Olympics

"It's the biggest thing that's ever happened to me, that's for sure," said Lilley, who goes by the name Brad Jay as late night DJ for 99.9 KTYD. You may not notice if you watch only on television, but every event in the Olympics ‹ Winter and Summer ‹ is packed with interludes between the action and all those times need to be filled with music to enhance the experience of those in attendance. In youth-oriented events such as snowboarding or freestyle skiing, music generally plays in the background throughout the competition. And not just any music will do. Each sport has a specific character that Lilley will attempt to reflect by his musical selections. Lilley said every venue at Salt Lake City will have a generic CD library with all the usual Olympic anthems and songs and 2-3 others specific to each sport. "You've got everything from snowboarding to cross country skiing, so that's quite a range," said Lilley. "You're talking about going from Pennywise to John Tesh." Lilley won the job over seven other applicants earlier this month. "(The Olympic Organizing Committee) flew us all out to Salt Lake City for the day and interviewed us," said Lilley. "I even bought a power suit to be all prepared but no one else had one. They liked the sample (CD library) I sent them and they liked my resume. I've got a pretty good resume." Lilley's background as a music director goes far beyond his work as a radio DJ. A few years ago, he began an association with ESPN's XGames, doing color commentary and providing the hard-driving musical background for events such as skateboarding. That developed into a similar position on the Tony Hawk Tour, a barnstorming troupe of professional skateboard daredevils. Last year, he served as music director for ESPN's Great Outdoor Games at Lake Placid, a made-for-TV competition with events ranging from timber cutting to fly fishing. "They had a tank with floating bull's-eyes for the guys to cast at," recalled Lilley, who once played football at Lompoc High. And the music for fly fishing would be . . . "Oh, something like Steely Dan's ŚReelin' in the Yearsą would be a good one," said Lilley. "You try to be creative."

Music, of course, is universal. But so are the Olympics and, even with the event being in America, the scope of music needs to go beyond songs popular in the U.S., Lilley said. "They're sending me to Germany for the World Hockey Championships to study what they do there," said Lilley. "Obviously, hockey is a big event at the Olympics and a lot of the fans will be from other countries. I'll be meeting with the sport organizer for each sport."

On the other hand, said Lilley, most of the world tends to follow the lead of America with regard to popular music. "I have a good knowledge of music, especially classic rock," said Lilley, who spent four years as the morning show DJ for 92.9 KJEE before moving to KTYD. "I know what the hits are and were. You'll hear a lot of cool stuff, a lot of the stuff you hear here (at Santa Barbara High games)." Lilley rattled off several songs that seem to end up at almost any sporting event. Who Let the Dogs Out (Baha Men), you know that's going to be in there," he said. "Queen's We Are the Champion, The Trog's Wild Thing. That's been big ever since the movie Major League. Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones ,Rock and Roll Part Two (Gary Glitter). . . there are certain songs that definitely are in the Jock Rock Hall of Fame." Go ahead. Do it. Take a minute here to think about a couple more. "One of the fun things about the Olympics is that it's all live," said Lilley, "so you are catering to the people who are there." Lilley will relocate to Salt Lake City in November and will stay there throughout the Olympics. He's hopeful a successful stint will make him a candidate for the Summer Olympics in Greece.



		he music man is going to the Olympics. For the last four years, local disc jockey and radio personality Brad Lilley has been the volunteer voice of Santa Barbara High baseball. He announces home games and spins tunes between innings. Next winter he will have another gig, in a much larger venue. Lilley has been selected as music director for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. His job will be to supervise the music selections, equipment and operations at each of the venues. He will select and supervise the music directors for each individual venue.