~Los Angeles Radio People, Template

Born Gilmore LaMar Simms in 1944, in Charleston, South Carolina, Lee dropped out of high school at 16, thinking he could learn more about life by experiencing life. He began jocking at WTMA as “Hot Toddio on the Radio.”

One of his early mentors was George Wilson. “George saved my life. George was my great inspirational guide. George taught me how to get people to listen to me; he taught me how to relate to them, and he taught me entertainment in radio,” said Lee.

He got his nickname “Baby” from Woody Roberts, pd of WONO-San Antonio. “I was a kid and they were kids and we got off together.” In the 1960s he wrote Time for the Pozo Seco Singers. The label reads “Mouse Merchant” which was the name of his cat.

In 1965 he worked in Phoenix and traveled with the Beatles to Las Vegas. Lee worked at WPOP-Hartford from 1966 to 1968, followed by stops in San Diego and San Antonio before returning to San Diego. He jocked at KCBQ-San Diego before arriving in the L.A. market. He first worked as Lee Simms, then later with the nom de plume Matthew “Doc” Frail.

His first night on KRLA was the day of the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. Lee discussed how he was always preparing his next show. “I think about my show all the time, every waking moment. If anything happens that I think is interesting, or relatable, I’ll tell it. If I think of some line, I’ll write it down so I won’t forget it. Good jocks are those that do good, unexpected things.”

In 1973, KRLA went MOR, and Lee was teamed with Johnny Hayes in morning drive. He also made brief stops at KROQ and KTNQ (Ten-Q), the latter for two nights. In the early 1980s he was working at KFOG-San Francisco and KDUF-Honolulu. In 1985 Lee joined the morning team at WLVE-Miami. In 1992, Simms landed at KYA-San Francisco, but by 1994 he relocated to KOOL in Phoenix. While at KOOL, Lee had the #1 show in just 90 days. In 1997, Lee was contacted by Steve Rivers, pd at San Francisco’s KISQ, prompting Simms to return to the Bay Area. His KISQ radio show was also heard via syndication on WUBT-Chicago.

Simms, by his own recollection, worked at 35 stations in 22 markets and was fired 25 times because he “never accepted an insult from anyone.” While at WPOP in 1966-67, Simms would often break format and go on lengthy tirades to complain about long hair, sloppily-dressed teenagers, rude people and other annoyances. He told an interviewer from the Hartford Courant, “I don’t like anything, including Hartford.”

Simms was outraged in 1986 upon the release of an Indie film, Down by Law. Tom Waits played one of three men who were arrested and imprisoned and then plotted an escape. Waits' character, Zack, was a New Orleans disc jockey known as Lee “Baby” Simms. The real Simms threatened a lawsuit but Waits later explained that he used the name as a tribute and had no idea Simms was still in radio. Robert Wiesbuch, former president of Drew University, has written a book titled Hitbound chronicling the careers of Simms, Joey Reynolds, Woody Roberts and other radio personalities. The book has yet to be published.

Ken Levine, as part of his tribute to Lee at his blog, , offered these final words: "Lee Baby Sims deserved more recognition. He deserved to be in whatever Halls of Fame the radio industry concocts. He was a true original and a shining example of how radio could be great. He elevated the medium to an art form. Pity he was never really appreciated in his time. RIP Lee Baby. You were the best."

Blurred Story. With just two weeks to go before a scheduled trial over whether Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines is a copyright infringement of Marvin Gaye’s Got to Give It Up, the dispute has gone nuclear in the past 24 hours. U.S. District John Kronstadt abruptly changed his mind on a key issue and then denied an attempt to delay the trial for an appeal. On Wednesday, the judge said he made an error with his initial ruling, that the recording of Gaye’s legendary song was completely inadmissible at trial.

The trial pits Robin Thicke and Pharell Williams against the children of the late Motown legend. The Gaye family charges Thicke and Williams illegally copied protected elements of Got to Give It Up when the duo wrote their number one song. Since the recording wasn’t deposited with the Copyright Office in the 1970s, the dispute is whether Gaye’s copyrights were limited to elements presented in the sheet music composition.

In new papers, the Gaye family asserts the judge is misreading copyright law to the extent that it could have “drastic and devastating consequences for intellectual property” and “allow infringers to steal classic portions of the songs by Marvin Gaye, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, and every other iconic artist whose works were created before 1978.”

Musical Chairs. Just as Cumulus, owners of KABC, signed Mark Levin to a 5-year extension, KABC announces they are dropping Levin from their lineup. KRLA (AM 870 / The Answer), picked up Levin and will broadcast his show in afternoon drive. Hugh Hewitt, previously in afternoons moves to a 6 p.m. start. Meanwhile, Dennis Miller is dropped from KRLA to make room for Levin.

Yet Miller will continue to be heard locally, as he now moves to late-night at KABC (10 p.m. to 1 a.m.), followed by Red-Eye Radio from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Peter Tilden will slide down to 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

“This move consolidates and strengthens our live and local lineup,” according to a station spokesperson. “Our station now has well known, compelling Southern California personalities from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. and a bona fide Hollywood personality in Miller for late nights. The Talkradio 790 KABC lineup is crafted to be entertaining, relevant, compelling and uniquely Southern California.”

Hear Ache. KFI/KEIB’s David Cruz is on a leave of absence … Sad that songwriter/poet Rod McKuen has died. He was 81 … Marc Germain (formerly Mr. KABC / Mr. KFI and nationally syndicated weekend host of Red Eye Radio) is bringing his unique brand of Talk Radio to KXNT FM/AM-Las Vegas all next week from 6-9 p.m. We can listen live at: http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/. Germain has made his home in Las Vegas for the past five years and has been hosting a nightly live show and podcast from his TalkRadioOne.com base.

“It’s quite shocking. I haven’t been in touch with Lee Simms since I worked with him in the 70s but I always admired his exceptional creativity and wit. I’m so sorry to hear it and my heart goes out to his family and friends.” – Shadoe Stevens

“Lee Simms was at KCBQ when I arrived at KGB in San Diego. He was working evenings. One night, I was fascinated by a rather lengthy story he was sharing about a James Taylor song he was about to play. It seems that James had been in a mental institution and met a woman there who became a close friend and inspiration. If I recall correctly, Lee went on to share that the magnetic woman died and many other details about their friendship. It was the inspiration for the song.

As the tale went on, it was pretty impossible to tune out. The fable ended with the James Taylor song Lee was talking about.

Sometime later, I was talking with Lee on the phone and asked him how he collected all these great stories and mentioned the James Taylor piece in particular. He paused and said, ‘Oh, I just made that up. But it was a pretty good story, wasn’t it!’

He made it all up! Lee Simms…unique and unrepeatable.” – Charlie Van Dyke

“The saddest news EVER! Lee Baby was so nice to me and so kind. He and his lady took me out to eat in Honolulu on my first trip there in 1977 and I first met him when he was considering a gig at TEN-Q.

I will never forget his wacky sense of humor. I am really bummed.” – Nancy Plum

“At the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters luncheon last week that honored Rick Dees, there were about 300 attendees. The speakers that honored Rick were terrific and spoke of his tremendous talent and huge impact on Los Angeles Radio and also station KIIS.

However, it was interesting and a sign of the times that other than Mark Wallengren who is a member of PPB, there was no one there from Clear Channel. I was surprised and dismayed that iHeart (Clear Channel) did not buy a table or two. It was Rick’s morning show many years ago that drove the ratings at that time for KIIS and made the station a dominant force in Los Angeles and helped to increase revenues for the entire market [a rising tide lifts all ships]. The local management and others at KIIS should have been at the luncheon – at least that is what I believe. There was a time in Los Angeles when radio people bonded and became friends and were supportive of one another. Apparently and sadly, that time has long passed.” – Bob Fox

“Good story. Thanks. In fact your comments regarding the changes are more than accurate. How many students run or on the air at KPPC, KCRW and KUSC? The focus of those stations in recent years has been on providing the community with alternative but needed programming. Classical and Jazz are two music formats that more than fill this bill.” – Chuck Southcott

"Thanks Don for link to Fritz Coleman’s stand up. He is very funny, and he was so at the PPB luncheon.

It was great to see Harvey Kern’s comments on KNJO/fm 92.7. I worked there late 70s with Alan Fischler, too. The only time I saw him get upset is when our pd allowed us to play a Rita Coolidge L.P. He did put the dots on it, but I guessed he missed one cut. Alan stormed the studio, I was on the air at the time, brought in the pd and yelled at him. I ended up getting the L.P.” – John Newton

“I agree with Bob Morgan about Las Vegas Radio. My wife and I were just there this last week. The only one station that was tolerable was Old School 105.7. Vegas tv news is the worst. I was watching the News on CBS Channel 8 and the female anchor was wearing some outfit that would make sense if she were in Wisconsin or Chicago. She kept tripping on her words. I couldn’t wait to get home to Palm Springs and watch CBS Local 2 where they have two top notch anchors Kris Long and Brooke Beare.” – Dale Berg, 969theoasis.org

Hear Ache. Beau Weaver has a fun gig this week, working as the announcer on CBS’s The Late Late Show with Regis Philbin and others guest hosting in the interim as the network gets ready for James Corden in March. “Fortunately, I did not have to trek through the snow to West 57th Street,” said Beau, “but was able to do my part from my warm Ojai studio … Mark Levin’s syndication deal with Westwood One has been extended through 2020. Levin is heard on over 300 stations across the nation. Locally, Levin is carried early evenings on KABC ... KNX‘s On Your Corner returns to Burbank tomorrow with a broadcast live From The Castaway restaurant. The special programming is designed to give listeners insight into the unique attributes of the area and you are invited. Free appetizers and refreshments will be offered to attendees throughout the broadcast day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Radio Gets Poorer. Not only is Mark Thompson returning to LA airwaves as the host of the new morning show at 100.3/The Sound, another rock-n-roll veteran is also returning to the radio dial. Poorman re-joins KCAA in the Inland Empire beginning at 1 p.m. for an hour a day. “The format is new, fresh, and definitely controversial (in a good way)! I promise you nobody else is doing or would dare doing what I'm going to do,” said Poorman, the alias of Jim Trenton.

