The Greaseman Returns!

The Greaseman has had many opportunities to celebrate his return. This because he's been fired a ot. I cant' state catagorically that he's moved more than any other Morning Show Host in history... let's just say he gets points for persistence. As a self-described "god-fearing, truck-driving redneck" it kind of fits in.

The Graseman first met strong resistance to his fictional persona at WRC-AM 980. Actually Doug Tracht was asked by management in 1974 to drop the cahracter or leave. He left. It was not his first departure, no, it was already his fifth. He'd already been through WICB, WTKO-AM, WENE-AM, and WAXC-AM.

The Greaseman found a new life bitching about the plow drivers at WPOP in Hartford Connecticut. Things went pretty well, running smoothly for over a year. Then WPOP went all news and The Greaseman was back in the box. Two months later he was back at the mic this time in Jacksonville, FL on WAPE. He might have stayed there but the opportunity to fill the "Howard Stern void" in Washington D.C. DC 101 had been #1 in the ratings with Stern until his 1982 firing. The Greaseman could not resist the challenge. And he succeeded. WWDC stayed #1. He didnt' stay #1 forever, but he stayed popular enough to manage a mock presidential run in 1984 against Regan. (wene image from binghamton radio.com)
http://scaptura.com/radio/index.html His stay lasted a decade and then he felt the need to spread his reach further. The Greaseman wanted more. In 1993 he left DC/101 to launch a syndicated radio show with the Infinity Broadcasting Corporation. Actually that kind of pissed off Stern especially after the WWDC thing. teh show tanked. It died in Atlanta, Los Angeles and then New York. Infinity tried to push it in smaller markets but the writing was on the wall. Syndication was not working for the lovable greaseball. And he didn't undertand why! Why dont the same sexist jokes and politically incorrect schtick work in syndication? Nobody knows greasman. Nobody knows.

He was rescued from obscurity by a very wise WARW who knew that the Greasemans mojo works in dirty DC. Who gives a damn if they dont get it in Atlanta, they dont need it to. In 2001 after a little time off he decided to make a more ginger attempt at syndication. This time it took. He's now on air at WARW, WGOP-AM, and WMET-AM. .. all D.C. stations I might add.
http://www.dwponline.com/grease/

San Jose Travel Missive

San Jose radio is pale beside Monterey. Pioneer High School station 89.3 KMTG was running commercial hip-hop as was 90.5 KSJS. KSCU never seemed to come in clearly and KPFA was running talk in the afternoon. I mean Democracy Now is an interesting program but I was looking for tunes. Maybe it was the wrong time of day. I'd heard that 96.1 KSQQ was kind of eclectic Portuguese music but that too was talk while I was in town.

I caught KFOG (simulcasting on KFFG) and I can see why KPIG has been slowly gaining on them since the addition of KPYG to the market. The K-FOG playlist is very safe, mixing only the most popular classic rock tracks with the most centrist Triple A cuts. Of course neither is progressive compared to a station like KCMP.

The infamously eclectic 89.7 KFJC sounded like they were having technical problems, then I realized what I was hearing ten synthesizer keys held down at once and a woman holding a flat note over it. They followed that up with a cassette tape from 1980 of two biology students banging trash can lids together. When I checked back an hour later it was someone beating two sticks together and shouting random nouns. I can say ... as least they are original, and they plug local shows between sets of noisy crap.

I ate at a Chinese restaurant with ducks hanging in the window. I couldn't read the menu and they couldn't under stand me. Food arrived spontaneously at my table anyway. Someone in the kitchen made a safe bet I assume. It was some of the best chicken I've ear had and I don't even know what the dish was called.

I had been wondering why one metro would have three Asian AM outlets: KVVN-AM, KSJX-AM and KYAA-AM. Now I know they have an Asian population that rivals that of Seattle. Entire plazas are lit with signs in mandarin and similar-looking characters. Might be a book store, might be a bakery. I can't tell from the road.

On the drive back I caught a blues show on KKUP that ran a long set of Slim Harpo and Lighting Hopkins. The Route 101 traffic near Route 880 was thick and the friendly music was welcome. 101 thins out to two easy lanes after Watsonville giving me a little time to look at the country. The grass on the hills was yellow, but all the fields were green. I'm out of here tomorrow morning and I think I have one more chance to hit that foggy and chilly Marina beach. I kind of wish I packed a coat.

