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Rick Shannon #1
Radio Activity
Looking into the mysterious disappearance of a once-famous rock DJ, radio program director Rick Shannon finds himself unwittingly embroiled in an investigation involving arson, missing persons, hit men, FCC violations, and the sexual habits of a prominent businessman. By the author of Heart Seizure. Reprint.
354 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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145 people want to read
About the author
Bill Fitzhugh
23 books112 followersBill Fitzhugh worked at several FM rock radio stations in the 1970s and 1980s. Born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, he prefers The Band, Little Feat, and Van Morrison to Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Iron Butterfly. The author of numerous screenplays and five comic novels, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and his record collection.
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April 14, 2026 __________________________
🎵 We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place — The Animals — 1965 🎵
You are about to depart on a voyage through space and time and far too many internet ads and into the only review on Goodreads that combines a Murder Mystery with a needle-drop soundtrack of Classic Rock. You have entered The PseudoZone. A zone not only of sound and fury, but of mindlessness.
No, you won’t be able to hear these songs on your paperback book or Kindle because Pseudo ain’t about to pay royalties for you to listen, but if you know your classic rock, you’ll be able to hear clips from the songs marked like this:🎵 My Generation — The Who —1965 🎵. When they appear, they will be cued up on your brain’s built-in Ear Worm™ app as you read.
If you do NOT know classic rock—that is not cool, man. Not cool. (If you are a disco fan, well bless your little Moog-synthesized heart; you can just boogie your sweet patootie on down the road.)
As the book begins, Rick Shannon is 🎵On the Road Again — Canned Heat — 1968 🎵 (Not the Willie Nelson Song) He is a professional deejay—not one of those party-scratching Chicken Dance tramps. He is a successful radio disc jockey who loves classic rock. Or he was. The radio scape has shifted under his feet. Corporate consolidation has turned the FM dial into a cold oatmeal wasteland, and Rick’s had ten jobs in ten years. And many of those jobs were crappier than Chicago Sanitary Sewer system. His personal motto might as well be:🎵 I Shall Be Released — The Band — 1968 🎵
Those classic rock jobs are getting harder and harder to find. As we meet him, he is driving from North Dakota to take a gig in Mississippi as the evening jock in a small station in a tiny town for a paltry salary, and he is so broke that he has to stop and try to pawn his prized record collection in order to purchase a tank of gas and a gas-station hot dog. That is Rick's emotional baseline: a man clinging to the last vinyl shards of his identity and cutting his fingers on them.
When he arrives at the station, he gets a surprise. His new boss, Clay, tells him that while Rick was driving from North Dakota, the stations Program Director has quit suddenly, and Rick will have to do the PD job as well as the morning jock job—twice the work at the same wretched salary. Rick soon discovers that Clay lied. The previous PD had quit weeks ago. Rick is furious of course. But while he has no 🎵 Sympathy for the Devil — The Rolling Stones—1968 🎵, what’s bothering him is the nature of Clay’s game. And he discovers that Clay is a con-man in every aspect of his life. Clay has enough loose screws to stock an Ace Hardware store. Rick vows that he 🎵Won’t Get Fooled Again — The Who — 1971 🎵
Rick is not usually vindictive, but he does have a temper: for example, Anger Management classes tend to infuriate him. And he vows to get even with Clay 🎵One Way or Another”—Blondie—(1978) 🎵 but Rick is broke and can’t quit his job, no matter how odious it may be, and meanwhile, 🎵 The Show Must Go On—Three Dog Night—1970 🎵.
A week or so later, Rick finds a tape in the record collection of his predecessor DJ, Captain Jack. It was not classic rock. It was a tape of Clay talking on the phone about some really nasty stuff he and the bozo at the other end of the line have gotten up to. DJ Captain Jack had disappeared suddenly, abandoning all of his personal possessions and was never seen again. Rick suspects that Jack had tried to blackmail Clay and …. you know. That’s when Rick decides to don his deerstalker hat, pick up his magnifying glass, and go sleuthing.
I am going to put the music on pause now because some of you are Disco lovers or worse Autotune freaks who have never listened to actual music.
🌟🌟🌟 Stars
I am a fan of Bill Fitzhugh, I have loved all of his books, but while I am a classic rock kind of guy, I thought having two chapters in which Rick and the other DJs at the station just debate the merit of various Classic Rock songs was passenger-pigeon overkill, even for a fan like me. The book is flawed in other ways: for instance, the ending is weak, there are some plot holes, and the tone of the book probably could use a little autotuning.
