WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 658 - Jim Ladd & Frazer Smith

Episode Date: November 26, 2015

Recorded in front of a live audience at the LA Podfest, Marc pays tribute to the radio legends who helped make it possible for podcasters to operate with complete freedom. Jim Ladd and Frazer Smith are icons of freeform rock radio, and they have no shortage of stories, lessons, and secrets to divulge about the Golden Age of FM DJs. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lock the gate! Alright, let's do this! How are you, what the fuckers? What the fuck, buddies? What the fucking ears? Welcome to the live WTF at LA PodFest 2015! at LA Podfest 2015. I'm happy to be here. I say that because it's a habit.

I don't know what the fuck to talk about. It wasn't a bleak day. But maybe I can share what I wrote on my phone like I usually carry around scraps of paper that I write on I rarely write jokes I rarely write things that are funny on my phone or on a piece of paper they're important ideas that are very pressing to me in the moment and there were two things that came up in conversation,

and I thought I should write them down. The first being erratic apes cursed with consciousness, which would be us, I think, is what we're explaining. And then this is a fine way to open a show. It's amazing how easily we've all adapted to this utterly non-reflective but self-consumed culture. Elaborate shallowness based on lifestyle choice and vanity. Mutated egos seeking recognition, calling that individuality. And then the next line says, forget happy, I want to be chipper.

Right? Isn't happiness too much to ask for i mean are there people here that are capable like someone asked me and this comes up a lot you know what do you do that uh that gives you joy and my response is always like what the fuck are you talking about what What could that possibly mean? Do most of you experience joy? Okay, I asked the wrong crowd. No, man, we're just, you know, listening to the things. This is what I prepared for the show.

It just says monologue. That's underlined. And then these were the bullet points. Desperation everywhere. Cultural starvation. Deprivation. And then this one deserves exploring. Indulging the talentless.

Indulge that one? It's like I try to stay out of the fray, but because there's such a hunger for content, morons are celebrated. Now, I know if anyone's taking this personally, that's really on you. Like, if anyone in here had a moment where, like, I think he's fucking shitting on what I do, well, maybe you should fucking reevaluate what you do then.

Thank God none of us are happy, because I think that the entire new media would collapse if people were like, you know, I don't need to, I'm not even going to go on the computer today. What? You're not playing along. So let's do some questions. I'd like to open with a Q&A because I think that would spark some excitement. There are mics set up, so I'm not fucking around. I'm going to bring my guests out in a minute, but let's do some Q&A because I think that would spark some excitement. There are mics set up, so I'm not fucking around. I'm going to bring my guests out in a minute,

but let's do some Q&A because I feel like that will make me excited. So go to the mic, somebody with a question. Where are the mics? Here's a mic right here. That's it. Hi, Mark. Hi. Hi, Mindy. Hi, Mindy. What's up?

Well, I was wondering how it feels to do a podcast outside of the garage Well, there's less panic involved Like when I'm in the garage, you don't I don't know if some of you know how how honestly long it takes me to approach the garage like Like if I have to do this monologue in the garage, it's a good like I'll go I'll set up the file I'll label it and then I'll go back into the house and I'll you know prepare something to eat And then I'll go back out to the garage

I'll be like fuck I need coffee and I'll go back in the house I'll make some coffee and now maybe go listen to a record And then and then I'll get up from listening to the record I'll be like fuck me and I'm so fucking tired Of talking about myself. I might just up from listening to the record, and I'll be like, fuck, man, I'm so fucking tired of talking about myself. I might just fucking commit suicide on the mic, but then I don't know how people would respond to that. So then I choose, you know, kind of courageously not to kill myself in that moment because I have a monologue to do

about whatever's happening in my little life. So then I'll go back out to the garage and I'll get on the mic and right before I start I'll be like, oh I think I'm going to play a little guitar. And I'll play guitar for a little while and then I'll set the levels for when I play guitar now at the end. And then I'll sit in there after I play guitar and record a little I'll be like, how come I'm not doing this for real? And then finally like something will happen, something will pop into my mind,

and lately it's been housework, where I'll be like, oh, fuck, I just stained my gate. I got a monologue. So how is this different? I don't have any of that going on. Next question. Next question. Good question. I enjoy this.

I feel like I'm getting happy. Hi. Hi, Mark. Did you write something down? No. Oh, you're holding a book like it's... I am. A few years ago, you did an interview with Greg Fleet,

the Melbourne comedian, if you remember. Yeah, Greg Fleet-y, Fleet-y. And you lent him some money at a time that he had a heroin addiction. Yeah, at a time when he had a heroin addiction. Right. And so this is his autobiography that he gave to me for free.

So I was wondering if you wanted to return on your investment and take this book. You're offering me Greg Fleet's book Yes Outside of his knowledge To make up for the debt Yeah Of the $20 that he shot into his fucking arm I spoke to him about it

And he supported the idea Well I'd like to think that Greg put aside my $20 for that meal. We'd all like to think that. And I like to think when he stayed in my house that he just slept and that was it. But you were missing a television? How's he doing now? He's doing good right now.

Yeah. Yeah. Right now. I mean, read the book. It ends on, yeah, it ends on the struggle. Am I in the book where he says, Marin, that sucker, like everybody else, let me $20 that he'll never get back. Not specifically, but, you know, he says comedians,

so, you know, you're in the bracket. Thank God we all take care of each other. What are you going to do when a guy needs money for heroin? I don't want him to get it from somebody who expects it to be returned. I'd like it to be a charitable donation to further exploration. What's up, buddy? How's it going, a charitable donation to further exploration.

What's up, buddy? How's it going, Mark? I'm all right. Hey, I know you're a fan of records, listening to music on vinyl. I'm a huge vinyl fan, so I wanted to know, what are you listening to,

and what do you prefer, a full album, 7 inches, 10 inches, something like that? 7 inches. It's a record size, not a euphemism. I'm so oblivious to double entendres. I'm just sitting here

thinking about records. The rest of you are like, eh. That's where I'm at. Ten inches. I like my cocks. No, because

it seems that the higher quality equipment you have, the more you have to do. Like, if I play a 7-inch, that means I've got to get up and take the needle off. Right. Because if I play a 10-inch, I'm sort of like, why didn't these guys make a whole fucking record? And if I play a whole record, I'm like,

I can sit down and wait this out and enjoy the music. What am I listening to? Like, today I listened to Fairport Convention, Lesion Leaf, and I listened to... What else did I listen to? I just bought a batch of records. It's weird because

how many records does a person need? All the records. I listened to Donny Hathaway live and I was not familiar that much with Mr. Hathawayaway but thanks to my pusher at Gimme Gimme Records, Mr. Dan Cook, who kindly puts aside

a stack of $20 to $35 records that he thinks I'll enjoy. And he knows you'll buy. Is that a good enough answer? That's fantastic. Thank you very much. Two more questions and I'm bringing my guest up.

