LA Radio Waves

 Radio: December 11, 2020 Longtime radio listeners may remember listening to former San Bernardino top-40 powerhouse KMEN (now KKDD, 1290 AM). It was the stopping place for many staffers and personalities who eventually made the trip to Los Angeles, including Jim Mitchell, Jon Badeaux, T. Michael Jordan, Dave Sebastian, Ted Ziegenbusch, Frank Terry, Ron Jacobs and Bruce Chandler. Among the popular personalities on KMEN during their early days of top-40 was “Huckleberry” Chuck Clemans, part of a staff that helped propel the station to unheard of ratings … at one point the station commanded a 70 share, meaning that seven out of ten people listening to the radio in the Inland Empire were tuned to KMEN. Clemans passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 26th at the age of 86. KMEN was not his only station, but it was the one that gave him a sound footing and connection with Ron Jacobs, who would ultimately hire him twice - first at KMEN and later at KGB/San Diego (now KLSD, 1360 AM). And you are remembering right - Jacobs is indeed the programmer who helped launch KHJ’s top-40 format in 1965. But I digress. According to former KIIS-FM (102.7) traffic reporter and pilot “Commander” Chuck Street, Clemans was a nationally ranked swimmer at his Arizona high school; this earned tom a full-ride scholarship to Stanford University where he was able to listen to San Francisco’s KFSO (560 AM), which featured Don Sherwood zany host of the station’s morning show. “Clemans was hugely influenced by Sherwood’s bright on-air personality and crazy stunts,” said Street, adding that “it did not take long for this young college student to become enamored with radio.” So upon return to Arizona after graduation, he found himself on the air at a local radio station in Florence, then Phoenix. He quit after a heated argument with station management, so he headed for the bright lights of Los Angeles. Weeks passed, with nothing to show. According to Street, “Clemans was ready to give up and go home.” That’s when he met Jacobs, who happened to be in the same restaurant in Hollywood “frequented by record promotions people … and out of work disc jockeys.”an imaginary Jacobs heard his work and hired him for KMEN mornings. The station went on the air with the new format in March of 1962; within six months the station was number one. “Last to first,” says Street. “And Clemans was a major contributor to that success.” The show was upbeat and lively, with imaginary characters such as Solo the Robot and his 300-pound secretary, and an entire Indian tribe. He connected with kids with stunts various stunts in addition to playing “their” music. After four years he moved to KCBQ/San Diego (1170 AM), but the rigid format left him wanting, so he left radio for almost seven years, returning to KMEN in 1974. Until Jacobs convinced him to move back to San Diego for KGB mornings and the relatively new progressing rock format the station played. “While at KGB,” says Street, “Clemans created a new imaginary character that eventually became the KGB (and later San Diego) Chicken.” Two years after that he left radio for good, preferring instead to sell cars at a San Diego dealership. A memorial service is pending and may be held after COVID restrictions are lifted. Clemans is survived by children and grandchildren. Disney Leaving Radio The pandemic has claimed another radio victim: Disney, which was still distributing Radio Disney children’s programming as well as country music as heard on KRDC (1110 AM) announced last week that it is leaving radio totally. The formats, which mostly were heard on secondary HD channels and a few AM stations nationwide will sign off early next year, and the last remaining owned and operated station — KRDC — will be sold as well. Perhaps this is my time to buy a station. Anyone have a few million dollars just itching to waste, er, help me buy a station? Depending on what is involved, KRDC — better known as the original KRLA — will probably sell

 In this episode we begin our new regular feature:  "Ask A Recovering Program Director" with Dave Beasing, former program director from LA's 100.3 "The Sound".  He'll be here monthly to answer questions about why your favorite radio station does what it does.   --------------------------- Remembering radio’s Jimmy Rabbitt, the DJ heard all over Southern California The Rabbitt, one of the coolest-sounding DJs to ever grace the local airwaves, died over the weekend. DJ Jimmy Rabbitt passed away on Saturday, Nov. 28, 2020. (Courtesy of KOCI) If you grew up in Southern California in the late 1960s and ‘70s, you probably listened to Jimmy Rabbitt on at least one of the many stations he worked on. Arriving from Dallas, Texas legendary KLIF, he landed at KCBQ/San Diego in 1968. In short order, he found himself in Los Angeles at such stations as the original KRLA (now KRDC, 1110 AM), KLAC (570 AM), KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM), KBBQ (later KROQ 1500 AM; no longer on the air); KROQ-AM; KGBS (now KTNQ, 1020 AM), and KROQ (106.7 FM). I am told he also worked at KFI (640 AM), but can’t find confirmation. If you were paying close … really close … attention, you might even remember the few days he worked at KHJ (930 AM) in 1972. Why he took that job I’m not sure; the story goes that he originally left KCBQ because the station tightened up the playlist and format too much. KHJ at the time was even tighter, but I digress. Born in 1941 under his given name of Dale Payne, The Rabbitt was one of the coolest sounding DJs to ever grace the local airwaves. The Los Angeles Times named him Rock DJ of the Year in 1969 when he was at KRLA; his style fit perfectly with the station’s laid-back style at the time as it did with the early progressive FM formats. But for whatever reason, he never seemed to stay around a station very long. Radio historian Alan Oda told a funny Rabbitt story on his blog, ayodaradio.blogspot.com, writing “The thought of The Rabbitt at the strictly formatted KHJ seems odd but it did happen, albeit not for long. He quickly bristled at the rigid playlist, so he decided to play a record of his own liking. “He told James Brown of the Los Angeles Times he disliked the personalized jingle ‘JIMMY RABBITT – 93 KHJ!!’ so he brought in a mechanical toy bunny, playing the melody ‘Here Comes Peter Cottontail.’ Recalled Rabbitt, ‘Management called me in, shouting, ‘What have you done to my radio station??’ “[Program director] Bill Watson let Rabbitt know ‘We don’t want another [“Boss Jock”] Robert W. Morgan at night,’ but Rabbitt couldn’t be fired until Bill Drake returned from a Hawaii trip. With Drake’s approval secured, Rabbitt was officially shown the door after just three days.” Ironically, the weekly Boss Thirty featuring his photo on the front cover and available at stores throughout the region was distributed after he was shown the door. More recently, he was doing a show on KOCI (101.5 FM), which broadcasts out of Costa Mesa. Playing what was called an “I Don’t Know What’s Coming Next” mix of music, the show was popular enough for the station to occasionally run out of streaming connections for online listeners at KOCIRadio.Com. In addition to his work on the radio, he worked for industry newspaper Radio Report as its Country editor and was a writer and frontman for the band Jimmy Rabbitt and Renegade, which performed in venues including Hollywood’s Palomino Club. You can still find his album in used record stores occasionally. Rabbitt passed away over the Thanksgiving holiday. Douglas Brown remembers Rabbitt fondly. “I worked with Rabbitt on the original KROQ AM/FM,” he told me. “He was the classic non-DJ DJ with excellent music taste.” Living the Past Proving it’s not just me … I happened upon Fantasy-Radio.Com, a website dedicated to bringing “legendary top-40 radio stations back to life.” Every hour the site plays music and recordings from a different city and different station, such as WCFL/Chicago, or Ten

 Radio: November 22, 2020 More changes are coming to LA Oldies K-Surf (1260 AM) … oldies will be going away to make room for, well, I guess another form of oldies: 24/7 classical. The change will happen December 1st at 6 a.m. Christmas music will air until then. Station owner Saul Levine hopes that upgrades in the audio chain and more radios in the market capable of receiving the station’s HD signal will help build an audience for classical music on the AM band, something he tried to do about five years ago. While I doubt that the analog AM audio will attract many listeners, it is worth noting that he does have a clean signal in areas that receive it. If you happen to be in an area where the signal is strong — not far from the transmitter site in the Valley, for example — and you happen to have an HD Radio tuner, is it even more worth noting that the HD stream from the station is superb… one of the best I have heard. It is the HD that may hook listeners, if they tune in and hear the difference. To most observers, it may seem strange to drop an oldies format that has had a loyal audience for the past few years. I will say, however, that putting classical music on AM in the year 2020 is exactly the type of thinking that Levine is known for … certainly not the norm for the time. But in doing so he is showing a support and belief in AM radio that is sorely lacking at most stations. While many companies have not updated equipment for years, Levine has installed a new transmitter. New processing equipment. New towers. And while other companies are gutting their engineering departments, Levine is hiring. “I never lost faith in AM,” he told me recently. The pop oldies are not going away either: K-Surf LA Oldies will still be available on 105.1 FM’s  HD2 stream. Yes, you need an HD Radio to hear it, but the signal from Mount Wilson is strong throughout much of Los Angeles. Even better is listening on a smartphone app, perhaps the future of radio, and I will be reviewing several in an upcoming column. Once you listen on a good app, you won’t want to go back to regular radio again. Passings Two personalities who spent many years entertaining and informing us have passed on earlier this month: T. Michael Jordan and Mike Lundy. Jordan’s local radio experience spans the dial from starting in 1967 at KMEN (now KKDD, 1290 AM) . In 1973, he was hired by Rick Carroll as one of the first DJs at the new FM top-40 rocker KKDJ (now KIIS-FM, 102.7); finally in 1976 he was heard playing the hits on Anaheim’s legendary KEZY (now KGBN, 1190 AM).  