WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.779 Okay, if you spent any time listening to rock 00:00:02.779 --> 00:00:05.919 on the FM dial, maybe back in the 70s, 80s, even 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:08.800 90s, especially somewhere like L .A., you probably 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:12.179 remember DJs who were more than just voices between 00:00:12.179 --> 00:00:15.220 commercials. Oh, absolutely. They were like guides, 00:00:15.539 --> 00:00:17.620 curators, really. They picked the music, set 00:00:17.620 --> 00:00:19.839 the mood, maybe even dropped a little philosophy 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:22.160 on you. It felt personal. Exactly. We're talking 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:25.660 about the era of the freeform DJ. And, well... 00:00:26.219 --> 00:00:29.039 Maybe the last truly prominent figure carrying 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:31.379 that torch in commercial radio was Jim Ladd. 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:34.920 He sadly passed away late last year, 2023. Yeah, 00:00:34.979 --> 00:00:36.740 Ladd was kind of the anchor, wasn't he? Holding 00:00:36.740 --> 00:00:38.859 on to this idea, this way of doing radio that 00:00:38.859 --> 00:00:40.960 the industry itself had pretty much decided was, 00:00:41.079 --> 00:00:43.659 you know, outdated, obsolete. Right. So that's 00:00:43.659 --> 00:00:45.200 our mission for this deep dive. We want to really 00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:48.200 get into Jim Ladd's story. What was Freeform 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:50.939 Rock Radio? Why did it? basically vanish under 00:00:50.939 --> 00:00:53.200 corporate pressure, starting way back in the 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:55.979 80s. And crucially, how did this one guy, Jim 00:00:55.979 --> 00:00:58.759 Ladd, manage to keep doing it? This really unique, 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:02.119 personality -driven thing for like five decades, 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:04.760 often fighting his own bosses to do it. It's 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:07.299 an incredible story of resistance. Before we 00:01:07.299 --> 00:01:09.400 even get to his L .A. legend status, though, 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:11.319 we should probably mention his early national 00:01:11.319 --> 00:01:13.879 footprint. Because he wasn't just a local voice 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:16.180 initially. Good point. Interview, that was his 00:01:16.180 --> 00:01:19.060 nationally syndicated show. Hour -long, weekly, 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:21.799 essential listening for rock fans across the 00:01:21.799 --> 00:01:26.079 U .S. Over 160 stations nationwide for 12 years. 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:29.180 Think about that kind of reach back then. He 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:31.659 wasn't just some L .A. DJ. He was shaping how 00:01:31.659 --> 00:01:34.799 people all over the country engage with rock 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:37.359 music interviews. Totally. And Interview wasn't 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:39.379 your typical puff piece interview show either. 00:01:39.459 --> 00:01:43.379 It was about... artistic integrity lad got to 00:01:43.379 --> 00:01:45.519 talk to pretty much every major rock star of 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:47.480 the time and he asked the real questions right 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:50.000 not just how's the tour going exactly he dug 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:52.319 into the creative process the politics behind 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:54.640 the songs sometimes even the spiritual side of 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:56.680 rock and roll it gave him this national identity 00:01:56.680 --> 00:01:59.920 you know tied to thoughtful curation it set the 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.340 stage for his later battles okay let's rewind 00:02:02.340 --> 00:02:06.239 back to the very beginning 1969 where does lad 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:09.050 get his start He kicks things off at KNAC. It 00:02:09.050 --> 00:02:12.129 was a small but pretty influential rock station 00:02:12.129 --> 00:02:14.610 down in Long Beach, California. But he didn't 00:02:14.610 --> 00:02:17.569 stay small for long. No, he moved fast. By 1971, 00:02:17.870 --> 00:02:20.490 he's already up at KLOS, a major player in Los 00:02:20.490 --> 00:02:22.770 Angeles radio. Shows you there's definitely an 00:02:22.770 --> 00:02:24.610 appetite for that kind of personal touch even 00:02:24.610 --> 00:02:26.849 then. But the big move, the one that really defines 00:02:26.849 --> 00:02:30.610 the early part of his legend, is KMAT, right? 