Sorry for the late posting...
I have been ut of it for the past few weeks.
But I could not let this one go by. Phil Dirt is why I love surf music. So, I just had to post his message. Hopefully, someone will pick up the flag.
Thrak
=======================
From: Phil Dirt <phildirt@...>
Date: Tue Sep 6, 2005 12:58 pm
Subject: Retiring from KFJC dirtkfjc
Since the question has arisen...
I have decided to leave KFJC, a decision undertaken back in December
2004. Reasons are many, but basically it's time.
I was at KFJC between 1964 and 1967. KFJC was 10 watts mono with a
coverage area no bigger than Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. At that
time, KFJC was under the direction of Ken Clark, who was a television
refuge and believed that radio drama was coming back. He attracted
mostly theatre people to the station. KFJC was only on the air 4 PM to
10:15 PM Monday through Friday. Programming was stiff to say the least.
4-5 was an easy music show, with a different host each day of the week.
5-6 was the Owl's Nest, hosted by local KXRX personality Bob Hollman.
He played a mix of pedestrian and tweaky jazz and the like, mixed with
Foothill College doings. It was a sort of voice of Foothill show. He
wasn't staff, everyone else was. Interestingly, Hollman used a brief
excerpt of Dick Dale and his Del-tones' "Surfin' Drums" as an opening
theme.
Afterward, various prerecorded dramas, plays, and pre-NPR programs ran
until 10 PM. News came at 10 that was supposed to run 10 minutes. The
guy who did the rip and read loved to talk to himself, and often ran
until 10:25. One night, I shut off his mic, ran his close theme, signed
off, shut down the transmitter, and locked up, leaving him inside still
reading the news.
Each day of the week, a different operator was assigned to run the
broadcast day. I was assigned Tuesday. During the 4-5 show, we were
allowed to play instrumental music that was easy listening. We're
talking Percy Faith and Ferrante & Teischer here. I once got in BIG
trouble for playing one soft and slushy Ventures instro, a trick
repeated during the Owl Show when Kenn Ellner (vocalist of the Count V)
played the Seekers' "Georgie Girl." These were too "rock" for KFJC.
This might give you an idea of the atmosphere.
There were three of us at KFJC that weren't in the theatre crowd. Three
that wanted to do actual radio - top forty radio a la South Bay legend
KLIV. Around 1966, Ben Boding, Len Shapiro and I convinced Ken Clarke
to allow us to do rock 'n' roll radio on Saturdays from 9 Am until 3
PM. We each had two-hour shows. I was 9-11 AM. The first few records I
played included the Chocolate Watchband "Sweet Young Thing" and the
Sonics "Louie Louie."
In early 1967, we were told that "combo saturday" was to be no more,
effective immediately. It seemed the self-appointed saviors of theatre
had pressured Clark to end what we were doing, and he did so without
warning or allowing recourse. Like any good 19 year old, I went linear
and got thrown out of KFJC by the dean after being accused of mental
imbalance. It was very traumatic.
By 1970, Clark was gone and there was rock programming on KFJC. It was
trying to be like KMPX/KSAN. Within a few years, it was just playing
records, no different than the other 7 or 8 progressive rock stations
in the Bay Area. In 1978, there were a few upstarts that wanted to play
the "new music," but they were getting intense pressure not to. A lock
out and revolution later and KFJC was reborn. By 1980, power was
boosted to 250 watts and the transmitter moved to the top of Black
Mountain, allowing coverage to extend over most of the Bay Area.
I found myself listening to the "new music" on KFJC and noticing that
the "kids" on the air had a very shallow musical depth historically. I
still recall the trigger event for me, a guy back announcing a punk
band's version of a Bo Diddley song as a "Rolling Stones song." I
decided to rejoin the station with the purpose of producing a rock
history program.
I started work on "waves," writing and researching, using my library
and borrowing material from Encore Records via Stretch Rieldle. The
idea was to look at the evolution of the music and its genres, not from
a chart perspective, but through the innovators and trigger points.
Unsung heroes and legends alike. Intended to be 13 half-hour episodes,
it ended up being 132 episodes.
In 1982, I took on a Sunday Afternoon show called "Relix," which had
been an oldies show. I converted it to a garage band show, and added a
10-minute weekly surf instro segment. It grew from there.
