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The Friday Ripple: Waking up expats with a jolt

DJ Craig Duncan kicks off the weekend bending brains and ears

By James Scanlon
For The Prague Post
May 16th, 2007 issue

Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
Duncan goes on the air early to administer "a shock to the system."
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Friday mornings will never be the same now that “The Friday Ripple” has taken over the airwaves of Český rozhlas’ Radio Wave (100.7 FM). Dishing up a brew of hip-hop, electronica and rock interspersed with wacky competitions, movie tips and “weird news,” disc jockey Craig Duncan’s goal is to bring the weekend forward — to 6 a.m. Friday morning, to be precise.
“That’s a shock to the system,” Duncan admits. “The idea is to start the weekend early, and a half-liter of coffee helps get me through it. Instead of waking up at 6 or 7 thinking, ‘Oh god, I’ve got to go to school or work,’ you can wake up to the most banging, in-your-face music to create the feeling that the weekend is almost here.”
Duncan was brought up in Castle Douglas, Scotland. After graduating in law from Aberdeen University, he was hit by the travel bug, which took him to China and then Poland, where he undertook brief stints teaching English.
He arrived in Prague just before the disastrous floods of 2002, and first installed himself at the ill-fated Prague Pill, writing music features and offering legal advice. After it folded, he moved on to the British Council’s Zpravodaj Britské rady magazine, where he wasn’t very happy.
“I put in a business plan to overhaul it,” he says. “In fact, I spent the best part of a year trying to persuade the British Council to let me kill it.” Instead, he helped convert the magazine into Link, which was more in line with his interests in music, theater and film.
He took on an even bigger challenge recently when, upon hearing of Radio Wave’s tentative plans for a string of new early-morning shows, he delivered his big ideas to the station’s bosses. “I had only previously done some campus radio work in Aberdeen,” Duncan says. “But I knew they wanted to do an English-language show as part of being a young international station.”
The result is “The Friday Ripple,” of which Duncan comes off as a bright and sharp-witted host throwing in the odd broken line of Czech, which amuses the purists to no end. Musically, he gives airtime to alternative UK and American artists, indulges in his weakness for the electro-clash scene and features Czech bands that he likes.
“I’ve been playing a lot of Czech music, like the new Sunshine album,” he says. “They’re one of the first Czech bands breaking into America, and I’m hoping The Prostitutes will do the same. Bruno Ferrari is really worth checking out as well. He’s got a sexed-up, funky soul groove.”
Studio guests can sometimes prove to be quite a challenge, as Duncan recently experienced when he invited spooky expat rockers Blaq Mummy in for a chat. “They’ve got a methodology and an agenda,” he quivers, “and they showed up in the studio with a human skull.” Needless to say, Duncan adds, “they were lots of fun.”
Understandably, the early hour means contest questions not intended to stretch the old gray matter too much. With lots of CDs, concert tickets and even the occasional snowboard up for grabs, listeners are invited to call in or SMS answers to questions like, “What’s the best way to throw a sickie on a Monday?” or “When is the next public holiday?”
If you’re looking to kick-start the weekend, give a listen. Just be prepared for the kind of boisterous fun that doesn’t usually start until Friday night.

James Scanlon can be reached at tempo@praguepost.com


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