00:02:31.069 --> 00:02:34.620 1974. That's the one. K -M -E -T. Affectionately 00:02:34.620 --> 00:02:37.080 known to everyone listening as the Mighty Met. 00:02:37.219 --> 00:02:40.620 He spent most of the next 13 years there. If 00:02:40.620 --> 00:02:42.319 you want to understand Jim Ladd, you absolutely 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:44.860 have to understand K -M -E -T. So paint us a 00:02:44.860 --> 00:02:46.599 picture. Yes. What was the vibe at the Mighty 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:48.759 Met? Why was it so important, especially for 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:51.939 this idea of freeform radio? Well, KMET was more 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:54.379 than just a station playing rock music. It really 00:02:54.379 --> 00:02:57.599 captured the whole counterculture feeling of 00:02:57.599 --> 00:02:59.960 70s Southern California rock. It wasn't like 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:03.300 AM radio with its tight top 40 playlists. Right. 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:06.259 AM was all about the hit singles. Exactly. KMET 00:03:06.259 --> 00:03:10.000 was where you heard the deep album cuts, stuff 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:11.439 you wouldn't hear anywhere else. It felt like 00:03:11.439 --> 00:03:14.340 a community, a scene. And the DJs weren't just 00:03:14.340 --> 00:03:17.479 voices reading liners. They were like. tastemakers, 00:03:17.580 --> 00:03:20.539 friends almost. They broke artists, especially 00:03:20.539 --> 00:03:23.180 West Coast bands. That whole atmosphere only 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:25.870 worked because it was freeform. OK, so let's 00:03:25.870 --> 00:03:28.490 define that term freeform a bit more clearly 00:03:28.490 --> 00:03:30.569 for anyone listening now who maybe only knows 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:33.389 today's radio. Sure. Think about commercial radio 00:03:33.389 --> 00:03:35.629 today. It's mostly, you know, heavily researched 00:03:35.629 --> 00:03:38.569 playlists decided by consultants, focus groups, 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:41.090 algorithms. The DJ often just connects the dots, 00:03:41.169 --> 00:03:42.909 reads the script. Yeah, they're hitting the posts, 00:03:42.969 --> 00:03:45.569 basically. Right. Freeform was the complete opposite. 00:03:45.729 --> 00:03:49.469 The DJ had. well almost total freedom to choose 00:03:49.469 --> 00:03:51.509 the music they could play a whole side of an 00:03:51.509 --> 00:03:54.530 album if they felt like it wow yeah or maybe 00:03:54.530 --> 00:03:56.569 jump from i don't know classical music right 00:03:56.569 --> 00:03:59.409 into heavy metal or follow a blues track with 00:03:59.409 --> 00:04:02.050 some new punk band it was all based on their 00:04:02.050 --> 00:04:04.669 instinct the vibe listener calls maybe following 00:04:04.669 --> 00:04:08.270 a feeling or an idea exactly an artistic thread 00:04:08.270 --> 00:04:11.330 for lad giving that up wasn't just changing jobs 00:04:11.330 --> 00:04:14.900 it was like abandoning the art form itself The 00:04:14.900 --> 00:04:18.100 radio booth was his canvas. And KMET, in its 00:04:18.100 --> 00:04:21.379 prime, lived and breathed that spontaneity. But 00:04:21.379 --> 00:04:23.199 the sources mentioned that things started to 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:25.959 change. By the late 70s, early 80s, people felt 00:04:25.959 --> 00:04:29.240 KMET was... Not the music itself, but something 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:31.560 else. Yeah. The industry pressure started mounting. 00:04:31.779 --> 00:04:33.899 This is the big shift. Moving away from trusting 00:04:33.899 --> 00:04:36.500 the DJ's gut to trusting the numbers, the metrics. 00:04:36.740 --> 00:04:38.759 Okay. And a lot of that decline gets pinned on 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:41.360 bringing in radio consultants. The big name there 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:44.100 was Lee Abrams. He was pushing this new format 00:04:44.100 --> 00:04:47.860 called album -oriented rock or AOR. AOR. Sounds 00:04:47.860 --> 00:04:50.319 harmless enough, right? Album rock. What's wrong 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:53.279 with that? But how did AOR actually kill Freeform? 