Music is its own reward for volunteer DJs
It's just before 6:30 p.m. on a Friday evening, and Joey Spehar is at the WYEP Broadcast Center in the South Side, systematically pulling CDs from shelves.
The host of "The Friday Static," a four-hour block of music that runs from 8 p.m. to midnight, Spehar has spent untold hours during the previous week planning the show. He's combed through his own CD collection and plotted the arc of the music he's going to play while factoring in the running times of songs.
His compensation: Not a penny.
But Spehar's true reward transcends money.
"I get to discover music, I get to play music," says Spehar, who lives in Spring Garden and works at his family's gas station and delicatessen. "I'm the guy who was making mix tapes and handing them off to friends, and now I get to do it on a larger scale."
Spehar is one of the many volunteer disc jockeys who are important to nonprofit and independent radio stations in the region.
"We've had a great influx of hosts on the evening and overnight shows," says Kyle Smith, director of content and programming for WYEP. "They are folks from Pittsburgh and the community, people who have a passion for music and share the same values of listeners and are crazy in a good way -- crazy about music and radio."
You might be familiar with their voices and musical tastes, but you're not likely to recognize them on the street. Here are some of the people behind the music:
Harish Saluja has no trouble remembering the date his life took an unexpected detour: June 15, 1972. That's when he was asked to fill in 30 minutes of "empty space" on WDUQ-FM (90.5).
The time slot was for Indian music, and the volunteer who was supposed to cover called off 30 minutes before the show.
Into the breach stepped Saluja, who for 37 years has hosted "Music From India" at 8 p.m. Sunday nights. With his co-host Dr. Vijay Bahl, who joined the program in 1985, the pair have brought a wealth of knowledge about Indian music to the airwaves -- and spent a small fortune doing so.
Saluja, of Peters Township, estimates he and Bahl have spent between $60,000 and $70,000 buying vinyl records, cassettes, CDs and digital downloads in order to keep current with trends in Indian music over the years because WDUQ's music library of Indian music is nonexistent.
"I used to have to go to New York or Toronto to get music," says Saluja, a filmmaker and artist who curates the Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival. Today, the Internet makes finding music a little easier.
There's still the matter of what to play each week. Saluja and Bahl are intent in providing a diverse show that features the many aspects of music from India and the subcontinent.
"India has so many states, and each state has so many different languages," says Bahl, chief of the Division of Endocrinology at UPMC Shadyside and a clinical associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh. "The food is different, and so is the music. The instrumentation can be quite different."
Until recently, Saluja and Bahl broadcast "Music From India" live from WDUQ's studios. But now, the pair records at their leisure, save during fundraising drives. But the show is always in their thoughts, something they look forward to each week.
"I'm always listening to music with a notebook and pen at hand," Saluja says. "I'm constantly surfing and sampling music to see which songs I'm going to use."
Mr. Lee guards his privacy. The Monroeville resident won't reveal his full name, and talks about his work as a filmmaker in the vaguest terms. He allows that he used to listen to Porky Chedwick and the defunct WZUM-AM in the 1960s, and was once a drummer, but is circumspect about other details of his personal life.
What he does on the radio, however, is a matter of public record. Lee hosts two music shows on WRCT-FM (88.3), "The Underground" and "The Hep Cafe," Friday afternoons from 3 to 5 p.m. He also hosts a talk show, "After Hours," from 7 to 7:30 p.m. the same day and occasionally serves as a producer for shows on the station based at Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Lee spends a minimum of 12 hours of his own time preparing for the broadcasts every week.
"I don't get paid in money," Mr. Lee says. "I mostly get to inspire people. People are literally inspired. They're really moved. That's what keeps me going."
Mr. Lee's playlists are among the most diverse in the city, a throwback to the free-form radio he loved growing up. During a recent show on the "The Hep Cafe," he played songs by Justin Townes Earle, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Sean Jones and the Asylum Street Spankers. He'll travel to concert venues or do in-studio interviews with the likes of John Mayall, Elvin Bishop, Edgar Winter or Angelique Kidjo. He'll try to book local musicians, such as Bill Deasy.
"It's a guitar, hero guy sort of thing," he says.
Joey Spehar has had some adventures during his late-night shifts at WYEP-FM (91.3). There was the time in the middle of winter that a woman in a tank top made her way into the garage beneath the broadcast center and asked him if he had a cell-phone charger. Another time during a brief break outside, a woman flashed him after she asked if was a police officer. It's also been suggested to him that his voice -- an ingratiating, friendly bass -- would be perfect for phone sex.
Despite such distractions, Spehar has no complaints. For four hours every week, he works his dream job, even if there is no financial compensation.
"There are so many other options (for music besides radio), that you kind of feel gracious people would choose you over that. Our listeners are rabidly loyal, and once they're hooked, they don't listen to anything else."
