Jim McInnes photo via Facebook

"There goes the last DJ/who plays what he wants to play/and says what he wants to say/there goes your freedom of choice/there goes the last human voice/there goes the last DJ" -- lyrics from "The Last DJ," by Tom Petty 

DJ Jim McInnes spent 28 years in radio before being fired for the first time by Clear Channel/101.5 KGB FM in 2002. McInnes had spent most of disc jockey career ["And over half my life!"] at KGB, where his first day of work was May 1, 1974. 

"He's a local broadcast legend who knows the local music community," says Shambles guitarist Bart Mendoza. "He gave us our very first airplay back in the Manual Scan days [ Mendoza 's original mid-eighties group], kind of giving us the impetus to continue. Someone was listening!"

Says Mendoza, "In an age where 'local radio' means the DJ is in Texas and has possibly never seen your town, Jim is a treasure." Mendoza makes note of the fact that McInnes is a musician himself, having played from 1979 through 1981 with the local punk outfit Land Piranha. 

A working DJ since Spring 1970, McInnes ignored his musical aspiration for nearly two decades, but he eventually picked up the guitar again to play with Modern Rhythm, along with Jack Pinney, once the drummer for Iron Butterfly. "I respect that he continues to perform," says Mendoza . "It's an indication of just how much he loves music. He's also one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. He's the voice of San Diego radio!"

Scott Chatfield used to serve as promotions director at KGB and spent many years working alongside McInnes. He tells me "Jim's impressive because he's thoroughly unimpressed with his own celebrity. He's a great friend, personality, humorist, musician and water volleyball player. Before I joined KGB, McInnes' voice and dada-esqe yet conversational attitude were synonymous with the station for me. He and his wife Sandi were among the first to make friends with me when I joined KGB as producer of the Delany & Prescott Show in June '83, and they were kind enough to take me out to dinner the night I was relieved of that job in September '84." 

"Jim and his family were our companions on our first European trip in 1988. Jim and I have traveled a lot together since then. When Jim took a two-year break from hosting his legendary local music show, The Homegrown Hour, he chose me to fill in, a task that was pure joy." 

The Homegrown Hour featured only San Diego musicians, and there was also a series of Homegrown vinyl records, the first of which was released in 1973 and sported liner notes by a teenage KGB listener named Cameron Crowe (later to author Fast Times At Ridgemont High and the subject/writer/director of the film Almost Famous). "Through Homegrown, I became close with many San Diego musicians, including Mike Keneally, who I now manage and am partners with in our label Exowax Recordings." McInnes and Chatfield co-produced the final album in the series (at the time), Homegrown '84. 

Mark DeCerbo of Rockola is also known from Four Eyes, the power pop band he fronted in the late seventies and early eighties. "Jim was always hanging out at shows, checking out local bands," he recalls. "Being in a position as the top DJ at the biggest radio station in town, he was able to put on these shows called 'Homegrown Nights,' at a place called My Rich Uncle's. Local bands would play live for an audience and he'd record them on an eight track recorder and then play it that weekend over the radio, the full show. Whenever there was something happening with local music, he'd not only be there in person but then he'd take it to the airwaves, if not recorded then he'd talk about it."

Says DeCerbo, "Four Eyes had a song called 'Dangerous' on one of the Homegrown albums, and that was the first chance a lot of us had to be recorded and have records in the stores. He also played our songs sometimes during his drive-time slot and on a Sunday night show he had that focused on local music. DJs just don't have that kind of freedom any more and, even if they did, few would be daring enough to put so much into local musicians who don't even have a record deal." 

McInnes gave the Reader some background on My Rich Uncle’s, located near San Diego State, where his Homegrown Nights ran for around two years in the mid-1980s. “It was not my idea. It was [KGB salesman] Bill Degischer’s idea, with Martin Montoya. Marty. His parents owned the place. He managed it. They weren’t doing so well. They had a C restaurant rating.” He laughs. “It was an effort to build business for them and to get exposure for up-and-coming bands. At the time, there was only the Spirit [Club in Bay Park]. That was the main place to play original rock...and it was a tough sell. It really was. I would bring in Four Eyes — who are still together, by the way — and Darius and the Magnets, and you’d be lucky if 50 people would show. And those guys would jump at playing. I had no budget. All I could give them was 25 bucks, and they’d say, ‘Okay.’” 

And that 25 bucks wasn't even per-player, it was "For the whole band. The key was they’d get publicity. I’d talk about them on the air for a week prior to the show. Support was pitiful. Nowadays, it’d probably go over great.” 