If you want to hear a sample of Jordan on both KKDJ and KEZY (along with the absolutely cool “Voice of Change KKDJ top-of-the-hour ID) head over to YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/user/tomntmj. According to Don Barrett’s LARadio.Com, “In the early 1980s he returned home to Chicago and decided to get out of radio. He eventually landed in Dallas, instituting software training programs for the Tandy Corporation. In 1985 he returned to the Southland for a few years, where he was the MIS Director at the Writers Guild of America. He had been living in Illinois when he died.” Jordan died of lung cancer on November 13 at the age of 77. News was the focus of Mike Lundy’s long career. First at KFI (640 AM) in 1968, followed by KGBS (now KTNQ, 1020 AM) the same year, KDAY (now KBLA, 1580 AM) in 1972, KFWB (980 AM) in 1977, KGIL (now KSUR, 1260 AM) in 1979, back to KFI in 1982, and KGIL again in 1983, and KFWB again from 2000-2007. That’s a lot of stations. But Lundy was also active as a station consultant and a program creator for Japanese radio stations. Quite a career; not bad for a 1968 graduate of UCLA holding a degree in Political Science. Lundy died November 11th at the age of 79 after a long illness. New Station “We’ve got a lot to talk about” says the website KBLAtalk1580.com. The teaser is related to Tavis Smiley’s purchase of KBLA from Multicultural Radio Broadcasting in order to launch a new

 Radio: November 20, 2020 If you were anywhere in the world during the 1980s and ‘90s — but especially if you were here in Southern California — you know Rick Dees, among the most successful radio personalities to ever grace the local airwaves. Dees came to town in 1979 to host the morning show on KHJ (930 AM), a station that had seen better days but was about to have one last bout with success under master programmer Chuck Martin. Martin hired Dees away from WHBQ/Memphis, the same station that Wink Martindale (KFWB, KMPC) called home a decade prior. While KHJ’s top-40 format under Martin was a huge success, the suits that ran RKO Radio — owner of KHJ at the time — thought they knew better and decided to take the station country. Dees left soon after the switch and shortly after found himself at KIIS-FM (102.7). KIIS-FM during the Dees era was extremely similar to KHJ: tightly programmed, highly promoted, and just plain fun. DJs were all superb, management was allowed to sink tons of money into events and contests, and the general manager Wally Clark knew how to appease the corporate bosses with a can-do attitude. Dees, however, was the cornerstone of KIIS-FM. Contests began at 7:10 every morning during his show, his face was plastered on billboards and bustards everywhere, and he was the official spokesman for the station. And it worked flawlessly: soon KIIS-FM was setting records for ratings, records that still stand today. Changing times and changing attitudes caused Dees to leave the station after 23 years back in 2004. He continued to (and to this day still does) host the Rick Dees Weekly Top-40, and even came back to mornings on Movin’ 93.9 in 2006, but it wasn’t the same. But modern technology knows no bounds … recently I discovered that Dees is still working mornings, or any shift for that matter, through a syndicated service called Daily Dees. He voices the segments and allows a station to create a show — morning or otherwise — using any musical format they wish. The show is produced in his home studio, which as it turns out was way ahead of its time now that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought most radio shows into the homes of various hosts. You still can’t hear it on any local station, but in a case of going (almost) full circle, the show can be heard on stations across the country … including WHBQ in Memphis. Only this time it’s WHBQ-FM instead of the legendary AM station where he once called home. Want to hear it? Use your favorite smartphone app, smart speaker, or head over to WHBQMemphis.com; Dees’ show can be heard from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Central time every weekday. That’s 3 - 8 a.m. here, so you better get top early. Early FM Rock While AM stations dominated the radio scene until the late 1970s, many money-losing FM stations allowed those long-hair hippy-types to take over programming and play what was known at first as free-form rock. Or more accurately free-form radio, as the music was not limited exclusively