Freeform Radio's Podcast

Lee "Baby" Simms for a return engagement at KCBQ-AM, San Diego, November 1970.

"... and there you sit. What are you gonna talk about when you get old? Huh? I mean, what kind of memories are you gonna have? I suggest you get out there and get some of it for yourself!"

Complete aircheck inter-spliced with recollections from Lee (recorded in 2011) and music from the time, unedited. Quality: Good; Length: 0:48:14

Photo: Malcolm and Yanna at Malc's sister's wedding, August 1971.

LEE BABY SIMMS at WJBK-AM, Summer 1969

Actual aircheck excerpts, plus some commentary from Lee (recorded in 2011), along with full length music of the time.

Elapsed Time: o:30:09

Image: Lee at KCBQ-AM, San Diego, 1969

MALC2011-4_LBS69

A THIRD TRIBUTE TO LEE "BABY" SIMMS, KCBQ-AM, January 1969

PLAYLIST:

-- LaMar Simms: Into: "The '60s was a great time to be a rock 'n roll DJ..."
-- The Rascals (formerly The Young Rascals): "Ray of Hope"

-- Lee Baby Simms at KCBQ-AM, January 1969 (part 1)
-- LaMar Simms retrospective, March 2010

-- Lee Baby Simms at KCBQ-AM, "Non-Stoppable Hits!" (part 2)
-- Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions: "This Is My Country!"

-- Lee Baby Simms at KCBQ-AM, January 1969 (part 3)
-- LaMar Simms retrospective, March 2010

-- Lee Baby Simms at KCBQ-AM, January 1969 (part 4)
-- Foundations: "Build Me Up Buttercup"

COMMENTS:

Never in my wildest dreams or imaginings did I ever think that some day I would be working with the guy who inspired me to get into radio -- where I spent the better part of a quarter of a century, off and on (mostly off!). But, that indeed is what has transpired, and every week I am excited about it!

This is one of my favorite airchecks of Lee Baby's. It demonstrates what he could do on the phones and how to pump you up, in general. This one is special, too, because he went out of his way to give some of his friends a hard time about their partying.

I remember listening to Lee Baby at this time, too, as I once considered going to San Diego Community Council and visited the city on break between semesters in South Texas, January 1969, after nearly a month traveling solo in Mexico...

-- IMAGE: Malc passport photo, gettin' ready for Mexico!

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:16:13 - QUALITY: Excellent

MALC2011-3_LBS68

A SECOND TRIBUTE TO LEE "BABY" SIMMS, WKYC-AM, Summer 1968

PLAYLIST:

-- LaMar Simms: Into: "In A Land Far, Far Away..."
-- Mama Cass Elliott: "Make Your Own Kind Of Music"

-- LEE BABY SIMMS Aircheck from WKYC-AM, Cleveland, Ohio, Summer 1968

-- Strawberry Alarm Clock: "Incense and Peppermints"

-- Lee Bay Reprize: "Steppenwolf"
-- Steppenwolf: "Born To Be Wild"

COMMENTS:

You just DIDN'T play a song twice on radio back in the 1960s. Earlier in the decade, there had been scandals involving "payola" and "plugola" where DJ's got kick-backs for hyping certain songs and playing them more often than would otherwise be warranted. The scandal caused Alan Freed to take his life and others to pay fines. To play a song twice, back-to-back, like Lee did out in the open like that, was BRAZEN.

The thing that attracted me to his style and why he inspired me into getting into radio, was his ability to project his personality through the medium and get people excited -- including me. You got HIGH listening to Lee Baby!

It turns out that when I actually got going in radio, I took a far different turn, down-playing my personality and not projecting. Projecting and being entertaining was hard work! One thing I especially admired Lee in
was his ability to take listener calls and have total fun with them. I quickly found out that, unless you had an engineer, it was virtually impossible to air listener calls and do an adequate radio show.

Here's Lee in the spotlight, at a 50,000 Watt AM'er out of Cincinatti, broadcasting to three million people...