David Peck, courtesy Reelin' In the Years 

David Peck's local Reelin’ in the Years Productions maintains an archive of over 10,000 filmed musical performances, as well as representing others with footage to license for broadcast or video releases. Reelin' holds a piece of historical footage featuring McInnes, which it has licensed for use to VH1. "I got a hold of a piece of film that was shot at a backyard party here in San Diego , around 1981," he says. "Weird Al Yankovic was there, before he really broke big, when he was still doing 'Another One Rides the Bus' on [syndicated radio show] Dr. Demento. Jim is playing with him, and he's playing Weird Al's accordion and somebody comes by and spills beer on the thing. Weird Al got really upset with him, because it was a brand new accordion! And Jim is just shrugging his shoulders, like, 'hey, it's just an accordion, not a Les Paul,' but Weird Al wasn't laughing. Shows which one of them actually had the sense of humor, huh?" 

McInnes elaborated in a subsequent phone interview "What happened was that my friend tried to pour a beer in my mouth while my hands were occupied trying to play accordion for the first time, and it spilled into the [instrument's] bellows. [Weird] Al was a good sport about it - he'd just had the accordion cleaned!" 

Guitarist Marc Intravaia used to (briefly) play with the Monroes, who had a brief taste of national fame with the hit "What Do All The People Know." "Back in the seventies," he says, "I was in a band called Listen, and we were on some of the Homegrown albums. In '75 and '76 or so, we did KGB's musical logos and played music for their commercials, and Jim even helped get us half hour spotlights about our band, like on the Sunday night shows. Back then, Jim was the guy who made KGB a really progressive radio station, and he really gave local bands a boost. I was 18 when we met, and I was in awe of DJs, of meeting the guys behind the voices on the radio."

"KGB used to put on free concerts at what is now called Starlight Bowl but then it was Balboa Bowl. Listen did a few of those, and Jim used to get up on stage and jam with us sometimes. The first time was '74 or '75, and I wasn't even aware at the time that he was a musician. I'm sure we had a bunch of beer and he said 'by the way, I play guitar,' and we said 'all right'. I think we just played a typical blues thing. As a guitar player, he's, uh, he's a great DJ." 

DJ Gabriel Wisdom has been a fixture on local radio even longer than McInnes, since 1968 when he helped pioneer "free form" FM radio at local station KPRI. Wisdom went to work on-air for KGB in the early seventies. The station was at the time launching a publicity campaign announcing that KGB was being "recycled," referencing the then-current ecology craze but in actuality referring to a programming change that would now be called "instituting a new format." That format was progressive, album oriented rock and roll. 

Wisdom told me about the first time he met McInnes, in the early seventies. "I had just started at KGB. I think I was the first FM disc jockey hired for the 'recycling' of KGB, and he was the second, when they lured him away from KPRI. When I first met him, and they were showing him around the station, I was knocking heads with the program director at the time because I wanted to do everything my way. Well, they fired me and hired Jim, so I was meeting my replacement, even though I didn't know it at the time. They hired me back a week later. So when Jim got fired from KGB recently, he'd never been fired, and I told him 'now you're finally a veteran radio DJ!'" 

McInnes elaborates: "There's a saying in broadcasting; 'If you haven't been fired, you haven't worked in radio.' " 

According to Wisdom, "Jim was one of the earliest people to use short abbreviated phrases like 'JM in the PM on the FM.' He's quite a wordsmith, and very well educated. He was the first guy that I ever heard use the phrase "cunning linguist" on the air, which you have to pronounce very carefully, or else, you know." 

Wisdom reveals the little known fact that McInnes took seven years of Russian and is quite fluent in speaking the difficult dialect. "The irony of that, of course, is him working at a station called KGB! There was one time in the early nineties when Yakov Smirnoff, the Russian comedian, came into the studio when he was in town [performing] at the Comedy Store. Jim starts talking Russian to the guy and they sounded like a couple of KGB mafiosos! He'd told me he spoke Russian, but I'd never seen the proof until then. How do you describe half a dozen jaws dropping?" 

"The most memorable part was when Jim said something in Russian, and I have no idea what it was, and Yakov Smirnov replied, in perfect English, 'That's the straw that broke Glen Campbell's back.' To this day, I have no idea what that was in reference to." 

Guitarist Joey Harris is a former member of the Beat Farmers (he replaced Buddy Blue after the third Beat Farmers record, "Van Go"), and he fronted Joey Harris and The Speedsters. "Jim used to get me backstage to after-parties," he says in a phone interview. "He'd be emceeing the concert and we'd hang out and we'd go to the hotel afterward to hang out with the band. Like at Cheap Trick. There were a lot of naked girls everywhere, in '83 or '84, back when Cheap Trick still had naked girls hanging around them." 

Asked for further details, Harris (since married) laughs and says "I can't remember. I'm not sure that actually happened." McInnes emceed Harris' wedding when he married his wife onstage at Street Scene in 1990, perhaps explaining Harris' reluctance to reminisce. 

Julian Lennon visits McInnes in the studio circa 1999, courtesy Facebook

After McInnes lost his job at KGB, he went on to become a PM drive jock at KPLN 103.7 the Planet, then (in 2008) an afternoon drive-time traffic reporter at Jack FM, and then a 3-to-9pm weekday news anchor for KFMB 760AM, a conservative talk radio station where he also voiced commercials and promos. He began working at KSDS around 2006, first in a Saturday morning slot and then, as of 2016, hosting Every Shade of Blue. 