What's up, buddy? How's it going? Good. Cool. I just wanted to ask, you did an interview with Michael Biglia. Are you like some weird version of me? I'm your son, Mark. Is this happening now?

Yeah. I always waited for it to happen. Do you want to play catch? I brought a baseball glove. I brought a baseball glove. I thought we could play catch. Finally. Like existential catch or something. That would be appropriate. I brought a baseball glove. I thought we could play catch finally. Like existential catch or something that would be appropriate. Sure, man.

I'm just glad all the hard work's done. Looks like you turned out okay. You're tucking your shirt in and shit. Go ahead. I just wanted to ask Pops that in the Mike Birbiglia interview that you did a couple of years ago, he asked a question where he was asking, how do you feel like, you were talking about characterizations of stand-ups and people that they sort of play on stage, and obviously this is the podcast that's been going on for many years,

and you've got the IFC show and whatnot. To what extent do you feel like you have to play up the Marc Maron-ness? It's funny, my son is just as long-winded as I am. You really got that gene. You should start a podcast. I bet you could confidently ramble about your cats in your driveway for 15

to 20 minutes. You're asking me about how conscious am I of being a caricature of myself? Yeah. Do you actively try to defeat that or what's the deal, man? Dude, I am so not real right now. Sorry.

It's all been a lie. The real me is crying. I just turned into Dave Anthony for a second. Get two, three. Really, he's not going to step in? That's amazing. The... That was... We just witnessed some real strength and fortitude on behalf of Dave Anthony. Not to somehow steal

the stage. The... I don't... I think that, like, what's ultimately happened for me is, like, I think the conversation was around the idea of building your clown which is some weird thing that I used to say that I still believe that whether you do it on purpose like some people seem to be fully formed on stage

as sort of a heightened version of themselves or something ridiculous that has nothing to do with them but it's something that exists on stage it's a persona that's generally based on some part of their personality I never could quite handle that because I was so busy trying to figure out who the exists on stage. It's a persona that's generally based on some part of their personality. I never could quite handle that because I was so busy trying to figure out who the fuck I was that what I think ultimately has happened is that because of the podcast and because

of a certain amount of pride and gratitude and self-esteem that seems to have happened by doing something that people enjoy and that I like doing, I think I've become more myself. Now, which is all I really wanted to do. I was not looking to become some weird, amplified version of me. But there are different, like my stand-up persona is really just me consciously trying to be funny. The persona in the garage is me trying to work things out out loud. And the character on the show is me, you know, trying to work things out, out loud. And the character

on the show is a very limited version of me that over two or three seasons, we've realized this guy doesn't do that, but I, but yeah, right. But, but I do that. It's like, yeah, but you're not this guy. This guy's, uh, uh, like there, there's, there's, uh, he's kind to me, but, but he's not really. So I think that the TV thing is the best example of me being kind of a character. Does that help? Like, I'm just happy to be closer to who I think I am. Now get the fuck out

of here. Seriously. Not kidding. Thank you, son. Good luck with everything. One more. It's a lot to follow your son, I'm just going to say. Over 600 episodes in the can out are you aware of the kind of history

that you are filling in for people in comedy because I feel like whenever I listen to WTF the comedians I grew up with and I'm very familiar with are telling stories about the silences in comedic history that people don't understand. So I'm just wondering how important it is to you in what you do and what other podcasts are doing

to tell the story of comedians that are not doing late night or doing big movies. Well, I think it's like, I learned not too long ago that at any point in history there's always been like hundreds of unknown comedians and uh and and being part of the the community of comedians that like part of what i did at the beginning was really it was a it was me asking to be let back in to the committee like i i wanted to know that i had friends and we were all cool. It's true.

Because I'd become so cynical and so fucking weird and angry that I'd marginalized myself in my own mind. But usually the people I'd talk to were like, I didn't even know you were mad. Because we're all so selfish. Over time, I have made conscious decisions to have certain comics on because I thought that people should know about them because I love them so much.

And even if they remain unknown or whatever, I am sort of conscious of the fact that there are guys and women that do amazing things that people just don't know about. And we don't know about it because, getting back to what I was talking about in sort of a bleak way, there's only so many fucking hours in a day. in sort of a bleak way, there's only so many fucking hours in a day. I mean, I just, like even when I have somebody on like Richard Thompson who's a wizard of a guitar player, I've said lately that

there's no real late to the party because the party is ongoing and that you can come at anything at any time because it's all available, but who the fuck has time? So there is part of me that feels like there are definitely people that deserve to be recognized

for what they do. And there are some really fucking funny people that nobody really knows who they are. And I love talking to them. So I'm conscious of it. And sometimes I do it on purpose. How's that? All right. Let's begin the show.

Wait, you okay? Did you want any more attention? What's up? No, come on. No, tell me. Tell me. Now I'm the asshole? No, I'm the asshole for making you look like an asshole.

No, you didn't. Though I am an asshole. You're actually more like me than the other guy. Go ahead. I'm actually a little charmed by that. This is actually my first WTF. And I was going to ask, what's your favorite episode? Come on.

Who's in charge? Get the diapers. All right, good. I'm actually new to LA. And I was wondering how... How old are you? I'm only a 21, baby boy. And you just moved here?

I just moved here I just moved your own oh my are you in school no sir what's your plan I I was just I wanted to know I just know what where the line was between networking and being talented. You're asking the wrong guy. All right. Thank you. No, listen. No, listen.

There are people that are fundamentally untalented that can have great success because their ambition is so focused and they work hard. And there are people that are talented that have no success because their talent drains them of their ability to be successful So you know you got to find somewhere in between if you are talented You should try to figure out what those are and what the parameters are and and how you can use them to to help you As opposed to hurt you if you're not talented You're gonna have to work really hard and you'll probably become more successful than a lot of your talented friends. All right. Thank you very much.

It's my pleasure to bring up my first guest, who is one of the warriors of free-form rock radio on KMET right here in LA, a legend, Mr. Jim Ladd, ladies and gentlemen. Hi, Jim. Why don't you sit right in that one. Hello. This is, I don't know how many people know who Jim is. You want to hold it or you want to talk into into it I'll just talk into it listen to that voice that's a real fucking deal

so when did you get into radio oh man I have to say that in front of this crowd yes sir everybody's 12 years old here. 1969. 1969. See, now I feel like I'm going to be this weird interpreter. That's when things happened. It was before my time, but I was very appreciative of it. 69. Yeah.

