Radio Station Goes Rogue By Playing Rage Against The Machine On Loop

A Canadian radio station has reportedly attempted to take the power back, protesting format changes by switching to an all-Rage Against The Machine playlist for the day. As Rolling Stone reports, the initial decision was met with mystification across the board, with listeners tuning in from around the world to witness the incident.

The saga began on Wednesday morning when Vancouver’s KiSS RADiO 104.9 FM, traditionally a soft rock station, diverged from its regular programming to play the radio edit of Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’. The track, known for its brutal takedown of racism within law enforcement, is famous for the repeated line, “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me.”

The single song playlist continued for hours

A soft-rock station in Vancouver has been playing "Killing In the Name Of" by Rage Against the Machine for hours on a loop.

Whenever someone calls in for a request, they deny it and replay the Rage song again. https://t.co/r2yhK0qTSi

— Tracey Lindeman (@traceylindeman) June 29, 2022

The incident was first met with bemusement, but confusion began to spread when listeners attempted to find out more. Reportedly, those who called into the station to request a song (or to request a shift away from Rage Against The Machine) were swiftly ignored, and the single-song playlist continued for hours.

(WATCH) For everyone asking, here's our final goodbye announcement on KiSS RADiO where we explain what happened and what's next for us.

Thank you for your outpouring of support over the past day. It means the world. ⁦@KevinLimOnAir⁩ https://t.co/asU9xHlSAa

— Sonia Sidhu (@Sonia_Sidhu) June 29, 2022

@RATM @tmorello 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 on repeat since 6am (it's now 9:30). @KevinLimOnAir @Sonia_Sidhu It's beautiful. pic.twitter.com/kXi9BLKWb0

— CDJ (@RR7349) June 29, 2022

Even Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello responded to the spectacle, taking to Twitter to retweet a recap of the incident. “A pop radio station in Vancouver laid off all of their staff yesterday,” the post read. “Whoever is on the controls this morning has been playing Killing In The Name Of on repeat since 6am (it’s now 9:30).”

As time went on, the reason was ostensibly made clear. In a post shared to Facebook on Tuesday morning, hosts of KiSS RADiO’s Mornings program – Kevin Lim and Sonia Sidhu – revealed that due to “changes” at the station, they would be parting ways after five years of service.

“KiSS is changing and unfortunately we were informed that we won’t be part of this new chapter,” the post read. “We are so incredibly thankful 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.”

Rage Against The Machine – ‘Killing In The Name’

Since the incident went viral, it’s been speculated that the playlist change was in line with the age-old tradition of “stunting”, which aims to either protest or signify a change in broadcasting measures. Famously, a similar incident occurred in Australia back in 1990 when, after being told to stop playing N.W.A.’s ‘Fuck The Police’, triple j instead broadcast the group’s ‘Express Yourself’ in protest for 24 hours.

However, as reports have since clarified, the KiSS incident wasn’t caused by a rogue employee taking control of the playlist. Rather, the station itself was doing the stunting, with the announcement now made that the station has rebranded to the alternative rock-oriented SONiC RADiO.