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lewiville
08-17-2006, 01:21 PM
I used to listen to him ever sunday religiously, my dad hated it.
here is something fun, its a mind trick
Mind trick (http://www.drdemento.com/games/mindtrick/)

core attitude
08-17-2006, 01:25 PM
Fish heads fish heads, rollie pollie fish heads...........

Hardly Satisfied
08-17-2006, 01:45 PM
listen to him back then KMET was aroundIthink it was 94.7 fm

NoCal NoBoat
08-17-2006, 01:50 PM
Who could forget the memorable Suzie C-Cell crooning "Me and My Vibrator" ?

HM
08-17-2006, 01:56 PM
Fish heads fish heads, rollie pollie fish heads...........
Roly poly fishheads are never seen drinking capucino at Italian restaurants with oriental woman.....yaaaahhhhh.

LHC30Victory
08-17-2006, 01:59 PM
And of course the ever pleasant:
"Sarah Sylvia Cynthia Stout who would not take the garbage out..."
Along with:
"...Sig Heil, Sig Heil, right in the Fureher's face."
AHHHHH, Those were the days!

Ultra5150
08-17-2006, 02:06 PM
As soon as I saw the title of this thread, this popped into my head.
Fish heads fish heads, rollie pollie fish heads...........

SHOTKALLIN
08-17-2006, 02:17 PM
My dad started me on Dr. Demento. Kinko the kid loving Clown. He jump started wierd Al's Career.

Ziggy
08-17-2006, 02:25 PM
He jump started wierd Al's Career.
No kidding............ :boxed:
.
.
.
.Eat 'em up-----yuuuuuuuuuuuum :p

CA Stu
08-17-2006, 02:27 PM
Anyone remember the "fish report" on the Mighty Met?
KMET
is the place to be
for the music
on your radio -yo-yo.
Jim Ladd?
Paraquat Kelly?
Best radio station ever.
Thanks
CA Stu
PS Poppies..poppies...poppies.....
"They're coming to take me away"

JustMVG
08-17-2006, 02:28 PM
My dad started me on Dr. Demento. Kinko the kid loving Clown. He jump started wierd Al's Career.
Yup we had to "Wiiiinnnddd Up Your Radios" as he started the show, Weird Al gave him a tape with his first song My Bologna, he made in a bathroom stall in college.

Ziggy
08-17-2006, 02:31 PM
Anyone remember the "fish report" on the Mighty Met?
KMET
is the place to be
for the music
on your radio -yo-yo.
Jim Ladd?
Paraquat Kelly?
Best radio station ever.
Thanks
CA Stu
PS Poppies..poppies...poppies.....
"They're coming to take me away"
KMET was good but KROQ had the best music in those days....IMO

CA Stu
08-17-2006, 02:34 PM
KMET was good but KROQ had the best music in those days....IMO
KROQ wasn't around in the 70's, sonny. :)
Cheers
CA Stu

Flyinbowtie
08-17-2006, 02:35 PM
Still have a couple of cherry KMET bupmer stickers, and my KMET baseball cap.
Little bit-o-heaven, 94.7...
Jimn Ladd's All-girl Harmonica Band?
Dr. D was a lot of fun.
Remember "Shaving Cream"?
Does your chewing gum lose it's flavor on the bedpost overnight?
Aint't never gonna be nothing like that, again.

JustMVG
08-17-2006, 02:36 PM
I beg to differ, KROQ was on the AM side when KBBQ the country station died and was replaced by KROQ, heres a KMET memory for you all
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/85kmetupside.jpghttp://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/85KMET-KLAC_PROMO_PIECE-med.gif

CA Stu
08-17-2006, 02:39 PM
Remember "Shaving Cream"?
Had the 45.
Spike Jones forever!
Bought it at Gillette's.
Thanks
CA Stu

JustMVG
08-17-2006, 02:41 PM
When Jim Ladd would take us on a journey every Wednesday evening with his Led Zep mixes. The Burner Mary Turner, Cynthia Fox, KMET had a great lineup that made you listen every day.

RitcheyRch
08-17-2006, 02:41 PM
KMET and Dr. Demento were awesome. Sure miss the old days of good terrestrial radio.
Fish heads fish heads, rollie pollie fish heads...........

Ziggy
08-17-2006, 02:42 PM
KROQ wasn't around in the 70's, sonny. :)
Cheers
CA Stu
Like M&M said, it crossed to FM in the later 70's....
Sonny Boy.
.
.
.
Who remembers VH1 being a half hour TV show on Kcal TV?....my how things have changed :)

JustMVG
08-17-2006, 02:44 PM
Here's Paraquat Kelly in the 80's, his dad was the radio announcer for the Rams, and thats how he got his love for radio, did odd jobs at some radio stations in town and lucked out got an on air position at a small station and was found by the Mgr of a new station that would become KMET. Remember Melody Rogers from 2 on the Town, well Pat Kelly is married to her, you hear Paraquat all the time on the promos for the shows on ABC.
http://www.***boat.com/image_center/data/500/85paraquat80s.gif

CA Stu
08-17-2006, 02:44 PM
What was that show? Headsets? Specially mixed for headphones?
My eyes are turning to dimeslots just thinking about it...
I discoverd KROQ in about 1980 or 81.
I was way too cool for it on AM, where it was undoubtedly double super-GAY.
AM was all about KMEN and XTRA, bitch!
Thanks
CA Stu :)
PS Great thread

JustMVG
08-17-2006, 02:49 PM
Yeah it was headsets, he still does that every Wednesday night at midnight, but it's not the same, Jim did real freeform radio then , without all the techno gadhets they use today, and it was all on Vinyl then too.

lewiville
08-17-2006, 03:46 PM
"I wanna kiss her butt........she wont let me"

Partycattin
08-17-2006, 03:50 PM
Went to a Dr. D show at some club in the valley when I was a kid. Listened religiously for awhile. Some of the stuff was very funny. Some very lame towards the end though.