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:55.610 What did guys like Abrams do? Well, it sounds 00:04:55.610 --> 00:04:58.189 like rock, but AOR was really about, let's call 00:04:58.189 --> 00:05:00.730 it commercial sterilization. Abrams and others 00:05:00.730 --> 00:05:02.829 used tons of research, especially Arbitron ratings, 00:05:02.970 --> 00:05:05.129 to figure out what songs tested best. Ah, the 00:05:05.129 --> 00:05:08.209 testing. Yep. They created these tight, small 00:05:08.209 --> 00:05:11.529 playlists of proven hits. Power rotation songs. 00:05:11.790 --> 00:05:14.050 Instead of a freeform DJ playing maybe hundreds 00:05:14.050 --> 00:05:16.389 of different tracks a week, AOR might limit them 00:05:16.389 --> 00:05:18.910 to 50 or 60 core songs played over and over. 00:05:19.050 --> 00:05:22.050 Takes all the risk out. And the discovery. Totally. 00:05:22.089 --> 00:05:25.389 Plus, AOR used strict day parting, meaning the 00:05:25.389 --> 00:05:27.670 music at 8 a .m. had to sound different in a 00:05:27.670 --> 00:05:30.129 measurable way from the music at 8 p .m., all 00:05:30.129 --> 00:05:32.449 designed to hit specific advertiser demographics. 00:05:32.850 --> 00:05:35.629 So the DJ goes from being a curator to what, 00:05:36.110 --> 00:05:38.290 like a data entry clerk? Yeah. Just pushing the 00:05:38.290 --> 00:05:40.069 buttons the research tells them to push? Pretty 00:05:40.069 --> 00:05:42.790 much. Limiting song choices, killing spontaneous 00:05:42.790 --> 00:05:45.370 segues, sticking to the pre -approved stuff. 00:05:45.470 --> 00:05:48.509 It just gutted the soul of a place like KMET. 00:05:48.509 --> 00:05:51.300 And the way KME ended. Yeah. It's legendary, 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:53.879 almost infamous in L .A. radio history. Oh, it 00:05:53.879 --> 00:05:56.500 was traumatic for listeners. February 14th, 1987. 00:05:57.339 --> 00:06:00.000 Valentine's Day of all days. Management just 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:02.959 pulled the plug instantly. No name. None. Dumped 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:05.180 the rock format. Got rid of the KME tall letters. 00:06:05.339 --> 00:06:08.379 Fired the entire on -air staff. Gone. Overnight. 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:11.740 Just erased it. And KME became KTWV. The wave. 00:06:11.980 --> 00:06:15.100 Smooth jazz. New age. And here's the kicker. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:19.290 The real symbolic gut punch. KTWV launched with 00:06:19.290 --> 00:06:23.250 no DJs at all. Wow. Just automated music. Exactly. 00:06:23.290 --> 00:06:25.449 It was like the ultimate middle finger to personality 00:06:25.449 --> 00:06:28.209 radio. Saying the human element, the DJ, was 00:06:28.209 --> 00:06:31.170 just noise, unnecessary overhead. Going from 00:06:31.170 --> 00:06:34.230 the mighty Met, this vibrant community hub, to 00:06:34.230 --> 00:06:37.410 basically background music. That Valentine's 00:06:37.410 --> 00:06:39.910 Day massacre really set the stage for Ladd's 00:06:39.910 --> 00:06:42.709 whole career going forward. fighting the spreadsheet. 00:06:43.029 --> 00:06:46.509 OK, so KMET is gone. And now the main theme for 00:06:46.509 --> 00:06:49.310 Jim Ladd for the next, what, couple of decades 00:06:49.310 --> 00:06:52.350 really crystallizes. It's this constant battle, 00:06:52.410 --> 00:06:54.610 this refusal to just play the hits off a list. 00:06:54.790 --> 00:06:57.410 Yeah. Station owners wanted conformity, predictability. 00:06:57.490 --> 00:06:59.970 The playlist was king. And Ladd just wouldn't 00:06:59.970 --> 00:07:02.089 do it. He saw it as selling out the craft. Which 00:07:02.089 --> 00:07:04.680 predictably made finding steady work. Pretty 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:06.620 tough. Oh, absolutely. He worked on and off, 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:08.939 as sources say, for several years after KMAT 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:10.620 folded. And you have to understand the bigger 00:07:10.620 --> 00:07:13.699 picture here, the context of radio deregulation 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:15.959 in the 1980s. Right. The rules changed about 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:18.040 who could own what. How did that fuel the pressure 00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:21.420 against guys like Ladd? Well, before deregulation, 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:24.420 there were limits on how many stations one company 00:07:24.420 --> 00:07:26.779 could own in a single city or even nationwide. 