Subtitle:

View of a Culture: Presenting Rock Music in Los Angeles, 1960s-1970s: Ted Alvy

Series:

View of a Culture: Presenting Rock Music in Los Angeles, 1960s-1970s

Topic:

Music

Biographical Note:

Producer and disc jockey for the Los Angeles area's first underground rock radio station, KPPC.

Interviewer:

Cline, Alex

Interviewee:

Alvy, Ted

Persons Present:

Alvy and Cline.

Place Conducted:

Alvy’s home in Van Nuys, California.

Supporting Documents:

Records relating to the interview are located at the UCLA Library's Center for Oral Research.

Interviewer Background and Preparation:

The interview was conducted by Alex Cline, interviewer, UCLA Library Center for Oral History Research. Cline has spent a considerable amount of his career as a jazz drummer/musician in Los Angeles.Cline prepared for the interviews by researching the subject via books, periodicals, recordings, interviews, online sources, and personal archival materials supplied by interviewees, as well as via his own memories and experiences of the subject and of the time period discussed.

Processing of Interview:

The transcript is a verbatim transcription of the recording. It was transcribed by a professional transcribing agency using a list of proper names and specialized terminology supplied by the interviewer. Alvy was then given an opportunity to review the transcript and made a number of corrections and additions. Those corrections were entered into the text without further editing or review on the part of the Center for Oral History Research staff.

Length:

11.83 hrs.

Language:

English

Copyright:

Regents of the University of California, UCLA Library.

Audio:

Series Statement:

This series includes interviews with individuals involved in behind-the-scenes or on-the-air presentation of rock music in Los Angeles area during its critical period of growth and importance, the 1960s and 1970s. It focuses on both the music itself and the culture that accompanied it as rock music developed from popular dance music into a significant art form and as much of it emerged from underground into mainstream culture.

Alvy’s childhood--Early exposure to music and radio--High school--Family background--Growing up in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles--More on high school--Teenage interest in music and movies--Early work in radio--More on family background--Drug use--Increasing interest in radio and influential radio shows.

Working in music retail--Studies radio at Los Angeles Valley College and begins career in broadcasting--Attends the Monterey Pop Festival--Tapes live music--More on the Monterey Pop Festival--The rock music scene in Los Angeles in the late 1960s--More on the Monterey Pop Festival--Starts at KVFM radio station--Live music around Los Angeles in the late 1960s and early 1970s--More on working in music retail.

Works in a variety of capacities in radio--The evolution of radio in Los Angeles in the 1960s--Labor disputes in radio--More on the Monterey Pop Festival--Impact of hearing Bob Dylan live--More on live music around Los Angeles in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The early days of rock and roll music--Early influences and growing up as part of the baby boom--B. Mitchel Reed--More on the evolution of radio in Los Angeles in the 1960s--KPPC--Impact of being Jewish--More on early work in radio--Adopting the style of the period--More on KPPC.

More on KPPC--Benefit films and concerts--The music scene around Los Angeles in the 1970s--Correspondence with Tom Robbins--Working in radio in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s--How radio has changed--More on working in radio in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s.

The early days of FM radio--Impact of advertisers and their view of anti-war folk music--More on working in radio in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s--The music business during the 1960s and 1970s--More on the music scene around Los Angeles in the 1970s.

Folk music--Terror of the Manson murders--The Bay Area music scene versus the Los Angeles music scene--Radio and the music scene in Los Angeles in the 1970s.

Music and culture in the late 1960s and 1970s--Early days of underground radio--Working in radio and music in Los Angeles--Music Revolution record store--More on labor disputes in radio--More on working in radio and music in Los Angeles.

More on working in radio and music in Los Angeles--More on labor disputes in radio--More on live music around Los Angeles in the late 1960s and early 1970s--KMET--Importance of music education--Underground radio before the labor disputes--KMPX and KPPC--More on B. Mitchel Reed--Important writers.

KPPC staff--More on working in radio and music in Los Angeles--Transfers to UCLA--More on KPPC--People in the Los Angeles music and radio scene in the 1960s and 1970s--Radio programming--Radio comedians and actors--Radio music shows.