A (Mostly) 80s Music Podcast: What Difference Does It Make?

Sam Zniber knew he wanted to be on the radio. So at the tender age of 14, he stepped into the office of his local top 40 radio station and let the Manager know exactly what he was doing wrong. To the Manager's credit, he listened to this brash kid and offered him an airshift. And so began Sam's radio journey, and what a journey it's been! Sam has programmed radio stations from Sydney, Australia to Miami, Florida to Paris, France. Currently heard on Radio Nostalgie, he also runs MusicDatak, his own music research company. Today Sam steps into the What Difference Does It Make virtual studio to discuss his career, and to offer his opinion on the music played back in 1986 from the World-Famous KROQ in Los Angeles.

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Benji McPhail is the Program Director and Morning Show host at KXT 91.7 in Dallas. He's been leading the charge of music discovery since his days at the legendary KBCO in Boulder, Colorado. Today, Benji accepts our challenge of discovering music from the year 1986, based on the year-end playlist from the World Famous KROQ in Los Angeles. As Love & Rockets might say, "All aboard the Express Kundalini"!

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Max Tolkoff has an opinion or two on the state of Alternative radio. This is the man responsible for The Edge format which eventually wound up on over 30 Alternative radio stations by the mid 90’s. Max tells tales on how his love of skiing, biking, and bad gambling decisions led to his career in the 80’s as the Program Director for 91X in San Diego, followed by stints at WFNX in Boston, and Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles. After all that, we analyze a ten song chunk of music played on KROQ in 1986.

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Lynn Goldsmith is an artist of many hats, painter of conceptional images, film director, even co-manager at one point for Grand Funk Railroad. But the reason we are thrilled to talk with Lynn today are the images she has created with her camera. There is not enough space to list the hundreds of museums, galleries and magazines that have featured her work, but let's just say that if you are a music fan, you have had the honor of viewing her artistry. She has fourteen published photography books, featuring artists like Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, KISS, and The Police. Her latest book is called Music In The 80s, so we are thrilled to welcome Lynn Goldsmith into our virtual studio.

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Steve Kilbey of The Church does not have a stop button. He's been releasing music for over 40 years, that's 26 albums with The Church, 7 solo albums and a plethora of collaborations with his musical friends. He's also a writer, a poet and an artist. Somehow this ARIA (Australian) Hall of Fame Inductee found time to sit down with us and talk about the band's latest album, The Hypnogogue.

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Dennis Constantine is a radio visionary. Finding himself at a new radio station, he saw a niche in a market filled with rock radio stations. Instead of cutting down the music library to a small playlist of songs, he focused on introducing new music and deeper cuts by well-loved artists. Yes, this was rock music for adults. Dennis built KBCO from a low-power Boulder station to the number one station in the Denver market, with a unique mix of music and personalities attuned to the Colorado audience. Soon he was using his skills to create radio stations nationwide.

You can hear him currently on Arizona's Adult Alternative KVNA, as he continues to consult radio stations around the country. Today, Dennis enters our virtual studio to discuss his career, and to offer his opinion on songs 70 to 61 from the 1986 KROQ year-end playlist.

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Simply put, Jake Rudh is an old soul in the best of ways. He stayed indoors as a child to watch MTV. When grunge took hold in the early 90s, he was working at a swing era radio station. He even named his dog Harry. Not after Styles, but Connick Jr. He proudly represents the 80s music era with his Transmission radio show every Thursday evening on The Current in Minneapolis. He is also the founder of Transmission dance nights at the legendary First Avenue music club. He now joins our podcast to discuss his career, and to offer his opinion on a ten song chunk of music from the 1986 KROQ year-end playlist.

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Rita Wilde is simply put, a radio legend, having spent over 25 years as a DJ, Music Director and Program Director at 95.5 KLOS in Los Angeles. She epitomizes the rock fan's dream of playing and talking about the music and actually getting to meet and talk with your rock idols. Rita represents all of us, which is why we love to hear her enthusiasm whenever she flips on a mic. She shares our joy in the music. So, of course it was our joy to invite Rita into our virtual studio to talk about her career and the music she continues to love with "no surrender" (shoutout to Springsteen) in site. Afterwards, we discuss a station to the extreme right of 95.5, 106.7 to be exact, as we get to songs 90 to 81 from the 1986 KROQ year end playlist.

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Usually you can hear Buzz Knight "Takin' A Walk" as he does on his own podcast but today we "have a sit" with this radio executive. We find out about how he got his start in the business and what he has learned over the decades of a storied career. We then get into our look at songs 100 to 91 from the KROQ 1986 year end playlist.

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The year is 1986, and the music on the radio for the kids of LA is going through some changes. KROQ has a new next-door neighbor on the dial, called Power 106. The music KROQ is playing has a little more rhythm in its step. I guess you could say, “the dream team is in the house" as we start our look at the top 106.7 songs played on The World Famous KROQ. This week, it's songs 106.7 to 101.

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