1. You Had To Be There: Geno Michellini’s Story Of Radio’s Evolution
Geno Michellini is sitting at a makeshift radio booth in his living room in
Southern California. A half-century after his start as a radio DJ, he still uses a Shure
SM58 even for a Skype interview.
Semi-retired, Michellini has worked in the business since the 60s, becoming
a radio legend, with well-known Bay Area stations KOME-FM, KMEL-FM, and KLOS-
FM in Los Angeles. His career has spanned from the early days of free-form FM to
what he sees as a sterile, corporate format that the industry has evolved into. In
October of 2012, Michellini will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
Cleveland as one of the most influential people in the radio industry.
Michellini grew up in a military family. Following his father, he also served in
the Air Force for several years in the 1960s, and it was during this period that he
was exposed to radio and the exploding genre of rock `n’ roll. Stationed in the
Philippines and working on computer systems, he switched to broadcasting.
“It was just like that movie Good Morning, Vietnam,” he said. “That’s how I got
started officially in radio. I got a taste of it and realized, ‘I really love this.’ And I
really sucked, so when I got out, I took the G.I. Bill and went to broadcasting school
in Hollywood.”
His first job was working part time at a small station in Thousand Oaks,
California, where he would go live on Sundays for a few hours in the afternoon and
play sacred music tapes in the morning. His first full-time gig began at KSTN, a Top
40 station in Stockton, California. He soon realized after a year that the Top 40

2. format did not fit his personality, as he preferred the more cutting edge and free
form approach of the FM band. It was a time of pure excitement.
“It was magic,” he says of his heyday at KOME and other Bay Area Stations.
“It was everything you’ve heard and imagined and more. You had to be
there.”
The introduction of rock ‘n’ roll to teenagers across America opened up a
sense of freedom and euphoria. Michellini became enamored with the idea that he
was actually required to become a music aficionado and get paid for it. There was a
constant stream of things to keep up on; the latest records, the budding artists, the
song and album titles, and upcoming tour dates.
“The Bay Area was the center of the rock n’ roll universe,” recalls Michellini.
He and his colleagues played from many genres of music, the old, the new,
and everything in between. Many staff and listener favorites were artists who still
have a cultural impact in the Bay Area. They often played popular artists such as
Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, The Doobie Brothers, and Tower of Power,
but it was not uncommon to hear lesser-known bands, such as Cold Blood, Hot Tuna,
and Sons of Champlin.
“Everybody was hot. It was a different era of rock n roll.”
Aside from basic regulations from the FCC, there were no restrictions placed
on lyrical content, views expressed, or any specific formats. Michellini recalls often
arriving at work to find lists of suggested themes such as cars, politics, sex, and the
war in Vietnam. Staff and program directors encouraged creativity and self-
expression.

3. “My old boss Michael used to give us pep talks. One of his favorites, when we
went on the radio was, ‘Think about our show as a blank canvas, and when you go
on the radio for that four hours, I want you to paint me the best picture that you
possibly can every day. Which means you better know every color in the rainbow.’ "
With that freedom also came the opportunities for on and off air hijinks.
Some of these included road trips on acid, novelty songs, and hosting a contest to
see how far a chicken would fly if you launched it with a toilet plunger out of a
mailbox.
His favorite recollection involved a musical mashup as a joke contest. He
announced that several songs were going to be played, and whoever identified them
would get a prize. In reality, he would just play five different songs all at the same
time, making them virtually impossible to understand. He didn’t expect a winner.
“Shortly thereafter, we got busted,” he said. “Some guy wrote us an entry, and
he’d written the name of the band and artist. Over that, he wrote number two, name
of the band and artist, so we couldn’t read it, etc. And he goes, ‘And P.S., number four
was the hardest one.’ We got him a really nice prize.”
While Michellini has an endless supply of memories, his fondest are of his
days at KOME from 1976 to 1982. His witty personality and rebellious nature were a
perfect fit for a station of likeminded jocks.
He became more experienced in how to make his show’s delivery smoother,
learn new techniques, and further embrace his humor. KOME was known for its
frequent use of sexual innuendos and boundary-pushing humor. They often had
bumper stickers that played on the sexual nature of the call letters.

