LARADIO.COM Archives, March 1-15, 1999 Compiled and Written by Don Barrett db@smartlink.net

All Sizzle and No Steak

(March 15, 1999) Quick, tune to 1650AM. I know what they’re playing. A song by Nat "King" Cole. Check it out…Ken Minyard appeared on the "Traffic Jam" show on KRLA last Saturday. There was the promise by Kenny Morse that Ken would "spill the beans on management practices, memos and directives" while at KABC. The promised "fireworks" turned out to be a fizzle. If you are a regular visitor to LARADIO.COM, you didn’t miss anything. It had all been reported here for the past many months. For the regular talk show listener, it was a fun listen, but very tame. Ken talked about the sale of KABC from CapCities to Disney as the beginning of the end. "Beginning of the end as we knew it," said Ken. "I’ll tell you when it really hit everybody was when George Green, who had been with that station for 38 years, was met by the storm troopers from New York. They came in one morning at 8. He greeted them. They went into his office and told him ‘you’re gone, you’re history.’ Later that morning at 11 in the conference room, they have a meeting announcing that George is no longer there and Maureen Lesourd is taking over. It was like that. This is a station that had had such stability and George had been the leader of for so long, I could understand. He could too, I’m sure, that if they want to make a change, why would you do something like that to a guy who had given so many years and had set records? He set national records in terms of revenue and led a station through some very successful times. And that’s the attitude they have?" In the 18 months that Maureen was in charge as general manager, Ken said he had seen her "eight or nine times" and never had a conversation with her. When Maureen left, Bill Sommers returned and brought in a new pd, Drew Hayes from ESPN. "I had one of the more positive impressions I’ve ever had of anybody from a first meeting. This guy sounds pretty good." Ken recounted that on July 1, 1998, KABC elected not to exercise its option for his services. He called the new management "ass wipes" for the way they handled the situation. "Drew came in and has every right to turn KABC into a hot talk format. Guys with high-pitched voices, generally conservative and yelling at you about one subject or another." Ken was already planning to do a show with his son Rick, not yet knowing about the impending changes at KRLA. He criticized KABC management for micro managing, however, he complimented them for allowing him and Peter Tilden a farewell show. "We were appreciative of that," said Ken. As far as "Where’s Peter?" Ken said that he is still under contract at KABC until the end of this month and expected him to announce his plans next month…"Star 98.7" is giving away tickets to the red-carpet world premiere of EDtv. One winner will be the entertainment correspondent interviewing all the celebrities attending the premiere. After the screening the winner will attend the after-premiere party…"Arrow 93" gave away $23,000 in the month of February in their "Classic of the Day Contest."…KABC’s Rod Lurie was on assignment in Chicago and had film critic Roger Ebert as a guest. Roger said that they received over 10,000 emails following Gene Siskel’s death…Listen for KLOS’s Gary Moore, who is in New York City for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremonies at the Waldorf-Astoria. He’ll be filing reports back to KLOS. His list of potential interviews includes: Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel (all being inducted), Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Sting, Bono, Neil Young, Roger Daltrey, John Fogerty, Jeff Beck, Steve Miller, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt, some of The Stones, and numerous other notables. "I really won't know until Monday, so let the suspense build," emailed Gary. "Then when I get back, I'm working with one of the guys from Capital FM/London, England, who's covering the Oscars. We're doing pre- and post-Oscar reports live back to London and throughout their British network. I'll be at the Vanity Fair party at Morton's again this year--it was a 10-hour day there last year! Bring it on!" With his busy schedule, Gary laments that he has moved the completion date for the novel he is writing back to April 2008…The radio Hall of Fame nominees have been announced and a number of LARP are included. In the Network or Syndicated category was KIIS super star Rick Dees nominated for ABC’s "Weekly Top Forty," former KLAC dj Bob Kingsley for his "American Country Countdown" and Walt "Baby" Love for hosting "The Countdown." Before joining R&R as the Urban Editor, Walt jocked at KHJ, KKTT and KFI. Michael Jackson, now at KRLA, has been nominated in the Active Local/Regional category and in the Pioneer category, the late Robert W. Morgan. Casey Kasem will emcee the event next November…The new morning show at "Y107" will launch a week from today. Frank Murphy, Anthony and Mark Wilson were planning to start this Wednesday, however, the rest of the station schedule will not be in place for another week. Apparently it is a total coincidence that their first week on the air happens to be while KLOS’ Mark & Brian will be on vacation…Larry Marino talks with Representative Stephen Horn this morning on KIEV’s "Morning Magazine." FAA won’t be Y2K compliant by this month’s deadline. Conversation will be on whether you should fly next January. Later in the morning KIEV evening talk host Michael Reagan joins Larry for a discussion on the top stories in Washington. Filling in Larry’s eclectic approach to mornings, the co-authors of Chicken Soup for the Couple’s Soul make a guest appearance…Loyd Sigmon, the man credited with creating the Sigalert, turns 90 in May. Arizona State University Art Museum has dedicated its online catalogue, called The Netalogue, to Loyd. Check out the Netalogue at http://asuam.fa.asu.edu/sig-alert/main.htm . This is the ASU Art Museum's first attempt at a new, cost-effective approach to traditional museum catalogues and global distribution. John Spiak of the ASU Art Museum says the dedication to Loyd is on page 6 and a description of the term Sigalert on page 25…A reader to LARADIO.COM wonders whatever happened to Neal Myers, who was on KGIL about 10 years ago?…KKTR dropped its all-Traffic format and is playing all Nat King Cole all the time until March 28 when the station will simulcast with KGIL. On that date, Saul Levine will re-introduce the Westwood One Adult Standards format to the market. The format had been on KLAC until late last year when the station began broadcasting a locally produced "Standards, Swing and Big Bands Too" format anchored by Charlie Tuna in morning drive…Chris Hughes of Airwatch thought the final traffic report on K-Traffic/The Traffic Channel was quite ironic. "One of the first incidents on K-Traffic when it started was a live cow in the middle of the roadway," said Chris. "One of the final incidents on K-Traffic/The Traffic Channel was a dead cow [or pieces of dead cow] in the middle of the roadway." And to think I didn’t believe that cows could fly until I saw the movie, Twister. Saturday night Airwatch threw a "wake" for K-Traffic. To demonstrate they were in mourning, everyone wore an upside down K-Traffic sticker on their sleeves…Michael Jackson will be broadcasting from the White House this morning on his KRLA show. "On Tuesday I’ll be based at the CBS facility in Washington DC and then on to Manhattan for three days of programming from the Museum of TV & Radio there," emailed Michael. He loaded on up warm clothes before leaving for the East Coast…Morning co-host at KYSR, Jamie White, voiced the following apology last week. "Hi, this is Jamie White. Now last Tuesday morning, I made a comment that offended some of you in the Jewish community. I just wanted to take a moment to apologize and recognize my mistake. Please know that I’m so much wiser now. Again, I’m truly sorry."

Email Saturday

(March 13, 1999) We Get EMAIL…

** K-Traffic Becomes Unforgettable
"At 7 p.m. on Friday [March 12], KKTR in the L.A. area ended its all-Traffic format, in the middle of covering ‘breaking news’ about whether a Sigalert on the 60 freeway was caused by a whole dead cow [as first reported] or just pieces of raw meat in the lanes [reports after 7 on other stations confirmed it was the latter]. The last 3-minute report, by Lisa Osborn, was a repeat of the next-to-last 3-minute reports [many reports each hour throughout the format were repeats of reports given 4 to 12 minutes earlier]. After a station ID that went ‘KKTR Costa Mesa/Los Angeles; KGIL, AM 1650’ [even though it wasn't a simulcast of KGIL!], Unforgettable and two other songs by Nat King Cole were played. At that point, an announcement came on saying that on March 28, 1650 KKTR and 1260 KGIL would begin simulcasting Westwood One's ‘AM Only’ satellite format [pointing out that that was what 570 KLAC had been running until recently]. Until then, KKTR will play all Nat King Cole songs.

Note that as of a few months ago KKTR had changed its city of license to Torrance [so it could broadcast from its Carson area tower nights as well as days]. Does the reversion to a Costa Mesa legal ID mean it's going to shift back to the old nighttime transmitter it used when it simulcast 1260 before? [It hadn't as of Friday evening.]

This seems to indicate that L.A. is going to lose the Music of Your Life satellite format and djs [such as Gary Owens and Wink Martindale], currently heard over KGIL. In my opinion, a terrible shame [as MOYL has a much deeper music library and better djs IMHO than AM Only), but I guess understandable in that AM Only is a proven ratings winner in this market, and in that there's much more overlap between KLAC's new local ‘standards, swing, and big band too’ format with MOYL than there will be with AM Only.

Yes, I did get an aircheck of the final half hour of ‘The Traffic Channel’ -- they'd changed the name from ‘K-Traffic’ a few months ago -- and thus of the transition [tho not up to the point of the announcement]. It was by accident! I didn't know at what hour they were changing -- and thought it would be tomorrow -- but wanted to tape late afternoon drive and got hung up in traffic <grin> getting to within close range of the transmitter [so that I could get a clean signal from its nighttime single kilowatt], and so only started taping around 6:30." --- Stefan Daystrom, Los Angeles, StefanDaystrom@compuserve.com

** Having a Ball with KEZY
"I have read here about the impending changes to KEZY Anaheim in the next few weeks. I grew up in Orange County in the 60s - and as a kid I remember hearing KEZY 1190 - where the weather, at the end of the news, would end with - now overlooking the Magic Kingdom of Disneyland it’s sunny and 72 degrees - something to that effect.

Personalities from that era I remember include Mark Denis, Arnie McClatchey and Ted Quillin [morning host of the "quiverin Quillin Clan."] Later, I thought Adam J. DeMarais to be among the most authoritative newsguys I heard on the air.

Years later I did an internship at KEZY under then-news director David Hirsch, from whom I learned a lot. As part of my internship I would ‘man’ the ‘KEZY Traffic Center’ [consisting of a radio tuned to KNX, KFWB or KMPC]. The personalities that were there then [circa 1980] included Dave Forman and Rita Wilde. Working in the newsroom under David at that time stretched my concepts of what radio journalism could be - we made calls all over the world the day of John Lennon's death, and don't forget this was KEZY ‘kick-a--’ radio when they were getting national press for making calls to Iran during the hostage crisis.

Most of all I remember the inspiring view of the lumber yard next door on Ball Road - now I am a longtime resident of Ventura County, doing sports at KVEN - but I will always remember KEZY - especially the already long gone KEZY 1190AM." - Barry Turnbull, Ventura

** Denis Made a Mark
"Thanks for the email alerting me to the Car Radio piece from Mark Denis. Of all the people I ever worked with during my 27 years in radio, Mark is one of my top five favorites. The other four will have to imagine who they are, some actually know.