So what was the radio landscape? Let me preface this. The reason I had Jim here and I've got Fraser Smith in the wings is that Fraser Smith, another legendary rock DJ and stand-up comic, is that we owe a certain amount of props to these guys

who fucking cut the way for fucking radio and broadcasting when you had to figure out how to be unique and creative and still have a fucked up shitty boss. So in 69, what was the angle? What was radio doing?

There was a revolution happening. Two names you should know is Tom and Rachel Donahue who invented FM radio because before Tom and Rachel Donahue, who invented FM radio, because before Tom and Rachel, the landscape was top 40 radio. You know the guys that talk like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hi! I'm always really, really fucking happy. And Tom and Rachel came along, and one day, I'll tell this story really quickly. Oh, take your time. Oh, that's right, I'm on a podcast. Oh! Yeah. We'll take it.

We'll take it. Anyway, the story goes one day up in San Francisco. Yeah. Tom was sitting around with some friends. Tom at that time was a 350-pound guy, big AM radio guy, one of those guys that talk like that. Was he a station manager or a DJ? A DJ. Okay.

And he'd gotten sick of the bubblegum Top 40 stuff. Anyway, so they're sitting around. They're blazing on LSD, playing cards. They're melting. They can't figure out what the fuck they're looking at on the cards. And he had been given an acetate of a brand-new band that no one had ever heard of called The Doors. Good timing on that. Good timing on that.

So the end is playing on a vinyl record in the back, and Tom says, why don't we hear this on the radio? Next day he gets up, he puts on his power tie, and he says, he calls calls he gets the phone book out that's when you had phone books and he finds an FM station whose phone had been disconnected he said I've got it

I've got him now we're going to go paint the sky blue for this guy so he went down to this radio station in San Francisco did his magic talk Tom and Ray go home. They take their own albums in boxes

down to this FM station. By the way, FM at that time was basically foreign language, classical music, and static. That was it. I would be listening to the static station. Nobody gave a shit about FM radio. Nobody knew about it.

If you bought an AM station, they'd throw the FM radio. Anyway, so he went on the air there and started a literal broadcast revolution called Freeform Radio, and I came along about two years later. Yes. A lot of these...

I remember Freeform Radio, because when I grew up in New Mexico, there was KRST in Albuquerque. Really. All I remember was that we put it on in the restaurant I worked at, and a guy would come on and be like, hey, how's everybody doing?

Right now we're going to play the side two of Jesse Colin Young's second album. And then that would be it. And then he'd come back on and he'd be like, I just got back in. But that was beautiful in a way. Oh yeah. And when you started in on that, what was your angle? Because I know that from very early on you would utilize the music to sort of make points. You would have themes.

You would sort of pepper your monologue with music and sort of carry it through. So it was an entire listening experience. That's a very good way to describe it. My particular thing that I found, and I do it today on SiriusXM. I'm allowed to, thank God and I do it today on uh Sirius XM I'm allowed to thank God still do it um my approach to freeform radio was first off it was very uh we were very involved in what was

going on in the streets Vietnam was still going on the civil rights movement all of that 60s social ethic yeah we felt obligated. It wasn't like something, well, we should do this to get listeners. We were listeners who were just lucky enough to get to play with the PA. That's the way we looked at it. We're at the party and we get to play with the thing. So it was incumbent upon us to comment on what was going on in the streets and what the protesters were doing.

Well, then, you have to remember, you have Bob Dylan singing songs about these issues. You have the Beatles and the Stones and the Doors and all these great artists writing this extraordinary music. So what I tried to do was take what was happening in the streets, the lyrics of the songs, combine them with my take on that particular issue and put them together into a show. So if I set up a set about the environment or you know politics or

getting laid or whatever you know. How many times did you do that last one? That was mostly the show. Pretty much. We had things like the all-girl harmonica band looking for ladies with the best licks in town, long-legged pony reviews, things like that. Are these real bands? No, no, no. That was something made up.

No, I made that up. No, no. No, no, no. The all-girl harmonica. See how sensitive and stupid I've gotten? It's like, wow, they were really performing that kind of stuff then. No, they were performing all right. It was a whole different kind of performance.

But anyway, where the hell was I? So anyway, we tried to take these topics. And if you listen very carefully to the lyrics of these songs, they will continue the story that I set up. So you would have to really listen to what the song was saying and the next song and the next song, and it would have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And so from that, you get what became rock radio, FM rock radio.

Like once the social issues, though they're back and they never quite go away, but once the 60s sort of kind of like fizzled out and became exploitable music-wise. That, you know, once there were people that really meant something, and then the record companies were like, well, it's just a sound. We can get everyone fucking doing this. And then it just

became a party from, what, 1972 to like three years ago? Pretty much. Pretty much, yeah. I'll tell you when it ended, because this is kind of serious. I don't know how many of you here remember a radio station called KMET, but I miss it every day. And it was the epitome of FM freeform outlaw rock radio.

And it was a must-listen in town. And we had complete and total freedom as you have freedom on your podcast which is the brilliance of being able to do podcasts because nobody's telling you what to do no one told us what to do then and so it was heaven it was heaven

every day you know but what was your relationship with the people that were in charge I mean I have to assume that like you know we just got a letter in the post. Oh, yeah. In the post. Yeah, yeah. Thank God there was no email.

Two weeks ago, this person mailed this letter. Right. She had a problem with something you said, and you were like, I don't even fucking remember what I said. Exactly. And those letters were, you can always tell them, see them coming, because they were about that thick. Yeah. They had like 40 pages of handwritten information. And they never, oh, yeah, after they'd sealed the envelope, they had to write on the outside of the envelope. So healthy people.

Healthy people, real healthy people. What were most of the complaints then? Well, you know, people would be probably put off by my political stance. It might be a bit too liberal for them. As we got going, you know, at the first, everybody, it's a big tribe, and everybody says, yeah, because it was our community bulletin board. So, you know, go to the anti-war rally. Go to this protest.

And that was all fantastic. Then Ronald Reagan came along. And I remember the night that I got, I said something about Reagan, And that was all fantastic. Then Ronald Reagan came along. And I remember the night that I got, I said something about Reagan. Guy calls me up. He goes, look, man, I'm a rocker for Reagan. Shut the fuck up. And I went, man, the world has just changed.

My world has just changed. And what happened was Ronald Reagan did a thing called deregulation. because, you know, Republicans love to deregulate things. Sure, no rules. No rules. Let people fend for themselves. Exactly. You know, we don't need clean water. We don't need clean air.

When it gets real bad, a private company will take it over, and that's how we create businesses. Global warming is a, you know, that's not happening. Yeah, apocalypse management. It's a future business. Exactly. So they deregulated the broadcast industry. And without getting too technical, what used to happen is you could only own seven radio and TV stations up until Ronald Reagan.