-- IMAGE: Lee Baby at WPOP-AM, 1966

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:14:32 - QUALITY: Excellent

MALC2011-2_LBS67

A TRIBUTE TO THE CAT WHO INSPIRED ME TO DO RADIO: LEE "BABY" SIMMS

PLAYLIST:

-- MALC Intro
-- Terry Knight and The Pack: "Mr., You're A Better Man Than I"
-- The Yardbirds: "Mr., You're A Better Man Than I"

-- LaMar Simms: Into to WPOP (voicemail, 3/2011)
-- LEE BABY SIMMS Aircheck from WPOP-AM, Hartford, Connecticut, circa 1966-67

-- Terry Knight and The Pack: "I, Who Have Nothing"
-- LaMar Simms: Outro
-- Terry Knight and The Pack: "I, Who Have Nothing" (reprise)
-- Ben E. King: "I Who Have Nothing" (original)
-- Righteous Brothers: "I Who Have Nothing"

NOTES: From: http://www.wdrcobg.com/wpop_s.html

"Gilmore LaMar Simms was one of Connecticut's most colorful - and controversial - disc jockeys. A veteran of WTMA and WONO in Charleston, WLOF Orlando, and a station in Phoenix, Simms arrived in Hartford fresh from a legal skirmish in San Antonio.

"He and WPOP's Woody Roberts worked at KONO and both resigned to go to cross-town rival KTSA in April, 1966. KONO went to court and got an injunction to keep them off the air within 50 miles for 18 months. Woody settled into morning drive at WPOP and he installed Lee to replace Ken Griffin (who had just jumped ship to WDRC) from 7:00PM-midnight.

"After reading a pimple cream commercial during his first show, Lee unleashed a tirade of angry calls when he described how terrible it is to get close to your girl only to have a zit pop. A Hartford Courant article a month after Simms hit town described him as "the crazy new WPOP disc jockey who doesn't like anything (including Hartford)."

"A Hartford Times article on January 13, 1967 quoted Lee's feelings about Hartford:

"'He dislikes it 'intensely.' He thinks the kids 'dress like slobs.' He says the people are 'impolite.' On the air he contends, 'I'm rude and crude and impolite because you are....'".

"Lee was the first to call downtown Hartford's new Constitution Plaza Constipation Plaza. He was arrested for telling his listeners to go there and have a snowball fight. Simms was famous for breaking the music format, going off on lengthy tirades.

"When he left WPOP in 1967 he went right back to KTSA in San Antonio, later returning to KONO. His career path took on a Rand McNally quality with stops (some brief) at WKYC and WGCL Cleveland; KCBQ San Diego; WJBK Detroit; back to KCBQ; KRLA Pasadena; KROQ Los Angeles; WMYQ and WLVE Miami; KMET Los Angeles; back to KRLA as Matthew Frail; KPRQ Santa Rosa; KFOG San Francisco; KDUK and KORL Honolulu; KYA FM San Francisco; KOOL Phoenix; KISQ San Francisco and a simultaneous run on WUBT Chicago via syndication.

"Lee briefly returned to WPOP in January, 1968 to host 6:00-9:00PM. Point of Hartford radio trivia...Lee's last on-air appearance in Hartford was during the kickoff of WRCQ AM's oldies format on September 21, 1974."

-- IMAGE: Lee Baby at WPOP-AM, with fellow Boss Jocks, 1966

-- LINKS: http://www.wdrcobg.com/wpop_s.html - http://www.hartfordradiohistory.com/WPOP__WNBC_.html

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:17:25 - QUALITY: Excellent

MALC2011-1_MP

TRIBUTE TO: THE MONTERREY POP FESTIVAL of 1967

Ever since getting into radio in Spring 1968, I've wanted to do this. At last, I have done it. I hope to hell you enjoy it!

Artists:

Eric Burdon and The Animals: "Monterrey"
The Byrds: "Eight Miles High" (live)
The Great Society: "Somebody to Love" (with Grace Slick)
Love: "7 and 7 Is"
Jefferson Airplane: "Today" (from Monterrey Pop)
Jefferson Airplane: "Coming Back To Me"
Hendrix: "Fire!"

-- IMAGE: MALC on the night of Das' Primary win, June 2010

-- VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_fnyxHZOQ4

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:28:11 - QUALITY: Excellent - So happy I was finally able to do this, after 40+ years of wanting to do it... Monterrey Pop was the lead-in to "The Summer of Love"... a truly beautiful time.

WOR-FM TRIBUTE #2 >>>>

MALC Intro: "Freeform Radio Dot Org..."

-- WOR-FM Aircheck: Scott Muni, 1967

-- MALC Info: "... recalling WOR-FM..."
-- The Four Tops: "Bernadette"
-- WOR-FM Aircheck: Scott Muni, 1967

-- MALC Mid-Tro: how to get more info about WOR-FM
-- WOR-FM Aircheck

-- MALC OUttro: "... and thank YOU for riding along with Malcolm. Adios, Compadres!"
-- The Fifth Dimension: "Another Day, Another Heartache"

-- IMAGE: Malc's high school yearbook photo, taken Fall 1966.