I recommend you give Bill Fitzhugh books a try, but you may not want to start with this one. Give Pest Control a shot though.
ADDENDUM 1. After reading this review, GR friend Berengaria pointed out that while not classic rock, 🎵The Last DJ--Tom Petty--2002🎵 is a close match for the plot of Radio Activity (2004). Great catch Berengaria.
ADDENDUM 2 Maybe you know someone — probably your brother-in-law — who is a lot like Clay. I once worked with a devil like that. The educational publisher where I was employed hired Felix, who claimed to have a PhD in mathematics, and he was put in charge of developing math textbooks.
The staff writers — all former math teachers — grew suspicious when Felix refused to discuss any mathematical topic. Whenever they asked him a question, instead of answering, he’d scream at them for being incompetent and tell them they to go back to their mommies if they couldn’t handle the job. It didn’t take long for the writers to conclude that Felix didn’t know any math beyond what he’d learned in high school.
After several months, he went on disability, claiming he had developed a terminal illness. Then, about a year or two later, I saw his picture in the Chicago Tribune. Apparently, he had started his own publishing company from his deathbed and convinced an investor to fund what he described as a groundbreaking new math textbook. The investor eventually became suspicious when Felix kept asking for more money and still hadn’t produced any results. Felix invited the irate investor over to his apartment to admire what had been done so far. Felix’s associates—Guido the Art Director and Two-fingers McGurk the content editor — were there, and when the investor demanded his money back, the art director and the editor beat him up to get him to surrender the pin numbers on his bank accounts, and then …you know …publishing is a cutthroat business.
🎵 “Bad Company”—by Bad Company—1977🎵
🎵 We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place — The Animals — 1965 🎵
You are about to depart on a voyage through space and time and far too many internet ads and into the only review on Goodreads that combines a Murder Mystery with a needle-drop soundtrack of Classic Rock. You have entered The PseudoZone. A zone not only of sound and fury, but of mindlessness.
No, you won’t be able to hear these songs on your paperback book or Kindle because Pseudo ain’t about to pay royalties for you to listen, but if you know your classic rock, you’ll be able to hear clips from the songs marked like this:🎵 My Generation — The Who —1965 🎵. When they appear, they will be cued up on your brain’s built-in Ear Worm™ app as you read.
If you do NOT know classic rock—that is not cool, man. Not cool. (If you are a disco fan, well bless your little Moog-synthesized heart; you can just boogie your sweet patootie on down the road.)
As the book begins, Rick Shannon is 🎵On the Road Again — Canned Heat — 1968 🎵 (Not the Willie Nelson Song) He is a professional deejay—not one of those party-scratching Chicken Dance tramps. He is a successful radio disc jockey who loves classic rock. Or he was. The radio scape has shifted under his feet. Corporate consolidation has turned the FM dial into a cold oatmeal wasteland, and Rick’s had ten jobs in ten years. And many of those jobs were crappier than Chicago Sanitary Sewer system. His personal motto might as well be:🎵 I Shall Be Released — The Band — 1968 🎵
Those classic rock jobs are getting harder and harder to find. As we meet him, he is driving from North Dakota to take a gig in Mississippi as the evening jock in a small station in a tiny town for a paltry salary, and he is so broke that he has to stop and try to pawn his prized record collection in order to purchase a tank of gas and a gas-station hot dog. That is Rick's emotional baseline: a man clinging to the last vinyl shards of his identity and cutting his fingers on them.
When he arrives at the station, he gets a surprise. His new boss, Clay, tells him that while Rick was driving from North Dakota, the stations Program Director has quit suddenly, and Rick will have to do the PD job as well as the morning jock job—twice the work at the same wretched salary. Rick soon discovers that Clay lied. The previous PD had quit weeks ago. Rick is furious of course. But while he has no 🎵 Sympathy for the Devil — The Rolling Stones—1968 🎵, what’s bothering him is the nature of Clay’s game. And he discovers that Clay is a con-man in every aspect of his life. Clay has enough loose screws to stock an Ace Hardware store. Rick vows that he 🎵Won’t Get Fooled Again — The Who — 1971 🎵
Rick is not usually vindictive, but he does have a temper: for example, Anger Management classes tend to infuriate him. And he vows to get even with Clay 🎵One Way or Another”—Blondie—(1978) 🎵 but Rick is broke and can’t quit his job, no matter how odious it may be, and meanwhile, 🎵 The Show Must Go On—Three Dog Night—1970 🎵.