LARadio Rewind: January 29, 2008. Kurt St. Thomas launches Houndstooth Radio, an Internet station broadcasting from the garage of his Los Angeles home. Born in 1963 in Richmond, Virginia, St. Thomas worked as a dj and music director at alternative-rock WFNX in Boston from 1987 to 1995. In 1991 he world-premiered Nirvana’s Nevermind album. In 2004 he co-wrote a biography, Nirvana: The Chosen Rejects. St. Thomas jocked at Indie 103.1 KDLD/KDLE in 2008 and did weekends and fill-in on KROQ from 2009 to 2012. After WFNX became adult hits WHBA “The Harbor” in 2012, WFNX returned as an Internet-only station. St. Thomas returned to Boston to program WFNX.com but the station lasted only five months. St. Thomas has written and produced five independent feature films and has produced music videos for Kathleen Edwards, Orange, Orbit, Reel Big Fish, Rustic Overtones and other artists. Houndstooth Radio’s slogan is “New and classic indie rock. No format, no rules, no commercials.” The station can be heard at http://www.houndstoothradio.com/

“I must say, I'm in shock to hear about Bob Shannon passing. We worked at KCBQ together and in later years K-Earth 101. On my way to San Diego on Friday nights we would have dinner together and talk about the great times we had. We were at the KRIZ-Phoenix reunion and I got to introduce Bob on stage.

“Your funnie brought back memories of the late 1970’s at KNJO-Thousand Oaks (“Stereo 92”). We were one of the first stereo fm stations in the area.

Our format clock was simple: News at the top of the hour. Instrumental, group vocal. Spots. Instrumental, Male vocal. Spots. Instrumental, female vocal. Repeat second half hour.

Owner Alan Fischler was very concerned over the instrumental music [all this from LPs], and he loved to shop at Thrifty Drug Stores [remember them – before Rite Aid] and buy their highly discounted discs with Mantovani, Percy Faith, et al. He then listened to each one and glued ‘stick on’ white dots on cuts he did not want played on the air. We had a label on each LP so we could record the date each cut was played and rules as to how often we could play them. Colored tape was placed on the side of the albums--red (females), blue (males), green (instrumental), yellow (groups), and white (piano). Plus others. So they were visible on the shelves.

It was a simpler time. G-d forbid we started a cut with a dot –you can imagine the embarrassment when the needle hit it. :-( ” – Harvey Kern, Los Angeles

“Just listening to the morning radio and made rounds of talk radio while driving to sample what’s there. I noticed in recent weeks that KFI is pushing Line App as another tool that listeners can use to contact air hosts and station generally, besides the more conventional email, telephone and snail mail and the widely used Twitter.

KABC over the past year used to promote texting to the station for directly reaching shows but I haven’t heard that promotion for about the same time period that the KFI Line App began. I have no idea why or what that changed promotion was about, but with KABC and the lineup changes, you just can’t tell what’s up there. I can only suppose the texting for KABC was not worth whatever it took to manage compared to listener contacts received.

As an aside regarding programming: For changes there at KABC, I just can’t get behind the Judge Cristina show, Bryan Suits gave a lot of information on a range of current events, adding the coloration to the picture that his military experience and personal contacts enabled. The change for that time slot is simply a total subject matter change and not an effort to provide material from another air personality’s point of view.

Still miss Larry Elder on the air. Although the shift of Jillian & John’s time slot to afternoon drive preserves their show, their mid-day position was better as John & Ken continue to be informative and provocative of criticism many times, as well. This is where the Larry Elder presence afforded me a choice as the alternative during that time slot.

Well, this is just a listener opinion and observation. I have no real information on what's actually the plan for any of these changes, aside from the goal of making a station advertiser-attractive.

And, as usual, your column puts a lot of what happens regarding the radio industry into some interesting context and fills in a lot of the past all-around.” – Robert Guevara, Eagle Rock

“Radio in Las Vegas is unlistenable. I haven’t turned one on in two years. Television is the same, the Fox News channel here is a joke. They have morning news with two buffoons who can’t stop laughing at each other. The woman is nothing more than a live laugh track, and the guy can’t begin a sentence without the word ‘I.’

I’ve worked with some of the most egocentric people in the biz and nobody I have ever met can top this geek. I was looking at some of your archives and came across Dave Conley. I worked with Dave at KSEE and TenQ (KTNQ). KSEE owner was Frank McComber. He hired Dave in Santa Maria and at one time it was Don Sanchez in the morning, I did middays and Dave did afternoons. Man what a trip that was back in 1966/67. Spending the ‘summer of love’ on the radio with Dave Conley was an ‘E’ ticket ride!” – Bob Morgan

Here’s a Riddle. Sam Riddle shared some insight on how Paul Harvey played a role in his early radio life. This appeared in Claude Hall’s tasty newsletter.

“Paul Harvey did not know it, but he taught me the art of timing on radio. My first real radio job at 17 was at KRBC in Abilene, Texas. I was the morning jock and rip and read newsman from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., which included running down the hall for the KRBC/TV station breaks and back to radio control for Paul Harvey at 12 Noon. I will always remember talking right up to noon so when I stopped suddenly, with a flick of the switch, Paul would start talking ... and 15 minutes later he would say Paul Harvey ... GOOD DAY! and I had the switch on live for at least 60 seconds prior to saying ... Sam Riddle ... HELLO MUSIC LOVERS ... AND THIS IS THE MUSIC FROM K R B C ... ABILENE. And the rest was rock and roll to LA.”

Michael Linder Calls it Quits. “That’s a wrap, Los Angeles” is how veteran news broadcaster Michael Linder announced his retirement from Los Angeles Radio on his Facebook page. “Thirty-one years of making media in the City of Angels is over. Time to call it quits and move after four tv stations and two networks, four radio stations, projects for the Times and LA Weekly, and sharing amazing L.A. stories on the BBC and Radio New Zealand.”

Linder continued: “Slinking out of town is a lame plot twist to decades of documenting L.A.’s best and worst though a journo’s POV and the possibly misguided notion that exposing tragedy and celebrating triumph really can help make things better. But opportunity sometimes evaporates without a trace under the SoCal sun, so much spilled gas on the 405. It’s one of Los Angeles’ oldest trademark tropes and it’s my turn to play it, though I so prefer L.A. love stories, however bizarre. Sorry, I’m pathetic at goodbyes – especially leaving so many great friends, colleagues and characters in the spectacular hometown I adopted and love. Thank you, everyone, for everything.”

“Bob Shannon had the unenviable task of succeeding Dick Whittington when ‘Sweet Dick’ left KFI after the reformatted station became more music-intensive. I always admired how Shannon had a friendly presence that complimented the music, it could not have been easy to have had to succeed a local legend. Later, I’d hear Shannon teamed up with newsman Ed Nix over at Santa Ana’s KWIZ, they were quite the duo. Best to his family and friends.” – Alan Oda

“In 1964 or early 1965, when I was about 11 years old and living in San Fernando (the city of...) the sound of fire engines one morning, sent me running up the street four blocks. There, fully engulfed in flames [a phrase I never used until my news career], was the Thrifty Drug Store and the Porter Hotel, which served as the second story of that building. This was at the corner of Brand Blvd., and San Fernando Road.

As a wide-eyed kid I sat so still on the curb across the street watching the firemen battle the flames and eventually see the Porter Hotel as a total loss. The Thrifty Drug on the first floor and several other businesses would reopen but not the hotel. It became a one story set of stores.

Little did I know at the time the Porter Hotel housed radio station KVFM [94.3] and inside sat a disc jockey playing music. His general manager, a guy named Norm [I don’t remember his last name so maybe somebody can help me out], told him to ‘stay on the air and keep broadcasting.’ I guess he did until some point. I never found out what happened to him.

Anyway, the point to the story is really, I didn’t realize at the time that the first LA based radio station I would work for was KVFM 94.3 in 1972. By this time it was in the Panorama Towers in the Panorama City several miles away. Norm was still the gm which is why I know the story about the fire as he related it to me.

The morning show was Spanish at this time but without the normal disc jockey who was a woman who owned a ballroom in San Fernando. Some sort of dispute between her and Norm. My first gig there was to segue Spanish records for three hours and play the spots. That has led to some really funny stories but not for now.

You just never know where life will take you and what events will influence your life.” – Bob Brill

“Bruce Chandler’s account of KFXM history is spot on, but I am confused by one aspect from my own listening experience. I couldn't remember whether it was 1963 or 1964, but my family was riding around downtown Riverside one fine afternoon and the jock who was on the air at KFXM plugged the next dj saying he’d be coming from ‘our studios at Riverside's Mission Inn.’

We were just about at the Inn at that time but it wasn't for me to ask if we could stop and visit the studio, but I thought, ‘I didn’t know they had a second studio.’ I've never heard it mentioned since then and cannot find any reference anywhere to KFXM ever broadcasting from there. Years later, KOLA would make the Mission Inn its home. Can anyone shed light on this?” – Bill Powers, Las Vegas

The awards competition includes radio and television stations from Fresno south to the Mexican border.

As for KNX, the station took home Golden Mike trophies in the following categories:

BEST NEWS BROADCAST OVER 15 MINUTES: KNX MORNING NEWS – Dick Helton, Vicky Moore, Jonathan Serviss, Pete Demetriou, Margaret Carrero, Jon Baird, Ed Mertz, Laraine Herman, Paul Gomez, Diane Dray, Wendy Thermos, Scott Finder, Ryan Bravo, Darlene Rodrigo, Randy Kerdoon, Jennifer York, Jeff Baugh

BEST LIVE COVERAGE OF A NEWS STORY: “LAX Shooting” – Tom Haule, Linda Nunez, Pete Demetriou, Jon Baird, Scott Burt, Charles Feldman, Ron Kilgore, Tom Reopelle, Frank Mottek, Diane Thompson, Jim Thornton, Wendy Thermos, Ric Schroeder, James Tuck, Paul Gomez, Diane Dray, David Singer, Greg Habell, Kathy Kiernan, Josh Cuadra

BEST SPOT NEWS REPORTING: "The Great UCLA Flood of 2014” – Desmond Shaw, Ed Mertz, Pete Demetriou

BEST NEWS PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROGRAM: “Ask the Mayor” – Charles Feldman, Tom Haule, Jonathan Serviss, Paige Osburn, Logan Moy

BEST TRAFFIC REPORT: “KNX Traffic at 6:15am” – Jennifer York, Jeff Baugh, Mike Baez

(Jeff Baugh, Jennifer York Mike Baez; Ric Schroeder Julie Chin, James Tuck, Joe Guimond, Ed Mertz; Ron Kilgore, Julie Chin, Pete Demetriou;
Jennifer York, Bill Handel; Ron Kilgore, Frank Mottek, Kathy Kiernan, James Tuck, Ric Schroeder, Wendy Thermos, Pete Demetriou)

Rez Radio. Rez Radio 91.3 was also honored by the Radio-Television News Association. Their program, Pala Today was first runner up for best long-form Radio Newscast in Southern California, division B that includes stations from San Diego, LA, Inland Empire, Ventura, Santa Barbara, High Desert and the Central Valley. Rez Radio / KOPA is presented by the Pala Band of Mission Indians, located in Northern San Diego County, heard on both the fm dial and streamed on iHeartRadio.

