Such a frustrating disappointment

Just perfect...

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

The Steely Dan title-song playing as a big orange sun rises above a dusty city skyline anticipates heaven for rock fans and "no static at all". For the next twenty minutes, through a handing-off of various turns at the mic - as we meet each disc jockey working at the little-guy radio station playing wall-to-wall music - the good times continue to roll. The cool, down-to-earth boss (Michael Brandon), also a DJ, fights to keep the airwaves commercial free, providing the dream radio station "for the people".The neverending (airwave) tunes are great, the live performances pretty good, and the eclectic cast of disc jockeys are decent enough - including Martin Mull, Cleavon Little, Cassie Yates, Alex Karras and Eileen Brennan - but the initial spontaneous fun (reminiscent of CAR WASH) is soon marred by a story involving villainous corporate goons forcing Army commercials on the station, turning a laidback character-study into typical underdog vs big business fare... and guess who wins?

As a former disc jockey, this film ranks as one of my all time favorites in my DVD collection. While it's true that, as others have stated in previous user comments, it's a pleasant comedy and others who have worked in radio like I did have said it reminds them of people they worked with (as it did for me), I feel that this movie was an important statement about the direction rock radio was taking in the mid to late 70's. Before the mid 70's, much of rock radio was "progressive", where the jocks did stream of consciousness raps, poetry readings, and, in the case of the great WNEW-FM jock Vin Scelsa, read a self written comic strip on the air. But as the 70's progressed, rock radio was moving towards the "less talk, more rock" philosophy and the programming was becoming more controlled and less free form, which also meant more commercial spots. All of these changes are reflected in this film, where the bridge from progressive rock to album rock radio was taking place. My only regret is that I wish I could've had a Delores Deluxe pay me a visit during my air shift!

Hindsight beings what it is now some 27 years after it's release, FM fore tells the impending doom of commercial radio! If you're in the radio business you'll get the meaning of that for sure. FM also spawned the first multi artist soundtrack album that sold very well. The Movie can be a bit slow in places, but it chillingly fore tells the coming doom of radio under corporate control, over commercialization, and the stripping of the Jocks influence and power. Nice musical performances from Linda Ronstadt who was actually played on Rock Radio then, and Jimmy Buffett. Good lightweight entertainment. Tune in turn on, and never come down to earth with Q Sky!

Bottom line: FM was a mediocre movie with a great soundtrack. I enjoyed all of the concert footage in the film (mostly Linda Ronstadt and Jimmy Buffet), but the comedy wasn't good, and the story was just plain awful.You've probably already read the synopsis so I'll spare you the details. The setting and situation were ripe for big laughs, but they never came. In fact, WKRP (which was being created at the same time as the movie FM) made much better comedy from virtually the same raw material.As for the premise, I found it patently hypocritical that FM station employees would be so offended at the idea of commercializing their station with ads, when that's in fact exactly what they do for a living. Radio exists because it sells records and concerts. It is by nature a commercial enterprise. DJs are the basically used car salesmen of the recording industry.Now I don't think there's anything wrong with this arrangement. In fact, I think it's a great deal for the radio audience; we get to sample the songs, and even fall in love with them before we decide to buy the recording.But the holier-than-thou attitude displayed in this movie is very disappointing. At one point in the film, Tom Petty (whom I love) is brought into the booth to be interviewed by the DJ while they play tracks from his latest album, "Damn the Torpedoes." Meanwhile, the station manager is trying his hardest to prevent commercials from airing on "his" radio station.I wanted to shout, "Hey, dude! There's a commercial for Tom Petty's album playing on your station right now! Hello! Kids are going to pay $10 for the record and Tom's going to get $1. The rest goes to some giant recording industry mega-corp." Basically, the screenwriters wrote the DJ's as self-indulgent children, the station manager as a self-centered prick, and the owners as pure evil assholes. This made it hard for me to root for anyone.The movie would have been sharper if the screenwriters had made the station manager more reasonable to contrast with the owners. Instead of objecting to all advertising, for example, the manager could have told the owners he was willing to do 20% more ads at 10% higher rates. Then have the owners shoot back at him with something like "you'll do it our way or you're out on your ass." Then I would have rooted for the station manager a lot more.Of course, I would have forgiven any flaws in the premise if the movie had just been funnier.By the way, if you want to read a contemporary review, there still one available at the NY Times website written by veteran critic Jane Maslin (http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=16493).