Boatcop
08-17-2006, 03:55 PM
Paraquat Kelly in the '70s.
http://www.petehandelman.com/images/paraquat.JPG
Mary "Mounds" Turner was always my favorite. Back in the early '70s a few friends and I went to KMET studio and met her as she was getting off work. (This was before I would have been arrested as a stalker) Back then she was down to earth, and pretty wild.
She ended up marrying into money. She's now Mary Pattiz. Her husband is a Norman Pattiz, big time radio mogul and founder/president of Westwood One, the biggest radio network in the country. She's the blonde on the far right in the picture below.
http://www.musiccenter.org/images/060302.jpg

Tequila-John
08-17-2006, 04:05 PM
the Dr. was great....... I miss the old bastard!

OCMerrill
08-17-2006, 04:05 PM
Travel down memory path....
The Dr. was great Dead puppies to Tom T-Bone Stankus!
and Weird Al's another one rides the bus.
I don't know If I could stand another round of those songs stuck in my head but when I was 13 there was nothing else on radio Sunday nights. He was addicting no doubt.
And yes KROQ was on and major punked and in 1978 went on to FM I believe.
KLOS well :idea: exactly the same today as the 70's. Same peeps too. :)
Here is one AM 1190 KEZY. AM was all rock. Now...no speaky english. Times have indeed changed.

wolfie
08-17-2006, 04:07 PM
KROQ wasn't around in the 70's, sonny. :)
Cheers
CA Stu
He's probably thinking KNAC. I think Frasier Smith was kick off that one before being kick off KLOS & KMET.
I try to explain KMET's Fish report and Dr. Demento to people here in Utah and they'd never heard anything like it. They have a couple of stations that are close to it but nothing like KMET & KLOS was inthe '70's. Kind of like when Saturday Night Live first came out.

obnoxious001
08-17-2006, 04:11 PM
I think you guys will find that Dr. Demento worked for KROQ(previously called KPPC) in Pasadena before he went to KMET. We used to go over to the radio station and pick up free albums.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Demento
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KROQ

Tequila-John
08-17-2006, 04:21 PM
He had a good show. FISH HEAD FISH HEADS EAT THEM UP YUM!!!!

YODA
08-17-2006, 04:54 PM
What a cool ride down memory lane!!!! Thanx I still have my kmet sticker marking the radio dial (way old stereo).

Partycattin
08-17-2006, 05:37 PM
I used to listen to him ever sunday religiously, my dad hated it.
here is something fun, its a mind trick
Mind trick (http://www.drdemento.com/games/mindtrick/)
Picked Queen of clubs and poof it was gone.

Boatcop
08-17-2006, 06:50 PM
Picked Queen of clubs and poof it was gone.
I picked all 6 of the cards, and POOF. They all were gone.
(It's how the trick works)

MrsSigEpMock
08-17-2006, 06:57 PM
"They're coming to take me away"
OMG! I was about 5 or 6 when I heard that song for the first time, It scared the sh^t outta me!!!
My Fav = "Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda......"