In some shameless self-promotion, I will be joining the cast of NBC's Providence on Friday March 19th in the role of a snooty chef who runs a cooking school. I appear again on April 2nd and more episodes later. Keep up the good work. I check in with your Web site almost every day." – Rick Scarry

** Jay Marvin Clears the Hayes around KABC
"Having worked with Drew Hayes at WLS, I think people are quick to bash Drew, and his efforts to turn KABC around. KABC didn't get where it is overnight, and it won't turn around overnight. Those who keep talking about ‘the old KABC’ better read an ARB. The station had been in trouble for years before Drew showed up. Let's give him the same chance we would all want. And let's be realistic about the situation." - Jay Marvin, KHOW-Denver (former resident of Tustin!)

** What’s Your Name?
"Regarding the traffic reporter pseudonyms [‘Wes Wood,’ ‘Brent Wood,’ etc.], the folks at KFRG [‘K-FROG’] in San Bernardino have come up with their own creative endeavors - try ‘Lilly Pad’ and ‘Polly Wog’ as the names of their traffic folks. I'm not kidding." - Alan Oda

** Sig-alert for K-Traffic
"I was the first voice on the new K-Traffic when it started some months back. During the prior week, we had hired a lot of people to be in training and be ready when K-Traffic wanted to go on the air. It was a Sunday night, and of course our KKTR person had just left when Tom White, the KKTR engineer called up and said they were ready to go. I was just getting off my KFI shift and my relief was getting in. Shift change is already hectic enough, so I stayed and got the station up and running. Little did I know that K-Traffic would become such a part of mine, and so may other's lives when I moved over to anchor it the next Sunday.

I'd like to thank all the anchors. We all strived to present accurate, informative and fun reports and I think we did a great job. A big thanks goes out to our airborne reporters, Mike Baez, Tom Freeway, and James Sharkey for providing us with excellent drops. Also our support staff deserve a hand because K-Traffic needed a lot of extra behind the scenes preparation. Our producers, Mickey Czegledy, Judy Davila and Steve Julian all worked extra hard to answer those trooper calls, get us more detailed info and get us some drops. Thanks guys!" - Chris Hughes Airwatch America

** Inland Empire Sports Figure
"Just a note to tell you how much I enjoy your L.A. Radio People Web site and the daily news. I have long followed radio and enjoy the medium and to get an insider's view is great.

I never expected to be part of it. I've been a sportswriter for more than 30 years. However, on August 30 of 1998, I joined the radio wars doing a one-hour show on KMSL [1510AM], the all-sports radio station in Rancho Cucamonga.

After two stints as a guest, I was thrown into the studio. It's been trial by fire ever since, a job training as I go. I have grown to like radio even more. One of my first guests, a football coach friend of mine, said I had the body and face for radio and voice for newspaper.

The show's nothing great, just local sports figures and events. It's small-town, but they feel pretty good getting on the air. My folks are still amazed, they tune in each day just to known I'm still around." - Louis Brewster, Senior Sports Editor, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

** When the I-Man was the L.A.-Man
"I remember back in 1972 Don Imus filled in for Emperor Bob Hudson on the morning show on KGBS. Don kept playing the Robert W. Morgan musical tag. Robert W. was on KHJ at the time I believe. This was fairly early in the Imus career and I remember one occasion where he was rendered speechless [I know it sounds hard to believe]. He was giving away some t-shirts, or something, and a woman calls in and on the air asks Imus what she has to do to get a t-shirt. Imus responded that if she answered the questions correctly he'd send her one. First Imus asked her if she was married, to which she responded ‘yes.’ Then Imus asked her if she fooled around, and when she responded ‘yes,’ Imus was caught off guard and didn't know what to say." - Richard Johnson

** Beep Beep
"Driving north on LaCienega the other night around 7:15 p.m., a car made a bonehead left turn in front of me and the other northbound cars. Horns [rightly] honked. A serious accident was averted. BUT, simultaneous to the real horns honking, KABC on my car radio emitted their screeching traffic horn signature. As a driver with no accidents but admittedly only average driving skills, I can tell you the cacophony flustered me and almost caused me to make a horrible error. Now, as a typical talk radio libertarian who is shocked, shocked by the abuse of torts laws causing lawsuit frenzy in this country, I would be [I thought] the last person to file a frivolous suit. However, if there had, God forbid, been an accident I can assure you I would have named KABC in the suit and had my lawyer go after them as a contributor to the accident. That's not a threat -- just a statement from a lucky guy." – Scott Donahue, Westwood

** Calls to the Doctor Go Unanswered
"No one seems to know whatever happened to Larry Metzler, the guy who worked on the Dr. Laura Schlessinger show for a LONG time. All my queries to any available sources are met with silence. Thought someone out there might know. Dr. Laura always acted like they were ‘best buds’ and then he was GONE with no word about him. Interesting how people seem to ‘disappear’ from her show and gosh, no one knows what happened [smirk]. Same thing happened with a gal who used to work on her show about a year ago, she got married and when a caller had the nerve to ask Dr. L about this woman, she laughed it off with ‘she got married, I don't know what she's doing now.’ BUT she used to act as if they were all one big happy family. Can't wait to read Deryk Schlessinger's tell-all book in about 20 years -- it oughtta be a doozie! P.S. I really really miss Peter Tilden!" - Mary Burr, Torrance

Ken Minyard to Tell All About KABC

(March 12, 1999) Tomorrow at 3, the former KABC talk show host Ken Minyard, now the co-host of Minyard & Minyard on afternoon drive at KRLA, has agreed to his first radio interview to tell the REAL story about what happened to him, Peter Tilden and Michael Jackson at their former shop, KABC. Ken will spill the beans on management practices, memos, and directives for the Disney owned station, program directors and station VP's. Ken will appear on "Traffic Jam," a KRLA show each weekend hosted by Kenny Morse, better known as "Mr. Traffic" and Reed Berry, "The Traffic Guy."…The airing of the new Star Wars trailer on tv last night was quite an event. Phil Hendrie played the trailer numerous times last night on KFI…Mark Wallengren, morning co-host at KOST, is already planning for the weekend of May 21. He’s taking his 8-year old son to see the new Star Wars movie and stay in the theatre all weekend long for continuous showings…Yesterday, Marla Gibbs, the wise-cracking maid from The Jeffersons, appeared on the morning "Mega 100" show with Danny Romero and Irma Blanco…Fans of "Xtra Sports 1150" can meet Scotty Ferrall at the National Sports Grill in Torrance tomorrow from 2 – 4 p.m….Can’t get enough basketball with the NCAA Tourney? Or do you have Bruin blues? There is an interactive basketball game at "Arrow 93’s" Web site: www.arrowfm.com . Click "Hoop De Doo" and get ready to trash-talk and shoot over some heavy defense…"You never know what stupid thing someone will say or do next, but find out with Al Rantel, weekdays, noon to three on 7-90, KABC." –KABC promo…Casting director Marvin Paige and 90-year old Penny Singleton were in a automobile accident the other night on the way to the Legacy Restaurant (originally the Scandia). Their car was totaled but they hailed a cab to get to the restaurant where they were guests with Marty Ingels who was broadcasting on KIEV…Next Wednesday morning, KIEV will broadcast live the first ever "Glendale St. Patrick's Day Parade." The event will feature local bands and musical groups, including the Glendale high school marching band. The "Glendale St. Patrick's Day Parade" will be hosted by Larry Marino and Steve Bridges…KOST’s Mark & Kim are giving away tickets to an advance screening of the new animated smash hit, The King & I…KFWB is the official traffic station for the LA Marathon this Sunday. Traffic reporter Allen Lee and Jeff Baugh will be reporting live…Leah Brandon announced to her KYSR audience last night that Everybody’s Free to Wear Sun Screen by Baz Luhrmann is the hottest song EVER played on "Star 98.7"…Former LARP Steve Allen has been chosen as grand marshal of the 1999 San Fernando Valley Fair…KRLA’s Rick Minyard read a story yesterday about a minister who told authorities that his church’s secretary was accidentally shot while they used a gun during foreplay. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Rick’s father Ken Minyard wanted to know where he shot her and said he would educate his son on what kind of foreplay they were doing. Isn’t it nice how open their father-son relationship is?…Earlier this week, former KFI’er Dr. Ruth Westheimer had a special on grandparenting titled "The Missing Link" on KCET/TV…Mr. KABC was talking about the homeless "regulars" in the Southland. KABC newslady Carol Ramos talked about a guy she sees by one of the parking garages in Beverly Hills. As you pass by he will ask for change. If you don’t have change he’ll ask for a dollar or two. If no money he says he’ll take a check…Bob Maryon emails that he stays in touch with former KMPC dj Clark Race who now lives in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. Bob reports that Clark and his wife run a Bed & Breakfast. Clark had a very serious operation a few months ago and is "recovering but it is a long process," wrote Bob…Michael Jackson had an interesting conundrum question for his KRLA listeners yesterday morning. If a VERY close relative of yours was arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol and you were able to set the punishment, what would it be? Whatever your choice, it would apply to not only your drunk loved one but the punishment for all drunken drivers…Ray Manzarek of the Doors recently guested with "Arrow 93’s" Bob Coburn on his live show, "Rockline." Ray divulged that if the Doors were to ever invite someone to sing lead in future concerts, it would be Eddie Vedder. This Sunday night, Steve Perry of Journey appears with Joe Benson on "Off The Record."… Mr. KABC vacations next week and Brian Whitman will take over with co-guest-hosts: trial consultant Dr. Jo-Ellan Dimitrius and Charles Perez, former talk show producer of the Ricki Lake, Montel Williams, Jane Pratt and Leeza shows. On Thursday and Friday Leslie Gold, former co-host of "Two Chicks Dishing" on Boston's WRKO will sit with Brian…Actor/comedian Tim Conway was an answer on Jeopardy last night. Tim Conway, Jr. works evenings as co-host at Talk KLSX. Partner Doug Steckler wondered aloud if the Jeopardy category was "Fathers Who Are Embarrassed about their Oldest Son"?…Alex Ben Block, show business reporter for KNX and former editor of the Hollywood Reporter, has been named business editor of IF Magazine, an online publication dedicated to independent film…Meet "Mega 100" co-host Irma Blanco tomorrow night at the National Sports Bar & Grill where the Holyfield-Lewis fight appears on multiple screens…"We only stop the music twice an hour, so you can listen longer, here’s another half hour of commercial free music." – KZLA promo…Mike Halloran is set to join "Y107" in afternoon drive. In 1988 Mike worked swing at KROQ and then went to San Diego where for the next decade he programmed "91X," KUPR and XHRM.

Memories of the Original Car Radio

As KKTR’s brief experiment with an all-Traffic, all the time format comes to an end. I thought it would be interesting to remember that a bold format, certainly for its time, was launched with "Car Radio." Mark Denis, midday traffic reporter at KFI, was there for this new format and shares some memories:

"Often-times people think I've only been in the traffic side of broadcasting. True it's coming up on 15 years of my 37 on the radio. June 18, 1985 Car Radio 93/KHJ was launched under the Program Directorships of Rick Scarry, Phil Hall and consultant Walt Sabo. Before then the stations that had decent numbers were the FM music stations and news/talk AM stations.

