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MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO SEMINAR SERIES, THE: ROCK 'N' ROLL AND RADIO: THE RISE OF ROCK FM {LOS ANGELES SEMINAR} {LONG VERSION}

Summary

One in this series of seminars conducted by The Museum of Television & Radio. The second in a series of four seminars which examines the relationship between rock 'n' roll music and radio. In this seminar, presented in Los Angeles and moderated by Museum radio department manager, Ken Mueller, air personalities who were there during the formative years of Rock FM radio look at the birth of the progressive FM radio of the late 1960s and its evolution into the AOR (album-oriented rock) and Classic Rock formats of today. The panelists are Bob Coburn, Raechel Donahue, Cynthia Fox, Jeff Gonzer, Pat "Paraquat" Kelley, and Jim Ladd.

Mueller begins the evening with an audio tape which features clips of the panelists' radio programs as well as other deejays identified with the progressive era, including the following clips, among others: Coburn on WDAI-FM, Chicago, 1971; "Into the Fog" with Donahue, KFOG-FM, San Francisco, 1985; Fox on KMET-FM, Los Angeles, 1982; Gonzer on KMET-FM, Los Angeles, 1981; Kelley on KMET-FM, Los Angeles, 1980; and Ladd's 1979 syndicated interview with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters. After the highlights, the panelists join Mueller on stage for a discussion of the following topics, among others: what led them into FM radio in the late 1960s when it wasn't considered a viable career move; the opportunities FM offered women both as deejays and as engineers; the idealistic, political, non-restrictive nature of early FM; the importance of social/political interaction with the listening audience (at this point, radio personality J.J. Jackson is introduced in the seminar audience and cited as having too much integrity to sell-out); the changes in the industry that have put them out of work; thoughts on Howard Stern; the genesis of KMET; today's cynical, passionless, consultant-driven radio business; the passionate communal quality of working at an FM station in the early days; the political neutrality of today's deejays; right-wing peddlers of hate on talk radio; today's alternative music movement; and the future of counterculture radio on the Internet. Questions from the seminar audience lead to comments on the following topics, among others: National Public Radio; the diminished status of on-air talent in the radio business; the trend of on-air minority bashing; and what has become of various colleagues of the panelists.

Details

  • NETWORK: N/A
  • DATE: May 8, 1996 6:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 1:36:00
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T:43091
  • GENRE: Seminars
  • SUBJECT HEADING: She Made It Collection (Raechel Donahue)
  • SERIES RUN: N/A
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Ken Mueller … Moderator
  • Bob Coburn … Panelist
  • Raechel Donahue … Panelist
  • Cynthia Fox … Panelist
  • Jeff Gonzer … Panelist
  • Kelley, Pat ("Paraquat") … Panelist
  • Jim Ladd … Panelist
  • J.J. Jackson