Jim Diamond
Long-time legendary disc-jockey Jim Diamond takes us through a half-century of his life and times; through his childhood in Southern California; discovering Top 40 A.M. legends like KFWB, KRLA, and KHJ in Los Angeles. We learn of his passionate love of the business and being on the air...through his earliest experiences as a bootleg radio d.j. at the age of 15! Jim also tells of his musical knowledge of Rock N’ Rolls formative years, when he made radio broadcasting and being a d.j. his life-long career. We read about his eventual move to the Bakersfield area, where he has spent the last 33 years…paying his “dues” several times over! Jim tells the story as it really happened. And he paints a picture of the business that is both fascinating and horrifying!
Through his experiences we learn about both sides of being a radio d.j. We manage to see the underbelly of the radio business as well as many fun and memorable times, too. There are the radio “groupies”; the meeting of many great celebrities from the world of radio, television, and movies. It’s ALL here! “The Diamond Mine” is a wonderful book, well-told by it’s author. It’s a definite “must read” for anyone interested in the radio business in any way. Jim Diamond, a Canadian immigrant to The United States at the age of 8 months…whose real name is Gerald (Gerry) Whitehead, is a real survivor in the ever-changing, hurly-burly world of radio broadcasting. Once you pick up this book, you’ll never want to put it down!
JIM DIAMOND [real name Gerry Whitehead] is a long-time radio veteran; having worked for nearly every Bakersfield radio station over the last 31 years! He is originally from Canada - the land of his birth. But since he only spent the first six months of his life there; before he and his parents moved to California, the considers himself [a naturalized citizen]; as all-American as anyone.
He is 54 years old; married and divorced once, and now resides with ‘The greatest girl in the world;’ his Nancy.
He as raised in Ontario, California and attended Chaffey Junior College in Rancho Cucamonga before moving to Bakersfield in 1973 to pursue his broadcasting career; where he remains today.
His hobbies include record-collecting; all speeds; model railroading, coin-collecting [from all over the world]; vintage radios and record players; radio DXing [Distant Listening]; collecting Coca-Cola memorabilia; books on subjects that interest him. [His tastes are wide and varied; from books on everyone from a news legend like Edward R. Murrow [“One of my journalistic heroes,” he says]; to books on the life and death of President John F. Kennedy to Elvis Presley; to ‘underground’ comics like San Francisco’s legendary ‘Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers;’ to mainstream comics like Superman, Batman, etc. He also...
The story you are about to read, is 100% true.
When I first contemplated writing a book about my radio career and my life up to the present day, I wondered if anyone would really want to read about the ups and downs of a long-time ‘Medium Market’ disc-jockey.
Much to my surprise, when I first bounced the idea off of other co-workers and bosses, they all thought it was a good idea.
I once said to one of my former bosses, “I’ve been promising (or threatening) to write a book about my radio career.” He responded by saying “You should. Then you can talk about all the assholes that fired you!”
So why did I do it? Why did I choose for my life’s work, radio broadcasting, and being the best DJ I could possibly be? Why not a computer programmer, telephone repairman, car mechanic; doctor, lawyer, Indian Chief1? Or a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker? Why not a fireman or a policeman? I can tell you why, very quickly. I never wanted to do anything but be on the radio, from the time I was 14. It was then that I saw my first live DJ in action.
The radio was perhaps the most fantastic discovery of my young life, as you will learn throughout this book.
