Latest news with #KROQ
New York Times
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Jed the Fish, Quirky Pioneer of Los Angeles Radio, Dies at 69
Jed Gould, the influential Los Angeles disc jockey known as Jed the Fish, who used his off-kilter sensibility and deep musical knowledge to shine a light on artists like the Cure, Depeche Mode and the Offspring at the groundbreaking New Wave and alternative rock station KROQ-FM in the 1980s and '90s, died on April 14 at his home in Pasadena, Calif. He was 69. The cause was an aggressive form of small-cell lung cancer, Rudy Koerner, a close friend, said. Mr. Gould was never a cigarette smoker, he added, and before he was diagnosed last month, he had thought his recent violent coughing fits were related to the Los Angeles wildfires. For decades, Mr. Gould served as a trusted musical savant — and drive-time friend — to young Angelenos, particularly members of Generation X. He also influenced future broadcasting stars. In a social media post after Mr. Gould's death, Jimmy Kimmel, who worked on the morning show at KROQ early in his career, described him as 'a legend.' On his podcast, Mr. Kimmel's old sidekick on 'The Man Show,' Adam Carolla, a former host of the relationship show 'Loveline' on KROQ, called Mr. Gould 'an icon.' With his boyish energy, free-ranging musical tastes and maniacal cackle, Mr. Gould helped lead a radio revolution at the maverick KROQ, based in Pasadena, starting in the late 1970s. At a time when FM rock stations were dominated by hyper-produced corporate juggernauts like Styx and Foreigner, KROQ became a sensation for its 'Roq of the '80s' format, which shimmered with fresh sounds from New Wave bands like Talking Heads and Devo, synth-pop groups like the Human League and Spandau Ballet, and local heroes like X and the Go-Go's. 'Jeddum Fishum,' as he sometimes referred to himself, and his fellow KROQ jocks brought a sense of anarchy to the airwaves, cracking irreverent jokes and dropping in audio snippets — like deadpan Jack Webb lines from 'Dragnet' — at well-timed moments in the middle of songs, often with hilarious results. Mr. Gould and his colleagues were in the 'right place at the right time,' he wrote on LinkedIn. 'We were leading the way but had no idea.' Following a broadcasting philosophy that he called 'consistent inconsistency,' Mr. Gould manned the afternoon slot at the station. His droll humor and his knack for musical surprises served as a needed tonic for a captive audience creeping along sclerotic freeways for hours that felt more like days. 'It took me years of imitation before I learned the simplicity of being myself on the air,' he wrote. 'Turns out this was a wacky position to take, but people seem to like the honesty behind it.' That prime post-lunch slot gave Mr. Gould a powerful platform for promoting new acts and hotly anticipated releases. 'Because Jed was on from 2P to 6P, immediately following our music meeting, he would often do the honors of world-premiering new music,' Andy Schuon, a former KROQ program director, wrote in a tribute on LinkedIn. In a social media post, Noodles, the guitarist for the Southern California punk-pop band the Offspring, wrote that Jed the Fish was the first D.J. to play the band's 1994 breakout hit, 'Come Out and Play,' 'which changed our band's trajectory in ways we never thought possible.' With a personality that was 'insane in all the best ways,' as Noodles put it, Mr. Gould was all too willing to defy convention. During a recent video tribute by former KROQ colleagues, Mr. Schuon recalled listening to Jed the Fish for more than an hour while driving to the office and noticing that he did not once mention the station's call letters, a standard practice for D.J.s that was crucial for ratings. When Mr. Schuon pressed him on the apparent oversight, Mr. Gould responded: 'Everyone knows if I'm on the station, it must be KROQ. Who else would hire me?' Edwin Fish Gould III was born on July 15, 1955, in Los Angeles, to Edwin Fish Gould Jr., a salesman for a valve-and-fittings company, and Joan (Hall) Gould. He grew up in the beach communities of Orange County before his family moved to Casa Grande, Ariz. In high school, he hosted a local radio program for teenagers until he was fired for reading George Carlin's famous 'Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television' monologue on the air. He graduated from high school in 1973 and enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he received a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. After college, he held a series of jobs at Los Angeles-area radio stations before landing a position at KROQ in 1978. His application consisted of a crude punk-style pink flyer that featured a picture of himself in a white leotard scrunched up in a chair and an offer to work '30 hours per week or less 90 day max FUR FREE!' It was not long before he was helping to orchestrate the chaos in the studio. In a 2001 oral history of the station, he said that for an outsider to ask about the early history of KROQ would be like saying, ''Tell me about Vietnam' or 'Tell me about the French Revolution.' No one will ever know all of it.' As it turned out, there was plenty about Mr. Gould that his listeners did not know. At one point in the mid-1980s, he said in the oral history, he left KROQ after he was kicked out of the Betty Ford Center for stealing a car to buy drugs. He returned, but he was pulled off the air again when he was arrested on suspicion of possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia in March 1989. After more than two months in a detox center, he once again assumed his spot at the microphone. 'In the old days, I'd just shoot a bunch of dope, go on the air and do anything,' he said in an interview the next year with The Los Angeles Times, while discussing his newfound commitment to sobriety. 'I'd developed my crazy style as a result of getting high. But now it comes out of being me. I'm more clearheaded and more focused.' Mr. Gould worked at KROQ until 2012 and later moved to two other local stations, KCSN-FM and KLOS-FM. In 2019, he joined the 'Roq of the '80s' Sunday night show on KROQ's HD2 station. He is survived by a half brother, Tony Chatterton. Throughout his career, Mr. Gould strove to keep the spirit of the music alive in his work behind the microphone. 'When a DJ is playing music we expect you to dance to, I think it's important for the DJ to dance,' he wrote on his professional site in 2018. 'It's not that I'm a lithe and dainty dancer,' he added. 'No one who incorporates a golf swing into their dance moves should be considered dainty. I just believe anyone in charge of the music should move with it.'