“The station that is making a difference is where I’m relearning radio roots,” said Chris Carmichael. “John Fox is putting KOPA/Rez Radio on the map. As general manager of the station at Pala, California, he’s taking community radio to new heights. Getting recognized at the Golden Mike awards Saturday night is huge. Not only is he collecting well deserved awards from RTNA, and the local San Diego Press Club, he’s been a mentor for me. As the producer of a local music show, John’s guidance has made me a better broadcaster. ‘Think locally, act globally’ is the wall posting at the studios. Congratulations, John, on another job well done. Hear Rez Radio on the air at 91.3 FM, iHeartRadio, or Tune-In.”

LARadio Rewind: January 27, 2014. Madeleine Brand begins hosting Press Play, a daily noontime series on KCRW. Program director Gary Scott calls Brand an “original” who will focus on “the latest in issues, ideas and culture.” Born in Hollywood, Brand attended UC Berkeley and worked at campus station KALX. She received a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University Brand has hosted a program on KPPC, co-hosted NPR’s Day To Day, served as a correspondent for NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and contributed to SoCal Connected on KCET-Channel 28. She joined KCRW in 2013. Episodes of Press Play can be heard at http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/press-play-with-madeleine-brand

“Without Rick Dees LA would have never become a $1 Billion marketplace. In the mid-80’s KIIS started charging $1000 per spot for Rick and everyone in the market doubled their rates from that day on. It climbed to $2000 a spot at one point.

Also, Rick was the first to charge big talent fees for personal appearances. It changed the course of LA Radio forever.” – Bob Moore

“KFXM moved into the Holiday Inn studios along with KDUO/fm, their sister station, in the fall of 1963. It was a short move, since coincidentally the Holiday Inn was brand new and built at the same time the stand alone studios and offices of KFXM/KDUO were constructed on the west side of the hotel.

The old transmitter/studio site of KFXM was indeed in a small bungalow of a building that continued to house the KFXM transmitter. The Holiday Inn was located literally just a stone’s throw from that old fortress of a studio and the three towers. That huge piece of property was located at the intersection of the 10 and 215 freeways in San Bernardino.

At the time of the move, KFXM djs were separated from the rest of the radio station staff in that the management, sales and support staff were still located either at the California Hotel, which USED to house the studios and the quite a bit smaller tower set-up. The station also had a presence in the Mission Inn in Riverside, though I don’t know how extensive that was.

Up until the move to the new Holiday Inn facilities, the djs did their on-air shifts in that little building that the transmitter was in. I’m not exactly sure when the studios were moved out of the California Hotel.

KFXM’s glory days of Top 40 Rock ‘n’Roll radio were first broadcast from that little building circa late 50s through the fall of 1963 and then from the Holiday Inn in the fall of 1963 on until the end of their AM Top 40 format. KFXM was never challenged in the Top 40 Rock ‘n’ Roll wars until March 10 of 1962 when ‘K/men 129’came to town, taking over the old KITO studios in Highland, also in a big field – a cow pasture.

KFXM had a few competitors, like KRNO 1240, up until K/men came to town but they didn’t do that much to derail the ‘Big 59’s’ dominance. Even when K/men came to down, it still took about a year to finally knock KFXM off. Ironically, with the move of KFXM out of their humble little on-air building to the length of a football field away into the new state of the art studios at the time in the Holiday Inn, again, fall of 1963, the station ‘fumbled’ away their ratings by dismissing the entire current jock staff, flushing the ‘Fabulous 59’ survey and totally revamping the format into ‘Big Top’ radio, with a circus type branding and bringing in all new deejays, like Larry Lujack [future Super Jock at WLS-Chicago] for mornings and a host of others that came and went in the course of a couple of years.

The decision was costly. The dismantling of their heritage was the exact wrong move when across town the year and a half campaign of K/men to ‘Chip, chip, keep chippin’ away’ at KFXM’s numbers was helped greatly by KFXM itself when it voluntarily gave up on its A-Team of talents and reduced itself to being the ‘new kid on the block’ by starting at square ONE. [By the way, K/men’s FIRST SONG PLAYED on Saturday morning, March 10th, 1962 by ‘Huckleberry’ Chuck Clemens was Chip Chip by Gene McDaniels. It was an ‘inside message’ at the time to KFXM that the mission of K/men would be to chip away at their ratings.]

Back to the future, the ‘Fatal Flaw Fall’ of 1963, the long-time KFXM listeners were jilted by the sudden unfamiliarity of EVERYTHING but the music and fled to K/men. It wasn’t until Al Anthony came into town in 1965 and took over the programming reins that KFXM slowly clawed its way back to the top. The new studios were cool, sure, BUT at the very same time, the sudden alienation of listeners was a huge misstep. I lived and listened through it all as a junior high and high school kid in Fontana who loved radio and made it my life’s dream, thanks to the Top 40 radio wars in the Inland Empire.” – Bruce Chandler

“Maybe fortunately or unfortunately, we are all having that same ‘combination of aging equipment and power problems.’

“Have you been to the doctor yet to check on your aging equipment?” – Christopher A. Bury, Pasadena

Rick said he enjoyed re-connecting with “the most talented people in radio.” A number of attendees just hung out after the luncheon, catching up and exchanging radio gossip and stories.”

“I enjoyed the well-deserved award bestowed upon my dear friend, Michael Brockman…(and) seeing the glowing recognition of Julie and Kevin Dees.”

(Tim Conway, Jr., Fritz Coleman, David Sheehan, Joe Cipriano, Dees, Fritz Coleman, Harold Green, Lynn Anderson Powell, Julie Dees, Rick Dees, and Wally Clark)

Dees thanked PPB prexy Chuck Street for “the incredible work that went into the event and the entire Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters board.” Of course, Rick couldn’t leave our conversation without a quip. He thanked the PPB “for the free parking at the Sportsman’s Lodge.”

(Carson Schreiber, Don Elliot, Ron Shapiro, Jeffrey Leonard, Jim Pewter, Gene Price, Jerry Fry,
(front row) David Sheehan, Fritz Coleman, Rick Dees, Wally Clark, (back row) Tim Conway, Jr., Scott St. James, Commander Chuck Street, and Joe Cipriano)

Scott St. James, the first speaker for the afternoon gathering, said he had a good time. “Above all, Rick and his family were very happy.” (Thanks to David Keeler and Don Elliot for photos)

Hear Ache. KLAC’s Jay Mohr and J.T. The Brick will broadcast live from Radio Row at The Bridgestone Fan Gallery, located at the Phoenix Convention Center this week. They join other media from around the country with interviews and other coverage leading up to Super Bowl XXXVII … Oscar time is coming soon and it is always fun to reminisce about the great films of our past. Take a listen to the best move quotes of all time at: https://www.youtube.com/embed/594Oxq4c0XA?feature=player_embedded

Greenberg’s Mea Culpa. Mike Greenberg of KSPN’s Mike & Mike Show has just written a book called My Father’s Wives. Greenberg appeared with Dennis Miller on KRLA to promote the new published work. “I’ve been a lifelong fan,” Mike told Dennis. “I’ve always promised myself that if I ever got a chance to talk with you, I would apologize.”

Explaining the reason for the apology, Greenberg said he had stolen a Dennis Miller line and used it on his show and ESPN’s SportsCenter a thousand times. “If there is a team that soundly crushes another team, I will say they got beat ‘like a narc at a biker rally.’ I’ve never credited you and I get a laugh every time. So I apologize.”

LARadio Rewind: January 26, 2003. Jimmy Kimmel begins hosting a late-night television talk show on ABC. Born in 1967 in Brooklyn, Kimmel began in radio while in college, working at Arizona State University station KASC and University of Nevada Las Vegas station KUNV. He jocked at stations in Seattle, Tampa, Palm Springs and Tucson before coming to KROQ in 1994, where he spent five years as “Jimmy the Sports Guy” on Kevin & Bean’s morning show. On television, Kimmel co-hosted Win Ben Stein’s Money and The Man Show and co-created/co-produced Crank Yankers. He has also hosted the ESPY Awards, American Music Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards. His ABC talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, debuted on January 26, 2003, following Super Bowl XXXVII, and continues to air at 11:30 pm each weeknight.

Valentine’s Gift. With Valentine’s Day just a few weeks away, KFSH’s Lara Scott has a book she wrote with Cori Linder called From the corner of Hollywood and Divine: Your Guide to 30 Old Hollywood-Inspired Spots in Southern California. You can get the book at Lulu.com.

“I wrote this back when I just had one kid and had all that free time,” emailed Lara. “You could take your Valentine to a theatre that looks like a tomb (The Egyptian), the glam 1920s hotel where the Munchkins once stayed (The Culver Hotel), or for dinner aboard a 1930s Art Deco luxury liner (The Queen Mary).”

Funnie. She was standing in the kitchen, preparing our usual soft-boiled eggs and toast for breakfast, wearing only the t-shirt that she normally slept in.

As I walked in, almost awake, she turned to me and said softly, ‘You've got to make love to me this very moment!”

My eyes lit up and I thought, “I’m either still dreaming or this is going to be my lucky day!” Not wanting to lose the moment, I embraced her and then gave it my all; right there on the kitchen table.

Afterwards she said, “Thanks,” and returned to the stove, her t-shirt still around her neck.

She explained, “The egg timer’s broken.” (submitted by Christopher Bury)

“I loved your item about the latest radio wars, and your memory of the KRLA/KHJ battle over the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. I remember that. What a night. I was still in elementary school and my best friend and I were there at that concert. We all noticed the circling message overhead ‘KHJ Welcomes the Beatles to Boss Angeles.’ It was before the Beatles played and you couldn't miss it, because they flew low enough to see easily, and low enough to hear the noise it made as it circled directly over our heads.

