Ted Alvy COSMOS TOPPER Radio History

Ted Alvy COSMOS TOPPER Home Page "Cosmic Consciousness with a Cosmic Giggle" featuring 60's L.A. Underground Radio (rebop from beatniks to hipsters to hippies), Mallard, Zoot Horn Rollo, Magic Band, Captain Beefheart, Little Feat, Neon Park, Firesign Theatre, Theodore Sturgeon, Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Paul Krassner, Bruce Lee and COSMOS TOPPER (on the Web since September 1995) and TOPPER Films and TV Show
E-MAIL TED ALVY via tedalvy@aol.com

HotLink: "Underground Radioland Murders" Hippie Radio Cybernovel by Ted Alvy
HotLink: KPPC-FM Pasadena Riffs 1967-1971 (several Hippie Radio Web Pages are under construction)

Important Note: SEGUE (pronounced SEG-WAY) is a musical or visual transition point known as a "gapless bridge".

60's LOS ANGELES UNDERGROUND RADIO Brief History:

Los Angeles Native TED ALVY AKA COSMOS TOPPER

KFWB, 1967; KVFM, 1967; KPPC, 1968 and 1970-71; KMET, 1968-70 and 1973-76.

L.A. native Ted Alvy first heard KFWB at age nine soon after PD Chuck Blore debuted his entertaining Top 40 format on January 2, 1958. B. Mitchel Reed became his favorite DJ. Teenage Ted met BMR at the June 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and became his producer and programmer at KFWB featuring album cuts and forever joining the conspiracy to improve the music on the airwaves. In Fall 1967, Ted hosted Sunday Night Folk Festival on Stereo KVFM Van Nuys, but was fired for playing folk-rock and sets of anti-war songs. Ted accompanied B. Mitchel Reed to help pioneer Underground Rock Radio at KPPC-FM in the basement studios of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church. Exactly 10 years after KFWB went Top 40, PD Tom Donahue debuted his KPPC hipster air staff on January 2, 1968:

6AM-11AM   LES CARTER (KBCA-FM)
11AM-4PM   ED MITCHELL (KFRC)
4PM-9PM    B. MITCHEL REED (KFWB, WMCA)
9PM-MID    TOM DONAHUE (KMPX-FM, KYA)
MID-6AM    DON HALL (KPPC-FM)

Ted spent 5 hours daily at the board segueing vinyl records for BMR as producer and programmer, then also substituted for Tom Donahue another 3 hours during the 2 weeks before the KMPX/KPPC Strike began on March 18, 1968. He also compiled a duplicate KPPC Record Library that was used to convert KMET-FM to Underground Rock in June 1968. Ted covertly assembled the KMET Record Library and secretly programmed the 24/7 KMET automation system, while acting as clandestine producer and programmer for BMR. In 1968 and 1969, he was an underground record store buyer at Les Carter's Music Revolution while attending UCLA Film School. Ted returned to KPPC in May 1970 to join creative PD Les Carter. Ted Alvy became Cosmos Topper in January 1971 at KPPC-FM during his 9AM-1PM airshift. Cosmos teamed with production wizard Zach Zenor to create cosmic KPPC station IDs and alternative commercial spots. The entire KPPC air staff was fired on Sunday Night October 24, 1971. Ted continued as surreptitious programmer for his mentor B. Mitchel Reed until June 1976. tedalvy@aol.com is being used to gather information at the Ted Alvy COSMOS TOPPER Home Page for his true-fiction cybernovel titled 60's L.A. Underground Radio: I Was A Teenage Disc Jockey.

HotLink: B. MITCHEL REED Los Angeles Radio Legend

60's LOS ANGELES UNDERGROUND RADIO Brief History:
Los Angeles Native TED ALVY "Cosmos Topper"

1966
KLAV L.A. Valley College Disc Jockey through June 1968 (AA Degree Broadcasting)

1967
KBLA AM Burbank - Intern to Disc Jockey

MONTEREY INTERNATIONAL POP FESTIVAL Correspondent for KLAV & KFWB (BMR)

KFWB AM Los Angeles PRODUCER for B. MITCHEL REED (BMR) and Assistant to Record Librarian

KVFM-FM Van Nuys - SUNDAY NIGHT FOLK FESTIVAL (folk rock) - DISC JOCKEY and Producer

1968
KPPC-FM 106.7 Pasadena, California with TOM DONAHUE as Program Director
First FM ROCK UNDERGROUND RADIO Station in Southern California
located in the basement of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church
(sister station to pioneer Underground Radio Station KMPX-FM in San Francisco)
DISC JOCKEY & Production Assistant & Music Librarian & Producer
PRODUCER/PROGRAMMER/ENGINEER for B. MITCHEL REED (BMR) (from December 31,1967)

KMET-FM Los Angeles (from June 1968 when station went Rock; PRODUCER of first two hour show)
PROGRAMMER of Music songs and sets on twenty-four hour automation equipment
PRODUCER/PROGRAMMER for B. MITCHEL REED (BMR) and Music Librarian

Magnanamus Toke Productions (an early Hippie FM Radio Ad Agency)

LES CARTER's Music Revolution on Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood
(Manager and Buyer for this early Hippie Underground Record Store)

U.C.L.A. FILM SCHOOL (Theatre Arts BA Degree Film/TV) classes through December, 1970

