December 1971
By the late 1960's, Metromedia-owned
KMET was considered a "sanctuary for dropouts" with shows such as Underground Sunshine (from former KPPC jocks Tom Donahue and B. Mitchell Reed) and Radio Free Oz (former KRLA jock Peter Bergman). The station was housed in the Metromedia West complex in Hollywood, which also counted Wolper Productions, KLAC and KTTV as tenants.
Under program director Sam Bellamy, KMET oversaw nightime rambler Jim Ladd - previously with KNAC and KLOS - and his Inner-View series, Mary Turner and Jeff Gonzer. The Top 10 station also had Flo and Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan), Dr. Demento, and Brunch with Harry Shearer. Rounding out the station's impressive lineup were Ace Young and Pat Kelley.
But the station was losing its progressive-rock stronghold by the late-1970's to stations like KLOS. KMET general manager David Moorehead summed up the decline saying, "We just became too experimental, too esoteric... But with us, these past months, it was a fantasyland. The station was much too cluttered."
Within a few years, free-form KMET alumni Mike Harrison, Mary (The Burner) Turner and Demento all moved to Culver-City based Westwood One, founded by Norm Pattiz. Trailing KROQ (Rock of the 80's) and KLOS, critics accused the Mighty Met of ignoring punk and new-wave, stagnating in its heavy-metal format. By 1983, the station replaced comedy duo Langan and West with Cynthia Fox and Paraquat Kelly. Turner jumped ship to KROQ.
In an effort to fend off the barbs, KMET introduced Local Licks, a primetime show airing tracks from unsigned artists. Alas by 1987 it was too late. KMET enacted staff firings (Jim Ladd had recently been rehired) and was off the airwaves. Fellow station KFAC and Magic 106 had also recently seen the end as well. The dial transitioned into KTWV The Wave - a New Age jazz format without DJ's.
As Frank Cody explained in 1987, "The Wave is for people who grew up with music, but don't want to listen to 'Stairway to Heaven' anymore."
True to their word, Zeppelin never made a playlist, but Kenny Gee was in constant rotation with endless versions of Take Five. As for Jim Ladd, the radio veteran joined Roger Waters on his Radio KAOS World Tour and moved to KEDG (The Edge) and landed at KLSX. In 1991, Ladd departed terrestrial radio for a nightly gig on Sirius XM.