I think it was Bob Eubanks who was the emcee. He was onstage at the time. He looked up and cracked – ‘It's very nice to see those greetings from the station that hasn’t earned its fourth letter yet.’ It got a HUGE laugh from all of us in the audience. True enough, for a VERY brief moment, KHJ did one-up KRLA. But Bob Eubanks’ comment allowed KRLA to shut that moment down – cold. Just stole their rivals’ thunder in one quick retort. Kind of like what the President did during the State of the Union speech the other night, when some snarky GOPers applauded his statement that he had no more campaigns to run – and he shot back with ‘I know because I won both of them.’" – Mary Lyon

“I am glad I had enough foresight to aircheck Rick Dees near the end of KHJ as a rock station. I also have an aircheck of his first morning show on KIIS/fm in 1981.

As a collector of novelty records, I know there are two Rick Dees related recordings related to the O.J. Simpson trial back in February 1995. These were Dickie Goodman-style interviews with snippets of hit records that had airplay on KIIS/fm. At that time, I spoke to a music staffer at the station (who coincidentally shared my February 15 birthday). She said the records would be edited and played on the (nationally syndicated) Rick Dees Weekly Top 40. However, I had someone check an archive of the program and there’s nothing indicating the parodies were ever played on the show. After seemingly millions of hours searching through a variety of sources, I cannot find any airchecks of these records. If someone does have these recordings, please let me know and make them available via upload.

One more novelty recording I’m looking for is recordings featuring “Tom Brokenjaw.” He was heard during a sketch played as KDUO 97.5 (San Bernardino) changed formats from beautiful music to oldies K-HITS (KHTS), probably around 1998 or 1989.

“I recall, just a couple of weeks ago as the Lions were preparing to play the Packers, the tv announcers were talking about how Aaron Rodgers preferred to OVER-inflate the footballs he’d be using in games, even in the cold, Green Bay weather. I guess he never got busted for over-inflation. Strange that the Rodgers factoid hasn’t re-emerged with all of the discussion about football PSIs this week.” – Jerry Downey, Detroit

A Classic Rock Radio War

(January 23, 2015) Once upon a time, there were radio wars between competing formats. Going back to the Top 40 wars during the 60s, I remember sitting in the Hollywood Bowl waiting for the Beatles when a helicopter with chaser lights underneath it hovered briefly over the Bowl. The message was “KHJ Welcomes the Beatles to Boss Angeles.” But the irony is that 1110/KRLA was the official Beatles station and brought the Beatles to the Southland. For a brief moment, KHJ one-upped KRLA.

Well, for a brief moment on Wednesday (much of the day into Thursday morning), 100.3/The Sound one-upped KLOS. Both are in a classic radio war over their Classic Rock formats. The Sound has been very aggressive letting their listeners know that they play far more music than KLOS. Between music sweeps, The Sound will mention that there is no need to switch to KLOS because they are in the middle of a commercial sweep.

Now the battle has gone digital. This screenshot was captured Wednesday afternoon. How in the world did KLOS allow what appears to be a paid digital ad to get on their website, promoting the return of Mark Thompson? Mark, of Mark & Brian, spent 25 years at KLOS. When the show ended a couple of years ago, Mark moved to North Carolina.

Mark is coming back on February 2 with an all-new show, this time on 100.3/The Sound.

This radio war is a Classic.

Morning Dew. The morning drive ratings for the Holiday '14 book have been released.

Persons 12+ Mon-Fri 6a-10a

1. Mark Wallengren (KOST)

2. Bill Handel (KFI)

2. (Tie) Dick Helton & Vicky Moore (KNX)

4. Gary Bryan (KRTH)

5. Valentine (KBIG)

5. (Tie) Omar y Argelia (KLVE)

Persons 18-34 Mon-Fri 6a-10a

1. Mark Wallengren (KOST)

2. Ryan Seacrest (KIIS)

3. Big Boy (KPWR)

4. Omar y Argelia (KLVE)

5. Valentine (KBIG)

Persons 25-54 Mon-Fri 6a-10a

1. Mark Wallengren (KOST)

2. Ryan Seacrest (KIIS)

2. (Tie) Kevin & Bean (KROQ)

4. El Genio Lucas (KLYY)

5. Valentine (KBIG)

MIA

Where the heck is Carlos Amezcua? He's not on KEIB in the afternoons and he's not on the KEIB website. Hmmmmmmmm?

Hear Ache. Ken Levine is hosting the Neil Simon Film Festival, Friday nights on TCM … Ryan Seacrest guests on the Today Show this morning. Would love to hear the conversation between Carson Daly and Ryan in the make-up room. Wonder if they talk about their morning drive Top 40 gigs? … KEIB’s Dave Ramsey is now heard on more than 550 AM/FM affiliate stations. According to the Ramsey organization, is heard by more than 8.5 million listeners weekly.

LARadio Rewind: January 23, 1986. Alan Freed, in the “non-performer” category, is among the first inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, along with Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers. Robert Johnson, Jimmie Rodgers and Jimmy Yancey are inducted as “early influences.”

The Hall Of Fame Foundation was created in 1983 by Atlantic Records chairman Ahmet Ertegun. Induction ceremonies have been held annually since 1986. The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame & Museum opened in 1995 in Cleveland.

Freed began in radio as a soldier during World War II, working for Armed Forces Radio. Between 1945 and 1959, he jocked at stations in New Castle, Youngstown, Akron, Cleveland and New York. In the 1960s he worked at KDAY, WQAM in Miami, and KNOB.

Freed died of uremia in 1965. He was inducted into the National Radio Hall Of Fame in 1988 and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991.

Overheard.

“Does it occur to him that he is arguably crossing the line from husband to pimp by exploiting his wife as a sex object?” (Mike Huckabee, slamming Jay Z for what he feels is the exploitation of Beyoncé)
“Luck is something that happens at the right time.” (Tony Bennett)
“Deep down do you really believe if radio cleaned up all its debt it would pay the folks more money?” (George Johns, radio consultant)

Funnie.

Email Friday

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** KABC Changes

“I agree with everything Andrew Schermerhorn said about KABC, but he didn’t comment on the afternoon drive show. And no matter how much promotion they do, I doubt any of it will keep Jillian Barberie from floating out of her chair.” – Bruce Harris, West Covina

** Cart This

“Congratulations to Rick Dees and Jim Duncan. I know how ya feel. I’ve got hundreds of carts sitting in big plastic containers in my basement:)” – Mike Butts

** Home for KFXM

“Anthony Kardoes of Riverside said the original KFXM studios were in the Holiday Inn in San Bernardino. They were actually in the transmitter building in the middle of a pasture near the towers before the Holiday Inn was ever built.” – Bob Morgan

** Other Radio Homes

“As a former resident of Anaheim from 1965 to 1985, it was nice to see a picture of the sign for the first KEZY-1190 studios at the Disneyland Hotel. As for KFXM, going even further back, from 1929 into the 1930s and ’40s, KFXM had its studios and transmitter at the old California Hotel in San Bernardino, at the corner of 5th and E Streets. I found a website that has a postcard image of the hotel with the KFXM wire antenna on top of the roof.

Also, KIEV-870 in Glendale (now KRLA) had its studio and transmitter at the Hotel Glendale at 701 E. Broadway from 1933 until about 1990, but I don’t have on hand the exact date the station moved to a new studio site.

I also recall KNOB was at the Hyatt House hotel for a time in the ’60s and ’70s on Harbor Blvd. across from Disneyland.

I can’t recall offhand any other Los Angeles radio stations that had studios inside hotels. KGER-Long Beach had a second Los Angeles studio at the Clark Hotel in the 1940s for a while. And in the 1920s and ’30s, a number of stations had their antenna atop the roof of high buildings around the Southland to advertise their call letters, but not hotels specifically. In the early-1920s, a few short-lived Los Angeles radio stations had studios inside department stores downtown, such as Bullocks and Barker Brothers, to advertise the radios on sale in the stores.

Also, in San Diego, KFSD, later KOGO, had studios inside the US Grant Hotel and its antenna on the roof in the 1930s.” – Jim Hilliker, Monterey

** Helper Boy Greg Simms

“I've known Greg Simms in his San Diego years: First as ‘Helper Boy Greg’ on the Jeff and Jer Showgram to his years at KFMB ‘Star 100.7’ as a hot AC talent at the then-number one rated station.

His last on-air was at the rebranded KFMB ‘Jack FM’ with Monique Marvez [now KFI]. Their show, ‘Monique and the Man’ was popular. It was a Tracy Johnson nationwide search for a million dollar contract to host a morning show in the 17th market.

Greg did his time at Star in Los Angeles and now at K-EARTH. He’s also a Cordon Bleu trained chef – so he’s always simmering something. Hits and asparagus.

That’s Greg. I congratulate him on his latest achievement in Los Angeles! See you on the radio, Greg.” – Christopher Carmichael

** Donn Reed … Nightside

“Donn Reed’s photo brought back many memories. Donn, Captain Max and I worked together at KABC before we all went to KMPC.

KABC was first in LA with the helicopter doing traffic. The helicopter company was owned by Donn, Max another guy, I think his name was Rolley Thomas, who worked at KFI. Bob Forward put the deal together buying Air Watch for KMPC from the guys and became KMPC Air Watch. At KABC Max was the pilot and Donn did the air reports.

While at KABC they crashed and Donn never flew again. He did the reports from the newsroom. At KMPC, Max did the air work and pilot and he became very popular. Donn started NIGHT WATCH that he did before on a local station, covering the Culver City Police department.

Donn was something else. ‘Roger, I must come in right now or he might start the report with, ‘flashing red lights, sirens, hoses are over the place. This Donn Reed Nightside.’

Sometimes didn’t tell us where the fire was because he didn't want to get crowds there.

Donn was a very good reporter. He was one of the best.” – Roger Carroll

The World Turns at K-EARTH

(January 22, 2015) Larry Morgan (l), most recently afternoons at Go Country KKGO, is joining K-EARTH as assistant program director/swing. Once known as “the Amazing Larry Morgan,” he started in the market at KIIS in 1984. He’s been heard on KSCA, KYSR, 100.3/The Sound and KKGO.

Chris Ebbott, pd at K-EARTH made the Morgan announcement along with the official hiring of Greg Simms as music director/swing.

