(July 30, 2010) Stations throw around ‘Live and Local’ with such loose abandonment, it sometimes is difficult to differentiate between the stations that claim the moniker and those that actually are live and local. Whenever the subject comes up, readers come out of the woodwork proclaiming that all they want is live and local but history tells us that if the content is correct, LARadio listeners will embrace Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, and Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

In afternoon drive, the epitome of ‘live and local’ is the John & Ken show. John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou have embraced the zeitgeist of Southern California better than anyone else. In recent weeks, topics have collided, creating a tsunami of subjects from the governor’s race, Arizona’s immigration laws to a furor over salaries in the tiny town of Bell, a city of around 27,000. Who said you couldn’t make a city’s follies of interest to not only the entire Southland but nationally as well. The image of someone at a Bell demonstration with a KFI flag appeared on NBC’s Today Show.

They take politics 101 and execute it with precision. Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em. Tell ‘em. And then tell ‘em what you told ‘em. They stirred things up at the Bell rally. They get embedded with the story to such a degree that sometimes you can’t tell where the original story starts and ends and John & Ken’s involvement takes over.

“The anti-John & Ken guy had his sign torn in several places,” recalled John as they reviewed the remote broadcast from the day before. “One Bell resident stood up and started screaming that it was free speech and to leave him alone with his sign,” said Ken. “They were on the same side against Bell.”

Ken admitted it was one of the wildest days they’ve ever had when taking the show on the road. ”There was so much commotion and such a different John & Ken audience, only about 10% white.”

The aggressive news reporters at KFI not only provide reports for scheduled newscasts, but they become an integral part of the talk shows.

KFI newsman Steve Gregory (R) is interviewing a protester in LA yesterday. Ten people chained themselves together, formed a circle and laid down in the middle of an intersection along LA's Miracle Mile (Wilshire Blvd and Highland Ave). They had to be cut apart by the LAPD.....they were then arrested. The group of about 200 were protesting Arizona's new Immigration Law.

Gregory spent much time with John & Ken yesterday afternoon with first-hand reports from the scene.

With gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, the guys are very upset. “Meg Whitman double talks in two languages. She talks out of the left side of her mouth in English. The right side of her mouth is in Spanish,” said John.

These are supposed to be the dog days of summer, but not at KFI. John & Ken are on fire. They are appointment listening, certainly for the ride home, but also at home.

(July 29, 2010) If you are looking for stories about whether or not KABC is really going to change any of their programming in the next 75 days, or why Tattoo was booted out of Big Boy’s Neighborhood, or whether Ryan Seacrest is going to stay at KIIS/fm beyond November 1, you will just have to wait. This morning it is all about family. My family.

Many of you met my daughter Alexandra five years ago when an oral surgeon goofed and left a wisdom tooth in the middle of her cheek, resulting in the potential risk of facial paralysis. I looked for solutions but having no resources in that area, all oral surgeons contacted were unwilling to take it on, perhaps for fear of being included in legal action.

Days later I chronicled my frustration and within minutes of posting, literally over 500 personal emails starting arriving with suggestions and offers of help. I was brought to tears by the outpouring. The situation was taken care of miraculously and Alexandra graduated from high school and went on to UC Santa Barbara where she graduated in 3 ½ years with Honors and a mass communications major … without any other tooth challenges.

She worked in a local restaurant in Goleta for the past couple of years and saved enough money to join 26 of her fellow graduating seniors on a whirlwind 30-day trip to Europe.

She’s back. Jet lag is over. It is time for her to begin her professional journey. I suggested to her that I could put a notice at this website and she made this kind of face that only fathers of daughters have experienced. She doesn’t want to come off as needy or desperate and especially she doesn’t want to be embarrassed by anything I might write.

Alexandra is hardly any of those. She is a bright, smart, and a funny young lady who will be an incredible asset to someone. Some of you met her when she performed publicity/hostess duties at the LARadio Art Laboe Lifetime Achievement Award luncheon.

When you ask her what she wants to do, she will be quick to tell you she doesn’t know. Few of us knew at a young age what specifically we wanted to do, but most of us certainly had an arena of interest. Her strength is in organizational skills, PR, publicity, event planning, and marketing. She’s a great organizer, planner and executor. In fact, she interned at a prominent PR firm last year and the summer before at ET/NY. I was privileged to hear the excitement in her voice as she related stories about some of her projects/duties/etc.

My role is simple – put the word out, let you know how proud I am of her and expose her talents to you. Perhaps you have a job possibility for her or through your network of contacts you might offer her a suggestion.

I hope I’m doing my job as a loving father. I am a believer that there is an intersection of fates that will put her together with just the right person or company. If you would like to communicate with her, you can reach her at: aebarrett113@yahoo.com.

(July 28, 2010) Adam Carolla appeared for the “37^th” time on Jimmy Kimmel Live the other evening to promote the fact that he’s written a new book. Adam lamented that the hallways of the Jimmy Kimmel building are littered with photos of celebrities they wished they had on. “In my dressing room there’s Bill Cosby and Mattt Damon. I just sit there and stare at them and think there’s two guys they wish they had instead of me,” lamented Carolla. “You should have a picture of Tom Arnold and the Maytag repair man.”

Jimmy praised his former Man Show partner for being a pioneer in the world of podcasting. “What it means is I spend a bunch of money for bandwidth and make no money through advertising. I do a Klondike commercial to supplement myself,” said Adam. “Everyone goes, ‘oh, you’re a pioneer, you’re like the first guy there. I’m like all the black guys who were in the NFL in the 40s who got rich. I’m Night Train Lane. You eat berries and get raped by the Indians.”