A week or so later, Rick finds a tape in the record collection of his predecessor DJ, Captain Jack. It was not classic rock. It was a tape of Clay talking on the phone about some really nasty stuff he and the bozo at the other end of the line have gotten up to. DJ Captain Jack had disappeared suddenly, abandoning all of his personal possessions and was never seen again. Rick suspects that Jack had tried to blackmail Clay and …. you know. That’s when Rick decides to don his deerstalker hat, pick up his magnifying glass, and go sleuthing.
I am going to put the music on pause now because some of you are Disco lovers or worse Autotune freaks who have never listened to actual music.
🌟🌟🌟 Stars
I am a fan of Bill Fitzhugh, I have loved all of his books, but while I am a classic rock kind of guy, I thought having two chapters in which Rick and the other DJs at the station just debate the merit of various Classic Rock songs was passenger-pigeon overkill, even for a fan like me. The book is flawed in other ways: for instance, the ending is weak, there are some plot holes, and the tone of the book probably could use a little autotuning.
I recommend you give Bill Fitzhugh books a try, but you may not want to start with this one. Give Pest Control a shot though.
ADDENDUM 1. After reading this review, GR friend Berengaria pointed out that while not classic rock, 🎵The Last DJ--Tom Petty--2002🎵 is a close match for the plot of Radio Activity (2004). Great catch Berengaria.
ADDENDUM 2 Maybe you know someone — probably your brother-in-law — who is a lot like Clay. I once worked with a devil like that. The educational publisher where I was employed hired Felix, who claimed to have a PhD in mathematics, and he was put in charge of developing math textbooks.
The staff writers — all former math teachers — grew suspicious when Felix refused to discuss any mathematical topic. Whenever they asked him a question, instead of answering, he’d scream at them for being incompetent and tell them they to go back to their mommies if they couldn’t handle the job. It didn’t take long for the writers to conclude that Felix didn’t know any math beyond what he’d learned in high school.
After several months, he went on disability, claiming he had developed a terminal illness. Then, about a year or two later, I saw his picture in the Chicago Tribune. Apparently, he had started his own publishing company from his deathbed and convinced an investor to fund what he described as a groundbreaking new math textbook. The investor eventually became suspicious when Felix kept asking for more money and still hadn’t produced any results. Felix invited the irate investor over to his apartment to admire what had been done so far. Felix’s associates—Guido the Art Director and Two-fingers McGurk the content editor — were there, and when the investor demanded his money back, the art director and the editor beat him up to get him to surrender the pin numbers on his bank accounts, and then …you know …publishing is a cutthroat business.
🎵 “Bad Company”—by Bad Company—1977🎵
December 3, 2021
I enjoyed Radio Active, as I have all of Bill Fitzhugh’s books. This one does have some flaws, but it’s still an involving and amusing read.
Rick Shannon is a jobbing radio DJ with a passion for classic rock. He accepts, out of necessity, a job on a local radio station in a small Mississippi town, run by a thoroughly dodgy slimeball. Here he comes across a hidden tape, leading to clues about some possibly serious crimes, which he begins to investigate out of fascination. A tangled and colourful web of intrigue and suspects emerges in a well told, amusing and rather gripping story.
Fitzhugh is really good at this sort of thing; he tells a very well-structured and involving tale peopled with well drawn characters and with observations on all sorts of things including small-town politics, the corporatisation of local radio and lots about classic rock music. I’m keen on classic rock and found a lot of the references and discussions entertaining and amusing, but the lengthy monologues about music inspired by Patty Boyd or involving Todd Rundgren, for example, got a little much even for me, so if you’re not into 60s and 70s rock music this may not be the book for you. Also, having really enjoyed the book, I found the ending a little rushed and unsatisfactory – but only a little.
Those small reservations aside, I can still recommend Radio Active as a very enjoyable and entertaining read.
(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)
Rick Shannon is a jobbing radio DJ with a passion for classic rock. He accepts, out of necessity, a job on a local radio station in a small Mississippi town, run by a thoroughly dodgy slimeball. Here he comes across a hidden tape, leading to clues about some possibly serious crimes, which he begins to investigate out of fascination. A tangled and colourful web of intrigue and suspects emerges in a well told, amusing and rather gripping story.
