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Ted Alvy

Ted Alvy

Los Angeles native Ted Alvy first heard rock and roll aged 9 on KFWB, where B. Mitchel Reed (BMR) became his favorite deejay. Teenage Ted met BMR at the June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and became his producer at KFWB featuring album cuts and forever joining the conspiracy to improve music on the airwaves. He hosted Sunday Night Folk Festival on Stereo KVFM-FM, but was fired for playing folk-rock and sets of anti-war songs. He accompanied BMR to help pioneer Underground Radio at KPPC-FM Pasadena as Producer and substitute deejay.

Ted compiled the Record Library that was used to convert KMET-FM to Underground Rock in June 1968 where he secretly programmed the 24/7 automation system. He was an underground record store buyer at Les Carter's Music Revolution while attending UCLA Film School, then returning to KPPC-FM to join creative PD Les Carter. Ted Alvy became deejay Cosmos Topper and created cosmic KPPC station IDs and alternative commercial spots until the entire airstaff was fired. He continued at KMET-FM with his mentor B. Mitchel Reed until June 1976. Ted died in March 2012.

Ted Alvy

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Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead (and the New Riders), part 1 (1970)

Interview by Ted Alvy, KPPC-FM 106.7 Pasadena, December 1970

Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir from the Dead, plus New Riders David Nelson and Marmaduke, talk about Workingman's Dead and the birth of the New Riders of the Purple Sage, while DJ Ted Alvy spins tunes and tries to keep order. Originally broadcast on KPPC-FM Pasadena in December 1970.

File format: mp3 File size: 24.5mb Interview length: 26 minutes 43 seconds Sound quality: ****

Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead (and the New Riders), part 2 (1970)

Interview by Ted Alvy, KPPC-FM 106.7 Pasadena, December 1970

...in which Garcia, Weir, David Nelson and Marmaduke break out the guitars and have themselves an impromptu hootenanny hosted by DJ Ted Alvy, playing some of your country-gospel favourites amidst much studio chaos. Originally broadcast on KPPC-FM Pasadena in December 1970.

File format: mp3 File size: 30.7mb Interview length: 33 minutes 31 seconds Sound quality: ****

Pink Floyd's Nick Mason and Rick Wright (1971)

Interview by Ted Alvy, KPPC-FM 106.7 Pasadena, October 1971

A splendid radio interview with Messrs. Mason and Wright in which they talk to DJ Ted Alvy about Meddle, the Zabriskie Point soundtrack, their quadraphonic p.a. system, and playing live. Originally broadcast on KPPC-FM Pasadena in October 1971.

File format: mp3 File size: 33.8mb Interview length: 36 minutes 52 seconds Sound quality: ****

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