Mr. P’s Rockin’ Roll Riot

Wednesday
7pm - 9pm
host:Mr. P

The show came about because of my long-standing interest in radio that goes back to the late sixties:
I would listen to all of the many rock stations to decide where I could spend my cash on interesting records. In those days, FM stations would have huge libraries of vinyl from most rock artists of the day, which could span 15 years worth of material and thousands of records.

Disc jockeys were usually hired for their knowledge of music and were “free-form”, able to pick and choose for themselves most of the artists played on their show. Three to four songs in an uninterrupted set was pretty much the norm. There was no such thing as MTV, and the AM singles had little to do with what got played. When a new record would come out, you could usually hear four or five tracks from the album within a couple of weeks. I always had a preference for English rock groups.

I was going to live shows at The Fillmore West, Winterland, The Family Dog, The Kabuki Theatre, The Old Waldorf The Stone, Pepperland in San Rafael, and even Wolfgang’s in North Beach. To me, it was something like going to the circus! And what really gave me a jolt was a really cool guitarist!! And like the circus, a lot of these guys seemed like they could damn-near eat fire!!!

As years went by, I did non-profit radio stints at KPOO in San Francisco and KALX in Berkeley. I had really wanted to work at KTIM FM in San Rafael, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Four years went by and I started working part time at KTOB in Petaluma. I would do a five hour shift every Saturday morning and fill-in other hours when needed. This went on for about four years before the station was sold, and by then, I had pretty much given up on working in radio, but I always had an itch to just get on the air and play all of the red-hot, grand-standing guitarists, screaming vocalists, and bad-ass rockin’ drummers that I had followed over the years.

People often ask me if I play guitar: Well, no, I don’t, but I do have enough smokin’ recordings to get my shred-jones out of my system. When KSVY came to town, my friend Jimmy “boom boom” Gonzales urged me repeatedly to get out of my living room …where he had experienced many audio assaults in the past …and go talk to the station. I looked at the volume of material that I could supply; “Mr. P’s Rock ‘n Roll Riot” was then proposed to the station’s charming and supportive manager, Megan Clouse, et voila!

If you enjoy the sort of fast-paced hard rocking sounds of …here comes another laundry list …Ted Nugent, Pat Travers, Robin Trower, Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimi, Michael Schenker, Rory Gallagher and various odd R&R picks that venture into some Blues, Soul, and Rockabilly, you will most definitely want to tune in. I search through my stacks of stuff each week to find all kinds of different things to play, and I really try to pick tracks that you will almost never hear on big market radio, including satellite. I promise you, every time, it’s a real rockin’ riot!