00:07:27.959 --> 00:07:30.120 Deregulation, especially the big Telecommunications 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:32.620 Act of 96, but building on trends through the 00:07:32.620 --> 00:07:35.259 80s blew those limits away. So suddenly you get 00:07:35.259 --> 00:07:37.740 these giant corporations buying up hundreds of 00:07:37.740 --> 00:07:40.459 stations. Exactly. Companies like Cumulus, Citadel, 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:43.600 Clear Channel later on. And when you view radio 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.139 stations purely as assets in a giant portfolio, 00:07:46.500 --> 00:07:49.180 what do you prioritize? Efficiency. Consistency. 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:53.009 Cutting costs. Bingo. A personality DJ like Ladd, 00:07:53.050 --> 00:07:55.689 who insists on doing his own thing, who might 00:07:55.689 --> 00:07:58.649 cost more, who doesn't fit the standardized model, 00:07:58.949 --> 00:08:01.410 he becomes a problem, a disruption. It made it 00:08:01.410 --> 00:08:03.470 super easy for these big companies to just flip 00:08:03.470 --> 00:08:05.470 a station's format overnight or fire everybody 00:08:05.470 --> 00:08:07.050 if they thought it would goose the stock price 00:08:07.050 --> 00:08:09.949 or fit some national strategy. Ladd wasn't just 00:08:09.949 --> 00:08:12.069 fighting a program director. He was fighting 00:08:12.069 --> 00:08:14.649 Wall Street, in a way. Let's look at a couple 00:08:14.649 --> 00:08:16.529 of examples of just how nuts it got for him. 00:08:16.829 --> 00:08:20.629 The KMPC -KEDG situation in the late 80s. Right. 00:08:20.689 --> 00:08:23.550 So he lands at KMPC -FM, and he actually helps 00:08:23.550 --> 00:08:26.310 them shape this new format they called full -spectrum 00:08:26.310 --> 00:08:29.050 rock. Sounds ambitious. What was the idea? It 00:08:29.050 --> 00:08:32.730 was trying to thread the needle, maybe, blend 00:08:32.730 --> 00:08:36.299 classic rock. deep cuts with newer modern rock 00:08:36.299 --> 00:08:39.019 trying to keep some of that curation alive avoid 00:08:39.019 --> 00:08:42.460 the really narrow aor box lad was apparently 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:44.799 pretty excited about it he was there when they 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:48.480 rebranded the station in march 1989 to kedg the 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:52.259 edge big launch new identity and then and then 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:56.100 poof just two months later he's laid off the 00:08:56.100 --> 00:08:58.080 station completely abandoned the rock format 00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:00.649 two months After launching a whole new brand. 00:09:00.789 --> 00:09:03.049 Two months. It's insane, right? You pour your 00:09:03.049 --> 00:09:05.049 energy, your name recognition into this thing, 00:09:05.129 --> 00:09:07.610 and some executive somewhere decides, nah, not 00:09:07.610 --> 00:09:10.690 working, after 60 days. It just perfectly shows 00:09:10.690 --> 00:09:12.769 how ruthless and short -sighted the business 00:09:12.769 --> 00:09:15.009 had become. The talent, the connection with listeners, 00:09:15.230 --> 00:09:17.590 totally secondary to the immediate bottom line. 00:09:17.710 --> 00:09:19.509 And that wasn't a one -off. It happened again 00:09:19.509 --> 00:09:22.409 just a few years later at KLSX. He gets hired 00:09:22.409 --> 00:09:24.330 there in 91. Seems like maybe he found a spot. 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:26.509 Finds another temporary home, yeah. But then... 00:09:26.700 --> 00:09:30.019 July 1995 rolls around, and it's deja vu all 00:09:30.019 --> 00:09:32.000 over again. What happened this time? Even more 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:36.019 brutal, maybe. The entire KLSX on -air staff, 00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:39.860 including Ladd, fired all at once. Station flips 00:09:39.860 --> 00:09:42.519 format again, this time to talk radio. Just like 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:45.700 that. Gone. Yep. It highlights how even the format 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:48.830 itself, rock music, was seen as disposable. Just 00:09:48.830 --> 00:09:51.090 commodity. If the ownership thought they could 00:09:51.090 --> 00:09:53.330 make more money selling ads to a talk audience, 00:09:53.549 --> 00:09:56.409 boom, rocks out, talks in, and all the people 00:09:56.409 --> 00:09:58.649 who played the rock are on the street. So the 00:09:58.649 --> 00:10:01.210 takeaway isn't just Jim Ladd got fired a lot, 00:10:01.269 --> 00:10:03.730 it's why. It's this environment where stations 00:10:03.730 --> 00:10:06.169 were just assets to be flipped, not cultural 00:10:06.169 --> 00:10:09.610 spaces. And Ladd's refusal to compromise, even 00:10:09.610 --> 00:10:11.289 when it meant being unemployed again and again, 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:13.490 that's what makes his story so compelling. He 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:16.100 kept the faith. So even