Michael Joseph Pasternak (born 26 December 1942), known by his stage name Emperor Rosko, is an American presenter of

rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid-1960s, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdo ...

programmes, most widely known for his shows on

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopol ...

and

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

in the UK in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Early life

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, he is the son of Hollywood film producer

Joe Pasternak Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood Musical film, "Golden Age" of musicals ...

. He was influenced in his career choice by Los Angeles disc jockeys Lord Tim Hudson at KFWB and

Wolfman Jack Robert Weston Smith (January 21, 1938July 1, 1995), known as Wolfman Jack, was an American disc jockey active for over three decades. He was famous for his gravelly voice, and credited it with his success, saying, "It's kept meat and potatoes on ...

at XERB the Mighty 1090 (Rosarito Beach MX). Pasternak's opportunity to broadcast came when he was in the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

, where he presented a show on the aircraft carrier , using the name Michael Prescott. He then moved to Europe and hosted sponsored programmes in France and Andorra.

Origin of stage name

In an interview with Chris Edwards, for Offshore Echoes, Rosko explained: "I used to listen to a guy named Roscoe, who used to listen to a guy called Boscoe and the double-syllable name ending in "o" was synonymous with rhythm and rhyme which was a precursor to rap. I also used to listen to several other people like Wolfman, Tom Donahue, etc. So I took a little bit of everybody and became Emperor Rosko to distinguish myself from all the others."

Offshore radio

He joined

, a

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

station broadcasting from a ship off the coast of Britain, in April 1966. There, his American-influenced fast-paced presentation style soon made him one of the station's best-loved DJs. He was often joined on air by his mynah bird Alfie. After his time at Radio Caroline, speaking fluent French, he presented for French-language stations Radio Monte Carlo and

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

as "Le Président Rosko". Rosko compered the Stax/Volt Tour of Europe in 1967 and can be heard introducing Booker T. & the M.G.'s,

the Bar-Kays The Bar-Kays is an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including " Soul Finger" (US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 17, R&B number 3) in 1967, "Son of Shaft" (R&B number 10) in ...

Carla Thomas Carla Venita Thomas (born December 21, 1942) is an American singer, who is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul. She is best known for her 1960s recordings for Atlantic and Stax including the hits " Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" (1960) ...

Eddie Floyd Eddie Lee Floyd (born June 25, 1937) is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s, including the No. 1 R&B hit song " Knock on Wood". Early life and education Floy ...

Sam & Dave Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore (1935–2025) and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988). Nicknamed "Double Dynamite", " ...

, and

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

on the two-album set ''The Stax/Volt Tour in London'', recorded at the Finsbury Park Astoria (later the

Rainbow Theatre The Rainbow Theatre, originally known as the Finsbury Park Astoria, then the Finsbury Park Paramount Astoria, and then the Finsbury Park Odeon, is a Grade II*-listed building in Finsbury Park, London. The theatre was built in 1930 as an "atmos ...

) on 17 March 1967. It is Rosko who can be heard introducing Redding and encouraging the crowd to chant and spell his name on Redding's album '' Live in Europe'', recorded on 17 March and 21 March 1967.

Return to Radio Caroline

In January 2023, it was announced that Rosko was to re-join

. In a statement on their website the station stated that Rosko would present monthly breakfast shows under the Radio Caroline North link-up with

Manx Radio Manx Radio (legally Radio Manx Ltd.) () is the national commercial radio station for the Isle of Man. It began broadcasting on 29 June 1964, almost ten years before legal commercial radio was licensed in the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man, hav ...

