KPRI106.5 A ROCK 'N' ROLL TIMELINE
Andy Melamed, KPRI copywriter
Part the First, in which our intrepid observer of the human condition repairs a bruised heart and discovers the mysterious world of "underground" music. I remember tons of stuff.. About those golden days of yesteryear. And it was where I had my first dabblings in writing for an actual audience of listeners that would want to respond to a message.. THE NESBITTS COMMERCIALS WITH GUNTHER BLUE are what I remember most about my work at kpri..it is also what got me fired by larry shushan.. I also remember the many after hour gatherings to listen to new music albums released..and since this is memorial weekend, I have to tell you your laugh and gleaming eyes in the midst of complete catatonic states by all of us back then will always come to mind.. It was a time that I was running from my future .. And trying to get stuck in a moment of exploration into the present.. Basically getting as smashed as I could while trying to maintain..and it almost killed me.. SUSIE AND JOYCE were loves of my life and each broke my heart because I did not care enough about them when the time was ripe..and that too almost killed me.. Ricketts and I both thought I would not make it to my 26th birthday..yet here we are.. we were young..and the universe was huge.. Music, outer space, ocean adventures still prevail.. With a loving wife and three kids that are really cool.. Radio continues to play a part and without the crazy times that we had during those 3 precious years of spectacle 66-69 which provided a period of insane growth I would not be where I am today.. Which is still crazy..still crazy after all these years.. ..I am still in awe and most respectful of mother nature..which gives us clues to the master planners state of being.. And thankful for the time spent on this planet in many many ways.. And god shows me daily just how cool this universe is within my limited frame of thought.. Yes george the helix house and the guy street house formed a lot of that.. And butch and the concerts and morgan and his laughter..and you and the groupies and crazy 2am hours in the production room and what we did on air and off lives with me forever.. When I said farewell to my present employer (radio station is owned by a group of paranoid venture capitalists who cannot appreciate 15% profit on investment, and who puts machines ahead of people) I did not allude to the kpri days in radio..although it was within a small group of employees here at KONG.. And fyi Ron has built an amazing classic rock station.. On an island that does not totally appreciate it.. Hawaii is a different place with a different frame of brain.. However shaka is as close to being a reflection of true music that one can present on this rock yet with limited commercial appeal.because many locals from the era cannot relate, it is a kauai thing… at kong, when I told everyone I was leaving I omitted references to those most precious times.. Only because my brain was shaken about leaving.. I did and do not want to retire however working with undue pressure from AMERIKA (it finally caught up with me again) leaves me no choice from a health and reality standpoint. although I can now do so financially thanks to the glutten of dollars placed upon a small stretch of beach on kauai that I loved before the world discovered it.. I can now so forget you guys.. I do not need the pressures put on me by anyone but myself.. And I am bitter about how hanalei and our island it has turned to a money pit, yet at the same time HANALEI’s commercialism has allowed me to say ALOHA to those that do not appreciate the love and dedication I have and for what we have created..thus I was emotionally distraught during my farewell…HOWEVER when it comes time to my SWAN SONG concert I am planning on kauai to truly bid a fond farewell and aloha the KPRI days of insanity will be duly noted as the foundation that so graciously accepted my initial meanderings of insanity.. And placed me where I am today.. Which is somewhere I still do not know..until its time to GO… Hope you can filter this into a response regarding the memory lapse that might seem apparent to ron…
Part the Second, in which the cutthroat world of show business exacts a severe judgment and sets Andy adrift to Hawaiian shores. My girlfriend and I discovered kpri when it was on air only from midnight to 6am.. We loved the music.. As the radio station became a 24hour station our friend peter frankland was a programmer and he invited us to spend time with him in the studio.. I was a creative writing major (specializing in short stories and poetry at san diego state and was also in students for a democratic society.. After awhile I suggested a variety of ideas for commercials that were what I felt to be tune-outs to the format.. Peter set up a meeting with jack barnhard who was the general manager at the time and he hired me to become a copy writer and production person at the station.. As kpri grew so did the sales of additional commercials and my specialty became rewriting agency spots for the select kpri format who’s listeners could not relate to mainstream amerika.. This project was most gratifying as long as I played the agency rewrites to the account executives.. This was a fun and challenging time because we tried to make sure that the spoken word on kpri stayed within the concepts that reinforced our evolutionary beliefs for society.. The music, the concerts we did, the news we reported, was all a sound alternative to top 40 militaristic san diego.. We were in a growing but very small minority..and it gained a lot attention.. A few events of interest was BUTCH UPHAM’s UNITED FRUIT COMPANY night club ..Though the club failed financially BUTCH became the station's music concert promoter and we hosted a lot of events sponsored AND underwritten by KPRI in balboa park.. While also having love ins at la jolla park.. And then we created FILMY FANTASY old time movie shows at a theatre in downtown san diego.. Peter, Butch, Morgan and I were very close back..AND Morgan Modine (a los angeles friend who wrote and played music was my major voice over talent for commercials) he also became a part time programmer..he moved into the guy street house with myself and butch.. Creating a san diego party place that was an alternative to george williams helix house locale.. We created a short episodic show that aired weekly DICK SWIFT SMOOTH