Antelope Valley

On February 14, 2002 at 8 PM, FRS Radio Stations DPI5 and SW87 were rebranded as Europa Plus Antelope Valley with the slogan Turn On Your World (which was a rough translation of Europa Plus's Russian slogan "Включи Весь Мир"). The station began simulcasting Europa Plus radio 106.2 FM in Moscow full time to the Antelope Valley during the entire month of February.

During the months of March and April, Europa Plus Antelope Valley began simulcasting different gamesnet stations in conjunction with simulcasting Europa Plus in Moscow; first Rock/Metal/Electronica formatted XFR (Xtreme F'n Radio) for 2 weeks, then Rock/Metal/Comedy formatted CKR (Cyber Kast Radio) for 2 weeks, and finally Top 40 formatted TNM (The New Mix) for a month. The DJs of the gamesnet stations presented themselves as being on their station as well as Europa Plus Antelope Valley. DJs of Cyber Kast Radio often referred to CKR and Europa Plus Antelope Valley as the "dream team". After the station discontinued simulcasting stations from gamesnet, it returned to simulcasting Europa Plus radio 106.2 FM in Moscow a majority of the time along with simulcasting EDM specialty programming from Triple J in Australia as well as introducing a new local evening program hosted by DJ Whammy. This arrangement continued until mid-June 2002 when the FRS signals flipped to a full time simulcast of Digital Radio, changing names to Digital Radio Antelope Valley as well. After 2 weeks, the FRS signals went off the air without explanation, and the 2 channels were freed up for public use once again.

6 weeks later, the station returned with stronger signals and airing a loop of "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley (Junkie XL remix) for one day. After the brief stunting, the station began running on the automated playlist from FRS Radio Station DPI5 but airing Europa Plus jingles between songs. During the absence, a problem occurred with the DSL lines to the studio. Within a week, the problem was repaired and the station flipped to a simulcast of Europa Plus radio 106.2 FM in Moscow for about 2 weeks, then began weaving in a mixture of local programming with local DJs and simulcasts of Europa Plus during the daytime and Digitally Imported's Trance stream during the nighttime, as well as airing the syndicated Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 program with less commercials than 97.7 KIISFM had. Every morning at 6:56 AM, the station played PPK's ResuRection signaling the end of the nighttime Trance marathon, and then started the morning with Europa Plus's news at 7 AM. Some local programming included Game Review segments with DJ CheatX, a weeknight evening show with DJ Whammy, and random Friday and weekend appearances with DJ C-Dog, DJ Skinky, DJ Trigger, DJ Vannelly, and DJ Zombie

Europa Plus in Moscow changed slogans from "Включи Весь Мир" to "Музыкайф". Europa Plus Antelope Valley was unable to decipher the new slogan, and sent an email to Europa Plus's regional department requesting a translation, but the email was never returned. Since the actual meaning couldn't be deciphered, Europa Plus Antelope Valley began airing the Russian jingles and local DJs randomly shouted "Музыкайф!" on air, mocking the slogan. Officially, Europa Plus Antelope Valley continued with the old slogan.

In September 2002, A new simulcast was added at Channel 10 (467.6125 MHz) serving Rancho Vista and Del Sur from Godde Hill with 0.348 Watts. Europa Plus Antelope Valley also began carrying some programming from Europa Plus Kazakhstan, such as Zavadnoy Apelsin and a segment from 4 PM - 5 PM that consisted entirely of current Kazakh language hit music (this was the final hour of "Musikalnaya Programma na Kaz Yaz" which was an automated playlist that ran during the night on Europa Plus Kazakhstan, but with the time difference, ended up being during the daytime in Pacific Time). Later, Europa Plus Antelope Valley was forced to drop the programs after Europa Plus Kazakhstan shut down their online stream.

In early 2003, a simulcast was added at Channel 14 (467.7125 MHz) serving East Lancaster (with fringe into East Palmdale) from Lido Estate Trailer Park on East Avenue I as well as a 24k online stream, and Channel 10 (467.6125 MHz) was moved up to Houser Mountain with 2 Watts. Europa Plus Antelope Valley registered an IRC channel on gamesnet, and became the official radio station for the Elite Warfare Knights, which was a Counter-Strike clan on gamesnet (now GameSurge). EWK sponsored a 96k streaming server for Europa Plus Antelope Valley in exchange for live coverage of counterstrike tournaments. Members of EWK also hosted live remote broadcasts from their home computers on weekday afternoons.

Being a supporter of NSoul Records, Europa Plus Antelope Valley frequently aired content from NSoul artists as well as promoting NSoul events, frequently heard on air was the artist Nitro Praise. NSoul Records is the world's largest record label of Christian Dance music artists. [ [http://www.nsoul.com/ N*Soul Records | World's Largest Christian Dance Record Label ] ]

Europa Plus Antelope Valley was for the most part unclassifiable under any one genre, during much of the daytime it was Dance intensive Top 40/Hot AC which also included current hits from Europe and Russia, in the late afternoon and evening it played mainly Hard rock and Metal along with small amounts of Dance Hits and Underground Electronica, and at night it was almost entirely Trance formatted. Europa Plus Antelope Valley, at one point, was recognized as a local radio station at [http://www.intheav.com InTheAV.com] . [ [http://legacy.intheav.com/departments/entertainment/radiostations.htm Antelope Valley's Homepage - intheav.com ] ] In the mornings and mid-days, Europa Plus Antelope Valley could be heard at various locations inside the Antelope Valley Mall. Despite the unorthodox method of transmission, Europa Plus Antelope Valley was quite popular in the Antelope Valley and eventually gained the attention of High Desert Broadcasting Company, who wanted the station to be shut down.