BBC career

As a disc jockey with

at its launch in September 1967, Rosko initially recorded shows in France for the ''Midday Spin'' programme. On his first ''Midday Spin'' show, Rosko introduced himself with "I am the Emperor, the geeter with the heater, your leader, your groovy host from the West Coast, here to clear up your skin and mess up your mind. It'll make you feel good all over." He highlighted the new

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

and

. Rosko moved to the UK in 1968 and from 1970 presented Radio 1's ''Friday Roundtable'', in which new records were reviewed by a panel of guests. He also presented in a Saturday lunchtime slot. Together with fellow Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis, he launched the first mobile discothèque, the "Rosko International Roadshow". He stayed with Radio 1 until September 1976, when he left for America to rejoin his father, who was suffering from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. Around 1975, he briefly hosted '' Crackerjack'' on BBC Television with Little & Large. During that year he also presented a few editions of ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', including the edition broadcast on 10 April. When Rosko returned to Europe, he was heard via recorded shows on Radio Luxembourg. In 1981 he returned to Radio 1 for a 13-week Sunday series of shows, and continued to broadcast at weekends during the Summer for four years. In 1988, he returned to Radio 1 to help celebrate the 21st birthday of the station. In 1992, he helped celebrate the station's 25th birthday with a special broadcast, before joining

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio is a branding of radio stations broadcast in Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, Turkey, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. As of April 2024, there were over 40 stations globally. The stations ...

1215 in April 1993.

Since 2000

From October 2001, Rosko was heard on the now defunct Classic Gold Digital, and REM.FM, his programme being recorded in

. He also ran his own soul station "Rosko Radio" for Internet broadcaster

Live365 LIVE365 is an Internet radio network which enables users to create their own online radio stations and listen to thousands of human curated stations. Online radio stations on the Live365 network were created and managed by music and talk enthus ...

, which aired its final broadcasts in December 2007. There was no sponsor and the free distribution was challenged by the societies of authors and composers in the US based on complaints of unfair competition for FM radio. The service continued in

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

form. He also broadcasts a programme called "The LA Connection" from his studios in California, which in 2012 could be heard in the UK on 96.5 Bolton FM, Classic Hits Forest Gold, Radio Scarborough, Zack FM 105.3 in East Anglia, Forest FM 92.3 in Verwood, Dorset, Vixen 101 in East Yorkshire, Belfast 89 and across Europe on several stations including Central FM in southern Spain, and Radio

Ayia Napa Ayia Napa ( , ), officially Romanization, romanised Agia Napa, is a Tourism in Cyprus, tourist resort at the far eastern end of the southern coast of Cyprus. Etymology The name Ayia Napa is derived from a Venetian Cyprus, Venetian-era monaster ...

in Cyprus. On 11 April 2009, Rosko presented a three-hour show within a BBC-sponsored commemorative broadcast from the lightship LV18 berthed at

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-o ...

. Since then, Rosko has been heard regularly on the internet broadcaster Big L International. On 14 August 2017, Emperor Rosko made a special guest broadcast on Radio Caroline to mark the 50th anniversary of the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967. In 2018, Rosko joined the line-up for the United DJs DAB and online radio station. In August of 2023 he was to be heard on Alderney's QUAY-FM. On 28 March 2024, he broadcast on

Boom Radio Boom Radio (also Boom Radio UK) is an independent, commercial, national radio station in the United Kingdom. Owned by Boom Radio Ltd, the station is aimed at baby boomers, the generation of people born between 1946 and 1964. Launched on 14 Febr ...

to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the launch of Radio Caroline.

Film

Rosko has a small part in the 1972 film ''

Ciao! Manhattan ''Ciao! Manhattan'' is a 1972 American avant garde film starring Edie Sedgwick. Written and directed by John Palmer and David Weisman, Warhol superstar Susan Bottomly (International Velvet) was initially intended to star in the film. When Sedgw ...

''. He appears as himself in the 1975 film ''Slade in Flame''. Rosko was the inspiration for the

Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character actor, character roles—eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical productio ...

character "The Count" in the 2009 comedy film '' The Boat That Rocked'', known as ''Pirate Radio'' in the United States.

Singles discography

Awards

*2008 – at a lunch in December, inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame *2011 – Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Radio Festival in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Publications

His book ''Emperor Rosko's DJ Book'' was published by Everest in March 1976 (). It was re-published, with additional material, as an eBook in October 2012.

References

External links

*
Emperor Rosko interview
by Rob Jones at soulmusicarchive.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosko, Emperor 1942 births American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent American expatriates in the United Kingdom American radio DJs BBC Radio 1 presenters Living people Offshore radio broadcasters Pirate radio personalities Radio Luxembourg (English) presenters