That meant that there was thousands of radio stations across the country owned by people who were actual broadcasters who loved the media. You didn't know what you were doing. Well, once that went out the window window it was like everybody had a podcast no it was um the it was quite the opposite actually and that's why all joking aside what you're doing out here is important because what happened to our media is that instead of more and more people owning it fewer and fewer people start owning it. Sure, and then you get the clear channel radio mills. That's right. And that's right.

You don't, yeah. So now there's just a handful of very, very powerful people who have watered down rock and roll. I always thought, who can make rock and roll boring? Well, they figured out a way. Somebody sat down and go, I'm going to make a format and made it boring for fuck's sake. How do you make rock and roll boring? Well, they figured out a way. Somebody sat down and go, I'm going to make a format and, you know, made it boring for fuck's sake.

How do you make rock and roll? It's just like, I know from being a comic, you know, you go on the road and then you go do a radio show and you do all your radio in one building because it was all

clear channel. So you go like, all right, you're going in with Joey and the dummy and then we're going to go to Billy and the stupid lady. And so you just kind of walk down this hallway to a bunch of guys going, hey, here he is. Mark Maron's in the house.

Yeah, yeah. And it was kind of frightening because you realize that there was no independence at all. Correct. And the game was fixed. Completely, totally fixed. You're going to bring a guest on here in a minute by the name of Fraser Smith, one of the most creative and talented people

I've worked with. And they still are trying to figure out how to, you know, grind him down. Oh, well, shit, that's a hell of an intro. Why don't you come out, Fraser? Fraser Smith, ladies and gentlemen. Still at it. Still on the dial You want me to move over?

No you guys He's alright Because we're going to Start talking about Partying pretty soon Anybody got any blow? Come on Let's get this shit going

What is things asked In the 80s? Nice shirt bro Fraser so You can work the room for me. That's my kid. Sorry. Do it.

Work the room. Do it. What the fuckers, what's up? Yeah, okay. Yeah. Jim Ladd, come on, a legend. Come on. So now, but before Reagan came,

before deregulation, there was a period there from like 71, 72, all the way through the 80s, where it was just a fucking free-for-all, I have to imagine. I mean, this is L.A. rock radio. This is where the music business is. When did you know that things were out of control, Jim? Probably when I was doing lines on the bench in the studio and the general manager walked in and said, where's the straw? You know, that probably was the moment, you know, when the. Yeah, that's where I used to get my blow.

Where? From the GM. They always have the best drugs. Oh, yeah. So he didn't give a fuck either? No. Honest to God, when KMET moved to the new building of Metro Media Square, Rachel Donahue gets with the architect,

and they show, okay, here's the studio, here's the music library, here's the door in between. She goes, no, you're going to have to build this little telephone size vestibule, this little booth. You walk in one door, you can close the door, then you walk in the other. She goes, we don't need that. She goes, no. There's got to be a place for the jocks to smoke

dope. They went, okay, we'll build it. They did. We called it the Paraquat Lounge. The Paraquat Lounge. That Paraquat was a thing they used to spray on marijuana that caused it to be cancerous and horrible. They did it in an effort to kill the marijuana plants back when people grew it illegally in fields in Mexico. Yeah, you learned something. Was that right?

It wasn't right? Oh, okay. Didn't they use it on pot plants in the States? Let me... So now we're back to Vietnam. It always comes back to Vietnam. I want to just say, if I can, just for a second here. Whatever you want. This goes to the power of why this was important and why it's important we lost it.

You're right. Paraquat was a defoliant used in Vietnam but then what they did was in the Carter administration they brought it and they started spraying it on Mexican marijuana fields to kill the marijuana well what would happen is the drug dealers being the conscientious folks that we all know them to be, would harvest the plants and then ship them over here, sopping with this horrible chemical. So here's an example of what you can do with real radio, real FM radio. We got a hold of this story.

Our news guy, Pat Kelly, read the story. I'm listening to it at home because you actually listened to your own radio station in those days. Back in those days, yeah. Back in those days, you weren't embarrassed because they were playing the same fucking song over and over. Hey, Aqualung, it must be 1215. Aqualung is 1215.

Yeah, Aqualung must be 1215. How about some more Bad Company? And let's have the same exact Bad Company song. can't get enough of you thank you yeah there you go yeah because obviously the audience is not hip enough to want to listen to more than three records you know sure you wouldn't put on a vinyl record and just explore it would you mark never man i'm just gonna play bob seger's night moves over and over exactly there you go exactly Exactly. Great album.

So I hear this thing. I go into the station. They've already written up a public service announcement. I go on the air and I say, look, this is important. You heard Pat talk about this. I'm on the air now. And I said, why don't you write your congressman?

And we had the congressman write it down. And then I started a song like Homegrown or something from Neil Young, right? So I turn the mic off, the phone rings, I pick it up and it's a friend of mine. He says, well, why don't you have him call the White House? And I went, yeah, like I got Jimmy Carter's number. He said, no, no, no, there's a public number. You can call 24 hours a day.

And by the way, it's the same number today. And I said, what? And he said, yeah. Okay, so I wrote the number down. I call the White House, and by God, there was somebody there. Now it's like 11 o'clock L.A. time, right? So it's like

2 or 3 in the morning. So I said, okay, I just want to make sure you're there. So I went back in there and I said, guess what? I got the to make sure you're there. So I went back in there and I said, guess what? I got the phone number for the White House. And I'm going to give it to you. And we're going to call and we're going to be polite. We're not going to be assholes.

But we're going to tell them what we think about this. Well, I gave the number out. Put on another song. I dialed the phone to the White House. It was busy. Hung up, dialed it again. And I got that thing, which you probably don't remember, but there used to be a message. I'm sorry, all circuits into Washington, D.C. are busy. So we shut down the phones. When I got off the air that night, I'm leaving the studio,

and the guy that's on after me goes, hold it, hold it. The Secret Service is on the phone. So I had to talk to them, and the next day, of course, the general manager calls me and threatens to fire me and everybody else in the studio. If we ever mention this again, as I'm walking down the hallway, the news director is just starting his show and he's, the first

story out of his mouth, well, the Paraquat in Washington, D.C., and here's the phone number. We just completely blew this asshole off, right? So the end of the story is, in about a month, we had gathered 250,000 signatures, sent them

back with the news director to Washington, D.C., and within two months, Congress stopped the funding of Paraquat. That was all due to our audience. Yeah. And then our newsman became known as Paraquat Kelly. Is that true?