gstark
08-17-2006, 07:47 PM
B.Mitchell Reed

JustMVG
08-17-2006, 09:01 PM
Ahhh The BEEEMER, B. Mitchell Reed is missed, taken from us way too soon.
Here is a Story about Pat Kelley and whats happening with him today, a bit of a read but if you enjoyed KMET it will give you a little insight into what was going on in those days.
Paraquat’s Blessed Life
Son of a Great Sportscaster, Part of Legendary KMET,
Married to TV Star and Now Facing the Challenge of a Lifetime
(October 3, 2005) “The best way to put it is this, if you heard a story that is like totally outrageous and bizarre about what may have happened at KMET, it’s probably true.” And Pat “Paraquat” Kelley should know. He was at the vortex of one of a half dozen legendary L.A. radio stations in the last half century. Buttressed between the new world of free love in the seventies, and rebellion against anyone or anything that smacked of establishment, KMET smoked. It was the place to be if you wanted to know what was happening in the counter-culture, where the protests were being held, free clinics, music and concerts. Paraquat dispensed the news and views to this generation in a way that had never been heard before. On Friday it was the Fish Report with a Beat (in stereo) which was a ‘don’t miss’ feature at the “Mighty Met.” (Pat Kelley interviewed in backyard of his Nichols Canyon home)
Born in 1950, Pat’s godfather was Dan Reeves, who owned the LA Rams. The connection came because Pat’s father, Bob Kelley, was the legendary broadcast voice of the NFL Rams and baseball’s Angels.
Senior Kelley moved with the Rams in 1947 from Cleveland to Los Angeles. “My dad was one of the very first general managers of the Rams in Cleveland,” Pat learned when doing some research on his dad. Pat grew up around sports and Hollywood figures and his home was filled with high profile personalities. “Actress Jane Russell would be over at the house sitting by the pool with Bob Waterfield who was the great quarterback for the Rams, No. 7. And Hamp Poole, who was the Rams head coach for a while. Let me tell you, these people knew how to party. They’re all gone now as a result of the ‘party hearty’ lifestyle. Well, there is one survivor. I’ll tell you later.”
Bob Kelley (l) died at age 49. “My dad lived a lot longer than he should have,” Pat said candidly. “He had a restaurant down on Ventura Blvd. called the Pump Room and he owned it with Bob Waterfield, former Rams player Don Paul, and a guy named Roy Harlow. Roy’s nickname was The Gaffer, an old Marine guy, right? I thought I could party, but I couldn’t hold a candle to these people. They drank and they just hung out. My poor mom, God bless her for putting up with all the craziness.”
“My dad would leave home to do his sports program at KMPC, which was in the building that is now the Spaghetti Factory on Sunset Boulevard,” said Pat. “Next door was a bar called The Hucksters. My dad and all the characters from KNXT/Channel 2 - Jerry Dunphy, Bill Keene and Gil Stratton – all used The Hucksters as a place to hang. My dad was a good human being. He was a good father; it’s unfortunate his life ended so early. He was of a different generation where men worked hard and played hard. Boy was I lucky to have him as a father in spite of his weakness for the good life.”
It was not unusual for Paraquat’s father to be right in the middle of his cronies holding court at The Hucksters. “These guys were getting blind and Jim Healy would come by and remind my dad that he had to go on in five minutes. ‘Go ahead Jim, you go on for me.’ That’s how Healy got on the air, nine times out of ten. It was because my dad was in there having cocktails with the boys. Gil Stratton was up at the house about four or five years ago following a wake for a mutual friend. We reminisced about those interesting times in another era.”
Paraquat’s older brother Rob, actually Bob Kelley, Jr., is a real estate broker in Central California and he’s also a City Commissioner.
“He used to work with the Rams, as we all did,” remembered Paraquat. “From eight to twelve years of age we all worked as water boys or equipment assistants. Whatever behind the scenes jobs were needed, we did. My younger brother Mike has some great stories to tell as well regarding Rams camp. We were very lucky - all four Kelley boys."
Pat remembered one summer training camp at the University of Redlands. Bob Waterfield was the head coach. “It was 150 degrees outside. We, a group of young helpers, were issued keys for everything, right? And of course, the players were at our mercy. The players had a 10 o’clock curfew when everybody had to be in bed. They had two a day practices. About fifteen minutes after curfew, we’d knock on the doors of some our my buddies - Deacon Jones, Ollie Matson, and Dick Bass - they’d all line up and follow us across the street to a big indoor Olympic-size swimming pool. Having the keys to all of the important places made you popular with the players."
"Deacon, Ollie, Bass were mostly my best friends on the Rams. I love those guys. And to this day, Deacon Jones if I see him, the first thing that comes out of his mouth is Bandit. If you ever see Deacon Jones, ask him if he’s seen the Bandit lately and it will blow his mind. He used to come by KMET on Friday nights and sit in the newsroom with us when we did the Fish Report. I got tagged with the nickname 'The Bandit' by Ollie Matson. Before cell phones people used a thing called a pay phone. I’d wait while lonely players would talk to family and friends on the phone. These guys would put their 10 cent deposit to get the operator. They’d talk for an hour or so while I was lurking in the shadows. When they’d hang up and walk away, I’d race to the phone and grab the dime they forgot and left in the coin return. I did pretty good until Ollie Matson caught me in the act. That’s when I became known as The Bandit!!!"
Paraquat’s brother recently had dealings with Jane Russell during a fundraiser. She lives in Santa Maria. “She looked at my brother Rob and says, 'Damn, you know what? I’m the only one that’s still alive from that whole group.”
Pat was only 16 when his father died in 1966, but he didn’t follow in his father’s broadcast steps right away. “My mother remarried a year or so after my dad died.” Pat sat straight up in his rocking chair when he recalled that time, as we sat in the backyard of his Nichols Canyon home. “My mom married some guy, a complete asshole, who thought he would make a man out of me. He thought I should go to work; that would make a man out of me. So I took a job at Safeway as a box boy, and somehow I finagled my way into getting into the assistant produce manager position which paid like $2.22 an hour as opposed to, you know, a buck twenty. If I worked weekends, I made more. One Saturday I’m making double golden overtime trimming lettuce, and it was like a bolt of lighting from the sky that struck me - BOOM, it hit me, damn, it was God telling me I should get out of lettuce and into radio. Works for me!”
Just out of high school, Pat’s mom suggested her son contact Steve Bailey at KMPC. Steve had just lost his delivery boy and Pat was hired as a utility helper. When he joined KMPC it was during the glory years with Gary Owens, Geoff Edwards, Ira Cook, Dick Whittinghill , Roger Carroll, Jack Angel, Johnny Magnus, and Pete Smith.
What did a delivery boy do? “I kind of left it open so it sounded like I was teaching people how to deliver lines. [Laughter] At least that’s what I fantasized."