Fitzhugh is really good at this sort of thing; he tells a very well-structured and involving tale peopled with well drawn characters and with observations on all sorts of things including small-town politics, the corporatisation of local radio and lots about classic rock music. I’m keen on classic rock and found a lot of the references and discussions entertaining and amusing, but the lengthy monologues about music inspired by Patty Boyd or involving Todd Rundgren, for example, got a little much even for me, so if you’re not into 60s and 70s rock music this may not be the book for you. Also, having really enjoyed the book, I found the ending a little rushed and unsatisfactory – but only a little.
Those small reservations aside, I can still recommend Radio Active as a very enjoyable and entertaining read.
(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)
April 17, 2011
I picked this up because it looked like ideal beach reading for me: A light mystery set in the deep south, with a lot of references to classic rock. Well, I can't tell if this is an inept attempt at a semi-humorous riff on the themes of Hammett's Red Harvest or just plain inept, but it's terribly dull as a mystery and a flat failure as a social commentary mystery.
The main character is a whiny, self-indulgent middle-aged man having the least interesting midlife crisis in literary history. The first woman he meets in a new town becomes his lover for no particular reason but that Fitzhugh seems to think a mystery's lead needs a lover, and the first person he takes a dislike to is, sure enough, one of the main bad guys. There's never any mystery about any of the crimes described, nothing interesting is revealed about any of the characters, and there's an especially annoying 'where are they now' bit at the end that reads like a not-particularly-talented middle-schooler's attempt at sly literary humor.
Leave it on the shelf. You have better things to do.
The main character is a whiny, self-indulgent middle-aged man having the least interesting midlife crisis in literary history. The first woman he meets in a new town becomes his lover for no particular reason but that Fitzhugh seems to think a mystery's lead needs a lover, and the first person he takes a dislike to is, sure enough, one of the main bad guys. There's never any mystery about any of the crimes described, nothing interesting is revealed about any of the characters, and there's an especially annoying 'where are they now' bit at the end that reads like a not-particularly-talented middle-schooler's attempt at sly literary humor.
Leave it on the shelf. You have better things to do.
May 24, 2008
If you're looking for a fun Summer beach read with a mix of Hiaasen and rock music, then this is worth picking up. The book was sent to me by friend who knows my interest in both thinking I'd enjoy it. He was right. Rick Shannon is an aging DJ (now Program Director) who decides to play PI when he stumbles upon some evidence buried in the box set of Chicago and Carnegie Hall. Great hiding place. I used to have that set and the poster inside could cover the side of a city building. I digress. Various characters come in out of the story but most of the focus of the plot is driven by Rick and the station admin (Traci). Additional color is added with music references throughout, each very fitting for the scenes created. Fitzhugh has a great natural storytelling rhythm and his love for music shines throughout the book. Fun stuff.
December 30, 2014
If you're a classic rock aficionado, or have even listened to classic rock... heck, if you recognize the name Duane Allman you should read this book. A quick, fast read, you'll laugh at the characters and the hilarious hijinks that ensue when a down on his luck FM DJ relocates to a rural station and, big surprise here, he discovers a mystery. Unstrap your suspension of disbelief and just go along for the ride. You'll probably find a new favorite song you didn't know existed. I recommend reading with YouTube nearby for listening to the obscure tunes.
September 20, 2013
I really wanted to like this book. I used to work in radio so was excited about reading it. However there was waaaaaaay to much description of classic rock. I ended up just skipping some of those parts.
The book is also told from a very male perspective and the female characters are mostly very flat and stereotypical. The mystery is okay, though a bit convoluted. I wish I could have liked it more.
The book is also told from a very male perspective and the female characters are mostly very flat and stereotypical. The mystery is okay, though a bit convoluted. I wish I could have liked it more.
May 27, 2016
If you like classic rock... I mean if you really like classic rock, including some of the more obscure stuff, then this may be the mystery novel you're hankerin' after. This was fun beach-style read-- realistic characters quirks and all, a fairly simple who dunnit and why, and a quick read. It got bogged down with classic rock descriptions for a bit there, but once I waded through those it was free sailing.
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August 7, 2011Rick Shannon, AKA Buddy Miles, comes to McRae, Mississippi to take over as program director for a radio station switching to Classic Rock. Sleazy station manager, missing and presumed defunct DJ's and a receptionist with a whole lotta love and makeup constitute the cast of another hilarious book by Fitzhugh.
September 10, 2014
Bill Fitzhugh is always funny. I admit he isn't quite as laugh-out-loud in this one as he was in Pest Control or Organ Grinders, but I always enjoy his work. And I am a music fiend so the music he infuses into both Radio Activity and Highway 61 Resurfaced is fantastic. I've made some play lists based on both of these books.
