00:00Jed the Fish. Gould dies. Influential KROQ DJ for 34 years. Was 69 Jed the Fish.
00:08Gould, the influential Los Angeles radio DJ who lorded over KROQ FM's drive time slot for 34 years,
00:15died Monday of lung cancer at his home. He was 69. The news was announced on his Instagram page
00:21and social media. The world lost one of its most unique and brilliant personalities.
00:26The IG post reads in part, the world will never be the same.
00:33Born Edwin Jed Fish Gould III on July 15, 1955, he joined the Pasadena-based KROQ in 1978 as its
00:41musical director, while punk rock and new wave were gaining momentum. He moved to the Night Shift in
00:471979 and was a big part of the station's ROQ of the 80s push early in that decade. He moved to San
00:54Francisco in 1985 to join KQAK FM for three months before doing a brief weekend stint at Bay Area
01:00rival station KRQR before returning to KROQ and taking over the afternoon drive slot.
01:06During his tenure, KROQ went from also-ran E to influencer and leader in the busy LA rock radio
01:12market. He and the station embraced the changing rock landscape, while rivals including KMET,
01:17KALOS and KWST were playing what later in the decade would be labeled classic rock and
01:22heavy metal KROQ focused on the burgeoning modern rock scene. Its ROQ of the 80s format also spread,
01:29first in California at 91X San Diego and KQAK The Quake in San Francisco.
01:35As the outlet listener base and cultural impact grew, Jed the Fish led the way. Funny, often snarky,
01:42and always listenable. He spun tracks from the likes of The Smiths and Depeche Mode, cementing
01:47those bands in particular as Los Angeles favorites before many other markets caught on. Those two in
01:52particular remain wildly popular in the City of Angels. One memorable moment came in 1994,
02:00as Green Day's breakout album Dookie was dominating the airwaves and charts. As the band's ubiquitous hit
02:05Basket Case began with, the lyric, Do you have the time to listen to me whine? Gould used the
02:11scratching vinyl sound effect, cut the record off, yelled, No, and moved on to the next song.
02:19The station's popularity and influence continued to expand during the 80s,
02:23and KROQ was bought by Infinity Broadcasting for a record $45 million in 1986.
02:28During the era, it also launched the careers of many other personalities, including Rodney
02:35Bingenheimer, whose Sunday night fixture Rodney on the ROQ was a sought-after spin for alternative
02:40bands. Dr. Drew Pinsky, Jim Porman Trenton, and later Adam Carolla and Kevin Ryder, and
02:48Gene Bean Baxter, aka Kevin and Bean Dot Rolling. Stone readers named KROQ as Radio Station of the Year
02:55in 1992 and 1993. Gould's 1989 arrest on heroin charges made headlines, and he went into recovery
03:02treatment. He and ex-KROQ jocks Chuck Randall and April Whitney created a two-hour radio,
03:09a show called Clean and Crazy. We wanted to remind people that you can still have fun and be creative,
03:14and be clean.
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