Radio Waves: Life and Revolution on the Fm Dial - Hardcover

Ladd, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312059523 ISBN 13: 9780312059521

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1991

Synopsis

Offers an insider's view of the outrageous, rebellious, and controversial free-form FM radio era, from its counter-culture rise in the 1960s to its 1980s defeat by the "format machine"

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Reviews

Not ony is Ladd, a L.A. disc jockey for more than 20 years, trapped in a 1960s-1970s time warp, the golden age of rock, but he seems to be unaware of his own hype. He views pre-rock tunes as bubblegum music and those written after 1980 as corporate music for yuppiedom. He ascribes a nobility of motive, a power of intellect and virtually limitless talent to the top rockers, arguing that John Lennon, for one, "created some of the most enduring music of all time." If Ladd's uncritical enthusiasm for the era and its stars does not prove off-putting to discerning readers, the lyrics he quotes in abundance will. Stripped of the music, the messages and sentiments expressed by the lyrics sound anything but profound. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

California disk jockey Ladd, the ``Lonesome L.A. Cowboy,'' queues up an all-too-loose history of FM free-form radio, from the rock revolution of the Sixties to the ``classic rock'' stations of the late 1980's. Although he calls this ``a true story based on actual events,'' Ladd has inexplicably changed the names of many of the personalities and radio stations involved, providing only an unannotated general list of the real names. The origins of the ``tribal drum,'' ``the soundtrack of our lives,'' Ladd says, go back to 1967, when ``Big Daddy'' Tom Donahue (apparently not a pseudonym) set up shop in Haight-Ashbury and ``treated the music as an art rather than a product.'' Ladd's own FM history began in Long Beach as a gofer at ``KBRK.'' He soon moved to a network ``format'' station that even in 1969 was highly mechanized and corporate. After syndicating his own program, ``Innerview,'' featuring the likes of John Lennon, Alice Cooper, and the Grateful Dead, he refused an order to give it up and ``defected'' to ``KAOS.'' He was there for 15 years before he was fired for a midnight tirade against ``formula radio'' and his refusal to do ``dentist office music for yuppies.'' Ladd's confrontations with management over running ``commercials for the military,'' the behind-the-scenes glimpse he provides of Patty Hearst, and excerpts from his interviews with Lennon and others provide some fun and interest. And his story of initiating a telephone campaign to the Carter White House to protest the spraying of marijuana with herbicides is a gem. Unfortunately, the good parts are dwarfed by lengthy stretches describing how uptight management could be and how groovy everyone else was--although apparently not groovy enough to use their real names. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

This account of Ladd's career as a Los Angeles FM radio disc jockey spans the late 1960s to the late 1980s. Ladd begins with a summary of the rise of free-form FM radio as an alternative to top-40 programming under Tom Donahue at KMPX and later KSAN in San Francisco. He masks many names and stations' call letters in pseudonyms, diminishing his book's value as a historical account. However, his story is by turns inspiring and infuriating, as we read of the creative new medium being gradually co-opted by its corporate ownership and forced into a strict programming format adhering to market research. Ladd offers appealing reading for those with an interest in 1960s culture, rock music, and broadcast media. His anecdotal insider's view of the radio industry fills a subject gap, and, therefore, most public libraries should have it.
-David Dodd, Benicia P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312059523
• ISBN 13: 9780312059521
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 306