Jed The Fish, Kroq's long -standing DJ whose tastes have set up the station as a major musical influence in the 80s and 90s, died on Monday morning. He was 69 years old.
“A legend of the waves, Jed was a pioneering voice on alternative radio, a beloved chaos agent, and the man who made the afternoon of Los Angeles more strange, stronger and infinitely more interesting,” wrote friend Paul Sinacore, a casting director, producer and drummer of the East of Gideon group, in a taxpayer. “More than 34 years on the afternoon journey, he transformed the waves into a launch of new music and revolutionary culture.”
Jed, whose first name was Edwin Jed Fish Gould III, died at Maison à Pasadena under palliative care, confirmed his close friends in Times. The cause of death was an aggressive form of small cell lung cancer that was diagnosed in early March.
“At 6 am on April 14, 2025, the world lost a (de) its most unique and brilliant personalities,” announced its social media accounts, managed by a friend Catherine Davis. “Jed the fish has died peacefully in his beloved house, and the world will never be the same again. Rip Jed, go be with Alice ” – Her beloved dog.
His relaxed voice – the one that was unusual for radio – and its impeccable taste in music practically defined South California during its stay on Kroq -FM (106.7). Most importantly, he presented countless groups to the local public, often before they were playing in the places they were greeted.
A list of groups he has highlighted is read as a story of rock music: Depeche mode, The Cure, Duran Duran, The Smiths, Siouxsie and Les Banshees, the B-52, The Go-Go's, The Germs, The PRETERDERS, Devo, Blondie, The Ramones, The Runaway X, Social Distortion, Oasis, Dramarama, Perry, Teenage Fanclub, The Donnas, Progenity and Down system.
His interviews on the air included discussions with David Bowie, U2, Elvis Costello, Brian Eno, Sting and the police.
“I was a fan of Jed and his programs on @Kroq long before I met him,” the guitarist and the support singer for offspring wrote on Monday, wrote Monday on Instagram. “He was the first DJ in Spin comes out and playing on the radio, which changed the trajectory of our groups in a way that we never believed possible. … His sense of humor was crazy in all the best manners. … Jed is forever a local hero who we will miss a lot. Rip Legend!”
With “Catch of the Day”, Gould underlined the new music with his brand irreverence. The madness inherent in its diffusion has maintained hooked fans. Sinacore, who met Gould in 1990 in the green whiskey room at Go Go to West Hollywood, said the show “was not only a show – it was an event.”
“He captured the Zeitgeist of the alternative era, understanding that music was not only entertainment – it was the heart rate of a generation. He was in the pulse of cultural changes that were happening around him, bringing the listeners the soundtrack of their rebellion, their youth and their identity,” wrote Sinacore.
“It was the incredible fortune of he was here and that it was then,” said the longtime friend Rudy Koerner on Monday in a telephone interview.
Never a smoker, Goud had supposed until the end of January that the irritation he suffered was residual at the devastating forest fire at the beginning of the month in Altadena, Koerner said. When other doctors could not find a simple cause after excluding forest smoke and an infection, Dr. Drew Pinsky, also a Kroq veteran, suggested that he was scanned in case it was more serious, said Koerner. Unfortunately, it was.
Born on July 15, 1955 in the County of Orange, Gould obtained his first -class Radio operator license in 1971, at the age of 16, and programmed and organized a radio program for adolescents of Arizona Rural. He was finally dismissed from the concert because he chose to recite the famous piece of George Carlin on the seven words that you cannot say on television, said Koerner. It turns out that you could not say them on the radio either.
Koerner and Gould met in the 1970s at the USC, where they lived in adjacent dormitories and both specialized in broadcast journalism. Gould graduated from the USC a few years after Koerner, after taking time to work in a radio station in the County of Orange.
He launched himself like “Jed the Fish” in Kroq in a leaflet copied on pink salmon paper with a grainy photo which seemed to be slightly dressed – if it is dressed – sitting in a wheelchair. There was also a small diagram of a fish. “Watch hearing! It's true! Jed will happen absolutely free! On your station!” Said the leaflet under the banner of a Kroq “Summer Fishfry”. “30 hours per week or minus 90 days max without fur!”
He had the concert.
In the 1970s, Jed The Fish started Kroq in this leaflet as “cheap!” Option that “allowed absolutely for free!” on the radio station. He obtained the position.
(Jed the fish)
As Fish, he hosted the afternoon show on Kroq from 1978 to 2012, and his unique taste in music set up the station as a authority on Punk and New Wave in the 1980s and Alt-Rock in the 1990s. Jed influenced Kroq, the station influenced Los Angeles, the influence in California and California, influenced the taste of the nation, Koerner. (“How it's going to kroq, goes to the country”, ” Noodles joked at the time in 2024.)
“He really had no fear about the types of artists he played,” said Koerner before relaying a story about how Jed decided to play one of Michael Jackson's “Off The Wall” on Kroq one night and a boy, he obtained comments. “His listeners were not used to hearing Michael Jackson Tunes” – at least not songs from the adult Jackson – “and they said to themselves:” What is hell? “” But Jed said: “It's good”, and that was the case.
“The radio is so ephemeral,” said Koerner, “not reaching the memories of the listeners any further. And Jed was so in the moment.”
Certain promotions and appointments that are still used on Kroq today have been created by Gould in the station studio “When Jimmy Carter was president,” he said. “And they always seem fresh.”
He hosted the syndicated countdown “Out of Order” countdown from 1994 to 2013. Gould left for Kroq to work at KcSn-FM (88.5) and Klos-FM (95.5), then in 2019, joined the “ROQ of the 80s” range on the HROQ HROQ HD2 station, broadcast online. He was named modern rock personality of the year of Billboard in 1997 and 1999 and won the modern local rock personality of Radio & Records. In 2004, he was named one of the best radio personalities in Los Angeles.
Gould was also a drummer – playing with System of A Down at one of the famous roasted roasters of Weenie de Kroq – and tried music production and the visual arts. Massive and offbeat statues and tiled statues built by Gould sit in gardens, trails and landscaping lush around his house, which went to the market briefly In 2017. “It's like something” Alice in Wonderland, “said the list agent at the time. “In the backyard, you really see the personality of the owner.”
Davis said on Monday by phone that she considered him his “chosen family” and uncle to his children. “When he loved, he loved it,” she said. “He was bigger than life.”
Gould returned from several weeks to the hospital the day before his death, returning to the Victorian house of the Queen of the colorful turning point of the turn of the century he loved. He had updated the Foster / Blankenhorn house – which he bought in 1994, when she was already 100 years old – with an soundproofed music studio outside the garage.
Koerner said that the start of last week, friends all thought that chemotherapy would be the next Gould, who had been Koerner's best wedding man. “We still thought he had options,” he said. Then “it went from one thing to another” and suddenly turned into a race against time.
He died almost exactly at 6 am, Koerner said, which was perfect because he was never in the morning.
“He leaves to mourn a community of artists, misdeeds and fans who have been changed by the sound of his voice – and the daring freedom she represented,” wrote Sinacore. “Jed The Fish has not only played the blows. He was the disturbance, the detour, the spark of the signal.”
