This should be fun.” - Jim Shannon 

John Phillips: "Talk radio needs to keep trying to make it fresh"

(April 14, 2014) Listeners to talk radio are accustomed to hearing loud conservative voices railing against liberal orthodoxy. Compared with the mainstream media, academia or Washington and Sacramento, talk radio is known as the dissident voice of the unrepresented middle class. But this wasn’t always the case.

Originally, talk radio was dominated by the likes of Jean Shepherd, an American radio personality best known for telling comedic semiautobiographical stories of his childhood and the minor incidents in life during his late-night show on WOR in New York City in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Outside of radio, audiences would know “Shep” from the cult classic film A Christmas Story, which he narrated and co-scripted. He was also a huge influence on everyone from comedian Jerry Seinfeld to talk radio star Tom Leykis to my colleague at Talk Radio 790 KABC, morning man Doug McIntyre. Seinfeld once quipped, “He [Shep] really formed my entire comedic sensibility – I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd.” After Shepherd, talk radio was gripped by nonpartisan lifestyle talk. Locally, Southern California airwaves were dominated by my predecessors at KABC, including Ken Minyard, Michael Jackson and Dr. David Viscott. They would take the top headlines of the day and turn them into polite chit-chat with guests and callers.

The entire world changed in the late 1980s when the Federal Communications Commission decided to eliminate the Fairness Doctrine, which required the holders of broadcast licenses to provide “balanced coverage” of controversial issues. Because deciding what coverage was “balanced” was so subjective, most broadcast companies decided to shy away from controversial topics, with the hopes of staying off the FCC’s radar.

In 1987, blessedly, the handcuffs came off. Back then, the media was dominated by the big three television networks, a handful of metropolitan newspapers and a few weekly news magazines – all featuring the same left-wing political bias. If you were a Republican you could see your views expressed in a Bill Safire column in the New York Times or when Pat Buchanan made an appearance on the McLaughlin Group, but that was about it. But with the Fairness Doctrine gone, the door was open for conservative voices in exile to find a platform on radio.

This void was promptly filled by Rush Limbaugh. If it’s possible for one man to completely reinvent the AM band on the radio, Rush did it. Not only did Rush have the conservative politics that were now in demand, he had years of radio experience and showmanship qualities, akin to Shepherd, that made his humorous and fascinating stories addictive to listen to. It didn’t matter if you loved him or hated him, he was doing something different in a funny, compelling way.

If you were a program director at the time, you wanted to capitalize on Rush’s success by filling the remaining 21 hours of available airtime with similar content to your marquee syndicated show. To put it bluntly, Rush created enough success for copycats to make handsome livings imitating his program. After this success came the top-rated Fox News Channel on cable TV and conservative websites, like the supersuccessful Drudge Report. Which means talk radio isn’t as different, anymore, it’s just part of the conservative noise machine.

Radio executives across the country are currently trying to figure out how to make radio stand out again. The simple truth is that conservative media is flourishing outside the radio venue, and if talk radio delivers the same product year after year it will grow only increasingly stale. The good news is that providing opposition to the powers that be remains a vitally important – and fun – vehicle for serving the public. I can’t say I know what the future holds, but I’d bet my money that funny, compelling story-telling will never go out of style.

(John Phillips' essay appeared in the Orange County Register. Register staff opinion columnist John Phillips can be heard weekdays at noon on “Mid Day LA” on KABC/AM 790 in Los Angeles.)  

KNX Series Close to Home. KNX won’t have to go far this month with their series, KNX on Your Corner. Every month they take an in-depth look at communities all over the Southland and invite listeners to come and watch the broadcast. On April 25, the daytime anchors will be broadcasting from Canter’s Deli on Fairfax as the all-News station salutes LA’s historic Fairfax District and its surrounding neighborhoods, including the Farmer’s Market, the Grove and CBS Television City. The actual KNX studios are in the Miracle Mile, just down the street from Canter’s. The 10-hour live broadcast Dick Helton and Vicky Moore kicking off the day anchoring the news from 5 – 9 a.m., Frank Mottek will host the KNX Business Hour from 1 – 2 p.m. and Diane Thompson and Chris Sedens will be on hand from 2 – 7 p.m. This is a great time to meet your favorite news anchors.

Overheard.