The concept was to find a niche in the market that would address traffic reports as the hook and consistent reason to tune in to KHJ. So Car Radio was born. We played an A/C-type pop music format called: Car Tunes. The station played 2 records then read a traffic report...then 2-records and a traffic report etc... mixed in with standard news, sports and commercial stop sets and contests.

Usually when a format doesn't work we blame the following:
1)We don't have a good signal. [We had a legendary great signal.]
2)We don't have a billboard campaign. [We had a massive billboard presence.]
3)We don't have any contests. [We had contests. KHJ gave a car away a day in the month of May. We actually gave away a brand new car every weekday for that month.]

I was jocking and doing the traffic reports and eventually started doing the reporting full-time. Rhonda Kramer's LA Network provided the teletype copy every 10-15 minutes. As the morning Traffic Broadcaster, I would use two separate AM radios, one tuned to Bill Keene and Dona Dower on KNX and the other to Pam McInnes on KMPC. Ernie Garcia and Jill Angel would do phone reports from the CHP. CalTrans provided printed traffic speed information several times per hour in drive time and listeners would call us with tips.

Unfortunately, it just didn't work!

I admire Walt for his openness to take chances on something new--that no one had done before. Same with Saul Levine. You'd have to have a unique product to bring folks up beyond 1600AM. AirTraffic (Air Watch America) did a beautiful job with on-air dedicated professionals. I remember Rosie Roldan saying several years ago that traffic was only new growth area in broadcasting. How right she was.Who knew this would be a third of my personal broadcast profession. I am still in the 90 percentile of enjoyment of my job, the truth be known, it's really higher!

Starting at KFI/KOST, we had two Bearcat scanners and a Sigalert receiver. That's it! Now our own traffic center has three separate data computers tied into the CHP and CalTrans, plus--A Hi- Resolution CalTrans Graffics Screen (Our Traffic Graffic) that indicates traffic speed flow by colors.(on a grid map) We are also one of the beta test points for a new system called F.I.R.S.T. (Freeway Incident Response Services Tracking) on another computer with additional access to the internet. Many of us colleagues even share information with each other to help out. This is an incredible group of people in itself. I am challenged daily with creativity, timeliness, speed and accuracy. It seems to be working. And, it's a good gig!" – Mark Denis markdeniskfi@earthlink.net

Afternoon Drive in LA-LA Land

(March 11, 1999) A quick spin up and down the afternoon drive in Southern California from yesterday. Some, but not all, stations are heard in a snapshot.
3:24 (KZLA) Out of a commercial stop-set: "More music, less talk, all country, 93.9, KZLA."
3:25 (KRLA) Ken Minyard and Rick Minyard are arguing over the developments leading to Linda Tripp’s decision to tape her conversations with Monica Lewinsky.
3:29 (KCTD) Papa Joe on One-On-One Sports is talking about Joe DiMaggio’s request for a private funeral and the fact his request should be honored despite what owner George Steinbrenner wants to do.
3:34 (KACE) Promo: "Southern California’s Only r&b Oldies radio station."
3:37 (KIIS) Gary Spears is giving away Lenny Kravitz concert tickets for the Irvine Meadows to caller 102."
3:45 (KABC) Brent Wood is dispensing dependable traffic with problem on the southbound San Diego near Getty Drive. Larry Elder joins Kerry Kilbride at KCAL/Channel 9 for daily simulcast. Subject is date rape.
3:47 (KXTA) Steve Carbone and Dave Denholm are talking about the big Laker trade for Glen Rice. Regular co-host Newy Scruggs joins group in the following hour. He was late getting checked into Indy hotel (he’s covering the Bruins).
3:54 (KKBT) A caller moans, "I love you, Theo." Theo gives away tickets to GameWorks and promos "the Beat" as "representing real hip hop and r&b with no color lines."
4:00 (KFWB) Ken Jeffries, Tammy Trujillo co-anchor the news (lead is Elizabeth Dole’s possible Republican candidacy) with Joe McDonnell presenting sports news of the big Lakers trade, weather is mostly cloudy with chance of showers and traffic reporters Jane Monreal, Jeff Baugh and Tom Storey.
4:14 (KCBS) Over the intro to a Crosby, Stills and Young song, Bob Coburn dispenses info on the group - that they are working on a new album and planning a tour for late fall or early next year.
4:23 (KBIG) Promo out of a commercial stop-set: "Picking you up and making you feel good with true music variety. That means we don’t just play soft songs, instead we play all your favorites. That’s the K-Big difference. 104.3FM. K-Big 104."
4:34 (KDIS) Radio Disney is conducting the "Battle of the Cities" pitting a kid from Iowa with another from Massachusetts. The winner knew that there were bones in a boneless chicken.
4:49 (KLOS) Gino Michellini and traffic lord Skylord are bantering about "being under the weather."
5:03 (KOST) Bryan Simmons is playing Paula Cole’s Where Have All the Cowboys Gone.
5:05 (KNX) Dave Zorn leads with second child abduction attempt in the Inland Empire. Steve Grad with sports (Lakers acquisition), Randy Riddle with business news (Dow closed at record high). Traffic report from Chris Griego, Chuck Rowe and Meghan Reyes.
5:14 (KKGO) Promo to win tickets to Pacific Chorale’s John Alexander Singers at the Orange County Performing Arts. The show is call "Baroque Brilliance."
5:26 (KROQ) Jed the Fish comes out of Better Days by Citizen King and promos his Saturday morning countdown show called "Out of Order."
5:31 (KCMG) New afternoon driver Greg Moreno is playing Love on a Two-Way Street by the Moments.
5:45 (KRTH) "Shotgun" Tom Kelly ties in the weather possibilities of rain over the intro to CCR’s Who’ll Stop the Rain.
5:47 (KYSR) Ryan Seacrest is playing I’ll Be by Edwin McCain.
5:51 (KIEV) Joseph Farrah, head of Western Journalism Center, is guesting with Ray Briem.
6:01 (KPWR) Baka Boyz are playing a world premiere from DJ Quik and R. Kelly.
6:08 (KLAC) Larry Burnett is in the "Laker Zone" interviewing coach Kurt Rambis about the big five player trade for Glen Rice.
6:22 ("Lite 92.7FM") 1986 hit Holding Back the Years by Simply Red is playing. Mucho Morales comes out of the record with weather and how cold it is, 54 degrees in Calabasas.
6:24 (KLSX) Tom Leykis talked with female callers who had never had an orgasm or have faked them their entire lives.

Radio Nostalgia from Garrison Keillor

(March 9, 1999) Garrison Keillor has a new book titled The Book of Guys. There is a warm chapter called "Roy Bradley, Boy Broadcaster." The chapter starts: "It’s your broken heart that qualifies a man for broadcasting, but of course Roy Bradley couldn’t know that, growing up in Piscacatawamaquoddymoggin, a scallop-fishing village on the rock-swept coast of Maine. He had aimed toward a radio-broadcasting career ever since he won the Maine Pronouncing Bee in 1952, when he was ten. Radio seemed to be in the cards for him all right. He was pleasant and kind and even hard words like ‘sagacious’ and ‘hermaphrymnotic’ tumbled off his tongue like drops from a faucet. Clear enunciation was a skill prized by most Piscacatawamaquoddymogginites, speakers of English on the Eastern Seaboard. When he was thirteen, Roy joined the Boys’ Broadcasting Club in New York City, and quickly rose to the rank of Gold Tone. The registration form was on the back of every jar of Pebble Beach Brand Peach Preserves, but only boys who had ‘demonstrated a superior aptitude for effective, correct, and pleasant speech, distinguished by correct pronunciation and natural inflection’ qualified for advancement." What happens to Roy Bradley is only a Garrison Keillor book away…Testimonials on KRLA promo: "I just love your program and that I don’t have to listen to KABC anymore." "I appreciate the Imus show. Very happy to see your station go Talk and especially moving over Imus as well as Michael Jackson"…Thanks to Bob Rusk for including me in his story about KRLA’s switch from legendary rock music to Talk. The story appeared in an issue of Radio World last month…Don Anti checked in from Custer, Washington, "which is 15 minutes north of Bellingham, 5 minutes from the Canadian border off Highway 5 and in the country with 5 acres," according to Don. He started in radio in the spring of 1958 at KYA-San Francisco and that same year moved to KDAY. From 1962 to early 1967 he was at KFWB and then to KFI and KLAC. His last radio job was in the early 1970s at KNBR-San Francisco. Don moved into record promotion for Mercury, MCA, Playboy and Chelsea. For the past 25 years he has been in independent record business and associated with Jeff McClusky & Associates since 1985. "Once in a while I get an email or note from someone who gets it from your book. Nice thing you have put together there. Flattered I'm even mentioned," added Don…Brian Whitman starts his 12th week as co-host of the KABC morning show with Mr. KABC. Recently Brian ran afoul of the law. He was ticketed for jaywalking…Frank Bresee, radio actor, producer and director, was honored this past weekend for donating his collection of programs and memorabilia to the Thousand Oaks Library. Speaking at the event, old-time radio performers Richard Crenna of "Our Miss Brooks," Janet Waldo of "Meet Corliss Archer," Peggy Webber of "Dragnet" and Les Tremayne, who was also "The Thin Man." Also participating, Norman Corwin, KNX Radio's Tom Hatten was the emcee, Armed Forces Radio's Jack McQueen and about 180 invited guests. Bresee, who was Red Ryder's faithful Indian companion, Little Beaver, in the 1940s, begins his 60th year in broadcasting in April. His syndicated series, "Golden Days of Radio," is in its 50th year. He donated 10,000 16-inch radio transcriptions, including 150 Jack Benny programs; more than 8 million feet of programming on open-reel tapes; hundreds of radio scripts; an NBC microphone; and more than 40 colorful posters of movies made with radio stars. Frank’s book, Radio’s Golden Years, is available from this Web site. At the main menu of www.laradio.com click L.A. Radio Goodies…Jeff Stevens, aka "Wes Wood" doing traffic on KABC Sunday nights is one busy guy. He does a weekend job at KLLY in Bakersfield and during the week attends California State University, Northridge…Jim Hilliker read about the pending changes at KEZY and remembered that in the late 1960s, the 1190AM jocks worked in a glass booth at 1190 Ball Road in Anaheim. During much of the ‘60s, the station was in a small studio/office at the Disneyland Hotel. Jim emailed: "KHJ was great, but KEZY was our local station to hear the hits when I was in junior high school and part of high school, though FM was starting to catch on when I was in my junior and senior years. By the way, May 18th of this year will be the 40th Anniversary of the first day KEZY/AM [now KORG] went on the air. They were only 1,000 watts then. Cliff Gill was president and general manager. Opening day ceremonies for Anaheim's first radio station included celebrities such as Jon Provost, age 9, from the Lassie tv show, Gene Barry from Bat Masterson and Richard Simmons, star of Sgt. Preston. Lassie was scheduled to bark the first sounds heard on KEZY-1190 at 9:00 a.m., May 18, 1959. The Disneyland Hotel was owned then by Jack Wrather, and his production company put Lassie, The Lone Ranger and others on tv in the '50s…I am leaving this morning for the ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas. This column will resume in a few days.