“K-EARTH is one of the preeminent radio brands in the world,” said Ebbott. “On and off -air, Larry and Greg make our team stronger and deeper. Getting them on board is the perfect start to 2015.”

Both new hires begin February 16th.

Support LARadio. A tease sent to LARadio subscribers earlier this week hinted at someone leaving afternoons and headed for an Oldies station. If you want these newsletters and teases before they appear in the column, you can sign up for $15 with a link at the bottom of the page.

The Larry Morgan announcement was not the only exclusive. We are still waiting to announce the departure of a morning man. His station is giving him the opportunity to land another job prior to announcing the change.

Golden Mike Honors. Nationally renowned news anchor Maria Elena Salinas and award-winning Kings play-by-play man Bob Miller will receive special awards at the 65th Annual Golden Mike Awards. Salinas will be named “Broadcast Legend” at the gala awards dinner, set for this Saturday at the Universal Hilton Hotel. She has co-anchored the national Spanish-language newscast Noticiero Univision since 1987. She also hosts the prime time newsmagazine show Aqui y Ahora beamed to television stations in the U.S. and many Latin American countries.

Miller will receive the RTNA’s “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his 41 seasons broadcasting games of the Los Angeles Kings, who have won hockey’s fabled Stanley Cup two of the last three years.

Miller has voiced over 3,000 hockey games on television and radio. He is a member of several halls of fame for sports broadcasters and has won every prestigious sports broadcasting award in California. The author of two books of vignettes about hockey, Miller also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1998, The Kings presented Miller a “lifetime contract” and named their arena press box in his honor.

LARadio Rewind: January 22, 2013. After three years as operations director at WLS in Chicago, Drew Hayes announces that he will return to KABC to replace the recently departed Jack Silver as program director. Hayes, a graduate of the University of Miami, had served as news director of KKDA in Dallas, hosted a talk show at WMAQ and programmed WKRC in Cincinnati before becoming WLS program director in 1989 and overseeing that station’s switch to a talk format. Hayes also programmed a talk format on WLS/fm from 1991 to 1995. After leaving WLS in 1996, Hayes served as general manager of ESPN Radio in Bristol, Connecticut, and was KABC's program director from 1998 to 2000. He later managed Chicago’'s WBBM and WSCR before returning to WLS in 2010.

Feuding Harvey. Steve Harvey appeared on CBS Sunday Morning last weekend. “I tape 180 (episodes of The Steve Harvey Show) in 34 weeks,” Harvey said. “And then as soon as I’m done, I go home to Atlanta to tape Family Feud. And in eight weeks I tape 185 shows. And then every morning on the radio I do 240 live shows a year, every morning. The checks help get you there,” he laughed. “The moment they quit paying me – I’m exhausted.”

You can see the segment by clicking Harvey.

Overheard.

“Quincy Jones is one of our musical treasures.” (Talaya, KTWV)
“When the uncreative tell the creative what to do, it stops being art.” (Tony Bennett)
“Most people in radio only do what they’ve always done, not what they should be doing.” (George Johns, radio consultant)
“Frankly I would love to talk with you about horn playing the rest of the day, but I have to make a living.” (Dennis Prager, chatting with Arthur Brooks, president of AEI)
“My feeling is if New England did it, it’s cheating. They broke the rules. There has to be integrity in the room.” (Jim Rome, KFWB)

Hotel Studio. Anthony Kardoes of Riverside sent along a photo from the Disneyland hotel in 1959, the location of the old KEZY studio for 1190 AM. This was before they moved to Ball Road in Anaheim.

“I guess a number of radio stations had their original studios in hotels, like KFXM at the Holiday Inn in San Bernardino in the 60s, and KRLA at the old Huntington Sheraton Hotel in Pasadena for many years,” emailed Anthony.

Hear Ache. Congratulations to Rick Dees on receiving the Art Gilmore Lifetime Achievement Award tomorrow at the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters luncheon. Tim Conway, Jr. and Joe Cipriano have joined David Sheehan, Fritz Coleman, Wally Clark, and Scott St. James on the dais … Todd Schnitt, former talk show host at KFWB, has joined mornings in New York at WOR, with veteran sportscaster Len Berman … KFWB’s Sue Stiles is recuperating from stomach surgery to remove a tumor. “I came home from the hospital Sunday and I’m feeling better each day,” Sue wrote on her Facebook page. “The doctor promised he’d get the entire growth and he didn’t lie and there was no sign of cancer, but I know I couldn’t have made it without the support of so many people.”

Cart This. Jim Duncan, production engineer extraordinaire at iHeart Media (formerly Clear Channel), has the only connected cart deck in the Pinnacle building. “The tie-in is that I spent many years in the Rick Dees' studio at KIIS/fm,” emailed Jim. “When we moved into the Pinnacle Building in ‘Beautiful downtown Burbank,’ I was asked what equipment I wanted. A reel-to-reel tape machine and a cart deck were at the top of the list. Not that I would use them very much, but many of my only recordings of my ‘Jim Duncan’ jingles and favorite commercials and production pieces are ONLY on a cart. And beside the hundreds of albums in storage, I have many past projects on reel-to-reel tape. [I figured one day, before the oxide fell off, I would digitize them on my computer.] Thanks to long-time engineer Jerry Burnham for finding this piece of history.”

KIIS nighttimer JoJo Wright asked if he could play a couple of carts in Jim’s studio. One short video from his KIIS/fm website blog can be seen at: http://snapwidget.com/v/894520735471962405

Funnie. Harvey Kern wonders if this Bud Light commercial will appear on the Super Bowl telecast.

Email Thursday

We GET Email …

** Golden Girl Promotion

“What a tough job. Touching-up a girl in a bikini.” – Mitchell Crawford

** Tell KABC to Promote

"Let me humbly suggest that Drew Hayes and KABC management make this into a banner and place it over their respective desks [If you don't promote, a funny thing happens: NOTHING]. I’m missing Bryan Suits and Larry Elder, even though Suits never learned to use the 'cough' button and had a bad habit of holding his syllables ['the” became 'theeeeeeeeeee…' and 'and' became 'annnnnnnnnnnnnd…', etc.]. I tried Judge Cristina this morning and found it barely listenable. It was her 2nd day, I’ll give her some more chances, but I’m grateful to have Dennis Prager to turn to on KRLA. If he’s boring, I’ll punch up Classical KUSC or JACK/fm or punch around till I find something listenable. [Btw, I turned off KABC tonight because of a repetitive commercial. When I tuned back in 7-10 minutes later, the same commercial was playing again!]

Glad they kept Mark Levin [never afraid to tell it like it is] and Peter Tilden and Doug McIntyre, one of the jewels of L.A. radio. But, remember KABC folks: If you don’t promote, a funny thing happens: NOTHING.” - Andrew Schermerhorn

** Downtown Detroit

“WOW! What a beautiful sight to see Dazzlin’ Don Barrett right there on Jefferson Avenue painting our W/4 Golden Girl.

Great station and great times. I was proud to have been a part of it. Let’s go to Windsor and the Top Hat now:)” – Mike Butts

** Holiday Ratings

“Those ratings have the same credibility as the results of a Fox Network poll.” – Fred Lundgren, KCAA

** CBS Streaming Challenges

“Thanks for the comments in LA Radio about the audio streams. In the year I was with CBS/LA they changed the streaming servers and player at some point – I pointed out the issues – but issues remained. I checked it out again this morning and – you guessed it.

I don’t know what others [iHeart, Cumulus] are doing to their streams, but for the thousands of dollars spent on monitoring the ‘broadcast’ signal, about NOTHING is spent on monitoring the stream. Granted it’s a small number these days and when the stream is down, someone usually calls. But when it happens constantly it is really embarrassing." – Dave Mason, Ass’t PD, 105.7 Max FM, San Diego

KOST Yearly Ratings Gift

(January 21, 2015) The colossal rating for KOST in the Holiday ratings book is not a misprint. When KOST abandons its AC music around Thanksgiving and goes with 24/7 Christmas music, it is a ratings bonanza. The ratings book is barely considered by ad agencies and advertisers unless a client is buying radio during the holiday season next year. These ratings are Persons 6+ 6a-Mid, Mon-Sun:

1. KOST (AC) 7.0 - 12.2

2. KBIG (Hot AC) 4.7 - 4.7

3. KIIS (Top 40/M) 4.9 - 4.6

4. KRTH (Classic Hits) 4.5 - 4.3

5. KAMP (Top 40/M) 3.7 - 4.0

6. KPWR (Top 40/R) 3.9 - 3.8

7. KLVE (Spanish Contemporary) 3.8 - 3.5

8. KNX (News) 3.0 - 3.2

9. KCBS (JACK/fm) 3.2 - 3.0

KFI (Talk) 3.5 - 3.0

11. KSWD (Classic Rock) 3.0 - 2.9

12. KLAX (Regional Mexican) 2.7 - 2.6

KROQ (Alternative) 2.6 - 2.6

14/ KHHT (Hot 92.3) 3.0 - 2.5

15. KLYY(Spanish Adult Hits) 3.0 - 2.4

KTWV (Urban AC) 2.2 - 2.4

KYSR (Alternative) 2.3 - 2.4

18. KRCD (Spanish Adult Hits) 2.4 - 2.2

19. KPCC (News/Talk) 2.1 - 2.1

KSCA (Regional Mexican) 2.4 - 2.1

21. KBUE (Regional Mexican) 2.6 - 2.0

22. KXOL (Spanish AC) 1.8 - 1.9

23. KKGO (Country) 2.1 - 1.8

KLOS (Classic Rock) 2.2 - 1.8

KUSC (Classical) 1.9 - 1.8

26. KCRW (Variety) 1.4 - 1.3

KWIZ (Spanish Variety) 1.0 - 1.3

28. KDAY (Rhythmic AC) 1.1 - 1.1

KSPN (Sports) 1.2 - 1.1

31. KFSH (Christian Contemporary) 1.2 - 0.9

KJLH (Urban AC) 0.8 - 0.9

KSSE (Spanish Contemporary) 1.0 - 0.9

34. KEIB (Talk) 0.8 - 0.7

35. KABC (Talk) 0.7 - 0.6

KKJZ (Jazz) 0.6 - 0.6

KLAC (Sports) 0.7 - 0.6

KRLA (Talk) 0.7 - 0.6

39. KTNQ (Spanish Talk) 0.3 - 0.3

40. KFWB (Sports) 0.2 - 0.2

KPFK (Variety) 0.2 - 0.2

42. KHJ (Regional Mexican) -- - 0.1

KLAA (Sports) 0.1 - 0.1

KCRW $$. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation awarded Southern California’s KCRW, a $1 million grant to develop a new multi-year documentary and reporting series examining issues affecting the lives of LA’s neediest residents and underserved communities. The Foundation’s grant will support KCRW’s news team as they take an intimate look into the lives of Angelenos and find and tell stories illustrating the challenges faced by the city’s most disadvantaged and marginalized residents.