to rock. One of the early progressive stations in Los Angeles was KPPC — an AM/FM simulcast that later became KROQ (106.7 FM); the AM was at 1240. The progressive format was launched by Tom Donahue in 1967, and it lasted until the early 1970s when it basically went broke, and the staff moved over to KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM). I didn’t realize there were recordings of those early days, but there are. One fabulous find is from LetTheUniverseAnswer.Com, and can be accessed at tinyurl.com/RWNov20. Here you will find unedited segments — including commercials even — of KPPC from September, 1971 (not long before the station dropped the format) and KMET from June, 1975. Nice specimen of early progressive rock, before FM radio ruled the airwaves. Live Sessions on Vinyl KCSN (88.5 FM) — better known by its station frequency of 88.5 — has released a vinyl LP of music recorded in the station’s own studios. Called The Independent 88.5 Studio Sessions Volume One, you can get it by donating to the Fall pledge drive

 Radio: November 13, 2020 You knew it was coming … the artificial trees have been up at the large home centers for a month now; Costco has had their Christmas decorations out even longer. So it was just a matter of time before KOST (103.5 FM) and SiriusXM announced their holiday music programming. You may have read it in this newspaper already: KOST made the annual switch a week ago, on Thursday, November 5th with the beginning of the Ellen K morning show. This gets the popular annual format well within the “December” ratings period as well as the “holiday” ratings period, encompassing a combined final eight weeks of the year. And KOST is not alone; stations across the US started making the switch last week as well. As is also typical, SiriusXM is getting the holiday spirit, this year perhaps a bit earlier than usual for the company. Fully 16 channels dedicated to holiday music ranging from traditional Christmas carols to Hanukkah favorites and everything in between will eventually be on the air, most available already, and most running through at least December 25th. Then on December 29th, a special New Year’s Nation channel will help ring in the new year. See the schedule and channel lineup at SiriusXM.Com. Speaking of SXM A few weeks ago, reader Dave Roberts wrote about a new product developed to help the pesky dropouts caused by cell phone towers that affect the SiriusXM satellite (and terrestrial repeater) signal. Some parts of town (and even out of town) are subject to signal losses that make listening to the satellite radio service difficult. Roberts told of a special filter designed to fix it, “but the subscriber has to pay $80 per radio to fix their problem. The $80 includes them paying an installer to hook up the filter.” He asked if he could be sent one for free and install it himself, “So far they have refused,” he said back in September. Recently, he gave me an update: We ended up purchasing 2 filters at $80 each and installing them ourselves. No dropouts! “The filter comes with a plastic GM adapter on one end that you need to remove (easy) if you don't have a GM car. Both ends are standard SiriusXM antenna connections. After a month in use: “Still working perfectly! That is why we were hooked on Sirius in the first place. Terrestrial here in California can get spotty with the hills, mountains and valleys,” Roberts concluded. I know what he is talking about: the antenna connection used by GM (and I assume other automotive companies) has a special clip to connect the antenna; take off the plastic and the connector is just a regular Sirius, XM or SiriusXM antenna connector. I had to remove the clip when I changed out the factory stereo in my wife’s Enclave. And it is easy. So why does SiriusXM charge $80 for a filter, making you pay for installation that can be done yourself? That’s highway robbery. Hopefully the company will change their ways on the issue, along with changing the tuner design in future editions making the filter unnecessary. In the meantime, if you are interested in the filter, you can get it here: https://shop.siriusxm.com/wcs-filter-install-card.html After you buy it, make sure you complain to customer service about the dropouts and threaten to drop the service so you can get a discounted rate on your subscription. Just sayin’. iHeart Cuts iHeart Media — the company no longer even pretends to care about radio — has launched its annual employee cutback program in an attempt to stave off another round of bankruptcy. So far I have not seen any positions cut locally, but they have been happening nationwide for the past two weeks. Large radio groups like iHeart, Entercom, and Cumulus — accounting for roughly 15 stations in Los Angeles and a handful more in the Inland Empire — have been particularly hard-hit due to ad revenue declines started prior to but certainly accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic. But all radio stations are feeling the pinch. This latest round of cuts at iHeart leaves very l