July 19, 2013
Bad guys easy to spot and the rest of the book spends too much time on the day-to-day of the protagonist, who might be an idealized version of the author. Lots of chatter about the heyday of radio, golden oldies, super playlists, etc. I'm not interested enough to go on with this series.
September 27, 2013
Not as funny as some of Fitzhugh's other book, but it was ok. This on is more of a mystery. They also refer to a lot of music from the 70's that I am not familiar with so that part didn't hold my interest.
November 11, 2015
I confess, I skipped most of the rock music descriptions, skimming the debates and blanking at every intricate musing about how radio works. I did, however, enjoy the mystery, the characters and the comedy.
April 22, 2026
Not quite as much fun as the later Highway 61, but a thorough inside view of the workings of a Delta radio station. And a nice little mystery to boot. My favorite line from this book? "You can't fake that sort of narrow-mindedness."
July 24, 2015
Start This One When You Can Read ItThrough!
I chose this rating because the characters were "real" and likeable--- or not. The plot was imaginative and well written. I hope that there are many more novels featuring Rick Shannon.
I chose this rating because the characters were "real" and likeable--- or not. The plot was imaginative and well written. I hope that there are many more novels featuring Rick Shannon.
July 7, 2009
Literature always runs into trouble when it tries to capture the essence of rock radio, because the inner world of the airwaves is so cloistered off from all but industry insiders. The realities of running a commercial radio station are also about as mundane as -- well, the sound of commercial radio stations. After the morning zoo is done for the day, it's basically just a small office that happens to be connected to a transmitter. With Clear Channel taking over just about every local radio station with a blip, it gets even less interesting. Bill Fitzhugh, a former DJ, knows his stuff all right, and in Radio Activity he reads as if he's trying to impart a well-meant manifesto on what constitutes classic rock, and more specifically classic rock radio, in the context of an amateur private-eye story. It's not as horrible as Jim Ladd's Radio Waves, which spoke with the voice of an audio engineering intern who finished Ayn Rand's Anthem on a lunch break. But it's not a success, although it is a snappy read.
After unemployed journeyman DJ Rick Shannon sells his old vinyl to a Bismarck, North Dakota used record shop, he receives a call from station manager Clay Stubblefield from WAOR in McRae, Mississippi, inviting him to take over for a DJ who's suddenly gone missing. We learn in the second section of the first chapter that the missing DJ, Captain Jack Carter, has been shot and haphazardly buried. Shannon takes the job and relocates to his old home state, only to find that Stubblefield misled him about the job duties: He wants Shannon to be program director and turn the station into a "classic rock" station. Shannon accepts, but since Stubblefield is generally a hands-off manager with far too much going on outside the station, he tries to carve a unique niche for the station, conspiring with the other on-air staff to "redefine classic rock." Less Led Zeppelin, more Nazz is a good way of putting it.
Shannon also gets possession of a dilapidated trailer that used to be Carter's before his mysterious disappearance. This includes a treasure trove of old records that are right up Shannon's alley. But in the book's best in-joke, Shannon discovers a hidden reel-to-reel tape inside the empty box of Chicago's overblown, 4-record live album from 1971, Chicago IV. The tape features a lurid conversation with Stubblefield and an unidentified other man, describing perversions Stubblefield had enjoyed with beauty pageant contestants and associates, and some other snatches that may or may not lay out some sort of illegality. Shannon figures the tape might have something to do with Carter's disappearance and begins playing private detective -- using the alias "Buddy Miles" -- to find out what.
The rest of the book intercuts Shannon's investigation, negotiations with the staff over the classic rock format, and an affair with the much-younger receptionist. All three feel like separate components and never correlate in the way Fitzhugh must have intended.
The radio station reads like an amalgamation of WKRP and the radio station from the lousy flick FM, with overwrought depictions of cliched figures, like the Johnny Fever type who chortles and quotes song lyrics as conversation, or the overnight, aging DJ whose quiet approval is the best accolade anybody at the station can hope for. At first Fitzhugh's obsessive detailing of rock and roll theory is amusing, but before it can become revelatory it's negated by the criminal plot, which never becomes as salacious as we'd like it to be.
Also: A station like WAOR could never happen here, not in a commercial sense. It certainly wouldn't happen in backwoods Mississippi. It sort of happened with Tom Donahue's legendary KSAN in the '60s and '70s, but that was San Francisco and it died out when corporatization took over radio. It's hard to take the radio content seriously when it's obviously being presented as a wish fulfillment on the part of the author. Fitzhugh scores some sentimental points about commercial radio's homogeny and over-reliance on business intelligence, but that's all.