with all this turmoil 00:10:16.100 --> 00:10:18.299 trying to find a stable gig on commercial radio, 00:10:18.620 --> 00:10:21.279 Ladd's influence didn't really shrink, did it? 00:10:21.340 --> 00:10:23.700 He became this larger -than -life figure. Not 00:10:23.700 --> 00:10:25.580 at all. He was more than just a voice on the 00:10:25.580 --> 00:10:28.139 radio. He was a recognized cultural symbol, almost, 00:10:28.360 --> 00:10:30.460 which led to some really fascinating crossover 00:10:30.460 --> 00:10:32.440 projects where his voice represented something 00:10:32.440 --> 00:10:34.980 specific. Like the Roger Waters album, Radio 00:10:34.980 --> 00:10:39.000 KOS. That's a huge one. 1987. Yeah, this is amazing 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:41.759 because Art was directly imitating Ladd's life, 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:44.019 and maybe his life was imitating the art too. 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:47.100 It's a concept album, pretty complex, about media 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:50.240 overload, war, communication breakdowns. It's 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:52.679 pretty heavy, and Ladd's role. He plays a fictional 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:56.139 DJ named DJ Jim, and in the story, he's the only 00:10:56.139 --> 00:10:59.500 person, the main character, Billy. This kid who's 00:10:59.500 --> 00:11:01.659 disabled but can hear radio waves in his head 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:04.700 can really connect with. Whoa, so DJ Jim is like 00:11:04.700 --> 00:11:08.360 the voice of sanity. Kind of. The voice of reason. 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:11.059 The champion of real communication in a world 00:11:11.059 --> 00:11:13.639 full of noise and corporate static. Think about 00:11:13.639 --> 00:11:16.480 it. Jim Ladd, the real guy fighting corporate 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:18.899 playlists, is literally playing the part of the 00:11:18.899 --> 00:11:21.259 last authentic voice on the air. It wasn't just 00:11:21.259 --> 00:11:23.899 a quick voiceover. He was woven into the album's 00:11:23.899 --> 00:11:25.799 whole message. That's incredible. Did he tour 00:11:25.799 --> 00:11:28.000 with Waters for that? He did. He joined Waters 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.919 on the Radio KOS tour, performing his DJ Jim 00:11:30.919 --> 00:11:33.460 part live on stage every night. And he was even 00:11:33.460 --> 00:11:35.220 in three of the music videos from the album. 00:11:35.580 --> 00:11:38.000 That really cemented his identity beyond L .A. 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:40.360 Artists respected him because he got the art. 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:42.100 You know, he wasn't just thinking about chart 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:44.360 positions. And he popped up in movies, too, right? 00:11:44.419 --> 00:11:46.379 Yeah. Using that distinctive late night voice. 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:49.080 Definitely. The classic one is Cameron Crowe's 00:11:49.080 --> 00:11:52.220 Say Anything from 1989. He plays that perfect 00:11:52.220 --> 00:11:54.440 all night DJ. Oh, yeah. The guy who sounds like 00:11:54.440 --> 00:11:56.320 he understands exactly what you're going through 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.620 at 3 a .m. That was his vibe. Totally. His voice 00:11:59.620 --> 00:12:02.110 just signified authenticity. That's why you hear 00:12:02.110 --> 00:12:04.929 him in other big films, too, like Tequila Sunrise, 00:12:05.250 --> 00:12:08.690 Rush, She's Out of Control, even Defender with 00:12:08.690 --> 00:12:12.009 Woody Harrelson later on. Filmmakers knew you 00:12:12.009 --> 00:12:15.610 need the sound of real, thoughtful FM rock radio. 00:12:15.690 --> 00:12:19.009 You call Jim Ladd. And he didn't just lend his 00:12:19.009 --> 00:12:20.769 voice. He wrote about the whole experience, too. 00:12:20.850 --> 00:12:23.370 His book, Radio Waves. Radio Waves, Life and 00:12:23.370 --> 00:12:25.350 Revolution on the FM Dial, yeah, came out in 00:12:25.350 --> 00:12:28.850 1991. It's basically his story, a semi -autobiography, 00:12:28.850 --> 00:12:31.049 but it's also the story of freeform rock radio 00:12:31.049 --> 00:12:33.549 in L .A., its rise, its glory days, and then 00:12:33.549 --> 00:12:36.470 the fall, focusing heavily on KMET's end in 87. 00:12:37.340 --> 00:12:39.100 Essential reading if you care about this stuff. 