In protest of the layoffs of two beloved disc jockeys, employees of Vancouver's KiSS-FM radio station 104.9 has chosen a particularly brash way to hit back: They played Rage Against the Machine's 1992 protest song "Killing in the Name" on a nonstop loop for over 24 hours.
One of the affected DJs, Kevin Lim, alerted the public to his and fellow DJ Sonia Sidhu's situation in a tweet: "KiSS is changing and unfortunately we were informed we won't be part of this new chapter. Although this comes with mixed emotions, we want to express one overwhelming feeling: gratitude. First and foremost, thank YOU...our loyal listeners and now friends. We are so incredibly grateful for everyone who shared their mornings with us and invited us into their lives through the radio and our podcast. We've never taken you for granted."
The looped track has been altered to reflect its current use, with singer Zack de la Rocha's infamous grunts right before the "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" line overdubbed and replaced by one DJ saying to another, "A little lower… close enough." While obviously the "fuck you" has been edited out, the sentiment shines through clearly.
There have been a handful of pauses during the sonic protest, but only to play call-in requests before immediately launching into – you guessed it – "Killing in the Name."
More support arrived for the laid-off DJs when, on Wednesday morning, Rage guitarist Tom Morello retweeted a fan saying: "A pop radio station in Vancouver laid off all of their staff yesterday. Whoever is on the controls this morning has been playing Killing In The Name Of [sic] on repeat since 6 am (it's now 9:30)... It's beautiful."
