One Man’s Crusade to Rehire a Deejay

His day-glo orange business card lists his various occupations--tax adviser, business consultant, piano player, marathon runner and stand-up comic--and now Larry Greenblatt can add another to his list of specializations: deejay promoter.

Greenblatt, 38, is a man obsessed. An accountant by day, at night he haunts local concert halls and comedy clubs in a quest to reinstate his favorite deejay, Peter Tilden, to the air waves.

Tilden, the host of the morning show on KLSX-FM (97.1), was fired on July 12 after eight months on the air. KLSX General Manager Bob Moore said the ratings on Tilden’s show plummeted and surveys indicated that listeners wanted less talk and more music on the classic rock station. Tilden was replaced by former KMET jock David Perry and Kate Hayes on the morning shift.

If you’ve been to a pop music concert in the last three weeks, you’ve undoubtedly run across Greenblatt and his petition. So far, Greenblatt has collected 6,000 signatures, including those of Mayor Tom Bradley, NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff and rocker Edgar Winter.

Greenblatt’s goal is 25,000 signatures. He plans to take the petition to KLSX in hopes of getting Tilden rehired; failing that, he said he will carry it “to every TV and radio station that will hear me in town.”

Sounding like a cross between a carnival barker and a slick, high-pressure salesman, Greenblatt attracted a fair amount of attention Tuesday night outside the Greek Theatre.

“OK, folks, we’re back. The one-man crusade is here,” he proclaimed. “We’re trying to get Peter Tilden back on the radio, the local deejay who was fired.”

When Greenblatt approached a 30-ish man, the low-key response was typical: “I never heard of this guy. Why was he fired?”

“Low ratings.”

The man signed.

Greenblatt’s affinity for Tilden is multifaceted. He said he began listening to the 6-10 a.m. program in an effort to get over a failed love affair. It worked. Tilden’s humor brought him out of his depression, he said. Tilden also gave Greenblatt a shot on his show as “Greenblatt, the Singing Accountant.” Greenblatt, who bears a resemblance to Woody Allen, provided tax tips in song.

But most of all, Greenblatt, who said he has devoted some 150 hours to reinstating Tilden, explained that, “When I wake up in the morning, I want to hear a guy with half a brain. . . . Peter Tilden just brightened the lives of thousands of thinking people.”

Said a young woman picnicking outside the Greek Theatre: “I used to listen to him. I thought he was pretty funny. I’ll sign.”

A pair of young women, when informed of a common complaint against Tilden, asked Greenblatt: “Did he talk too much?”

“I don’t think so,” Greenblatt said. “I think he had a lot to say.”

The two women signed.

“All over America, people are coming together to bring Peter Tilden back on the radio,” Greenblatt yelled to no one in particular.

Not everyone is coming together, however.

“I don’t know who he is,” said one man as he declined. “He’s just not well-known.”

“I wouldn’t sign for the Pope of Rome,” said another.

“Sorry, I listen to Ken and Bob (on KABC-AM),” said a third.

Tilden, who is writing scripts for a television sitcom, producing radio and television commercials and looking for another radio gig, said he’s heard of Greenblatt’s one-man campaign.

“Everywhere I go somebody tells me, ‘You know, I ran into this guy with this petition,’ ” Tilden said Wednesday in a phone interview. “It’s great. I’m just real flattered that people still remember who I am. Usually, when you go off the air, that’s the last time you hear of someone.”

“I’m flattered that he’s doing it,” Tilden said. “I just hope he doesn’t get in trouble and he doesn’t bother too many people.”

Greenblatt did have a run-in with the Los Angeles Police Department outside the Greek Theatre. Six officers informed Greenblatt that he was trespassing on private property by standing near the entrance with his petition.

But the incident only made him more determined.

“I’m allowed at the Universal Amphitheatre, I’m allowed at the Wiltern Theatre, I don’t know why I’m not allowed at the Greek Theatre,” he said. “I’m up against this a lot--a lot of abuse. I have to harness it into positive energy. The more that these cops harass me, the harder I work to get Peter back on the radio.”