Customer Reviews

Radio Waves: Life and Revolution on the Fm Dial

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As a professional disk jockey for a rock radio station, I absolutely LOVED this book. It's the Bible to some DJ's I know, myself included! Jim Ladd, the author, pretty much spews his autobiography here while telling an enchanting true tale of the rise and fall of free-form radio. If you've ever wondered why when you call a radio station, they won't play your request, this is where to find the answers...and you will be shocked to find out how things really operate in this, the age of the major corporation. He takes you thru the very beginning of rock radio in the California of the 60's and its emergence as the alternative to the scream-at-you style of the pop-music format. With quotes from his actual radio broadcasts and detailed interviews with such legends as the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, and, especially, the elusive John Lennon, Ladd relives the era in an easy-to-read page-turner spiked with radio antidotes, including a tale I found particularly amusing in one of the first chapters, where he rewards himself for being able to pull 2 shifts in a 12 hour period of time by smoking marijuana on the fire escape only to lock himself out! I also enjoyed his tales on getting his listeners to flood the White House phone lines with complaints about an herbicide being sprayed on marijuana, his experience hosting one of the few live performances of Pink Floyd "The Wall", and his revolt against corporate radio policies that eventually gets him fired. This book is an absolutely increadable read--it is a must for anyone who works or has worked in radio, and makes for good insight into this industry for the average radio listener. Pick yourself up a copy...you'll be delightfully surprised at its content!

For those wondering what FM rock was like before the intervention of the omnipresent conglomerates, I recommend picking up a copy of Jim Ladd's "Radio Waves". In this book, Ladd relates his version of the dawning of FM rock in a narrative interspersed with names of actual radio personalities and rock performers as well as pseudonyms that are noted in a lengthy disclaimer.

Portions of the story mirror the rise and ultimate demise of the late great Los Angeles radio station KMET where Ladd once ruled the airwaves. ( Back before "the Wave", KMET was the preeminent rock station!) Ladd, the self-proclaimed "Lonesome L. A. Cowboy" takes the reader on a magical trip that begins in the late 60s with the emergence of free-form radio play at FM radio station KAOS. The tale ends with an onslaught of corporate greed at the radio station fittingly named KASH.

Being someone who grew up with Ladd providing (as he so eloquently describes it) "the soundtrack" of my youth, I appreciated the opportunity to relive that era. As a longtime deejay in the Los Angeles market, Ladd is known as much for his irreverence to authority as his dedication to providing the listener with a true musical experience. This book does not lack his attention on either count.

As Jim Ladd relates in this important and always-
entertaining book, radio waves in their purest form
are light. And they've been falling on his lucky listeners,
unstrained, for a time that selective radio fans hope will never end.

What's more important than this legendary
L.A. deejay soldiering on through those Monday nights
when it might seem as though few are listening is that,
in this age of corporate mergers and conformity, the man
dares to take a stand.

God always favors the principled man, especially the artist!

During an era when Bruce Springsteen can be the opening act for
a commercial venue like Staples Center, one of the ubiquitous stadiums to now baldly bear a corporate logo (this one's visible from the skies of L.A. in gargantuan red neon letters; let's not miss an advertising opportunity!) Ladd hasn't lost his integrity. He has, during his entire radio career, eschewed "the list," or the playlists that plague all of Los Angeles' and other major markets' airwaves. His genuine fondness and respect for the medium radiate from the pages
of "Radio Waves."

He's referred to radio as an "electronic campfire" by which those faithful to concepts such as freedom and brotherly love gather and warm themselves.

Ladd was lucky enough to preside over a time in F.M. radio when it truly influenced and saturated every aspect of popular culture. His view--that the radio dial still possesses the power to unify and inspire us--is refreshing, and lamentably lacking in active supporters. While cynical survivors of the '90s might doubt that we can "get back to the garden" or visit that "mansion on the hill," isn't it nice that SOMEONE out there is telling us we can?

Thank you, Jim Ladd, for all the terrific tunes, all the Monday nights you showed up sans playlist and gave of yourself creatively, and, most of all, for taking a stand for freedom of F.M. radio, which you do eloquently in "Radio Waves." We've all been lucky to bask in your light.

This title is great! As a broadcaster who's too young to remember the first days of FM...I've read this book twice and have even given copies as gifts. This may be the most enjoyable book I've ever read!

I enjoyed Radio Waves from the contest of a listener. This book brought me back to the time when I used to listen to the radio. I grew up with the Mighty MET and reading about those days was a journey into what used to be. This is a book I ended up reading cover to cover in a couple of days and I enjoyed it. In late 70's and early 80's, KMET was THE station. Everyone had KMET drawn on every Peechee folder in high school...right next to the tennis player with a joint drawn in, and very close to all the Zeppelin doodlings. KMET blasted from every ghetto blaster on the beach and was the bane of every OCTA bus driver to and from Newport Beach going down Harbor as the kids blasted it from the back of the busses. I was one of those kids. I was lucky to have heard FM radio the way it used to be.

If you were a KMET listener you'll enjoy this book.

Jim Ladd hits home in this book which is almost like the story of a once legendary station, I used listed to called WHFS, which eventully was abused by a bunch of coporations. The part at end about rebelling and automation taking over is something that every progressive radio listener can relate to.

If you wonder why some radio grabs you and some repels, read this book. The behind the mic stories will enlighten you and entertain you. JIm's story telling will take you there if you weren't there then. And it will take you back if you were. He shows how great radio happens when music loving people run a station. And yes I was there listening.

. . . so, this book was a must have for me because it tells the story of the beginning. The start and struggles of the FM dial. Jim Ladd is an incredible voice in the history of music and the way that it came to be played on the radio. He writes about the good times and the bad times. You meet people that were rebels and others that were scum in a business that quickly became too much about the money and not enough about the music and artists.

Jim Ladd has an excellent writing voice in this piece.

This would be a a great book to gift to someone who is in the music business or on the radio!

Jim Ladd is a true lover of the music and spirt of the 1960's, and has made a radio "bio" that speaks deeply to those who live in LA and love radio. The major weakness of the book is not the nit-picking about the names (if you where in the 60"s...) but the fact that it is a book. Jim Ladd the artist is his best behind the microphone. Mr Ladd has the respect, love and understanding of music and combines it with a presentation style that dares to move your mind and soul. The book is damm funny and touching.

Definately an entertaining expose...right down to the last two pages when it became apparent that the successor to Radio KAOS, "The Wave", is my sister station, and that New York corporation hiring music consultants, etc. etc. is none other than Infinity Radio.
For a young guy on the sales side of the radio business, Jim Ladd provides a great history lesson, and an interesting perspective, so much of which remains today: The Artists vs. The Suits.

Can't resist to note, though, that "The Wave" is today one of the top rated and top billing radio stations in all of America.