FM (1978)

Jeff (Michael Brandon) is the manager for a very popular radio station in Los Angeles. He has an arsenal of great disc jockeys: Mother (Eileen Brennan), Swan (Martin Mull), Prince (Cleavon Little) and Doc (Alex Karras). In addition, the station's motto is as little advertising as possible, resulting in more songs played. But, the middle management may be out to change this. They want Jeff to honor a proposal with the US Army to run quite a few recruitment spots. Also, the station endures personal problems in breakups, breakdowns, agent loss, and rival attacks. For his part, Jeff pulls off quite a feat by airing a Linda Ronstadt concert live which was sponsored by a different radio station! Finally, push comes to shove. If Jeff doesn't cooperate, he's gone. Will his loyal staff take this sitting down? This obviously dated but nice flick from 1978 has a sensational cast, a great soundtrack, and live performances by Ronstadt and Buffet. What a treat! Yes, the hair styles, costumes, and sets look "lost in the seventies" but the script has universal truths which never grow old. The direction is capable, too. FM is a fine curiosity piece especially given the musical appearances. Sound good?

In some ways, this films seems to be a blueprint for the sit-come "WKRP," but it's just not quite as good. For one, the music selected for the soundtrack (save of course for the great Steely Dan title track) is middle of the road white man's rock...Ronstadt, Buffett, etc. While the audience is supposed to cheer for the charismatic jocks as they fight the "man," it's hard not to roll one's eyes at the script. Eileen Brennan plays Mother, a burnt out jock who wants to see what life is like when she's not on an "ego trip for five hours a night". Give me a break. Like DJing at the hottest L.A. station is such a grind! Then, the Ronstadt concert is broadcast live on the air at the last minute!!! Logistically and legally, this is impossible. The message is not to sell out, which isn't a bad statement. When you consider the alternatives, however, how can one NOT sell out? What harm would come of running a few lame commercials as opposed to losing a job playing rock n' roll? As mentioned, the only positive thing about FM is that probably had a hand in spawning "WKRP" (the Dugan and Prince of Darkness characters are pretty much carbon copies of Andy Travis and Venus Fly Trap).

Just got the VHS at a local dollar store, of all places. Hadn't seen this movie in years, and $1 was cheaper than I could rent it, so it came home with me. I must say, I enjoyed the film much more this time than the first time I saw it. It did not seem to drag in the concert portions as much; in fact, it seemed like a much shorter movie than I remembered all around.Then it dawned on me that I hadn't seen a few of the scenes I was anticipating...so I started trying to figure out what I must have seen several years back. I have memories of a scene with Eileen Brennan as the DJ "Mother", where we learn she IS in fact a single mother, tucking in her daughter. Also a scene where "Mother" is in the control room, talking to another staffer about how smooth it is when she "plays the radio". I had thought this movie was rated R when it first appeared (the video is PG) due to nudity, and again that the concert scenes were much longer. None of this was in the version I saw last night on the Anchor Bay VHS, circa 1998, 104 minutes long. (I thought there were more scenes of Alex Karras' character, the DJ "Doc Holiday"; and more exposition of the love story between GM Jeff Dugan and the other female jock Laura Coe, too.)Is there a director's cut of this film floating around out there somewhere??? Did I make those scenes up in my head after reading "FM" the novel, upon which the movie is based? Does anyone else know of the scenes I *think* I remember, but are not included in this particular release? After watching this version, I wondered if this was not the one they cleaned up and shortened a little for use on TV in the early '80's, or something like that.Having said all that...it's an amusing story. Working in radio since 1984, I can tell you it's not like "FM" anymore--you wouldn't see broadcast carts, open-reel tape decks, or record albums these days. Even fewer and fewer CD players; it's all computerized. And if they thought they had problems with tight corporate control THEN...they never anticipated what radio would become in thirty more years after that movie was made. In a technical sense, radio wasn't even like the movie depicts at the time it was made (1978). In the station studio interior shots, there is odd placement of sound equipment, just sitting around the general manager's office and even in illogical places in the control room, where in a real radio station it would be nonsensical and nonfunctional to place these items (not to mention hookup would be a nightmare). It seems this must have been done to have gratuitous appearance of switches and knobs in nearly every scene, to remind us this was a movie about radio. Kind of a quaint touch. (Announcer mikes in a stereo array, with a left mike and right mike, is never done anymore either. It's no longer novel to have the DJ's voice drift back and forth between your speakers.) The part about the owner coming across the country and deciding when he gets there to hand the station back to the music guy and fire the money guys is also pure fantasy. But it's a fun film, and of course an enjoyable bit of nostalgia to see Linda Ronstadt in her youthful prime, and Jimmy Buffet when he still had hair on top.Anybody catch that Q-SKY, the call letters, couldn't really be used in the US? All stations east of the Mississippi River start with W, all west start with K, since an act of Congress back in the 1930's (though there are some stations that predate that act which are grandfathered to their previous calls to this day), but none start with a Q. And, 71.1 FM is somewhere off the left of the broadcast dial (which actually starts at about 88.1), so obviously we are talking in every respect about a radio station in some alternate universe. But it does contain a LOT of great music and a humorous glimpse of '70's culture. A modern-day classic? Maybe not. But a fun little romp; well worth my dollar invested.

If you lived in Los Angeles during the 60's and 70's, you'll definitely understand and relate to this wonderful "un-official" send-up of what happened to shut down real rock 'n roll at radio station KMET-FM, the last surviving "underground" FM radio station of the 70's.Conglomerate KLOS-FM and independent KMET-FM were in a ratings and cultural battle that pushed the envelope of radio decency and the right to free speech unlike no other.The radio personalities: B. Mitchell Reid, Mary "Mounds" Turner, etc.Situations like "Champagne PayDays" where the DJ's would drink while spinning records, as well as "suspected" pot-smoking while on-the-air, along with playing as few commercials as possible, helped to bring down the station at the middle of the seventies. If you were there and want to reminisce, or, if you wanna see what it was like during a time when 'the people' REALLY controlled the airwaves, FM is the movie for you.Plus... you can't beat the music and the performances by artists and stars of the era.IF YOU LIKE ROCK 'N ROLL and YOU BELIEVE THAT IT WILL LIVE ON FOREVER, then, "FM" IS THE MOVIE FOR YOU!