"But the KMPC job was so lucky for me. I hounded Gary Owens;that poor man. He used to try to do a radio show and I would be on him like a frog on a dragon-fly. Management at KMPC had to put signs up to keep visitors out of the air booth. The late Mark Blinoff [KMPC pd], put those signs up, probably because of me and naturally I ignored them. I bothered Gary Owens in the worst way. But Gary was always very kind to me and he gave me direction and guidance and God knows, one thing led to another and kaboom, I ended up on the radio. Mark Blinoff was also there for me as my career moved on. Mark was one of the good guys.”
Through his brother Rob, Paraquat met a man that would criss-cross throughout his life and end up one of his closest friends for the past three decades. “I was living in Hermosa Beach with my brother, Rob. He was a California Highway Patrolman, drove a motorcycle, and used to park that motorcycle in our garage on Hermosa Avenue. On the weekends he and his buddies would get dressed up in their uniforms, go to work, just park in the garage and wait for somebody to speed by, pull out of the garage, write them a ticket, come back and just hang out so they could watch football. And the guy that lived next door was John Felz who was a parking lot attendant near the airport. “I’m driving this KMPC delivery wagon and John was so impressed. He knew more about my dad, the Angels and my family, than I knew. He was amazing and eventually would sub for me when there was a conflict.” Felz took the part-time job as delivery boy and eventually became program director at KMPC. (Bob Kelley and Rob Kelley)
“Gary Owens was wonderfully instrumental in me becoming whatever I am today. He was someone to look up to and just dream of being maybe someday,” said Pat in earnest. “And Steve Bailey was like a father to me and I was not an easy character to deal with. He should have just thrown my ass out after two days but he didn’t. But it was John Felz, of all the people, who took that little nugget, of working at KMPC and turned it into something special and that would benefit me so much in the years to come. Whenever I’d be out of work, I’d call up John and he was always there for me. Felz is such a great person but not only that, he’s a terrifically creative and talented guy.”
Paraquat worked in Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and West Covina during his early career. “I did this Parade of Sports program on KGRB-West Covina. I’m attempting to get something going and I made a deal with the owner, Bob Burdett, to broker a five-minute sports program. He knew Bob Kelley and perhaps he thought the program would strike magic again. I called Felz because I didn’t have any wire machine and all that stuff. We would sit down and write these hysterical sports shows that made fun of sports via the telephone. It was like nothing ever done before and it was a lot of fun. I would record them in my bedroom, alligator clip them and then send them down to the station. They would take the tape off the telephone and put it on the air. Pete Smith was another one of my mentors and very good friend. Pete was one of the guys who was there for me as I struggled to make my way into radio, He is a true friend. He was the actual billboard announcer for my program on KGRB. Believe me, he had much more important things to do; but he was there for me."
Paraquat has much praise for the role that Felz played in his career. “I always had a sick sense of humor but John was the guy that steered me towards the humorous side of reporting serious stuff like sports and whatever and just make fun of it. John deserves big time recognition.”
The transition from go-fer (delivery boy) at KMPC to the beginning of his journey at legendary KMET started at a Dodger game. In 1977, Pat was working free-lance at KMPC and it was at a Dodger playoff game that he had a fortuitous meeting with KMET news director, Ace Young. “KMPC sports director Fred Hessler sent me to the game with a tape recorder and told me to record the post-game press conference with Tommy Lasorda. He told me to not say anything and just leave the tape on his desk - that was my assignment.”
Pat and Ace hit it off right away and would carpool to Chavez Ravine and hang together on the way to a Dodger game. They shared a love for the youth culture, sports and radio. One day on the way to the stadium, Pat’s KGRB 5-minute show came on the radio and Ace heard Pat’s bizarre sports program for the first time. He loved it. Ace got an air check and played it for L. David Moorhead, gm at KMET, and Pat was hired as a part-time announcer to fill in on the afternoon news. They had tried to fill that spot a half dozen times and nothing seemed to work.
Tomorrow, Pat talks about his explosive first day on “the Mighty Met,” the California Jam concert, pd Sam Bellamy and her relationship with management that allowed KMET to reach new heights, being the last voice on KMET, and why KMET died and KLOS still flourishes. (Paraquat Kelley's email address: mrpk1@pacbell.net )
KMET: “We Were the Animals Running the Zoo”
– Pat “Paraquat” Kelley
(October 4, 2005) Pat “Paraquat” Kelley, best known for his years at the legendary KMET, ‘the Mighty Met,” was born into a broadcasting family. In part one of this series on Kelley; he chronicled the journey of his father, the original LA Rams announcer, Bob Kelley. Pat talked about the decision of going from supermarket lettuce trimmer to radio and how he got to KMET. In part two, the heady days at 94.7/fm.
“I remember my very first day on the air at KMET,” said Pat. “I did my thing. I was nervous, but I remember getting off the air, and going into the hallway where Howard Bloom, general sales manager and the entire staff was applauding and slapping hands – they thought it was great. You know, I thought it sucked but they thought it was good and that was the beginning of Paraquat on KMET.”
And how did the indelible trademark name Paraquat Kelley come about? For the first half-dozen months at the “Mighty Met,” he broadcast as Patrick Kelley. “I thought it was so cool,” said a proud Pat. When he started at KMET, the station was getting $60 for a one-minute spot that appeared in the news. “The way I used to do the news was like everybody did it - the top three stories and if you have time throw in the fourth. That’s how you did the news. I decided to flip it upside down - I started from the bottom up. I looked for the most bizarre and interesting stories there were and I’ve got to thank Ace Young for support. The FCC dictated that you had to have so much time dedicated to news or else you wouldn’t get your license renewed.”
What traditional stations called news and what KMET called news was not the same, but nevertheless, it was news. “News is something where you go, ‘wow, did you hear that?’ We decided to make the news a tune in feature rather than tune out. So we’d start off the news with something that was so bizarre you’d go, ‘What?’ How could you turn that off? My lead story might be about a guy that makes jewelry out of quail dung. Nobody was doing this kind of news in the seventies. If you were in your car, you’d have to stop, pull off the side of the road and listen to this guy. That’s how we did it.”
Pat broadcast three news reports daily - a noon cast and then two reports in afternoon drive, always starting with the bizarre stories and if there was time, he used whatever UPI said was the lead. One day Pat was reading a story about the Drug Enforcement Agency and how the agency had determined that a percentage of the marijuana confiscated at the US/Mexican border contained traces of paraquat and should it be smoked by an unsuspecting person, it could cause irreparable lung damage. Pat sounded incredulous when he read the story. “Well, I took that story and added to it – ‘what? Somebody smokes pot that listens to KMET?’ And the story caught fire.”
“We had Steven Bronell, who was an attorney from Normal, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, as a guest. I mean, we hammered that thing into the ground. And I’ll tell you what, the people responded like you wouldn’t believe."
