Because the blues and classic rock tracks on KOCI are played interruption free, people who happen upon the station get drawn in, and sooner than they know it end up getting involved as guests and workers. Such was the case with Fuschetti, the station’s jocular, 38-year-old protégé who grew up in town.
“I was listening at a bar and I hadn’t heard a commercial in a week, and then a DJ came on and said, ‘We need some volunteers.’” He grabbed a pen, wrote down the station’s phone number, called Helvey and was part of the team.
During Jorgensen’s blues show a few weeks ago, a couple of local musicians — the pianist and saxophone player from Balboa Blues — stopped by the station in denim jeans and T-shirts, and had an impromptu interview with Dr. Barry on the way to a nighttime gig at the Westside Bar and Grill.
The amazing thing about the station — operating alongside so many nationwide mega stations — is that it’s so unscripted, unplanned and raw. The guys are all energetic and love to talk about music and the station’s future. Sometimes Helvey and Fuschetti would continue a heated conversation in the broadcasting booth while Jorgensen was addressing the radio audience, to the DJ’s chagrin. At one point Jorgensen — clearly a little distracted by the chatting — tried a preemptive strike. “OK, quiet!” he said as a track wound down.
The others in the room were silent. Then, as the music faded out and Jorgensen prepared to speak Helvey tried to discreetly grab a bag of Sun Chips on the desk next to him and ended up spilling them all over the DJ’s lap.
With an ironic smile on his face, Jorgensen, ad libbing into the mic, said, “I’m joined here in the studio by Brian Helvey and Don ‘Foosh’ Fuschetti, spilling my chips and eating my pizza as we have a party here.”
Mistakes are made and corrected, issues are worked through, but at the end of the day the show goes on.
ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.
