Jim Ladd was let go when L.A. rock radio station KLOS-FM was bought by Cumulus Media (think Clear Channel)
On October 26, 2011 Jim got the boot and you should care. If you haven't unplugged your mp3 player from your car in a while you have noticed that Cumulus, Clear Channel and other large media conglomerates play generic top 40 and put little effort into appealing to the musical tastes of people that love music.
"Ladd was doing late nights at the station and was considered the last truly freeform DJ in the country. Ladd joined KLOS in 1997,"
"There's no room for, or understanding of, what I do on the air," Ladd said of his nightly shows, on which he wove together songs to reflect or illuminate a particular theme. "They want a tight format, but that's not what rock 'n' roll is all about. Rock 'n' roll is about freedom."
Rush drummer Neil Peart describes as being "about guys like Jim Ladd … one of the last renegades who believes that broadcasting can be art."
"Radio should be ashamed," Ladd said, "that TV is now hipper [to new music] than rock radio is."
Lets all hope he puts out a podcast, or gets on Satellite Radio. We're going to need him.
Quotes taken from LATimes and LAObserved
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