KABC’s Robin Abcarian Returns to Writing

(March 8, 1999) Robin Abcarian’s contract with KABC expired a little over a month ago. In the fall of 1996 she took a leave of absence from writing a twice-weekly column in the LA Times Life & Style section to join Tracey Miller in morning drive on Talk-formatted KMPC, 710AM. When the station switched to syndicated Radio Disney, Robin moved over to KABC for fill-in. What has she been up to? "I've been working on a novel [that's my long-term project] and just finished a profile of Army Archerd for the LA Times Sunday magazine that will run on Oscar day [March 21]. I'm working on a couple of other assignments for the Times magazine, and the New York Daily News has me doing some actor profiles." Robin’s very excited about a radio project that is under top security wraps. "It will be the ultimate sassy answer to the all-male, chick-bashing talk that currently rules the airwaves," Robin volunteered…A caller to Gloria Allred’s Saturday night program on KABC chewed out Super Glo for appearing with George Putnam on KIEV because of George’s stance on gays…Patty Peach had an interesting Mick Jagger story during her weekend show on "Arrow 93." She figures that the sex, drugs and rock ‘n roller has been tamed. While touring in Fargo he took his kids bowling and rented shoes like the rest of us. Mick bowled 110…KZLA is bringing Randy Travis to the Universal Amphitheatre next Sunday for his first L.A. appearance in 5 years...Julian Lennon appears with Mark & Brian on KLOS this morning…Every Wednesday former "Groove" personality Holly Adams appears at the Bump! dance club in Santa Monica…Don Woodford wonders what happened to Chuck Randall, the overnight guy on KMET during the early 1980s. "I used to call him up in the middle of the night," said Don. Last I heard, Chuck became a tour manager and spent time on the road with Neville Brothers, Huey Lewis, Kenny Loggins and Little Feat. He was also at KROQ. Any idea what he’s doing now?…Following the departure of KEZY station manager Chris Cox, the word below the Orange curtain is for more changes. As early as next Monday KEZY may get a new identity, probably new call letters and some staff changes. For 35 years KEZY has broadcast from Ball Road. The new owners may take the station to a "fishbowl location."…Every Saturday we publish reader email. Chris Parker of Dana Point had some very critical observations about sports broadcasting this past Saturday. David Grundt writes in detail about the Mario Impemba incident. "I was at work and I decided to roll tape just before noon [Sixth sense that something might happen? Not sure.] Anyway, tape was rolling and the start of the broadcast went fine. After the opening credits and music were done, we hear the instrumental part of ‘Take me out to the Ballgame.’ It is an old recording that is scratchy. [This, I guess is to tie into the station’s nostalgia, big band, standards format.] Under the music you hear Curt Daniels cue Mario to begin and Mario says ‘Good Afternoon...’ Mario continues to talk and the music stops and soon afterwards there is 15 seconds of dead air. Then up pops a spot for Arrowhead Water [not one of the listed sponsors in the opening]. The spot plays most of the way through and then you hear Mario say "...and coming up Brian Barnhardt will have the starting lineups for this one, after this message, on the Anaheim Angels Radio Network." Right as Mario finishes, it sounds like Curt Daniels saying ‘Mario.’ Mario didn't hear him and with mic up utters, ‘F--kin' clusterf--ked that one.’ And immediately into a Kragen Auto Parts spot. During the 1st inning, Mario apologized about the technical difficulties, but he didn't mention the profanity. The tape is already a classic. My first thought was, ‘If only Jim Healy were still alive.’ It is also a good thing that head Disney honcho, Michael Eisner was in Tempe Friday and couldn't hear the broadcast." David works for Far West Media Services in Long Beach…Kenny Noble Cortes checks in from WFLC-Miami. "This month marks my 2nd anniversary as morning host of ‘Coast 97.3FM.’ We're owned by Cox and the show is going great. This is my 3rd year to write for the LA Times ‘Laugh Lines’ column. They publish my stuff once or twice a week. I keep up with the Times via their online edition." Kenny talked about a serious subject. "Drowning is the leading cause of death for kids under 5 here in South Florida. Following the near-drowning of my son, Sam (6) a year and a half ago I've become actively involved in prevention. You wouldn't believe how frequently these precious little children drop into pools, canals, lakes, etc. around here. Frightening and tragic. Just this week our neighbor across the street experienced such tragedy when her 3 year old fell in. She was under water for about 5 minutes and remains in a coma in critical condition." Kenny said he gets solid support from the management of WFLC for his efforts on behalf of drowning…Mark Wallengren, morning co-host of the Mark & Kim KOST morning show told a joke making the Internet rounds. An office worker was cited for complimenting a female worker on how good her hair smelled. He was a midget…Steve Kim, host of KXTA’s Sunday night program, "The Main Event," fought for a quarter page story in yesterday’s LA Times Magazine. His weekly radio show is devoted to "the sweet science" of boxing. The article described the Montebello High School graduate as "brash and opinionated – equal parts Howard Cosell, Don Imus and Dr. Drew." Steve’s show airs every Sunday night at 9…This morning California Governor Gray Davis appears with Michael Jackson during his broadcast from the Museum of TV & Radio on KRLA…Ken Levine, director of last Friday’s Brother's Keeper noticed that KLAC has adopted the old KMPC logo. "Pretty smart," said the former Beaver Cleaver.

LARP Vote For Oscar Winners

How would you like to win an almost-impossible-to-get KLOS hat? It is the same type hat worn by homerun king Mark McGwire that appeared on the front page of USA Today recently. Guess the most winners in the Oscar categories listed below and win. Two runner-ups will win Los Angeles Radio People, Volume 2. Email your picks to db@ecom.net . Los Angeles Radio People voting results will be posted prior to the telecast on March 21.

BEST PICTURE
Elizabeth
Life Is Beautiful
Saving Private Ryan
Shakespeare in Love
The Thin Red Line

BEST ACTOR
Roberto Benigni, Life Is Beautiful
Tom Hanks, Saving Private Ryan
Ian McKellen, Gods and Monsters
Nick Nolte, Affliction
Edward Norton, American History X

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth
Fernanda Montenegro, Central Station
Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love
Meryl Streep, One True Thing
Emily Watson, Hilary and Jackie

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
James Coburn, Affliction
Robert Duvall, A Civil Action
Ed Harris, The Truman Show
Geoffrey Rush, Shakespeare in Love
Billy Bob Thornton, A Simple Plan

BEST DIRECTOR
Robert Benigni, Life Is Beautiful
John Madden, Shakespeare in Love
Terrence Malick, The Thin Red Line
Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan
Peter Weir, The Truman Show

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kathy Bates, Primary Colors
Brenda Blethyn, Little Voice
Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love
Rachel Griffiths, Hilary and Jackie
Lynn Redgrave, Gods and Monsters

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing," Armageddon
"The Prayer," Quest for Camelot: The Magic Sword
"A Soft Place to Fall," The Horse Whisperer
"That’ll Do," Babe: Pig in the City
"When You Believe," The Prince of Egypt

TIE-BREAKER: Shakespeare in Love received 13 nominations.
How many Awards will the film actually win?

(March 6, 1999) We Get Email…

** Cruisin’ Down the Boulevard
"If Huggy Boy didn't exist, we'd have to invent him. I only recently started listening to him on KRTH. At first, I was appalled! Who is this guy talking over intros? What's all this weird Doo Wop stuff? Then one night I'm driving down Magnolia in Burbank and it hit me. I LOVE this guy! When I first started in radio I ‘stepped on’ intros all the time. Many guys did, sometimes on purpose. If you had something to say, you said it. Then, like Huggy, you laughed. And you KNEW the world was laughing with you. I love hearing his ‘thematic’ little sets of music. A dance set, a cruising set, a dreamy set. He's just ‘feeling’ his way along the night and actually TALKING to people one on one, just the way it's supposed to be! All the consultants in the world couldn't tame this guy and thank God for that. He wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun to listen to." - Steve "Beamer" Behm, Burbank

** You’ll get a KIK Out of This
"On Saturday [2/27], you posted an email from Craig Powers where he tried to ‘correct’ me by saying: Also to clear up a few things that Stefan reported...Our I.D. is KIKF/Garden Grove/Anaheim/Orange County. Not L.A.!

Oh, yeah? I made a timestamped DAT unscoped aircheck of the last couple hours of Craig's show that afternoon [to catch the letter so I could accurately report it for laradio.com], and very clearly at 3:55, 4:45, and 5:54 p.m. the prerecorded legal ID goes exactly: ‘94.3 KIKF, Garden Grove/Anaheim/Los Angeles.’ [Would you like a copy of this tape? And does Craig need tapes of his station made by listeners to be able to accurately know what his station broadcasts during his airshifts?!?!?] If Craig was telling the truth at all about his IDs not saying ‘Los Angeles’ [I haven't listened again since that Wednesday so I can't say], he must've yanked those only upon reading my report so he could use the word ‘is’ at the moment he fired off his email without making it a complete lie.

Also, after reading the Bill Fink [pd of KZLA] letter on the air I said, 'Since he only gets Spanish on his radio when he tunes in KIK FM, maybe I should buy him a better radio for his car.' Rather revisionist again. He never made such an offer on air! His exact words following the letter [words from a caller were interspersed] were: ‘That's the letter. What do you think, Kimber? ... You know what I think... I think that he -- he just doesn't have a decent radio... and he may be just -- uh -- like a few short, you know what I mean... he -- he may not have it on the right channel,. because I -- I couldn't believe the guy's last name... did you hear what it: Bill Fink?... yeah, F I N K... could you imagine if I was Craig Fink?’ Then he announced the song starting. [The other comment of his I quoted in my original report came after a traffic report almost ten minutes later.]