• “Top signs your neighbor is a cannibal. He has a walk-in microwave.” (Frank Kramer, KLOS)

• “The two remaining guys from Nirvana were inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. I understand Courtney Love hugged them. Hopefully whatever they got, I hope they got shots for it.” (Peter Tilden, KABC)

• “Big pothole on the 5, south at Glendale Boulevard. CalTrans is going to fill it up as quickly as they can, which means it’ll probably be there for a while.” (Ed McKay, KRLA)

• “Boobs. You've seen one, you've seen them both.” (Raymundo Banister, former morning man at KROQ)

• "Rodeo porn only lasts 8 seconds." (Rob Bartlett, Don Imus funnyman, KCAA)

• "They're throwing Cialis at Benghazi now. They think, 'We can make it rise again.'" (Stephanie Miller)

• “The heart bleed bug is the big security flaw. I cannot think of anything bigger. This is probably the largest flaw in digital security in modern computing history.” (Christian Wheel, KFWB, Let’s Talk Tech)

Chuey to TV. KIIS’ Chuey Martinez is set to host a new late-night experience called M@shup With Chuey Martinez. The plan is for Chuey to invite an eclectic mix of social media stars, established celebs and other faces from popular culture who are making, spinning and spreading news to join him. The show is described as "one part talk, two parts performance and a spicy splash of sketch comedy." Details on distribution to come soon.

Hear Ache. Like to know how much money your favorite dj makes? Dan O’Day has a salary calculator at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD1GLV1axqk&feature=youtu.be.

Bill Stewart – the man I inherited the national program director position from at the McLendon Corporation – gave me some advice on his way out the door. When I go to hire someone and ask what they are making, he said to cut it in half and add $10 and I would be pretty close. 

Funnie.  

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** Brian Beirne with a Person of Color “Korla Pandit passed away in 1998. In the late 40’s he most often performed at Tom Breneman’s Restaurant in Hollywood. For a while he appeared at The Swanee Inn on N. La Brea [now Amalfi] I would often eat there with my grandparents as my grandfather was a friend of Bob Lewis the owner. Bob had started Nat King Cole there at the Inn in 1937. As a child of 5 or 6 I was fascinated with Korla and he would often let me sit with him at the organ and play. Korla was actually an African-American. His wife recreated him as a man born in New Deli, India. Had anyone known that then, I’m sure I would never have been allowed to sit with him. I did sit with Nat King Cole one night at the Swanee Inn. Nat made a special appearance there for a private group and my grandfather and my parents were invited. I however was removed from the piano bench when some of the guests objected to a child sitting with a person of color. At the age of 10 I was found playing piano on stage with Fats Domino in an all adult club. The police were called and my mother and I were thrown out and nearly arrested. I’m sure glad times have changed.” – Brian Beirne, Mr. Rock n' Roll

** Korla’s Piano and Organ

“There's a name I haven’t heard it awhile! As a preteen, I was fascinated by the piano and organ. My parents provided weekly lessons for many years.

Once, as extra motivation, my mother had me join her at the largest local music store in San Bernardino. The nighttime concert featured none other than Korla Pandit. I had no idea who this guy was, but I left the sold out concert determined to play just like Korla.

Hopefully, your readers will find updated information on his whereabouts.” – Ted Ziegenbusch, KOST

** Steve Allen Connection to Korla Pandit

“The item about Korla Pandit was interesting. I recall when Steve Allen was one of the hosts for KTLA’s 40th anniversary show in 1987, he introduced some old clips of Pandit’s show on KTLA. Then, Steve talked about an old joke he told around 1949 or so, and it went like this ... ‘There was a tv program that was so bad, that even Korla panned it’" – Jim Hilliker

** News Kudos

“Kudos to KNX news director Julie Chin and her staff for their day long in depth coverage of the tragic accident in Northern California.  

It seemed like the whole staff was there pitching in with special reports.  As so often happens in events like this, the spectacular and speculation that the public craves and the media is so willing to provide was missing from the coverage.  Information, compassion and reassurance was what I heard.  

It was surprising to hear Bob Brill put in such a long day knowing full well that he would have to be back a little before 5 a.m. on Saturday to wake me up.

KNX at its best.” – Bill Mann, South Pasadena

   Publisher of LARadio.com
               Don Barrett

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