KLSU Specialty Shows are aimed at specific target demographics, but the Rusty Cage–a hard rock and heavy metal program Tuesdays from 9 p.m. until 11 p.m.–has a truly captive audience. Disc Jockeys Derek “Dirty D” Elkins and Shelley “Pink” Teer received several fan letters from inmates at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel this year.
“Even before I started doing the ‘Cage,’ I would go through the DJ’s stuff ’cause I wanted to listen to their CDs, and I found a bunch of prison mail,” Elkins said. “So I knew a big bulk of the fans were inmates.”
Helming the Rusty Cage since February, Elkins says he was horrified before opening his first letter from Hunt.
“I was scared at first, but it was so long and so well-written I had to read it three more times to figure out exactly what he was saying,” Elkins said. “I was really happy they were listening, but I don’t think this guy likes me.”
The guy in question is M.G. Autrey who penned letters to KLSU on June 3 and June 24. Co-signed by 17 fellow inmates, the verbose notes pledge allegiance to the Rusty Cage–calling it “le spectacle sans pareil”–and including song requests for the show.
“In ‘The Odd Couple’ tradition, both of you microphone mavens provide an interesting contrast in character: ‘Pink,’ the charming young lady is an erudite Eurocentrist, while ‘Dirty D,’ the semi-obnoxious guy, is an unrefined and self-confessed ablutophobe,” Autrey writes. “Not exactly Regis and Kathy Lee (thank the gods), but entertaining none the less.”
Autrey says he has been a faithful Rusty Cage listener, along with a majority of those incarcerated at Hunt, since 1996. But signing his initial letter as “Audiophile’s angst,” he denounced KLSU’s decisions to shorten the Rusty Cage’s show time from three hours to two and to replace the Rusty Cage’s similarly rocking follow-up, Discombobulated, with the reggae-inflected Chicken & Waffles.
“Tuesday night’s jump-shift from the Cage to the Waffles didn’t mix demographics, it starkly contrasted them,” Autrey writes. “All of the guys either changed stations or went to bed once they heard what Waffles had to offer.”
Autrey went on to say he likes some reggae music like Steel Pulse and Fishbone but feels the genre would be better served broadcast in another time slot. Elkins says KLSU is starting a punk show for the Spring semester and hopes it will be scheduled to follow the Rusty Cage.
“The thought never crossed my mind to him write back, but on-air we’ll say, ‘This song’s going out to M.G. Autrey,” Elkins said. “And of course for the prison night, we kept saying ‘This one’s for the inmates at Hunt’s.'”
Elkin’s says what most surprised him by the inmates’ play list was a welcome lack of “death metal.”
“A misconception is that all they want to hear is stuff about eating cats and killing babies, which just isn’t true,” Elkins said.
What’s most evident from Autrey’s letters is the sincerity of enjoyment these inmates receive listening to their favorite music for two hours each week.
“All this has changed a lot of my misconceptions about prisoners,” Elkins said. “I’ve never been involved with anything that touched people before. I actually appreciate them listening.”