The one thing I did report the first day of their retooled format that may have been misleading by the time many people read it: According to Gary Lycan's OC Register column, their all-request hour was restored after the first day. [I had only reported that first day about it, pointing out that it was gone.] – Stefan Daystrom

** Remembering Jolly Joe
"Great piece by John Hart on KFWB's Joe Yocam [3/3]. He really was fun to listen to in the heyday of Channel 98. I've got a couple of great airchecks of him that I listen to often. Thanks for including these little features with the column. They make a wonderful addition." - Jeffrey Leonard

** Mr. Owl’s Disappearance
"I am a radio listener who reads your LA Radio People - current news. I am writing because of Frank Murphy [Mr. Owl] leaving KLOS for ‘Y107.’ He was a great part of the Mark & Brian show and I am sad to see him leave. One thing that bothers me about him leaving, as a listener, is how if you were listening to Mark & Brian in the mornings and did not know that he had resigned, it would seem that Mr. Owl just disappeared. First Mark and Brian said that he was on jury duty and then bam, he just disappeared and nothing has been mentioned about him on the air. It is like he never existed. One of Frank’s duties was to create the questions for ‘You can't win.’ However since he has been gone, Art ‘the computer guy’ has been running the game. This morning, Mark & Brian described that current question as being created by Art while in fact the questions were created by Frank "Mr. Owl" Murphy when he was still with them. As a listener, this subtle form of deception doesn't sit well with me. It just seems wrong.

While I understand that radio is a business, with Frank Murphy now considered part of the competition, still it is a disservice to the fans of the show for them to pretend like Mr. Owl never existed. In the past, when a member of the team was leaving for other jobs, not at a competing station, Mark & Brian would give them a nice send off. With Frank Murphy, it would seem like business realities are getting in front of just treatment. Too bad. Thanks for your time." - Arthur Medrano, Sylmar

** Mark & Brian Fight
"I am new to your Web site, and look forward to your news and insights each day. I’m just a lifelong Angeleno radio fan, but because I spend so much time in my car I have become familiar and interested in the Los Angeles radio community. Reading your daily column is a real pleasure.

Anyway, today [3/4], you mentioned that Mark & Brian have ‘always taken the high road’ and not mentioned competition. If memory serves, when they first came to L.A. they hammered Rick Dees and were very funny doing it. They almost single-handedly drove Guy Kemp out of the market when Kemp started a radio war he couldn't finish. M&B were young, loose, and had nothing to lose.

Four years of steady progress finally earned them the #1 spot. An ABC/Cap Cities directive, in place before Stern's arrival, prevented M&B from addressing any competition. I just wanted to add my 2 cents for the record." - John Crowley, Redondo Beach

** Ol Weather Eyes
"I followed a web strand from a Jim Hawthorne fan site. My only real live experience with ‘the theater of the mind’ was Lohman & Barkley in the 60's and 70's. I have been looking for a good copy of Maynard Farmer's ‘Farmer's Luck’ for a long time. I know what W. Eva Schneider Baloney looked like, and sounded like, as she hung on to the back of the fire truck to and from Brawley every day. I sympathized with her when she made Ted J. Baloney sleep in the bush outside [of the studio or their house, I don't remember] when he had done one more humiliating thing to her than she could stand. I know what Odebolt, Iowa is like even though I'm not sure Maynard really went back there for the tractor races. I had an empty place in my soul when Lohman & Barkley broke up." - Ellen Stout, Rancho Cucamonga

** Play Ball
"During the past few days I've had the opportunity to listen to some of the local teams' broadcasts. To quote the venerable Slim Pickens in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles: What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on? I present the following:

1. The Angels first exhibition game in Tempe, AZ was forgettable [they lost to Oakland, 17-4], but the same could not be said for their maiden broadcast on KLAC. It seems as though the engineering staff forgot their codes back in L.A. because the audio was only one step above ham radio. To make matters worse, the ‘two-way’ communication between remote site and station seemed to be non-existent because...while play-by-play man Mario Impemba was giving the starting line-ups, a commercial inexplicably appeared. After about 20 seconds of the spot, Impemba was back on, wrapping up the line-ups that no one had heard in the first place. Impemba then cued for a real commercial break. However, the engineer never hit the spot OR killed Impemba's mic because those listening heard him say, ‘Geez, we sure fu**ed that one up.' I'll bet the folks at the Mouse House were pleased with Impemba's performance! And what's with that godawful swing music behind the sponsor credits? I thought this was 1999, not 1939.

2. Let's welcome the Dodgers back for their second season on KXTA. The station was in mid-season form for the first exhibition game when they joined the pre-game show (now called ‘Dodgers Countdown’] IN PROGRESS. They did this on a regular basis last season. Why can KNX join the CBS network on time over 20 times a day and KXTA can't join the Dodgers net ONCE a day? To make matters worse, the broadcast opening [‘It's a beautiful day for a ball game...’] has been castrated. It's only been the teams' signature song for over 25 years! And, for the first time since the Dodgers came to this town, the sponsor credits are NOT being delivered by a member of the broadcast team [Vin, Ross, Rick, Don, and Jerry], but by the KXTA imaging voice. Can't the station keep their mitts off anything?

3. On Thursday, Clippers flagship KXTA [here we go again] had a commitment to UCLA basketball, so they farmed out the Clippercast to KCTD. During the second and third quarters, audio was lost three separate times. Each outage was at least 30 seconds. What happened? Did the string break the connection with the two tin cans? After all it IS the Clippers!

4. Finally, to add insult to injury, the Lakers opening on KLAC Friday night was PRE-RECORDED. There were Chick and Stu LIVE on my tv, with the players shooting warm-ups behind them. On radio, they were discussing something totally different with virtually no crowd noise. Once again, radio becomes the second-class citizen.

And to paraphrase Casey Stengel: ‘Can't anybody here BROADCAST this game?’ - Chris Parker, Dana Point

** Bill Seward is Busy
"I’m starting my third year at ESPN, and beginning another season of "2 Day at the Races," which airs Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN2. I miss the weather, Santa Anita and all the good folks at KNX and KCBS. Please give my best to Bill Keene and Gil Stratton." - Bill Seward

** Where is Rug Burns?
"I was wondering the whereabouts of Liz Fulton, formerly of the Rick Dees show. The last I heard she was in Sacramento? LOVE this site!" -Steve Behm, Burbank
Happy Birthday: Scott West

End of the Week Odds ‘n Ends

(March 5, 1999) The KLOS Payroll contest has paid out over $7,500 to 99 listener/employees. Of the 99 who qualified, 72 have won $100, 16 are winners of $200, 8 listeners/employees took home $300 and 3 won $400. "I guess that $100 is just as popular now as it was in 1957," KLOS promotion guru Ruben Aguilar commented….Ronn Owens, former nine to noon talk personality at KABC who commuted between KGO and sister station KABC, checks in: "My show has gotten to be an even stronger number one since my return. I now beat Rush Limbaugh by about a 2-1 margin. I can't help but notice Los Angeles listeners were starting to get my style just as I was leaving [when the numbers were slowly rising] and comparing it with KABC’s numbers today. Bottom line is I am very happy and I wish the very nice people I worked with at KABC nothing but the best. As for management....." This is when Ronn’s email trailed off…"Arrow 93’s" Joe Benson is one of the busiest guys in radio. Between the books he has written and his passion for car racing, hardly a weekend goes by when he is not out greeting his fans. Tomorrow from noon to 2, Joe will be at the Gateway Country Computer Store in Woodland Hills…John Majhor, former KLAC and KZLA dj, is leaving Canada in May for a major opportunity in Santa Fe…The Greaseman apologized to everyone for his "insensitive and unkind remarks." The former KLOS dj who lost his job because of an on-the-air comment he made about the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr., says he is willing to go to Texas to apologize to Byrd’s family. "Not even a big mouth like me can explain my own mindless stupidity,'' said Doug ‘Greaseman’ Tracht, who was fired from his morning drive job at WARW-Washington, DC on February 25. Tracht said at a news conference Wednesday that he would like to meet with the family of James Byrd Jr. to apologize personally for his racially insensitive reference to Byrd's brutal death. He said the comment "trivialized" the murder. After playing a portion of a song by Grammy-award winning recording artist Lauryn Hill, who like Byrd is black, Tracht had said, "No wonder people drag them behind trucks." Greaseman said "I'm compelled by the hurt, pain and distrust that I've caused to apologize to many people.'' He said he would like to reclaim his reputation…CNN’s Larry King Live will have KABC’s Art Bell as a guest tonight. Must be a full moon…Larry Marino has had a busy week during his "Morning Magazine" show at KIEV. Tuesday he had Tom Brokaw taking calls. Yesterday his show was simulcast on Little Saigon radio in Santa Ana and in Houston. He took calls and debated the issue of the Westminster storeowner and his posting of the Ho Chi Minh poster. In the past two weeks Larry has had two presidential candidates on the air. Larry’s morning show is one of those alternative gems. He covers a w i d e spectrum of topics and guests…Former KMET/KEDG/KTWV dj Randy Thomas locks in announcing chores for the ABC telecast of the Oscar ceremonies. She was the first female announcer and this makes her 4th outing…Speaking of Oscars, you are voting for who you think will win. Yesterday we covered the ongoing results in three categories. The four remaining categories as of this morning:

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – 19%
Fernanda Montenegro – 1%
Gwyneth Paltrow – 58%
Meryl Streep – 10%
Emily Watson – 11%

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kathy Bates – 27%
Brenda Blethyn – 8%
Judi Dench – 39%
Rachel Griffiths – 3%
Lynn Redgrave – 21%

BEST DIRECTOR
Robert Benigni – 16%
John Madden – 13%
Terrence Malick – 6%
Steven Spielberg – 61%
Peter Weir – 3%

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing – 40%
The Prayer – 8%
A Soft Place to Fall – 8%
That’ll Do – 4%
When You Believe – 40%