He also wrote a monthly column for San Diego Troubadour magazine, and could frequently be found playing guitar in a band called Shenanigans. In 2012, he was reading midday news on 760 KFMB AM, as well as serving as the voice of “Jack’s Club” on Jack FM, where he also recorded occasional commercial. For fun, he spun discs on Saturdays on Jazz 88.3 at City College. He was living in Kensington with his wife, Sandi Banister. Then, in March 2012, he underwent brain surgery to remove a benign tumor that was threatening his vision. 

It wasn't long before McInnes recovered and was right back on the airwaves. He had a steady gig for around a dozen years on Jazz 88.3. At least until 2018, when he posted online "I have just found out that, after 12 years, I have 'retired' from Jazz 88.3, whether I like it or not...no more hosting Every Shade of Blue on Saturday nights. Janine Harty will take over. Ah, radio. Sic transit Gloria." 

As revealed in a Facebook post by McInnes, he found out about his "retirement" via Facebook when Harty announced her new gig on her own timeline around 4pm on Wednesday, August 8. McInnes may have been taken by surprise, but his same post includes a ringing endorsement of his replacement. "She has the credibility. Perfect choice in my opinion."   

McInnes acknowledges that his ouster from the public radio station (licensed to San Diego City College) didn't exactly come without warning. "I was replaced as blues host because I refused to do the show live. That simple...I told them I had no desire to spend my Saturday nights doing the show in person. I had been recording it during my tenure."

As for finding out via Facebook, "I don't think it was intentional," he says. "No big whoop."

Fellow local radio vet Michael Halloran knows how McInnes feels. "Years ago, I read that my contract was terminated by reading it the Detroit News. It seems my boss at the time never felt the need to call my lawyer or me."

In January 2020, McInnes posted online "History has repeated. After a total of 32 years, I have been fired from KGB radio. Again. First time was 2002. Whenever a year ends with a zero and a two, in any order, I'm sunk.  Luckily, the next such year isn't until 2102, and I'll be deceased by then! I just found out that Coe Lewis has been fired, as well! Meanwhile, I am still the host/curator of the classic rock channel on www.liveone.com, powered by Slacker. Their playlist is over 1,400 songs!"   

McInnes remained on the air on KPRI/Pala (91.3 FM), a community radio service operated by the Pala Band of Mission Indians, broadcasting from the center of the Pala reservation in North San Diego County. But it's always going to be KGB which most San Diegans associate him with.  

You can see a lot of McInnes in the 2021 documentary film by Raul Sandelin, KGB and the FM Radio Revolution. The project is a collaboration between Sandelin and cinematographer Tony Butler, brother of Jack Butler, who played with Thee Dark Ages alongside future Beat Farmer Jerry Raney and aspiring rock critic Lester Bangs (then attending Grossmont College). Loaded with KGB luminaries such as Coe Lewis, the documentary also includes tributes to late radio personalities, including DJ John Leslie, of whom there was no footage available. 

June 2019 KGB alumni lunch at the home of longtime KGB DJ Gabriel Wisdom 

 

According to Sandelin, “The story begins in 1972, and then we look at all the personalities, the big promotions. You know, the Chicken, the Homegrown albums. We produced an extensive look at the Homegrown albums run because Cameron Crowe [Almost Famous and Fast Times At Ridgemont High] helped us out a lot by providing them. We do some behind-the-scenes stuff talking with John Barcroft, who was the chief engineer for KGB in the late ’70s through the early ’90s. He built the Engineer Road studio, or he designed and oversaw it being built, so he talks about some of the technical stuff, including the transmitter down there at Euclid and Federal. I didn’t even know that was where the transmitter was located.” 

On April 1, 2022, McInnes took part in a KGB 50th Anniversary broadcast, reminiscing about bygone radio dayz with fellow KGB luminaries Jeff Prescott, Mike Berger, Gabriel Wisdom, and Coe Lewis.

Today, McInnes is the host of Vinyl Resting Place, a 3-hour musical head trip that runs Fridays from 8-11PM on Rez Radio 91.3, broadcasting from Pala, CA. The show features "Freeform music where anything is possible," with deep-track classic rock and music from local artists, primarily sourced from McInnes’s personal vinyl library. A revival of the Homegrown series, officially sanctioned by McInnes, is streaming on demand.  

I called McInnes a while back, in part to give him a chance to hear what others had told me about him for this piece, to offer him a chance to add his own commentary or rebuttals, which I’ve inserted throughout this blog essay. 

Mainly, though, I wanted to ask him what it was that he and Yakov Smirnoff were talking about that resulted in Smirnoff commenting "That's the straw that broke Glen Campbell's back." 

McInnes laughed and said "I don't remember that [about Glen Campbell's back]! I don't know if that actually happened. But it sounds good and, if Gabriel said it, well, it's at least entertaining. That's what DJs do, you know. We're entertainers." 

At least the good ones are.