Then in 1983, there was "Maximum Louie Louie." That story is on my site
and elsewhere on the net.
23 years surf has been on KFJC. Over 300 surfbands have played live in
the Pit, plus a few legends like the Chocolate Watchband and
Colorfinger. Remote live recordings add bands like the Eliminators,
Hawkwind, Nik Turner's Space Ritual, Spiral Realms, the first South Bay
Surf Band Reunion, Ron Wilson and the Surfaris at OT Prices, dozens of
soundboard sessions at local clubs when surfbands played, and more.
8 Surf CD's, 15 or more live surfband events on campus, and more than
$250,000 raised for KFJC. I believe "Summer Surf" to be the first
exclusive to the station live music fundraising CD.
In the mean time, I proposed a real radio course for KFJC, wrote a text
in it's 15th year and 30 revision, developed a DJ training lab course,
sat in most management chairs at KFJC, and consulted on many decisions.
I have recorded albums, mixed albums, and provided tracks on nearly a
hundred releases. I launched Reverb Central in 1994, thinking I was
going to be the last guy on earth on the internet.
I have had amazing support from Uncle Al, Gallium Arsenide, Eric
Weaver, Grawer, Doc Pelzel, Austin Space, and others that made all the
live bands possible, and moral support from Ann Arbor.
I've done everything I set out to do, and much more. Now, I need a
change.
Reverb Central continues with significant improvements in development.
I want to do radio in some form, perhaps a podcast, or a station closer
to home (KFJC is an hour away), or maybe syndication. This is all up in
the air. No thought has gone into this right now. Most immediately, I
need a break. My other newfound hobby also takes time out.
www.reverbcentral.com/speeder/
narcoa.org/
There are other reasons as well. No one who has ever been at a non-com
station has escaped the stupidity of the politics. Few have weathered
as much for as long. I won't miss that at all.
Phil Dirt
PS - Anyone that can point me to a new position for income in the Santa
Cruz or San Jose area would be helpful. I got laid off a while back and
there's precious little management work available locally. Anyone
interested in helping can email me off list. I have over thirty years
in managing capital equipment manufacturing, document control, and
training and teaching. I have major accomplishments in process
improvement with big dollar savings, new product development, and more.
I have been ut of it for the past few weeks.
But I could not let this one go by. Phil Dirt is why I love surf music. So, I just had to post his message. Hopefully, someone will pick up the flag.
Thrak
=======================
From: Phil Dirt <phildirt@...>
Date: Tue Sep 6, 2005 12:58 pm
Subject: Retiring from KFJC dirtkfjc
Since the question has arisen...
I have decided to leave KFJC, a decision undertaken back in December
2004. Reasons are many, but basically it's time.
I was at KFJC between 1964 and 1967. KFJC was 10 watts mono with a
coverage area no bigger than Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. At that
time, KFJC was under the direction of Ken Clark, who was a television
refuge and believed that radio drama was coming back. He attracted
mostly theatre people to the station. KFJC was only on the air 4 PM to
10:15 PM Monday through Friday. Programming was stiff to say the least.
4-5 was an easy music show, with a different host each day of the week.
5-6 was the Owl's Nest, hosted by local KXRX personality Bob Hollman.
He played a mix of pedestrian and tweaky jazz and the like, mixed with
Foothill College doings. It was a sort of voice of Foothill show. He
wasn't staff, everyone else was. Interestingly, Hollman used a brief
excerpt of Dick Dale and his Del-tones' "Surfin' Drums" as an opening
theme.
Afterward, various prerecorded dramas, plays, and pre-NPR programs ran
until 10 PM. News came at 10 that was supposed to run 10 minutes. The
guy who did the rip and read loved to talk to himself, and often ran
until 10:25. One night, I shut off his mic, ran his close theme, signed
off, shut down the transmitter, and locked up, leaving him inside still
reading the news.
Each day of the week, a different operator was assigned to run the
broadcast day. I was assigned Tuesday. During the 4-5 show, we were
allowed to play instrumental music that was easy listening. We're
talking Percy Faith and Ferrante & Teischer here. I once got in BIG
trouble for playing one soft and slushy Ventures instro, a trick
repeated during the Owl Show when Kenn Ellner (vocalist of the Count V)
played the Seekers' "Georgie Girl." These were too "rock" for KFJC.
This might give you an idea of the atmosphere.
