(February 5, 2010) Art Laboe was presented with the 2010 LARadio Lifetime Achievement Award last Saturday at an industry function in Studio City. During the afternoon celebration, Art sat for a one-hour interview. In part one, we learned about Art’s childhood in Utah and how he got to Southern California. (Art Laboe and Don Barrett with LARadio Lifetime Achievement Award. All photos in story by: JoMo/ArtLaboe)

At Art’s first commercial station, KSAN in San Francisco, he learned about requests and dedications and groupies. The radio station was housed on the top floor of the Merchandise Mart. Art was 18 years old and living with his sister, who was dating a soldier. “After I got on the air I started asking for letters. In those days we couldn’t talk back and forth with anyone on the air because they didn’t have the equipment. So I had people call me with requests, except I couldn’t put their voices on the air and I would echo whatever the caller said.”

One night Art had five listener letters with him at home and his sister’s boyfriend took a look at them. He read one letter and wanted to know if I knew the girl who wrote it. “I told him I didn’t, that she just wrote in. He said, ‘Get to know her. I’ve studied handwriting and you can tell from the handwriting that this is someone you should know.’ At the time I’m still a virgin.”

The next night Art goes on the air with the letter. “I can remember her name. I said on the air that I had a letter from Meryl Gappa in the Mission District and asked her to call. And there goes the telephone. It was her. She said she liked me on the radio and wanted to meet me. I got off at midnight and she brought some coffee. She told me she was 16 or 17, very young. At midnight she was sitting in her car in front of the station with some coffee. We drink the coffee and all of a sudden I see her looking me up and down. I had never seen anyone ever do that to me before. She puts her coffee down, comes closer and she jumps on me and pushes me down on the seat and starts kissing me. I mean heavy and I don’t know what to do. I thought to myself this business has a lot of fringe benefits. I love being on the radio but no girl ever paid any attention to me because I’m small. In high school everyone seemed to be a couple of years older and I was like invisible. I thought this was a good business and that’s the way it turned out to be.” (Photo: Laboe and former R&R publisher Erica Farber)

In Southern California, Art got his first job on KRKD (1150AM) in 1949 from someone who was brokering the time from midnight to five in the morning. “I got this job and at five I would have to go out and sell a package of 50 spots for $49.50. I told Bob Moore that story and he said that’s what we’re doing now.” (Audience exploded with laughter and applause)

Looking for leads to call on, Art scoured the telephone book and came across a 24-hour drive in called Scrivner’s. “I called him up and he asked how much were the spots and I said less than a dollar a piece. I went out to see him and he bought a package. He wondered who did the show and I told him that I did. He wondered why I couldn’t do the show from Scrivner’s Drive-In.” And that was the beginning.

Art decided to take the idea to KXLA (1110AM) and met with the owner/manager, Loyal King. The manager of Scrivner’s was willing to pay $1,000 a month for this nightly broadcast. “Loyal had this high, squeaky voice and said, ‘Be careful that someone doesn’t grab the microphone and yell, ‘Bull Shit.’ I told him I’d be real careful. We didn’t have tape back then.”

The Scrivner’s show on KXLA was on for four years. Scrivner’s went from two locations to 12. “They became very popular,” said Art. (Photo: Laboe with Clarence Barnes)

In 1954, Art was offered a job at KFWB to broadcast from Larry Finley’s nightclubs. “We broadcast from Mocambo’s and Ciro’s on Sunset Blvd. I talked with all the movie stars in the lobby as they came into the nightclub. I talked with all the big stars from the Golden Years that you could think of. Later they all got to know me and it felt good when Gary Cooper would come in and say, ‘Hi, Art.’ I was just this Mormon guy from Utah.”

In late 1955, Art decides to return to Scrivner’s Drive-In and do it this time in afternoon drive. This decision resulted in an explosion in Art’s career. That part of the story next time.

(February 4, 2010) Fans of former KABC morning show and host of Red Eye Radio, Doug McIntyre, is back and he is the newest evolution in overnight talk radio, which  debuts next Monday as ‘Doug McIntyre’s Red Eye Radio.’

Doug’s new show will debut on 77 WABC in New York and TalkRadio 790 KABC, with more major market stations being added immediately.

Doug will do the show from the KABC studios live to New York from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The show will air live on KABC from midnight to 2 a.m. and then tape delayed from 2 a.m. - 3 a.m. McIntyre sees Red Eye Radio as “a love affair with America in all its aspects.” Whether it’s politics, history, music, or sports - from the outrageous to the just plain weird - if it’s happening, Red Eye Radio is THE place to talk about it.

Since leaving his morning show at KABC, Doug has been doing the lead-in show to Imus in the Morning at WABC where the pd, Laurie Cantillo, said: “Red Eye Radio is a refreshing live alternative to traditional overnight fare, which is canned, conspiratorial, and just plain dull.  Our listeners love Doug McIntyre and the fun, hip approach he brings to the news.”

KABC pd David G. Hall noted, “I used to hate to compete with this show.  It had huge ratings and an audience that was way above average in its loyalty. Doug McIntyre's Red Eye Radio is a fabulous program and a terrific alternative to UFO and ghost shows.”

McIntyre is thrilled to be expanding his on-air presence at the incredible powerhouse 77 WABC in New York and is thrilled to be returning to his radio home at KABC. "It's great to be back on the air and I owe a debt of gratitude to Laurie Cantillo and Steve Borneman in New York and David G. Hall and Bob Moore at KABC,” said Doug. (Photo: Doug never lost his sense of humor after his contract with KABC was not renewed last year)

When Doug did Red-Eye Radio before he got the morning drive show, Doug could delve deeply into the politics of the city, as well as the lifestyle of those who populate the dark hours. Any challenges in taking the new Doug McIntyre Red Eye Radio national? “I worry about that because one of the trademarks of what I did was covering issues and you lose, to a degree, localism when you are nationally syndicated. In New York they don’t care about the Los Angeles City Council race and vice versa. I think any good story has dynamics whether it is in Los Angeles or New York. It is about good storytelling. Everything relates to everybody. But there is a challenge of not getting deep-dish to such arcane stuff that, frankly, shouldn’t even be on locally. I will find the balance but I don’t want to over-correct. The last thing this country and this industry needs is another talk show host prattling on about healthcare. We just don’t need it. We had it all day long.”

McIntyre talked about how the industry tends to throw away the overnight shift. “People are up for a reason,” said Doug, “especially in a 24/7 digital world. We are all trying to live at the pace of the Internet, which is impossible and a reason why we’re all crazed. People are online working, on Amazon.com or eBay or downloading Korean porn, whatever they’re doing they’re up doing things. In the markets we’re in, these are giant places. I learned this from Jean Shepherd – there are night people. There’s a whole other  world out there – lawyers, pilots, film editors, and moms and unemployed fathers worried how they’re going to pay the bills. And crazy people, which is part of the tapestry of late-night radio.”

Doug’s new job was orchestrated by agent, Eric Weiss (r), who was the subject of an exhaustive series at LARadio a few years back. “To me, Eric Weiss is the very best agent in the business, without whom I'd be bagging groceries at Ralphs," said Doug. “He was sensational through all of this. When my contract for the morning show at KABC wasn’t picked up, Eric literally had already started the wheels in motion that led to this opportunity. I thought it was putting down a pillow to soften the blow when talking about this reinventing Red Eye Radio. I didn’t even believe him at first. There’s not a lot of shows that are being handed out these days and he created a position with the people at WABC and invented this job. It is an amazing accomplishment. I’ve had lots of agents and this is the best agent I’ve ever seen, certainly related to my career. Out of what was a disaster he saved the family farm and I’m deeply in his debt.”

Doug McIntyre’s Red Eye Radio will broadcast 7 days a week with the enormously popular Marc ‘Mr. KABC’ Germain piloting the Sunday night flight via satellite by ABC Radio Syndication.   