On May 6 2003, Europa Plus Antelope Valley was given a warning to "cease transmission or action will be taken". The staff disregarded the warning and the transmission continued.

On May 7 2003, the Antelope Valley Amateur Radio Club started an investigation of the FRS radio station, and after tracking the Channel 3 signal to the neighborhood where the transmission was originating, a man from the AVARC spoke to a man walking down the street saying "There's no need to worry, I'm just pinpointing the illegal transmission on FRS Channel 3 so I can report it to the FCC". This man was the owner of the house where the transmission was originating, he then proceeded to warn the station staff. Station staff frantically made calls to the individuals hosting the other transmitters ordering that they be shut off immediately. Channel 3 and 8 signed off at 9:48 PM that night, the demise of channel 10 and 14 and the internet stream followed within minutes.

Europa Plus Antelope Valley was unknowingly in violation of several sections of page 630 of Part 95 of FCC Rules & Regulations, which prohibits:"(6) Music, whistling, sound effects or material to amuse or entertain;""(9) Advertisements or offers for the sale of goods or services;""(12) Programs (live or delayed) intended for radio or television station broadcast (messages about news items or program preparation may be communicated);""(15) Continuous or uninterrupted transmissions, except for communications involving the immediate safety of life or property;" [ [http://www.intrex.net/walker/fccpart95.html Title 47, part 5 FCC Code of Federal Regulations ] ] The fact was argued for several weeks via emails with the Antelope Valley Amateur Radio Club that the section referred to didn't apply to FRS transmissions. A former DJ even sent threatening emails to Antelope Valley Amateur Radio Club's web master, but later apologized.

In September 2003, Europa Plus Antelope Valley returned at 106.7 FM as a 1 Watt pirate radio station, only on air between the hours of 4 PM until 9 PM. The first 4 hours consisted of replayed programming from Europa Plus Kazakhstan, and the final hour consisted of programming with a local host (usually DJ Whammy), but on Fridays and Weekends the programming consisted of various local DJs hosting 1 hour segments, and a repeat of the syndicated Europa Plus program Garage at 4 PM on Saturday. After just 2 weeks of being on air, an SWR problem caused the transmitter to give out. Europa Plus Antelope Valley 106.7 went off the air before any online streams were established.

Europa Plus Online

A week after the failure of the FM transmitter, Europa Plus Antelope Valley reappeared again as a full time online radio station under the name Europa Plus Online. For the first few months after Europa Plus Online signed on, it replayed Europa Plus Moscow and aired the exact same programming as the 106.7 signal did between the hours of 4 PM - 9 PM, and ran on an automated playlist during the night which consisted of Active Rock and Trance music. All of Europa Plus Online's DJs were students at Grace Lutheran School in Lancaster.

In early 2004, Europa Plus Online rebranded itself as Cyber Plus airing an Active Rock format and independent of Europa Plus, however, this only lasted 9 days. Europa Plus Online returned. Shortly after, the staff of Ukraine based Z Radio began working with Europa Plus Online, developing programming as well as consulting. Europa Plus Online was completely revamped, and began running local programming from the Antelope Valley on weekends as well as programming live from Ukraine on weekdays, and simulcasted Europa Plus Ukraine the rest of the time. DJ Zombie began working on a Metal specialty show which started out as Mandatory Headbanging on the first broadcast, but became known as Mandatory Metal with the slogan "For True Headbangers!" on the second broadcast. The Arshole, also known as Jason Hughes, who later became a vocalist in the local bands Only With Hope and And So It Was Said, joined Mandatory Metal on its third broadcast. The show gained popularity quite quickly due to its unique blend of Black Metal, Thrash Metal, Metalcore, Grindcore, Hard Rock, and Gothic Industrial as well as its comedy segments including sound clips from Adam Sandler movies and various horror movies including House of 1000 Corpses. Mandatory Metal aired the Daft Punk track "Burnin'" once every show.

In April 2004, Europa Plus Ukraine required that Europa Plus Online start paying the royalty fees for use of the Europa Plus name and programming. Since Europa Plus Online didn't make enough revenue from advertising, Europa Plus Online raised the advertising rates which resulted in many of the advertisers discontinuing their business with Europa Plus Online. Europa Plus Online was unable to raise enough money to pay the new monthly rates, and then was issued as cease and desist order from Europa Plus Ukraine. Europa Plus Online signed off on June 6, 2004 at noon with the Lords of Acid song James Brown is Dead and then after a few moments of dead air, played Gary Jules' Mad World, launching a Top 40 format as Radio 1 Online. Radio 1 Online had all the same original programming but ran simulcasts of Radio 1 in Norway instead of Europa Plus in Ukraine. Europa Plus Online's staff members from Ukraine didn't wish to be apart of the new format. Radio 1 Online was axed less than 2 weeks later on Saturday June 19, 2004 at 7 PM.

Zed Radio

Originally Z Radio, being a very well respected Ukrainian online radio outlet, started in mid 2003 airing full time. The "Z" stood for "Zaporizhia" which was the name of the town it originated from. Financial limitations caused the broadcast time to diminish to only 3 hours per week or less, and after Z Radio's staff joined up with Europa Plus Online, Z Radio was neglected, but after acquiring Europa Plus Online's servers, Z Radio became a full time online radio station once again. The former Europa Plus Online staff from the Antelope Valley was involved with programming and promotions. The new full time format would be apart of a reimaging campaign to expand the listener base outside of Ukraine.

