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A LONG WENI AGO, IN A WENI FAR, FAR AWAY... In the history of popular music, stars are plenty. But in
the dark sky of fame, stars fade and fall as quickly as that giant asteroid
that killed Bruce Willis in that awful movie. Such was the case for the founders
of WENI radio. But despite the chronological brevity in which disc
jockeys Adam Lindquist and Derek Young ruled the airwaves, their impact as
aural pioneers is still felt today. 11 years after the duo’s sixteen-month
reign, people everywhere are still looking up to WENI. This would not
have been the case had James Moon, a friend of both Adam and Derek, not
introduced them to each other in September 1993. Nonetheless, he did, one
greatful day at Ernie Davis Junior High School in Elmira, New York. It was in
those hollow halls where Derek and Adam shared dreams, schemes, and cafeteria
food. The culmination of these conversations was a full frontal collaboration
known as WENI (Weather, Entertainment, News, and Information). At the beginning of 1994, Adam and Derek were assigned a
social studies project, for which they had to re-enact a profound moment in
history. Utilizing the junior high radio station (which only broadcast during
lunch time), the two aired a live recreation of news reports that accompanied
the Challenger space shuttle explosion of 1986. The result was a gripping
piece of biography, the dramatic power of which had not been heard since the
days of Orson Welles (whoever he is). Following a passing grade and school-wide acclaim, WENI
continued to air throughout the cafeteria for the rest of the spring,
accompanied by a lucrative fundraising campaign. The money from this venture
was used to build an exclusive WENI studio in the basement of Adam’s home in
Elmira. It seemed that nothing could stop the radio-powered Young and
Lindquist. But Derek Young’s family had different plans for him. By
the end of the summer, Derek had moved away from New York, and gone with his family
to St. Paul, Minnesota. But he vowed not to let WENI down. With Adam agreeing
to take care of WENI in Elmira, Derek set out to build his own WENI in St.
Paul, thereby expanding WENI and the size of its potential audience. With the financial support of Eat Me frontman Jeremy
Hoover, Derek set up the station for Minnesota WENI (a.k.a. Mini-WENI) in a
bunker in the suburban hills of Inver Grove Heights. Within a month, the
Elmira and Minnesota stations both became the most listened-to radio stations
in their respective areas. The shows became so popular that taped broadcasts
of certain shows were sold into syndication and played all over the country.
Although Adam and Derek were apart, their WENI was bigger than ever. What attracted people to WENI was that not only were Adam
and Derek skilled DJs, but they were also consummate performers, and adequate
spokespersons. Because of this, they were hired for many local and national
radio and TV ads throughout the year. But it wasn’t until bootlegged copies of their Ernie
Davis shows began to appear in record conventions did the general public
realize that Adam and Derek used to do the show together. This revelation
sparked numerous requests by concert promoters offering large amounts of
money for Derek and Adam to reunite in front of a live audience. But the two
DJs knew that if they performed together in public, people would expect them
to stay a duo, even though they lived in two different areas. With neither DJ wanting to move away from their
respective area, Young and Lindquist came up with a plan. Using the revenues
from their commercials, they created a cloning machine. The resulting clones
were Bob, an Adam clone that would host WENI with Derek in Minnesota; Fred, a
Derek clone that would DJ with Adam in Elmira; and Derf, an experimental
first clone that didn’t turn out too well, but it would have been wrong to
kill him. Anyhoo, with that taken care of, Adam and Derek went off
to Minnesota to organize their reunion concert, which they would hold in July
1995. The end product was Wenistock, a multi-stage outdoor concert featuring
top-notch performers from the tops of notches all over the world. The
performances were so good that they weren’t even bad. A true highlight of the
festival was when Eat Me, Meat Loaf, and Crowded House combined bands and
performed together as Eat Crowded Meat. But the centerpiece of the show was when Adam and Derek
took to the stage and performed all of the jingles that they had made famous
on WENI during the past year. Seeing them together again was a sight to
behold (or be-held, depending on your grammer). |
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Simply the Finest of Weni Radio1994-1995 With
Derek Young and Adam Linquist Now Available in WeniCast format! 1. WeniCast01
– intro (2:44) ·
