U-T Jim McInnes in Thursday's Night and Day (November 8, 2002)

Buddy Blue, a writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, wrote a nice article honoring Jim McInnes' work as one of radio's most important pros (as opposed to the radio folks such as those who work at KGB) that ever worked in local radio.

I for one have not been listening to KGB since that 9-20-99 incident from that overrated morning show radio folk (definition: an impolite and bad mannered radio employee that cannot program correctly to the music fan), and its a polite way for me to describe this radio bully here (you can replace the OL with -- so it looks like f--k and you can think of another clever term for such people) that just doesn't wish to mature past the eighth grade level of maturity.

Jim McInnes was fired from Kan't Get Broadcasting-FM 101.5 for no valid reason other than the excuse that his afternoon shift, which followed some voicetracked idiot out of nowhere, was too low in the ratings for that time period. It was no fault by McInnes that his shift was low-rated; it was the radio folks at KGB who just refuse to understand that they have folked up classic rock to a point that it's a period-piece format with a too short playlist to suit any music fan's long term interest.

McInnes has been instrumental at KGB, long before Clear Channel took over ownership and folked it up beyond repair. Before he was fired, he, like many radio folks who work the mike (just announcing and punching buttons other people tell him to) was far more than just a live voice between safe and worn out teenage youth era rock and roll "classics" that nobody cares to hear anymore for long periods of time.

From the U-T: "Once upon a time, KGB - and McInnes in particular - was an oasis of encouragement for Southern California's struggling musicians. As far back as 1977, McInnes featured San Diego bands on his shows; bands who might not otherwise have garnered any local support. The Penetrators, DFX2, the Puppies, Steve Salas, Trowsers, Ratt, Fingers, Jerry Raney & the Shames and the Beat Farmers (of which I was a member) are just a few of the bands who benefited from the airplay and encouragement McInnes doled out.

"But these were the "name" bands of the era, and it's perhaps even more important that McInnes created the "Homegrown" show in 1983, a Sunday night program featuring all local bands, no matter how obscure and, truth be told, no matter how questionable their talent.

"The show was a logical outgrowth of KGB's popular "Homegrown" records, annual compilations featuring local talent that the station began releasing in 1973 as the brainchild of Bill ("Captain Billy") Hergonson. When McInnes was hired in 1974, he co-produced the rest of the "Homegrown" series until its conclusion a decade later. In recent years, he's also served as host of the San Diego Music Awards.

"McInnes (who is a radio pro) isn't a flashy guy or the type of DJ who was going to stir up controversy with an outrageous persona, a potty mouth or any other brazen behavior. Howard Stern (who is also radio pro despite what the author thinks about him) he definitely ain't; nor even Dave(who is just a folk)/Shelly/Chainsaw, thank the heavens.

"McInnes is a genuinely laidback, dorky, eminently likable regular fella, the kind of guy you'd cozy up at the bar to talk about the latest Rolling Stones record with.

"In that respect, like the radio jocks who still work at radio stations in finer cities better than San Diego where corporate ownership has not dominated the airwaves, McInnes is admittedly archaic by modern radio standards. This is a good thing. He wasn't going to make any waves, put anyone down or tick anyone off (which made him a radio pro). But that always-cheerful, bemused voice had become comfortable as the proverbial pair of old slippers over the years, a San Diego institution, and it's a damned shame that the soulless, evil, megalomaniacal (folked-up) Clear Channel corporation would deny San Diegans the opportunity to enjoy Jimbo any longer.

"Meanwhile, the Cannibal Bar at the Catamaran Hotel in Pacific Beach will host "Jim McInnes - A Celebration of San Diego's Longest-Running DJ" on Sunday night. The tribute show will be hosted by Gabriel Wisdom, and a host of grateful local bands, including reunions of Joey Harris & the Speedsters and Four Eyes, plus Mojo Nixon (who, ironically, was hired to replace McInnes), Earl Thomas, Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash, Tim Flannery, Soul Persuaders, the Shambles and many more will be on hand. All proceeds will go to local charities.

"And personally, since I don't need to hear "Freebird" or "Stairway to Heaven" on the radio for the gazillionth time over, I no longer have any reason to tune into KGB-FM. (What took him so long to decide to quit listening to KGB?)

"Any other stations in town hiring? I know a DJ. ... Stay tuned."

Buddy Blue is a San Diego musician, writer and all-around curmudgeon. His Blue Notes column runs weekly in Night&Day.

This is D.T, neither a radio pro or a radio folk, but a radio fan, saying that the station that calls itself KGB-FM is KGB-FM in call letters only. It's dead, Jim (a double meaning). Just the call letters fooling people into thinking that it's still a legendary radio station is still on that frequency. There are no radio pros in KGB anymore. Just radio f--ks in the morning, noon, and evening who don't know how to relate to the music fan (the jury is still out on Mojo Nixon, so we'll just call him a radio muse for now.)