On the positive side, it's a zippy read. I polished it off over one 3-day weekend, so if you're into summertime potboilers it may work for you. There are also enough specific references to artists and songs that one could go back and fashion a pretty good playlist from the citations in this book. But High Fidelity had an arguably better playlist and a much better result integrating the music into the story. Too much of my time with Radio Activity was spent wincing at dialogue for me to hear the music.
After unemployed journeyman DJ Rick Shannon sells his old vinyl to a Bismarck, North Dakota used record shop, he receives a call from station manager Clay Stubblefield from WAOR in McRae, Mississippi, inviting him to take over for a DJ who's suddenly gone missing. We learn in the second section of the first chapter that the missing DJ, Captain Jack Carter, has been shot and haphazardly buried. Shannon takes the job and relocates to his old home state, only to find that Stubblefield misled him about the job duties: He wants Shannon to be program director and turn the station into a "classic rock" station. Shannon accepts, but since Stubblefield is generally a hands-off manager with far too much going on outside the station, he tries to carve a unique niche for the station, conspiring with the other on-air staff to "redefine classic rock." Less Led Zeppelin, more Nazz is a good way of putting it.
Shannon also gets possession of a dilapidated trailer that used to be Carter's before his mysterious disappearance. This includes a treasure trove of old records that are right up Shannon's alley. But in the book's best in-joke, Shannon discovers a hidden reel-to-reel tape inside the empty box of Chicago's overblown, 4-record live album from 1971, Chicago IV. The tape features a lurid conversation with Stubblefield and an unidentified other man, describing perversions Stubblefield had enjoyed with beauty pageant contestants and associates, and some other snatches that may or may not lay out some sort of illegality. Shannon figures the tape might have something to do with Carter's disappearance and begins playing private detective -- using the alias "Buddy Miles" -- to find out what.
The rest of the book intercuts Shannon's investigation, negotiations with the staff over the classic rock format, and an affair with the much-younger receptionist. All three feel like separate components and never correlate in the way Fitzhugh must have intended.
The radio station reads like an amalgamation of WKRP and the radio station from the lousy flick FM, with overwrought depictions of cliched figures, like the Johnny Fever type who chortles and quotes song lyrics as conversation, or the overnight, aging DJ whose quiet approval is the best accolade anybody at the station can hope for. At first Fitzhugh's obsessive detailing of rock and roll theory is amusing, but before it can become revelatory it's negated by the criminal plot, which never becomes as salacious as we'd like it to be.
Also: A station like WAOR could never happen here, not in a commercial sense. It certainly wouldn't happen in backwoods Mississippi. It sort of happened with Tom Donahue's legendary KSAN in the '60s and '70s, but that was San Francisco and it died out when corporatization took over radio. It's hard to take the radio content seriously when it's obviously being presented as a wish fulfillment on the part of the author. Fitzhugh scores some sentimental points about commercial radio's homogeny and over-reliance on business intelligence, but that's all.
On the positive side, it's a zippy read. I polished it off over one 3-day weekend, so if you're into summertime potboilers it may work for you. There are also enough specific references to artists and songs that one could go back and fashion a pretty good playlist from the citations in this book. But High Fidelity had an arguably better playlist and a much better result integrating the music into the story. Too much of my time with Radio Activity was spent wincing at dialogue for me to hear the music.
July 22, 2021
Disc jockey Rick Shannon grew up listening to singles on AM radio but got his first job as a DJ on FM where albums were king. Then KBND-FM, Bismarck, North Dakota was bought out by a conglomerate working to make stations countrywide sound the same.
Rick’s car was on empty and so was his wallet, but he had a valuable stash of LPs. With a job offer from WAOR in McRae, Mississippi, he was on the road south to the home of Central Mississippi University. When he arrived, Clay Stubblefield tells him there’d been a change in job description: instead of night DJ, he was now program director in the mornings. To sway Rick’s decision, Stubbefield drives to the ramshackle trailer made available by the station. It was full of twice the LP collection Rick had. “Captain Jack” Carter was supposed to come back for his belongings, but there’d been no sighting of him lately nor his little red Corvette.