The full time format launched on June 19, 2004 with DJ Krush's 40 Winks (No Sleep Vadim Mix). During the first few weeks of full time operation, Zed Radio replayed Soma FM's Beat Blender channel between Zed Radio's original programs. Later, the simulcast ended and Zed Radio constructed a playlist consisting of a mainly Dance Hits and Chill Out format, later flipping to Dance friendly Hot AC. The automated playlist computer was nicknamed "DJ Otto", which was listed on the program schedule as "The Automated DJ Bot". Since Z Radio was pronounced as "Zed Radio" by the citizens of Zaporizhia, in August 2004, the new USA department renamed the station accordingly and gave it the new slogan The Online Party Station which was used in IDs only used during English language programming. The slogan "чувство жизнь" (Feel The Life) was used in IDs only on Russian language programming and during general rotation or "DJ Otto". During the first few months of this arrangement, Zed Radio included some programming in its schedule which was simulcasted from Europa Plus without authorization. Since Zed Radio was Ukraine based, legal entities from Europa Plus Ukraine issued the station another cease and desist order, but weren't as friendly the second time. Zed Radio was threatened with lawsuits for copyright infringement.

After partnering with Dimension's DJing (a mobile DJ company based in Lancaster, CA), DJ CM3 began working as Zed Radio's music director, resulting in DJ Otto's flip to an Urban Contemporary format blended with Dance Hits and Drum and Bass, which later transitioned into a Rhythmic CHR. This new format greatly displeased Yegor Veklich, Zed Radio's general manager.

Zed Radio was automated from the Lancaster studio and aired Dance Hits/European CHR format weekday programming hosted in Russian from Zaporizhia, Ukraine and specialty programming hosted in English from Lancaster, CA on weekends. Specialty programming included Modern Rock formatted Weekend Liftoff with Smog, Hip hop formatted DJ Howie's Mixtape, and Alternative rock formatted The Really Really Awesome Friday Show with Angela Browne and Kay Kolesar, all on Fridays, as apart of Zed Radio's Kickoff Fridays. Saturday's specialty programming included Hot AC formatted The DJ Pronto Show with DJ Pronto, and Metal formatted Mandatory Metal with DJ Zombie and The Arshole. Many of Zed Radio's specialty programs were syndicated to other online and terrestrial radio stations in California, Idaho, and New York, but the syndication ended after Zed Radio's demise. Mandatory Metal became one of the most listened to Metal shows on SHOUTcast. Zed Radio also aired Ukrainian language programs "Demo Versiya", " Avto-Pro", "Dance Planet" and others produced by [http://www.fdr.com.ua FDR Radio Networks] as well as Armin Van Buuren's A State Of Trance and Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. Zed Radio reached the Top 25 of SHOUTcast in September 2004, regularly having several hundred listeners simultaneously, mostly from Ukraine. Zed Radio started broadcasting over FRS Channel 3 and 8 in Lancaster from a different location than Europa Plus Antelope Valley did, but the FCC shut down and confiscated the FRS transmitters nearly 2 months later.

Zed Radio and the band Toxic Twinkies (which featured Smog as drummer) hosted several live music shows in the Antelope Valley which featured local Punk and Metal bands. Toxic Twinkies performed at every show. Zed Radio also hosted relief shows for the tsunamis in Indonesia resulting from 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Local music shows hosted by Zed Radio usually were broadcasted live over the station. Zed Radio was also featured in Paraclete High School's newspaper, the article was titled Four Freshmen and A Radio Station. Due to excessive advertising on local forums, Zed Radio became quite unpopular among high school students in the Antelope Valley.

In March 2005, the USA department temporarily set Zed Radio to a simulcast of Sirius Channel 66 (Dance Hits formatted "The Beat", today on channel 36) for the duration of Holy Week. The Ukraine department raised a controversy due to this fact, and after several arguments took place the Ukraine department dismissed the USA department. Being in control of the web and streaming servers, the USA department completely shut down the servers. Later, the Ukraine department relaunched Zed Radio under the name Radio Galaktika, broadcasting part time with all Ukrainian programming once again. The USA department went in a separate direction. An attempt was made to regain affiliate status with Europa Plus in Moscow, but the regional director, Elena Nikishkina, never returned any of the emails. Shortly after, plans were made to launch a new independent online radio station. Many names were tried out for the new station including Rave Radio, Redneck Radio, and even DPI5 Radio.

urge Radio 88.5

The name Surge Radio was officially adopted on April 21, 2005 as suggested by Angela Browne. Surge launched on April 22, 2005 as an internet radio station from their newly renovated studio. Surge Radio's stream was also broadcasted over the air at 88.5 FM from a part 15 FM Transmitter located at the studio, the signal was only able to reach the immediate housing tract. Surge Radio was managed by DJ Pronto and DJ Whammy. Surge's first format was Rhythmic CHR under guidance by Antelope Valley Mobile DJ CM3 who accepted a rare opportunity to develop his program and music director skills and visionary style, he also gave Surge the slogan Respect The Music!. The new station also sometimes included Dance Hits and New Wave along with music from local Punk and Metal bands. Surge Radio also included all of the locally hosted programming from Zed Radio (with the exclusion of Smog's Weekend Liftoff). Surge Radio also began carrying Russian language dance music shows "Garage" and "EuroMix" from Europa Plus, as well as Europa Plus's Euro-Hit Top 40 hosted by Alexei Manuylov. Surge also carried several shows from Indie 103.1 including Community Service, Nina Blackwood's New Wave Nation, Passport Approved, Element Radio, HeadTrip, Watusi Rodeo, and Spookshow International, however these programs were rebroadcasted without authorization, Surge Radio discontinued simulcasting these programs after a polite warning from an anonymous Entravision employee. Unlike Zed Radio, Surge Radio targeted high school and college students in the Antelope Valley, while Zed Radio targeted people around the world ages 16-25.

