When KRNW-FM shut its doors on April 1, 1977, it was the end of freeform radio in Boulder. The rock music station KBCO-FM began its storied run a few months later with a format that emphasized the “Colorado sound.” In deference to the KRNW audience, they gave me a six-hour show on Sunday nights and encouraged me to be myself (i.e., “Be different!”). I took advantage of their largesse, and instead of playing enormously popular format staples like Jimmy Buffett, Eagles, and Firefall, I introduced the audience to new artists like the Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, and Graham Parker. Here’s my KBCO “Hot Off The Press” playlist from September 25, 1977:

Although I had been on the radio for less than a year (KRNW-FM, Boulder, CO), I felt like a grizzled veteran. Every day I arrived at the station with a sense of purpose. I played music by my favorite artists (Dylan, the Byrds, Spirit, Poco) and always made sure to turn the audience on to lesser known, but equally brilliant, musicians, poets, and visionaries (Melvin Van Peebles, John Renbourn, Frummox, Roy Buchanan, and Goose Creek Symphony). When I revisit these playlists, it rekindles my wonder for music as well as makes me long for the good old days when disc jockeys were America’s tastemakers.

During my 1971–1977 radio stint at KRNW-FM (Boulder, CO), I was primarily a morning DJ. But during the fall of ’72, there were personnel changes, and I moved to middays (10 a.m.–2 p.m.). That meant I could stay up late and trawl the clubs and bars without having to wake up at 5 a.m. Judging from the first seven songs of this show, I must have had a bad hangover! My shows were memorable because of the new and obscure music I introduced to my audience . . . but on September 28, 1972, I needed to hear the hits.

A random episode of Music Without Boundaries during my seven-year stint at KPRI (102.1 FM) in San Diego. An Irish reel, a Scottish lament, a Brazilian reverie, some Mexican mariachi, and an AC/DC anthem in honor of San Diego Padres relief ace Trevor Hoffman. Toss in some Spirit, Springsteen, and Otis Redding, and this was no ordinary April Fool’s Day radio show.

I did mornings at KRNW (97.3 FM) in Boulder, Colorado, from 1971 to 1973 and again from 1975 to 1977. I’m flushed with memories of being able to mix in so many genres into each single four-hour show. This random playlist incorporates folk rock, Latin fusion, an acoustic guitar dirge, glossy R&B, English prog rock, straight ahead jazz, and female singer-songwriters galore. These days, it’s nearly impossible to find a station that allows the DJs to pick their own music (except on community public radio), but back in the ’70s, knowledge of/passion for music was actually a plus!

Of the eight radio stations I worked for between 1971 and 2007, my longest stint was a nearly seven-year run at KPRI (102.1 FM) in San Diego. I produced and hosted Music Without Boundaries, and they aired the program on Saturday mornings and (repeated) Sunday evenings. I probably would have continued for another seven years except they hired a new program director I called “St. Louis Slick,” who was scared of the show (new PDs always hated the show!) and took away my prime Saturday morning slot, isolating MWB back to Sunday nights only.

I quit on the spot and moved MWB to 91X. I didn’t know this would be my final show at KRPI when I recorded it and find it comical that some of my last songs were “Mistreating Daddy” and “What Good Am I?”

You can read all about my radio years in my memoir, Off My Rocker.

My specialty radio show Music Without Boundaries (1993–2007) had five very distinctive/disparate homes on the San Diego radio dial. I was very excited to take the show to 92/5, an alternative rock station under the leadership of Michael Halloran in 1998. The station had a great cast of characters and tremendous energy. Halloran put MWB on Sunday mornings from 9 to noon and encouraged me to go for it. This playlist contains music from Cuba, South Africa, Ireland, Madagascar, Hungary, and Nigeria. I get into a mini-set of fathers and sons and always find slots for Spirit and the Byrds.

It turned out that this was my last show at 92/5 as it was absorbed by Jacor Communications. As happens so often in the world of radio, Jacor changed the format and fired the entire staff. Ironic that the last song I played was “Mecca.”

This playlist is from one of my morning shows on KRNW (Boulder, CO) when I was 28 years old. I was still heavily influenced by the sounds of country rock that were so prevalent in Boulder. But when I look at my playlists from the same week, I see Slade, T-Rex, The New York Dolls, Velvet Underground, and Kiss . . . so my glam rock inner self came out to play on a regular basis. You can’t tell from this list, but I was also an R & B fanatic. This is one of the few shows I did that didn’t include Otis Redding, The Isley Brothers, or Curtis Mayfield.

I was honored to be asked to bring Music Without Boundaries to San Diego’s legendary progressive radio station 91X in 2005. I was 57 years old and immediately became the oldest show host in station history. Since it was an alternative rock station, their only request was that I keep the sound edgier (read: less folk music/ballads) than in MWB’s previous incarnations. Let’s just say I kept it intelligent. This playlist features music from the Australian Outback, Santo Domingo, Cameroon, Hawaii, and Senegal, as well as topical screeds from Nina Simone and Rodney Crowell.

In 1983, after 12 years on the radio in Boulder, I moved to San Diego and changed careers (becoming a concert producer). I thought my radio days were behind me, when out of nowhere, I was offered a job doing a Sunday evening “straight ahead” jazz show on smooth-jazz KiFM, the #1 rated station in San Diego. I convinced the program director, Bob O’Connor, to let me present a melange of music that wasn’t necessarily jazz, but would appeal to a jazz audience. Music Without Boundaries was born in 1993 and lived to the ripe old age of 14 (on five different San Diego stations). This playlist features music from Chile, Brazil, Ireland, Zimbabwe, and Mali . . . not to mention classical music from Ian Anderson and doo-wop from the Monotones.