Two weeks ago I mentioned that I’d be tracking other “Radio Free” concepts out there in the ether, and what better day than today to add an entry – this morning I read that Radio Free Europe lives to fight propaganda for…at least the rest of the fiscal year. It’s somewhat heartening to see checks and balances at work (i.e., the executive branch should not be able to randomly cut off funds already approved by Congress).

Today’s “Radio Free” concept might be one of the older ones around. I found it when I was testing out searches to see how people might find RADIOFREEBEAUFORT, a blog being broadcast from Beaufort, South Carolina, and not at all stuffed with SEO-gaming keywords like travel blog, travel tips, Lowcountry history, favorite South Carolina beaches, most conservative church in Beaufort, historic Beaufort, or anything like that.

I can’t remember the exact search, but I ended up at Radio Free Satan, an online radio network founded way back in 2000 (and a perfect foil for RadioFreeFlorence, a Christian pop-themed online station I mentioned two weeks ago). Radio Free Satan serves up everything from music to comedy to commentary, and it’s really interesting stuff (not saying that ironically…I spent some time listening and enjoyed it). So, hats off to the RFS team for doing this for 25 years now – until proven otherwise, they are the site to beat in the “Radio Free” originality contest.

I realize bringing Satan into the conversation can make people uncomfortable, especially here in the South where churches hold so much sway. Therefore, I’m going to continue down this path into the darkness for a moment as I describe how I joined a mass of people yelling “Hail Satan” in downtown Charleston.

Back in July 2022 I went to the Holy City to see one of my favorite bands, The Mountain Goats, and toward the end of the show they played “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton,” which is a crowd favorite for a variety of reasons. Thematically, it’s a story about two kids who are ostracized and punished for their dreams of starting a death metal band:

Jeff and Cyrus believed in their hearts
They were headed for stage lights and Lear jets and fortune and fame
So in script that made prominent use of a pentagram
They stenciled their drum heads and guitars with their names

This was how Cyrus got sent to the school
Where they told him he’d never be famous
And this was why Jeff, in the letters he’d write to his friend
Helped develop a plan to get even

When you punish a person for dreaming his dream
Don’t expect him to thank or forgive you
The best ever death metal band out of Denton
Will in time both outpace and outlive you

And one of the things that The Mountain Goats do best is employing irony, or standing convention on its head, in support of the marginalized, picked-on, or forgotten – so the song concludes with a rousing chorus of “Hail Satan!” I can’t speak for the Goats, but my joining the chorus wasn’t a true hailing of a dark lord…it was a sign of solidarity with the “person dreaming his dream” who has been punished and sent off into the margins.

And as I type that out, it sure seems relevant today – a time when dissent is prosecuted, people are “disappeared,” the LGBTQ community is told they shouldn’t exist, due process is optional depending on how masked agents interpret your social media posts, etc. etc.

Here’s the song, a wonderful way to end the week: