Another LARP Joins the Passing Parade ...

JACKSON, Michael: KHJ, 1963-65; KNX, 1965; KABC, 1966-1998; KRLA, 1999; KLAC, 2001-02; KNX, 2004-05; KGIL, 2007-08. The former rock and roll dj was a midday mainstay at News/Talk KABC for over three decades. He died January 15, 2022, at the age of 87. He had been sufffering from Parkinson's disease. Michael’s father owned several pubs in London and when he was 11, the family moved to South Africa, where Michael became fluent in Afrikaans. But he always imagined himself in radio, and by the time he was 16 (and finished high school) he was on the air in Johannesburg, having lied about his age. He trained with the BBC. Michael started his American radio career in Springfield, Massachusetts and moved quickly to the Bay Area where he played rock music at KYA and KEWB. In San Francisco he was known as Michael Scotland, and his program was called "Scotland's Yard."

In 1963, Michael hosted a two-hour Hootenanny show on KHJ. In 1965, when the format switched to "Boss Radio," he moved to KNX. The same year he became a U.S. citizen and married into Hollywood royalty. His wife Alana is the daughter of the late actor Alan Ladd, the man who played Shane. He won a local Emmy while hosting KCOP/Channel 13's The Big Question series. 

A 1974 LA Times profile said, "He is of small stature, as compact as a lightweight boxer. His facial expression is one of bemused, continental curiosity - a man secure in all things intellectual but having too good a time to be excessively tweedy." 

Michael has won seven Emmys and four Golden Mike awards. He has also received many other honors, including Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.) presented by  Queen Elizabeth, the French Legion of Merit Award, presented by president Mitterand in 1988, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984. 

In the spring of 1984, he suffered a minor heart attack at the age of 50 while riding horseback through Griffith Park. Journalist Norman Cousins advised Michael during his recuperation period and told him, "A heart attack is something to laugh at. It really is."

In 1992 he was off the air for almost two months following heart surgery. In the summer of 1997, Michael moved to weekends on KABC, eventually leaving the station in 1999. He was a regular substitute for Larry King on CNN.

---

SEWARD, Bill: KXLU, 1976-80; XPRS, 1980-81; KWNK, 1987-88; KGIL, 1989; KNX, 1990-1997; KFWB, 2001-14; KFI, 2017-21. The Sherman Oaks native was a play-by-play announcer for NBC Sports. He died January 14, 2022, of cancer. In addition to calling various professional and college sports in America, Seward was “on the mic” for NBC’s Olympic rugby coverage, Rugby World Cup, Rugby World Cup Sevens, Rugby Sevens World Series, Varsity Cup, Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup, FIS Nordic Skiing World Cup, European Figure Skating Championships, FINA Synchronized Swimming World Cup, Vuelta a Espana, Eneco Cycling Tour, Tour of Belgium, Tour of Norway, 4 Days of Dunkirk, Paris Marathon, IBU Biathlon World Championships, Tour de Ski and the Four Hills World Cup ski jumping event. Seward also has appeared on NBC’s Early Today along with programs on MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Universal Sports and the horse racing network, TVG. He earned several Golden Mikes as a sports anchor with CBS Radio in Los Angeles, and been honored with multiple "Best Radio Anchor Staff" awards, the top honor presented by the Southern California Sports Broadcasters Association. Seward hosted “DodgerTalk” on the Dodgers Radio Network and has been voted "Top Sports Update Anchor" a record thirteen times by the Los Angeles Daily News.   Seward previously anchored for ESPN, hosting such shows as SportsCenter, ESPNEWS and 2Day at the Races. While at ESPN, Seward was a regular contributor to ABC's World News This Morning. He also was part of ESPN's Summer Olympic Games coverage and was one of the hosts for NBC’s Olympic Zone. In addition to sports anchoring, Seward has been in feature films such as Steve Jobs, Nightcrawler, Good Kill, Zodiac, Ruby and Recount, along with appearances on television shows The Dress Up Gang, I’m Dying Up Here, Scandal, Revenge, Key & Peele, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Touch, Medium, Everybody Hates Chris, The Event and several others. Seward also was the host of Sega’s popular video game, “Virtual Fighter 5.”

Seward began his television career as Sports Director at KVIQ in Eureka, California, followed by stops at KATY in Oxnard and WNHT/TV in Concord, New Hampshire, before returning home to become an award-winning sports anchor at KCBS/TV, KNBC/TV and radio news stations KNX and KFWB. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, Seward was the nation’s youngest head football coach at Saint Bernard High School in Playa del Rey, where he was honored as "Bay Area Coach of the Year." He coached at Saint Bernard and at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks and he had the privilege of working with several future MLB, NBA and NFL players.