Jim Ladd picked up on the story and was ranting. He told the people to call the White House to complain about the paraquat program, which resulted in the White House switchboard closing down.”
KMET seemed to be the right station at the right time. “You know, it wasn’t about my show or your show. It was about KMET, man. A total group effort.”
It was during this paraquat campaign that Pat got the name, Paraquat Kelley. “KLOS, our main competitor, couldn’t even do a story about paraquat without mentioning my name. It was a big issue back then, you know. Every time the competition would do a story on paraquat…it was like a promo for us!”
It didn’t take long before that $60 a minute commercial had turned to be the highest priced minute on radio in America. A spot in Paraquat’s newscast now went for $600. “How stupid was that?” Pat asked rhetorically. “To this day, I don’t regret it, we had a purity of purpose at KMET, we all believed in the one thing, we just, we cared about our listeners. Not many of us are millionaires that left KMET, but still, we really cared about the people and the listener. Robert W. Morgan, the original morning Boss Jock at 93/KHJ and one of the biggest names in the history of LA Radio, confessed to John Felz that he listened to KMET and couldn’t turn it off because it was one of the stations where you never knew what was going to happen and it was a great place to hang out. To be a part of that, it was pretty cool.”
Paraquat did the news for four or five years. "The money was great but truth be known, I would have paid the station for the privilege to work there - that’s how much fun it was. And that’s how I felt about my co-workers, Ladd, Jack Snyder, David Perry, Cynthia Fox, Ace, Jeff Gonzer, Mary Turner, Rick Lewis, the Beamer, Bob Coburn, Billy Juggs and everyone else.”
As Paraquat got nostalgic about his time at KMET, he remembered an incident about two weeks after he got hired part- time. “My hair was short and I hadn’t blossomed into the Charles Manson mode yet with a beard. KMET was going to do California Jam, which was a big rock concert starring Ted Nugent and Heart at Ontario Motor Speedway. All employees had to be there. The gm, L. David Moorhead, called a meeting of the staff. Behind his back the staff called the Aramis wearing gm, the Hound. The staff didn’t like him for some reason but that’s neither here nor there. He was decent to me and I never had any problems with anybody. He arrives at our mandatory meeting late with his cigarette holder. Everybody’s wearing sunglasses and looking down like we’re not paying attention while he laid out the rules. He talked about the importance of the California Jam, gave everybody radio code names and he says, ‘I don’t mind if you smoke pot around here but blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever, but if I catch anybody smoking pot on this three-day weekend, you’re out of here, okay?’ He got up and walked out.”
Paraquat did the last news before the big weekend concert Friday and they had a helicopter pick him up at Metromedia Square. “I’m not digging being up in a helicopter at all, but what the hell, I did it. And I did a traffic report the way they asked me to. Hound’s on the two-way radio, ‘Pat come in,’ like all this crazy AM radio stuff and I did some lame traffic report, got off and the Hound said that’s the best God damn traffic report and that’s the way we should sound all the time. I’m thinking, oh my God, you know, can’t I do anything wrong here? They land the helicopter backstage and it was a sea of humanity. I don’t know how people got there because the freeway had just stopped. People decided I’m not waiting to get to the off ramp so just left their cars and walked. It was a nightmare. I get backstage where they land the helicopter and now I’ve got to find the air staff in one of our three back stage motor homes.”
“I got to the first one, there’s nobody there, go to the second, it’s vacant. To get to the last motor home I’ve got to climb over a fence. I didn’t mind I’m just so happy to be working at a station like this where hundreds of thousands of people have shown up for this concert. I open the door and sitting at the wheel of this motor home is the Hound and he’s totally distraught like he’s lost his best friend. I ask, ‘hey David, where is everybody?’ Without turning his head he points to the back of the motor home. I opened the accordion doors and a cloud of smoke billowed out. The entire staff was sitting in that small room. So that basically told you everything you needed to know about KMET in a nutshell. You know, we were the animals running the zoo.”
Country KLAC shared facilities with sister station KMET. Was there a dope smoking environment at KMET? “Well, we had a place right off the studio. It was called the Paraquat Lounge, which was an air lock 8x8 room between the music library and the studio. The lighting reflecting from a purple light and the walls were graffiti laden. There was always something going on in there. Originally I think the room was built for a different kind of smoking. Who knows? Let’s just say things happened at KMET. The best way to put it is like this; if you heard a story that is like totally outrageous and bizarre about what may have happened at KMET, it’s probably true.”
Not only was the station a place where the on-air jocks congregated, but record artists would come by just to hang. “Jim Ladd is the hardest working person in radio. If you listen you know what kind of work he puts into his show. Here is a guy who could live on his reputation for the next three lives, but he doesn’t. When a concert ended around midnight, you’re totally tweaked; we would all go back to the station to be with Ladd. When you started your car in the concert parking lot and rolled down the window, all the radios are tuned to KMET. You could almost hear it without having the radio on driving all the way back to the station, that’s how great it was. When you walk into the station, he’s wearing his mirrored sunglasses. His on-air booth seemed so big. There was a big music wall behind him with double glass separating the visitor from the master. And the lights were always low. When you looked into the control room, it looked like you were looking into the soul of something.”
Was Jim the leader of the pack? “No, we all were just pretty much the blind leading the blind all the way, it was perfect. We all checked with one another. We all listened to the station 24/7 so the station always had momentum If you weren’t on the air, somebody would be monitoring it for you to tell you what went on that day at the station. How cool was that?”
How do you compare the radio wars with KLOS? “Well, KLOS sounded more corporate. I mean they were obviously as talented at KLOS as we were but they just didn’t have the rope.” Paraquat laughs. “We could do what we wanted as long as the general manager was entertaining clients, doing his ‘thing’ and having lunch with people. He wasn’t around much.”
