George Gimarc - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

George Gimarc is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

disc jockey, record and radio program producer and author based in Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. He is known for his extensive and authoritative knowledge about the classic rock

Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...

radio format, recorded music in general, and specifically the era of punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

. His broadcast programs have been heard in various formats in the US

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, via licensed stations and unlicensed pirate radio

Pirate radio

Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...

transmitters.

Early life

After attending Wallace Elementary School in Dallas, George Gimarc graduated from Lake Highlands High School

Lake Highlands High School

Lake Highlands High School is a secondary school serving grades 10-12 located in the Lake Highlands area of Dallas, Texas, United States, primarily serving the Lake Highlands community. The school is part of the Richardson Independent School District and is located centrally within Lake Highlands...

in the Class of 1975.

DJ career

Gimarc began his career as an intern at WRR AM in Dallas, then worked at college as a disc jockey on the University of North Texas

University of North Texas

The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...

radio station KNTU

KNTU

KNTU is the campus radio station of the University of North Texas which was formerly known as North Texas State University at Denton, Texas. The signal of the station covers much of the Dallas and Fort Worth Metroplex of North Texas with a format of news and primarily Jazz music...

. In the spring of 1977, he started a new weekly show, that eventually became known as The Rock & Roll Alternative. This was one of the first regular New Wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

or punk radio shows in the United States.

The Rock & Roll Alternative program was responsible for introducing acts such as R.E.M.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

, The Go-Go's

The Go-Go's

The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....

, U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

, The Psychedelic Furs, The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

, Devo

Devo

Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...

, The B-52's

The B-52's

The B-52's are an American rock band, formed in Athens, Georgia in 1976. The original line-up consisted of Fred Schneider , Kate Pierson , Cindy Wilson , Ricky Wilson , and Keith Strickland . Following Ricky Wilson's death in 1985 Strickland switched to guitar...

, XTC

XTC

XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...

, The Smiths

The Smiths

The Smiths were an English alternative rock band, formed in Manchester in 1982. Based on the song writing partnership of Morrissey and Johnny Marr , the band also included Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce...

, The Cult

The Cult

The Cult are a British rock band that was formed in 1983. They gained a dedicated following in Britain in the mid 1980s as a post-punk band with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love...

, and hundreds of others to the listening audience of the Dallas and Fort Worth metroplex listening area from 1977 onwards. It went through three different theme songs, but it's most familiar was the one provided by new friends The Bangles

The Bangles

The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...

when they were recording their first album.

The Rock & Roll Alternative program moved to commercial radio on May 18, 1980 and continued for 14 years until it was retired. Along the way, it was heard on four different licensed stations throughout its run in Texas - KNTU / KZEW / KNON/ KDGE. After the show moved to KZEW

KZEW

KZEW is a radio station broadcasting an adult contemporary music format. Licensed to Wheatland, Wyoming, USA, the station is currently owned by Smith Broadcasting, Incorporated, and features programming from CNN Radio and Dial Global....

(The Zoo) in Dallas, George Gimarc in association with John England began to promote the ideology of free radio

Free Radio

Free Radio is a television show, created by Lance Krall and Rory Rosegarten. The show originated on VH1, but has also played on Comedy Central, and Super Channel . It stars Lance Krall, prominent for his role on The Joe Schmo Show, and Anna Vocino, who also starred with Krall on The Lance Krall...

(as opposed to government censored radio) within the show. Gimarc announced the show as being heard on the flagship station KZEW and the Four Freedoms World Service (4FWS) which relayed the program via recordings for retransmission by a network of unlicensed pirate radio

Pirate radio

stations that transmitted on AM

Amplitude modulation

Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...

, FM

Frequency modulation

In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...

and shortwave

Shortwave

Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...

in Europe

Europe

, and shortwave from New Zealand

New Zealand

via KIWI Radio, to Australasia

Australasia

Australasia is a region of Oceania comprising Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes...

. A Texas network of Public-access television

Public-access television

Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...

cable TV channels called 4FTN, also aired special editions of Gimarc's programs.

While Gimarc was hosting The Rock & Roll Alternative on KZEW-FM, in 1982 he also became music director on its sister AM station KRQX (K-Rocks) and turned it into a new format designed to be the flipside to the AOR sister station KZEW. While the Zoo was playing Kansas, The Eagles and Eddie Money, this new station played the older items they could no longer fit into the playlist - the Beatles, CCR, and Hendrix. Gimarc called it 'Classic Rock' and soon the format would spread to many other stations.

In 1987, after both KZEW and KRQX changed ownership (from Belo to Anchor) and formats, he began a new program called Back Pages on KZPS in Dallas. This was an eclectic classic rock show combining rare records, intriguing stories and listener requests.

In 1989, Gimarc was the first official hire of the new station KDGE (The Edge) where he developed the new commercial alternative format along with Wendy Naylor. He was on air daily in the afternoons and served as Music Director as well as doing the R&R Alternative for another year or so. He, and several other key members of the staff were shown the door in 1993 when the station decided to take a more mainstream (chart) approach to music, and was no longer as keen on breaking new acts, as they were of following new trends.

