Welcome back to Teeny Bopper TV Breakdown! Today we recap Radio Free Roscoe, episode 1, “The Power of Radio.” All I really know about this show is that it’s about a pirate radio station at a high school in the mid-2000s, which sounds like a fun concept to me, so let’s go!
First of all, I love the theme song - female-fronted rock all about making noise and being yourself? Yes, please. I was going to say the sound reminded me of “Tangled Up In Me” by Skye Sweetnam, and then I looked it up and she actually sings the theme song itself! So I’m very proud of myself for recognizing that.
We start out with who we can tell will be our main characters, two boys (of color! Yay!) and a white girl sitting in a high school cafeteria. They’re just starting ninth grade and acknowledge their nerves as they begin to observe the social dynamics surrounding them. Ray, who seems to be of Middle Eastern heritage, is…a lot…but Lily seems like she’s able to stand up for herself, which is good. The Black boy, Afro and all, has only been referred to as “Radiohead” so far (he does always seem to have headphones on and an antenna out), and he shakes his head at the antics of the other two. All of a sudden, the intercom blares, and official school-sanctioned Cougar Radio comes on the air (they are the Henry Roscoe Cougars, hence the name). Kim Carlisle is speaking, and I’m sure this isn’t the last time we’ll hear her.
After school, “Radiohead” is listening on a Discman to a demo Lily recorded. We learn his name is Robbie when Lily chastises him for making fun of her as they head into a warehouse that the trio seems to have converted into a clubhouse of sorts. Robbie waxes poetic about an underground teen radio station he found, how radio turns sound waves into a voice in someone’s ear, and how he wants to be that voice, then asks Ray if the boy has told his dad yet that he’s going out for the play rather than the soccer team, and the answer to that would be “no.” It’s then Lily’s turn for questioning, and while she has a song that could be played at an open mic at local hangout Mickey’s, she’s unsure if she’s ready to play in front of people yet. They’re all very encouraging to each other, which is sweet.
In the next scene, we’re at school, and Robbie is on air on Cougar Radio. There’s a line of other students near the A/V studio, making clear this is an audition. While Robbie monologues, rhetorically asking what’s so great about fitting in, Lily contemplates a flyer for the open mic mentioned earlier, and elsewhere, Ray is officially trying out for the role of Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest. After the A/V auditions, the participants gather together with the principal (who oversees Cougar Radio), and a boy named Travis raises some concerns: there doesn’t seem to be much freedom of choice in the music the DJs play (they have to pick from a previously selected list), and there’s no room for editorializing on school issues. The principal claims it’s his job to make sure the station is the unified voice of Roscoe High, but what’s unspoken is that said voice is on his terms. So if the students have a problem, they do not get to vocalize it - I think I see where the want for an alternate station is going to come from. Robbie is assigned to the ad department, which he tries to convince himself is still going to be cool, but we all know he’s going to want more.
It’s open mic night and Lily’s up next, with Robbie and Ray in the audience supporting her. She clearly has stage fright, and bombs her attempt at a performance, which is unfortunate because we can see there’s potential if she’d let herself settle into it. The boys are proud of her for trying, but still accidentally make her feel inadequate when she asks how their auditions went. Robbie shares that he’ll be on the air the next day and Ray says he nailed his tryout, but maybe taking their words at face value isn’t the right thing to do at this moment.
In the radio booth the next day, Kim gives Robbie copy to read, and he laughs at the quality before realizing Kim herself wrote it - maybe not the best first impression there. But when Kim goes on, her broadcast is interrupted - when she says, “This is the voice of Roscoe High; your voice, of course,” a new voice chimes in with “Will not be heard. Cougar Radio is the voice of the administration and has total control over what goes on the air.” We see the principal furious in his office and Robbie in the hallway listening with a smile on his face (so we know it’s not him speaking). Robbie figures out pretty quickly that the rogue broadcaster was Travis, and makes it clear they’re on the same side when he brings the other boy to the clubhouse.
Near the auditorium, Ray looks for his name on a callback list, and from his reaction it’s hard to tell whether he got it or not. He finds Robbie in the clubhouse to ask for advice, and isn’t exactly thrilled to see Travis (they didn’t particularly hit it off in homeroom), so turns around and walks back out the door.
The next day, Robbie is in the radio booth sharing about a school pep rally, and goes off script to say that Mickey’s Discs is hosting a free ska show if there are any students who would prefer that instead. He’s quickly cut off and reprimanded by the principal - there weren’t any “options” in the approved copy, so Robbie gets one more chance, and if he blows it he’s out - he wants to be on the radio, right? Then, as the principal leaves, Kim takes an extra step into what I’d call hazing, holding out a soda can and saying, “I’ll need an extra refreshment, freshman.”
At this point, everything crystallizes for Robbie, who says to himself, “I want to be on the radio, just not Cougar Radio.” He proposes the idea of starting their own radio station to Travis (who has the transmission equipment for it, clearly), who agrees. Robbie then catches up with Ray on the soccer field - he didn’t get into the play, so he’s picked his backup, one so his dad doesn’t flip, and two because “you have to do something in high school, otherwise you’re a loser.” Robbie tries to sell him on joining the alternative radio station and succeeds - he does say a lot of nice things about playing whatever music and speaking however they want, but it’s probably the “get girls” line that does it. He gets Mickey (of Mickey’s Discs) to stream the show on the coffee shop/music store hybrid’s radio, and the three boys are off and running.
Lily happens to be at Mickey’s when they first go on the air, and when the first song the boys play is her demo, she’s stunned but happy to see the store’s patrons and employees bobbing their heads, enjoying the tune. She runs into the clubhouse and stakes her claim - she wants in, too. And thus, Radio Free Roscoe was born.
Don’t change that channel! We’ll be right back on Teeny Bopper TV Breakdown.
