KCFM was the oldest FM Radio Station west of the Mississippi. For years and years, it was the live broadcast version of "Muzak," oozing sappy Montovani and 101 Strings versions of the classics. Owned by radio pioneer Harry Eidelman, Bo Jagger somehow managed to convince Eidelman to switch formats to an experimental "Soft Rock" format, years before the real thing came along. Mason was hired to do two 5-hour weekend air shifts for the princely sum of $5/hour. In addition to that, Mason convinced the Music Director Al Agius to let him become the "Research Director," whereby Mason would also work during the week, but receive no pay for his weekday efforts. (although he said he was happy just to get business cards)

The building was a pit - a run-down shell that long-ago housed a supermarket. It was on DeBoliviere, between Forest Park Parkway and Delmar, at a time when gunshots rang out regularly, and the only restaurant within miles served Pork St. Paul sandwiches for one dollar, through a bullet-proof glass arrangement. Joe said he lived on those sandwiches. Employees fought to park inside the building (it had a small  garage door whereby you could drive into the building, but not many spaces were available) because if you parked on the lot next to the building, there was more than a good chance your car would be broken into. And if you left your car overnight or longer, you were lucky that it was still there on blocks.

The station was shoved into half of the building. The other half was reserved for Eidelman's "Muzak"-style music service, which he sold to hospitals and elevators across the city, where Montovani was needed commercial-free. He used KCFM's sub-carrier to broadcast the signal and somehow encoded it, so you'd have to lease a (rather large) decoder in order to actually hear the music. The recorded music played automatically from enormous reel to reel tapes that ran at an almost impossibly slow speed. Mason recounts overnight shifts when, as a prank, he would walk by the machines and press his finger against the feeding reel, thereby causing the music to slow down and render a "wow" effect. This would, in turn, cause the phones to ring with complaints from crabby all-night shift nurses, saying the record was warped and please change it.

Joe "Mason" acquired his radio name at KCFM. At the time, almost all radio announcers changed their names from their legal names to something "catchier." Mason asked if he could use his real name; the station said no. At 15 minutes before his first airshift started, he had still not picked a new on-air last name. Then evening and overnight jock Rich Vannoy recalls, "He (Mason) was looking over the playlist sheets we used to keep track of the reel to reels; there were dozens of songs and artists listed on each page. As he looked through the papers, he'd 'try out' each artist's last name as his own, with 'Joe' in front of it. He would read 'Paul McCartney," and then say out loud, 'Joe McCartney.' Then he'd shake his head 'No' and continue to the next name: 'Eric Clapton: Joe Clapton.' No. Then he read aloud (former Traffic member) Dave Mason's name. 'Joe Mason.' Silence. 'Joe Mason.' Silence. Then, Joe smiled and we just knew that would be his name: Joe Mason.  (note: Mason relayed this story to namesake Dave Mason in 2008 when he M.C.d the Dave Mason benefit concert at Lucas Schoolhouse.

Al Agius (turned me on to the Alan Parsons Project's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination."

"Cookie" - Harry Eidelman's odd and funny (unintentionally) brother, who was known on more than one occasion to walk the halls late at night and pop out from behind one of the enormous loud transmitters as one was taking hourly readings in nothing more than a powdered birthday suit.

Gene Page :  A Radio legend

Merrel Hansen - a young salesperson, later to become General manager at KSD-FM

Bill (can't remember his last name): Mason remembers he was envious of him because he had a college degree.

Tom (morning man)

"Shaky" Jack Davis

Harry Eidelman's son, (name): a soft-spoken, nice guy.

Gigi McGrath

Rich Vannoy

Rick

Lou Goad: Former midnight man from KSHE

Ed Bench:  A great engineer. Because of his love for math and all things technical, Mason almost always befriended the engineers at the radio stations where he worked.

Mason's Memories:

• Taking a large, 6 foot tall "War of the Worlds" monster he got from Peaches record stores and dragging it 40 feet up the on-site broadcast tower and tying it there. Neighborhood residents eventually shot it down, as they did with most tower lights. (with thanks to Neal Strickberger and GiGi for spotting)
• Catching fleas. The station played all of its music from large reel to reel tapes. P.D. Jagger had convinced station ownership that the recording should be done at his house (as the Radio Frequency interference was significant from the on-site transmitters and on-site tower) Mason helped record the music in Jagger's basement - while standing on a rug that was, more than once, infested with fleas courtesy of Jagger's pooches. Mason said he didn't mind, as he got to catch glimpses of Jagger's fairly-hot girlfriend from time to time.
• Everyone getting fired over the course of two days after the station was sold and changed format back to Easy Listening (Mason made the cut until the last day)
• Fixing up/painting the Maplewood (movie) theatre to have a KCFM-sponsored Mark Almond concert there.
• Mason's first caricature as air personality (posted on this site)
• Not quite understanding why Jack Davis's "cough" never went away. "Shaky"  repeatedly sent Mason on forays to the drugstore to get him cough syrup with codeine; forays that resulted in Mason signing repeatedly for the medicine. Beloved Davis also was the one who told Mason, when learning he had a new job (next chapter) at KSHE (Davis' former place of employment) , "Make sure you go in the Men's bathroom and look up." A puzzled Mason asked why, and Davis responded, "I used to shoot up in the bathroom and I'd clean out my 'rig" by shooting it on the ceiling!" A horrified Mason eventually did scan the mens' room ceiling, but any evidence had long ago been erased.