There were three of us at KFJC that weren't in the theatre crowd. Three
that wanted to do actual radio - top forty radio a la South Bay legend
KLIV. Around 1966, Ben Boding, Len Shapiro and I convinced Ken Clarke
to allow us to do rock 'n' roll radio on Saturdays from 9 Am until 3
PM. We each had two-hour shows. I was 9-11 AM. The first few records I
played included the Chocolate Watchband "Sweet Young Thing" and the
Sonics "Louie Louie."
In early 1967, we were told that "combo saturday" was to be no more,
effective immediately. It seemed the self-appointed saviors of theatre
had pressured Clark to end what we were doing, and he did so without
warning or allowing recourse. Like any good 19 year old, I went linear
and got thrown out of KFJC by the dean after being accused of mental
imbalance. It was very traumatic.
By 1970, Clark was gone and there was rock programming on KFJC. It was
trying to be like KMPX/KSAN. Within a few years, it was just playing
records, no different than the other 7 or 8 progressive rock stations
in the Bay Area. In 1978, there were a few upstarts that wanted to play
the "new music," but they were getting intense pressure not to. A lock
out and revolution later and KFJC was reborn. By 1980, power was
boosted to 250 watts and the transmitter moved to the top of Black
Mountain, allowing coverage to extend over most of the Bay Area.
I found myself listening to the "new music" on KFJC and noticing that
the "kids" on the air had a very shallow musical depth historically. I
still recall the trigger event for me, a guy back announcing a punk
band's version of a Bo Diddley song as a "Rolling Stones song." I
decided to rejoin the station with the purpose of producing a rock
history program.
I started work on "waves," writing and researching, using my library
and borrowing material from Encore Records via Stretch Rieldle. The
idea was to look at the evolution of the music and its genres, not from
a chart perspective, but through the innovators and trigger points.
Unsung heroes and legends alike. Intended to be 13 half-hour episodes,
it ended up being 132 episodes.
In 1982, I took on a Sunday Afternoon show called "Relix," which had
been an oldies show. I converted it to a garage band show, and added a
10-minute weekly surf instro segment. It grew from there.
Then in 1983, there was "Maximum Louie Louie." That story is on my site
and elsewhere on the net.
23 years surf has been on KFJC. Over 300 surfbands have played live in
the Pit, plus a few legends like the Chocolate Watchband and
Colorfinger. Remote live recordings add bands like the Eliminators,
Hawkwind, Nik Turner's Space Ritual, Spiral Realms, the first South Bay
Surf Band Reunion, Ron Wilson and the Surfaris at OT Prices, dozens of
soundboard sessions at local clubs when surfbands played, and more.
8 Surf CD's, 15 or more live surfband events on campus, and more than
$250,000 raised for KFJC. I believe "Summer Surf" to be the first
exclusive to the station live music fundraising CD.
In the mean time, I proposed a real radio course for KFJC, wrote a text
in it's 15th year and 30 revision, developed a DJ training lab course,
sat in most management chairs at KFJC, and consulted on many decisions.
I have recorded albums, mixed albums, and provided tracks on nearly a
hundred releases. I launched Reverb Central in 1994, thinking I was
going to be the last guy on earth on the internet.
I have had amazing support from Uncle Al, Gallium Arsenide, Eric
Weaver, Grawer, Doc Pelzel, Austin Space, and others that made all the
live bands possible, and moral support from Ann Arbor.
I've done everything I set out to do, and much more. Now, I need a
change.
Reverb Central continues with significant improvements in development.
I want to do radio in some form, perhaps a podcast, or a station closer
to home (KFJC is an hour away), or maybe syndication. This is all up in
the air. No thought has gone into this right now. Most immediately, I
need a break. My other newfound hobby also takes time out.
www.reverbcentral.com/speeder/
narcoa.org/
There are other reasons as well. No one who has ever been at a non-com
station has escaped the stupidity of the politics. Few have weathered
as much for as long. I won't miss that at all.
Phil Dirt
PS - Anyone that can point me to a new position for income in the Santa
Cruz or San Jose area would be helpful. I got laid off a while back and
there's precious little management work available locally. Anyone
interested in helping can email me off list. I have over thirty years
in managing capital equipment manufacturing, document control, and
training and teaching. I have major accomplishments in process
improvement with big dollar savings, new product development, and more.
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