Rick studied Captain Jack’s collection and noticed some reel-to-reel tapes hidden with boxed sets. First one he listened to was Stubbefield talking about some not so legal actions and who did them. The most likely use of this tape was blackmail. The idea of being an amateur detective appealed to Rick, but first he would have to figure out how the references on the tape applied and how he could prove the various illegal actions.
Rick figured the first person to look into was a woman Clay claimed to have had extra-marital sex with. Rick took her for a drink; she tried to take him for a ride. He turned her down; he figured anyone who screwed Clay wasn’t worth his time. Next thing he knew, a very large man was tossing him around his trailer. Seems Captain Jack had an unpaid debt. Rick figured he might be with the banker Clay talked with on the tape. If Captain Jack had followed the blackmail idea, it obviously hadn’t done him any good. If Rick followed his path and found out the Dixie Mafia was involved or some such, he’d be dead. Then again, he wanted to see justice done, especially if Clay Stubblefield was involved. Taking on the identity of private investigator Buddy Miles, Rick follows the clues on the tape, visiting players and checking out arson, murder, small town cops, conspiracy, fraud, blackmail, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. What he needed was lawyers, guns, and money.
Anyone deep into classic rock will totally appreciate the names of singers, albums, songs, concerts, relationships, and just about anything associated with the rockers themselves. The amount of research that went into RADIO ACTIVITY is phenomenal. Bill Fitzhugh started young in music. In high school he “wrote and narrated a series of radio programs tracing the history of various rock and roll bands.” He worked at several radio stations where those programs aired.
Bill Fitzhugh has a way of making something ordinary into something extraordinary, twisting it a bit, adding an illegal or immoral slant to it, and then tossing in humor til some sort of justice is reached at the ending. Maybe his books are alike after all. They’re like a good set on the radio. You know the kind, when one song flows so well into another. I’ll leave Rick’s last request up to your imagination.
Rick’s car was on empty and so was his wallet, but he had a valuable stash of LPs. With a job offer from WAOR in McRae, Mississippi, he was on the road south to the home of Central Mississippi University. When he arrived, Clay Stubblefield tells him there’d been a change in job description: instead of night DJ, he was now program director in the mornings. To sway Rick’s decision, Stubbefield drives to the ramshackle trailer made available by the station. It was full of twice the LP collection Rick had. “Captain Jack” Carter was supposed to come back for his belongings, but there’d been no sighting of him lately nor his little red Corvette.
Rick studied Captain Jack’s collection and noticed some reel-to-reel tapes hidden with boxed sets. First one he listened to was Stubbefield talking about some not so legal actions and who did them. The most likely use of this tape was blackmail. The idea of being an amateur detective appealed to Rick, but first he would have to figure out how the references on the tape applied and how he could prove the various illegal actions.
Rick figured the first person to look into was a woman Clay claimed to have had extra-marital sex with. Rick took her for a drink; she tried to take him for a ride. He turned her down; he figured anyone who screwed Clay wasn’t worth his time. Next thing he knew, a very large man was tossing him around his trailer. Seems Captain Jack had an unpaid debt. Rick figured he might be with the banker Clay talked with on the tape. If Captain Jack had followed the blackmail idea, it obviously hadn’t done him any good. If Rick followed his path and found out the Dixie Mafia was involved or some such, he’d be dead. Then again, he wanted to see justice done, especially if Clay Stubblefield was involved. Taking on the identity of private investigator Buddy Miles, Rick follows the clues on the tape, visiting players and checking out arson, murder, small town cops, conspiracy, fraud, blackmail, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. What he needed was lawyers, guns, and money.
Anyone deep into classic rock will totally appreciate the names of singers, albums, songs, concerts, relationships, and just about anything associated with the rockers themselves. The amount of research that went into RADIO ACTIVITY is phenomenal. Bill Fitzhugh started young in music. In high school he “wrote and narrated a series of radio programs tracing the history of various rock and roll bands.” He worked at several radio stations where those programs aired.
Bill Fitzhugh has a way of making something ordinary into something extraordinary, twisting it a bit, adding an illegal or immoral slant to it, and then tossing in humor til some sort of justice is reached at the ending. Maybe his books are alike after all. They’re like a good set on the radio. You know the kind, when one song flows so well into another. I’ll leave Rick’s last request up to your imagination.
December 31, 2021
I've read a few books by Bill Fitzhugh, and I've enjoyed them all. They are light, enjoyable, entertaining, and funny, and this one was no exception. I have to admit, the classic rock bits got a little old for me, but if you were into classic rock, you'd probably really like that aspect of the book and know more than half the songs mentioned.
