“Steel Belted Radio”

In August of 1997, I was at a radio station in Calgary promoting our new song, “Rattle The Cage.” 

While on the air, the D.J. and I were laughing it up, going back and forth. 

Lots of fun. 

He played the song. 

“Alright, that was ‘Rattle The Cage’ by the Mike Plume Band.”

We were on a commercial break and I was packing up to leave when the D.J. said, “Man, I love that song. It’s too bad we can’t play it, but I like it. It’s a good song, man.” 

I could never figure out how or why or who decided what songs got played and what songs didn’t. 

So I asked him.

“Mike, I’m gonna tell you something that young bands like you guys NEED to hear. Something you NEED to understand. You won’t wanna hear it, but it’s the truth. We get paid to play commercials. Not songs. Commercials. So if we played your song instead of a song by a well-known band, we’d lose money. Hand over fist. People would change the channel if we played your song instead of “You Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC. It’s harsh, but it’s true.” 

He’s right. 

Harsh but true. 

It was a lesson that I needed to learn. 

It was a lesson I’ve learned. 

A couple of months later, in October of 1997, we were in Wakefield for our second ever show at the Blacksheep Inn. 

That afternoon, while we were setting up our gear, somehow the topic of vehicle maintenance bubbled up. 

“Man, when we get home, we’re gonna need to get some new tires for the van before the winter blows in mean and ugly.” 

“Yeah, Mikey. Good idea.”

“Yeah, get some brand new all-season steel-belted radials.” 

But instead of saying “radial” by mistake, I said “radio.” 

Steel Belted Radio. 

Instantly I knew that was a song I had to write. 

After soundcheck, I grabbed my lyric book from my backpack, wrote “Steel Belted Radio” at the top of the page, and dated it October 10th. 

Later that night, after the show, I enjoyed a beer with some friends (Grant, Sheena and Mimi).

I told them about the song idea I’d come up with that afternoon. 

I picked up my guitar and sang, “I dreamed I turned on my steel-belted radio and heard all the songs that you don’t hear on your normal radio…” 

That was it. 

I put the guitar away and had another beer. 

A month later, I was back in Edmonton. 

On November 10th, I pulled out my guitar and spent some time fine-tuning songs. 

As I was leafing through my lyric book, I stumbled onto “Steel Belted Radio.” 

I remembered that it started in on the D chord. 

Then I recalled the conversation that I had with the D.J. back in August. 

An hour later, the song was done. 

The song is weird. 

Peculiar. 

But it works. 

It works like a hot damn. 

Mike Plume 

November 10th, 2021