In charge of the programming during much of the heyday at the “Mighty Met” was Sam Bellamy. “God bless her. She may have been the person in charge but that was the very first experience I ever had where a program director was not someone to hate or fear but was actually on your side totally. She would do anything she could for the people that worked for her and that made the difference at KMET. Sam would stand up to the sales department when the spots didn’t sound like KMET. She would say, ‘if you don’t like it, go put your spots somewhere else.’ She had complete control. When the gm objected to a particular song, she had it played more often. She would take the heat for us. She certainly deserves a great share of the praise because boy, she was there, she was there for us and God knows when she called a staff meeting, we all showed up out of respect for her. Management had nothing to do with the sound of KMET. It was all Sam Bellamy. In all modesty she would say she had nothing to do with the success giving credit to the on-air staff, but she created a synergy, which is why everybody worked for the good of the station. It was like a commune. It was fantastic. There was no threat. She never said she was more important than anyone else. Sam was probably the number one fan of the radio station and that’s your program director, how about that?”
Why did KMET end and KLOS still exists today? “Well, you know, that’s an interesting question. I think that KMET had a wonderful run. Things started getting a little funky with the ratings. I think we – some of us - bought into our own PR and we didn’t give it the Jim Ladd 100 percent try every time we were on the air. Some of us kind of started mailing it in. And I think that – in all truthfulness - KMET started off as the counterculture radio station and unfortunately for us, we became mainstream. We became everything that we were trying not to be and we didn’t do that on our own, we just became too popular. It became so big that other stations started cloning it and one day we were no longer the counterculture. KMET’s sound became the mainstream. There was a clone of us in San Diego and in San Francisco. There were KMET clones everywhere doing the whoo-yah’s. They even had a Paraquat Kelley in Boston.” (Pat Kelley's email address: mrpk1@pacbell.net )
Tomorrow, in part 3 of this series, Pat talks about the last days at the Mighty Met, how it ended and how he had a new beginning when he met the host of 2 on the Town, a woman who sits tall in the saddle.
Paraquat’s Chapter 3. This week we have been looking at the eclectic life of Pat “Paraquat” Kelley, best known in his professional life as being part of the legendary KMET. His father came to the Southland from Cleveland where Bob Kelley was general manager of the football Rams and later announcer for the NFL team and the California Angels. In today’s episode, Pat’s life unravels when KMET decides to call it quits and changes to KTWV, Smooth Jazz, and “the WAVE.”
As the impact of KMET seemed to diminish, management got frightened and they made a programming change. “That’s when they let the pd, Sam Bellamy, go and then they went through a myriad of people that just let it die a slow, unnatural death. It’s unfortunate. And then they sold it.”
Paraquat was there at the end. He was the last one on the air as a disc jockey or as a radio personality at KMET. “I played the last two songs. It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll and Bob Seger’s Beautiful Loser. I remember listening to that song because they called me up to the Sheraton Premiere to give me my last check. And I was the last one on the air. Howard Bloom wanted to give me the check. Cynthia Fox called that morning concerned something was up. I could see the writing on the wall. Howard was being very strange. Cynthia said they [management] wanted her to meet them at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel.”
Sensing that Paraquat would be the last voice on the legendary “Mighty Met,” he called the hotel and got hold of Howard Bloom. “I told him I knew it was over and I wanted to say good-bye. He tells me to not do something stupid but yes, I could say good-bye. So I said good-bye which was not an easy thing to do. But after I said my last few words, I played It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll and I had my engineer, Joe Delavine, play Beautiful Loser.”
Paraquat left the station without any personal good-byes and headed for the Universal City hotel. His music was still playing. “I was in the Cahuenga Pass when Beautiful Loser came on right about where the Hollywood Bowl is. I just cried – oh – it broke my heart. I knocked on their hotel room door a few seconds after the last song ended. They didn’t figure it would be me. They opened the door like they were planning to talk to somebody else and it was me. Frank Cody and Howard Bloom asked if they could get me something. I told them a six-pack of beer, a couple packs of Marlboros and make that right away. They gave me the final check. Cody appeared totally disinterested, like he had something better to do. He was aloof. Howard acted like Richard Nixon looked at the end of his presidency. You know what I’m saying? I had a wonderful friendship with Howard. He had to do what he had to do. He had a wife, he had a family, and he had to do what he had to do. And he’s not calling the shots. He could have said no, let’s keep KMET and let’s give it another try, but you know what, it was out of his hands? That moment was very touching, man. That moment broke my heart.”
With the demise of KMET, Jim Ladd was the most upset because just a few months before he’d finally talked Howard into bringing Jim back to KMET. “I lobbied so hard for Jim because there is nobody that works harder than he does. He’s not doing it for the bucks, the glory or whatever. He’s just truly committed. They did hire Jim back from KLOS where he had burned a bridge big time. He told KLOS to shove it up their ass, and then BOOM, two months later gets fired. And that was very painful for him. I believe he blamed Howard, and who could blame him? I think we were all betrayed in one way or another.” (Photo: a very young Mark Harmon and Pat Kelley)
Randy Thomas was on the last night before the format flip. She has since gone on to become a very successful voiceover talent, in fact, she was the first female announcer for the Academy Awards tv show.
The end of a radio era came in February 1987, with the passing out of pink slips and final checks at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel. The station would morph into KTWV, Smooth Jazz, as The WAVE. The ultimate irony was going from high profile personalities to an announcer-less format. It was a very personal day for Paraquat that would launch him into the next vignette in his life.
“It was a long drive from the Sheraton to our beach house in Malibu. My wife greeted me and asked ‘what I was going to do now?’ I said – using the old Roy Elwell line - after he was fired from KRLA – ‘I’m going to clean out my desk.’” Paraquat got a fair severance package that would last for awhile. He was doing tv commercial work and some production.
“I was okay but she, my first wife, couldn’t handle that, right?” Paraquat asked rhetorically. “So probably three, four months after the betrayal at KMET as it’s called, the ultimate betrayal came at home when my wife asked me to move out. I said excuse me? I think this is my house, maybe you should move out. She goes okay I will and she did.”
A 15-month marriage had come to an end. They met in a Robert (Charles) Conrad acting class. “In retrospect, the demise of my first marriage is probably the best thing to happen to me because I met the real true love of my life.”
Later in 1987, a producer friend asked Paraquat if he was interested in looking at a segment on the Beatles he’d just finished. Perhaps there was a trip to London for Pat. The producer invited Paraquat to CBS Center to view the footage that had been shot so far. “I was in an edit bay when Melody Rogers (photo), co-host of 2 on the Town, walked in. “Damn if she wasn’t bright and sunshiny.” Paraquat lights up as he talks about his wife-to-be.
