Rage Against the Machine: Radio station plays the same song for hours — and no one knows why

Rage Against The Machine (2008 in Denver): Not really pop music

Photo: Jeff Chiu/ AP

Wednesday was a strange day for Kiss Radio 104.9 FM listeners.

The station in Vancouver, Canada, which normally shows pop and soft rock, suddenly played a song by the rock band Rage Against the Machine: "Killing in the Name of" is the name of the piece.

Not soft rock, and definitely not pop.

Even stranger, the station played the song again.

And again.

It went like this for hours.

By midday, according to Rolling Stone, among others, "Killing in the Name of" had aired hundreds of times without further explanation, much to the astonishment of the broadcaster's fan base.

Some have suggested it was some sort of PR ploy to announce a shift in the station's music selection towards more alternative rock.

Others speculated that some fired employees were doing this to protest their dismissal.

The fact that the song contains the line »Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!« could speak for this thesis.

The day before, two moderators had announced on Facebook that they had been fired after five years at the station: "Kiss is changing and unfortunately we have been told that we will not be part of this new chapter.

While this comes with mixed feelings, we want to express one overwhelming emotion: gratitude.”

Is there perhaps another explanation for the hour-long loop?

The 30-year-old song was originally created as a protest against police violence - so did those responsible for Kiss Radio 104.9 FM possibly have a political message?

The Guardian wanted to clarify the matter and called the station.

The man on the other end of the line didn't want to say anything about it.

He didn't even reveal his name: please call him Apollo, after the character from the Rocky films.

"I'm just a guy in a booth who keeps playing Rage," Apollo said.

"What do you make of it?

Do you like it?"

Many listeners were obviously not particularly impressed.

Requests from callers to play different music were consistently ignored on Wednesday, according to the Guardian.

According to Apollo, the unidentified man from the cabin, the song was already playing when he got to work.

But he couldn't say exactly when it all started.

What is certain, however, is that the station is now playing good pop music again.

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