Monterey Travel Missive #3

I was too dismissive of 1410 KRML-AM yesterday. I've spent more time listening to them than any other local station at this point. While KKUP may hav esome stand out programs, it really is reggae all damn day, KRML-AM is varied but in an intelligent programmed way. I also noticed that they also offer cable radio (a medium I thought was extinct) on Comcast at 93.7. That pipes their signal loud and clear into 90,000 homes. They also claim to be the only radio station broadcasting jazz 24 hours a day. While that claim is somewhat spurious, they are still a great jazz station. They also were featured in the 1971 Clint Eastwood flick Play Misty for Me, for whatever that's worth.

While I'm on the Jazz tip, I finally caught a music show that held my attention on 88.9 KUSP. http://www.kusp.org/ I'd written them off as a NPR talk outlet until I caught this one show today around noon. The program Cintinental drift was truly inspired. It was a mix of old and new blues, jazz and even funk. But it was kind of tied together in an organic way. Leon Red Bone, 30 s blues, the meters and Jimmy Smith aren;'t normally in the same program... but hey can be. It's beginning to make sense that Monterey is the home of the Monterey Jazz Festival.

I got into Recycled Records today and picked up a copy of an older Bakomono record. I paid $8.00 and just realized I could have bought it used online for 3 cents + shipping... This is why small record stores are going out of buisness. But it's a good band, and a long out of print record, it was worth the 8 clams.

Today I ate lunch at El Torito and sat in the bar overlooking Monterey Bay. The food was largely unimpressive but the view was great. I sat a a table smaller than half a newspaper and overlooked the incoming waves. The Pacific was very active and would shake the building at times as it rushed over and under the rock that Monterey sits upon. It is very striking how much more active the Pacific is than the Atlantic. I was warned many times by many locals about the tourists that get swept out to sea right off th ebeach because they didn't know how violent and powerful El Océano Pacífico is. The salsa was good and used excellent tomatos which made me remember harvesting them, and made me hungry for good vegetables.

Montery Travel Missive #2

The Juniper trees by Sloat Ave. are massive and gnarled like overly muscular arms cranked from steroids. ...and the Hickory Trees have left shells all the way to Hawthorne. It was a strange thing to fixate on after a walk through Cannery Row, but it's what I remember now. I also recall vividly that the street signs were carved out of wood. I walked to the aquarium to check out the otters, and at first saw none. Then I noticed one fat sea otter lying on a rock facing away from me. It did nothing cute like the ones on TV. It's just looked fat and somewhat bored.

KNRY-AM turns out to have a studio on the row. The rest was dull tourist shops and restaurants that smelled like wine and fish. (I like neither) I met two men who used to have a show on KNRY-AM who were very funny and charming and knew just where to get a good sandwich. We went to a local joint called Randy's (10th street & church?) It's only open for lunch 11:30 -1:30 Monday thru Friday. I had the Jaws2 hoagie which had turkey, ham, salami, bologna, provolone mayo and was on a soft sesame roll. Truly a sandwich to be reckoned with. I ate that sandwich in the park and then got a ride in a Ferrari at about 90 mph in that little tunnel before Lighthouse St. Fun people out here.

I bought a couple books at Bookbuyers used books on the same street. We were only going 35 when we passed it, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to read the sign. Tremendously knowledgeable and engaging bibliophiles in there. Next door is recycled records, a viny shop, which sadly was closed for a dinner break when I finally happened by. www.bookbuyers.com

In related Monterrey News, I noticed that Melanie Walker, former morning show host of KAZU has reappeared as MD of KCMP in Minneapolis replacing Thorn. We she here I would have coughed her show, in liu I spent some time listening to a Tropical show on KKUP, their first break from the reggae. It was a set of Venezuelan harp rock. Host Cristina Boyd presided over a st of music like nothing I have ever heard before. It began with recognizable Afro-cuban jazz and ended with surreal call-and-response music with the call consisting of Hammond B3 Organ and the response being the same line etched in harp picking. The program is called Amenidades Latino Americans and only airs every other week.

I also discovered 1410 KRML-AM which runs all jazz and blues but leaning nostalgia across both. It's much less fruity than the two standards outlets KIDD-AM and KABL-AM running zero show tunes and zero Streisand. It was a relaxing discovery this evening. http://www.krmlradio.com/

More record reviews...

Another batch of reviews is up on Stranded in stereo.(please excuse the delay)

http://www.strandedinstereo.com/music.shtml

Meth and goats - S/T
Ultradolphins - Why are you laughing?
Black Angels –Passover
Linfinity – A Manual for Free Living
Murder By Death – In Bocca Al Lupo