 Radio: November 6, 2020 The FCC gave final approval last week allowing AM radio stations to transition to an all-digital broadcasting system, a variation of the currently-approved hybrid mode HD Radio standard used by most FM stations and a few AM stations nationwide. The hybrid system was always intended as transitory in nature … it allows all AM radios to receive the same analog signal AM broadcasters have sent out for the past 100 years. But sandwiched on both sides of the analog signal is a digital component that, when received by a special HD Radio tuner, allows for increased fidelity and lower noise. But there are problems with that hybrid mode: it causes interference to other nearby stations. The digital signal — limited in power to help reduce that interference — doesn’t travel as far as the analog signal, causing problems with reception. And the digital portion in hybrid mode is limited somewhat in fidelity. For those reasons, many AM stations just turned off the digital portion of their broadcast signals. The all-digital MA-3 mode of the HD Radio system differs from the hybrid mode by removing the analog component completely. This gives more space for the digital signal, allowing for greater fidelity (in computer terms, it allows a higher bit rate). It also allows for the signal as a while to be more centered on a station’s broadcast frequency, reducing interference. And it allows the signal to be sent full-strength, for much better reception including long-distance reception. In other words, all-digital AM has the potential to send high-fidelity audio at a distance as good as or even greater than current analog AM. And like FM, there is a possibility for special features including a second channel as is done with HD on FM. But this all comes at a great cost: just like analog television after the switch to HDTV, no traditional AM radios would be able to pick up the signal. That would be a problem for a station like KFI (640 AM) or KNX (1070 AM), where analog listening allows a huge audience already. But what about a station toward the bottom of the ratings? Or one in which the signal doesn’t clearly reach an entire city? The potential here is immense. Fortunately, every HD Radio sold since the standard was set in 2002 can receive all-digital AM (and FM, for that matter). Many people own HD Radios via their car audio systems and may not even know it; home audio tuners are less common, but still available. That gives all-digital AM a bigger head start than FM broadcasters had in the 1950s. If I owned an AM station, I would run test hours at night to prove the technology, and market the heck out of the system.  And run a format you can’t find elsewhere that will attract attention. Locally, no station owner except one has committed to all-digital AM. Saul Levine is ready to do it when he feels that there are enough HD Radios around to make the change feasible. No date has been set, but it can be easily assumed that KSUR (1260 AM) will be the first to do it. Confessions You can still get your radio questions answered … just submit them to Ask a Recovering Program Director, in care of this column…. The former program director of The Sound (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) Dave Beasing will be a periodic guest on the Radio Waves podcast I do with Mike Stark.  Beasing should be joining us within the next few weeks and hopefully will make a monthly appearance at facebook.com/LARadioWaves. Morning Mess Have you had a chance to hear the Morning Mess on Amp Radio (97.1 FM)?  I’m curious what you think. Check out the show weekdays 6 - 10 a.m. if you have not already, and send your thoughts to me at the email address below. Letterbag “When I listen to all the mushy & boring traffic reporters on AM radio stations, I can't help but remember the ‘traffic man’ who really told it like it was … that being Bill Keane of KNX. Nobody could match his wit and humor dealing with some of the idiots on the freeways; he could always

 Radio: October 30, 2020 Changes are coming to LA Oldies K-Surf (1260 AM; 105.1HD2) … at least to the AM portion of the simulcast. Beginning Friday, November 13th at 8 p.m., the station will feature Music ’Til Dawn, classical music all night long until 6 a.m. I am sure you’re already wondering: Classical? On AM? On a station that has been building a small but fiercely loyal audience playing primarily pop and rock from the 1960s and ‘70s? Station owner Saul Levine explained the thought process to me in a series of emails we exchanged over the past few weeks. Essentially, it comes down to the fact that he loves classical music, he wants to help promote the availability of classical via K-Mozart on 105.1 HD4, and while the audience for oldies on 1260 is as mentioned fiercely loyal, it is still difficult to attract advertisers to the AM band. So will classical music help that last problem? That’s tough to gauge, but it is certainly possible that a company may want