If you haven’t voted, you have another week…Many Los Angeles Radio People worked in Chicago before coming here and some after they left. Jeff Davis is working on a 75th Anniversary Special for WLS-Chicago. Jeff needs some help. "It's difficult, kind of like assembling a jigsaw puzzle of the Tower of Pisa with half the pieces missing, i.e., you know the damn thing's supposed to be leaning but the pieces you've got don't show you the ground. The sorry bastards who would have been caretakers of the station's history threw out just about all of the old lacquer transcriptions and items that chronicled the past. Who's still alive that was around when the station signed on in 1924? I've been on the Internet doing a lot of detective work and a few people have been helping me, but this is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. There's so much more I can tell you but my fingers are burning. Anybody out there got audio of WLS prior to 1950... I NEED it!" You can email Jeff at VOICEDUDE@aol.com …John Brooks has just celebrated 20 years at all-News KFWB. John checks in: "Not too shabby I think for L.A. radio. And after 12 years of anchoring, the last 8 in morning drive, I am happily working on the street again as a general assignment reporter. One big plus is seeing all my pals from the old days, when I covered such stories as the Hillside Strangler trial. I've run into Henry Alfaro, Laura Ornest, Stan Chambers, Rod Bernson and many others while out covering the news. I also find that it’s still a gas to report live on a big fire. I think I may keep this job."…Listen for Dave Matthews performing live in the Mark & Brian Amphitheatre next Tuesday. It will be taped for broadcast the next morning at 9 a.m. 40 listeners get to be part of the private concert…KFWB’s Joe McDonnell will be doing a fill-in show on the "One-On-One" Sports network (heard locally on KCTD, 1540AM) tonight beginning at 11…KXTA’s Vic the Brick interviewed Dennis Rodman in the Forum tunnel while Dennis signed autographs for 50 kids…Larry Stewart in this morning’s LA Times reports: "Leave it to someone in talk radio to do something really dumb. This time it is Allie MacKay, sidekick of John Ireland and Derrick Hall on KXTA’s morning show. She is going to live atop an XTRA Sports 1150 billboard at the Universal Bar and Grill in Universal City until the Clippers win a game. She could be up there the whole season." Did you know that the Clippers haven’t won a game since April 1998?…There are no secrets in Jamie White’s life. Co-host of the "Star" morning show said: "My god, my husband got in last night, so we had massive, crazy-ass sex. Whoo-ha. I love sex. I am so into sex. Sex is good."…KLOS is giving away Tom Petty’s new CD this weekend. All CD winners qualify for the Grand Prize trip to San Francisco to see Tom & the Heartbreakers at the Fillmore Auditorium, hotel room and $95…I went by the Museum of TV & Radio yesterday morning to say hello to Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (I’ve have had the opportunity to work on their movies). At one point Michael Jackson asked Mel what he would have done if it hadn’t been a comedian. Mel said that he would probably be struggling as a talk show host on KRLA broadcasting from the Museum. Kelli Gates is doing an awful lot of hard work at the Museum to get equal billing for radio. The emphasis since the Museum has opened has been on TV. Diane Lewis, Diane Reed and Dale Zaklad, three publicity, marketing and education honchos from the New York Museum of TV & Radio, were watching the KRLA interview. They are out here for the William S. Paley tribute and are regular readers of this column….Chris Cox is out as KEZY station manager. The gsm, Dawn McKahan, is being promoted…Didjaknow that Randy Fuller reports traffic on KABC as Brent Wood? That Randy is married to traffic honcho Denise Fondo? They were married last October. Denise is a stone cold Dodger fanatic…KBIG ran a promotion at Planet Hollywood for Monica Lewinsky look-a-likes the night she appeared with Barbara Walters. The promotion attracted a number of tv outlets and the coverage on the evening news was great with KBIG signage everywhere. If a promotion is to attract new listeners, why would the morning team take the next morning off? Makes no sense…Mark & Brian asked their listeners this morning if they remembered Max Headroom?…New Lakers coach Kurt Rambis appeared with Kevin & Bean on KROQ yesterday morning…Sean Hollywood Hamilton worked at KIIS from 1986 to 1992. He arrived here from WPLJ and "Z-100"-New York. Sean was a former regular on ABC/TV’s soap, One Life to Live and he co-hosted The Gong Show. In the spring of 1996 he joined WKTU-New York where he was let go this week after some contest irregularities…KACE is hosting a great r&b Oldies concert tomorrow night starring Bloodstone, the Originals, Friends of Distinction and Sunny and the Sunliners…Big Boy, KPWR morning man, appears on the front cover of this week’s R&R. The trade publication is running a photo of one of the outdoor billboards that we see around the Southland…Former KIQQ morning man Mike Butts was photo’ed in R&R last week…Nice profile of new KLOS pd Rita Wilde in the LA Times yesterday. And super photo!

KFI’s John & Ken Rumored to be Moving to Mornings at KABC

(Marc 4, 1999) A number of informed sources indicate that talks between KFI’s John Kobylt & Ken Champiou and the management of KABC are hot! KABC would like the KFI afternoon pair to take over the coveted morning slot at KABC. Apparently KFI has not renewed John & Ken’s contract paving the way for conversations with KABC. If the much-rumored deal is made, there is a strong indication that Tim Kelly and Neil Savaadra will move from late nights at KFI to afternoon drive. Neither KFI nor KABC programming management responded to emails yesterday. As with all "informed" rumors, that is what is happening today. This is radio, so, as we know, anything can happen…If you listened to Bill Handel’s morning show at KFI yesterday, there was no question that Bill was hinting that he would have Monica Lewinsky live on the air this morning. He talked about Monica living here and being a big fan of his. Turned out to be a cheat. Surprise! Bill revealed shortly after 7 this morning that they were attempting to piece together an interview using sound clips from the Barbara Walters encounter but it just didn’t work out to their standards. Boooo…Kiki Melendez, former morning personality at KRLA in 1997, is the new host for a Galavision tv show called Kiki Desde Hollywood. This hour-long variety show featuring Latinos in entertainment and American pop culture is the most ambitious and most expensive bilingual project ever…KRLA’s Don Imus was on the phone with NBC anchor Tom Brokaw yesterday morning when Don wondered, "Here’s what I don’t understand. You and I are the same age. Why do you look like you do and I look like I do?" Tom thought it was Don’s decades-long chemical diet…The KABC pet doctor, Warren Eckstein, will be doing his regular monthly appearance on LIVE With Regis & Kathie Lee this morning and on the Weekend edition of TODAY next Sunday…KRTH’s Charlie Van Dyke rarely misses a chance to tease nighttimer octogenarian "Huggie Boy." With all the talk about residents of Leisure World in Laguna Hills wanting to have their own city, Charlie hears they wanted to change the name to Huggie World… "Arrow 93’s" pd Tommy Edwards is on jury duty this week. Nice way to spend your birthday today. "Criminals beware!!!" Tommy was happy to announce that Yes will appear live on "Rockline" next Wednesday…While many of you may have been watching the Monica Lewinsky’s interview with Barbara Walters (except for those working in morning drive), Dr. Laura Schlessinger appeared on Live With Larry King. Larry asked her about the promo running on KRLA that is aimed at Dr. Laura promoting the fact that Dr. Toni Grant is a "real psychologist. She gives you advice that comes from training. They don’t mention you by name, but I think they are talking about you," Larry said. Dr. Laura shot back, "That’s the games they play. The less you have to offer, the more you do snotty things like that." Ouch…AFTRA, a chief negotiator from Westwood One and members of the Shadow Airborne Traffic staff gathered yesterday to work on a new contract. A planned information picket line for last Tuesday was cancelled with the promise of yesterday’s meeting. A 15-minute video showing coverage of the emergency fiery landing of the traffic plane two Fridays ago was shown to the group. Reporter Meghan Reyes had to leave the room. She said living it was tough enough, but wasn’t going to watch it again. One member of the group gasped at seeing it for the first time. Visibility appeared to be zero as the inside of the plane was completely filled with smoke. Life insurance was one of the issues on the table. AFTRA wants a million-dollar policy for each member of the Shadow Airborne crew. Management offered $500,000. AFTRA came down to $850,000 and that is where the negotiations stalled. Salary issues consumed the remainder of the meeting. Another meeting is scheduled for later this month…Rex Moore read about the Airborne Traffic near-mishaps and remembered: "One of my childhood heroes, Captain Max Schumacher, gave his life when his chopper collided with another one over Dodger stadium in the mid-1960's. Captain Max was, of course, one of the PIONEERS of traffic reporting, and there was even a series of comic books published about him. Years later KMPC's Jim Hicklin was murdered on board a cruise-ship, by a disgruntled listener who claimed that Hicklin had been harassing him by ‘buzzing’ his house in the KMPC chopper. We may never know all of that story. Francis Gary Powers was killed in the KNBC/TV aircraft, years after being shot down in the U-2 spy plane. Bruce Wayne went down in the KFI plane. These folks deserve all the accolades they can get, Don. It's a dangerous job, and they MORE than earn their salary. God bless them all."…The Godfather of radio Web sites, former KHJ boss jock Johnny Williams, checked in from Hawaii. "Right now, I'm in the process of moving one of the sites (440.com) to a new server/web service provider. The old one was getting a little greedy. I'm trying to clean out some of the unused files before uploading to the new server. Amazing how much stuff I've collected in 4 years. And amazing how primitive my first attempts at graphics were." Johnny’s wonderful radio site is at: www.440int.com …John Leader, a dj from KHJ in the mid-1970s, has gone on to a very successful network voiceover guy. He emailed to tout a friend: "How about a plug for my VO pal Andy Geller, who is now the ‘voice’ of KLOS [produced IDs and liners]. Ironic that Andy was once the morning show producer for Mark & Brian before exiting the station under ‘less than ideal conditions.’ Now, he da man. Very cool and good for him!"…A friend was eating in a Santa Clarita restaurant recently and observed an awkward moment. Mark Thompson (the Mark of KLOS’s Mark & Brian morning team) met Gene Baxter (Bean of KROQ’s Kevin & Bean morning team) for the first time, or was it the first time? The potential discomfort might come from the fact that Kevin & Bean have unmercifully teased Mark & Brian over the years. They have a sound bite of Brian promoting their cross-town rivals. Mark & Brian have always taken the high-road and have not talked about their competition, even when Howard Stern arrived at KLSX in 1991 and picked on them incessantly. Both Mark and Bean have written their version of the restaurant meeting.

Mark Meets Bean

I walked into Louise’s Trattoria for an evening dinner with my wife and as we were walking to our table, we passed by a couple having a great looking salad. The salad looked good enough to eat so I stopped to ask what it was. "It’s the best salad in the Santa Clarita Valley," he said. The guy speaking to me looked familiar but I couldn’t place him. He then said, "We used to live a couple of blocks from you," to which I replied "is that where we know each other from?" "No, we know each other from our respective radio shows." It then hit me who I was talking to. I would have just as soon be anally probed with the fat end of a baseball bat as to stand there in this embarrassing situation. We exchanged niceties, I told him that Frank Murphy had resigned, and I went to my table. We did the human thing and bought each other dessert with our waitress as our go- between. He and his wife stopped by our table on the way out and that was that. So let me officially apologize here and now and assuming you are reading this, let me tell you what a pleasure it was to meet you Mr. Stern, you look nothing like your pictures.

Bean Meets Mark

Well, it has been years but I guess Mark doesn't remember the real first time we met! We (Kevin and I) were doing a publicity roundtable at NBC's Burbank television studios, interviewing the stars of their primetime line-up. Mark & Brian were there promoting their "Adventures of..." show and we asked if they would come on our show to talk about it. They were very nice about declining the request but I guess they do not do as much cross promotion of other stations as we like to (we have had most of the other morning men in the market on at one time or another, from Jay Thomas to Rick Dees to the Baka Boyz, etc). Recently my wife Donna and I were having dinner at a restaurant up here when Mark stopped at our table to ask about the goat cheese salad we were sharing. He didn't recognize me but I re-introduced myself and we chatted for a few minutes. He seemed like a super guy, as I have always heard from folks who know him. Before leaving I went to their table and met his wife Linda too. It was a very pleasant encounter and it's surprising that we haven't bumped into each other before, being neighbors up here in the Santa Clarita Valley. As an aside, Mark and Brian's producer (until this week), Frank Murphy, not only used to produce the Kevin & Bean show, but was the best man at my wedding seven years ago. I was the deejay at his wedding twelve years ago when we both used to work at WAVA-Washington DC. together! It is a small world after all!