Gold Is Beautiful. Our little three-story house on Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit was my professional home for a few years in the late 1960s. When Gordon McLendon sent me to the flashpoint for Motown, WWWW (W4) was a Beautiful Music station. Within a couple of months we turned the Montavani/101 Strings station into the first live 24/7 Golden Oldies station.

As general manager we didn’t have any money for marketing. Selling fm was tough enough because of the paucity of available radios. But I have always believed that you don’t need a lot of money to promote, just some creativity.

“Black is Beautiful” became a slogan in America during this time, and nowhere was it as prevalent as it was in Detroit. We adopted a similar slogan, “Gold is Beautiful” to launch our new station playing the hits of the 50s and 60s. One of our first promotions was to find a ‘Golden Girl’ to represent the station. Once we found her, we created a contest to paint her gold in downtown Detroit at noon in Kennedy Square. The victor of our contest, who submitted a winning limerick, was a Recorder’s Court Judge. When the reality of what he was required to do, the 34-year old judge thought it might embarrass the court and passed. We gave the honor to the runner-up, a 22-year old department store worker.

With every tv station filming the painting of the W4 Golden Girl, and 3,500 onlookers with their brown bag lunches, we had excellent coverage on the early and late evening newscasts. The Detroit News provided a quarter page of coverage.

In front of W4 there was a huge theatre marquee on our lawn. We changed the promotional message daily, even in blinding snowstorms. For our publicity shot, we had a teaser for local favorite Tom Clay, who had just been hired. The marquee read: “Clay turns to Gold .. soon.”

Remember, if you don’t promote, a funny thing happens: NOTHING.

LARadio Rewind: January 21, 2010. Air America ceases live programming and files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which allows for liquidation of the network and redistribution of assets and property. Air America will re-run programs for four days and then go off the air. The progressive talk radio network had launched on 26 stations in 2004 and at its peak was heard on more than 100 stations, including KTLK (now KEIB) in Los Angeles. Air America was plagued by mismanagement, high debt and declining ad revenues. In addition, many affiliates were stations with poor signals and could not compete with the more powerful AM talk stations. Among the Air America hosts were Randi Rhodes, Rachel Maddow, Ron Reagan, Mike Malloy, Thom Hartmann, Montel Williams and Michael “Lionel” Lebron. Afternoon host Al Franken hosted afternoons until 2007, when he quit in order to run for Senator in Minnesota. He was elected in 2008 and won re-election in 2014. (LARadio Rewind meticulously prepared by Steve Thompson)

LA Film School. KFWB’s (Saturdays at 6 a.m.) Leo Quinones is hosting two advance screenings this week at the Los Angeles Film School. You are invited to attend. Parking will be validated. Please enter on Ivar Ave. Click artwork for more information.

SAN FRAN SALARIES

Bay Area blogger Rich Lieberman lists what he says are the salaries of the highest paid tv anchors and reporters in San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose (Market #6). The sound you hear is heads exploding.

	Walt Disney-owned KGO-7-ABC Dan Ashley: $525,000 Cheryl Jennings: $400,000 Larry Beil: $374,500 Spencer Christian: $300,000 Dan Noyes: $275,000 Ama Daetz: $275,000 Wayne Freedman: $220,000	Dan Ashley
	CBS-owned KPIX-5-CBS Ken Bastida: $500,000 Allen Martin: $350,000 Veronica De La Cruz: $300,000 Dennis O'Donnell: $275,000 Vernon Glenn: $175,000 Paul Deanno: $170,000	Ken Bastida
	Cox Media-owned KTVU-2-Fox Frank Somerville: $500,000 Mark Ibanez: $360,000 Julie Haener: $350,000 Ken Wayne: $325,000 Gasia Mikaelian: $250,000 Bill Martin: $250,000 Heather Holmes: $250,000 Tori Campbell: $200,000 Dave Clark: $180,000 Sal Castaneda: $150,000 Tom Vacar: $150,000 Rob Roth: $120,000	Frank Somerville
	NBCUniversal-owned KNTV-11-NBC Raj Mathai: $450,000 Jessica Aguirre: $450,000 Janelle Wang: $300,000 Jeff Ranieri: $250,000 Terry McSweeney: $200,000	Raj Mathai
	Media General-owned KRON-4-MyTV Gary Radnich: $500,000 (includes radio work) Pam Moore: $250,000 Catherine Heenan: $150,000 Darya Folsom: $125,000 Vicki Liviakis: $120,000	Gary Radnich

Funnie. from Tim Manocheo

Email Wednesday

We GET Email …

** Will Miss Tim Regan

“Tim Regan was a childhood friend of almost 40 years. I was shocked and heartbroken to hear of his sudden passing on Sunday.

We will all miss his friendship and unique sense of humor that always brought a smile to anyone who has ever met him.

Condolences to his family and everyone that had the pleasure of knowing Tim.” – Tom Patterson, Supervisor, Technical Operations, CBS Television City

** Bryan Suits Destination

“Will you please keep us informed as to where Bryan Suits is headed? Not much left to listen to on KABC these days. Doug McIntyre and Peter Tilden [when he’s not bumped by the Kings] are pretty much it. What a shame.” – Pat Mack, Westchester

** Missing Suits

“I cannot believe that KABC exchanged Bryan Suits for this boring woman, Judge Cristina. She has no animation in her voice, and her topic to start off her show is meaningless. I am so disappointed. Please keep us up to date with what happens with Bryan.” – Judi Matsen

** KABC Changes

“I had the misfortune of waking up Tuesday morning at 4:30 and found myself listening to a promo piece hosted by Doug McIntyre to introduce the new KABC lineup. Since all the hosts of the station were there I assume this was pre-recorded. However, it only took a few minutes for me to decide I would not be listening to this new lineup. I was put off by Cristina Perez talking in a normal American accent explaining she was born in New York but then she kept switching to an enhanced ethnic accent and repeatedly bringing up she grew up in Mexico and Guadalajara and that she was a Latina." - Steve Chang, Venice

Streaming Engineers are Like Monkeys with a Football

“If anyone can fix the streaming problem that would be Greg Ogonowski. He is the best in this field.” – John Davis

“WONDERFUL STUFF BY GREG O. Obviously a leader in the field.” – Jack Hayes

“Great piece on Greg Ogonowski and streaming radio. I have known him many years and I consider him the best. Thank you for covering this issue.” – Don Elliot

“Greg Ogonowski is SO RIGHT about streaming radio. It's disgraceful.” – Rich Brother Robbin

“Streaming Engineers are Like Monkeys with a Football” – Greg Ogonowski

(January 20, 2015) Greg Ogonowski is a bright light in the world of audio. While most radio engineers concentrate on the transmitter site and keeping broken equipment fixed, Greg has spent a lifetime improving audio processing and creating software that will enhance and produce the best possible sound reproduction.

Those who listen to streaming radio in Los Angeles know that it is a disaster with uneven volume (one element louder or softer than the next), commercials cut off, talent interrupted for a commercial and repetitious commercials and promotions.

When management calls it a glitch and the glitch is not corrected, who better to provide an explanation on what is happening to our streams than Ogonowski, who spent a decade and a half with Orban, a leader around the world providing the best audio possible. He also served as a former engineer at KBIG and other stations.

“Radio stations don’t want anything to do with computers,” said Ogonowski in a phone interview yesterday. “They’ve lined themselves for what I call the great digital divide. When it came time to take advantage of streaming ones’ signal around the world, most of these radio guys went to service providers who have developers. A lot of them are in India or places where the people don’t have a pot to pee in.”

Ogonowski maintains that these foreign-based companies have never seen the inside of a radio station or a recording studio. As a result, they don’t have a clue about the audio business when writing software, resulting in awkward and error-filled segues into commercials or getting in and out of commercial stop sets in a clumsy manner.

“And therein lies the problem,” insists Ogonowski. “They wouldn’t know what a tight board meant if their life depended upon it.”

Ogonowski believes that this lack of attention to streaming problems is partly to blame why a lot of terrestrial radio is falling apart. “It is the same with the iPhone and mobile phone app development. Most of these apps don’t reliably play these streams on these devices because most of them don’t work properly.”

“Radio transmitters are going away," claims Greg. "The manufacturers are all in trouble with low sales today.”

Are the leaders in terrestrial radio dragging their feet and ignoring the audio problems with the current state of streaming? Greg thinks he sees the future of streaming, and has embarked on a new company providing encoder solutions. “Ad injection into the stream can be either on the server side or the provider site at the radio station. “Doing it on the server side you can send specific ads for targeted delivery but these commercials can’t go through the same audio processor, resulting in huge level problems. They need new encoders and audio processors to deal with this complex problem. The current service providers working on this and providing solutions don’t seem to understand the problems.”

Streaming offers a whole new world of radio revenue that the industry seems to ignore. A generation ago Coke, Pepsi, car manufacturers and shampoo makers used radio to reach their audience in specific audiences. Now with streaming, the same brands can be heard around the world when they buy locally.

“National advertisers need to understand the power of which they are working with when it comes to streaming,” said Greg. “With a little streaming encoder, you are able to reach hundreds of million on mobile phones all over the world while you’ve got these guys spending tens of, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars trying to improve a transmitter site to cover 100 square miles.”

Why the reluctance to invest in the future? Ogonowski thinks the radio industry “has had it so good for so long that nobody peaked into the future. Science marches on.”

There has been an issue in the past with the high cost of bandwidth, but apparently that has been rectified with new encoder products using new streaming protocols. “We’ve designed a new encoder that doesn’t require a streaming server to deliver the content. You can now use a simple web server or cheap cloud storage to deliver live streams with just a piece of very smart encoder software.” Ogonowski said that he has several sample streams already up and running. “The encoder does all the heavy lifting and points it all to a web server and then the web server does everything else. This could dramatically reduce the operational costs of live streaming.”