Great Paraquat Kelly. Now, let's talk about how you guys were backstage talking about all the places you were fired from and and how uh you know when when you started doing radio what was your format was it free form as well uh yeah because that was the era for fm yeah jim pointed out and it had just pretty much started around 68 71 i got into it um uh and it was uh a new uh really a new medium yeah nobody was jim's right there was nothing on there and what was your angle uh i I got into it. And it was a new, really a new medium.

Nobody was, Jim's right, there was nothing on there. And what was your angle? I just like to fuck around. Yeah. I figured, how can I get paid for that? Which is pretty much what I did. And you still do it now? Yeah, pretty much.

You're on? I'm on Sunday night on KLOS 95.5. If you get a chance please check it out 10-2 Thank you Apparently they haven't heard the show What was the training for radio? What did you guys do to get into radio?

What was the course of the career? What was the plan? I started at a little AM station I was going to school in Kalamazoo, Michigan And they had a little AM station. I was going to school in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and they had a little AM station called WYYY, which is what they asked after they fired me. That sounded scripted.

Why did we put this guy on there? But it was a really good experience because you had to learn how to do everything. It was one of these little deals where you had to do the sports and the news and sweep up afterwards and turn on the equipment. Traffic and you you know you had to do it all so i think you know as you move up in that world it's it always kind of stays the same and you know the buildings get bigger and everything but the mechanics are basically the same i saw a guy that used to work with carts you guys had the carts yeah the carts yeah like i saw a guy once it was like a throwback i did a show with him and he was working carts and he was doing all the voices and he had the 360 machine that had

all the buttons with the sound effects and it was like a one-man fucking band it was horrible but it seemed like an amazing skill it was but it was very very difficult now part of the what was the relationship though i'm curious about what was the relationship with a station like you, like you guys doing Freeform, with the record companies? I know you got tired of Bad Company, but you definitely had to have some sort of negotiation with them, right? Well, I think it got less and less as time wore on. There was a time where you had a little bit of leeway to maybe break a record, break a band early on when we got in there. Did you ever break a band?

Well, I did a couple, yeah. I started at K-Rock when I got to LA and there's the program director and his family. K-Rock was awesome because it was independently owned, one of the last big independently owned stations. And I remember we were in a little two-story building in Pasadena. This guy used to climb up the fire escape while I was on the air, climb in through

the window, kick in the door. He'd go, hey, dude, you got to play my test pressing, man. Come on, bro. Really? It was David Lee Roth. I'm like, get the fuck out of here, dude. This is professional broadcasting. He goes, you'll be sorry, man. So he did this for like three months.

Finally, just to get him off my back, I go, all right, buddy, I'll play that for you. Because it was K-Rock. I could still in those days play one or two cuts if I wanted. So I played Ain't Talking About Love. Right. It went through the roof. You were the guy. Well, allegedly.

Were you and Dave friends after that? Yeah. We've been friends for a long time. And that happened once in a blue moon. You could do that. I remember I used to get cassettes back in the day. I get them now. People send me cassettes.

I'm like, I don't have a machine that does this. Do I need to get a machine that does that now? Is that the new thing? Lo-fi cassettes? I don't need a machine that does this Do I need to get a machine that does that now? Is that the new thing? Lo-fi cassettes? I don't need to? Alright, that lady who sends me is going to be disappointed I was the rocker for Reagan But anyway Call back

Or get these cassettes And I'd be like at the Rainbow or something And people go, hey dude, can you play this man? And I'm to, yeah. Or I'd get these cassettes, and I'd be like at the Rainbow or something, and people would go, hey, dude, can you play this, man? And, okay. So you'd take it, because you get so many of them. You're not trying to be rude. You'd like to help whoever you can help. Right.

But, you know, you get a lot of them when you're on the air all the time, so you kind of throw them in a drawer, and every once in a while you'd play a couple of them. Yeah. And I played one, and it sounded really good. It wasley crew really yeah it was uh live wire uh-huh so i go and ask my boss can we play live wire no uh who are those guys and so then i just played it anyway and i had enough grace at that point to wither or something like that i didn't you know i wouldn't get canned over one of them right right and uh that was another band I helped out a little bit.

How about you, Jim? Did you break any guys? Yeah, I was very far. KMET, we would get back in those days, and I'm not making this up, 30 albums a week in our mailboxes. Every jock got the releases. The promo copies, the white

label promo copies. Got any of those left can i have a long ago sold those for never mind yeah um uh but we we took uh we certainly didn't take ourselves seriously because we pinched ourselves every day that we were working there yeah we knew then while we were there 20 years old you know not knowing anything we we knew how lucky we were. But we took it seriously because we felt, these guys formed a band. So we would listen intently, and we had complete freedom to play anybody we wanted.

One of the new bands that we had played nobody had ever of, was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I remember playing that first. I remember George Thurgood and the Destroyers. And so, yeah, they would come up, and all of the jocks, not just me, but everybody had a good ear. So, you know, we would, if we felt it was quality stuff, we would play it. If we felt it was shit, we just wouldn't. Yeah, the entire staff knew music at KMET.

All the jocks. Could have been a program director. They knew what was going on musically. It's rumored that Tom Petty wrote the last DJ about you. Can we validate that rumor? Yeah. Yes. That's very nice.

It was pretty humbling. It's pretty humbling. It's pretty humbling. Yeah. And is Johnny Fever based on you? No. I hope not. No. Talk about a guy who can work the carts.

That's right. Now, you've interviewed just about every fucking rock and roll person in the world. And I watched some video of you presenting Slash with his uh his star on the walk of hollywood fame you have a star on the walk too i do i do i keep waiting for somebody to come up and go just kidding but yes i do that must have been a big day huh oh man i was uh so overwhelmed my father god bless him was still alive so he got to see that and my brother and sister and stuff and uh it was you know rarely in life do you have a perfect day you know there's always something that goes wrong sure that was from the moment i woke up to the moment i went to sleep was a perfect day.

And I'll never forget it. And Jackson Brown came and spoke. And Woody Harrelson came and spoke. And a lot of these very kind people came and spoke. A lot of weed, huh? A lot of weed. Perfect day. That's fucking beautiful, man.

Where in Hollywood Boulevard is it? You know where the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is? Yeah. Oh, good place. Yeah, it's got good real estate. Yeah. Thank God that hotel turned around. Amen.

Amen. March and watch. It really runs out that far? Yeah, I was... Here's his comment phrase. It took a turn, yeah. You know, it's funny because my dad, you know, he's a World War II vet.

They lived up north. Very supportive. Couldn't have better parents. But they didn't really relate to the rock and roll lifestyle. Lifelong Republican and here I come. This liberal asshole that believes in everything from smoking pot to... Anyway.