DOG OF THE UNIVERSE..who invented chloroselvate a drug that made his male member enormous.. A jekyl and hyde scenario complete with an opening jingle and a sponsor.. At the same time I became more and more on the edge with relationships falling thru the cracks with women and hard drugs edging their way into my life.. The creativity remained however the responsibilities were shunned.. I created for NESBITTS ORANGE DRINK a series of commercials based on the jingle NESBITTS IS MADE FROM REAL ORANGES.. The flow introduced JIM NESBITT championship handball player from england.. Who lost his legs in a car crash..and did not know what to do with his hands while watching old films of himself winning championship handball tournaments in SUSSEX.. So Jim STARTING SQUEEZING oranges while watching the dated films and actually started bottling the orange drink.. AND IT REINFORCED THE PHRASE at the time NESBITTS .. MADE WITH REAL ORANGES.. I had a series of commercials made and they ran all summer..GUNTHER BLUE was my talent..we used a british accent and sound effects.. One spot talked about how JIM flew in the finest birds to sing in his orchard because natural songs of birds made the oranges grow larger fuller and juicier.. At any rate.. The spots were quite good..only I never got clearance to run them from the agency or client.. We just ran them.. Come august, I had just finished surfing in del mar by my home, and I pulled up in my mercedes 190 sl convertible (1959 model but really cool) in front of 7th and ASH..and Larry Shushan our station manager was standing in front of the station with what looked to be a redneck crew cut sort of professional guy from the city. I was late for a production meeting and raced past him with hair still wet, in shorts, and a tee shirt.. And a bit loaded on some devil weed.. Larry stopped me and introduced me to the gentleman who was with the bottling company that placed the order for NESBITTS.. And a few other 2nd tier soft drink lines..he asked to here the NESBITTS COMMERCIALS.. I took him into the production room and played the series of spots which were the best spots I had ever created up until that time.. The guy looks at me and asks me who gave approval to run them.. I hemmed and hawed and said I just put them on..and he said PULL THEM OFF IMMEDIATELY.. I asked why and he said that NESBITTS IS NOT MADE WITH ORANGES and the spots are misleading.. I said.. Your slogan on the generic ads says NESBITTS MADE FROM ORANGES.. He said our spots say WITH REAL ORANGES..while FROM ORANGES can imply chemical derivatives.. And that it was all misleading.. I then replied in a huff that his slogan was misleading..he said NOT AT ALL.. Its your spots that are misleading and he canceled the contract with us.. The next day I was fired..I gathered some of my tapes and spots etc.. And after 6 weeks of not knowing what to do with my life, I sold my possessions and moved to Hawaii and got a job at the only fm progressive station on the dial..KPOI fm..AND became a programmer as well as production person..and it started all over again..
LOOKING back at what KPRI did for us as individuals as well as the community and society in general was something very special.. We all knew things were not really as they seem ..and we felt there was a need for change.. And our goals though different were basically wrapped in a feeling of love and understanding that the world and we were part of something much bigger.. And KPRI gave us that platform to communicate such..with the same dedication to others that we felt within ourselves..music was changing.. And our generation was continuing to explore far beyond what our parents had dictated.. The peace sign in conflict with those that had AMERICA LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT created conflict in san diego in many ways..yet the radio station allowed us to communicate to those who understood what we were hoping for..and we created an arlo guthrie MOVEMENT.. Whether it was how we gave THE 7th and ASH EL CORTEZ ELEVATOR REPORT instead of the weather.. OR the way we construed commercials to not sound like commercials..or the way our programmers broke all barriers with the music hour that they created.. FREEDOM was the key .. And we were blessed to feel such freedoms in all that we did.. Only later to pay consequences because of the lack of responsibility that came with initial feelings of FREEDOM. KPRI was all this and more..for us..and for our listeners..it was an age of discovery and we were the explorers that sent back signals to the tribes that it was okay to further ourselves above and beyond the usual.. A few never returned.. A few lost their way and were sidetracked while some fell prey to vultures circling in their black and white vehicles..regardless we have parties..we had relationships and affairs, and every day was a bold new horizon never knowing how the next moment was to turn out.. In the long run many of us continued our passion for music and community..and as the movement became a nation of homogenized sheep that made their way into the world of commercialized compromise..I being one of those.. However moving to hawaii and developing a sense of community on a small island with totally different values and esteem..yet what I had learned from KPRI made me what I have become today..and I am proud to say that after 48 years in radio, with 45 of them here on Kauai, my baby steps, which were so big at that time were made over a period of pure love and insanity in san diego.. And I will be returning in december with only the fondest of memories of PETER FRANKLAND, GUNTHER BLUE, RICK RICKETTS, BUTCH UPHAM, (my continuing partner in radio world RON MIDDAG) GEORGE WILLIAMS, GABRIEL WISDOM, MORGAN MODINE and the two loves of my life from back then.. SUZIE BALAAM who could only stand so much of egotistical testosterone back then before I drove to date NAVY SEALS, AND JOYCE WATKINS who to this day is a friend of mine and is actually visiting KAUAI today, as I compose this note.. Appreciating love of a woman, while raising 3 children, and taking in the ocean daily would most likely not have occurred were it not for all of the above who touched my lives in so many ways.. Mahalo KPRI..you are engrained with every note on my iPod..and with every note still resounding on SHAKA FM 103, which is a reflection of the years ago that is alive and well on our island today..
© 2015 KPRI TIMELINE