After years of music radio, Gimarc ventured in to talk radio via the several appearances he'd made in the 1990s as a regular guest in Dallas with Mark Davis and Kevin McCarthy. He got his own show on the Texas State Network on Saturday nights and it was called The Lost Tapes. Again, it was songs and the stories behind them, with frequent guests and off-beat topics. The program even had one of the last interviews with Buddy Ebsen

Buddy Ebsen

Buddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...

discussing his long and unknown singing career.

Gimarc's newest innovation is Radio Sass (Short Attention Span System), a new protocol for music radio allowing a broadcaster to play up to twice as much music in an hour as was previously possible, by cutting out parts of the song, time-compressing the music and other electronic "slice and dice" techniques. Gimarc is so proud of this new form of "radio formatics" that he has successfully filed for a U.S. Patent on the technique. Gimarc promotes the method as "groundbreaking in its approach to streamlining radio for modern listeners", despite the contention of his critics that what Gimarc calls "streamlining" is really "butchering" and "dumbing down". At this time, there is great enthusiasm among corporate radio interests and conglomerates that this may be the future path for Top 40 and CHR formats.

Producer and author

While at KDGE, Gimarc produced and financed the twice-annual Tales From The Edge CD releases, eventually producing eleven volumes. All were loaded with unsigned local acts from North Texas, and many groups found this to be their first ever release on CD. The CDs typically sold out in a month or so. In all, over 100,000 Tales From The Edge CDs hit the streets of Dallas.

After leaving the station Gimarc also produced the Edge Home Movie, a music video collection hosted by Edge DJs, that was a free video rental via Blockbuster outlets in DFW. 1,000 units were produced each month, and there were about a dozen issues before the station lost interest in promoting videos from alternative bands that weren't necessarily on their playlist yet.

In addition to his on-air work and CDs, Gimarc became the sole writer for Rotten Day, a nationally syndicated radio program starring John Lydon

John Lydon

John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...

, which aired in over 50 markets. When the radio show, distributed by Album Network, concluded its run, John Lydon and Gimarc moved on to VH1 with the show 'Rotten Television' While doing the irreverent program for VH1, Lydon also got to be a live host on the red carpet for the Grammy Awards, with Gimarc helping along with special material and props for the guests. Gimarc acted as consultant for the Time/Life and The History of Rock and Roll series, compiled several record collections and written liner notes for many record labels. He has also written several books, including Punk Diary 1970-1979 'Punk Diary 1980-1982 and Hollywood Hi Fi.

Despite his past reputation as a punk-rock maverick and alt-culture guru, Gimarc recently surprised friends and fans by helping to develop a successful radio program for fundamentalist Christian TV personality and former Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee.

Published works

Punk Diary 1970-79: "The beginning of punk in 1970. There are over 2,000 music news entries and 1,000 recordings detailed. Rare records are annotated with details."

Post-Punk Diary 1980-1982: "The mutation of punk into the thrash

Thrash

Thrash may refer to:*Thrashing , where increasing resources are used to do a decreasing amount of work*Thrash , mascot of the Atlanta Thrashers-Music:*Thrash metal, a subgenre of heavy metal music...

and Oi!

Oi!

Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....

movements, the rise of the New Romantic

New Romantic

New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...

movement with groups like Duran Duran

Duran Duran

Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...

, Visage

Visage

Visage are a British New Wave rock band. Formed in 1978, the band became closely linked to the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement of the early 1980s, and are best known for their 1980 hit "Fade to Grey".-New Wave years :...

and Spandau Ballet

Spandau Ballet

Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...

. America heard new music from Boy George

Boy George

Boy George is a British singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...

, R.E.M.

R.E.M.

, 10,000 Maniacs

10,000 Maniacs

10,000 Maniacs is a United States-based alternative rock band, which formed in 1981 and continues to be active with various line-ups.-1981–1993:...

, and The Bongos

The Bongos

The Bongos were a rock band from Hoboken, New Jersey, primarily active in the 1980s. With a unique blend of British Invasion-flavored power pop, jangly guitars, and dance beats they made the leap to national recognition with the advent of MTV.-Biography:...

. Although it only covers three years in music, this complete day-by-day diary includes over 900 bands and in excess of 3,300 records."

Punk Diary 1970-82: The above two books combined into one publication.

Hollywood Hi Fi, (with Pat Reeder), St. Martin's Press: "An overview of 125 recordings by singing celebrities who really should never have been allowed into a recording studio. You wouldn't believe the songs sung by Jerry Mathers

Jerry Mathers

Gerald Patrick "Jerry" Mathers is an American television, film, and stage actor. Mathers is best known for his role in the television sitcom series Leave It to Beaver , in which he played Theodore "Beaver" Cleaver, the younger son of archetypal suburban couple June and Ward Cleaver , and the brother...

, Joe Pesci

Joe Pesci

Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...

, Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

, Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....

, Bette Davis

Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

, Hogan's Heroes

Hogan's Heroes

Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...

, Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers

Joan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...

, Rex Reed

Rex Reed

Rex Taylor Reed is an American film critic and former co-host of the syndicated television show At the Movies. He currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer.-Life and career:...

, Mae West

Mae West

Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....

and others."

External links

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