Bonus Article - Bobby Watman: The Sirius XM DJ for the People Raised on Radio

I recently sat down with Bobby Watman to talk about his career as a purveyor of 70s music and pop culture and to discuss his current gig as a weekend DJ on Sirius XM Channel 7.

There’s a certain kind of youth that didn't come with a screen or a playlist. It came with a dial. A radio dial. You didn’t choose what you heard unless you were lucky enough to get your request on the air. If you missed the beginning of your favorite song, you would just have to wait until it rolled around again. The heartbeat of it all was the DJs, our first influencers before anyone used that word. If you were raised on radio, listening to “70s on 7” on Sirius XM Channel 7 can feel a bit like going back in time, not just because of the songs, but because of the DJs. They embrace a decade that many have written off as nothing more than a lot of disco (what's wrong with that, anyway?) and cheesy pop songs. They have a throwback vibe and none rock that vibe more than Bobby Watman.

Watman looks the part with his aviator sunglasses and a haircut that is vaguely reminiscent of teen idol Bobby Sherman. He sounds the part, too, with a radio voice that is straight out of 1976. Still, Watman has not been in radio for long and he was quick to tell me that his gig at Sirius XM is a "hobby" more than a career. Watman began making a living tapping into the nostalgia for the music and pop culture of the 70s when he was just 28 years old, long before the first broadcast of satellite radio. In New York in the early 1990s, he opened the first in a series of 70s-themed clubs that were scattered across the United States. There you could dine under a larger than life painting of Farrah Fawcett or play the Mork and Mindy board game after dessert. With a wink and a nod to the era's favorite leisure suit fabric, the clubs were called Polly Esther’s. 

Sirius XM DJ and host of "Polyester Fiesta" Bobby Watman

That name -- and the energy -- has been revived in Watman's signature Saturday night show on Sirius XM, "Polyester Fiesta." Do you want to hear Terry Jacks' mournful “Seasons in the Sun?” Looking for "Cats in the Cradle," Harry Chapin’s #1 hit lamenting how fathers were too busy for their sons...and then the sons became too busy for their fathers? Then "Polyester Fiesta" is not the show for you. Watman is very clear that he does not like the sad songs of the 70s. You can (thankfully) forget "Disco Duck," too because he is also no fan of novelty hits. On the other hand, if you need some disco and upbeat R&B and soul, then you have found your Saturday night radio home. It is no publicity ploy, either. When asked about the “Disco Sucks” movement of the late 70s, Watman emphatically said, “I hated that.” 

In the era of streaming service algorithms choosing playlists, the fact that Watman is able to program about 80% of the playlists for his shifts definitely harkens back to a bygone era. Of course, a lot of the songs he plays now were climbing the Billboard charts when he was still in elementary school. As someone who remembers my mother's favorite radio stations being a constant presence in my house and car when I was growing up in the 70s, I couldn't help but wonder where Watman got his love for 70s music. The answer was simple: his older siblings. He absorbed the music that they loved and developed his own appreciation for it.

Watman isn't completely stuck in the 70s. He has some appreciation for modern music, too. He likes Doja Cat; listen closely and you can hear a bit of 70s funk influence in some of her songs. Still, Watman maintains that Elvis Presley is one of the greatest entertainers of all time and not just the 50s rock idol or the 60s star of numerous movies featuring lead characters with names like Chad and Rusty. Watman is a fan of the Elvis of the early 70s, who was in “top fighting shape,” as Watman puts it. 

As fun as "Polyester Fiesta" is for Saturday night listening, tuning in on an easy Sunday night can fulfill a different need. His show has the feel of a time when the radio served as a companion. If you have ever had the radio on in the background when you were making dinner, folding laundry, or just sitting on the porch with no particular plan at all, you will recognize that companion. Listen to Watman's show and you will hear the hits, of course. "We have to play it all," he said. Between the songs you will get a liberal dose of music trivia or stories from Watman's past. Like any 70s DJ worth his salt, Watman does take requests. Hopefully Barry Gibb fan, Charles, and his wife were listening when Watman played “How Deep is Your Love” for her. And then who follows Bobby Watman on Sunday nights? Who else? Casey Kasem and the iconic American Top 40, a perfect cap to a listening experience that is a throwback to a time when the music you loved could find you, you didn't have to try to find it. All you had to do was turn the dial.