Greg is one of many trying to solve the web streaming issues and he seems to be ahead of the game. Now the question is will any of our radio leaders reach into the future to fix these streaming issues?

A local group just hired an overseas company for ad replacement. Greg said, “Here we go again with another bunch of monkeys with a football.”

You can reach Greg at: greg@indexcom.com

Tim Regan Dies. Tim Regan, a well-liked veteran engineer, died on Sunday, from an apparent heart attack. He was 52. “Tim was a childhood friend from 1977 and a work colleague at KGIL Radio from 1979-86,” emailed Tom Patterson. “He was also producer/engineer for Sweet Dick Whittington during the mid-80's.

Beau Weaver wrote: “Got word today that Tim Regan has taken his light into another room. He was a super talented audio mixer, and I am remembering many good times with Tim across the glass from me. He brightened sessions with even the most difficult clients with his bright energy and humor. He was a good spirit journey old friend. Condolences to all who loved him.”

"Tim called me his little sister," wrote Lillie Grace. "We met when we were 13 and 15. He was the older He was Peter Pan and I was Wendy. Tim was playful, joyful and my rock. I will miss him forever. I was his Lil."

LARadio Rewind: January 20, 2001. Deirdre O’Donoghue dies of multiple sclerosis at 52. Born in 1948 in New York, O’Donoghue attended Clark University in Worchester, Massachusetts, and began in radio in 1970 providing health information and news of local events as the operator of KPPC’s Community Switchboard. She worked at WBCN/fm in Boston in 1974 and at KKGO in 1979. In 1980, she began hosting SNAP (Saturday Night Avant Pop), which aired on KCRW until 1991. Then, with the show renamed SNAP Judgments, she was heard for a few weeks on XETRA/fm. In 1983, while at KMET, O’Donoghue created the Sunday-morning Breakfast with the Beatles program. In 1987, when KMET changed formats to become “The WAVE,” O’Donoghue took the program to KNX/fm. A year later, she moved it to KLSX and continued as host until her death. In 1995, she launched a new version of SNAP Judgments on KLSX. O’Donoghue once said that she did not become a Beatles fan until after she started hosting Breakfast with the Beatles. The program now airs on KLOS and is hosted by Chris Carter. (LARadio Rewind has been meticulously prepared by Steve Thompson)

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** KABC Changes

“Without Larry Elder and now Bryan Suits, KABC is going to lose me as a listener.” – Michael Hilburn, Dana Point

Sound Mornings Ready for February 2

(January 19, 2015) All the players are in place for the February 2 launch of the “Mark in the Morning” show on 100.3/The Sound. Along with Mark Thompson, his on-air team will include Andy Chanley, Gina Grad (photo), and Thompson’s 22-year-old daughter Katie Thompson.

“As my previous 25-year LA run has taught me, a great morning show takes more than just one guy and a microphone. Being funny and entertaining at 6 a.m. ain’t easy, but Andy and Gina have kept me laughing all week as we have been working [if you want to call it that] on plans for the show. That’s a very good sign. Plus, we’ve got great Classic Rock music, and that stuff never fails to get the old morning motor revving,” said Thompson.

Gina Grad is no stranger to LA Radio. Her pedigree also includes being the daughter of a very successful father. Steve Grad is one of the veteran sports anchors at KNX. Gina has worked alongside Tim Conway Jr., Adam Carolla, Dr. Drew Pinsky, and Arsenio Hall. Throughout that time, Gina has served as fill-in co-host and news reporter for The Adam Carolla Show.

“Even though I had no idea who Mark Thompson was until he dragged me down to Hollywood Blvd. and made me look at his star on the Walk of Fame, I was thrilled to be offered a full-time gig, so needless to say, I took the job,” said Gina.

Thompson’s new show will incorporate field pieces hosted by his 22 year-old daughter, Katie, who will serve as the show’s “Chick on the Street.” She said “I know this is just my dad’s way of getting me off the Thompson family dole. But, growing up, I couldn’t believe my dad actually got paid to do all those shenanigans. And it has been my goal not to have a real job either.”

Over the weekend, Gina wrote on her Facebook page, “Thank you for the congratulations that are starting to seep in. I wish I could embrace it wholeheartedly right this second and wax poetic about the ridiculous amount of excitement and gratitude I feel, but my superstitiousness won’t allow it until the trades are posted on Monday. In the meantime, I’m shoving off to Vegas to do 2 episodes of ‘The Adam Carolla Show’ from the Hard Rock hotel and casino tonight so first things first. Keeping my focus in laser mode and my eyes on the prize,

KFI in Cuba. This past Friday morning, Bill Handel announced that he was going to be the first U.S. morning show broadcasting from Havana. “It will be me talking to you from Havana,” said Bill. “That’s in the works, just to let you know.”

A check with management said that Bill was only kidding. Didn’t sound like he was kidding and knowing how smart and aggressive the programming people are, it certainly seemed feasible. But, Handel got us.

Opera Show. Every Saturday morning, Duff Murphy hosts the Opera Show on KUSC. Duff is a lawyer and trades deposition for divas and other things operatic. “The erudite and enthusiastic world class opera fan has been presenting opera on Los Angeles radio for many years, having joined Classical KUSC in 1994,” states the KUSC website.

“During the Metropolitan Opera's December to April season, he introduces opera’s historic performances and colorful personages; and during the Met’s off-season he features favorites among composers, conductors and artists. Recognizing that operatic music spans generations, continents and centuries, Murphy imbues each program with a range of musical historical experience, often creating programs around specific themes.”

LARadio Rewind: January 19, 1968. In a memo to the Boss Jocks, KHJ program director Ron Jacobs refers to the just-released January Arbitron ratings and declares, “It’s an unflattering disgrace to have only a 2.3 lead against KRLA at night.” He warns that “there’s someone on another station just dying to get #1 ratings” and urges the jocks to “put out the best effort 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year” and not “bask in the brief glory of a few good numbers.” Jacobs chastises one jock (unnamed) for playing Incense & Peppermints twice in 80 minutes and berates another for playing the “bad combination” of an Otis Redding song followed by a Joe Tex song. Jacobs then praises 9-to-noon jock Charlie Tuna for being “ever funny, provocative and selling the station” for three hours every day. (LARadio Rewind is meticulously prepared by Steve Thompson)

Ian Rose Passing. Nora Molina sent this note that former San Diego Total Traffic employee and San Diego personality Ian Rose died late last year. “He had been retired for a few years, but he was a big part of the KFMB-AM family as well,” emailed Nora. “I’m sure many of you worked very closely with him. The family is planning a celebration of life for any friends and former co-workers who would like to attend. The date for that is January 31st, but they are searching for a larger venue due to the overwhelming response from those who knew and loved him."

Click the artwork for Ian's obit.

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** LARadio Days

“I have such fond memories about the radio festival. This was back when the Paley center gave some focus to radio. The stories these giants of broadcasting told were amazing. They were all so funny and creative, I loved when half way thru the event, Al Lohman did a monologue on the trails of an older prostate. He said he’d be right back and proceeded to leave the dais and visit the restroom. He received a huge ovation upon his return.” – Jeff Gehringer, KSPA/KFSD

Anita Garner in Pages of Saturday Evening Post

(January 16, 2015) Anita Garner was “Lovely Nita” at KROY-Sacramento during the station's rock and roll heyday in the 70s. She moved on to KOIT in San Francisco and during her voiceover career, she and Tom Parker, Bay Area radio and tv personality, became spokespersons for a major supermarket chain. Then she got the call inviting her to do PM drive for KBIG. In 1984, KBIG was switching from Beautiful Music to personality AC. She anchored the afternoon drive spot for four years.

Never one to do just one job, for nearly two decades, she was the female imaging voice for KCET/TV, PBS for Southern and Central California.

When the gig at KBIG ended, Anita produced and hosted nationally syndicated radio shows, eventually returning to the part of California she loves best, where redwood trees soar taller than the eye can see. She lives in a 100-year-old cottage, just up the hill from a famous-in-the-Bay-Area corner coffee shop where locals gather, huddled mainly in flannels or fleece, to chat about whatever creative people chat about in Mill Valley.

Anita is also a prolific writer, taking on ghostwriting assignments, rewriting projects, and editing for other writers. Her services became a writer's dream, helping others realize a polished presentation.

She continues to write her own stories, often about the Deep South, about her Southern Gospel-singing/evangelist parents and the family's travels in tent revivals.

Last year she decided to enter one of the most prestigious competitions for writers.

For more than 200 years, The Saturday Evening Post has been publishing a who’s who of American authors — Ray Bradbury, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Louis L’Amour, Jack London, Joyce Carol Oates, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Tyler, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Sinclair Lewis, among so many others. Now, add one of our own to the impressive list. Her short story, "Still Life," was selected as one of the Best Short Stories from the Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction Contest 2015. The compilation, now available, features more than 25 must-read new stories, including Garner’s. The Post describes the anthology as representing all genres of fiction from today’s talented pool of up-and-coming writers, many making their national publishing debut.

"From a sideshow on Coney Island to a coast-to-coast road trip set in 1939, from a small-town courthouse after WW II to a cocktail party among academics in contemporary Chicago, the Best Short Stories 2015 presents a diversity of style and subject matter guaranteed to engage and entertain. Click the book title artwork for more information on how to purchase this collection."

With all of this success and recognition, Anita and her business partner Steve Bradford have formalized their frequent creative collaboration (including work for LARP clients) with the debut of "Develop Your Book." Check it out. Details at their website, http://www.developyourbook.com/

LARadio Rewind: January 16, 2009. After firing the entire KDLD/KDLE airstaff the previous day and ending the music format following the playing of Frank Sinatra’s My Way, Entravision Communications spends two-and-a-half days playing a recorded message over and over, announcing that Indie 103.1 will not play the “corporate radio game” of seeking ratings by airing the same songs heard on other stations. Indie 103.1 ceased terrestrial broadcasting and moved to the Internet. KDLD and KDLE switched to a Spanish adult hits format and are now known as José 103.1. The current morning man is Alex “El Genio” Lucas. The online Indie 103.1 features alternative rock along with some reggae, heavy metal and advice programs. Among the hosts are Dredd Scott, Sol Bisla, DJ Santo, Joe Escalante, Wayne Jobson, Jackie Kajzer and Jose Maldonado. Indie 103.1 can be heard at http://www.indie1031.com/

Campus Radio Operations. When Saul Levine indicated that he may move the studios of KKJZ from the campus of California State University Long Beach to Saul’s Westwood operation that houses KMZT and KKGO, there was much concern about not having a campus radio station remaining on the campus.