Surge Radio and Radio Galaktika came to a business agreement in which Surge Radio would host Galaktika's servers and Galaktika would do Surge Radio's production work. Afterward, the staff of Radio Galaktika admitted that they made a mistake and wished to relaunch Zed Radio, but Surge declined the proposal. Radio Galaktika later merged with Lux FM and gained several FM signals across Ukraine.

After CM3 left Surge in July 2005, Surge Radio flipped to fulltime Dance Hits and still included the locally hosted shows and shows from Europa Plus. Later, due to unsatisfactory listener numbers, Surge Radio transitioned from Dance Hits to an eclectic music format which included local bands as well as Underground Metal and Electronica. The new format was launched with Girls Aloud's "Sound of The Underground". At first the playlist was just shuffled randomly, but later tracks of similar genres were played in groups of four. The Rock and Metal blocks and the Electronica blocks were both played in equal amounts. DJ Whammy gave Surge the new slogan Antelope Valley's Underground Alternative Radio, but "Respect The Music" was still used in some on air liners. Surge was usually very careful not to include any music in their playlist which would be considered sacrilegious or blatantly offensive to Christian listeners.

In September 2005, Surge Radio began airing afternoon talk programs, many of which were considered, politically, to be Leftist, Progressive, and Anarchist. Such programs included Democracy Now, Free Speech Radio News, Making Contact, Sprouts, Between The Lines, CounterSpin, The Shortwave Report, Slave Revolt Radio, and Bad Cop No Donut, as well as audio collages Innerside and Mindwalk. Surge also picked up morning news reports AP Radio News, Independent Native News, and Workers Independent News as well as weekend talk programs Radio Free School, Alternative Radio, WBAI's Behind The News, and Unwelcome Guests. Also added was Christian programming, such as The Lutheran Hour, Woman To Woman, and Church of The Open Door's Growing In Grace, as well as a daily morning replay of Lancaster Baptist Church's Daily In The Word also heard on KTLW. Surge also sometimes aired discs of recorded sermons from Paul Chappell and Kerry Schmidt as well as music (including Hymns and Christian Bluegrass) produced by the church and West Coast Baptist College. Lancaster Baptist Church stated that they didn't mind Surge Radio airing these items, but even though Surge Radio has some "good elements" to it, Surge Radio would never be supported by Lancaster Baptist Church due to the nature of the radio station's main format.

In November 2005, Surge Radio's streams began stunting for several days airing a seemingly endless repeat of a sound clip of the Press Your Luck board, which confused many people. During this time Surge was preparing to launch a 5 watt FM signal, many tests were conducted where the sound clip would be heard intermittently on 88.5 FM. Finally, the FM signal officially signed on at 88.5 FM as a pirate radio station. The stunting ended 2 hours after the signal launched, and then aired the Blackbox track Strike It Up followed by an hour of music then resumed the regular programming as it was before the stunting. The station staff was reorganized into a collective rather than as a hierarchy.

Surge partnered with One Louder Radio (a UK based online metal station) and aired live band interviews with artists like Stone Sour and Trivium as well as replays of several shows including Stacked Up with Richard and Brutalism with Twan. Also, the station picked up numerous other syndicated shows including The Rack (Comedy), Octane Rock (Rock/Comedy), Silent Planet Radio (Independent Contemporary Christian Music), The Nation of Rockwell (Christian Hard Rock), Ghostly Talk (Paranormal Talk), The Unzipped Show (Comedy/Adult Talk), Pop Defect Radio (Leftist Underground Rock), Maximum Rock&Roll (Punk Rock), Pogo Radio (Punk Rock with German speaking DJs), Soundfront Underground (Underground Electronica), The Full Armor of God Broadcast (Underground Christian Metal-aired twice weekly), and Captain Fred's World Cruise (World Beat). Surge also featured a simulcast of Ministry of Sound radio 11 AM - 8 PM on Sundays. Three daily segments heard on Surge Radio were Portals of Prayer Daily Devotional (streamed from KFUO's website), Reaching Your World with Luis Palau, and Youth Waves with Blake Porter, both were aired 7 times daily.

Simulcasted programs from Europa Plus and former Zed Radio specialty shows still continued to air every weekend (although with Kay Kolesar leaving The Really Really Awesome Friday Show). New local additions included Local Metal format The Jew & The Gentiles, hosted by MattJew, Chris Bulch, and Tyler Dean of local band "Only With Hope" on Friday afternoons, Modern Rock/Metal format Danny's Weekend Rock Show, hosted by Danny Delgado of A Beautiful Elegy on mid-day Saturdays, and Hardcore hip hop/Metal/Comedy Flyin' High hosted by Stoner, a local comedian. Each weeknight there was all request Overdrive with DJ Whammy from Europa Plus Antelope Valley, which made Surge a popular destination on the radio dial for weeknights 8 PM - 10 PM, because Surge really did play anything that was requested. Sometimes DJ Whammy would spin live during the second hour. Even though Surge had a wide variety of shows and programs in its line up, it ran on an automated playlist (as described above) during weekday mornings/mid-days (6:45 AM - 3 PM), weeknights excluding Friday (10 PM - 6 AM) and early Sunday mornings (12 AM - 8 AM).

urge Radio 96.3 & 102.1

On December 10, 2005 an announcement was made that Surge Radio would be moving up to 96.3 FM, 2 minutes later the signal on 88.5 FM dropped out and a few seconds later the signal returned at 96.3 FM. The frequency was switched to 96.3 to provide a cleaner signal with less interference. Within 3 days of the frequency switch, Surge Radio established a phone number through Cingular Wireless by which listeners could call the station to make requests or participate in on air games and contests. Surge posted many flyers around the Antelope Valley on street lights, neighborhood walls, mailboxes, trees, etc. which advertised the 96.3 FM, but Officer Thompson of The Lancaster Code Enforcement demanded that they be removed, or Surge Radio would face fines consisting of a $100 adminitrative citation and $10 per flyer, with nearly 60 flyers posted.

