The first “alt rock” song to ever travel Columbus radio waves was Echo & The Bunnymen’s “Rescue.” Sure, it may not have been the very first progressive rock song played locally. But let’s just call it the truth because this story harkens back to a more fun, more weird, and more cool Columbus.
The year was 1989. The Berlin Wall was crumbling, and in America, alt rock or progressive rock was making the cool kids lose their freakin’ “I can’t listen to this glam and classic rock anymore!” minds. The station playing Echo & The Bunnymen was 107.1 FM WLRO out of Circleville, an adult contemporary station and able to reach Columbus. It was a Sunday night, and the 31-year-old radio personality who played “Rescue” was a former Ohio State campus kid looking to bring a full-time alt rock station to Columbus.
“The second I played that first song, the phones went absolutely crazy,” says the now 60-something Gary Richards. That’s him in the suit in the above black and white photo. “The show was an instant sensation.”