00:12:39.220 --> 00:12:40.879 And there's an interesting detail about who got 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:43.600 named in the book. Right. So Ladd apparently 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.720 used pseudonyms for a lot of the industry people, 00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:50.019 maybe for legal reasons or just discretion. But 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:52.279 the real legends, the true believers in freeform. 00:12:52.730 --> 00:12:55.409 They insisted he use their real name. They wanted 00:12:55.409 --> 00:12:57.990 to be on the record. Exactly. Raina Donahue and 00:12:57.990 --> 00:13:00.110 her husband, Tom Donahue, you know, the absolute 00:13:00.110 --> 00:13:02.769 pioneer of freeform radio, they specifically 00:13:02.769 --> 00:13:05.909 told Ladd, use our names. They were proud of 00:13:05.909 --> 00:13:08.149 what they'd built. That says a lot. It does. 00:13:08.230 --> 00:13:10.789 And others, too, like David Perry, Ace Young, 00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:13.769 Jack Snyder, Damien, B. Mitchell Reed, J .J. 00:13:13.789 --> 00:13:16.250 Jackson, all these iconic L .A. radio figures. 00:13:16.429 --> 00:13:18.389 They wanted their actual air names in there. 00:13:18.450 --> 00:13:20.909 It shows they saw Freeform not just as a job 00:13:20.909 --> 00:13:22.970 they lost, but as like a historical movement 00:13:22.970 --> 00:13:25.330 they were part of and wanted credit for, even 00:13:25.330 --> 00:13:27.710 after it seemed like it was over. OK, let's jump 00:13:27.710 --> 00:13:30.370 forward a bit. He eventually lands back at KLOS 00:13:30.370 --> 00:13:34.309 in 1997. And this time it sticks for a while. 00:13:34.350 --> 00:13:36.730 Right. And he wasn't just hanging on. He was 00:13:36.730 --> 00:13:39.330 successful. amazingly successful. His late night 00:13:39.330 --> 00:13:42.389 show, 10 p .m. to 2 a .m. weeknights, plus Sundays, 00:13:42.470 --> 00:13:44.309 it regularly topped the ratings for its time 00:13:44.309 --> 00:13:46.490 slot, according to Arbitron anyway. Which kind 00:13:46.490 --> 00:13:48.629 of flies in the face of the whole corporate argument, 00:13:48.750 --> 00:13:51.470 doesn't it? Completely. The industry mantra was, 00:13:51.690 --> 00:13:54.830 standardize, predict, play the hits. Ladd was 00:13:54.830 --> 00:13:57.809 doing the exact opposite, deeply personal curation, 00:13:57.990 --> 00:14:00.570 playing deep cuts, talking to listeners, and 00:14:00.570 --> 00:14:03.009 he was winning, even in the middle of the night. 00:14:03.389 --> 00:14:05.870 It proved that personality and connection could 00:14:05.870 --> 00:14:08.970 build incredible loyalty. He built what he famously 00:14:08.970 --> 00:14:12.230 called the tribe. The tribe. I love that. It 00:14:12.230 --> 00:14:14.149 really captures that sense of community, right? 00:14:14.269 --> 00:14:15.889 Yeah. Listeners who felt like they were part 00:14:15.889 --> 00:14:17.789 of his show who followed him everywhere. Yeah, 00:14:17.809 --> 00:14:19.830 they stuck with him through all the firings and 00:14:19.830 --> 00:14:22.309 format flips. And what's really smart is how 00:14:22.309 --> 00:14:24.590 Ladd adapted that connection to the technology 00:14:24.590 --> 00:14:27.429 that was just starting to emerge then. He showed 00:14:27.429 --> 00:14:30.850 Freeform wasn't just some dusty 70s thing. I 00:14:30.850 --> 00:14:34.070 so, like with the internet. Exactly. He got onto 00:14:34.070 --> 00:14:37.009 MySpace, then Facebook really early for a broadcaster. 00:14:37.190 --> 00:14:39.169 And he didn't just use it for promotion. He uses 00:14:39.169 --> 00:14:43.029 it to interact. He'd take requests from the comments, 00:14:43.230 --> 00:14:45.490 respond to people, basically make the show a 00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:47.970 two -way conversation. Turning radio, which is 00:14:47.970 --> 00:14:50.250 usually one way, into something more interactive. 00:14:50.880 --> 00:14:53.440 Precisely. He integrated their feedback right 00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:56.200 into the show's flow, using these new digital 00:14:56.200 --> 00:14:59.440 tools to strengthen the freeform ideal. And eventually, 00:14:59.559 --> 00:15:02.279 KLOS started streaming his show online in 2008. 00:15:02.600 --> 00:15:04.940 They recognized his audience was migrating there 00:15:04.940 --> 00:15:07.879 too. He adapted. So he has this great, long, 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:11.120 successful second run at KLOS. Leads the ratings, 00:15:11.299 --> 00:15:13.879 connects with the tribe online, but you just 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:15.639 know the other shoe is going to drop eventually 00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:18.639 in commercial radio. Sadly, yeah. It's the recurring 00:15:18.639 --> 00:15:21.179 theme. Despite all the success, the connection, 00:15:21.299 --> 00:15:23.679 the history, the corporate machine caught up 00:15:23.679 --> 