In February 2006, a 2 watt signal was added at 102.1 FM with a southerly directional signal in order to better provide coverage to neighborhoods in the south were KXOL-FM interfered with the 96.3 signal. The two signals gave Surge Radio coverage over most of Antelope Valley's west side.

A new local addition, replacing Danny's Weekend Rock Show was Alternative rock/Comedy format Alternative Afternoon with Captain Insaneo and Frosty The Dopeman, which quickly became the station's most popular show. Another new show, replacing The Jew & The Gentiles, was Hip hop/Country format Fa Show with Peach Fizz and Phenomenon. Fa Show seemed to be pretty intent on focusing toward the genres Surge's listeners would dislike most. However, in a misled conception, the DJs of the show stated that they were "giving the listeners a break" from Surge Radio's format. Phenomenon volunteered to have the 102.1 FM transmitter be relocated to her house because neither 96.3 nor 102.1 were audible in her neighborhood. Flyin' High was replaced by Independent Christian Rock formatted The Indie Rock Show with Sonia V, which was a syndicated show. DJ Zombie's little brother Douglas (age 9) was frequently put on air, and often talked about his fictional experiences with various celebrities and superheroes. After Douglas was finished talking, Surge usually played American Psycho by My Ruin.

At the time, Surge was a valuable resource for promotion of many independent and unsigned punk and metal bands in the Antelope Valley, such bands included "A Beautiful Elegy, And So It Was Said, Bodacious J (known today as This Place Is A Zoo), Dark Reign, Gravity Eyelids, Heroes of Analog, Hot Rod Rebels, Only With Hope, Panic Over War, and Without Any Regrets. Local Hip Hop artists received some air play as well. Indie bands and artists from around the world also sent in their music for airplay, such bands included Becky, Hollywood Undead, Permutaciones, Phillip Glyn, Post Mortem, Project Slow Deaf Child, Punk Bunny, Sanctifyed, and Tintozenna. Steve-O Lavendier, whom in the local Metal and Rave scenes is held in very high regards, was a frequent guest DJ who appeared on air at random, occasionally "taking over" shows with his brother Swiper"'. Steve-O also frequently recorded ads for events involving local music, including weekly events at El Dorado and The Ceder Centre as well as House parties. Also heard on air was the constant bashing of The Edge 100.1 for being too mainstream with too little diversity, having too little community involvement and not paying attention to local music.

In March 2006, Surge Radio's website was completely redesigned, games and videos were added to the website. Later, the new design attracted controversy from KENU because the website layout looked too similar to their current one. A temporary page was put up for several days while the website was revamped again. SurgeRadio.net was not renewed and was taken over by cybersquatters. Surge Radio was forced to move to a new domain, SurgeRadio.org. The revamped design was launched at the new domain. The new games section attracted the attention of many local students in computer classes (due to online censorship at the local high schools many gaming sites are unavailable). Shortly after, SurgeRadio.org was banned from being viewed at any school within the Antelope Valley Union High School District. Later, in an attempt to attract less attention from the FCC, Surge began lowering the power to 0.26 Watts during weekdays, but still transmitted at full power at night and on weekends.

A computer problem wiped out Surge Radio's music playlist, causing several hours of dead air. While Surge was attempting to rebuild the playlist, for 2 weeks Surge aired a simulcast of 680 News from Toronto, Ontario, Canada where it normally aired its automated playlist, regularly aired programs were not affected. This caused great confusion among listeners. Jingles and IDs aired over 96.3 FM and 102.1 FM saying Toronto's Only All News Radio Station as well as the local traffic reports for the Toronto area. Several people called in showing appreciation for the "joke", while others called in complaining and asking that the music be returned. The original playlist was eventually restored, and Surge returned to normal, but due to lingering issues with the computers, the station frequently suffered from technical problems including dead air and programs and/or songs being played on top of each other while the station's staff was completely unaware.

The program Democracy Now was removed from Surge Radio's line up in April 2006 due to numerous phone calls received from angry local Iraq veterans. Angela Browne left Surge Radio, and Eva replaced Angela Browne as the host of The Really Really Awesome Friday Show. Angela went on to become Miss Quartz Hill 2007. [ [http://www.avfair.com/msantelopevalley/index.htm Antelope Valley Fairgrounds ] ] DJ Peach Fizz was fired for repeatedly claiming on air that she was the "messiah". DJ Phenomenon quit after Peach Fizz was fired, and the 102.1 FM transmitter was evicted from the home where it was located and was relocated along with the 96.3 transmitter to a tool shed on Buena Vista Way.