to come in and underwrite an all-night program such as this. And it may indeed help spread the word of K-Mozart, even if it doesn’t permanently attract listeners to the AM band. If you’re concerned that the great selection of oldies on LA Oldies is going away, it’s not really. You can still hear it on the HD simulcast at 105.1HD2, online, and via apps and smart speakers. And frankly, if you live outside of there San Fernando Valley where the 1260 signal is originated, you’re better off listening using one of those alternative methods anyway. I’ll do a roundup of great radio apps in a future column. Levine says he is just thinking differently, much as he did in 1959 when he put one of LA’s first FM stations — now Go Country 105 — on the air. No one listened to FM radio back then. Levine must have been crazy to do it, right? “Although Classical Music is not everyone’s cup of tea there are nearly one million people locally who love it,” he said as he explained that he hopes that having classical on 1260 will help people discover it along with the many other ways to tune in. The AM signal will be, in a sense, a marketing device. “We have the handicap that not everyone has an HD FM radio but almost everyone has access to (internet) streaming and an app. This is an effort that has rewards. So to enhance the K-Mozart acceptance for a time, the station will be simulcast on 1260 AM every night from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. the next day. “We will call it Music Until Dawn … which was a concept that worked for American Airlines a long time ago when it bought time after midnight on AM Stations across the USA for Classical Music. “K-Mozart has already created excitement with a locally produced Opera program and the wide appeal of On Broadway with Broadway show music everyone loves.” Sounds crazy, right? Except that it isn’t necessarily. The audience for oldies tends to drop at night … indeed the audience for radio itself drops quite a bit. Yet classical is something that might bring people back. And as an AM fanatic, anything that might bring in a few new listeners (until I can assemble my network of stations) is worth a shot. Crazy or not, I appreciate the fact that Levine is still giving AM — and commercial classical — a fighting chance. Go Country brings in the real money; Levine programs the other formats more as a public service. He could have sold 1260 years ago, but he didn’t, and his oldies format is superb. His enthusiasm for classical music is also much appreciated, so if he wants to try it on AM, I think it’s fine. And if you do happen to live in the Valley and own an HD Radio, 1260 AM is one of the best-sounding signals I have ever heard.  Reader Mail “I loved the CBS Radio Mystery Theater every night at 9:00PM and again at 1:00AM.  What happened to it, and at what station can it be heard?” — Gayle One of my absolutely favorite radio programs growing up. And I was a top-40 radio guy … I just had to tune in to KNX (1070 AM) every night to hear it. These were high

Remembering Dave Hull, the KRLA radio legend so popular he had his own flavor of ice cream Born in Alhambra, Dave Hull got his start in Roswell, New Mexico before returning to LA, where he had a secret source for Fab Four singles. If you grew up in Los Angeles during the 1960s or even the 1970s, you are most likely familiar with Dave Hull — The Hullabalooer — heard on various stations throughout the city but best remembered on the original KRLA (now KRDC, 1110 AM) not once but four times! Hull was a thorn in the side of KHJ programmer Ron Jacobs; he was the one KRLA DJ that Jacobs couldn’t beat … his wacky, friendly, fun style of radio was just too popular and he remained one of KRLA’s most highly rated and beloved DJs throughout his original tenure of 1963-1969. Sadly, Hull passed away on October 15th at the age of 86. The news spread fast on Facebook once it was announced. His daughter, Lisa, made the announcement official on her page when she wrote: “On behalf of my mom and my brothers, it is with great sadness that I announce that our father, Dave Hull, passed away on October 15, 2020 at the age of 86. “Our dad was larger than life and he had the stories to tell to anyone who would listen. We know that he is entertaining everyone in heaven. He was lucky to be cared for and loved by my mom for 56 years of marriage and she protected him until his last day.” Born in Alhambra, Hull began his career on Armed Forces Radio, a job he picked up by walking past the service’s radio studio in North Africa and asking how one gets on the air. “You’re on tonight at 7” was the reply … and a career was born. The script he was given to read was in German. Hull spoke no German, so he decided to fake it … making words up as he went along. His accidental comedy routine ended up being popular among listeners including high-ranking generals in the audience. After his first show, he was hired permanently. In 1955, he started his civilian radio career at KGFL/Roswell, New