00:15:27.120 with him again. October 26, 2011, fired from 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.419 KLOS. What was the trigger this time? Another 00:15:29.419 --> 00:15:32.419 ownership change. Bingo. Cumulus Media bought 00:15:32.419 --> 00:15:35.659 Citadel Broadcasting, which owned KLOS. New owners 00:15:35.659 --> 00:15:37.120 come in, they want to standardize operations, 00:15:37.539 --> 00:15:40.419 cut costs, impose their own model. And the unique, 00:15:40.440 --> 00:15:43.019 maybe more expensive personality DJ is often 00:15:43.019 --> 00:15:45.379 the first casualty. Same old story. It wasn't 00:15:45.379 --> 00:15:47.620 about his performance or his listeners. It was 00:15:47.620 --> 00:15:50.340 about corporate synergy or whatever buzzword 00:15:50.340 --> 00:15:53.580 they used. Pretty much. But Ladd, being Ladd, 00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:55.879 didn't just vanish. He made sure the tribe got 00:15:55.879 --> 00:15:58.779 a proper goodbye. He did this special three -hour 00:15:58.779 --> 00:16:02.379 farewell show on KFI, an AM station in LA, on 00:16:02.379 --> 00:16:04.720 November 5th, 2011. Must have been emotional. 00:16:04.919 --> 00:16:07.340 Hugely emotional, by all accounts. A real tribute, 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:10.200 but also kind of the symbolic end of an era for 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:14.200 freeform on mainstream LA radio. But... That 00:16:14.200 --> 00:16:16.679 wasn't quite the end of the story for Ladd or 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:18.740 for Freeform. Because technology offered another 00:16:18.740 --> 00:16:21.419 path. Exactly. Just a few weeks later, December 00:16:21.419 --> 00:16:24.600 2, 2011, Sirius XM Satellite Radio makes the 00:16:24.600 --> 00:16:26.980 announcement. Jim Ladd is coming aboard. Ah, 00:16:27.220 --> 00:16:29.659 satellite radio. Makes sense. No commercials 00:16:29.659 --> 00:16:32.019 in the same way. Subscriber model. It was the 00:16:32.019 --> 00:16:35.139 perfect refuge. From January 2012 right up until 00:16:35.139 --> 00:16:38.340 he passed away in December 2023, Ladd hosted 00:16:38.340 --> 00:16:41.320 a live daily freeform show on the Deep Tracks 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:42.940 channel. So he finally found a place where he 00:16:42.940 --> 00:16:45.600 could just do his thing without the constant 00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:48.149 corporate pressure. Totally. Satellite radio's 00:16:48.149 --> 00:16:50.370 business model doesn't rely on chasing arbitron 00:16:50.370 --> 00:16:52.470 ratings the same way terrestrial radio does. 00:16:52.529 --> 00:16:55.169 It's listener supported. So he had complete freedom. 00:16:55.330 --> 00:16:57.309 He could just focus on the music, on connecting 00:16:57.309 --> 00:16:59.190 with the tribe, playing whatever felt right. 00:16:59.610 --> 00:17:02.230 It proved the format wasn't dead. It just needed 00:17:02.230 --> 00:17:04.769 a different kind of ecosystem to survive. It's 00:17:04.769 --> 00:17:07.549 kind of a commentary on media itself, isn't it? 00:17:07.589 --> 00:17:10.819 That this really human artistic approach. couldn't 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:12.859 survive in the purely commercial space anymore. 00:17:13.019 --> 00:17:15.700 A powerful commentary. It had to find a niche, 00:17:15.880 --> 00:17:18.880 a place away from the relentless drive for predictable 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:22.099 maximum profit. Outside of the daily grind, he 00:17:22.099 --> 00:17:24.279 did get some major recognition for his career 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:26.960 right. The Walk of Fame star. Oh yeah, absolutely 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:30.680 deserved. May 6th, 2005, he got his star on the 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:33.819 Hollywood Walk of Fame, 7018 Hollywood Boulevard. 00:17:34.190 --> 00:17:36.490 What was the citation for? It recognized his 00:17:36.490 --> 00:17:39.630 first 38 years of groundbreaking radio, and it 00:17:39.630 --> 00:17:42.650 tells you how much artists respected him. Jackson 00:17:42.650 --> 00:17:44.690 Brown, his friend, gave the speech at the ceremony. 00:17:44.750 --> 00:17:46.970 That confirms the musicians knew Ladd was on 00:17:46.970 --> 00:17:49.049 their side, fighting the good fight for the music. 00:17:49.289 --> 00:17:52.250 He really dedicated his whole life to this, always 00:17:52.250 --> 00:17:54.170 choosing the music and the connection over the 00:17:54.170 --> 00:17:55.809 easy path. He was married, right? Yeah, married 00:17:55.809 --> 00:17:57.910 to Helene Hodge, who's a writer, poet, and musician 00:17:57.910 --> 00:18:00.319 herself. And then... The end came while he was 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:02.380 still doing what he loved. Right up to the end. 00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:05.200 He died of a heart attack December 17, 2023. 