My one nitpick is why oh why did the receptionist have to be in her 20s? Rick was described to be middle aged, so I mean, couldn't the love interest be somewhat age-appropriate? Besides, Traci spoke and acted like someone older anyway, so just make her late 30s. See? Automatically less icky.
That said, I still enjoyed it! And I'd recommend it if you were looking for something light and funny with good banter. The banter was great. And.....if you didn't mind a middle-aged dude hooking up with a 20-something year old and solving a mystery with like, no wrong guesses or anything.
Thanks NetGalley for the reading copy!
My one nitpick is why oh why did the receptionist have to be in her 20s? Rick was described to be middle aged, so I mean, couldn't the love interest be somewhat age-appropriate? Besides, Traci spoke and acted like someone older anyway, so just make her late 30s. See? Automatically less icky.
That said, I still enjoyed it! And I'd recommend it if you were looking for something light and funny with good banter. The banter was great. And.....if you didn't mind a middle-aged dude hooking up with a 20-something year old and solving a mystery with like, no wrong guesses or anything.
Thanks NetGalley for the reading copy!
December 19, 2021
What a fun book!
Fm DJ Rick Shannon is living the life his career has created for him, traveling from city to city, station to station, playing music until the next format change sends him on the road again. This time he ends up in small town Mississippi where he stumbles on a lost tape that he can't help investigating. Before you know it, he's surrounded by corruption, greed, and possibly his very own "Last Waltz."
It's a fun romp, Fitzhugh always makes me laugh and once again, the plot moves along at a good pace and there's even a little romantic tension.
And if Rick Shannon were a real person, I'd give him access to my Spotify account so he could curate my playlists, the songs referenced along the way brought back some fun memories
As always, a big thank you to Net Galley and Farrago books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Fm DJ Rick Shannon is living the life his career has created for him, traveling from city to city, station to station, playing music until the next format change sends him on the road again. This time he ends up in small town Mississippi where he stumbles on a lost tape that he can't help investigating. Before you know it, he's surrounded by corruption, greed, and possibly his very own "Last Waltz."
It's a fun romp, Fitzhugh always makes me laugh and once again, the plot moves along at a good pace and there's even a little romantic tension.
And if Rick Shannon were a real person, I'd give him access to my Spotify account so he could curate my playlists, the songs referenced along the way brought back some fun memories
As always, a big thank you to Net Galley and Farrago books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
January 29, 2022
A hilarious fictional journey through Dixie with a large cast of oddballs and larger than life weirdos, lots of verbal pyrotechnics and laughing out loud situations, welcome to
the dysfunctional world of Fitzhugh, one of the best voices in comical fiction and one of my favorite literary addictions (sadly, an incurable one as far as I'm concerned👍)
So don't wait, take a dive into the looniest fictional pool ever and let yourself go totally bonkers!
Many thanks to Netgalley and Farrago for this terrific ARC
the dysfunctional world of Fitzhugh, one of the best voices in comical fiction and one of my favorite literary addictions (sadly, an incurable one as far as I'm concerned👍)
So don't wait, take a dive into the looniest fictional pool ever and let yourself go totally bonkers!
Many thanks to Netgalley and Farrago for this terrific ARC
March 21, 2020
This was an okay murder mystery book, made more fun by all the classic rock references, although I suspect you have to be a guy of a certain age who grew up on classic rock to really appreciate it. I liked it, but then I am a guy of a certain age who grew up on classic rock.
August 28, 2007
i loved the main characters definition of classic rock and his music commentary. decent story line
January 12, 2009
Decent comic novel about FM Disc Jockey turned private eye. Fast read with some laughs. Will look for others by him.
April 16, 2009
It was a murder mystery thing. It was all right. Gave me perspective on how radio djs live but ya know whatever.
April 4, 2012
Easy going take on the detective novel
May 24, 2013
I have enjoyed Fitzhugh books, usually funny and entertaining. Someone said this is a good beach read, and that kind of sums it up. Weak ending, interesting music history, so so plot, eh...
December 11, 2013
Great music trivia, good story
November 21, 2015
This is really a 3.5. The mystery was so so, if you're a mystery fan. But the music trivia was amazing. Thinking about radios and playlists and genre choices caught my attention.
February 17, 2016
lots of fun rock and roll history; not much plot.
September 21, 2019
Good characters, believeable, but still kinda just another murder mystery... develops along familiar lines. Well done, but nothing very new or different about it.
October 22, 2023
Fun. Murder, mayhem, serious humor.
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