(February 3,  2010) The Passing Parade of 2009 continues this morning with those LARP we lost in the early summer last year.

Paul Oscar Anderson, June 5 (77) POA had one of those booming news voices at popular music stations in the late 1960s and early 1970s – 1110/KRLA and KROQ.

Paul’s career took him to major radio jobs in Chicago and New York. In 1971 he received the LA Times Award for “Best Documentary of the Year” for his project “Fifth and Main, Los Angeles.” Paul also authored a seminal book assisting a variety of professionals with marketing. He was a pioneer in consulting professionals on the business aspects of their practice.

Paul was born in Knoxville, graduating from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee. “I went into the military when I was 15 years old, finished high school when I got out of the Air Force at 18 and was married with a child,” he remembered during an interview with LARadio a few years ago. “I went to college when I had two kids and left Knoxville for the broadcasting wars in 1953. My first job was as ‘Dean’ of Midwestern Broadcasting School in Chicago.”

His radio career started at KJFJ-Webster City, Iowa and then on to KWMT-Ft. Dodge, KOIL-Omaha, KISN-Portland, WIFE-Indianapolis, KIMN-Denver, WMAQ-Chicago, Monitor for NBC-New York, KCBQ-San Diego, and then Los Angeles. “I worked at 37 broadcasting facilities in a little over 35 years. I came home to Knoxville in 1974, just out of a drunk farm in Minnesota, married my childhood sweetheart on Valentine's Day 1975. To everyone’s surprise, including mine, I have been totally clean and sober since leaving Hazleden Center after six weeks of treatment. Over many years, I have owned a couple of ad agencies and a marketing consulting firm. I also have published a couple of textbooks on marketing [The Handbook of Successful Marketing for the Professions] and done hundreds of seminars on the topic. I taught Marketing at the University of Tennessee. I retired from air work in 1993. I had been among the pioneers in the South to do a talk show, which I did for about ten years at a number of stations in Knoxville. At the same time, I was doing a highly controversial news commentary at several stations.”

“I worked with Paul when we started KROQ AM in 1972, and he was just a tremendous talent,” said Charlie Tuna. “Great writer and distinctive style, much like the late J. Paul Huddleston, who also was with us starting KROQ AM and before that, we were both at the legendary KHJ. That was a dream pairing of two of the most well known voices and talents in radio news at that time, on the same station.  I can still hear his signature styling of his name when he announced it, and I can’t ever recall seeing Paul without a smile on his face. Just a wonderful person to be around.”

When interviewed recently he said his sole occupation/avocation those days was writing – for publication – and songs for his daughter who sings country soul and lives in Santa Rosa, California. “Unfortunately, that's about all I can do – I suffer from heart failure, prostate cancer and diabetes. Except for the terminal illnesses, I feel pretty good. God, how I miss the mic.”

Haagan Higgins, June 12 (59) We are all products of our environment but there was this guy who took life to the next level and became his own creation, one of a kind.  He changed the name his uptight parents gave him, rejected the Catholic school abuse and moral police and became a unique and animated person, a gay male who loved living life over-the-top.

Billy became Haagan and each day was a work of art, a play created as he lived, and radio was a stage he loved.  Those who knew him, from markets small to large, will not likely meet another so special, so effervescent, so much the performer.  Haagan Higgins finished his “play” in 2009 and I, like many others, am grateful to have been part of his comedy and drama.  The Double-H has left the stage. (written by Craig Hines)

Noel Confer, June 14 (78) Noel was a Top 40 jock at the “Mighty 690” at XEAK from 1956 – 61. Born in Baxter Springs, Kansas in 1931, he moved to Tulsa at age 11. After a stint in the army and studies at Tulsa University, Noel worked as a radio actor at KAKC-Tulsa. He did summer stock theatre in Michigan and became an equity actor in Hollywood in the early 1950s.

