Jim Ladd
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Jim Ladd (born January 17, 1948), an American disc jockey, radio producer and writer, is one of the few notable remaining freeform rock DJs in United States commercial radio.[citation needed]
Unlike his contemporaries, Ladd personally selects every song he plays on his weeknight show on KLOS-FM in Los Angeles. Station management gives him complete control over show content. He combines music with atmospheric sound samples and social commentary, often inviting listeners to participate on the air. Most of his music sets center around a theme or story-line, such as Wild West outlaws, beautiful women or fast cars. He regularly adds appropriate listener requests to his themed sets; sometimes a request will inspire an entire set. He has two theme-based segments every week, first on Wednesdays at midnight he performs an hour-long, uninterrupted segment called "Headsets" which is an hour-long theme-based collage of music blended in together seamlessly, with one song leading into the next, incorporating sound effects such as voice overs and quotes from movies relating to the theme, creating what he refers to as the "Theater of The Mind" (Use of headphones is recommended). A "Headsets" album, done in collaboration with Billy Sherwood, is forthcoming. His second theme show is on Friday nights which is called "Theme of Consciousness", where Ladd takes his listeners' requests for songs based on a single theme such as "Colors", "Fire", "Dance", etc, and plays songs that contain the theme word in either the title or lyric. This show particularly recreates what he called the "Tribal Drum' which described the communal effect of the radio in his pioneering days of FM radio. His repertoire combines classic rock standards by artists like the Beatles, the Doors and Led Zeppelin with songs and artists not normally heard on commercial radio. As was once standard in radio, most of his broadcasts end with a long song, such as the Doors' "When The Music's Over," Led Zeppelin's "Achilles Last Stand" or even Pink Floyd's 23-minute-long "Echoes."
Ladd served as the inspiration for the 2002 Tom Petty album The Last DJ and its title track[citation needed]. In his career, he has become friends with many rock legends such as Roger Waters, Tom Petty, John Lennon, and Jackson Browne, along with original MTV veejay J. J. Jackson and filmmaker Cameron Crowe. (He played an all-night DJ in Crowe's 1989 film Say Anything.) Ladd appeared on Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters' second solo album Radio K.A.O.S. as "DJ Jim," joined Waters on the tour that followed, and appeared in the three music videos for the album. Along the years, he has earned the unparalleled respect of the artistic and musical community, with the artist counting him "one of their own", while setting an example in integrity and professionalism within the music and broadcast industries.
Ladd began his career in 1969 at KNAC, a small Long Beach rock station. After two years there, he moved to Los Angeles station KLOS. In 1974 he moved to KMET, known to its legions of listeners as "The Mighty Met", where he would remain for the rest of the 1970s and most of the 1980s while also hosting and producing Innerview, an hour-long nationally syndicated interview program that aired during the same period. After what many listeners and people in the industry perceived as a long steady decline in the station's output, attributed by most accounts to the station's decision to bring in consultant Lee Abrams and the strict "album oriented rock" formatting he favored, KMET management shocked southern California and all of radio by abruptly dumping rock music, the call letters and the entire air staff in 1987, switching to a new age format with no DJs at all. For several years, Ladd did not work as a DJ because he refused to follow a playlist, as most station owners demanded, though he did work at KMPC and KLSX at various times in the 1980s and 1990s. He currently plays free-form rock music on KLOS weeknights from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. His show routinely leads its time-slot in Arbitron ratings. In January 2007 his contract was renewed by his station, insuring that L.A.'s last Classic Rock station will remain on the air and survive, as other such stations in other markets across the country lose their audience and change format, Ladd proves to be the lifeblood of L.A.'s Rock radio, fighting for free form radio, and the dignity of his audience.He has produced, written and narrated a number of nationally syndicated programs, including interviews, concert specials and album premieres.
In 1991 Ladd released a semi-autobiographical book titled Radio Waves: Life And Revolution On The FM Dial (St. Martin's Press), based on his radio career and the rise and fall of freeform rock radio in L.A., from the genesis of freeform on the West Coast through the demise of KMET in 1987. The names of many of the people and radio stations Ladd encountered during that two decade period were swapped for pseudonyms; however, Raechel Donahue has said that she insisted Ladd use her real name and that of her late husband Tom Donahue in the book. David Perry, Ace Young (not to be confused with the "American Idol" contestant of the same name), Jack Snyder, Damion, and the late personalities B. Mitchel Reed and J. J. Jackson, were also among those identified by their actual "air names".
Most recently, Ladd has catered to his many listeners through his MySpace page, where he regularly interacts with members he refers to as "The Tribe." He often takes requests in the comment section, and has used the site as a source to become familiar with his listeners and promote free form radio.
Ladd received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7018 Hollywood Boulevard on May 6, 2005.[citation needed]
As of March 10, 2008, Jim's show is now available to stream worldwide Monday through Friday on the KLOS website, and his dream of spreading free form rock and roll all over the world has finally become a reality.
