Synopsis: In the pre-digital age, radio entertained, informed and dictated what was cool through
theater of the mind.
Acclaimed musicians such as Lyle Lovett, ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, Melissa Etheridge and Sammy Hagar along with top radio DJs from across the US reflect on how the medium changed their lives and the lives of devoted listeners.
Runaway Radio” focuses on Houston’s 101 KLOL – starting in 1970 as a progressive radio station, where DJs played whatever they wanted, to how it evolved into one of several wild Album Oriented Rock (AOR) stations across the country, where onair personalities were sometimes bigger than the music itself! But in the end, changes and pressures from Washington, the music industry and Silicon Valley led to the station’s, and much of the format’s, demise in the 2000s.
RT: 83min Written, Directed & Produced by Mike McGuff, Producer: Jeffrey Brown ,Executive Producer: Michael Repsch, Vince Foster, Allen Gilmer, Riki Rushing Pat Fant, Dayna Steele, Doug Harris Musicians: Lyle Lovett, ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, Melissa Etheridge, Sammy Hagar, Carmine Appice, Dug Pinnick (King’s X) KLOL Cast: Dayna Steele, Jim Pruett, “Crash” Collins, Outlaw Dave, Grego, Jennifer Reyna, Lanny Griffith, GM Pat Fant & more
Distributed by Dark Star Pictures
Director Mike McGuff, a native Houstonian, grew up with KLOL before moving into the world of Texas and Houston television news as a reporter, anchor and producer.
During his journalism career, McGuff won two Lone Star Emmy Awards and was nominated for five.
He was also honored by the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters in its journalist award competition. He most recently reported live for UK television network ITV’s “Good Morning Britain” with Piers Morgan during Hurricane Harvey’s destructive landing in Houston.
His reporting work has also been featured on CNN International. In the digital world, McGuff is nationally known as a Texas media blogger whose work as been mentioned by NBC News and the UK Daily Mail.
Producer Jeffrey Brown has produced a number of award-winning narrative features and documentaries in Europe, Africa, Asia & N. America, specializing in music docs. Brown was recently a producer on, among other: Nothing Stays The Same: The Story of the Saxon Pub (Music Doc Prize — SXSW 2019), Every Night’s A Saturday Night: The Bobby Keys Story on the Rolling Stones’ legendary saxman (AXS TV), Honky Tonk Heaven: The Legend of the Broken Spoke (Music Doc Prize – SXSW 2016), No No: A Dockumentary
(Sundance 2014) Punk in Africa (Rotterdam, New York FF, Rio IFF). Brown has produced over 35 films, screened in 100 festivals worldwide.
Executive Producer / Distributor Michael Repsch is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
He has distributed over 200 films to date. As the SVP of Distribution & Sales at Breaking Glass Pictures, Michael strategically managed the digital, festival and theatrical releases on all films on the domestic front. Michael launched his new venture Dark Star Pictures at the American Film Market in November of 2017, with the company’s first commercial release in February of 2018.
KLOL wasn’t just a radio station, we were a part of your life…” – Danya Steele, KLOL DJ
