Dare to Be Different
“The story of the most influential radio station in America”
Synopsis
U2, Talking Heads, Depeche Mode, Blondie, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears, The Clash, The Cure: Over half a billion records sold but you may never have heard of them if not for a small suburban radio station on Long Island, NY: WLIR. In August, 1982, a small group of radio visionaries knew they couldn't compete with the mega-stations in New York City. With one brave decision, they changed the sound of radio forever. Program Director Denis McNamara, the 'LIR crew and the biggest artists of the era tell the story of how they battled the FCC, the record labels, mega-radio and all the conventional rules to create a musical movement that brought the New Wave to America.
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Principal cast & crew: 15
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
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This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Allan HolzmanShot by Greg Daniels
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Cast & Crew
15 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Nancy Abramson
as Self - WLIR - DJ
M King Adkins
as Self
Ron Alexenburg
as Self - Record Executive
Sam Ash
as Self - Owner, Sam Ash Music
Tom Bailey
as Self - Lead Singer, The Thompson Twins
Ivan Baker
as Self - Ivan Ivan - producer, manager, executive, DJ
Jeff Beck
as DJ
Eric Bloom
as Self - Lead Singer, Blue Oyster Cult
Delphine Blue
as Self - WLIR - DJ
Dj Byrd
as Self
Directors
1Writers
1Producers
2Other crew
2Parents Guide
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