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:08.640 He was 75, still hosting his Freeform show on 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.740 SiriusXM. His death really did feel like the 00:18:11.740 --> 00:18:14.759 closing of a chapter, the last of the great Freeform 00:18:14.759 --> 00:18:17.660 rock DJs, a guy who started when vinyl ruled 00:18:17.660 --> 00:18:20.519 and ended in the age of streaming, never compromising 00:18:20.519 --> 00:18:23.579 that core belief in the DJ's role. Hashtag hashtag 00:18:23.579 --> 00:18:26.700 outro. So wrapping this up, what's the big takeaway 00:18:26.700 --> 00:18:29.000 for you listening? Jim Ladd's story, it's more 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:32.299 than just one DJ's career. It's really a symbol, 00:18:32.400 --> 00:18:34.660 right? A decades -long fight against media becoming 00:18:34.660 --> 00:18:37.680 too standardized, too impersonal. Yeah, he proved 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:39.660 again and again that the human touch matters. 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:42.740 The DJ's voice, their choices, that ability to 00:18:42.740 --> 00:18:44.720 connect with listeners on an emotional, intellectual 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:47.519 level, that has real value, measurable value 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:49.839 even, in terms of loyalty. And looking at the 00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:52.759 bigger picture, his story really throws the cost 00:18:52.759 --> 00:18:56.599 of that standardization into sharp relief. When 00:18:56.599 --> 00:18:59.299 AOR and big corporate ownership took over, something 00:18:59.299 --> 00:19:01.880 important got lost. We lost a lot of the discovery, 00:19:01.960 --> 00:19:04.279 the surprise, the personality that built that 00:19:04.279 --> 00:19:07.240 fierce loyalty. Remember the tribe? They followed 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:08.880 Ladd everywhere because he treated them like 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:11.079 people, not like demographic data points in an 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:13.839 Arbitron report. That connection was real. And 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:17.160 now Freeform Radio lives on, but mostly on satellite, 00:19:17.259 --> 00:19:19.920 maybe some niche streaming stations. It makes 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:22.119 you wonder, doesn't it? We talk about personalization 00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:24.500 all the time now with music apps, but it's mostly 00:19:24.500 --> 00:19:26.960 algorithmic. Right. The algorithm suggests stuff 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:29.359 based on what you already like. It rarely pushes 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:32.200 you way outside your comfort zone the way a great 00:19:32.200 --> 00:19:34.859 freeform DJ could. So here's the final thought 00:19:34.859 --> 00:19:37.559 for you to chew on. Where does that truly human 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:40.299 -driven, maybe even challenging freeform curation 00:19:40.299 --> 00:19:44.680 exist today? Is it YouTube channels? Podcasts? 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:48.490 Niche blogs? And what was the real lasting cultural 00:19:48.490 --> 00:19:51.230 cost of losing that unpredictable element on 00:19:51.230 --> 00:19:53.910 the mainstream airwaves? When playlists got super 00:19:53.910 --> 00:19:56.769 tight, driven by consultants, what gems did we 00:19:56.769 --> 00:19:59.650 miss? What artists never got heard? Think about 00:19:59.650 --> 00:20:03.109 why the tribe was so loyal. What is it about 00:20:03.109 --> 00:20:05.069 that human connection, that shared experience 00:20:05.069 --> 00:20:07.690 curated by someone you trust, that algorithms 00:20:07.690 --> 00:20:10.579 maybe can't replicate? That loyalty survived 00:20:10.579 --> 00:20:13.180 corporate purges, format flips, new technologies. 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:16.359 That connection, the kind Jim Ladd built, that's 00:20:16.359 --> 00:20:18.400 maybe what got sacrificed in the name of efficiency. 00:20:18.500 --> 00:20:20.440 Something to think about next time you hit shuffle 00:20:20.440 --> 00:20:22.559 or wonder where all the real characters on the 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:24.200 radio went. Definitely something to mull over. 00:20:25.220 --> 00:20:26.779 Thanks for diving deep with us today.