4. “The old KOME spot on your dial. Which we were, that was our logo. We had
others; KOME on your radio, you cannot over KOME. They were the six best radio
years of my life.”
He’s befriended legendary rock stars, made great friendships with
colleagues, attended countless concerts, and exposed himself to broad genres of
music. Some of his most memorable meetings were with Bruce Springsteen and
Paul McCartney.
Michellini first saw Springsteen at a bar in Asbury Park, who was at the time
playing in a band called Child. The Rolling Stones had just released Gimme Shelter,
and Springsteen had already learned and was playing the new material. He was
impressed.
“With Bruce, I was in the Air Force in 1969 and stationed at Fort Monmouth.
There was a bar I would go to called The Student Prince. And I saw a band playing
there called Child. The band played “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”. They
changed the line ‘you can’t always get what you want’ to ‘you get what you
deserve.’”
But Michellini was unaware until later that it had been Bruce at the dive bar
he frequented. He didn’t learn about his early band until reading an article and
meeting him backstage after one of his concerts.
“The band was on a riser behind where the bartender stood. They were
against the wall. If I had never read that article, I’d never know it was him.”
Another favorite moment of his was meeting McCartney. They met after a
private soundstage performance for an interview, and McCartney was supposed to

5. only be there for a short time. Michellini found himself still talking to him an hour
later. They met again in Los Angeles the following year after a performance at
Capitol Records. Michellini was the only disc jockey that was allowed to interview
him after the show.
“He made you feel like you were the only person in the room,” he said. And he
still is like that. He actually remembered things we talked about the previous year.”
Despite the many positive experiences he gained from his career, the decline
in freedom on the air kept those memories as distant reminders of the golden days
of radio.
By the mid 70s, things began to change. What little was left of the Summer of
Love was dwindling. Personal politics among well-known radio jocks sometimes
made environments unfriendly, and the music industry began changing.
Corporations looked to radio as a potential for business opportunities, and
began modifying stations in order to form a more commercial appeal. Stations went
from having no restrictions on what was played, to heavily regulated formats geared
toward popular hits and artists. Jocks were not permitted to deviate.
He feels that these restrictions stripped him and his coworkers of the ability
to be personable with listeners. He despised having to play the same songs day after
day. It pains him to see what the state of broadcasting has become.
“I don’t know why a kid would get into radio now,” he said. “You go in, you’re
told what to say, you push a button, and you get a minimum-wage check.”
Many stations are often pre-recorded and programmed, sometimes out of
state. The formats and songs are heavily polled and researched by psychologists,

6. who pick out the songs for each playlist. If a song doesn’t test well, it doesn’t make
the cut. Playlists have gotten smaller, to only a few hundred songs.
Michellini became bored with the redundancy, and had a difficult time
following corporate orders and having to censor his personality. What initially
enamored him most about radio was no longer there. He remained on commercial
stations throughout the 80s and 90s before being fired by KLOS in 2003.
“I’m not good at being told to shut the fuck up,” he quipped. “I’m the kind of
person that if you make suggestions or need help or advice, I’ll do whatever you
want me to. But if you tell me that I can’t do something and won’t tell me why, or I
don’t agree with the reasons why, I will fight you.”
At the time of his firing, Michellini had some of the highest ratings in KLOS
history. He has since made the choice to not return to a major station, even though
he has more than enough experience.
Semi retired, he currently resides in Long Beach, California. Having long
ditched corporate radio, he currently works with former entertainers and jockeys
on Flying Eye Radio Network. The site has daily and weekly podcasts of its
participants, and updates on music news and benefits for ailing musicians and
charities. He hosts Geno Michellini’s Turntable Hits, a throwback to his early days in
free-form radio. He borrows from all artists and genres, from Mayer Hawthorne to
Steve Winwood.
Unlike some of his contemporaries, he doesn’t have a bitter grudge against
the negative memories. He’s explored new music and found ways to enjoy it despite
changes in the industry.

7. While Michellini isn’t really occupied with other projects, he’s done some
work with musician Jimmy Buffet, a longtime friend since 1976.
He’s still adjusting to his newly retired lifestyle, spending time at the beach
and discovering new hobbies. With a successful podcast, plenty of fond
recollections, and a new chapter of life to enjoy, he couldn’t be happier.
“I’m having a ball doing that now. Even if I wanted to go back to KLOS, I
couldn’t. How many times can I sound excited about playing ‘Stairway To Heaven’? “