WZZQ used to take songs only being played in places like New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco and bring them to listeners in central Mississippi, introducing people to types of music they may have otherwise never heard. Now, the defunct station’s legendary story of being the first local freeform dial of its kind will be brought to those same large markets but in the form of a movie.
WZZQ the Movie debuted last May by Mississippi Public Broadcasting, drawing hundreds of 1970s rockheads to a premiere event in Jackson. In the year since, thousands more have tuned in through MPB TV and its online streaming service.
Director Ann Ford revealed this week that numbers have been so impressive and the story of the station has resonated so well with not only former listeners but music-lovers who weren’t even alive during WZZQ’s run that American Public Television has decided to air the movie across the U.S.
“We have some good news,” Ford said, smiling. “American Public Television, which is the distributor that works with public television stations across the country, has picked up ‘WZZQ the Movie.’ Starting in August, it will be available on public television stations from coast to coast.”
The hourlong documentary dives into WZZQ’s unconventional style that included eccentric personalities bringing puns, poems, and plenty of deep cuts to the air waves. It also highlights the station’s rise throughout the 1970s before its final subjection to mass market radio in 1981.
Ford, who spent five years making the movie that includes first-person interviews with WZZQ legends such as Sergio Fernandez, Bill Ellison, Curtis “Sebastian” Jones, Perez Hodge, and Randy Bell, said while the film has a local spin to it, there’s a lot within that will resonate with people who grew up in different parts of the country listening to different yet similar stations.
“I think if you loved a radio station that is no longer, you will find a lot to relate to,” she said. “You will hear it and be reminded of the station that you loved and changed your life. WZZQ, as fantastic as it was, was happening all over the country. And that’s a story that deserves its own documentary. But for me, I think if you watch ‘WZZQ the Movie,’ you’re going to feel it even if you didn’t listen to those call letters.”
Beginning in August, WZZQ the Movie will be open to syndication in all U.S. markets. Ford said two-thirds of American Public Television’s affiliates have already agreed to air it, but it wouldn’t hurt for those who don’t live in Mississippi and want to see the movie on their TVs at home to contact their public television affiliate and ask for it to be aired.
