When AM radio ruled Los Angeles and made musical stars

When was the last time you listened to AM radio in search of some great new music? Harvey Kubernik’s latest book, “Turn Up the Radio! Rock Pop and Roll in Los Angeles, 1956-1972” is an homage to the time when people toted around transistor radios with great devotion–when AM deejays discovered acts you hadn’t heard before.

Few personified the power and charm of that medium more than the late Dave Diamond. To illustrate the power of the “forgotten band” of the medium we love, we focused our chat with Kubernik on the “Diamond Mine” and this influential deejay. But if you’re interested in music from the late fifties to the early seventies, you’re going to want to take a gander at this massive book.

Influential DJ Dave Diamond passed away this spring

Listen to Dave Diamond’s “Poetry From The Diamond Mine” (1967):

Here’s the final hour of Dave Diamond on KBLA (June 16, 1967):