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

Ladd, Jim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312077866 ISBN 13: 9780312077860

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 1992

Synopsis

An explosive, unforgettable look at the FM radio business through the eyes of one of its most colorful and idealistic personalities. Ladd follows the birth, blazing success, and tragic demise of FM free-form radio.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

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.

From Library Journal

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. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312077866
• ISBN 13: 9780312077860
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 332