Riding on the Ether Express is author Dave Pierce’s fascinating first-hand account of a Louisiana boy’s wild journey through 1960s Los Angeles, including stops at the acclaimed Pasadena Playhouse and the legendary radio station KPPC-FM. In addition to initiating the Freeform Underground Radio format between 1967 and 1971, KPPC was also the launching ground for such notable radio personalities as Charles Laquidara, Jeff Gonzer, Steve Segal, and the legendary Dr. Demento, not to mention “The Credibility Gap” comic troupe which included future Hollywood stars David L. Lander, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer. Dave Pierce was a disc jockey, and later music director, at KPPC from 1964 to 1971. More than simply the story of a radio station, Riding the Ether Express is testimony to the reciprocal relationship that once existed between radio (via the disc jockey) and American social change; it is also a captivating look inside of American family life during the 1960s, as Pierce and his wife raised two kids in theaters and radio stations during this turbulent decade.

Dave Pierce was born and raised on the bayous of south Louisiana in the 1940s and 50s. A student/actor/athlete, Pierce graduated from high school at the top of his class and was an All-State running back. At 17, while attending the University of Southwestern Louisiana, Pierce got his first on-air radio job. After moving to Los Angeles when he was 19, Pierce attended the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse on an acting scholarship. Pierce held several disc jockey jobs in Southern California throughout the 1960s at FM radio stations, at that time a stepchild to high powered AM Rockers. Then in early 1967 the counter cultural revolution put FM in the forefront, and Pierce, along with his wife and kids, was at the center of the experimental Free Form Underground Radio format. Pierce’s station, KPPC-FM, which broadcast from the basement of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church, was one of the first West Coast FM radio stations to play rock-n-roll music and eventually became the number one FM rock station in the Los Angeles market. Pierce returned to Louisiana with his family in 1971, subsequently launching a very successful career in television advertising, and also founding a regionally acclaimed theatrical production company. Closing in on fifty years as a broadcaster, Pierce is now building television station affiliates in central and south Louisiana for the new CW network. He continues to write, act, and direct. Riding on the Ether Express is Dave Pierce’s first book.