Back from the B100 radio reunion, held somewhere in Afghanistan I think. It was at the Pala Resort and Casino -- a spectacular complex situated in the middle of nowhere. B100 was a Top 40 station that took San Diego by storm in 1975 and stayed on top for close to 15 years. I don't know what the format is today -- probably All Polka Music or All Obama Bashing.
As part of the festivities, which included a dinner, nostalgia, much drinking, a pool party (although no one was stupid enough to wear a bathing suit), and appearance from Shotgun Tom Kelly -- the local radio station graciously allowed us recreate B100 as it was.
Back in March of '75 the station signed on with "the B100 hours" -- a hundred insane hours of no commercials and the jocks all rotating shift. Tapes of some of those broadcasts have been circulating among radio people for years. I'm both proud and humiliated to be a part of it.
Anyway, in addition to replaying some of those tapes and the music from that era, I was invited to do a live show for an hour. It's the first time I've done a disc jockey show in ten years and only the third DJ show I've done since 1982. So don't expect anything great. But what the hell? You can't think any less of me than you already do. Here it is (minus the songs so it's not an hour, it's like five minutes).
The weekend was great fun. As one of the jocks, Danny Wilde said, "The reason there's no more fun in radio is because we used it all up." He's right. Danny became a surgeon, by the way. And I thought I did well.
What struck me most about the experience was how fond I am of all these people, even though I rarely see them anymore. Yes, there's the bond we share in making fools of ourselves on the radio, but beyond that -- they're great folks and hold a special place in my heart.
So thanks to John Fox, Paul Palmer, Gary Kelley, Mark Gleason, and all my friends at B100 for organizing this soiree. And a special thanks to Bobby Rich. Not only was he the mastermind of the station, he was the best program director I ever worked for. Not to mention the only program director who never fired me. And you just heard my act. He had cause every week.
