LEEBO's MUSICOLOGY 101: The Legend of ZETA 7

This is a part of the show called Leebo’s Musicology 101. It is meant to share my opinion and love of music with you, and you know who you are, whoever you are. Right now, I am going through a very tough time. Music is helping me cope, with hope. So, I am going to talk a little about it. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and should you disagree or be offended by them, well, kiss my ass, whoever you are. If you don’t like it, bite me.

In an age where radio stations pretty much suck for air nationwide, there was one shining beacon that long ago fizzled out. Not in the heart and mind of The Leeman, though.

ZETA 7.

ZETA 7 was, simply, the single greatest radio station in the history of radio. Because I say so.

ZETA 7, or WORJ-FM, 107.7 on your FM dial, eminated out of Mt. Dora/Orlando... and they had one HUGE advantage over all of the radio competition of the day.

They cared about the music.

Zeta played "album rock", and they really did. They weren't like other stations who took one single song from an album and beat it into the ground, stomp a mudhole in it and walk it dry. You could actually hear different cuts from the album at any given time.

And they were albums. Frequent were the apologies for a skip or a scratch on the record. We were cool with it. We played the crap out of our albums too. ZETA 7 was one of us.

The DJs were great. Most of the time, they were stoned. You could tell. We were stoned too. ZETA 7 was one of us.

I remember one time listening to ZETA 7 and they were playing Jimi Hendrix's version of "The Star Spangled Banner". Midway through, the DJ stopped it and claimed that someone had called the station and demanded that they stop playing it immediately because it was "unpatriotic".

The DJ then went on a huge rant about the person who said that was a complete moron. He then played Jimi Hendrix's "The Star Spangler Banner", like, 52 times in a row. Classic. We loved it. Screw that guy. ZETA's one of us.

ZETA 7 was there through two of the saddest days of my musical life. The day John Lennon died and the day ZETA 7 died.

I listened to ZETA 7 all night when Lennon died. They had incredible coverage, laced with moving tributes. I'll never forget that night.

The night ZETA 7 left the airwaves was a terrible night as well. This is from Central Florida Radio.com:

At 10 PM on Friday, February 19,1981 "Zeta 7" changed from it's rock roots for easy listening. The disc jockeys cried, and loyal listeners turned their Zeta 7 license plates upside down in protest. That was the day WORJ became WJYO for the "Joy of Orlando". WORJ would move from rock to the sounds of Barbara Streisand, Neil Diamond, etc.

On his last morning show Thom Robinson asked listeners to memorialize "Zeta7" by turning their license plates upside down on their cars. Program director, David Sousa, recalls "Zeta 7"'s last hours. "It was probably the most terrible day of my life. That was my radio station ...my flesh and blood. It was my child and it had to be shot. We had one bad rating book and management pulled the plug on "Zeta 7".

The last song they played was Lynyrd Skynrd's "Freebird". And then it was gone. And it's been gone ever since.

I still have my ZETA 7 tag. It hangs in reverance, (upside down, of course) in The McFly Daddy Cool Room. I miss the days of ZETA 7, and the commercial posted above that I found on Youtube really brought the memories back and made me smile.

ZETA 7.

Man.

ZETA Godamn 7.

I miss you, ZETA 7.

And I raise my glass to you.

After all, you were one of us.