The Rocktologists

Imagine two college professors discussing Classic Rock. At one extreme, you might envision a droning lecture in front of a chalk-dusty blackboard, at the other, Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

Somewhere between the extremes are two real life college professors, self-described Rocktologists, producers and hosts of a weekly Classic Rock show on Kingsborough Community College’s 90.9 WKRB in Brooklyn.

Steve Janowsky and Paul Curcio are professors at Kingsborough, where they met ten years ago and discovered a mutual interest in – perhaps even a passion for -- music and movies. They envisioned doing movie reviews on radio, until WKRB’s station manager mentioned that he was interested in a Classic Rock show. That was all the professors needed to hear. They recorded a demo and were on the air a few weeks later.

Each edition of The Rocktologists has a theme: “Post-Beatles Beatles,” “Guitar Gods” and “Chicks That Rock” being a few recent examples. “The stories behind the music (sorry, VH-1) are as compelling as the music itself, and that passion is what we hope to convey on the show,” according to Curcio.

Ask The Rocktologists a question about Classic Rock and you’ll get a thoughtful, intelligent answer. Maybe even two answers. “We disagree,” says Curcio, “on the validity of Paul McCartney's solo career after London Town, the criteria for what makes a great guitarist (Steve says it's technical virtuosity, I'm more into expression and innovation) and we disagree on specific bands (Steve likes Journey, I'm not convinced.) We seem to agree as much as we disagree, which we think is a pretty healthy mix. The show would be stale if it was a love fest or a steel-cage match only.”

Curcio says the name was the result of a brainstorming session that included the prof rockers and their wives. “We were toying with Two Guys From Brooklyn, but that sounds too talky and smacks of stereotyping. Someone said Rockologists (without the "T") and I, being a wisenheimer, said why not Rocktologists -- as in proctologists -- so people don't think we take ourselves too seriously. We liked it because it has that humorous angle, but also implies an erudition that, again, doesn't come off as pretentious.’

The show airs on WKRB on Sunday nights at 9:00 PM Eastern. Those of us who aren’t within range of the signal can hear it live on The Rocktologists website. Past shows are archived on the site, too.

Soon, you’ll actually be able to earn a degree in Rocktology by listening to the show and correctly answering questions. The Rocktologists “will give a BA -- no, strike that, a BS -- in Rocktology to listeners who get 10 questions correct; an MS for 20 correct responses, a Ph.D for 30; and we will raise the bar for Honorary Rocktologist to 40 correct responses. Anyone who answers 50 gets to co-host on the show once. Get 100 and you can replace one of us permanently.”

Any takers?