Early Wednesday morning, someone began playing Rage Against the Machine’s song Killing in the Name at a pop and soft rock station in Vancouver, Canada.
Then they played it again.
And again.
By midday, the song had been played hundreds of times on Kiss Radio 104.9 FM, prompting online speculation that the only choice was a protest against the layoffs of parent company Rogers Sports and Media.
However, industry insiders argued it was a stunt to signal the station’s format change to alternative rock.
The lyrics contain the repeated line: “Fuck you, I will not do what you tell me!”. However, the station played the cleaned up radio edit.
After checking the gossip forums, I’m now sure that 104.9 brakes before a format change. Hopefully the song choice will mean a shift towards a Metal/Punk/Hard Rock format, maybe even a 90’s Hard Rock format. It would be welcome on Vancouver’s airwaves.
— Hailey Heartless (@SadistHailey) June 29, 2022
A call to the radio studio brought no clarity.
The man who answered the phone would not explain why they played the song repeatedly, nor would he give his real name. Instead, he asked to be named Apollo after the character in the Rocky films.
“I am not allowed to say that. I’m just a niche guy who keeps playing Rage over and over again,” Apollo said. “What do you think? Do you like it?”
The incident came a day after the station’s morning show co-hosts posted on Facebook that they had been suddenly fired.
“Our five years at KiSS RADiO are over. KiSS is changing and unfortunately we have been informed that we will not be part of this new chapter. While this comes with mixed feelings, we want to express one overwhelming feeling: gratitude,” wrote ex-hosts Kevin Lim and Sonia Sidhu.
Attempts by callers to ask for anything other than killing in the name were denied on Wednesday.
Between requests, the song would repeat itself several times with no discernible beginning or end. Rather, it was just a long version of Killing in the Name.
Apollo told the Guardian the song was already playing when he got to work but couldn’t say exactly when it started.
“I don’t know. I probably should. If you write an article and my boss reads it, I get in trouble,” he said.
This reporter replied, “Well, I guess you might get in trouble anyway.”
“Good point,” he replied.