This Thursday at 5pm on Talk of the Bay, Rachel Anne Goodman hosts a remembrance of radio and television pioneer, Jeremy Lansman, who was the founder (along with Laura Ellen Hopper and Don Mussell) of the infamous KFAT radio in Gilroy among other accomplishments. Lansman, who passed away on December 28th, was an engineer and visionary who helped spread people’s television and radio around the world. He founded and built KDNA, KRAB, and a lot of other community radio stations. We’ll hear from former KFAT Djs and former staffers, Felton Pruitt, Sister Tiny, Christa Taylor, Ellie May, Larry Yearden, Jeff Cotton, and Bill Goldsmith, and hear some excerpts of what made KFAT a legend in the history of broadcasting. Lansman is the son of the late Elizabeth Gips, host of the long-running show, Changes on KZSC, and was formerly married to Laura Ellen Hopper, of KPIG fame. Their daughter, Ellie May was program director and host at KPIG in Freedom, carrying on her parent’s legacy locally.
Thanks for sharing about Jeremy. I met him first in 1964, at KRAB, where he gave me a dub of a poetry program. I was in junior high school then, but he convinced me I could, and should, volunteer at the station. Relatively quickly I got a third class permit (they were required back then) and was given a engineering and announcing shift. KRAB is gone now, but my post retirement project was building the KRAB Archive, which can be found here: https://www.krabarchive.com/
Jeremy was wonderful, thank you for this memorial broadcast. I worked at KTAO in Los Gatos, California before Lorenzo Milam arrived and stayed there until Lorenzo sold the station in 1974. I worked for Jeremy at KDNA in St. Louis during summer 1971 and loved working with him. In 1982, I reconnected with him at KBDI in Broomfield, Colorado. I am the KTAO/Milam historian and you can visit my KTAO pages at http://afana.org/ktao.htm
I would love to talk with you a little about Jeremy. I am his first cousin and can provide at least a little insight into some of the story. I miss him and am glad I made the effort to build a connection as adults over time.