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Legendary Poetry

By Legend Gilchrist

By Legend GilchristPublished 4 years ago 10 min read
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The DJ

A tribute to KCLB DJ “TK”

I remember my first radio and the stations that I used to listen to on the AM band. My favorite station was a station called KLOS in Los Angeles. I was only 14 at the time but it was a magical time of rock music with bands that would transform rock and roll music forever. Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, Queen, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Jethro Tull, the Allman Brother’s band, the Ramones, The Clash, The Doors, Creedence Clearwater, ZZ Top, Yes, KISS, Rush (my personal favorite in this era), Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Journey, Thin Lizzy, King Crimson, The Kinks, Styx, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Doobie Brothers, Foreigner, The Moody Blues, Bad Company, Electric Light Orchestra, Steve Miller Band, T. Rex, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep, Steely Dan, Mott the Hoople, The Talking Heads, The Byrds, Boston, Cheap Trick, and many other bands and one hit wonders that went by the wayside.

But the glue that kept this wide variety of music together were the DJs. A good DJ kept you listening to the station instead of turning the dial when the music ended. Marc Coppola was the first DJ that I remembered. Before he came on board at KLOS, I only focused on the music. Being you, I easily grew bored with the DJs banter and commercials and quickly changed the dial to KMET which had an edginess that KLOS didn’t have, though KLOS had a smoother feel to the rock music they played. I eventually grew to like the more cutting edge rock that KMET, which was known as “The Mighty Met,” played.

KMET had an amazing DJ named Jim Ladd, who began his career in 1969 at the innovative rock radio station KNAC that was an earth shattering metal station from 1986 to 1995 (I remember nearly blowing out my speakers to their music well). Jim Ladd was a man with a wealth of knowledge of rock and roll and wise insights that he would share with his listeners. I felt as though I was in college when I listened to his show. It was more than just an opportunity to listen to great new rock music that he always presented to his audience, it was a learning experience and I was one of his faithful students. I gained a new appreciation for the role of the DJ in the radio listening experience.

Listening to my rock music became more than just entertainment, it became an education when listening to the incredible DJ who worked at The Mighty Met named Jim Ladd. Ladd eventually moved to KLOS where he presented free-form rock personally selected by himself with the help of listener requests. His show included poetry and his personal insights on life, sometimes pleasant and sometimes controversial but always thought provoking and life changing to listeners like myself. It was my experience with Jim Ladd that changed my perceptions of the role of the DJ in radio. The DJ was not just a person that spins records or plugs in tapes, a good DJ has the opportunity to change lives with his or her words in conjunction with the music they play.

My life took a turn for the worse eventually. I was diagnosed with a mental illness, bipolar disorder (which I would eventually learn to live with and become stable seven years later). This caused my life to change dramatically in the most dreadful way possible. This rocked my world to use a rock metaphor. I perceived that my life was ruined, that it was over and it would never be the same. I lost my interest in music altogether. I stopped eating food, at least in any quantity other than a few morsels. I sleep long hours and when I was awake I hid in my room in fear of the world I used to take pleasure in.

The music that had brought so much joy in my life was silenced and I was the one that pulled the plug on my beloved stereo putting to death the very thing that nourished my soul. The DJs that could have lifted my soul with their words and the music they selected were banished from my life. I sentenced them out of my life so I could live in my own personal hell and I suffered greatly for I had cut off the very lifeline that would have saved me. I was forced out of my home, I lost my wife, my family, my job, and all of my material possessions. Fortunately, my parents graciously welcomed me into their home in the Coachella Valley and provided me with a small but comfortable room which I made into my personal abode.

Then one day, I decided to turn my small radio on that was on my nightstand. I rolled the dial from right to left and landed on a station that caught my attention. I don’t remember what song was playing but it was rock and roll and I took it in as if it was water and I was an explorer who had made his way through miles of hot desert and was dying of thirst. The DJ got on the air and my countenance was lifted. As with the music I don’t remember what he said, I just felt that I had found another friend like Jim Ladd or the countless other DJ’s I had heard and respected on both KLOS and KMET. Unlike those Los Angeles based stations, this station was innovative in a way that I had not experienced in my 30 odd years of listening to rock radio stations. That station was called KCLB. And they liked to say, “KCLB Rocks!” And KCLB truly did.

