Early pirate radio DJ still crazy about being on the air
By Michael Picarella
Acorn Staff Writer

Mike Pasternak

In the 1973 movie "American Graffiti" about teenage suburban life on summer nights in 1962, the voice of radio DJ Wolfman Jack was heard emanating from every radio in town. Movie characters got out of their cars listening to the Wolfman and walked into a diner and heard the same broadcast. Wolfman might have been as popular as the musical artists themselves.

Thousand Oaks resident DJ Emperor Rosko, born Mike Pasternak, spun records during the Wolfman Jack era and Rosko continues to provide the type of entertainment that the Wolfman provided in "American Graffiti" over an Internet radio station.

"I chose this life from the get go when I picked up my first 45-record when I was 10 years old. I used to play them in my room and practice DJing when I was 11," Rosko said. "I’ll go to the grave with a microphone between my teeth."

Rosko started his radio career in the U.S. Navy, broadcasting from an aircraft carrier. A couple years after his stint ended, music group Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs asked him to make a demo tape for a pirate radio station off the coast of England.

In the U.K. in 1965, the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) was the only source of broadcast available and would only play talk shows and classical music, Rosko said. "There was this movement in pop music that was starting to build from the clubs in Liverpool with The Beatles and The Who and all those guys, and there was no outlet," Rosko said. "So along came pirate radio."

Pirate radio, (mostly unlicensed stations), provided pop and rock music broadcasts from a ship (and later many other ships) at sea outside territorial waters.

New and at the time, "wild" music required wild DJs. Rosko’s demo tape for the pirate radio station delivered. He was brought aboard the original pirate radio station, Radio Caroline.

"For 24 hours a day, off this ship out in the channel, we were broadcasting nothing but The Beatles and the Stones," Rosko said. "And that’s what gave birth to the pop business in England. And then a few years later, they all came over here (to the U.S.) and that’s what started the whole British invasion in America."

Nearly 10 million pop and rock ‘n’ roll listeners tuned into the highly-rated Emperor Rosko show. Rosko’s average routine was two weeks at sea and one week on land. But Rosko did longer shifts, he said, because some DJs got seasick.

After four years in the Navy, seasickness meant nothing to Rosko and he often picked up extra shifts, replacing DJs with weaker stomachs. Rosko sometimes worked 20-hour shifts. The only bad thing about being at sea, Rosko recalled, were stormy nights playing records and the needle sliding off the vinyl during a song.

Rosko moved on to Radio Luxembourg in Paris, then to BBC Radio One and in 1976, the same year the British edition of Billboard magazine named Rosko top European DJ. He came back out to California where he was born because his father, Joe Pasternak, who produced movies like "Spinout" with Elvis Presley, was ill.

Rosko continued as a disc jockey in his Thousand Oaks home, sending his show overseas to the U.K. During his career, Rosko received many awards and has radio experience all over the globe. He thrills at the mention of his work with Wolfman Jack and Casey Kasem and many others that helped hone his style, he said.

"My style can be described as a mixture of a dozen of the great personalities," Rosko said. Overall, he said, his mission is to have fun. And he spared no expense in his time as a DJ.

Legend has it that Rosko was notorious for throwing records he didn’t like through the portholes of the pirate radio ship, even if the record label owned the ship. He pulled other stunts, according to stories, that got him fired more than once.

It’s the kind of stuff that should be in a movie, Rosko said. And a movie is possible. Rosko said there’s been talk of a movie about his life that could star Adam Sandler.

Until then, Rosko is just having fun. You might see him around town. He operates a DJ service and does parties and special events. Rosko Party Productions can be reached at (805) 373-0708.

Rosko also does voice-overs for TV, has recorded some of his own music and you can watch him in a few movies, including "The Jazz Singer" with Neil Diamond. He can now be heard at www.classicgolddigital.com Friday nights beginning at 7 p.m. He tries to put personality back on the air, he said.

"I grew up in an era when personality disc jockeys were what they wanted," Rosko said. "Today they don’t want personality disc jockeys. Today they want somebody to say, ‘you’re listening to...’" There are exceptions, Rosko said, but not many.

"Basically, all the radio stations got bought by corporations and the suit mentality is terrified of any kind of controversy, which is what comes from DJs who are personalities, which is what the listener wants."

But people want personality, Rosko said, and people have proven in the past that they can get what they want.

"Today they (the corporations) don’t want personality disc jockeys, but who knows," Rosko said, "maybe a pirate station will come along and change all that."