From Tulsa’s first Top 40 station, Noel joined mornings at XEAK, a station perhaps better known as “The Mighty 690.” In 1961, he became nd/dj/pd at KDEO-San Diego. Three years later he worked as pd and afternooner at KSON-San Diego. During the 1970s, Noel programmed KOZN-San Diego.

In 1980 it was back to KSON. “During my quarter of a century in San Diego, I freelanced tv spots and acted at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre,” said Noel in an interview. In 1982, he moved to the desert south of Palm Springs and became pd and morning man at KROP. In 1996, Noel retired after 50 years on air. He married in 1953 and had three sons. His wife died in 1969 and he spent many years raising his sons and tending to his horses.

Gary Cocker, June 24 (59) Gary was a veteran of KIQQ, KTNQ (Ten-Q), and KFI from the 1970s, along with San Diego radio/tv. A veteran of the major market radio wars, Gary (born Helmut Kerling in Austria) started his broadcasting career in Cleveland, hosting a late night Progressive Rock program in the late 60s playing Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin.

He moved into the mainstream at some of Cleveland's most successful radio stations of the time including WGCL, where he served as music director and program director, WHK and WIXY.

In 1973 it was on to WDHF-WMET, Metromedia’s outlet in Chicago. A year later he moved to Los Angeles and joined KIQQ (K-100/fm) where he worked with radio legend Bill Drake and a great team including Eric Chase, Rich "Brother" Robbin and Jim Carson.

Next stop, San Francisco and KYA. Teen time in Baghdad by the Bay! The lineup included LARPs Neilson Ross, and KRTH’s Gary Bryan. In 1978, he returned to L.A. at “The New 10-Q.” Gary joined a staff with classic Top 40 jocks like The Real Don Steele, Joe Nasty, Lee “Baby” Simms, M.G. Kelly, John Driscoll, Dave Sebastian, the late Dave Conley and Nancy Plum.

In 1980, Gary went to KGB-San Diego before moving cross-town to KCBQ. “I was assigned mornings on the fm side,” Cocker wrote on his Web site. “We had an outlaw approach and were making gains on the firmly entrenched Country station KSON.”  About the same time, Gary was doing promotional and voice work at San Diego’s XETV/Channel 6. He also started a production/advertising company, Cleveland Associates.

(February 2, 2010) After more than seven years, CBS Radio’s amended application to place KFWB into Trust for operation and/or eventual sale has been approved by the FCC.  Initial action of a Trust was required in 2002 when CBS purchased a second tv station, KCAL/Channel 9 to go along with KCBS/Channel 2.

Why now you might ask? Saul Levine, owner of Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters, Inc., has filed two petitions with the FCC in the last two weeks because the FCC was not requiring CBS to act on the petition to divest themselves of the extra station they have in L.A.

“One of the facets was they promised to place KFWB in a Trust and sell it and that was seven years ago and they haven’t done it,” said Saul Levine by phone this morning.

The second petition claims that CBS is over the limit with their FM holdings. “My attorney, Bob Jacobi of Cohn & Marks in Washington, DC, who used to work for the FCC, said it was absolutely unequivocal that when you have multiple stations in the same city, you cannot have more than four stations in the same service, which is defined as 4 FM or 4 AM stations.” CBS Radio/LA owns five FM stations: KCBS (JACK/fm), KRTH, KROQ, KAMP, and KTWV.

CBS Corporate was asked for a comment on this action and Karen Mateo responded: "We would disagree with their interpretation."

Levine also contends that the two HD signals that are brought in from out of town are attributed as local stations. “In effect,” Saul continued, “they have to give up one of their terrestrial FM stations and the two HD signals that they are importing into the market.”

Les Moonves, chairman/ceo of CBS, was quoted in another trade publication saying that CBS can now keep all their LA radio stations. “He’s wrong,” stated Levine.

“If the FCC dawdles over this, Jacobi is going to the Justice Department. He believes this is definitely anti-competitive.