Alternative Afternoon was cancelled, causing an irrecoverable plummet in weekend (peak) listenership. Captain Insaneo and Frosty The Dopeman stated that they left the station due to irreconcilable differences with management, however, DJ Whammy stated that they were "dismissed" for abusing his personal property, but Whammy later realized that it was his mistake and admitted that his own actions were more to blame for the show being cancelled than the actions of Captain Insaneo and Frosty. Whammy had originally intended to attempt to make amends, but was unable to do so because of persistent harassment and threats via AOL Instant Messenger, which later led to unintentional involvement of Lancaster High School's Vice Principles. Morningstar and oJ-oJ took over the time slot and show title, but the damage had already been done and the level of listenership was never regained. Today, Ken Santarelli (DJ Whammy) says that he does not regret meeting and working with Captain Insaneo and Frosty and these events have a played a big part in his personal testimony of being born again.

In May 2006, Surge Radio began working on a plan for continuing operations on the FM dial. Surge Radio received an interference complaint from KSCA in regards to Surge's 102.1 signal and a friendly notification of new Construction Permit issued for a station in Mojave to begin broadcasting on 96.1 FM which would cover up Surge's 96.3 signal. Showing good faith toward KSCA for not reporting Surge to the FCC, 102.1 FM was relocated to 101.5 FM on May 1st, but interference prevented the 2 watt signal from reaching more than a few hundred feet. The 96.3 transmitter was retuned to 101.5 in attempt to use it's 5 watt signal to create a clearer signal on 101.5 FM. The 2 watt transmitter was retuned to continue operations on 96.3 FM. 96.3's peak coverage was reduced by the drop in power, although the weekday daytime signal improved because the power was no longer being reduced to 0.26 watts. The increase in power on 101.5 FM gave the station a coverage area of just over 2 miles, which was not considered as satisfactory. The combination of lack of places to go on the radio dial and the declining listenership resulting from the cancellation of Alternative Afternoon caused the station to make the difficult decision of discontinuing operations on the FM dial, and continuing on as an internet radio station. Both signals were shut off on May 7th at 10:04 PM. The signals were shut off at the beginning of the program Silent Planet Radio. From the listeners' perspective the FM signals signed off with a man saying "Tonight, we've got a whole bunch of new..." followed by static, then some odd buzzing and beeping noises, then the signals dropped out.

urgeRadio.org

The removal of the FM signals caused an even further decline in listenership and popularity in the local community, and even resulted in the termination of the partnership with One Louder Radio in the UK (although the show Brutalism remained in the lineup). Without the FM signals, Surge Radio had difficulty maintaining its local identity despite being the only radio station to play local music. Surge Radio's original staff eventually completely left the station with the exclusion of Whammy, Pronto, and Zombie as well new DJs Eva, Morningstar and oJ-oJ. Former local show time shows were filled with a combination of automation and hosted programming with Whammy and Zombie. Within a month, DJ Whammy recruited an entirely new on air staff. The new staff was organized as hierarchy because the collective operation wasn't so effective with the previous staff.

Replacing the time slot formerly occupied by Fa Show was Modern Rock formatted Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster with The Bus Driver and The Mormon Wookiee (despite the name of the show, there wasn't any affiliation with the Pastafarian movement). Howie's Mixtape was replaced with Classic hits formatted Whatever I Feel Like with DJ Freshman. The syndicated Maximum Rock'N'Roll show was replaced by Punk rock formatted Hour of Chaos with Brian Misled and Brent Menace of the local band Panic Over War. Shortly after, Eva left Surge Radio and Hour of Chaos expanded to cover 3 hours, the show was renamed Dick Cheney's White Power Hour. Alternative Afternoon was replaced by Modern Rock/Punk rock formatted The Really Rad Radio Show with Morningstar and Brian Misled. The new DJs also worked on improving the games, videos, and photos section of the SurgeRadio.org website. DJ Zombie's Mandatory Metal still continued, with The Arshole leaving, and was the last remaining show dating back to Zed Radio, and even Europa Plus.

Due to several management problems, Surge Radio ran on automation nearly the entire summer of 2006. DJs and staff were denied entrance to the studios, resulting in most of the DJs quitting as well as several affiliates terminating their partnerships, nearly half of the syndicated programming on Surge Radio was discontinued. In August 2006, new DJs were hired. Church of The Flying Spaghetti Monster was replaced with Glam metal/Comedy formatted The Show Without A Name with Frodo and Noah, Frodo later grew tired of his on air name and became known as "The DJ Formerly Known As DJ Frodo". The Show Without A Name raised controversy for its attempts to start a new religion, "The First Church of Chuck Norris". This show only lasted for about 4 months, then Frodo left the station. Noah took over the show, changed his on air handle to "DJ Annex" and the show was renamed The Annexation of Frodoslovakia. Dick Cheney's White Power Hour was replaced with Adult Contemporary/Comedy formatted The Brain Dead Show with DJ Brain Dead. The Really Rad Radio Show was replaced with Soft AC formatted The Lonely Hearts Club with DJ Quickie and DJ Brain Dead. The syndicated program Pogo Radio on Wednesday was replaced with Soft AC/Chill/Talk formatted Psychadelic Wednesday with DJ Quickie and DJ Morningstar. Mandatory Metal picked up a new co-host, a local metal head and long time Surge Radio listener, Wee Man, also known as Kyle Bundy.

Surge Radio's phone number was shut off during the month of October due to billing issues with Cingular Wireless, once resolved the number was ported to Helio and the studio line was connected on a Helio Hero device.