Kimmel said that the pair started out in radio (KROQ) and made no money. “Now you’re back at the beginning,” quipped Jimmy.

“Except I’m not living in an apartment in Toluca Lake driving an ’89 Celica,” responded Adam. “Now I’ve got kids to support.”

Kimmel was fascinated that his former partner had written a book. “Have you ever read a book?” asked Jimmy.

“I looked at the Guinness Book of World Records many times. That was my childhood,” confessed Adam.

When asked if he enjoyed writing the book, Adam responded, “Do people who can’t swim enjoy being thrown in a lake? I have no idea what I’m doing and I’m talking with my editor in New York asking her how long the book should be. She says, ‘80,000 words.’ Is that a pamphlet or the Bible?’ You want to know how old I am, Jimmy? I’m 15,000 days old and weigh 32 hundred ounces. I tell her to just give me pages.”

Some of the rejected titles for Adam’s book include: ‘Mel Gibson is My Best Friend and I Agree With Everything He Says,’ and ‘Eat Pray Masturbate.’ The book won’t be available until early November, but look for In Fifty Years We’ll All Be Chicks … and Other Complaints from an Angry Middle-Aged White Guy on Amazon where it is already in the Top 10 best sellers.

(July 27, 2010) For two decades Kevin & Bean have delivered as one of the most outstanding, funny, irreverent and always fun morning shows in the history of LA Radio. Last month the KROQ morning team was far and away the #1 in morning drive in the coveted 25-54 demographic, as well as scoring with other listeners, #1 18-34 and #2 12+ behind Bill Handel.

Kevin & Bean were voted #7 Best On-Air LARP of 2010 by a group of their local radio peers. They have been involved in headline grabbing, word-of-mouth skits and bits ranging from an event later included on Unsolved Mysteries, Singles Weekends in Las Vegas, and having entertainment reporter and entertainer Ralph Garman playing characters and voices of the famous and near famous.

The pair can boast of surrounding themselves with an excellent cast of characters that includes Garman, Lisa May, Psycho Mike, Doc on the ROQ, “The King of Mexico” Dave Sanchez, DJ Omar Khan and producer Alex Warren. Kevin & Bean can also boast an impressive supporting cast from the past, including Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, Matt “Money” Smith, and Virgin Kennedy.

Gene Baxter (Bean) and Kevin Ryder (Kevin) met while at KZZP-Phoenix in 1988. They did some on-air work together on Saturday nights while in Phoenix, which gave them the idea of a two-man show. KROQ pd Andy Schuon teamed them in early 1990, resulting in their enormous success.

Some comments from those who voted for Kevin & Bean:

• “Still going strong!”
• “Bean once worried about being ‘a 40-year-old morning guy on KROQ. Fifty is just around the corner and they’re still young, irreverent, and fresh.”
• “The Gold standard.”
• “Still consistently the funniest morning show in LA radio.”
• “Funny, topical and still have sky-high hip factor.”
• “Ridiculously consistent.”
• “The most amazing team with Ralph Garman, Lisa May, Doc, and Psycho Mike. What is more amazing is that Kevin & Bean let them shine in the spotlight.”
• “Every year seems to top the last year with staying on target and delivering.”

(July 26, 2010) Sharon Benoit, publicity whiz during the glory years at 710/KMPC in the ‘60s and ’70 and later a trade publication executive, was celebrated on Saturday at St. Bede’s Catholic Church in La Canada during a celebration of life ceremony.

Sharon was remembered as “surfer girl” by Father Kevin Kester, the St. Bede’s priest presiding over the event. “They had planned on using that Beach Boys song as the final song of the service. Surfer Girl has a certain beauty to it that reflected her vitality and that she died much too young at 63.”

Sharon was very active at St. Bede’s Church and helped coordinate many fundraisers. Friends in the church loved to hear her tell stories of working at KMPC, which was known as “The Station of the Stars.” They would marvel at what a great storyteller she was.

From those who shared Saturday morning, it was clear that family came first. She left behind her husband, Steve Benoit (described by one participant as ‘Mr. Right’ for Sharon), daughter Stephanie, two grandchildren and many relatives.

Sharon loved to travel and go camping with her family.

One of those sharing stories Saturday morning, Michelle Nattoni, said she and Sharon had been friends since high school. Sharon had obtained two tickets to the Hot August Night concert with Neil Diamond at the Greek Theatre. “For weeks it was all she could talk about. We went to dinner beforehand and when we got to the Greek Theatre her tickets were missing. No amount of talking with the Greek staff was going to get us in. She thought she had them when we went to dinner. We left the Greek and returned to the restaurant and sure enough there were the tickets on the floor and we made it back just before his first song. And 40 years later I was able to replay the experience when Neil Diamond was back on tour at Staples Center. I told her we were going to America.”

Sharon's daughter Stephanie and husband Steve Benoit

Betty and George Nicholaw, former KNX gm, attended the services. George knew Steve Benoit from the days when Steve’s father, Bob Benoit, was a horse racing PR director. George used to run the final stretch call from Hollywood Park and Santa Anita Park on KNX.

Other LARPs at the ceremony included Nancy Cole, Sherri Blinoff, and Bob Maryon.

Additional photos appear in the Subscriber section: http://laradio.com/register.htm