So my healing began in earnest. In addition to therapy, medication, and striving to live a healthy lifestyle, I listened faithfully to KCLB which was the true salvation of a part of my soul that had died months ago. The music they played resonated with my soul. Van Halen, Metallica, POD, Motley Crue, The Ramones, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and many more rocked the early days of my experience of KCLB. I remember their DJs Jeffries, Stryker in particular. I don’t remember what they said because my memory was clouded at that time. What I do remember was that they were welcome friends in my domain wherever I may have roamed to use a phrase from a Metallica song that I love. Their words comforted me, consoled me, inspired me, uplifted me, and lifted me up like the DJs I admired in my youth.

I continued enjoying KCLB until they changed formats. The edginess that they once had was lost to a weaker brand of rock music programming and I lost my interest in KCLB. As someone who lost a loved one in a tragic accident, I mourned the loss of the music I had loved so I turned my back on KCLB and in doing so, I lost my friends as a result, the DJs who nourished my soul with their wise words, humorous comments, and comforting conversations. I moved my music listening to a digital device that obeyed my command to play music but did not have a friendly voice to interject a friendly comment which actually made the music listening experience more pleasant and enjoyable. The DJs that I loved were out of my life and this was a sad thing.

Out of curiosity, I tuned in to KCLB one day and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a song that I knew and loved: I won’t be ignored by Linkin Park. “Cool!” I thought and rolled up the volume to maximum level. The next song was equally as cool, Don’t Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult, then I Alone by Live, then , and so on and so on. KCLB had changed! And I couldn’t be happier. They went back to their original format of edgier music combined with the best of classic rock and I became in love with KCLB again. And the DJs were cooler than before. But one DJ stood out from the rest. I wasn’t sure how old he was or what his background was but he had this classic and soothing voice that made me want to listen to him all day and all night long.

This DJ played the music that I had become enamored with. Music harder than the music I enjoyed ten years prior. Sure, he played classics like The Ramones which I had loved for decades, but he also played the harder rock bands like my favorite band Chevelle, raw and brutal Drawing Pool (especially their song ‘Bodies’ which has a great intensity that I love), classic Guns and Roses, the hardcore Disturbed, Breaking Benjamin, the insane Avenged Sevenfold, Seether who brings a classic rock sound with a new sound, the hardcore and edgy System of a Down, the classic song Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd on occasion, my favorite rock ballad which I always appreciated when he played it, and too many other great rock bands to list.

But it was the DJ that I admired more than the music. I can’t exactly pinpoint when I started liking him, I just know that I felt like I knew him somehow. Like he was a distant friend that I had never met. I felt the same way with the DJs at KMET, KNAC, and KLOS. This DJ brought back to the days when I loved DJs and the work that they did. This friendly yet edgy DJ captured my heart in the same way that the immortal Jim Ladd of KNAC, KMET, and KLOS had in my past. This DJ’s name was TK and little did I know that one day he would become my friend in addition to being my favorite rock DJ.

Years went by and I continued enjoying both the DJs and the rock music on KCLB. Then one day, I decided to send a simple note of appreciation to KCLB on Facebook messenger. To my surprise someone responded! I assumed that someone may or may not read my comment and that would be that as I had experienced when leaving comments for other organizations or companies.

And low and behold, the person who had responded to me was the one and only TK of KCLB fame! He had become the Program director at KCLB in addition to being the afternoon DJ. We had a pleasant conversation on the phone. It only lasted for a few minutes but it meant the world to me. He told me that he needed to attend to work matters and said goodbye. I couldn’t have been happier for those few minutes that we spoke. It was the first time that I had talked to any DJ much less one that I admired and respected. In some ways I feel that we became good friends in those few minutes of our conversation. Perhaps I made too much of this experience.

Regardless, I consider TK a friend and I appreciate his great work as a DJ all the more. The fact that he is also the Programmer for KCLB caused me to have great respect. If I could talk to TK again I would tell him that he is my DJ friend, the man who lifts me up, raises my spirits, brings me up when I’m down, and inspires me in my work as a writer. I feel that he knows that already because I’m sure that he has heard this same thing from his other listeners.

I believe that there is a giant unseen army of KCLB listeners who are just like me and one of their best friends is the radio DJ for the radio station they listen to. I think that the listeners who enjoy TK’s program are just like me. Like me, they are uplifted, motivated, inspired, and lifted up by TK’s words and the music he plays. I honestly believe that. If I could say one last thing to TK it would be, “Thank you for rocking my world, TK.”

humanity
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About the Creator

Legend Gilchrist

I am a retired English teacher. I have been writing for 27 years. I live in the Palm Springs area of Southern California. I am a poet, writer, and novelist. I enjoy writing about rock music culture. I hope to write for Rolling Stone.

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