One of Greg's radio rages...

 One of Greg's radio rages...


                                          Gonzer...man


     Greg's intimate relationship with the radio went back to his taking a transistor to the bunk beds on McNerney to ease himself into the land of nod. It is not so much he got attached to on-air personalities because he was there to dig the sounds like "Classical Gas" or "Love is Blue" and dream of cuddling up with a chick like Janet Leigh. As a matter of fact he listened but thought that most DJ's were horses asses and heaped his youthful scorn on guys like Casey Kasem or Sam Riddel. Dick Clark sort of became a balance with American Bandstand that had begun to fade even in my time and when Greg put his head on the radio pillow it was "Boss Radio" or the cutting edge hipness of KMET. Some jocks were kind of cool including Emperor Hudson, Humble Harve and H.H. (Hunter Hancock) on the black R&B statio KPFK. We quoted their sayings and despite seeing the profession to be equal to playing poker for a living we dug them but did not want to be them exactly. So, by the time the 1970's arrived and Greg was a college man he followed me into the cooler climes of underground radio stations like the truly groovy KPPC at 106.7 on the FM dial. We first started listening simply because they would play long cuts like the Stones "Midnight Mile" or any of the introspective Dylan compositions. However, by late 1970 we were desperately trying to get hip and reject all the accoutrements of the Plastic People as in AM radio. In the mornings on KPPC there was one of the truly great DJs of all time in LA named Jeff Gonzer. The man was not confined by rock and roll or commerical hits and  played everything from old radio dramas to jazz cuts like "the Morning Song" by Roger Kellaway. When I drove to work at VWR I listened to Gonzer who did not clutter up his show with a lot of patter but let his selections speak for him. The guy had a lot to do with both my taste and Greg's moving forward into the 1970's. Then capitalism struck and  someone decided to turn KPPC into a money maker and become one of the Love radio scenes. Gonzer was fired which hardly held him back since he went on to be a success at KLOS and spun discs until he retired in 2017. What raised the hackles of young Sheehy was the Love Cat who replaced low-key Gonzer. His name was Tom Clay and eventually he was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but for our distinctive palates the guy was way too self-centered and a coolness poser compared to the folksy Gonzer. Greg was enfuriated and railed against the new guy. Yet the straw that broke the hipcats back was the smash peace-love record Clay produced that caused the chords in Greg's neck to tighten. I will just leave it here. https://youtu.be/1uqNLnEzDLA?si=e2D_NJqYihaDm4uf



                                        Tom Clay...man

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