Express Tribune
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Jed the Fish, legendary KROQ DJ who shaped alt-rock radio, dies at 69
Jed 'The Fish' Gould, the influential DJ who helped shape the sound of alternative rock radio in Los Angeles, has died at age 69 following a recent lung cancer diagnosis. Gould passed away early Monday morning, leaving behind a legacy that defined nearly four decades of KROQ-FM. Gould joined KROQ in 1978 when the station was still an upstart in Pasadena. Known for breaking punk, new wave, and alternative bands long before they hit the mainstream, he served as a key on-air personality for 34 years. He left KROQ in 2012 after becoming a fixture as its afternoon host. 'Jed the Fish was one of the kindest, funniest, and most unique people I've ever met,' said current KROQ DJ Megan Holiday. 'He was endlessly creative and could light up an arena with his energy.' In addition to his time at KROQ, Gould also hosted shifts at KCSN and briefly returned to KROQ via its HD-2 station Roq of the '80s. He received multiple industry accolades, including Billboard's Modern Rock Personality of the Year and Radio & Records' Local Modern Rock Personality of the Year. Known for his distinctive, layered laugh and offbeat humor, Gould once reflected, 'It took me years of imitation before I learned the simplicity of being myself on air.' Born Edwin Jed Fish Gould III in 1955, he also explored visual art in recent years, working in sculpture and mixed media. His passing marks the loss of a true pioneer in alternative radio, whose voice helped define a generation of Southern California music fans.
Los Angeles Times
02-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
No joke: Kevin Ryder is back on KROQ, hosting on 106.7 FM during afternoon drive time
That was no April Fools prank that people heard Tuesday afternoon — Kevin Ryder is really back on the air at KROQ-FM (106.7), covering afternoon drive time. 'I spent half of my life with my fellow favorite weirdos, helping to make KROQ an iconic radio station and a global destination to foster and nurture musical groups,' Ryder said in a news release. 'It was also a home for many L.A. listeners, and with my old boss back programming KROQ, I'm excited to be speaking my own version of the English language again at the station I love.' Ryder was referring to Kevin Weatherly, the senior vice president of programming who left KROQ in 2019 for a gig at streamer Spotify then returned to the station in May 2022. 'Kevin's return to KROQ in afternoons is a full circle moment in the best way possible,' Weatherly said in the release. It was an odd homecoming, Ryder told Variety, which sat in with the DJ during his debut shift with the station that had employed him for 30 years before summarily dismissing him and his crew just weeks into the pandemic. '[I]t feels like home and it also feels like the craziest, weirdest outer space thing in my life,' he told the outlet Tuesday. 'What a strange situation, pulling up to the building and looking at it in the parking lot and remembering where the ticket thing is and where I need to get it punched and all of that.' The veteran radio personality was fired by KROQ in March 2020 after covering the morning drive shift for three decades, first with longtime work partner Gene 'Bean' Baxter and then, after Baxter's 1999 retirement, with a crew of co-hosts. He was hired by rival station KLOS-FM (95.5) in February 2021 to co-host the afternoon drive with Doug 'Sluggo' Roberts, but was fired from that job last September. At one point during the new show, which runs from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. local time, Ryder accidentally identified the station as KLOS instead of KROQ, Variety reported. In 2020, Ryder had to tell his listeners that his firing wasn't a joke. 'It actually happened,' he said at the time. And he didn't hold in his feelings about the people who were then running the radio station. 'The new people in charge now, they weren't here for the building of the World Famous KROQ,' Ryder said during his 2020 farewell broadcast. 'I don't think it means anything to them. It's a numbers business, and there's no family aspect to it anymore. It's only numbers.' Megan Holiday, who previously covered the afternoon drive shift, will now host the evening show, station owner Audacy said in the Tuesday release. And according to Variety, Ryder is almost done with a book about his first 30 years with KROQ. Almost. 'It's just 10 million stories and timelines,' he told the trade, 'so I'm trying to narrow stuff down.'