Why has Saul Levine been so dogged about pursuing this action against CBS? “Because they stirred up the whole pot when they brought in KFRG on HD. That’s what triggered it for me. I had just been leaving CBS alone as long as they left me alone. I knew what they were doing was wrong with the additional station, but I let them alone until they brought in KFRG on the HD signal. This was totally anti-competitive because in effect CBS would have nine radio stations in the market when you include the HD signals.”

KFRG (“K-FROG”) is a very successful Inland Empire Country station. Saul Levine owns L.A.’s Country station, KKGO, “Go Country.”

Saul went on to say: “It is my understanding from my FCC Legal Counsel that once KFWB is  placed in Trust, it cannot be sold in combination with KNX or any of the other CBS stations in the LA Market. Also the staff cannot be shared with other local CBS stations in the LA market.”

(February 2, 2010) Jim Hill, Vin Scully, Ken Levine, Jaime Jarrin, Bill Seward, Joe Cala and Rex Hudler were big winners at the 19^th Annual Southern California Sports Broadcasters Awards ceremony yesterday afternoon at the Lakeside Golf Club. (Photo: Vin Scully, Jim Hill, Rafer Johnson, Bob Miller - photo by Bonnie Burrow)

Jim Hill, a tv sports broadcaster for three decades, was honored as the 25^th inductee into the SCSB Hall of Fame. He was humbled and remembered some early words of advice from Vin Scully: “When you speak, always have something to say.”

In his praise for Scully, Hill said: “You have been, are, and always will be in a class by yourself. The rest of us are just trying to go to the same school.”

And there were many tributes throughout the evening for Rory Markas, the 8-year voice of the Angels, who died suddenly last month at the age of 54. He was referenced frequently throughout the luncheon. (Photo right: Ken Levine and his father Cliff Levine)

Bob Miller, the voice of the Kings, is president of the SCSB and does a magnificent job hosting the luncheons. Invariably he gets the event off to a funny start. “A professor asked his class, ‘What organ on a human body when stimulated grows to seven times its normal size?’ He called on Miss Jones. She stood up, head down and all red in the face and said, ‘I cannot answer that, I’m too embarrassed.’ The professor called on Mr. Smith who answered ‘the pupil of the human eye,’ which was correct. ‘Miss Jones, that tells me three things about you. One, you weren’t prepared for class. Two, you didn’t read the assignment. And, three, you’re going to be extremely disappointed the rest of your life.”

Jaime Jarrin and Bob Miller

Lisa Bowman and Jerry Clark

Here are the nominees and winners from this year’s ceremony:

Nominated for Foreign Language Announcer Award: Jaime Jarrin, AM930 Dodgers Play-by-Play; Jose Mota, AM830 Angels; and Fernando Valenzuela, AM 930 Dodgers. The winner was Jaime Jarrin who offered a short acceptance speech. “I just wanted to say thank you very much from the bottom of my heart to all of my colleagues.”

Randy Rosenbloom (l) was cited for his dedication to broadcasting high school sports at LA36, where he was sports director. He was awarded a special SCSB Prep Sports recognition.

A special citation was given to Angels skipper Mike Scioscia.  The Manager mentioned the challenges for the Angels ballclub in the last year. “As proud as we are of what the Angels have done on the field, these last couple of years have been very difficult off the field. I’ve never been prouder of a group of guys as I was to see how they went through the season losing Preston Gomez, who was a father figure for all of us, and the tragic death of Nick Adenhart in April.

“We recently lost another member of our family – Rory Markas. When you lose someone who is a friend it hits hard and Rory was a friend. He was very caring, sensitive and he had a great sense of humor. Once he was a friend, he would do anything for you. In that spirit, we’ll move forward and start the 2010 season with the great things Rory brought to our organization, and hopefully handling it with the same grace as we did last season.”

Ted Sobel, Bill Seward, Bob Miller

Charley Steiner

Tom Dreesen was awarded the Good Guy trophy for his participation and contributions in his past appearances for the SCSB. Some highlights from his presentation:

• When the former Times writer, Ron Rappaport, was writing for the Chicago Sun Times, we were in a limousine on Michigan Avenue on the way to an event. Ron saw a homeless guy who was so raggedy that the sole of his shoes flapped. Ron said ‘stop the car.’ He walked up to the guy and pulled out a huge wad of hundred dollar bills with a huge rubber band wrapped around them. He took the rubber band off and said, ‘Put this on your shoe, it’ll stop it from flapping.’

