Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Life imitates Rex Bob Lowenstein

Back when Simon Mayo ruled breakfasts on Radio One, one of his regular favourites was Rex Bob Lowenstein, a single by Mark Germino which mythologised the role of dj with an account of a presenter who reacted to being given a programmed playlist by locking the door, and driving the station into the ground.

Now, there's a real life Rex Bob, although as Paul Webster Feinstein burned KOOP's studios to the ground, forced them off air and caused a third of a million bucks worth of damage, it doesn't seem quite so heroic any more:

The report filed states that Feinstein confessed to making a copy of the station key and waited for staff to vacate the studios for the night before pouring gasoline over two control panels. The fire department's trained dog sniffed out the gasoline, alerting investigators to the possibility of arson.

Feinstein was, apparently, upset at changes made to his playlist for a late-night slot; he now faces up to twenty years inside.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I hope this doesn't happen over at KPIG in California. They just let go of several DJs, got the overnights automated and now one long-time DJ just got told he had to take a $5000 (USD) pay cut.

I'm not afraid for the KPIG studios, but for the DJs and listeners.

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