But when I got that star, that got to my dad. You know what? Because John Wayne has one. Yeah. And his boy got something John Wayne did. So suddenly I was cool. That's a fucking

beautiful moment. When your dad finally realizes that you're alright. And he deserves that star because Jim Ladd really was a pioneer with music and would not just sit there and play the same old stuff over and over again. He put his career at risk many times and also had a political viewpoint that he wasn't afraid to share, which is awesome. In this day and age, it takes a lot of guts

and putting your job on the line, which he did every night, basically. What were some of the fights you had to fight within the hierarchy? Well, first off, let me just say having to compete against him put my job on the line as well. Because that wasn't easy. Because there was a time, let me just

return a compliment. We're not kissing anybody's ass here, but there was a time when this guy was the phenomenon in L.A LA in the morning and he was against us and we were really aware of Fraser Smith and also I was thinking about this knowing I was gonna see you How Fucked excuse my language ahead. How fucked up is it? That's a creative guy like this comes up with the phrase

Party animal which everybody knows became a big advertising thing with Spud and McKenzie and gee how much money did they come and dump on your doorstep for that not a lot Spud's got most of that you came up with party animal he invented that term party animal it's part of the Mexican it's part of the American lexicon well unfortunately at that time I was the party animal but the hard part is trying to do morning radio after you've been out partying all night it's never easy you have to do that yeah I did the first couple years you know are like that I remember you know I was young so I was partying, you know, every night. Doing the club? Well, yeah.

And I would go in late to work. I'd get there about 7 in the morning. For a 6 o'clock call? For a 6 o'clock show. I would have my engineer play taped shit for an hour. It's an old radio trick, guys, if you want to think about that. And then I would park in my boss's spot because I was, you know, it was the closest place to the station. So then I would go in there, I would do the show, and then hopefully I would remember later to move my car during the show. So one day I forgot I got involved

in the show, and I remember I'm on the air, and he had my car towed while I was on the air. So I took my mic outside, and I interviewed the tow truck guy. I go, who's towing my car? Well, it's this guy. And I go, it's my boss, that fucker. So my slogan was two hip. I had the slogan two hip. And he had gotten these two hip personalized license plates. So I said, if you see a silver Cadillac with two hip license plates, give them the finger. So everyone in town at every stoplight was flipping them off. I love it. Everywhere he went, people were flipping them off.

They'd honk. They'd go, fuck you. So this is my boss, and so I was fired three weeks later. But, you know, I do have a story on that just quickly. So they really started putting pressure on me after that. They were really kind of hassling me at every turn. So I had sold a script, I thought, to MGM at the time. It was MGM.

And I had written a script with Jack Handy, who was the writer of The Jerk with Steve Martin. And so we wrote this thing, and it actually got greenlit for a day. I thought it was a sold deal. So I went on the air and I go, you know, I won't be needing this job anymore. These guys are losers. Look at these idiots. Yeah, you didn't hear about this. And every single thing that I was pissed about, I went off for like three hours.

I didn't play one record. These morons. So I'm saying all this stuff. All of a sudden I hear this pounding on the glass, on the studio glass. I look over, it's my news guy, and he's holding up the LA Times calendar section and it says,

studio head fired. It was the guy that greenlit my project. So there was no movie deal. Did you get back on the mic and say, I've made a horrible mistake these last three hours.

Yeah, sorry about that. We're going to commercial. And I was out looking for work the next week. So, Jim, in terms of interviewing people, because I do it for a living now. And I know musicians are not easy, really, for me. Because they don't have to talk. Right.

And some of them are very, they have a certain image that they have to maintain. And it's hard to get through. Right, correct. image that they have to maintain and it's hard to get through right so in in the history of the hundreds of interviews you did who was the fucker that you still you're sort of like that fuck oh man you want to ask it that way rather than no let me try it another way who's the most difficult Well, I'll put it this way. And by the way, this guy in his garage gets the President of the United States. Yeah, how about that? Come on.

That's awesome. Pretty damn impressive. That's awesome. Yeah. Pretty damn impressive. That's awesome. Thank you, taxpayers, for paying for that trip. Yeah.

Thank you, taxpayers, for paying for that trip. You're right with musicians, because their job is to play music. It's not to talk. Some are quite good verbally, and they can express themselves that way, and others just have no clue whatsoever. Then you can get them on a bad day everybody's got a bad day sure i got robert palmer on a bad day i remember that very clearly and elvin bishop on a bad day but that's about it i think elvin's had a couple of bad years really yeah but you know i'm not going to go into detail but but over But over the, I did a show. It was the first nationally syndicated show about interviewing rock people called Interview.

And it ran on 160 stations for 11 years. And during that time, once a week, that's probably the only two people I would say I had a problem with. Everybody else was pretty cool. Robert Palmer and Elvin Bishop? Yeah. That's it. I think you're being diplomatic, Jim. Well, I'll tell you, there's people who you better come with your guns loaded.

If you're going to interview Roger Waters, he doesn't suffer fools gladly. But he's one of the nicest people and one of the smartest people you'll ever meet. And he used you on a record, didn't he? He did. Which one was it? Radio Chaos. Radio Chaos, yeah. And Jim was live on stage at the forum.

Wow. It was kind of fun. It was awesome. He called one day and he says, I'm going to do this record. It's called Radio Chaos. I'm looking for a DJ who lives in LA. His name is Jim and he fights for Freeform Radio.

Do you know anybody like that? So anyway, yeah, I got to do that. But he's very good. Stevie Nicks was always a pleasure to do, to interview. Yeah, both actually. Classic. So anyway, but most, I'll tell you, what I found, you're probably the same way. The bigger the star, usually the nicer.

It was the guys that had one hit and thought they were Elvis that had the attitude. Right. And they would come up to the house in a limo with an entourage, you know, and, you know, their PR, blah, blah, blah, blah.

When I interviewed George Harrison, he drove himself in this little nondescript BMW. You'd never recognize it. No problem. Came up, spent the first 10 minutes making me feel comfortable. Yeah. That's what Obama did. Like, I was so it, no problem. Came up, spent the first 10 minutes making me feel comfortable.

Yeah, that's what Obama did. Like, I was so fucking nervous. Seriously, he didn't come in his own thing, but I was like, holy shit, this is going to be tricky. You know, and he sort of came in, he's like, how we doing? We're going to have a good time, right? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know.

Are we? It's up to you, man. That was a great interview, man. Thanks, buddy. Yeah, that was great. It really was good. It was crazy. Did you ever interview John Lennon?

I did. Really? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I did. At what period was that? Very early on. I was 23 years old. Never met a Beatle.

Never been to New York. Never ridden in a limousine, nothing. And John Lennon put out a Walls and Bridges, that album. Yes, you can applaud that. That's that one guy. Yeah, right?

