30+ Years of Pagan Radio

Murphy’s Magic Mess airs live on Sundays at 9 am CT from the studios at KZUM-Lincoln/KZUM-HD in Lincoln, NE. For over 30 years, one Pagan content radio program or another has aired on KZUM. Starting in 1987 with Cindy Clardy and continuing on to Nadine “Mama Dragon,” “Murf” Murphy in 1994. The current host, Phil Kessler – hey, that’s me! -, joined the show in January 2009 and has been filling the role of the main host since COVID-19 interrupted all our lives in March 2020.

A short tale from the original host: Cindy Clardy

I hosted The Spiral Dance alternative spirituality program on KZUM prior to the existence of Murphy’s Magic Mess. Every Sunday for seven years 1987-1994, The Spiral Dance covered women’s spirituality, secular humanism, Native American and Wiccan traditions. 

During those years, […] Murphy was one of several friends who helped out during KZUM’s biannual [fund drive] programs and sometimes even designed t-shirts for supporters. She and I had been friends for many years, sometimes carpooling to the Heartland Pagan Festival together with other friends. When I accepted a job offer from Ford Motor Company and knew I would be moving away from Nebraska, I wanted to ensure that the general type of alternative spirituality program that I hosted every Sunday morning would continue. 

I asked Nadine if she would be interested in training to get her FCC license and taking over my time slot on KZUM. She said yes. So I trained her and she got her FCC license. 

Much of the music that I played on The Spiral Dance belonged to me personally rather than to the radio station. I showed her what the station had, but didn’t give her my own music that I had purchased myself over the years. By that time vinyl albums and audiotapes were being phased out by CDs but the radio station was set up for all three, as well as occasional live performers. I told her that she could try to get artists to donate their music to the station, but that she would likely need to buy some on her own as well. 

Programmers don’t get paid. Being a programmer is both a time and financial commitment, a labor of love. Thus when I moved to the greater Detroit area in 1994, Nadine took over my old time slot on KZUM, and Murphy’s Magic Mess was born. I’ve visited the new station a few times since then when I was visiting family in Lincoln, met Phil, donated during [fund drives], sometimes tun[ing] in on my laptop, etc.

In the House of Mama Dragon

My own experience with the Mess began back in 1994, around the time that Cindy handed the controls over to Murf. I was 14 and had met some of the Pagan and Witchy community in the Lincoln area. One of which introduced me to KZUM and the joys of independent and community radio. I remember sitting with a tape recorder pressed against the speakers of my boombox to record some of my favorite songs from the show.

I missed the first major blunder of Murf’s tenure with KZUM. The studio at the Terminal Building in downtown Lincoln was somewhat archaic – all volunteer, community funded – and there was this mysterious red button on the boards. Dale Bacon, who hosted Mystic’s Dream (a new age music program), had trained Murf on the equipment but neglected to warn her “do not hit that button!” She did. And turned the entire station off. No on-air broadcast. The tower was down! If that’s the worst that happened with Murf in studio, then we can say she had a very successful 25 years on the air.

In November of 2008, my friend Kaedrich Olsen was touring his first book, Runes for Transformation: Using Ancient Symbols to Change Your Life, and I arranged for him to do a phone interview with Scott Colborn of Exploring Unexplained Phenomena (the world’s oldest and longest-running radio program centered on the paranormal) and an in-studio interview with Murf on the Mess. For some unknown reason, Murf liked my voice and radio presence. That following January, she invited me to become one of her “minions” on the show. The rest, as they say, is history…

A Mess of Magic Minions

I joined the show and eagerly became one of the three minions with Edd Baye and Damon Magnuson. Edd married and moved out of state soon after while Damon remained on the show for a couple more years. He was replaced by Corwin Watts who later became my co-host on Lavender Hill (Sundays at 11am CT). We were not the first of Murf’s minions.

Over the years, Murf has been joined on air by a number of co-hosts and minions, including Dizard the Wizard, Teddi Castillo, *K8 (who now hosts The Mystery Spot on Monday mornings and formerly hosted the Polka Show as the Polka Goddess), and several regular guests such as Phr3ed, Rev. Crow, and more. She has also been joined by a number of special musical guests. Leigh Anne Hussey was one of her last prior to Kaedrich’s visit in 2008. Leigh Anne visited only weeks before her tragic motorcycle accident.

Remember that red button blunder in the early years? That was the worst on-air incident to befall the show, but it wasn’t the worst thing to happen to KZUM. One cold December morning, Murf, Corwin, and I were on air doing our thing when we saw smoke drifting by the 10th-floor studio windows. We peered out and down to see numerous emergency vehicles and firetrucks right outside the Terminal Building. The emergency crews had no clue that anyone was in the building, so they hadn’t called to evacuate us. They noticed us looking down and finally figured out how to call the studio line and ordered us to leave.

Imagine, a 60-year old woman with bad knees trying to go down ten flights of stairs… “Just go, I’ll get down or I won’t,” she said. Corwin and I stayed with her the whole way. It was more dangerous leaving the building than it had been staying inside as there was a solid sheet of ice on the ground from the firetrucks and three-foot-long icicles hanging from the power lines.

What caused the fire and evacuation? One of the neighboring businesses, an adult video store, had caught fire in their equipment room (cough, cough). Needless to say, that is one Sunday morning none of us will ever forget!

Murphy’s Magic Mess Today and Tomorrow

The Mess has provided an outlet and a sense of community for the Lincoln, NE area (and beyond) Pagans for nearly three decades, hosting conversations for the Order of the Red Grail, Church of Transformational Wicca- ATC, the Pagan Alliance Network, and a venue for news and information for the Pagans who listen to the show on a regular basis. Murf has attended Heartland Pagan Festival and networked with Pagans and musicians from across the country. Murphy’s Magic Mess is included in a sidebar note in the book Wicca for Dummies and has inspired numerous other radio and podcast programs over the years. My own Pagan-Musings Podcast and Deirdre Hebert’s PaganFM being examples.

One of the additions that I have made to the show is a series of Ritual Soundtracks to celebrate the Sabbats. A series of playlists that put the ritual and spirit (we hope) of the Sabbat and the times to music. The playlists begin with a short mood-setting with new age instrumentals before leading into a spoken introduction and the ritual itself. These Ritual Soundtracks, which I hope to detail for you in the future, are a means of helping those who are isolated due to COVID, lack of physical community, or are solitary to have a sense of community and ritual participation.

In the years of COVID-19, Murf has stepped back from the microphone and allowed me to take the boards. It is my hope that I will continue to provide a resource to the local and global Pagan and like-minded communities for many years to come.

How To Listen

You can tune in live every Sunday morning at 9am CT at the KZUM website, in the Lincoln area at 89.3FM, on your favorite mobile listening app, or in archives up to two weeks after the original broadcast date by visiting the KZUM archives. Drop me a note on our Facebook page or send emails through the KZUM music department.

For more information about Phil, including his collected articles here on Pagan Song, his bio, and links to Phil’s sites on the web, check out Phil’s page here on Pagan Song.