‘Runaway Radio’ screening at River Oaks Theatre 10-28-24

September 18, 2024

“Runaway Radio,” the 101 KLOL documentary, screened at the River Oaks Theatre on October 28, 2024, at 7pm with a cast and crew Q&A to a near sell-out of the 249 seats!

101 KLOL lovers got to see a film about a legendary Houston institution at a legendary Houston institution!

FavoriteRadioShirts.com even threw out KLOL t-shirts!

Dayna Steele, Lanny Griffith, Brian Shannon from Stevens & Pruett, Grego, Pat Fant, Doug Harris, Dr. Betty Halpern, Jay Jones, and director Mike McGuff all appeared on stage with Michael Garfield, the High Tech Texan, as host.

Some VIPs in attendance included Texas State Senator Carol Alvarado and former 104.1 KRBE morning show host Maria Todd.

“My very first ‘date’ was Brett Closs’ 7th birthday party with my crush Dale Clark, and we all went to see Fantasia at the River Oaks Theatre,” Steele said.

“Can’t wait to experience more cinematic memories in the theatre that already holds so many for me,” Harris said. “From the classics to eccentric oddities like the Blair Witch Project to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, this place has always felt like home for me. Welcome (back) to the neighborhood!”

“This screening means so much to me since my love of cinema grew at River Oaks Theatre,” McGuff said. “My first memory of the theater was seeing ‘Clerks’ there when it was released. Many of my weekends were spent seeing independent films there.”

The rock music/radio documentary features interviews with Dusty Hill (ZZ Top), Lyle Lovett, Sammy Hagar (Solo, Van Halen, Montrose, The Circle), Melissa Etheridge (singer-songwriter), Doug Pinnick (King’s X, KXM) and Carmine Appice (Ozzy Osbourne, Vanilla Fudge, Rod Stewart, King Kobra) and the KLOL crew. READ MORE

We were honored to be one of the first films screened since the River Oaks Theatre’s reopening in early October.

Culturemap has photos of what the Rive Oaks Theatre upgrades look like.

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“With Runaway Radio director Mike McGuff has created a raucous rock and roll documentary about the iconic Houston Album-Oriented-Rock (AOR) radio station 101 KLOL. It started in 1970 as a progressive rock station, where DJs played what they liked. It grew into a national phenomenon that was revered and copied widely.”

– Bradley Gibson, Film Threat

“‘Runaway Radio,’ a documentary celebrating the wild and woozy heyday of the pioneering local rock radio station KLOL-FM. On the air from 1970 to 2004, KLOL transformed over its life from shaggy, free-form anarchy to loudmouth, shock-jock insanity, all the while providing the guitar-heavy soundtrack for a couple of generations of head-banging Houstonians.”

– Cary Darling, Houston Chronicle

“Freedom is a theme that comes up frequently in Runaway Radio, a film produced and directed by Houston media blogger Mike McGuff. KLOL broke damn near every rule that had previously governed FM radio, raising a middle finger to local blue noses and keepers of decency for over thirty years. Meantime, KLOL was generating huge ratings and even bigger profits as one of the most successful rock and roll stations in the country. We’re talking powerhouse. The Big Kahuna. King Kong.”

– Tom Richards, Houston Press

“The writer-director keeps the documentary moving at a swift pace while cramming a substantial amount of information in the 83-minute running time making this a must-see for rock fans.”

– Joe Friar, Fort Worth Report

“There are celebrity testimonials to KLOL from artists who actually had a close relationship with the station, and don’t feel forced in as they do in some artist docs. Some are no-brainers (ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, Sammy Hagar), but some come from outside the dominant era of Album Rock radio (Lyle Lovett, who grew up with the station, and Melissa Etheridge, who somehow ended up in a prank war with legendary host Dayna Steele.) But Runaway Radio — the title comes from a KLOL logo featuring a scampering radio with legs –also gives voice to a wide swath of managers, programmers, and DJs from the station’s 1970-2004 history. As the radio-station documentary becomes a sub-genre unto itself, McGuff serves by doing what the best radio columnists did: finding a way to speak both to industry people and rock-radio fans.”

– Ross on Radio (radioINSIGHT)