1969
KMET-FM Los Angeles PRODUCER/PROGRAMMAR for B. MITCHEL REED (BMR)
PROGRAMMER of Music songs and sets on twenty-four hour automation equipment

1970
KYMS-FM Santa Ana DISC JOCKEY & Assistant to Music Librarian (until May 15, 1970)

KPPC-FM Pasadena, California with LES CARTER Program Director
DISC JOCKEY/Commercial Producer/Production Coordinator (from May 18, 1970)
(Disc Jockey COSMOS TOPPER there until entire KPPC airstaff was fired and replaced on October 24, 1971)

1971
KFMI-FM Eureka, California PROGRAM DIRECTOR and DISC JOCKEY
Vice President/Co-Owner/General Manager/Commercial Producer (through June 1973)

1973
PRODUCER/Programmer for B. MITCHEL REED (BMR) KMET-FM Los Angeles
Writer and Producer of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Syndicated Radio Special hosted by B. MITCHEL REED

1974
PRODUCER/Programmer for B. MITCHEL REED KMET-FM Los Angeles (through June 1976)

1976
Joined ASCAP [four song lyrics published, recorded and released on Mallard LPs]

Long Journey Into The Cosmos Of The Pacific Northwest (Home of novelist Tom Robbins)

Current projects are Hippie Radio Web Pages and "true fiction" cybernovels:
60's L.A. UNDERGROUND RADIO "I Was A Teenage Disc Jockey" by Ted Alvy
WEST COAST UNDERGROUND RADIO "Songs & Sets & Segue-Ways" by Ted Alvy
© 1995 © 1996 © 1997 © 1998 © 1999 © 2000 © 2001 © 2002 © 2003 © 2004 © 2005 © 2006 © 2007 © 2008 © 2009 © 2010 © 2011 © 2012 © 2013 © 2014 © 2015 Theodore Bruce Alvy
(Book Titles areTrademarks of Ted Alvy)

HotLinks: "Underground Radioland Murders" Hippie Radio Cybernovel by Ted Alvy | KPPC-FM Pasadena Riffs | Ted Alvy COSMOS TOPPER Home Page

E-MAIL TED ALVY via tedalvy@aol.com

PLEASE NOTE: this is a web page for COSMOS TOPPER; a different character is in films and on television spelled "Cosmo" Topper, just as on Seinfeld it is spelled "Cosmo" Kramer.

TOPPER
First Telecast: Oct 9, 1953
Last Telecast: Oct 14, 1956
Oct 1953-Sep 1955 CBS Fri 8:30-9:00
Oct 1955-Mar 1956 ABC Mon 7:30-8:00 [reruns from two CBS seasons]
Jun 1956-Oct 1956 NBC Sun 7:00-7:30 [reruns from two CBS seasons]
Marion Kerby (Anne Jeffreys)
George Kerby (Robert Sterling)
Cosmo Topper (Leo G. Carroll) [City Bank Vice President]
Henrietta Topper (Lee Patrick)
Neil the St. Bernard (Buck)
Katie The Maid (Kathleen Freeman)
Mr. A. Schuyler (Thurston Hall) [City Bank President]
Maggie The Cook (Edna Skinner)
Based on the characters originally created by Thorne Smith from his novel “Topper” (1926).

"Anne Jeffreys as Marion Kerby, the ghostess with the mostess; Robert Sterling as George Kerby, that most sporting spirit; and Leo G. Carroll, host to said ghosts as Topper."

From 1953 “Topper” TV episode about The Astrologer, Madame Caza (Dorothy Adams)
Marion: “No, no, she’s talking about the stars, the universe, the cosmos.”
George: “I didn’t know there were any other Cosmos besides Topper.”

TOPPER (1937)
Director: Norman Z. McLeod; B&W 97 Minutes
Starring: Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, Roland Young, Billie Burke

TOPPER TAKES A TRIP (1939)
Director: Norman Z. McLeod; B&W 85 Minutes
Starring: Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke

TOPPER RETURNS (1941)
Director: Roy Del Ruth; B&W 88 Minutes
Starring: Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Carole Landis, Billie Burke

Current Cosmos Topper projects are Hippie Radio Web Pages and "true fiction" cybernovels:

60's L.A. UNDERGROUND RADIO "I Was A Teenage Disc Jockey" by Ted Alvy

WEST COAST UNDERGROUND RADIO "Songs & Sets & Segue-Ways" by Ted Alvy

© 1995 © 1996 © 1997 © 1998 © 1999 © 2000 © 2001 © 2002 © 2003 © 2004 © 2005 © 2006 © 2007 © 2008 © 2009 © 2010 © 2011 © 2012 © 2013 © 2014 © 2015 Theodore Bruce Alvy
(Book Titles are Trademarks of Ted Alvy)

60's L.A. UNDERGROUND RADIO is a Trademark of Ted Alvy

[cosmic ideas are constantly evolving]

E-MAIL TED ALVY via tedalvy@aol.com

HotLink: Ted Alvy COSMOS TOPPER Home Page
HotLink: "Underground Radioland Murders" Hippie Radio Cybernovel by Ted Alvy
HotLink: KPPC-FM Pasadena Riffs (several Hippie Radio Web Pages are under construction)