The Monster

David Gans thinks he has the best job in the world. “I’m one of the luckiest people I know,” he says. “Not only am I paid to make Grateful Dead tapes, but my commute is down the stairs. I think I’m making out like a bandit. And it’s fun.”

Gans is the producer and host of The Grateful Dead Hour, a syndicated weekly radio program currently airing on 59 stations across the U.S., including most major markets. The hour-long show features unreleased live material from the Dead’s private vaults, but it’s a lot more, too porada. Gans has made it a point to diversify the shows’ content, so that listeners can not only add rare, vintage recordings to their collections but get some idea of “where the Dead are coming from,” according to Gans.