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:13:33 - QUALITY: Very Good - Fantastic trip in time.

WOR-FM TRIBUTE #1 >>>>

MALC Intro: "... recalling summer 1966 and the very first commercial freeform radio station..."

-- The Throggs: "Wild Thing"
-- WOR-FM Aircheck: Scott Muni, Johnny Michaels, summer 1966

-- MALC Midtro
-- The Grass Roots: "Live For Today"
-- MALC OUttro: "... Adios, Compadres!"

-- IMAGE: Malc, Summer 2006

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:36:55 - QUALITY: Very Good - Fantastic trip in time.

TRIBUTE TO KFML (and KMPX) #2 >>>>

MALC Intro: "Freeform Radio Dot Org... Recalling the year 1972 and KFML... the High Country."

-- The Moody Blues: "Om"
-- MALC Podcast Info: "... the demise of KMPX."
-- KFML News: "KMPX Obituary" (Ed Chatham, produced by Thom Trunnell)

-- IMAGE: KMPX Poster, 1967

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:17:31 - QUALITY: Very Good - My second podcast, a tribute to both KFML (where I worked in Spring 1972) and KMPX, where commercial FM freeform began in 1967.

TRIBUTE TO KFML #1 >>>>

MALC Intro: "Freeform Radio Dot Org..."

-- Freddie King: "Going Down"
-- KFML Newscast: "Police Bust" (1972)
-- Jackson Browne: "These Days"
-- Nico: "These Days"

-- KUNM ID: "Hello, Mr. DJ" (1972)
-- Gregg Allman: "These Days"
-- KFML Newcast: (reprise) "And this IS the news... From KFML Radio." (Ed Chatham)

-- IMAGE: KFML Stationary Logo, 1972.

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:21:21 - QUALITY: Very Good - It is said that "Once a Radio Man, Always a Radio Man." In 2005, thirteen years after I left radio, I experimented with podcasting. This first one was a tribute to KFML AM & FM, where I worked in freeform radio in Spring 1972. It contains the classic newscast by Ed Chatham and Jim Clancy that I simply have entitled "Pot Bust."

Adios, Land of Enchantment >>>>

Tierra: "Together"
-- Malo: "Cafe"
-- MALC back announce
-- KUNM Promo: "Radio Theatre Hour"

-- Beach Boys: "Surfer Girl"
-- Duane Eddy: "Because They're Young"
-- The Cleftones: "Heart And soul"
-- _____________: "Over The Mountains, Across The Sea"
-- _____________: "Ring of Fire"
-- _____________: "There Goes My Baby"
-- MALC back announce and lead-in into "Dog City Rock"
-- NPR Promo: "All Things Considered"

-- MALC ID: "You're listening with Malcolm..."
-- War: "The World Is A Ghetto"
-- ____________: "I'm In Love"
-- Isaac Hayes: "Walk On By" (most all of it)

-- IMAGE: Chaco Canyon, New Mexico ("La Flore," Rick Flores in center)

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:46:59 - QUALITY: Good - "La Flore" was my neighbor and helped keep my residence location a secret. This was, unfortunately necessary for security reasons... This is the last KUNM aircheck that I have, that I know of. I would go on to leave the station four months later, when my contract ended. It was also the end of my radio career. I would transition into computer work and that's what I'm still doing to present day.

Sittin' in for Mr. Hot Lix >>>>

James Brown: "Night Train" (partial)
-- Charlie Z signout ("Mr. Hot Lix")

-- ______________ : "Try A Little Tenderness"
-- The Platters : "The Great Pretender"
-- Lavern Baker: "I Cried A Tear"
-- El Chicano : "Sabor A Mi"
-- War: "City, Country, City"
-- MALC back announce
-- KUNM Promo: "Spirits of The Present"

-- Wolfman Jack intro: "When You Love, You Live..."
-- Danleers: "One Summer Night"
-- Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells: "Down This Aisle"
-- Terry Stafford: "Suspicion"
-- ______________ : "60 Minute Man"
-- ______________ : "This Time"
-- Ritchie Valens: "Donna"

-- IMAGE: MALC ontop of Onate Hall, must to the frustration of my loyal opposition who were trying their best to get a picture of me with a beer in hand! Ah, the good ole days? KUNM Alumni Reunion, 1991.

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:47:28 - QUALITY: Good - filling in for Charlie, this night, I did "Oldies But Goodies," like he did. Played some of my most favorite 1950s/early 1960s tunes.

