EPHEMERA

I never saw the Mystic Knights, but Danny Elfman gave me this relic from the 1970s.

Fat Boy Slim platinum award, detail.

There was nothing left to say when your band leader, after 10 years of scoring movies, is calling it quits. No more gold records to be had, hearing going bad, and bandmates so sad, they all autographed this poster from the site of the departure, the once-heralded Universal Amphitheater. Music and movies have never been the same since.

My first week at KROQ -- before I was even called Jed The Fish -- my favorite band arrived in support of their first album. To meet them was an amazing experience, but to speak with them on the air was a dream come true. I blew the interview, but started a long relationship with the band, which I think made the biggest impact on 80s music. Constantly cited as inspirational by so many bands of the era, DEVO made a crazy instrument like the MiniMoog profoundly essential. And no one will ever play the MiniMoog like Mark Mothersbaugh.

Fat Boy Slim I only met once, at Organic 96, an event that has evidently dropped off the internet, except for this article: https://www.laweekly.com/music/from-organic-96-to-the-hollywood-bowl-the-la-history-of-underworld-5671139
In the late nineties, I was the only one at KROQ supporting him, so yes, Jed The Fish graciously accepts this award.

I have discarded these awards if they had no meaning for me. This one did, because I feel I have a relationship with the band.

I was Student Body President, 1972 at Casa Grande Union High School, Arizona. The year before, my step-brother Bill Koenig was. Many K-ROQers came from the Copper State, and that's when I became a broadcaster.

Darrell Wayne organized this Pasadena Hilton event in 2006, where all the gory stories were told. Darrell hired me in 1978.

This was a crazy, barely legal short wave club I belonged to in the 2000s. This is the organization that led me into Class B fireworks (Class A is military, Class C is fireworks stand). Their most notorious members -- The Neckbolt Brothers -- would egg people on to break FCC rules, which of course apply to KROQ as well. Had I followed this path, I might have lost my broadcasting priveliges. I made my mom's chili and won 3rd place.

Likely the most embraced version of the KROQ logo, it was co-designed by KROQ Promotions Director Quay Hays.

Warner Bros. obviously remembers the November 1989 interview as a harrowing experience for David Byrne. It was. I asked questions about creativity, which are the most difficult for an artist to answer. At One point, he replied with a distressed whine. "I - I - I don't know," uptoning on the last syllable.

Massive Attack is a band I have long supported out of passion. I'm sure, had they achieved gold record status, they would have acknowledged me, so they did what they could.

We did KROQ beach remotes weekly for several years, where Joqs would broadcast their radio shows. I probably did the most, and even coming to the same beach several times over the years to give out these towels, they were all unique. Many conversations with listeners and artists. As Jed The Fish, it wore me out, but it was always fun.

The Album Network was a radio industry trade magazine which annually gave radio host awards. This went on until they were purchased by Clear Channel Radio (aka I Heart Radio), evidently because the CC personalities were so bad they weren't winning any awards. At least Clear Channel had the decency to not continue giving out awards -- to themselves -- and the tradition was discontinued.

My very first tee shirt. If we wanted our own tee-shirts, the Joqs needed to pay for them. So if you got one, I must like you.

DMode I began playing on KROQ because the producer was Daniel Miller, of The Normal (TVOD, Warm Leatherette, 1978). Mike Zampelli from Zed Records/LBC brought the single New Life to Pasadena with a dozen or so other records he wanted me to play on the Jed The Fish import show. Not a huge response but the band showed promise. Once Speak and Spell arrived, everyone on KROQ was playing it.

Between Kevin and Bean and Jed The Fish, we had a pretty good award run until Album Network, the trade publication, was bought by Clear Channel. I guess our competition couldn't bear to see us sweeping up awards, so they just bought the magazine. Now they are called I Heart. Do you think I Heart is a good name for a radio group?

I have discarded these awards if they had no meaning for me. This one did, because I feel I have a relationship with the band. UB40 was an example of success by acclaim, not as much by promotion. That's why Jed The Fish support means something.

Quay Hays was the 1983 KROQ Promotions Director, and organized this wacky photo shoot. He oversaw the logo transition from line drawing (a sticker just above the "Nov") to full color, which was the most beloved logo of all time.

When Devo was doing clubs, these posters -- with venue particulars -- were for promoters in each city.

Beach remote era KROQ Keychains.

In April 2011, the book "Dennis Hopper: Photographs 1961-1967," arrived at Book Soup in West Hollywood and I waited in line like all his other fans. Blue Velvet has always been a favorite of mine. Perhaps David Lynch's most compelling work, the characterizations and dialog will live forever. Dennis also gave vivid performances in Easy Rider, Apocalypse Now and True Romance. The Blue Lady oddly aroused by Frank Booth in this publicity still.

This was the night I was hired at KROQ. It was the first time I had seen the band, and I was sitting in my Ball Road apartment GLOWING because I had finally seen the greatest Rock and Roll band in the world. The phone rings at 1:15 a.m., it's Darrell Wayne asking if I could get to Pasadena by two. "Sure," I said. And later I climbed those back stairs for the first time.

I have discarded these awards if they had no meaning for me. This one did, because I feel I have a relationship with the band. U2 I will always remember because of their Jed The Fish interview for their Pop Mart tour. This award was for the following album.

This the approval art for the record labels

This is the most concrete example of Jed The Fish having an impact on an artist's success. My Catch of the Day feature allowed me to choose one song per day. One Tuesday in 1988 Anthony Smith and Matt Dyke talked their way past reception and brought me Wild Thing. I spent most of my shift talking with them and sent them off expecting to hear the single at 4:40 pm. The phones blew up, and I made the rare decision to play it again the next day. The day after that it was a mid-week add to KROQ (most radio stations do their music meetings on a Tuesday, where they decide what is 'added' to the playlist). By Thursday it was on KIIS-FM. A most memorable instance of watching a piece of vinyl setting the radio waves ablaze in a matter of hours.

I bet you have one of these yourself. Really a memory of the passion we have for music.

One of the few distinguished examples of Duran Duran ephemera signed by the entire band, Capitol Records gave me this for my support of the first two albums. Funny thing, the label actually had unpaid interns promoting the band. I think his name was Danny, and he brought me my first copy of 'Duran Duran' in the summer of 1981. Money well spent?

Although this is the bitty Fender model -- and I doubt Tom ever played it -- to have this in my studio still making sound is amazing. Sadly, the 'soul power,' written in silver Sharpie, rubs right off with very little effort, you get the idea. Rock's best guitar player of the 90s? Come on! That's why KROQ even bothered to call it 'Roq of the 90's.' I haven't been gentle with it.