Among the evergreens at
Portola Redwoods State Park, Santa Cruz Mountains.
On the trail in the Santa Catalina Mountains above Tucson, Arizona.
In a broadcasting career dating to the latter years of the Reagan administration, Tommy has been fortunate enough to call FM 94/9 home for longer than any other station he's worked for. Frankly, its spoiled him rotten.
One of the original crop of FM 94/9 DJs, Tommy is also the only FM 94/9 jock to have worked every daypart at the station: mornings, middays, afternoons, and evenings. In this business, if you manage to hang around someplace long enough, you'll eventually wind up doing everything.
In addition to serving in various on-air capacities, and in particular, as
co-host and producer of the FM 94/9 Morning Program with
Garett and then
Hansen from 2007 to 2010, Tommy is also the
Public Affairs Director for the San Diego Lincoln Financial Media cluster, and the host of
Living Better In San Diego.
An avid outdoorsman, conservationist, and advocate for parks, wilderness, and the environment, Tommy is also the
founder, producer, and host of the only environmentally-themed show on San Diego commercial radio,
Treehuggers International, which he originally began while at KNDD in Seattle before his most recent return to San Diego in 2007.
For his efforts helping raise awareness about the proposed Foothill South 241 toll road through the backcountry of San Onofre State Beach and the threat posed to the San Mateo Campground, San Mateo Creek, and world-famous surfing spot at Trestles, Tommy was
awarded the
San Diego Surfrider chapter's Clean Water Award in 2008.
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." - Pres. Dwight Eisenhower
"This generation must come to terms with nature, and I think we're challenged, as mankind has never been challenged before, to prove our maturity and our mastery: not of nature, but of ourselves." - Rachel Carson
"Fixed fortifications are monuments to man's stupidity." - Gen. George Patton
"Well-informed letters about the wildland are crucial. Your feet, taking one step at a time at a studiously slow pace, know the land better than the heads of any elected officials. Insert into those heads what your feet know." - Harvey Manning
"Crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations, that already challenge our government to a trial by strength." - Pres. Thomas Jefferson
"We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution." - Bill Hicks
"Lighthouses are more helpful than churches." - Benjamin Franklin
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves." - Pres. Abraham Lincoln
"If you do not want to be criticized, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." - Fred Shero
"My hope is you will conclude there has to be a better solution to international differences and problems than sending young men and young women out to kill each other with rifles." - Lt. Col. Hal Moore
"Shortsighted men in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things." - Pres. Theodore Roosevelt
"We realize Earth is special. We've seen it from afar. We realize Earth is the only natural home for man we know of, and we had better protect it." - Astronaut James Irwin
"Any fool can destroy trees. They cannot run away; and if they could, they would still be destroyed, chased and hunted down as long as fun or a dollar could be got out of their bark hides. God has cared for these trees, but he cannot save them from fools. Only Uncle Sam can do that." - John Muir
I hope you can make time to see the full version of Errol Morris' stunning 2004 documentary
The Fog of War, made up of a series of fascinating interviews with former Defense Secretary
Robert McNamara, who served at the height of the Cold War and Vietnam War in the 1960s, and helped avert disaster during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. A truly important, endlessly relevant film. Seek it out on DVD, and check out this clip:
1. When did you first come to San Diego?
I first visited San Diego in October 1999 while I was living in Seattle, and first moved here several weeks after the sign-on of FM 94/9 in January 2003.
2. What is your favorite thing / attribute / place in or about San Diego?
My favorite thing about San Diego is the abundance of activities in the Great Outdoors, including Cabrillo National Monument, Torrey Pines State Reserve, Cuyamaca and Palomar Mountain State Parks, Santa Ysabel Open Space Reserve, El Capitan Open Space Reserve, Mt. Laguna, the Tijuana River Estuary, San Elijo Lagoon, the Santa Margarita River, San Diego River, and of course, Balboa Park. Nearby Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is, of course, a wild hiker's paradise, providing you're not out there in the middle of summer.