JIMMY JET and MALC #1 >>>>

Quarter Mass: "Extreme Heavy-osity" (partial)
-- KUNM ID: Jimmy Jet (Alumnus) and Malcolm, "The World's Most Hated General Manager..."
-- Quarter Mass: "Extreme Heavy-osity"
-- Beach Boys: "This and That"
-- Jimmy Jet and MALC back announce - "running all the dogs out of Dog City Rock"

-- KUNM 25th Anniversary "Sounds of The Past": May 1970 University of New Mexico National Guard
-- Fleetwood Mac: "Hypnotized"

-- Jimmy Jet and MALC announce - "super set" for La Flore (Rick Flores)
-- Santana: "Incident At Neshabur"
-- MALC: "For Josie and Irene"
-- Malo: "Suavacito" (live)
-- Freddy Fender: "He'll Have To Go"
-- Ry Cooder: "Stoned Faces Don't Lie"
-- Malo: "Cafe"

-- MALC transition
-- Santana: "Flame Sky" (parial)

-- IMAGE: Keiko, Das, Senyo circa 1991.

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:47:22 - QUALITY: Good - The opposition to me within KUNM-FM had grown substantially by the beginning of 1992, in large part because I kept to "The KUNM Plan 2000" and supported our integration of "The World Cafe" (a program that still runs on NPR, today). It was a great fit for our station and would have elevated us in national eyes. But, a hard core group of local programmers did not want to subserviate local programming in favor of national, despite the fact their shows would also have some limited exposure to national audiences. It was one of those things that just didn't make sense to me. It was all so provincial as to be ridiculous. When they started to bring out the voodoo dolls and stick pins in likenesses of me (and BELIEVED it would work), I knew my days at the station were coming to an end. I'd kid about it on the air, even, to try to lighten the mood, and found some support amongst alumni like James Wellborn (Jimmy Jet).

MAYBE WE CAN GO BACK TO YESTERDAY >>>>

_____________ (disco from show preceeding Dog City Rock)
-- KUMN Underwriter: Premier Distributing Company (Frank Contreras)

-- KUMN Promo: "Dog City Rock" Intro
-- Hourglass: "Changing of The Guard"
-- Hourglass: "Down In Texas"
-- MALC back announce and follow-up on "Charlie Z" and his "Outta Joint at The Joint" special program
-- KUNM Promo: "Drugs and Thugs"

-- Allman Brothers: "Maybe We Can Go Back to Yesterday"
-- Allman Brothers: "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" (partial)

-- IMAGE: MALC playing beer bottle, along with Go-Go Govella, at Jackie's house in Port Aransas, Texas, circa 1990.

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:31:29 - QUALITY: Good - "0720-2" is actually first in the series, this night, and "0720-1" second... "Maybe We Can Go Back To Yesterday" was kinda my theme song at the time, although I knew for sure, that wasn't really possible... The problem with KUNM, in essence, was the same problem that exists at every public radio station that keeps itself open to community participation. People get to thinking they OWN the airtime and there shouldn't be any changes to the broadcast schedule, especially when their or their friends' time slots were involved... I spent my first year developing a "KUNM Plan 2000" that would take us through the decade in a unified/agreed-upon way. Everybody had input into it and helped write it and, finally, signed off on it... Then, next day, quickly forgot about it.

DOG CITY ROCK >>>>

Allman Brothers: "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" (partial)
-- MALC back announce
-- KUNM promo: "Global Tribal Music" (probably KUNM's best show) [Malc steps on it]
-- MALC rap

-- New Riders of The Purple Sage: "All I Ever Wanted"
-- Chip Taylor: "Son Of A Rotten Gambler"
-- Ozark Mountain Daredevils: "Couldn't Be Better"
-- Lynyrd Skynyrd: "Simple Man" (live)
-- MALC back announce - "... hangin' here for Renzo..."
-- MALC runs down the broadcast schedule

-- KUNM underwriter: Premier Distributing Company (Frank Contreras)
-- Lynyrd Skynyrd: "Lend A Helpin' Hand" (most all of it)

-- IMAGE: Keiko, looking good, just before we hit the highway for Port Aransas...

-- NOTES: LENGTH: 0:31:29 - QUALITY: Fair - The unofficial name for Albuquerque is "Dog City" for reasons you can surmise... "Lend A Helping Hand" is one of my favorite Skynyrd tunes... At this point, I could see further trouble brewing at KUNM, but I wasn't going to let it take me away from having fun tripping around New Mexico and making runs down to my "other" hometown of Port Aransas, South Texas.

Next Page