“I remember exactly what Melody was wearing – a vest, a pair of blue jeans, some boots and like a blue work shirt. She was so pretty and she was so damn nice. She knew more about me than I knew about me. That was pretty impressive. After she left, I asked the producer for her phone number. He goes ‘Kelley, screw you. She’s like my sister, you’re like my brother, and there’s no way this is going to happen.’ I bugged him for about two, three weeks and he never gave me her number. One day I’m sitting on the beach with my shades on listening to music and I feel this presence hovering over me and I open up my eyes and it’s the guy from CBS and he goes ‘**** you, **** you Kelley’ and he throws me a wadded, crumpled up piece of paper, and hits me right in the chest with it. It’s her phone number. She had asked the producer to pass along her number.”
Their first date was at the Saddlepeak Lodge in Malibu. “It was great,” remembered Paraquat. “Then we went to a place called the Screaming Clam Discotheque, which used to be by the Sea Lion. I’d never been to the Screaming Clam in my life but I knew the guy that owned it, right? I was like the major of Malibu in those days. I could go to any bar any time and never pay for a drink. I told the owner that I would be back on Saturday night with Melody Rogers from 2 on the Town, and he better treat me royally and he did. Melody is looking around like wow and I had a fleet of parking lot attendants coming up and welcoming us with flowers and violins. Oh, it was great. I tell Melody I had never been there and they are tripping all over themselves. We had wine, got acquainted and then I drove her to her home in Nichols Canyon. Then I drove back to my place in Malibu. The next day she went to Turkey on assignment. So I’m stuck, I’m in love with a woman that’s on tv five nights a week – you know, next Monday Melody’s in Africa and I’m turning on tv watching her, thinking I should be with her right now. I was pining away like a little child. When she returned from overseas I took her to Nickodell’s for lunch. What a great time we had together. There is so much more to the story of our courtship but that would be a whole other segment. Trust me our being together was destiny.”
A year to the day they met, they were married at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. Last June they returned for dinner. Their 17th anniversary is coming up soon. Was it love at first sight for both of you? “I think it was love at first sight. Everything happens for a reason. First I was betrayed with this KMET thing and then my first wife leaves me, right? But I look back in retrospect and it was the greatest thing that ever happened.”
Paraquat has a new challenge. His body has betrayed him and has given him a new challenge. Tomorrow, the final chapter in this series.
Paraquat’s Life Challenge. Pat “Paraquat” Kelley was at the vortex of the spectacular success – ratings and revenues – during the 1970s and 80s at KMET (94.7/fm). In this 4-part series we have journeyed with Pat from his early home environment filled with characters from the world of Hollywood, radio and sports. He took us to the beginning and how he got his early jobs in radio to the ending of an incredible journey in the mid-1990s. His professional life made a dramatic turn when he met his wife-to-be, tv star Melody Rogers. They joined the world of real estate and have a very active and successful business.
And now another dramatic turn in his life. In early 2002 he was diagnosed with MS – Multiple Sclerosis. “It’s a ****ing blessing in disguise and that’s exactly how I look at it,” said a resolved Pat.
He said the divorce from his first wife, as traumatic and horrible as it was at that time, coupled with the demise of the Mighty Met were probably the two worst things that could happen to him. “It broke my heart, but now those two things turned out to be blessings. This MS is the same way. I mean, sometimes you take a horse turd and turn it into a diamond.”
Paraquat reflected on when he thought he experienced the first symptoms. He was an avid golfer and played practically every day for decades. In 1985 he was watching the pros play at Rivera Country Club when he noticed he was numb from his waist to his knees. Being very healthy he wrote off the temporary numbness to twisting something or pinching a nerve. In a few days it was gone.
From time to time Paraquat experienced similar symptoms with pains in his lower back. He wrote it off to something he must have done from years of golf. By late 2002, the pain was such that he gave up golf. During the holidays of that year, he had trouble walking from one party to another. He could barely make it down the street and it wasn’t from the holiday cheer.
Melody insisted that her husband go to a doctor. The doctor sends him to a neurologist and schedules him for an MRI. “I had no idea about the results, but I was happy it was over. That night we had dinner at Jim Ladd’s house. I could barely walk up the steps to his house.”
After waiting a couple of days over a weekend, the neurologist calls Pat. “Matter-of-factly he said the tests came back and tells me that it is MS. It was like he totally brushed over it. I asked him if it would shorten my life. He said absolutely not and that it was totally treatable. I asked him what he thought I had. He goes ‘my God, you do not know, you do not want to know what I thought you had.’ Later he confessed he thought I had ALS or an inoperable malignant brain tumor. He thought I was dead. When I walked out of the office he said he pounded his fist on his desk saying, damn, damn, damn because he thought I was cooked. So I had good news, it was just MS.” (Photo: Pat, Melody, LaVonne and Bob Kelley Jr, from a cruise)
Pat called Melody with the diagnosis and she was very encouraging. “This is just another hurdle and we’ll do it together,” she said lovingly.
Paraquat has dealt with MS in an incredibly positive fashion. “I have no anger and I have no regrets about my life. I’m a happy man. I’m just happy to be what I am and if this is it, this is it but it’s only going to get better. Since I’ve been diagnosed it hasn’t gotten worse, it may have gotten a little bit better and I’m doing everything I can to make it even better than that.”
He believes a positive outlook will affect the outcome. “There’s an old saying, ‘your attitude determines your altitude.’ And I’m up there, man, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
Paraquat had been reluctant to go public with his MS. “I didn’t want to be the object of anybody’s sympathy. I felt like I was the invincible - untouchable - and that’s the way I lived my whole life. If I could count the number of times when I should have been dead for just being the fool, drinking, driving my motorcycles, or skiing, I should be dead a hundred times over. Okay. I proved pretty much to myself that I’m immortal and now this. But you know what? This hasn’t really changed my feeling about life at all. When you start feeling sorry for yourself; take a walk down the halls of Children’s Hospital. I am a very lucky person.”
Pat acknowledged that not much is known about MS but he believes he may become the beacon of hope for other people. “I am writing a book at the direction of someone else who has been visited by MS. In 1984, this woman, Judith Parker Harris, was blind and paralyzed. Today she is symptom free. I know another person, Mr. Eric Small, diagnosed in 1950 who went to India in a wheelchair. Today in his 70’s, you’d never know there was anything wrong with him. Both these people have used their experiences to help others. I intend to do the same thing. I’m documenting this journey. I want to demonstrate to others the power of the human spirit and what you can create using your mind. I believe when this book I am writing about this journey is finished, I will be healed. The book will be a wonderful beacon of hope for anybody else that has anything.”
