Loyal Slicing Up Eyeballs reader Chris Cummins — the guest blogger who wrote last month’s excellent “Remembering MTV’s ‘120 Minutes'” post for USA Today’s Pop Candy — has a favor to ask: He’s trying to track down copies of that beloved series’ short-lived, early-’90s radio spinoff, “Left of the Dial.”
Since penning the Pop Candy piece, Cummins has been on a quest to unearth old VHS tapes with “120 Minutes” episodes, and now is broadening his search to include the promo CDs of the “Left of the Dial” show sent to participating college radio stations by Thirsty Ear Communications and MTV Networks in 1992 and ’93 (and not to be confused for this excellent box set or this compilation CD).
According to “120 Minutes” creator/host Dave Kendall’s Web site, “Left of the Dial” — which Kendall also hosted — was a “daily five-minute show (that) was syndicated to over 200 college radio stations across America, and featured music news and original in-studio live performances.” (Hear samples from Kendall’s site below.)
The CDs in question — of which Cummins has tracked down one: Weeks 11-12, with episodes 51-60, featuring profiles of Lightning Seeds, The Charlatans and The Sugarcubes — each contain two weeks’ worth of the approximately five-minute episodes. All radio stations had to do is stick the disc in and hit play at the appropriate time each day.
It’s unclear how many of these promo discs are out there; searching online, Slicing Up Eyeballs was able to find references in various bands’ discographies to discs featuring Weeks 9-10, the aforementioned Weeks 11-12 and Week 16.
So if you’ve got MP3s of these radio shows, or actual discs you’re looking to unload, let us know in the comments section of this post, or e-mail Cummins directly at bionicbigfoots@gmail.com.
AUDIO: MTV’s “120 Minutes: Left of the Dial” on-air promo
AUDIO: MTV’s “120 Minutes: Left of the Dial” with the Pixies
AUDIO: MTV’s “120 Minutes: Left of the Dial” with Courtney Love and Kim Deal
AUDIO: MTV’s “120 Minutes: Left of the Dial” with Moby
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS:
- Dave Kendall of ‘120 Minutes’ tracks down the Whitman Samplers’ ‘Really Stupid’
- Update: Dave Kendall of ‘120 Minutes’ wants to hear that ‘Really Stupid’ song, too
- Searching for that ‘120 Minutes’ song: ‘I’m Dave Kendall … and I am really stupid’
I have episode 7 and 8 I think