In 2002, Tom Petty lamented the direction terrestrial radio was headed when he sang:

There goes the last DJ

Who plays what he wants to play

And says what he wants to say

Hey, hey, hey

Petty was right to be worried. These days, most radio DJs have no control over their playlists or the artists they endorse.

Yet the New York City market has long been blessed with independent radio stations that are known for an eclectic and surprising music mix. Stations like WFMU — the freeform community broadcaster in Jersey City — and public radio station WFUV in the Bronx — an oasis of new and independent artists.

As it turns out, these two radio stations bookend the career of one of the most respected freeform radio hosts in the country: Vin Scelsa.

Scelsa got his start at WFMU when it was his college radio station in the '60s; for the past 14 years, WFUV has been the Saturday evening radio home of his show "Idiot's Delight." But his May 2 broadcast will be his last. Vin decided to turn off his mic for good after nearly five decades of playing and saying whatever he wanted to on the commercial and public radio stations that employed him. 

"Many people I know who I started with back in the '70s couldn't do that because they had to support families," Scelsa said. "They had to make a decision that they would go along with the consultants and go along with the formats and the management people and play the game in order to stay alive.

"I was very lucky and very blessed that I didn't have to do that, and I could always find a station in the New York metro area that would support me in the same way that my wife was willing to support me," he said.

WNYC's Julianne Welby interviewed Vin this past week about his decision to retire, and in the spirit of the man himself, you can hear the entire conversation — freeform if you will — in the audio player.