By Ian Erlichman

Families flutter down sidewalks and across streets, around the life-size displays, like the 20-foot Lego Giraffe that guards the northern section of Assembly Row. It’s a sunny afternoon in Somerville on Friday, July 6, and the mid-day scorch has cooled to breezy warmth.

Sitting in front of Assembly Row’s own J.P. Licks is a small tent proudly bearing the words: “Boston Free Radio.” In it sit, DJ Kirk Burns and BFR intern Dahlia Snaiderman, blasting rarely heard 80’s jams at the That’s So Retro! That’s So 80’s event.

DJ Burns said he slips in lesser known songs done by bands known for a one-hit wonders to expose people to hidden 80’s “gems” that history almost forgot.

Next to DJ Kirk sits Dahlia Snaiderman, a journalism intern from nearby Emerson College. She describes applying to become a DJ as being very easy with roughly four steps between the reader, and DJ-ing. First there is an orientation, and a Boston Free Radio membership (plus the fee). Then the applicant has a quick meeting with the station manager, and finishes detailing their radio show’s look and description. After that they’re off to the booth.

There are currently 15 open radio show slots. There is a $50 membership fee and if college or high school students apply they get the membership at a 50 percent discount.

DJ Burns’s Radio show, The Misery of Cities, airs Mondays at 8:00 – 10:00 p.m. It offers “Forty years of music history and a diverse array of indie, new wave, post-punk, shoegaze bands,” according to Somerville Media’s website. “After I joined, I was exposed to lots of different types of music,” said Schaiderman.

Listen to Boston Free Radio at www.somervillemedia.org/bostonfreeradio and sign up at somervillemedia.org.