Comedian Richard Lewis appeared earlier this week on the Kevin & Bean show and the next day with Mark & Brian…Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, recent Grammy winners, will be appearing live at the Museum of TV & Radio with Michael Jackson on KRLA this morning at 11…Ed Kerby has been in Southern California broadcasting for decades. His sales journey took him to Blair Reps in the late 1960s and then McGavern Guild in Los Angeles. He worked in sales at KIIS, KROQ and from 1974 to 1994 Ed ran KDAY. Want to have a meal with Ed? Every day you can find him at the same place. He is now part owner of the Love's Restaurant on Ventura Boulevard between Jerry’s Deli and Sportsman’s Lodge. "Owning and running a restaurant makes radio look easy," Ed said yesterday when I caught up with him by phone. He plans to expand into other markets soon…Bill Handel dissected the difference between men and women in the work force on his KFI show yesterday morning. He implored women to "never flirt. It puts you on a subordinate level. Guys are allowed to flirt and they are still in charge. Women flirt and they are immediately out of charge. There are immediately in a subordinate role. Ain’t fair, is it?"…KABC’s Al Rantel will be on Politically Incorrect tonight on ABC…We now know what kind of a mother KLAC’s Fran Tunno is. When Charlie Tuna mentioned the Dr. Seuss event yesterday, Fran began reciting by heart Cat in the Hat…If you want to know what is going on on this day in Rock music history, check out "Arrow 93’s" Web site at: www.arrowfm.com. The 6,000-voting members of the Motion Picture Academy received their ballots for Oscars yesterday. Los Angeles Radio People are guessing who will win. Voting as of this morning:

BEST PICTURE
Life Is Beautiful – 33%
Elizabeth – 1%
Saving Private Ryan – 45%
Shakespeare in Love – 19%
Thin Red Line – 1%

BEST ACTOR
Robert Benigni – 35%
Tom Hanks – 32%
Ian McKellem – 15%
Nick Nolte – 7%
Edward Norton – 10%

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
James Coburn – 26%
Robert Duvall – 18%
Ed Harris – 16%
Geoffrey Rush – 23 %
Billy Bob Thornton – 16%

The voting in the other categories will appear here tomorrow. If you haven’t voted, scroll down to March 2 and see all the categories. Prizes will be awarded for picking the most winners.
Happy Birthday: Tommy Edwards (KCBS)

Frank Murphy (M & B Producer) Scoots across Town to Wage Battle

(March 3, 1999) Executive producer of the KLOS Mark & Brian morning show, Frank Murphy, has left the pair to join Mark Wilson, morning personality at KZOZ-San Luis Obispo, for a new morning show at "Y107." Also joining the trimulcast at KLYY, KVYY and KSYY (all at 107.1FM), will be Ted Schermerhorn, a.k.a. Anthony, producer of The Robin & Maynard Show at KZOK-Seattle. The trio begins March 17...During Mark’s time in San Luis Obispo, he "routinely doubled the Arbitron ratings of long time favorites Mark & Brian," according to a "Y107" press release. Frank ventured into show business at the famous Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center outside Washington D.C., but had to switch career paths quickly when the venue precipitously burned to the ground. His past credits include gm of his college station, producer of The Don & Mike Show at WAVA-Washington DC, morning personality at WAVA, producer of the "Power 106" Jay Thomas Show, and producer of the Kevin & Bean Show. Ted, a.k.a. Anthony from the Mark & Brian Show, actually began his career as a caller to that show. He bugged Mark & Brian for so long that they finally gave him a job: first as an intern, then as production assistant and ultimately as assistant producer. He also served as the "street guy" for Mark & Brian on many occasions, leaving the show in June of 1998 to join KZOK. The station will have a fourth person providing news and traffic. Former 10+ year KROQ veteran Freddy Snakeskin was in town last week from Phoenix. Wonder who he was talking with about afternoon drive? Hmmmm? Until March 17, "Y107" will re-focus on its musical direction, running without any djs…John Renshaw at KCTD, One-On-One Sports, was touting the NCAA Basketball Tournament yesterday morning as the best in sports. John said that last year’s March Madness tournament was better "than the last 30 Super Bowls combined." He said all sports could learn from the NCAA Basketball Tourney structure…"K-Traffic" is, or will be as of March 13, history. The all-Traffic all the time KKTR will abandon the continuous traffic experiment and simulcast the Music of Your Life from KGIL. It was a little better than a decade ago when the experiment with "Car Radio" at KHJ drove into a wall…R&R recently published a feature on Pam Baker, KFWB whiz kid who is marketing director at all-News KFWB. She told Jeff Axelrod, "I have to develop programs that can create nonspot-revenue-generating events, because that’s how we are going to make our budgets. There are only ‘x’ number of spots we can sell, so you have to create events that are nonspot sponsorships. This job is critical. I have to work closely with and support sales, making sure we explore every sponsorship and partnership that will bring in nonspot money." Pam understands that unique role between programming and sales. Great article with PHOTO!…Cliff Winston was promoting the KJLH Black History Treasure Hunt yesterday morning. One of the items was a ticket to the 1972 Watts/Stax Concert in Los Angeles. As a piece of Southern California history, the concert starred Richard Pryor, Isaac Hayes, Soul Children, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas and the Barkays. Winner of the Treasure Hunt wins $5,000 and a trip to Atlanta…Ken Minyard told a visually funny story yesterday on his Minyard & Minyard KRLA show. When he was on "the other station," they had a penis enlarger doctor as a guest to perform his expertise on a volunteer. The person Ken chose to administer the before and after penis size measurement was KABC’s Gloria Allred. Now I don’t know if you have a similar vision of Gloria standing over the volunteer while he is on his back naked and Gloria with a wooden stick ruler in her hand. Wow! Traffic partner Molly Paige volunteered that some of her past boyfriends were candidates for the procedure. Good that her father is a doctor, in fact, a plastic surgeon…My KROQ correspondent Vincent tips me off to a secret Dave Matthews concert for KROQ-fans-only to be staged at "super-secret location." Only 100 fans will attend, and the only way to get tickets is to win them during Kevin & Bean's morning show this week….KXTA is giving away a trip to Dodger Town at Vero Beach. The all-Sports station is looking for an original jingle that includes 1150, the Dodgers and Carl’s Jr.…KABC’s Dennis Prager thought that the new Dodger gm’s announcement of his starting pitcher for the opening game of the World Series was a bit arrogant… Heard this morning on KFWB. After reading a story about the new Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, co-anchor Kathleen Sullivan wondered, "How can a hotel cost one billion dollars?" Her co-anchor Dan Avey retorted, "Ask the people at the Getty."…KRLA’s Don Imus quipped that Hillary Clinton looks like Rosie O’Donnell at the Grammys…KFWB pd Dave Cooke continues to make his mark on the all-News station. Beginning March 15 the CNN Larry King Live one-hour show will air on KFWB. KNX had a similar approach in carrying 60 Minutes live on Sunday and Wednesday nights…Yesterday afternoon KABC’s Old Motorman, Leon Kaplan was interviewed by KRLA’s Minyard & Minyard. Chris Bury reports that there was no mention of KABC, just that Leon was syndicated on 42 stations… As part of the Museum of TV & Radio’s 16th annual William S. Paley Television Festival, an evening with the cast and creative team of the hit tv show Newsradio will be taking place on Monday, March 15 at 7:00 at the Directors Guild of America. You don't have to be in news radio to take advantage of this offer, just an L.A. Radio People. To reserve two complimentary tickets, call Kelli Gates at 310. 786.1064 or email at KGates@mtr.org by the end of the day Friday, March 12…One half of a popular morning team meets one half of another popular morning team for the first time. The close encounter of a strange kind came by chance in a restaurant where they are neighbors but they had never met. Story tomorrow.

25 Years Ago Today…

John Hart is the KFWB historian during the Top 40 era. When John was 11 years old, his father took him to the KFWB studios and seeing afternoon star Elliot Field on the air fueled the excitement to enter radio. John is working on a book about the Crowell-Collier Broadcasting Corporation (KFWB, KEWB-San Francisco/Oakland and KDWB-Minneapolis). John had his own radio career as a jock at KKOP and KEZY in the 1970s and went on to serve in various management capacities. For almost 20 years he has taught communication and business courses at Southland colleges as well as being a sound engineer for many top tv shows including Mad About You.

John has special memories about Joe Yocam, one of the original KFWB Seven Swingin' Gentlemen when "Color Radio" debuted on January 2, 1958.

"25 years ago today, a true legendary Los Angeles radio personality passed away ending an era of ‘the good guy.’ Joe Yocam, a fixture on KFWB beginning in 1942, weathered many formats and station owners to work at the facility for 26 years! Joe accomplished a feat shared by few personalities in any market.
Jolly Joe entertained us middays during the Color Radio/Fabulous Forty days on Channel 98. Always upbeat on and off the air, Joe dedicated himself to his family, charitable causes, and other groups who requested his attention. One group in particular was the Joe Yocam Fan Club, which was established by my mother in 1963. With over 100 members strong, we held club meetings in Griffith Park, Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro, and several times at KFWB. Joe was always gracious in attending these events and he would bring a stack of 45s to distribute among the members.

Looking back, those were wonderful years spent listening to a friend on the radio, one who encouraged me to pursue my broadcast dreams. After KFWB went all-News in March 1968, Joe left for KLAC, then went on to his last, perhaps easiest, gig - the voice and announcer at KCET/Channel 28.

Through the years, Joe maintained a second home on Balboa Island and spent considerable time there with his wife, Agnes and son, Joe. During his battle with cancer, he remained as always, jovial and positive by maintaining friendships and loyalty among the many AFTRA members, the union he served as president during the 1960s.

