I must be one of those odd ducks. Born in 1970, I danced the dialed from KFI to XETRA to KHJ (Car tunes era) on the AM band to KIQQ, KMET, KNAC, KQLZ, KROQ (Hell, even KKHR) on the FM side. All each had something I wanted to hear at the time. Lohman & Barkley are still radio Gods in my book, the cream of the crop. I even have a few Hudson & Landry albums but nothing connected to me like L&B did in the late 70's early 80's with them and legendary Bruce Wayne "KFI in the Sky". I suppose I'm a bit of an anomaly since I was listening to this in the outskirts like Palmdale and Visalia and Bakersfield but listen in I did. I learned the freeway systems of Los Angeles having never driven a car for yet another 10 years let alone in Los Angeles. By age 18, I knew the Sepulveda Pass was always a mess, you could count on traffic where the Ventura hits the Santa Ana or that the San Bernardino near the Long Beach Freeway (then the CA-7) was jammed.
I live in Los Angeles now and still don't know where the 4-level is or The Slot despite hearing about it for years prior. I do however, know where the Slauson Cutoff is.
I realize I am not the advertising demo anymore. Perhaps I never really was. Outside of buying records from WEA that Dr. Demento always instructed me to do I don't think I was ever "captured" as an ad mark. All radio did was capture me as a listener. My tastes and preferences run an immeasurable gambit but it always came down to the talent of what I heard.
Be it Mark Chase or Robert W. or The Tuna or even Rick Dees and the countless other nameless jocks I have unfortunate misfortune of not remembering. They all had an impact on me and I dare say shaped me to what I am today. While I am not a radio disc jockey it was always a life long dream. I merely brushed close to my goal working at record stores and attending concerts. Now I do dumb internet radio shows to fulfill my childlike urge. It's enough to satiate my hunger but it'll never be the real thing.