Part of Paraquat’s desire to go public with MS is to rid himself of any negative thoughts he may have been holding onto allowing his body to repel the disease with positive thoughts and energy.
“Deepak Chopra declares that you are the essence of chemical reactions and when something impacts you adversely, mentally, it has an affect on the cells controlling your whole body,” stated Pat. “I’m going to be living proof that this concert works!”
Did you ever smoke dope? “I wouldn’t say I’ve never smoked dope but you know what? I am not a pot smoker and I never was. I may have smoked pot once or twice when I was at KMET. It just wasn’t my thing you know.” Pat paused to allow the statement to sink in. “Now the heroin is something else,” he laughs. “No, I’m just joking.”
Many people would rush to a support group regarding the MS, but not Paraquat. “I don’t want to sit around and listen to other people complain about their lot in life. Somebody filmed a documentary about people with MS and he asked me to narrate it. I said I’d be happy to. Then I saw the first three minutes of the damn thing and I just turned it off. I said you know what? This isn’t for me. It appeared to me to have been presented from the victim’s standpoint. I’m not a victim. You know what? There are no problems – only solutions. Didn’t John Lennon say that? There are no problems, only solutions. Well, that’s the truth! Look at me and my life. I have so much more than any one person could ask for. I’m not a victim. I’m a lucky person.”
A number of personalities have MS and are leading active lives - Montel Williams, Teri Garr, and Neil Cavuto. Pat’s doctors aren’t sure what causes MS so they can’t tell him if it was anything that he did to himself. “I will turn it around totally. I will be back 100 percent, and then people can come to me and I’ll just give them the formula or the book.”
Does Pat have a highlight to his ubiquitous life and career? “The highlight of my life is my wife, Melody. She has been instrumental in making me better at what I am. I call her my ‘primary angel of life.’ We should all be so lucky. If everyone had a Melody in their life, there would be World Peace.”
“I think other highlights in my life were born out of necessity. For example; when I was struck by lightning that one day at Safeway and I wanted to be in radio, that’s when I just put it in my mind. I set out on a mind course to not only be in radio, but that I was going to be a success and be huge. Radio ended, Melody and I have been very fortunate to have been successful in two fields- broadcasting and real estate.”
In 1996, Pat and Melody returned from back East where they were living in Benny Goodman’s old house in Connecticut. Pat knew his radio journey had come to an end. “We really loved living in Connecticut. It was a fantastic house. Melody loved it. We flew her 1,300 pound horse back via Fed Ex to be with us. We had a great time back there but when we moved back I just had my fill of radio. The business had changed to the point where it wasn’t what I wanted to deal with anymore.”
Pat’s brother Rob used to be a builder up in Central California where he was a contractor. “I remember my mom calling to say that Rob had passed his real estate exam and he started doing very well. So I said to Melody that we should do that. At that moment it was like the bolt of lightning in that Safeway store that led me to radio and I envisioned the day when we would be at some brokerage in Beverly Hills and we would be selling multimillion dollar houses in the hills. You know what? It happened. All of our success came because we worked hard at what we did.”
When Jim Ladd was presented with his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the night before there was a roast for Jim at the Laugh Factory. When Pat took the stage to deliver some hilarious stories, it was the first time that many of his colleagues saw him with a cane and needing a little bit of assistance to get up the steps to the stage. When he got to the podium, the audience was hushed. Holding the cane overhead Paraquat proclaimed, “At least the drugs didn’t hurt me.” The silence was broken and the crowd laughed and cheered. “I’ve come to the conclusion that you eventually become everything you made fun of growing up.” (Photo: Pat at Laugh Factory Ladd roast)
When asked to comment on the state of radio as he sees it today Pat became reflective. “To me it’s a different business. Hopefully it will continue to flourish. Any favorites? “By far and away, Jim Ladd is the best thing on the radio in this city. He works hard at the craft and it shows.”
“I like Don Imus. He never bought into the bullshit nor did Jim Ladd and those two guys have one thing in common that I admire - they work at their craft. You listen to Imus and it may sound like it’s just off the cuff nonsense but believe me, man, I would hate to wonder how much preparation goes into that show. That guy works his butt off. To me in radio, Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern probably make more money, but I have nothing but the utmost respect for Jim and Don. I don’t even know who number three is. Oh, number three might have been Jonathan Brandmeier. I listened to his show on ‘Arrow’ and I thought there’s another guy that does a well prepared show and look what that got him. I hope I haven’t cursed Jim and Don, you know what I mean?”
“The station in town that stands out for me anyway is KZLA,” continued Pat’s radio observations. “That station is programmed to perfection; it’s a hard one to turn off. The music reminds me of the rock and roll of the late 70s and early 80s. Above and beyond the music, the personalities and how they present the station is awesome, very cool. It reminds me of KMET and the camaraderie we all had. Very cool.”
“Jim Ladd is probably my best friend from the radio years. He’s just a good guy and ever since my diagnosis, he’s been there for Melody and me. Jim and Steve Edwards – talk about being there. When the ‘shit hit the fan’ so to speak with the MS diagnosis, Melody called her good friend Steve Edwards and asked for some advice. One of the drawbacks of MS is the treatment is very expensive. My AFTRA insurance had expired and we were somewhat concerned. Steve asked Melody, ‘Can he still talk?’
‘Unfortunately yes,’ quipped Melody. Steve said we’re looking for someone to do the promos for our national television show Good Day Live. I did the promos for that show for over 6 months. Pretty good, huh? Not only did I qualify for the insurance, I got to do something that was new and really enjoyable. Steve is a true friend.”
“So after all is said and done, I hope I’ve demonstrated in this interview the ‘good things’ that come to you after ‘bad news.’ I am a lucky person. Melody and I are happy and otherwise healthy, have great friends, a growing business and the future is bright. Don, if you ever hear me complain about anything - shoot me! I am blessed.”
You can reach Paraquat at: mrpk1@pacbell.net

SoCalHD
08-17-2006, 09:26 PM
"My god, that's Moose-Turd Pie!! Its good though........."

lewiville
08-17-2006, 09:54 PM
Paraquat Kelly in the '70s.
http://www.petehandelman.com/images/paraquat.JPG
Mary "Mounds" Turner was always my favorite. Back in the early '70s a few friends and I went to KMET studio and met her as she was getting off work. (This was before I would have been arrested as a stalker) Back then she was down to earth, and pretty wild.
She ended up marrying into money. She's now Mary Pattiz. Her husband is a Norman Pattiz, big time radio mogul and founder/president of Westwood One, the biggest radio network in the country. She's the blonde on the far right in the picture below.
http://www.musiccenter.org/images/060302.jpg
which one is Alan a.k.a. Boat Cop?