To those who worked with him during his radio career, he was known as ‘Mr. KFWB.’ They just don’t make them like that anymore." – John Hart

From Film Critic to Filmmaker

(March 2, 1999) Deterrence is the name of the film. The writer and director is KABC’s Rod Lurie. The movie is ta-rrrrrfic! As part of my recent activities at the American Film Market, which is currently going on in Santa Monica, I was able to see a number of independently made films. What a surprise to be part of a Deterrence screening. Rod’s compacted 18-day shooting schedule and conservative budgeted film looks 10 times bigger on the screen. Rod assembled an outstanding cast starring Kevin Pollak, Timothy Hutton, Sheryl Lee Ralph and a wonderful supporting cast. The story? While campaigning, the president of the United States gets stranded in a remote Colorado diner during a devastating snowstorm. The president and his aides learn from the tv (Mark Thompson from KTTV/Fox 11 plays a great newscaster) that an enflamed conflict has broken out in the Middle East and the psychological warfare and bomb-ending decisions for the United States and the world must be made in the confines of this isolated diner. The film will play a major step in Rod’s filmmaking career. He is the first active American film critic to become a filmmaker. During the end credits, Rod gives special thanks to KABC programming heads, Drew Hayes and Erik Braverman. They gave Rod three weeks off to shoot his film. How long can he do both, being a film critic and a filmmaker? "There is something very addictive about being a radio film critic, where you literally have three hours to just savor the dissection or exhilaration of a film or film personality," Rod told me. "I’m going to keep rocking with it for as long as I can, which I hope is forever. There has never been any media outlet with a film critic who also had the credibility of being a director." Rod has been able to attract top personalities and film people to his Saturday KABC show. This past Saturday the director of 13-times nominated Shakespeare in Love appeared with Rod on KABC. The irony of his radio success is that he is working without a contract, it just ran out. Rod is certainly the most visible radio entertainment editor/critic in the entertainment capital of the world and he would be an asset to any station looking for a high-profile movie guy…Jamie White, morning host at KYSR, knows how to get her husband out of a bad mood. "One yank on the wank and everything is fine," she told her "Star" audience…Every weekday at noon, KIIS airs Fabrice’s Fabulous Flashback lunch hour. Fabrice, originally one-half of Milli Vanilli, appeared with Rick Dees Monday morning to tout the noon hour show and Fabrice’s appearance last night on NBC’s prime-time show, 25 Years of People Magazine. Rick wanted to know which Milli Vanilli hit was his favorite? Girl You Know It’s True…KRTH is taking advantage of the Academy buzz with an hourly contest called "March Movie Madness." The station gives away $1,000 to the contestant who guesses which of 10 movies will appear…Radio veteran Gary Franklin is writing an occasional tv commentary column for Gary Lycan's Web page on Los Angeles television. Check it out at www.tvla.com ...Every Saturday we run email from LARP and fans of Los Angeles radio. An email from last Saturday riled up a response. Ron Fineman who does work for KNX responded to KFWB’s pd Dave Cooke’s assertion that a station should not mention the call letters of another station in the market to avoid diary confusion. Jeff Hillery emailed from KHOW-Denver: "I think the most interesting issue is in-house politics. In the old days, the enemy was usually across the street. Nowadays, in many cases, the enemy is down the hall...in the same building...and their owner is YOUR owner. How do you tell your air talent NOT to mention the other station's calls without causing resentment, anger, and rage among the players on the ‘other’ team? Yeah, I know, tv throws calls around. ABC/TV runs promos for shows on ESPN. NBC does the same thing for CNBC and MSNBC, and vice-versa. But TV relies on an entirely different ratings system. Until Arbitron comes up with a better way of measuring ratings, radio is still all about the battle for top of mind awareness. If people in L.A. associate ‘KNX’ when they hear the words ‘radio news,’ then Dave really has his work cut out," wrote Jeff…Recently R & R ran an extensive section on News/Talk in the Next 10 Years. A number of Los Angeles Radio People participated. Dave Cooke, pd of KFWB said, "We’ll see the advent of consumer programming-on-demand from the Internet and other emerging new technologies." KLSX’s Tom Leykis was asked if FM Talk can succeed anywhere? "Absolutely, it’s similar to why Ted Koppel can beat Letterman and Leno. He does it by targeting a different audience." Former KFI pd (now om/pd at KFBK/KSTE-Sacramento) Ken Kohl offered: "Programmers will also need to be experts in positioning, branding, packaging and off-air marketing – maniacal keepers of the flame who protect, build and maintain all aspects of the station’s identity and position." KLSX pd Jack Silver had the best line of all: "Make no mistake: Start your day with Howard Stern, then build a Talk station for the rest of the day following that."…KACE’s JJ Johnson emailed a thank you for the mention in a recent column. He put his long run at KDAY into perspective. He spent his 24th through 40th birthdays there. "What a run," JJ said.

How would you like to win an almost-impossible-to-get KLOS hat? It is the same type hat worn by homerun king Mark McGwire that appeared on the front page of USA Today last week. Guess the most winners in the Oscar categories listed below and win. Two runner-ups will win Los Angeles Radio People, Volume 2. Email your picks to db@ecom.net . Los Angeles Radio People voting results will be posted prior to the telecast on March 21.

BEST PICTURE
Elizabeth
Life Is Beautiful
Saving Private Ryan
Shakespeare in Love
The Thin Red Line

BEST ACTOR
Roberto Benigni, Life Is Beautiful
Tom Hanks, Saving Private Ryan
Ian McKellen, Gods and Monsters
Nick Nolte, Affliction
Edward Norton, American History X

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth
Fernanda Montenegro, Central Station
Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love
Meryl Streep, One True Thing
Emily Watson, Hilary and Jackie

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
James Coburn, Affliction
Robert Duvall, A Civil Action
Ed Harris, The Truman Show
Geoffrey Rush, Shakespeare in Love
Billy Bob Thornton, A Simple Plan

BEST DIRECTOR
Robert Benigni, Life Is Beautiful
John Madden, Shakespeare in Love
Terrence Malick, The Thin Red Line
Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan
Peter Weir, The Truman Show

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kathy Bates, Primary Colors
Brenda Blethyn, Little Voice
Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love
Rachel Griffiths, Hilary and Jackie
Lynn Redgrave, Gods and Monsters

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing," Armageddon
"The Prayer," Quest for Camelot: The Magic Sword
"A Soft Place to Fall," The Horse Whisperer
"That’ll Do," Babe: Pig in the City
"When You Believe," The Prince of Egypt

TIE-BREAKER: Shakespeare in Love received 13 nominations. How many Awards will the film actually win?

Three Near-Deaths for Shadow Airborne Traffic Reporters

(March 1, 1999) An informational picket line and press conference scheduled for tomorrow in front of Shadow Traffic was abruptly cancelled over the weekend. In an email secured from a Shadow staff member, Robert Hochberger of AFTRA emailed the following to "All Shadow AFTRANS: As I am sure everybody knows by now. We are all very lucky that Meghan Reyes survived a terrifying experience when the plane in which she was working had to make an emergency landing on Friday afternoon after the cockpit caught on fire. Friday’s incident was the 3rd incident having possible deadly implications for Shadow Airborne reporters in a one week period. Early in the week, a Gulfstream jet crashed at Van Nuys airport, missing our Shadow reporters by a sheer luck of timing. Later in the week, an Airborne reporter was shot at during a high-speed chase. These three incidents provide a concrete illustration to any and every reasonable person of just how inherently dangerous the airborne job is." Hockberger also said, "Management has clearly tried to drive wedges between the different groups [airborne vs. non-airborne, full-time vs. part-time, overscale vs. scale] in these negotiations." In a second memo from Hockberger dated February 26 to the Shadow AFTRA members said that management had reacted to their planned action by contacting AFTRA’s National Office and urgently requested that they cancel the event. An emergency bargaining session is now set for Wednesday. Apparently there is more than safety issues at stake. There have been financial issues in discussion since last November. One AFTRA member said that tv reporters who fly "make roughly 200% more a day" than Shadow Airborne reporters…On Saturday, most of the KABC talk staff appeared in person at the grand opening of the newest Sit ‘n Sleep in the Inland Empire. Rod Lurie was on the air discussing movies when Larry Elder walked into the showroom. "It was like all the oxygen had been sucked out of the room," said Rod of Larry’s entrance… "We’re cheaper than a 33 cent stamp." KFI promo line…Last Friday KLSX’s Howard Stern hosted an on-air party. Blondie appeared live and Rapture never sounded better…Todd Donohoe had a cool prize for his "Stump the Commissioner" segment with KLOS’s Mark & Brian last Friday. Two tickets to see the Lakers that night with the debut of Dennis Rodman…KKGO morning host Rich Capparela was spotted over the weekend at the Museum of Latin American Art...Actor/director Harold Ramis is appearing live with Mark & Brian this morning to promote Analyze This…Well, it sounds like Xmas is still in full swing again on KLAC. Thursday morning Charlie Tuna came out of a break and went into Winter Wonderland by Engelbert Humperdinck. He let it play for about 30 seconds and then started laughing and said, "You never know what these computers will play." He then went into Break It to Me Gently by Brenda Lee. When that song ended he continued to talk about how in the old days he used to play records and knew what he was playing because he could actually see the label of the record. He took a mistake and made a bit out of it. Charlie said that with computers you can't see what is going on the air and some "nimrod" obviously misprogrammed the computer…Did you know that KIIS/FM’s Rick Dees’ son attends USC?…KXTA’s Vic the Brick guested on sister station KIIS with Rick Dees on Friday morning. He was wearing the same hat that Dennis Rodman wore at his recent press conference. Glad it was radio…Weekend talent in Los Angeles is quite deep. Take KACE. On the weekends JJ Johnson plays the best r&b Oldies at KACE. He programmed KDAY from 1974 to 1991 and has also worked at KMPC, KJLH and KKBT. Born James O. Johnson, and raised in Cleveland, it was legendary programmer Bill Drake who gave him the name JJ Johnson while working at KFRC-San Francisco in the early 1970s. During the 1980s JJ voiced most of the Motown tv specials including Motown 25, Motown At the Apollo, A Motown Christmas and Motown on Showtime. And a super nice guy to boot…Need some 80s music? Gregg Simms plays "Totally 80s" at noon every day on KYSR…"News-talk KABC’s lineup isn’t faring well in ratings" was the headline of Gary Lycan’s radio column in the Sunday OC Register. Gary reported that KABC came in No. 23 overall, its lowest in years and way off its most recent high of August-October. Gary writes: "Morning drive with Mr. KABC and other hosts dropped the station a full share from September’s trend [3.2 to 2.2]. Larry Elder is hurting, too – among 25-54 year olds in afternoon drive, he’s No. 20 with a 1.9, down from the 2.8 share last summer and fall. KABC Program Director Drew Hayes wasn’t available for comment, but it’s clear whatever the station’s doing isn’t working." Gary also pointed out that KRLA was static in the ratings and Oldies KRTH has rebounded overall and in morning drive…KLSX’s Jonathon Brandmeier ran a promotion for the "Hairiest Man on Earth." The winner had his hair removed and now it’s growing back. The winner underwent laser surgery at UCLA and did the procedure twice because he had so much hair, apparently from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. KLSX’s Tracey Miller said, "His hair went from the top of his neck down his stomach like a black cashmere sweater. The hair was completely removed, but started to grow back and the guy claims the doctor wants him to pay to have it removed again since the doctor is out of pocket quite a bit of money for the two prior surgeries." Tracey said there is always a chance of the hair growing back…Former KNX traffic/weather guy Bill Keene is home from the hospital following a recent heart attack. Bill emailed: "I came home Wednesday and have been trying to catch up on the email ever since. The sigalert in my system has been cleared, at least temporarily, and the nurses were tired of dodging the passes of a 72 year old lecher, so they sent me packing. It's great to be home, and even better to still be on the right side of the grass."
Happy Birthday: George Moore (KACE); Dave Van Dyke ("Arrow 93")

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Last modified: August 17, 2000