• This is a historic day. On this day in 1850 California became a state. At the time the state had no money, almost everyone in the state spoke Spanish, and there were gunfights in the street. You see, nothing has changed. Except in those days the women had real boobs and men didn’t hold hands.

• These are historic times. Just a few months back President Obama signed the stimulus package on the same desk President Clinton had his package stimulated.

• My dad wanted me to study abroad, so I studied Angie Dickinson.

• My mom wanted me to be a priest, which I think is a tough occupation. Can you imagine giving up your sex life, then once a week people come in and tell you the highlights of theirs?

Olympic champion Rafer Johnson was humble as he accepted the Gil Stratton Lifetime Achievement Award. “I was very fortunate to make the Olympic teams and attend UCLA.” He cited mentors who helped him at every stage of his career.

Scully was up for three awards and won all three. In accepting the President’s Award, Vin remarked: “As I was driving over here, I realized that I was broadcasting baseball before they had hairdryers in the dressing rooms. That was a long time ago. I have a lot of emotions today. I’m happy. I’m a charter member of this association. I’m very grateful for the award and very humbled. I remember hearing as a kid, if you wanted to make God smile, tell him your plans. So I never had a plan. So His plan has allowed me to be here after all those years. I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I can share the award and dedicate it to the memory of Rory Markas.”

A few minutes later, Vin then won the Television Play-By-Play award over Ralph Lawler for the Clippers and Bob Miller for the Kings. Vin was short, sweet and funny in his brief acceptance speech. “I went through the kitchen on the way to the luncheon and I said to the chef, ‘How do you prepare the chicken?’ He said, ‘We just tell ‘em you’re gonna die.’” (Photo right: Angels skipper Mike Scioscia and Bob Miller)

During the nominee reading of those up for the Chick Hearn Radio Play-by-Play Award, Vin was mouthing Rory Markas’ name. At one point, Vin looked up and repeated, ‘please, Rory Markas.’ When Vinny’s name was announced, there was a visible disappointment. At the podium, Vin said: “I’ve been very fortunate over the years to receive quite a few awards as a charter member. I am sooo sorry and I say it now, I wanted Rory to win it so very badly.”

The Irv Kaze Radio Talk Show award went to Ken Levine of KABC. “Wow,” exclaimed Ken when he went to the podium to accept the award. “I’m sort of surprised. I have a book coming out next month, which is basically acceptance speeches I’ve never given. You laugh. It’s 400 pages.”

Levine went on to say, “This is a very special day because my two life-long idols are here. My father, Cliff, who told me that I could do anything in life … as long as you are Warren Beatty. My other idol is Vin Scully. What a stroke of luck that he is here because he’s not received an award since Friday night. As a kid, I heard Vin Scully and it changed my life. I love baseball and I love storytelling. Both of those passions are a direct result of Vin Scully.”

Lina Romay, Ray Briem

Chris Madsen, Bill Seward, Joe Cala

In the Best Radio Anchor Sports Staff, the nominees were: Rich Marotta, KFI; KFWB with Bret Lewis, Bill Seward, Ted Sobel, Jeff Davis and Bob Harvey; KNX with Steve Grad, Randy Kerdoon, Chris Madsen, Chuck Madden, Joe Cala, and John Ramey. The winner was the team from KFWB. “It is a privilege to be in this broadcasting game in my hometown,” said Seward. Bill also referenced Rory Markas’ sense of humor.

Ted Sobel said it was the first time he rooted against Vin Scully with the hope that Rory would have won. And I mean that very respectively, of course. Rory was a very good buddy of mine. It’s been a tough year as we also lost Rod Van Hook who I worked with for many years at KFWB.”