a brand new medley of clips and bits. 2. WeniCast02 – original recordings (9:01) · The Challenger Explosion · Ponderosa Ad · Hess Ad · Stock Report · Ronald Reagan Interview · Pals Sports Ad 3. WeniCast03 – choice cuts: A (10:01) · Interview with Derek’s cousin Marie · Adam Autos Ad · Moons Maps Ad (feat. James Moon) · Airbag Popper Ad · Eat Me Interview (feat. Jeremy Hoover) · Wenistock Ad · Wall Removers Ad · Adam Addictions Ad 4. WeniCast04 – choice cuts: B (12:39) · Ali Interview (feat. Alexandra Lindquist) · Adam Airlines Crash Training Ad · Fat Hackers Ad · Buffalo Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Fly (feat. Derek’s father) · Derek and a Mexican Person · Adam Airlines Ad · Tumors-B-Gone Ad · Adam Electronics Ad · Wenistock Ad 5. WeniCast05 – wenistock outtakes (11:03) · Fred and Bob intro · Adam and Derek Driving · Fred and Bob beat up Derf · Wenistock Ticketstand Report · Wenistock Orientation 6. WeniCast06 – wenistock outtakes (9:54) · Derek and Adam performance highlights · Eat Me performance (feat. Jeremy Hoover) · Fred and Bob conclusion 7. WeniCast07 – ending (5:27) · Toasting Derek’s Weni (from Derek Young’s wedding, 2006) · Closing Medley 8. WeniCast08 – bonus (5:57) · The Tom Bowes Halloween Special – circa Fall, 1994 (editted down from 10 minutes). 9. WeniCast09 – bonus (1:05) · Performance of Wall – circa Summer, 1995 (feat. James Moon and Chuck White) |
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It seemed that all was well, but days later, tragedy
dealt WENI a cruel blow. Bored with having to look after the Elmira station
during Wenistock, clones Bob and Fred took a WENI van and began driving to the
festival. Since clones lack the ability to drive vans, the two doppelgangers
crashed the vehicle into a tall building, which proceeded to collapse upon
them and f*** them up real bad. Upon hearing the news, Adam and Derek, having just
reached the highest point of their career with Wenistock, were devastated
(albeit less devastated than, say, Fred and Bob). Feeling wholly responsible
for the accident, Adam and Derek found themselves unable to return to their
production jobs at WENI. So upset were they by the incident, that they vowed
never to do radio again. With that decided, Derek and Adam put all their
profits from Wenistock into repairing damages caused by the clones, denied
requests for future projects together, and let their WENI shrink slowly into obscurity. The next four years would find Adam and Derek seeking
seperate careers outside the world of radio. Having realized their musical
potential after Wenistock, both of the former DJs decided to pursue a career
in music performance. Adam Lindquist went on to form several short-lived rock
bands, including the Tweed Rings with Kevin Hurley and Chuck Simmers, to
little commercial acclaim. Seeing that Adam needed a job, Kevin convinced him
to take a job as co-host at local radio station WGMM (Gem). Together, Kevin
and Adam hosted the popular but short-lived “Free Ride at Five” show. Not
wanting to revive memories of WENI, Adam worked under the alias of Jim
Crompshank. Derek Young, meanwhile, began to enjoy looping elements
of different songs and sound effects to make his own unique compositions (a
talent he began exploring with his rap remix of the Challenger explosion
segment). His raw, edgy material has made him an underground celebrity. With
numerous independent releases under his belt, Derek is preparing himself for
a bigger belt, so that he can fit more independent releases under it. By 1999, Adam had formed Simple Wisdom with Amelia
Harnas. The band’s first CD, “Inquire Within”, was a certified hit. It was
during the sessions for this album that he rediscovered the WENI tapes, which
he played at the insistence of his friends. Having dismissed his WENI past for nearly half a decade,
Adam began to remember the good times he’d had: creating those first shows
with Derek; meeting all those guest stars; listening to tapes of Derek’s
Minnesota shows; and the spirit of unison on that fateful stage on that
greatful Wenistock day. Time had healed all wounds (save for Bob and Fred’s,
but, well, screw them). It was time to call Derek. At Adam’s request, Derek mailed what WENI tapes he had to
Adam, who then collected all their tapes together, listened to them in their
entirety, and picked out the most popular and noteworthy segments (plus some
personal favorites) from the lot of the recorded shows. He then remixed,
re-edited, and remastered the tracks onto a single CD of “greatest hits”,
from the earliest shows to Wenistock. To those who didn’t hear WENI the first time around, this
disc is an example what critics have called, “The greatest thing to happen to
radio since Edwin H. Armstrong (before he jumped out of that window).” The
tracks are delivered with all the freshness of live radio (and half the fat
of cheese monkeys). And now, what
circulated only in the memories of those who first heard it, or in the hands
of private collectors, can now be fully appreciated by a new generation of
WENI-heads the world over. To the less informed, you now have a chance to
hear the most influencial radio series of all time. And to the more informed,
you know that half of the stuff I’ve been writing here is stark stinking
bullsh**. Once you’re done sorting it all out, enjoy what is Simply the
Finest of Weni Radio. In the starry world of stardom, anyone can be a WENI. -David Alan Scott Jr. (DASjr) Fredonia,
NY 2-2-2K |
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