Ringo. Ringo. Ringo, sure. I called, anyway, I hear that he's got this album out and then I hear they're giving an interview on an AM station this is 1973 and being having

absolutely no fucking idea about how the business is done more balls and cents I call up Capital Records and I go what are you thinking AM radio we're the revolution are you kidding Records and I go, what are you thinking? AM radio, we're the revolution, are you kidding me? And I just went off on this guy. I didn't even know who he was, this poor guy picked up the phone. So after like 15 minutes of me just blowtorch

into the phone, I mean, no clue, I could have been talking to the president of the Capitol for all I knew. Guy goes, okay, okay, okay, okay. I'll call you back. And I thought, sure. Well, by God, I'm on FM radio. You better call. You know, we were the social revolution. We were, you know, hippies. Come on, man.

About 10 minutes later, he calls back. He goes, hey, you got an interview with John Lennon. And I went, now what am I going to do? You know, what? So anyway, long story short, I end up going to New York. The station put me up. Yeah.

They were taking bets on the fact that since I was a native Southern Californian, I would not survive from the airport terminal to the cab without being mugged. Oh, really? Because I was so lame about, you know, this stuff. This was the early 70s, right? Yeah, 73. So it was different New York. Yeah, yeah.

So anyway, I go there. Next day comes. I get in my first limo ride. They take me to the record plant in New York. All right, wait over there. Now I start running all the old Beatles press conferences in my head, thinking, oh, man, this guy is going to tear me to pieces. He's just going to take one look at me and tear me.

Suddenly John Lennon walks in, and I'm introduced, and they said, come with me. So we go down the hall. He's saying hello to every secretary, every engineer. Hi, by name. How's the kids doing? Couldn't be nicer. Get locked in a room, and the record company guy goes you got an hour next

thing i know john lennon's sitting behind the desk i'm on the other side here we go yeah so i unpack my bag with my little stupid tape recorder and i'm in the record plant which is one of the unbelievable facilities in the world and i bring this little tape recorder idiot and i start to set it up and I forgot the microphone the mic stand stand but this was looked like what I should have brought right I didn't have it and just one mic one mic okay because the station you know it's only John Lennon what the fuck yeah John Lennon so he sees me now become even more nervous right this is what's wrong I oh, I'm so sorry.

I've tried to, you know, I forgot the mic stand and I don't want this. He goes, no problem. He goes, hand me the phone book. And there's a big, thick New York phone book. He goes, okay, put it over here. He says, now hand me the dictionary on the desk. So he puts a dictionary on the phone book. He spies a half-drunk cup

of coffee, pours out the drinks, turns it upside down. He goes, give me the mic. I gave him the mic. He puts it on top, takes some tape, tapes it up, and he goes, okay, let's go. And I just got saved by John Lennon. Well, those Beatles are nothing if not inventive.

And that was like, he made it through, he did an hour. He could have been, maybe he's John Lennon, he could have looked a big guy, a kid, you know, no, exactly the opposite. And fortunately I had prepared, because as you know, except for Frazier and I, which apparently had, what, 30 seconds of prep work, you know, it's all about the homework when you do an interview. It's all about the homework. Yeah. And it's like 90% of it. What the fuck?

So he saw that I was prepared, and he couldn't have been nicer, couldn't have been more funny and engaging and and so it's a great man thank god it came out to be a great memory and then it dawned on me years later i'm in the fucking record plant why did i ask them for a mic stand yeah they only have like a thousand of them in their very kind of description anyway it was a great interview that's great how about you frazier what do you what do you got uh you mean interview one yeah uh my favorite i think interview that i ever had i had rodney dangerfield and rowdy roddy piper That was a great interview. That's great. How about you, Frazier? What do you got? You mean interview wise? Yeah. My favorite, I think, interview that I ever had, I had Rodney Dangerfield and Rowdy Roddy Piper on the same show.

Yeah. And Rodney had no idea who Rodney Piper was. He was like, who is that guy? Hey, what you doing? Had you been up all night with Rodney? And Bob Saget. Bob Saget was on the show, too. Oh, you knew Bob Sag need bob saget he was the interpreter because those guys but that was a favorite of mine and then another favorite was

alice cooper uh oh yeah yeah i always think alice is a hilarious guy you know a funny guy in fact johnny carson you say he was the best interview of all the rockers because he had a wit and he's just a charismatic guy And let me say before this I am getting to do what we're talking about Right now on Sirius XM. This is extraordinary for me. Yeah, because It's not about me It's about keeping freeform alive and these people have not only given me four hours a night to do it, they put a studio in my house to do it in.

And most importantly, they leave me alone. They do not tell me what to play. I have never had them tell me, don't play that or why don't you play this. So anyway, Sirius XM, Deep Tracks, I got to thank them. And whether you are listening or not, you should thank them because Freeform Radio,

it's not around anymore. That's right. What record do you find over the years you've returned to the most? Oh, it's The Doors. I was going to say, I know what it is. The Doors. The first record I heard you playing

when I walked into KMET and met you for the first time, I opened the door to the studio and a giant cloud came out. And I saw some sunglasses in there somewhere. And he was playing The End by The Doors. One of the great songs of all time. That was the one that started it. Your theme song, right? Amen.

Did you ever meet Jim? No. I got to know and still do know John john and robbie really well and unfortunately i got to know ray really well uh i saw jim once i only saw the doors perform once at the troubadour no it was at the long beach arena oh yeah and they they were the band i always say you have to put the beatles on their own shelf separate from everybody else and everybody has their gateway band the doors did it for. That was the one that went, oh, wait a minute,

something really interesting is going on here, far beyond tapping my foot, far beyond a love song. This is talking to something deep within me and resonating with something. I didn't even know what it was at that point, but I was on the journey to find it. Wow.

How about you? What's your favorite? For me, it's Striper. Yeah, buddy. That's how I roll. No, I'm a big David Bowie fan. I love David Bowie.. I love David Bowie. Did you ever interview Bowie?

No, I have never interviewed Bowie. That's one of the people on my bucket list, along with Dylan. I have never interviewed Dylan. That'd be tricky. Yeah. You know, I met him one time. Yeah? Yeah, it was, you know Al Cooper, right?

Yeah, I do. The famous organ player. I do. He played on all the Dylan albums. Early him one time. Yeah. Yeah, it was, you know Al Cooper, right? Yeah, I do. The famous organ player. I do. He played on all the Dylan albums. Early ones, yeah. Yeah. And he had a little band. They were playing out in Trancas.

Yeah. He goes, hey, why don't you come on and watch my band? And so I came out there on a Sunday night. I was out there at the bar, and I didn't recognize him at first. It was Bob Dylan. I was talking to him for about 15 minutes before I knew who it was. Really? Yeah.

