Airs Mondays at 12:00pm and 8:30pm and Fridays at midnight
Hosted and Produced by Michael Willmore
Michael Willmore has a vast record collection going way back. He is just as interested in the music that has influenced Rock & Roll, as rock itself. The show has a “kitchy” vibe, and an artsy outlook, with lots of posters and rock memorabilia on the set. The show is also characterized by camera work with a wandering eye. “that camera has a mind of it’s own!” “Is that spazzy camera work intentional, or unintentional?”
Michael Willmore was born and raised in Vancouver BC. He went to high school in the 1960s at St. Georges, Prince of Wales and Lord Byng. In the 1970s he attended the Vancouver School of Art for 5 years, majoring in painting and design. Then he travelled the world, then got married, then got un-married, then raised 2 ungrateful kids as a single parent. During that time he began dong a weekly radio show in 1975. Rock Talk was the first music program on co-op radio. The 90 minute Rock Talk radio show still continues to this day, and can be heard every Friday morning at 9:00am on 102.7FM. Rock Talk can also be heard on-line HERE, just follow the archives link and download past shows.
The TV show Rockinitis is an outgrowth of that radio show in some ways, and began in 2005. It only takes ½ hour to watch it, but it takes a lot longer to produce it. It usually requires a crew of about 6. One shaw technical director, who sets everything up, and then disappears. One make-up person (if we’re lucky), two camera operators, one person on sound, and one ‘switcher’ (director). The show doesn’t have a director in the usual sense. Although there is a general outline, the show is ¾ ‘improvised’. The crew works for pizza, and sometimes the shoot lasts 10-12 hours. Michael then takes the raw footage downtown to the shaw edit bay, and does the editing and packaging of the program over the next few weeks. A full day’s shoot usually yields between 6-10 episodes of Rockinitis. Lately, Michael has been filming the show himself at home, or out in the street, using a sony portcam. He promises that ‘this is just a phase I’m going through’ and will return to producing the show in a proper TV studio with a full ICTV crew on hand. The show is a lot of fun, and a labour of love.