3. Where is your favorite place to eat in San Diego?
• Tobey's 19th Hole Cafe - Balboa Park Golf Course
• Mama Testa - Hillcrest
• Bay Park Fish Company - Bay Park
• El Pescador - La Jolla
• The City Deli - Hillcrest
• Hob Nob Hill - Bankers Hill
• Regents Pizzeria - UTC
• Pizzeria Luigi's - Golden Hill
• Pipe's - Cardiff
• Ortega's - Ocean Beach
• Bronx Pizza - Hillcrest
• Carino's - La Jolla
• Rocky's - Crown Point
• DiMille's - Normal Heights
• Descanso Junction - Descanso
• Casa Machado - Montgomery Field
4. What are the top shows / concerts you’ve been to?
• R.E.M. with Billy Bragg and Robyn Hitchcock
Capitol Theater
Charleston, West Virginia
April 28, 1991
• Lollapalooza with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, the Jesus and Mary Chain,
Ice Cube, Ministry, Pearl Jam and Lush
Riverbend Music Center
Cincinnati, Ohio
July 28, 1992
• Bruce Springsteen
Veterans Auditorium
Columbus, Ohio
December 11, 1996
• Steve Earle
Belly Up Tavern
Solana Beach, California
February 10, 2005
• Billy Bragg and the Blokes
Moore Theater
Seattle, Washington
September 30, 2000
• Pearl Jam
Irvine Meadows
Irvine, California
June 3, 2003
• The Ramones and Social Distortion
The Newport
Columbus, Ohio
October 30, 1990
• The Replacements
Graffiti
Pittsburgh, PA
August 7, 1987
5. What are the 20 albums you can’t live without?
• The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)
• The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks (1977)
• Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
• The Beatles - The Beatles / White Album (1968)
• My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
• Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978)
• The Clash - London Calling (1979)
• The Who - Live At Leeds (1970)
• Steve Earle - Train A Comin' (1995)
• The Stooges - Fun House (1970)
• R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant (1986)
• James Brown - Funk Power (1970)
• Son Volt - Trace (1995)
• Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (1975)
• Motorhead - Ace of Spades (1980)
• The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers (1967)
• Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
• Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Orange (1994)
• U2 - The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
• The Harder They Come - Soundtrack (1972)
6. Recommend daily weblinks?
• Los Angeles Times - With all due respect to the hometown papers, the L.A. Times simply has more homegrown content, less wire stories, and better information.
• Wikipedia - I can't think of a day where I don't use this website 10 or 20 times. Endlessly handy and convenient, especially in a pinch.
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) - Obsessed with earthquakes and earth sciences in general? Go no further than this website.
• Politico - An extremely informative and well-written site featuring all the political maneuvering and realities of the day.
• Grist - A very clever and similarly well-written site with a humorous take on environmental topics and issues. Bookmark this, I guarantee this will be one of your favorite websites.
• Treehuggers International - Updated daily, with new shows podcast and hysterical amounts of content, both new and archived.
7. What are your favorite San Diego craft brews?
• Stone Ruination IPA
• Ballast Point Sculpin IPA (limited release)
• Coronado Mermaids Red Ale
• Firehouse American Pale Ale (seriously, no beer goes better with fish tacos than this)
• Green Flash West Coast IPA
• Ale Smith Nautical Nut Brown
8. If you went into the witness protection program and had to rename yourself, what would it be?
Wicked Lester, Keyser Söze, or Mad Pete Trullo
9. If you had to create a burrito, what would be in it and what would its name be?
The Runny Tommy
10. What books would you recommend everyone read?
• Catch 22, by Joseph Heller (1961)
• All Quiet On the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque (1928)
• Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson (1962)
• Cadillac Desert, by Marc Resiner (1986)
• Wartime, by Paul Fussell (1989)
• All the President's Men, by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward (1975)
• Animal Farm, by George Orwell (1945)
• The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck (1939)
• The Wild Cascades, by Harvey Manning (1965)
• We Were Soldiers Once, by Hal Moore and Joseph Galloway (1992)
• Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, by Hunter Thompson (1971)
• Ramona, by Helen Hunt Jackson (1884)
• The Mountains of California, by John Muir (1894)
• A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin (1991)
• Tatoosh, by Martha Hardy (1947)
11. What is your dream car?
Aside from having some energy-efficient, four-wheel drive vehicle which doesn't exist yet, I'll have to go with a car which actually exists, and nothing is cooler than a restored and tip-top shape 1969 Chevrolet Camaro.
12. Heroes (come on, don't tell us you don't have any)
• John Muir, conservationist (1838-1914)
• Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States and conservationist (1858-1919)
• Stephen T. Mather, founder of the National Park Service (1867-1930)• William O. Douglas, Supreme Court Justice and conservationist (1898-1980)
• Howard Zahniser, activist and writer (1906-1964)
• Ira Spring, photographer and conservationist (1918-2003)
• Harvey Manning, activist and writer (1925-2006)
• Paul Fussell, historian and social critic (1924- )
• Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States and social justice advocate (1924- )
• Noam Chomsky, philosopher (1928- )
• Carl Sagan, astronomer (1934-1996)
• Bill Hicks, prophet (1961-1994)
Three Guitars: Garett, Tommy, and Jeremy.
Garett and Tommy at the FM 94/9 Anniversary Bash 2008.
Garett and Tommy at the 2004 FM 94/9 Super Bowl Party.
Prizes for Everyone: "I can't read this person's name either."
Lunch at Hodad's: Ocean Beach, November 2004.
Thank you! Receiving my Surfrider Clean Water Award, May 2008.