He enjoyed two lengthy stints at Album-Oriented Rock station KLOS in Los Angeles, a decade at formal crosstown rival KMET, and for the last 11 years has been the host of a daily program on SiriusXM‘s Deep Tracks channel. Now, rock and roll radio fans are paying tribute to Jim Ladd, who has died of a heart attack. According to SiriusXM, Ladd passed away on Sunday.
Ladd was famous for being a “freeform” disc jockey, eschewing tight programming and music scheduling, and was the inspiration for Tom Petty’s studio album The Last DJ.
He first developed as a radio host at KNAC 105.5 in Long Beach, CA, in 1969, during its progressive rock era. In 1971, he joined the staff of ABC Radio’s KLOS, but he exited in 1974, moving to KMET at a time when the tighter programming at ABC’s rock stations was not in Ladd’s interest.
Ladd would stay at KMET until 1984 and returned for its final two months as a rocker before it became KTWV “The Wave” in February 1987. After stints at KMPC 101.9 and KLSX 97.1 in Los Angeles, Ladd returned to KLOS in 1997. In 2011, he departed broadcast radio for good, taking the SiriusXM role.
Special tributes to Ladd can be heard on Deep Tracks.
— With reporting from Radio + Television Business Report
During my sophomore year in college, I worked the graveyard shift in a grocery store. The store was closed during those hours, and there were many times when I was the only one in the store. Usually, I would bring a radio to work and in order to listen to music, I could use a rubber band to hold down the talk button on the store’s intercom mike. Place that mike in front of the radio and you had music throughout the store. Loud music. It was on one of these nights when Jim Ladd was on either KLOS or KMET (not sure which one–it was many years ago). Ladd played Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone.” I’d heard the song many times before. There are different ways of listening and different ways of hearing, too. And this particular time, the lyrics registered with me in a powerful, personal way. Ladd came on after the song ended and he talked about Dylan for a brief time. After he put on another song, I called the radio station to say thanks. I told him about hearing the song before and how it really struck me this time. Our conversation was short–less than 4 or 5 minutes, but the effects have been long-lasting. Jim Ladd composed the soundtrack for many of us who are of a certain age. His love of music and his way of juxtaposing songs and musical groups together for the sake of communicating messages was skillfully and artfully done. This comment is lengthy, I know. And it’s going to be a bit longer because I know there’s the possibility that someone who reads the lyrics to the song may have heard it many times. There’s also the possibility that the lyrics will speak to them similar to the way they speak to me. I will always remember Jim Ladd for opening this and many other doors for me and for others.
Like a Rolling Stone
Bob Dylan
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime
Didn’t you?
People call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all
Kidding’ you?
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging
Your next meal
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home?
Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?
Ah, you’ve gone to the finest school
All right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get
Juiced in it
Nobody’s ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you’re gonna have to get
Used to it
You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp but now you realise
He’s not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say
“Do you want to make a deal?”
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be on your own?
With no direction home?
A complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?
Ah, you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did
Tricks for you
Never understood that it ain’t no good
You shouldn’t let other people
Get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain’t it hard when you discover that?
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal?
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To have on your own?
With no direction home?
Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?
Ah, princess on the steeple and all the
Pretty people they’re all drinkin’, thinkin’ that they
Got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you’d better take your diamond ring
You’d better pawn it, babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags
And the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you
You can’t refuse
When you ain’t got nothin’
You got nothin’ to lose
You’re invisible now, you got no secrets
To conceal
How does it feel?
Ah, how does it feel?
To be on your own?
With no direction home?
Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?