During an exchange about the subject, Saul volunteered that he has presented hundreds of thousands of dollars to CSULB.

We wondered what the relationship was between KPCC (Pasadena City College) and American Public Media Group. “Our contract w/the PACCD (Pasadena City College’s governing board) requires that we reimburse them for station-related expenses (usually ~$200K/year) and provide up to a dozen internships for PCC students,” replied Bill Davis, the founding president of Southern California Public Radio, a California-controlled subsidiary of the American Public Media Group.

“I’d be surprised if CSULB didn’t have a similar contract w/Saul,” continued Davis. “It’d be a setback for CSULB if their students didn't have internship opportunities at KKJZ.”

“I haven’t figured out what Sean Hannity was doing calling Israeli Jews in Israel on Christmas Eve.

“K.M. Richards asks if anyone remembers Alan Fischler’s partner? I knew it was John Poole, because once a month he would visit the visit the station, and I always thought it was to put some money into the stations account.” - Bob Hughes

“Good story on Monday about college radio. Thanks. In fact, your comments regarding the changes are more than accurate. How many students run or on the air at KPPC, KCRW and KUSC? The focus of those stations in recent years has been on providing the community with alternative but needed programming. Classical and Jazz are two music formats that more than fill this bill.” – Chuck Southcott

(January 7, 2015) I have a New Year’s resolution for CBS/LA … FIX the Internet stream. One would think that a company with as many resources as it does (over $10 billion in annual revenue), would correct a series of problems that makes Internet listening virtually impossible.

On Saturday afternoon, all-News KNX went into a Radio.com spot, followed by the same Radio.com spot, followed by the same Radio.com, followed by the same Radio.com, followed by the same Radio.com spot, followed by the same Radio.com spot. Six times the same spot ran back to back to back to back to back to back. It was either a severe continuity problem or an automation glitch. How does a major company allow that to happen?

CBS still has spots cutting off and programming rejoining randomly in the middle of content on KNX and the other CBS radio outlets. There is also a balance problem in the live programming on some CBS stations with voices coming out at different levels, one voice blasting over another.

If You Don’t Promote, a Funny Thing Happens: NOTHING. Just before I turned 16 years old, I met the man who almost instantaneously became my mentor for over 55 years. He not only guided me through the landmines of adolescence, but steered me into an unbelievable career filled with joy and triumphs.

Earl McDaniel died last year. I wept uncontrollably when word arrived that he had passed. Word came in an email from him.

(I typed this earlier so that all Kathy, my daughter, had to do was type in the date and hit the "send" button. Isn't modern technology marvelous?)”

That’s just the way he was. Puckish and always promoting. My life in promotion – radio, tv, motion pictures – I know was fostered and encouraged by Earl. He lived by the motto – if you don’t promote, a funny thing happens – NOTHING.

I was thinking about Earl when I read Mark Ramsey’s (media strategist, consultant and trend-maker) blog asking if News/Talk stations blew it during the hacking controversy revolving around Seth Rogen’s The Interview that has consumed Sony Pictures.

“With stations labeled ‘Freedom’ and ‘The Flag’ and ‘The Truth,’ News/Talk crows daily about the dangers faced by ‘free’ Americans from their own government, so what did N/T broadcasters do when those same freedoms were abjectly denied to Americans due to the vandalism (or terrorism) of a foreign government?” asked Ramsey. “For most stations in the format, the answer appears to be: Nothing.”

Most program directors claim that marketing is difficult because there is no budget. But over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that good/great promotions cost very little or nothing. Just an investment in being creative.

Ramsey asks “Did you stage free screenings of the movie on any screen you could find? Did you launch a campaign to lobby our leaders in Washington that the denial of freedom in this tiny instance is the beginning of a very slippery slope, one that could easily lead to foreign actors at any time threatening violence for any reason only to have freedoms stripped away, again and again?”

Ramsey provides an example of a very real-world flash-point that was ripe for individual promotion. Did you give away free downloads? The Seth Rogen movie was YouTube’s most popular video the day after Christmas, and was bootlegged more than 900,000 times in the 24 hours after its official release.

“Listeners expect more from the brands they love. They expect those brands to stand for something they believe in and to prove they believe in it.

Thanks, Mark. Did News/Talk bungle The Interview? Check out Ramsey’s blog at: http://www.markramseymedia.com/blog/

Hear Ache. KLOS’ Frank Kramer was anxious to hear about Heidi Hamilton’s “New Year’s Queer Party.” He said all the blow horns look like penises. “And the party hats have fur around the bottom.” … Rick Dees will be honored later this month by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters. Long overdue … The success of Salem Communications branding of 870/KRLA as ‘The Answer’ has pressed the company to expand its “Answer” Conservative Talk brand to seven additional markets … Charlie Tuna is working morning drive at K-EARTH this week. He asked a very practical question. When do you stop telling people to have a good year or Happy New Year? He figures January 6 to be the cut-off date.

Coachella unveiled its lineup on Tuesday morning, with Drake, AC/DC and Jack White as headliners.
In a nod to a certain AC/DC song, the Indio festival announced a full schedule of performers.

We'll Miss You, KIDD. Many LARP got their early start in the Carmel/Monterey Bay area at stations like KDON and KIDD. Recently, KIDD became an all-Sports station at 630AM, primarily offering ESPN Radio. Many sports fans may feel like they got a belated lump of coal in their Christmas stockings upon learning that radio station KIDD has been shut down, according to the Monterey Herald.

Parent company Buckley Communications decided to shut it down for financial reasons. Kathy Baker, evp of KIDD, said Buckley Communications will remove the towers at Reservation Road and Seaside Court and try to sell the station’s frequency.

KIDD first went on the air in 1955. For many years KIDD offered an adult standards / middle of the road, or nostalgia, format, using the name Magic 63. In 2009 the station changed to an oldies format.

LARadio Rewind: January 7, 2013. KFI midday host Bill Carroll begins hosting an afternoon show for CFMJ in Toronto. He made this observation: “640 in L.A. and 640 in Toronto. It’s almost poetic.” Born in Scotland, Carroll emigrated with his family to Canada in 1967. He studied broadcasting at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute in Scarborough, Ontario, and worked at several Canadian stations, including CFMJ and CFRB, before coming to KFI in 2010 as a replacement for Bill Handel’s short-lived syndicated afternoon program. Carroll now broadcasts from 10 to 1 on KFI and from 4 to 7 on CFMJ, where he is joined on-air by news anchor Sandy Salerno and producer Chris Cresten. Carroll's CFMJ program can be heard at http://www.640toronto.com/billcarroll/

“One Sunday morning, KPPC was carrying the worship service live from the Pasadena Presbyterian Church. The service was supposed to run from 10:30 to noon. A fraternity brother of mine, Mike Mathiesson, was running the board, and had nothing cued up in either cart machine or on any of the three turntables. Why should he? He had plenty of time to prep for the end of the church service.

Suddenly, the church announcer came on and said, ‘This concludes coverage of this morning's service. We now return you to the main studios.’ Click. The console at the church had started smoking.

Mike panicked. He was yelling, ‘I have nothing to play! What am I gonna do?’

Veteran dj Don Hall, who went on at noon, was in the stacks pulling music for his show. He calmly handed Mike an LP, and said ‘Here, play this.’

Mike slapped the disc on a turntable and started it. Greatly relieved, he said ‘Thanks, Don, you saved my ass!’

Then the record started ... (crowd noise) ... ‘Give me an F.... Give me a U... Give me a C... Give me a K..... What's that spell ? (pause) WHAT'S THAT SPELL?’

I mean, the little old ladies tuned in for the worship service never even had a chance to turn the radio off before Country Joe MacDonald came on with the Fish Cheer...

Mathiesson stood up, took his prized 3rd class radio license off the wall, and left the building, never to return. So much for that career in radio.

“OK, so you got me with Colonel Coleman. The tears were for Lee Marshall. Thank you Don. I was fortunate to know both of them and respectively, they are part of the American fabric.” – Chris Carmichael

“Beautiful column today. For once I’m thrilled not to be mentioned in the lead story.” – Rich Brother Robbin

Since I began writing my column, I have held firm in the belief that ALL professionally-run and staffed college stations are operating outside the rules set forth in their educational licenses, and I have called numerous times for Pasadena City College, USC, Cal State Northridge, Santa Monica College and all other supposed educational stations operated by colleges — sans students — to have their licenses revoked by the FCC.

I called for that for KLON/KKJZ as well, until they finally brought in students through the HD stream, and it took Saul Levine to make happen what the University should have done years before. I am still perturbed that K-Beach is not live most of the day, as prerecorded programs are not real radio, but at least the HD stream allows a radio laboratory that does indeed benefit the students of Long Beach State directly.

I commend Levine for his breaking away from the pack and actually giving the students of Long Beach State a real radio station again … with a better signal than KSUL ever had [even though you do need a special radio to hear it over the air].

It may not ‘be done’ that way any longer, but it should. If the FCC had any balls, it would. A college station without students is not educational, it is professional, and it should not be able to hold an educational license. Period. But as everyone knows, the FCC has been impotent for at least the past two decades.’” – Richard Wagoner, radio columnist Daily Breeze and LA Daily News

(January 6, 2015) Today's retrospective of wonderful Los Angeles Radio People who left us in 2014 is always filled with sadness, awe and wonderment at the diversity of personalities, on- and off-air who helped make LA Radio what it is today.

Coleman’s humility and self-effacing ways belied an extraordinary personal history of courage, sacrifice and accomplishment. Addressed affectionately and respectfully at the ballpark as "The Colonel," he was a Marine Corps aviator in both World War II and the Korean War. And he was an All-Star second baseman for the dynastic New York Yankees who once was Most Valuable Player of a World Series.

"Jerry Coleman was a hero and a role model to myself and countless others in the game of baseball," Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. "He had a memorable, multifaceted career in the national pastime -- as an All-Star during the great Yankees' dynasty from 1949-1953, a manager and, for more than a half-century, a beloved broadcaster, including as an exemplary ambassador for the San Diego Padres. (Thanks to the UT-San Diego for the story)

Send mail to db@thevine.net with questions or comments about this website Last modified: October 03, 2015

Send mail to db@thevine.net with questions or comments about this website
Last modified: October 03, 2015