San Francisco United Film Festival 2009

In 1960, Congress held "payola" hearings to target the deejays guilty of breaking down economic and racial barriers. Program director and radio consultants took control. Rock radio became bland and predictable, until a new wave of deejays set up shop on the FM dial. "Top 40 is dead," declared Tom Donahue in San Francisco. "And its rotting corpse is stinking up the airwaves." Bands like the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane ignited a cultural revolution until FM, too, was silenced by FCC intimidation and corporate greed. "Airplay" pays tribute to those unsung heroes of FM, and the promise of a rebirth on satellite radio, told by the deejays and the artists they made rock stars.

*Appearances by David Crosby, Grace Slick, and radio personality Casey Casem.