One of the things I miss about growing up in the Los Angeles area in the 70s was the quality of FM RADIO. The music played daily by legendary DJs like B.Mitchell Reed, Jim Ladd and Rodney Bingenheimer was the soundtrack of my youth.

Before corporatization, Los Angeles was home to several groundbreaking radio stations such as KMET, KLOS and KROQ.

KMET and KLOS were the main rock stations when I was growing up. KMET had more diverse programming, but by 1987 they had switched over to light jazz (think Kenny G); and the station was reborn as “The Wave.”

KLOS is still around, I think, but on life support. But back in the day, KLOS had DJs like J.J. Jackson, “Paraquat” Kelley and Cynthia Fox on board, flipping discs. In the mornings they had Mark & Brian; hosts of the morning drive comedy show, and in the evening they had a short segment called “5-o’Clock Funnies” where I first heard Sam Kinison and Bill Hicks, among others.

Then there was Dr. DEMENTO. Every once in a while we would tune into the good doctor’s show for a few laughs. That was where I (or anyone) first heard Weird Al Jankovic, Barnes & Barnes and ‘Wild Man’ Fischer. He’d play Monty Python; at Christmas time Dr. D would play every Beatles Christmas disc in chronological order…which still have never even been officially released. They were fucking hilarious!

And because everything is so spread out in SoCal, you’re forced to drive long distances to get anywhere. That’s why ‘driving music’ was so crucial to the mix…because southern Californians spend so much time stuck in traffic!

Some of the great driving songs that got the most airplay were Rambling man (Allman Bros), Highway Star (Deep Purple), Life in the Fastlane (Eagles), Kashmir (Led Zeppelin); Satisfaction (Rolling Stones); Life’s Been Good (Joe Walsh); Truckin’ by the Dead and Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who…just to name a few off the top of my head.

Jim Ladd used to do theme-based shows on KLOS every week. On Mondays, Ladd featured the Blues on ‘MOJO MONDAY.’ On Wednesday at midnight, he did an hour-long, commercial-free segment called “Headsets.” This was a free-form, theme-based collage of music, blended seamlessly together. Ladd would often incorporate voice overs and quotes from movies relating to the theme. It was truly inspirational listening. 

I used to listen to “Rodney on the ROQ” featuring famed tastemaker and legendary DJ Rodney “The Mayor of Sunset Strip” Bingenheimer. He had the most radio unfriendly voice on the airwaves but his music selection was impeccable. Thanks to his extensive connections in the burgeoning L.A. music scene, he was able to showcase music that most listeners wouldn’t have had access to. He was the first Umerkin DJ to showcase new artists and “edgy” new bands, including underground local acts as well as obscure bands from the UK. Rodney’s show ran from 1976 until 2017. He introduced me to bands like The Pretenders, Van Halen, Guns N’ Roses, The Go-Go’s, Duran Duran, The Cure, Frank Zappa, BritPop, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, The Bangles, X, Lone Justice, the Germs and many others. He would play 12-inch extended mixes and promo only versions of wonderful stuff like The Smiths How Soon Is Now? and The Big Sky by Kate Bush.

I sure miss Rodney’s distinctive falsetto muttering blaring from the radio on my nightstand late on a Sunday night.

On the other end of the spectrum we had the soft AM radio sounds of Casey Kasem and Wolfman Jack on KHJ. They played lots and lots of oldies plus Barry Manilow, the Carpenters, Helen Reddy and every other ‘one hit wonder’ ever recorded.

Before president Ronald Reagan came along, the FCC had something called the “Seven and Seven” rule, which meant that no single person or corporation could own more than 7 TV stations or 7 radio stations in the country. That’s not one city; or even one market: that was NO MORE THAN SEVEN radio OR SEVEN TV stations IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY. Period.

Prior to Reagan’s de-regulation of virtually everything in the early 1980s, Americans could listen to thousands of diverse, independent broadcasters across the nation. Local media outlets were thriving in a highly competitive marketplace.

The removal of the “Seven and Seven” rule killed independent media in the USA.

Both Reagan and Clinton – Republicans and Democrats alike – paved the way for faceless corporations to buy up as many radio and TV stations as they could get their greedy little hands on. Thus ‘media empires’ were born.

Reagan revoked the “Seven and Seven” rule and he killed the Fairness Doctrine; he also severely weakened the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA).

Bill Clinton then put the final nail in the coffin of free and independent media in the USA when he signed the Telecommunications Act in 1996.

The Telecommunications Act was the first major overhaul of telecom law in over sixty years; it was the first time that the Internet was included in the language. The supposed goal of the Act was to allow anyone – including foreign-owned companies with broadly divergent, market driven agendas – to compete against each other in the marketplace. Any corporation with the proper resources could “enter any communications business with zero restrictions on the number or content – to let any communications business compete in any market against any other,” according to the legislation’s wording.

But instead of promoting competition, wholesale de-regulation encouraged homogenization, monetization and monopolization of the information (and everything else) which American consumers are entitled to. This was the plan all along, of course; despite all the lies we were told at the time.

The death of the free market is 100% the exact opposite of what all those “trickle down / Supply-Side” economists kept saying would happen. The fake economists swore up and down that de-regulation would INCREASE competition and “level the playing field.” Ha, ha.

Anyone with half a fucking brain could have foreseen that sham for what it was, but there you go. I may not be an economist, but it was clear that what came to be called “Neoliberal” economics would kill the free market and encourage mega-mergers and monopolization. Like, duh.

And lo and behold, only five major corporations own all of the media in the USA now. Mission accomplished! The negation of our 1st Amendment rights is now complete. The only voices currently being heard in the mainstream media (MSM) are those of THE CORPORATION.

The fate of independent radio is but one case study in how neoliberal economics is essentially an anti-capitalist system which kills diversification and innovation by facilitating the monopolization of all industry. It’s worth stating again: neoliberalism is the Antithesis of free-market capitalism.

And so it goes. At least there is still college radio…for now…

Nowadays, unless you want to pay bigly for satellite service, what you get on the radio are the same 30 songs on rotation wherever you go. In every city in America – large or small – you get virtually identical playlists, no matter what the true demographic is. Live, on-air DJ’s are a thing of the past – replaced by pre-recorded pabulum or resigned to psychotic right-wing talk radio.

But mostly what you get are COMMERCIALS. Fucking goddam COMMERCIALS!! Endless, tiresome minutes of fucking commercial breaks – interspersed with occasional music…

It’s almost worth paying through the nose for SIRIUS XM or some other livestreaming service. But that’s how it works in this degenerate society: they make you pay for something that should be – and used to be – FREE.

Welcome my son…welcome to THE MACHINE.