Mexico. In 1957 he went to WONE/Dayton, Ohio, followed by WQTE/Monroe-Detroit and WTVN/Columbus and WFLA/Tampa-St. Petersburg. Finally, in 1963, he arrived at KRLA to become one of the 11-10 Men. A great storyteller, Hull was perfect for KRLA, which was battling KFWB (980 AM) in the Los Angeles ratings. His quick wit and high intelligence made for a must-listen show, and along with other talented DJs and a close tie with a little-known band called The Beatles he helped propel KRLA to the top. For a short while at least. KHJ’s Boss Radio format came on in 1965 and quickly knocked both KRLA and KFWB down a few notches, but Hull’s show was the one that maintained its popularity throughout his tenure at the station. Hull even had a secret source for Beatles records inside Capitol Records, allowing KRLA to play Beatles singles before anyone else. Until KHJ sued, at least. So popular was Hull that he had his own song written and performed by fans, along with a flavor of ice cream at Baskin-Robbins. The flavor was called Scuzzy, based upon a word used by Hull often on the air, as well as the name Hull gave to the band that performed his song “Dave Hull, The Hullabalooer.” The song was popular enough to reach the top-10 at the local Wallach’s Music City. Scuzzy ice cream — a mixture of flavors — is said to have sold extremely well. The Scuzzies band — South Bay kids Susie Cappetta and her brothers and cousins — performed in Southern California and Las Vegas into the 1990s after being picked up by the Everly Brothers road manager for a record contract. Hull says in his book, however, that the ice cream tasted awful. Throughout his career, Hull could be heard locally on KFI (640 AM), KGBS (now KTNQ, 1020 AM), KIQQ (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM); KMPC (now KSPN, 710 AM); KHJ (930 AM); KRTH (101.1 FM); and KIKF (now KEBN, 94.3 FM). His last on-air job was about 15 years at KWXY in Palm Springs, where he retired His book, “Hullabaloo! The Life and (Mis) adventures of LA Radio Legend Dave Hull” tells t

 Radio: October 18 I have to admit, it was easier reporting on radio ratings back in the old days, when the full Arbitron “books” were released every three months. There were “Arbitrends” that came out for stations monthly, but that information was — supposedly at least — released only to subscribing stations. Once the company changed methodology to PPM — Portable People Meter — in which stations were “heard” by a device that automatically registered listening rather than relying on someone’s recall and dedication to writing what they heard down in a book — Arbitron, now Nielsen, was able to speed the process and release full “books” every four weeks. Stations have access to information at least weekly.  But theoretically the ratings are more accurate. I will do a story in the future on why they probably are not, for for now we’ll run with the story. The problem is, if I reported ratings every release, there would be little time or space for the real stories … like bashing corporate radio or  ad nauseam  … perhaps I can find a middle ground where the top-20 is listed monthly but the full report still comes out quarterly. Anyway, at the beginning of the Covid-19 shutdown, listening habits were thrown into a tizzy.  As time has progressed, we’ve gotten a little back to normal and the ratings have followed suit. Some changes appear to be holding, but that may be that listeners had a chance to discover new favorites.  So in the semi-normal ratings that were released by Nielsen for September, we had some of the usual suspects on top or toward the top, though the order has changed somewhat: KRTH (101.1 FM) was number one by a wide margin — almost a full point —  over second-place The Wave KTWV (94.7 FM), 6.5 to 5.6. If I am reading the chart right, this is KRTH’s fifth straight month at the top … I guess those ‘80s hits have been a hit. The Wave had been hovering in the top-10 for a long time, but it appears to be a beneficiary of new listening habits, and the current rating of 5.6, 0.2 higher than in August, is it’s highest rating ever … even higher than when the station was rocker KMET. Rounding out the top-five were My FM KBIG (104.3 FM) at 4.8, former leader KOST (103.5 FM) at 4.6, and KFI (640 AM) at 4.0. KLOS (95.5 FM) has also benefited over the past seven months, and was right behind KFI in 6th place with a 3.6 share, barely beating out Jack-FM (KCBS-FM, 93.1)’s 3.5. Since the shutdown started, though, KLOS has beaten Jack four of five months, and tied another. Prior to Covid, Jack always beat KLOS. I will look into this for a future column. A few stations surprised me. KKLQ (100.3 FM) — the former Sound — has apparently inspired new listeners, earning a solid 2.4 share of the audience … almost to the level the station had as The Sound. And while KROQ (106.7 FM) may be “world famous,” it is Alt 98.7 (KYSR, 98.7 FM) that dominates the alternative rock format, coming in with a 2.3 compared with KROQ’s 1.6. Amp Radio (KAMP, 97.1 FM), which once was within striking distance of top-40 leader KIIS-FM, is no longer even close. KIIS was 8th at 3.3; Amp was tied with talker KRLA (870 AM) at 26th with a 1.5. What happened there? And can it last? My hunch: Amp is the next format in town to change to something else. KABC (790 AM) is staying above board with a 1.3 share; Go Country continues to prove that Emmis was wrong when that company said the format would never work in Los Angeles by earning a 2.3; KROQ’s HD-2 stream of “Roq of the ‘80s” showed up at 0.1; and AM oldies station maintained a 0.3. Not bad for a station that doesn’t cover the entire city well, and has no promotion. A big thanks to owner Saul Levine for providing the station even though he could have sold it years ago and made a lot more money. The full story: Each rating is an estimate of listeners aged 6 and over tuned to a station between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight. Ratings are provided by Nielsen. 1. KRTH (6.5) 2. KTWV The

Radio: October 11, 2020 Longtime KGB/San Diego personality Jim McInnes is back on the air on KPRI/Pala (93.1 FM), a low-powered community radio service of the Pala Band of Mission Indians in Northern San Diego County. You can hear the station via smartphone radio apps or through the station website, RezRadio.FM; McInnes can be found Saturdays from 8-10 p.m. Over the air you'll need to be closer to the station. It’s kind of an odd almost full-circle trip for McInnes, as his first radio job in (at the time) the “City in Motion” was at the original KPRI (106.5 FM), San Diego’s version of KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM). KPRI was the original “freeform” station in the area, beginning in 1968. But here’s where it gets interesting. Perhaps due to the fuzzy memories brought on by various substances used on those same stations, I cannot get an accurate account of the exact timing. Some sources place McInnes at the beginning of the original KPRI, with him credited as helping to get the format launched in the as-mentioned year of 1968. McInnes himself said in an interview that his first San Diego gig was indeed KPRI … but in 1973. The problem with that date, is that it conflicts with another story that had him start at the station in 1972 … which may still be wrong because of still another story placing him as the second DJ hired by consultant Ron Jacobs for KGB when the former AM top-40 station became “recycled” into an album rock station in April of 1972. And no one seems to remember that it was indeed the AM (now KLSD, 1360 AM) that went album-rock first, later adding the FM simulcast at 101.5 FM that ran until sometime in 1975 when it split and the AM became a pseudo top-40 station again and KGB-FM played on. Whew. Anyway, what is known is that McInnes spent a million years at KGB-FM, give or take a few. He was partly responsible for producing at least a few (most?) of the Homegrown albums in the early days of the format, in which the station released vinyl records of music from local bands. McInnes himself was in a local band, The Shenanigans. At the new Rez Radio KPRI, he’ll be hosting a show sandwiched between recordings of legendary DJ Wolfman Jack and Dead Air (Grateful Dead music). It’s called the Vinyl Resting Place, and features deep album tracks and local artists that are probably not heard anywhere else on the air or off. The show will build on McInnes’ own personal album collection. Rez Radio 91.3, KPRI (Kupa Pala Rez Indians) is owned and operated by The Pala Band of Mission Indians and broadcasts in the San Luis Rey River Valley at 91.3 FM.  Live streaming can be done worldwide on iHeartRadio, TuneIn.com, Radio Garden and at at website, where you’ll also find the station program schedule. Ask your smart speaker to “play KPRI”.  And if you want to hear something in a totally different way, you can call toll-free and hear the station on the listen line: 712-775-5748. Going, going, gone … It may seem like deja vu, but something tells me this time it’s for real and permanent: Don Barrett announced October 5 that he has shut down his LARadio.Com site. For good. Unlike past times, this time the site itself is actually gone; even archives have been pulled.  Barrett launched the site originally as a way to help market his book, LA Radio People, released in 1994 with a revised second edition following a year later. The site ended up being a must-stop for radio fans like me, and it has been a sort of water-cooler hangout to hear the latest news and rumors.  “My goal from day one with my books and later website was to pay tribute to the men and women who have entertained us in LARadio for the past half century, Barrett wrote in his goodbye statement on the site. “The underlying theme was to paint an accurate, positive picture of on-air radio people who sit in empty rooms broadcasting to thousands of people, weaving tales that kept the listener engaged and enthralled – the ultimate storytellers. “I wanted to pay tribu