The new DJs and staff members over time gave Surge Radio a different on air sound with a more mainstream appeal, which caused Surge Radio to lose some of its very loyal listeners. Surge was frequently accused of selling out. Surge Radio made several attempts to reappear on the FM dial at 95.1 FM but was never able to combat the interference from KBBY and KFRG, which overlapped in the Antelope Valley. Staff members discussed renaming the station and splitting the station into 2 stations Hardwood Radio and Softwood Radio. Hardwood Radio would play Hard Rock, Metal, Hardcore Punk, and Drum & Bass, while Softwood Radio would play Soft Rock, Ska, New Wave, and Lounge music. The names were inspired by 2 streets in Lancaster, one was Hardwood Ave and the other was Softwood Ct, the latter street name was apart of a group of streets that Surge's DJs nicknamed "The Woods of Lancaster", encountered while searching for Erin's (DJ Quickie's) house, which was documented in a photo blog on Surge Radio's website. [ [http://www.surgeradio.org/woodadventure.htm Surge Radio's Wood Adventure] ] However, the idea never passed because upper management felt the names were "immature".

Surge Radio added a morning show Bear in The Morning to the lineup (which replaced the morning news segments and Lancaster Baptist Church's "Daily In The Word"). Later, 3 new automated music channels were added to provide music programming for those who didn't agree with all of the programming on the main channel. The channels included Death Metal, Black Metal, and Grindcore formatted Brutal Surge, Hardcore, Extreme Metal, and Metalcore formatted Extreme Surge, and Electronica formatted Pulse which acted as a tribute to the former Pulse 1330 which flipped to Classic Alternative KGRG1 in September 2006. The Pulse was under guidance by Spike Dizzle, and was also apart of The Greater Broadcasting Network due to half ownership by WDOS-FM.

Within a month of the new channels' arrival, Surge Radio began dismantling the format, removing all remaining Dance and Electronica tracks from the playlist (because Electronic music could be heard on The Pulse), dumped all news-talk programming in order to have a more music based channel, and flipped to a Modern Rock/Punk rock format due to the presence of Brutal Surge and Extreme Surge. The slogan was reverted to the original Respect The Music! slogan. Surge Radio began to gain a bad reputation in the local community for sounding too much like The Edge 100.1 as well as terrible public relations, and as a result, local band promotion groups no longer wanted anything to do with Surge. The loss of the unique original sound of Surge Radio devastated the station's listener count. Surge Radio hosted several LAN parties as a way to promote the radio channels.

The subchannels Brutal Surge and Extreme Surge began to gain a dedicated following of their own, and even brought some fresh listeners to the original Surge Radio. A fan of Extreme Surge, Tata Calu from Romania, redesigned SurgeRadio.org free of charge to the design that is currently in use, and a fan of Brutal Surge, Simon Trask from Denmark, began working on a php script where people could request songs on Brutal Surge and Extreme Surge, and hear them on demand, but the system was never finished. Brutal Surge picked up a radio show, MetalSpace Radio, but discontinued airing the show after 2 months.

Several computer problems lead to Surge Radio, Brutal Surge, and Extreme Surge being taken offline for 13 days, during this time many phone calls and emails were received from angry listeners. The problem was fixed and the channels signed back on, but most of the listeners never returned.

DJ Morningstar, who had been doing her senior project on working for Surge Radio, was notified by her senior seminar teacher that the Antelope Valley Union High School District would consider her project illegal because Surge Radio had once been a pirate radio station and still doesn't pay royalties to ASCAP and BMI. This was announced to her after she had completed the project, and no warnings were given before the fact.

Due to fading interest in the station, the original Surge Radio discontinued updating the playlist in late 2006 and discarded it entirely in early 2007, at which point Surge began running a simulcast of Format Lab's Nitro Rocks format (which consists of Active Rock). Brutal Surge and Extreme Surge continued with their playlists, but never added any new songs. In late March 2007, most of the on air staff was dismissed and nearly all of the programming was dropped with the exception of locally hosted Mandatory Metal and syndicated Bear In The Morning, Brutalism, and Full Armor of God but Surge also gained a syndicated show titled EZ Help (Freeform Talk). Since the station was automated with PAL scripts, the only time computer maintenance was done was on Saturday evenings after Mandatory Metal. Due to this fact, Surge Radio began having frequent epidemics of dead air, sometimes lasting up to a week.

In the 2007 LnHS Aerie (yearbook), there were several pictures of Lancaster High students working in the Surge Radio studio, one of which was a picture of DJ Quickie playing her guitar near the mixing console and on the window ledge was a Diet IBC Root Beer bottle. An angry mother by the name of Lisa Newhouse, who mistook the Root Beer bottle for a Beer bottle, wrote a letter to the AV Press in regards to a "girl with a beer bottle" in the yearbook. The letter was published in the paper, causing many to believe that Surge Radio was serving alcohol to minors, this further diminished Surge Radio's credibility.

Due to an ongoing backlash from the public and from former staff members as well as numerous financial problems, it was announced that Surge Radio would be signing off at 8 PM on May 7, 2007. The last Brutalism show to air on Surge was dedicated to the memory of Surge Radio. Surge Radio and its subchannels signed off indefinitely on May 7th. Despite the numerous problems Surge was facing, it was announced during the final hour of broadcast that Surge going off the air was the result of the new copyright royalty rates, but Surge signed off 8 days before the rates were due go into effect. The ruling was delayed for 2 months and to this day, still haven't gone into effect. Surge Radio, Brutal Surge and Extreme Surge signed off with Skinlab's Anthem For A Fallen Star.

In late June and early July 2007, several former Surge Radio DJs and new DJs Adio and Raynebow began hosting specialty shows on The Pulse, but discontinued shortly after due to controversy from WDOS-FM. Adio later announced on SurgeRadio.org that he would be resurrecting Surge Radio with a new format consisting of a blend of Hard Rock, Punk, and Hip Hop. Brutal Surge and Extreme Surge would return as well.

