Radio’s Summer of Love: flowers on the air
OK, it’s my turn at this whole Summer of Love 50th anniversary thing. From the radio angle, of course.
And why not? I was there and on the air. Well, I was pulling overnights on KFOG, then pumping out “beautiful music.” But by day, my friends and I were digging free-form radio on KMPX, where the music and the rap also were beautiful, but in different ways.
One of its DJs, Edward Bear, sent out an email on April 7, noting, “It was 50 years ago today that KMPX, San Francisco, began broadcasting its free-form approach to music and radio that instigated what was at least a decade of high-flying, hugely successful radio. The music of that time was phenomenal, spirits were very high, and the results created profound changes in the medium and unforgettable experiences for listeners and practitioners alike.”
Like the Summer of Love itself, this edition of KMPX did not last. The DJ staff assembled by Top 40 escapee Tom Donahue left in March, 1968, upset by low pay and management interference. (Some things never change.) It was, as The Chronicle headlined, “The First Hippie Labor Strike.”
Donahue and friends crossed town to create the “Jive 95” version of KSAN, which quickly became a top-rated station (and soon will be the subject of a documentary). One of its brightest lights was Wes “Scoop” Nisker, who created clever, comic audio collages to comment on the news. He recently appeared on KPFA, with Bonnie Simmons and Kris Welch, reeling off his “rant on the Summer of Love.” (This is an edited version; for the full scoop, go to www. ScoopNisker.com and look for “The Summer of Love Forever.”)
He began: Far out, Jive-heads! Are you hip yet? If not, just put some flowers in your hair … and some flowers in your pipe … and suddenly we are in San Francisco … And now you’re heading toward the park to see what’s happening, and you’re groovin’ on the scene, when suddenly a Volkswagen bus full of laughing hippies drives by with ‘Sergeant Pepper’ blasting away on the radio … and suddenly you can’t decide whether to spend the day trying to save the world, or just savor the world, and so you have another toke.
It all began, Nisker said, with the Beat scene, which “sounded so exotic that I decided to come to San Francisco to become a Beatnik. But it was already 1967 and I was too late to make the scene, man. So, I got assigned to the hippies instead.” He continues: I was one of those flower children, walking around in tie-dye and sporting a wild looking JewFro, making my mother crazy. I was one of those who spent a lot of my time experimenting with my consciousness. … And I was part of a vast conspiracy of young people who, at least for a few years refused to join the “straights,” and their consumer economy, known to us as “the system.” We rejected the oldworld mentality of our parents. … We sought a new consciousness, one that could celebrate life and sexuality, and tune in to nature … and embrace the world as one.
OK, so maybe we were a little naïve. … But we were trying to create a better world, and trying to stop our government from conducting a criminal, horrific war. … But at heart, hippies weren’t very political. We had no analysis or five-year plan. Instead, our revolution was expressed in gatherings known as “be-in’s,” communal celebrations of just “being.”
… Yes, it was a spiritual revolution. And if the hippies have a legacy, it’s in the yoga and meditation centers in every town in America. And it’s also in the environmental movement that got its start in the late ’60s.
… The hippies were right, Jive heads! It is time to re-create community, and celebrate existence and make a whole new world — remember? — full of peace, love and good vibes. …We sure could use a Summer of Love in America, and in San Francisco. Right now. So go ahead — turn off that isolating computer with its Big Brother brain … And then, even if it’s just for a few hours, banish your sorrow over what is happening to the world. Let go of the fear and greed, and have yourself a “be-in.” Celebrate another Summer of Love.
This is Scoop Nisker, reminding you to stay high but keep your priorities straight, and as always, if you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.
Thanks, Scoop. As Bear noted, free-form radio — in San Francisco, in New York, in New Jersey — was impactful. Top 40 took note and loosened up, adding occasional album cuts to their playlists of hit singles; long-forgotten stations on the FM frequency were reawakened to emulate KMPX and its fellow pioneers. But, too soon, the corporations took over, imposed playlists, and free-form became just another format with nothing left to lose. Vestiges still can be found, but you have to look: for noncommercial, public and college stations; online, and via Sirius/XM channels — especially “Deep Tracks” and (my fave) “The Loft.”
Fab Fourth: At the Northern California Emmys awards show at SFJazz Center this month, the only radio person I know who won a trophy was Roberta Gonzales, who appears on KCBS as well as on KPIX-TV. Oh, yes: I got one, too — my fourth — as co-anchor of the Chinese New Year Parade telecast on KTVU, along with co-host Julie Haener, producer Jim Haman and our parade posse. The Chronicle won two Emmys, for “Last Men Standing,” its moving documentary about AIDS survivors, and “The Regulars,” a weekly series of Bay Area profiles. Both productions are available to subscribers at SFChronicle.com. Congrats to us all.