\n<\/p>\n
Jed Gould, the influential Los Angeles disc jockey known as Jed the Fish, who used his off-kilter sensibility and deep musical knowledge to shine a light on artists like the Cure, Depeche Mode and the Offspring at the groundbreaking New Wave and alternative rock station KROQ-FM in the 1980s and \u201990s, died on April 14 at his home in Pasadena, Calif. He was 69.<\/p>\n
The cause was an aggressive form of small-cell lung cancer, Rudy Koerner, a close friend, said. Mr. Gould was never a cigarette smoker, he added, and before he was diagnosed last month, he had thought his recent violent coughing fits were related to the Los Angeles wildfires.<\/p>\n
For decades, Mr. Gould served as a trusted musical savant \u2014 and drive-time friend \u2014 to young Angelenos, particularly members of Generation X. He also influenced future broadcasting stars.<\/p>\n
In a social media post after Mr. Gould\u2019s death, Jimmy Kimmel, who worked on the morning show at KROQ early in his career, described him as \u201ca legend.\u201d<\/a> On his podcast, Mr. Kimmel\u2019s old sidekick on \u201cThe Man Show,\u201d Adam Carolla, a former host of the relationship show \u201cLoveline\u201d on KROQ, called Mr. Gould \u201can icon.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n With his boyish energy<\/a>, free-ranging musical tastes and maniacal<\/a> cackle, Mr. Gould helped lead a radio revolution at the maverick KROQ, based in Pasadena, starting in the late 1970s.<\/p>\n At a time when FM rock stations were dominated by hyper-produced corporate juggernauts like Styx and Foreigner, KROQ became a sensation for its \u201cRoq of the \u201980s\u201d format<\/a>, which shimmered with fresh sounds from New Wave bands like Talking Heads and Devo, synth-pop groups like the Human League and Spandau Ballet, and local heroes like X and the Go-Go\u2019s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cJeddum Fishum,\u201d as he sometimes referred to himself, and his fellow KROQ jocks brought a sense of anarchy to the airwaves, cracking irreverent jokes and dropping in audio snippets \u2014 like deadpan Jack Webb lines from \u201cDragnet\u201d \u2014 at well-timed moments in the middle of songs, often with hilarious results.<\/p>\n Mr. Gould and his colleagues were in the \u201cright place at the right time<\/a>,\u201d he wrote on LinkedIn. \u201cWe were leading the way but had no idea.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Following a broadcasting philosophy that he called \u201cconsistent inconsistency,\u201d Mr. Gould manned the afternoon slot at the station. His droll humor and his knack for musical surprises served as a needed tonic for a captive audience creeping along sclerotic freeways for hours that felt more like days.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me years of imitation before I learned the simplicity of being myself on the air,\u201d he wrote. \u201cTurns out this was a wacky position to take, but people seem to like the honesty behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n That prime post-lunch slot gave Mr. Gould a powerful platform for promoting new acts and hotly anticipated releases. \u201cBecause Jed was on from 2P to 6P, immediately following our music meeting, he would often do the honors of world-premiering new music<\/a>,\u201d Andy Schuon, a former KROQ program director, wrote in a tribute on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n In a social media post<\/a>, Noodles, the guitarist for the Southern California punk-pop band the Offspring, wrote that Jed the Fish was the first D.J. to play the band\u2019s 1994 breakout hit, \u201cCome Out and Play,\u201d<\/a> \u201cwhich changed our band\u2019s trajectory in ways we never thought possible.\u201d<\/p>\n With a personality that was \u201cinsane in all the best ways,\u201d as Noodles put it, Mr. Gould was all too willing to defy convention. During a recent video tribute<\/a> by former KROQ colleagues, Mr. Schuon recalled listening to Jed the Fish for more than an hour while driving to the office and noticing that he did not once mention the station\u2019s call letters, a standard practice for D.J.s that was crucial for ratings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When Mr. Schuon pressed him on the apparent oversight, Mr. Gould responded: \u201cEveryone knows if I\u2019m on the station, it must be KROQ. Who else would hire me?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Edwin Fish Gould III was born on July 15, 1955, <\/em>in Los Angeles, to Edwin Fish Gould Jr., a salesman for a valve-and-fittings company, and Joan (Hall) Gould. He grew up in the beach communities of Orange County before his family moved to Casa Grande, Ariz.<\/p>\n In high school, he hosted a local radio program for teenagers until he was fired for reading George Carlin\u2019s famous \u201cSeven Words You Can Never Say on Television\u201d monologue on the air.<\/p>\n He graduated from high school in 1973 and enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he received a bachelor\u2019s degree in broadcast journalism. After college, he held a series of jobs at Los Angeles-area radio stations before landing a position at KROQ in 1978. His application consisted of a crude punk-style pink flyer that featured a picture of himself in a white leotard scrunched up in a chair and an offer to work \u201c30 hours per week or less 90 day max FUR FREE!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It was not long before he was helping to orchestrate the chaos in the studio. In a 2001 oral history<\/a> of the station, he said that for an outsider to ask about the early history of KROQ would be like saying, \u201c\u2018Tell me about Vietnam\u2019 or \u2018Tell me about the French Revolution.\u2019 No one will ever know all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n As it turned out, there was plenty about Mr. Gould that his listeners did not know. At one point in the mid-1980s, he said in the oral history, he left KROQ after he was kicked out of the Betty Ford Center for stealing a car to buy drugs.<\/p>\n He returned, but he was pulled off the air again when he was arrested on suspicion of possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia in March 1989. After more than two months in a detox center, he once again assumed his spot at the microphone.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the old days, I\u2019d just shoot a bunch of dope<\/a>, go on the air and do anything,\u201d he said in an interview the next year with The Los Angeles Times, while discussing his newfound commitment to sobriety. \u201cI\u2019d developed my crazy style as a result of getting high. But now it comes out of being me. I\u2019m more clearheaded and more focused.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Gould worked at KROQ until 2012 and later moved to two other local stations, KCSN-FM and KLOS-FM. In 2019, he joined the \u201cRoq of the \u201980s\u201d Sunday night show on KROQ\u2019s HD2 station.<\/p>\n He is survived by a half brother, Tony Chatterton.<\/p>\n Throughout his career, Mr. Gould strove to keep the spirit of the music alive in his work behind the microphone. \u201cWhen a DJ is playing music<\/a> we expect you to dance to, I think it\u2019s important for the DJ to dance,\u201d he wrote on his professional site in 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that I\u2019m a lithe and dainty dancer,\u201d he added. \u201cNo one who incorporates a golf swing into their dance moves should be considered dainty. I just believe anyone in charge of the music should move with it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n