How high were you? Well, he had a disguise. Oh, yeah. Anyway, at the end, after the conversation, Al walks by and he goes, oh, I see you guys are getting along. That's Bob Dylan. What? And so we were talking for a little bit. I didn't understand hardly anything he said.

Hi, everybody. I didn't know what he was talking about. But we had a nice conversation, actually, and when I left, I was so nervous. I didn't know what he was talking about. But we had a nice conversation, actually. And when I left, I was so nervous, I didn't know what to say. So I go, keep up the good work. He goes, I will, Mr. Deeds. Yeah. Got you. All right, so let's hear the good war story.

Because I remember when we shot my show with the three of us, that episode of Marin, that radio cowboy thing, there was some real shit going on. Well, let's see. Should I go serious or should I go funny? I can't go funny with you guys. No, go funny, man. Well, we did have this thing called, as I mentioned earlier,

the All Girl Harmonica Band. True story. KMET was programmed by a woman, which is the first woman boss I ever had. She was brilliant. She was great. I start doing this bit, and she's

looking at me like, God, Jim, here you go again, because it was slightly sexist back in the day. But not now, right? Oh, no, no, no. You know, I like my theme song was Back Door Man from The Doors. I mean, you take it from there. So I come up with the all-girl harmonica band, and I was known as the Lone Sibylle Cowboy,

which I copped from a new writer's The Purple Sage song. So anyway, I start doing this thing about this double entendre about all-girl harmonica band looking for the ladies with the best licks in town. The best licks? Best licks. Like, you know, licks and or guitar licks. I have to explain them.

Is it me or is it him? No, I just wanted to make it clear for those... He's a podcaster, remember. Okay. You can put visuals on this thing later. I know. Just see my Jack Benny take. My Milton Berle.

Okay. So anyway, this program director gives up the idea that, well, you know, Hohner Harmonicas, that makes the great harmonica, they have all these different sizes. And the smallest one is called, oddly enough, The Little Lady. It's a real harmonica, four reeds.

It's about that big. She gets a hold of the company and goes, well, we've got a guy out here and he's doing the all girl harmonica band and we'd like to have a box of those little harmonicas as a promotional gift glad to do it so they having no clue what i'm meaning with this send us this big box of these little harmonicas which you could put on a chain and wear like a necklace, right? When they sent it out, they also sent this wonderful press release talking about all the people who play honor harmonicas, these celebrities. One of which was Jacqueline Smith of Charlie's Angels.

Sure. Great harmonica player. Likes to blow the harmonica. On a break. And then there was, of course, the Catholic Nuns Band. Of course. Yes. And so I'm reading all of these on the air, and the general manager did take offense to that

when I got to the group of nuns playing harmonica. That one, I just, yeah. That one I didn't. That pushed the envelope? That pushed the envelope just slightly, yeah. And then when he walked in and there were a couple of contestants in the booth at the time, that was also a moment. The contestants were what, the 17th callers? No.

I would have them write in saying, where was the coolest place you ever played the harmonica? And if I read it on the air, they would get one of these things. So anyway, but I had to do some personal auditions. You've got to do it. Come on, it's show business. It's my job. These poor women. I'm trying to help them out. Just help them out. That's right.

What do you got, Frazier? Well, mine was kind of an off-air experience. I remember I was kind of in a battle with management, go figure, and they still asked me to do the marina Christmas parade. So I was going to be the, what do they call them, the grand marshal. And they do it in boats, and you go around the boat. So I thought, oh, man, everyone from management is on the boat. It was me and all the management people. So I was like, I've got to get out of here. And I'm on a boat. So I knew the woman that was the bartender on the boat. And so she kept making me these drinks. And then next thing

I know, I'm throwing all the food in the water. I threw like a couple thousand dollars worth of food in the water. There's egg rolls bobbing up and down in the marina. People were yelling, Merry Christmas from the shore. And I found one of those bullhorns. I was yelling, fuck you. were yelling Merry Christmas from the shore and I found one of those bullhorns I was yelling fuck you next thing I know I passed out on top of the boat face down in my suit yeah and I woke up we were at the dock and I go running off the boat and stopped just in time to throw up on my boss's shoes so another uh firing ensued shortly thereafter. That's a good one. That's actually true. All right, you got one more there, Jim?

Yeah, one more. This is kind of hairy. At KMET, I was working at 10 o'clock at night, and I was always as high as I would ever get. I was always on time. But this one night, I had stopped at my dealer's on the way in, and so I was running on time but this one night I had stopped at my dealers on the way in and so I was running a little late so I get there and I go get my headphones and I'm running down the hall and I hit the studio door and push it open and I hear and I'm looking at the business end of a 12-gauge shotgun yeah

pointed right there held by an LAPD officer. Freeze! Okay, what's going on? Good question. Yeah. Now, I got hair down to here, and I look like what they, you know. Yeah. But the lady on the air went, no, no, no, no, that's Jim, that's Jim.

Apparently, there'd been a death threat, and the cops responded to the death threat. Right, so I'm, like, taking a deep breath, and they said, okay, okay, okay. I said, do you mind if we pat you down? I'm thinking, oh boy, here it is. I said, why? They said, we want to make sure you don't have any weapons, because we don't want to get caught in a crossfire. I said, okay, are you only looking for weapons? Yes, go ahead.

They pat me down, and of course, they hit the lid right here. The lid. Oh, classic. A lid of pot, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah. Yeah. This is before medical marijuana, and we could all go and get it in a car. And I know this guy knew it was there, but he was there to protect me.

Long story short, they said, okay, well, we've got to give you an escort home and I said well no I got to do the show and they said we'll get somebody to come in I said well what if that guy thinks the guy it's sitting here is me and he gets blown away right so anyway they somehow figure this out with security we go downstairs there's like four cops surrounding me we go down in the elevator and they're all doing this thing, you know, looking around and shit. And at that time, I had a firebird that looked like Jim Rockford's car, if you remember that.

So I get in the car and I'm holding the pot and I now have four black and whites following me. And I hit Sunset Boulevard and of course I'm going seven miles an hour. Because I got the pot in seven counts. And I get to a stop sign.

Boom, boom, boom, knock on the door. I look over thinking it's the guy that's going to kill me. And the cop says, let me in, let me in. So this guy gets in, jumps in, he goes, what are you doing? I said, well, I'm going home. He goes, punch it. You got a police escort. You got a police escort.

Punch it. Jim Ladd, Fraser Smith. That's our show. Give me some music. Thank you, LA Podcast. I hope you had a nice time. These guys are legends. Jim Ladd, Fraser Smith.

Veterans of real radio. You guys are great. Thank you.