On July 18th 2007, Brutal Surge and Extreme Surge returned. The original Surge Radio was announced to be returning soon also. However, the new program director, Adio, moved to Florida, leaving Surge Radio dead in the water. 2 weeks later the remaining staff members were dismissed, Brutal Surge and Extreme Surge signed off again, and the website's news section disappeared and was replaced with "More info at a later date, thanks for visiting SurgeRadio.org!". The Pulse was shut down shortly afterward due to a lack of interest. The capacity was leased to XRQK Radio Networks for an upcoming Dance Hits radio station directed toward Antelope Valley's rave culture.

The studio was dismantled and the equipment was donated to a pirate radio station in Auburn, Washington known as Jet Set Radio, operated by the former program director of The Pulse, Spike Dizzle. Jet Set Radio's launch is still pending.

ale to XRQK

As of August 2007, Surge Radio's domain and servers were sold to XRQK. XRQK announced that they will bring back Surge Radio with a teen oriented format sometime in the near future. Operations were moved to a facility in Neenach.

By September 2007, XRQK worked on many revamps to the surgeradio.org website and a notice was put on the listen live page about Surge Radio coming soon with a "New Indie Music" format as well as a local talk station "AV News-Talk" coming soon, which is to be headed by Ray Cunneff, former Program Director of NewsTalk 1470 in Palmdale. New studios are now under construction in Bakersfield.

The former Surge Radio servers now host the new Dance Hits format online radio station branded as Rave HD, with the slogan The High Desert's Dance Authority. Rave HD was founded by DJ Whammy and modeled after KNRJ, KLBU and former KENU and Pulse 1330 and also includes nearly all Electronica tracks originally from Surge Radio's playlist as well as tracks that would have been heard back in the days of Zed Radio, Europa Plus or earlier. Rave HD is currently on air and also listed on SurgeRadio.org's listen live page. Spike Dizzle is Rave HD's production director and the voice of Rave HD. Rave HD is fully automated with no official personalities, however Rave HD does advertise that it is looking for DJs and they can sign up by calling a phone number. Rave HD also features a replay of Garage and EuroMix from Europa Plus Radio in Moscow, but since Rave HD is automated with PAL scripts, minor glitches sometimes cause a buildup of 7 or 8 IDs in the queue (usually the same one) which will play after the top of hour ID each hour during the programs.

The pioneering staff members of Surge Radio are no longer involved with the station. DJ Whammy (Ken Santarelli) is currently studying theology at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta, California and has plans to become a pastor. DJ Pronto (Christian Mergliano) is currently a student at Antelope Valley College and has plans study theology and become a Roman Catholic priest. DJ Zombie (Vaughn Meyer) is currently a student at Antelope Valley Adult School and has plans to pursue a career working with electronics.

taff Members

*@Nite (2004 - 2004)
*Adio (2007 - 2007)
*Angela Browne (2005 - 2006)
*Annex (2006 - 2007)
*Arshole (2003 - 2005)
*Banana Bob (2004 - 2004)
*Bonzai (2003 - 2004)
*Brent Menace (2006 - 2006)
*Brain Dead (2006 - 2007)
*Brian Misled (2006 - 2006)
*Bus Driver (2006 - 2006)
*C-Dog (2002 - 2003)
*Candy (2003 - 2004)
*Captain Insaneo (2006 - 2006)
*Cheat-X (2002 - 2005)
*Cheriko (2003 - 2004)
*Chichiri (2003 - 2004)
*Chris Bulch (2005 - 2005)
*Codi (2002 - 2002)
*CM3 (2004 - 2005)
*Danny Delgado (2005 - 2006)
*Darkfade (2002 - 2003)
*Dev (2003 - 2003)
*Dima Vasilev (2004 - 2005)
*Duane Segovia (2005 - 2005)
*Extreme (2002 - 2004)
*Eva (2006 - 2006)
*Fluffy Skull (2006 - 2007)
*Freshman (2006 - 2007)
*Frosty The Dopeman (2006 - 2006)
*Howie (2004 - 2006)
*Huggie Bear (2006 - 2007)
*Ice (2004 - 2005)
*Illusion (2002 - 2003)
*James Fourr (2004 - 2006)
*Kay Kolesar (2005 - 2006)
*Lizzie (2005 - 2005)
*Mackey (2002 - 2002)
*Malice (2006 - 2007)
*Massacre (2002 - 2003)
*Mattjew (2005 - 2005)
*Miaka (2003 - 2004)
*Mori (2005 - 2005)
*MorningStar (2006 - 2007)
*Naru (2003 - 2004)
*Necronamican (2003 - 2004)
*Nuriko (2003 - 2004)
*Oblivion (2002 - 2003)
*oJ-oJ (2006 - 2006)
*Peach Fizz (2005 - 2006)
*Phenomenon (2005 - 2006)
*Pronto (2004 - 2006)
*Quickie (2006 - 2007)
*Skinky (2002 - 2004)
*Smog (2004 - 2005)
*Sterling The Intern (2005 - 2005)
*Steve-O (2005 - 2007)
*Steve Webb (2005 - 2006)
*Stoner (2005 - 2006)
*Tasuki (2003 - 2004)
*Taz (2002 - 2003)
*The DJ Formerally Known As DJ Frodo (2006 - 2007)
*Towlie (2002 - 2003)
*Trigger (2002 - 2004)
*Tyler Dean (2005 - 2005)
*Vannelly (2002 - 2004)
*Wee Man (2006 - 2007)
*Whammy (2000 - 2007)
*Yegor Veklich (2004 - 2005)
*Zombie (2002 - 2007)

References

External links

* [http://www.surgeradio.org/ Surge Radio official homepage]