LA Radio Waves

This episode also features legendary LA air personality Rita Wilde and radio promo man CW West talking about their new podcast "Rock and Roll Confessional - The Podcast". Radio: November 29, 2019 I was an intern at Magic 106 (and for a few months, Power 106) during my days as a student at UCLA. I had the opportunity too took with some truly wonderful people who I will always remember, both in front of the microphone and behind the scenes. One of my favorite things to do was to hang out in the engineering office and talk with the station’s engineering staff, Tom Koza and Terry Greiger. Their knowledge of stations was like having a walking encyclopedia of radio, not only from the technical perspective but formats and personalities. The two helped me repair and build things for KLA, the UCLA student station where I was a DJ and student engineer; that help allowed me to repair the main broadcast board and add the ability to take and record telephone alls from the KLA studios for later airing. Over the years I stayed in touch with Tom, but had lost touch with Terry. Until a fateful day visiting The Sound (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) … turns out that Terry was the chief engineer for the station. Programmer Dave Beasing knew this but made it a surprise to me for the visit. A very pleasant surprise. Terry and I caught up over the next few years; he told me of his living in the transmitter area of one of his pervious stations, other projects he was working on, the state of HD Radio … which was the reason I was able to truly keep in touch. When the analog and digital HD signals got out of sync, I was one off the first to notice, so I could give Terry a heads up and he would re-set the system. After The Sound changed owners and formats, Terry moved on to become the senior Director of Engineering for Meruelo Media, meaning he was back in charge of Power 106 and proving that the radio world really is a small world at times. In early November, Dave Beasing wrote to tell me that Terry had suffered a bad stroke while en route to a transmitter on Mount Wilson; last week came the news that Greiger passed away on November 18th. Rick Cummings, Emmis Communications President of Radio Programming, worked closely with Grieger. He shared this memory: “Every year we used to do a giant fireworks show in Indianapolis. Terry would come to town to help with tech. “One year we decided to add a laser show, not the easiest thing to do in an outdoor setting. The rehearsal the night before was spectacular. “One thing we did not plan on though was the fire department. They plugged in their pumps to put rain on the rooftops of the nearby zoo to mask the explosions for the animals sheltered inside. That dropped the water pressure and the water cooled laser cannons failed. “I still remember Terry sprinting to the zoo and back. Upon return, he was gasping for air so hard he was unable to explain the problem. It became a funny story to tell through the years. He claimed it was the only time he ever ran in his adult life. “His passing was sad news to many at Emmis.” Another one of radio’s good guys, the unassuming Greiger had worked on the technical sound of many Los Angeles stations. Memories of him and his work can be found on LARadio.Com, as Don Barrett did an extensive interview with him back in 2006 and printed highlights and reader tributes after his death. Gould Passes Art Gould, the longtime co-host of KPFK’s (90.7 FM) The Car Show, passed away earlier this month. He was 76. Gould kept his private life extremely private, but Dave Kunz, who cohosted The Car Show with Gould, sent the following: “Born in Los Angeles, Art grew up in the Washington D.C. area and at a young age developed a strong musical talent, teaching himself to play the piano by age 7. By the time he was a teenager, he was playing clarinet and saxophone professionally, working as part of a musical group that backed up Roy Clark on a record album. The youngest member of the band at age 15, Art was alrea

Radio: October 26, 2018 I’ve decided to branch out … I’m going to contact the judge involved in the Sears bankruptcy to convince him or her to let me run Sears. As part of my revival of the storied catalog and retail company, I will buy WLS/Chicago and return the station to the company that launched it more than 90 years ago. I know what you’re thinking. Sears? WLS? What’s the connection? Sears actually launched WLS — the calls stood for World’s Largest Store — on April 12, 1924 after a few days of experimental broadcasts that “lit up” the Sears switchboards at the company headquarters in Chicago with listeners calling in after hearing the broadcasts. The idea for WLS was simple. Sears had been buying time on area stations to target the lucrative farming market in the Midwest. By the early 1920s, the company understood the potential of radio and decided to launch its own outlet; Sears president at the time Julius Rosenwald approved a plan to construct a station as the company set up the Sears-Roebuck Agricultural Foundation, a clearinghouse of farming information and assistance. The station and the Foundation would work together to help local farmers. And of course sell stuff. A lot of stuff. Not only farm equipment, which was a major part of the catalog, but radios. Like RCA, Sears understood that it was easier to sell radios when there was compelling content. And it didn’t hurt that Sears sold a full line of radios … and the electronic tubes needed to keep them playing. According to the website, WLShistory.com, “As stated in the 1925 Sears Catalogue, ‘WLS was conceived in your interests, is operated in your behalf and is dedicated to your service. It is your station.’ “Broadcasting several hours a day, the station's slogan becomes ‘Bringing The World To The Farm.’ According to accounts, in little more than four years, WLS went from being an obscure signal to a Midwestern powerhouse. It was even rumored to be heard as far away as New Zealand! “The station aired speeches from President Calvin Coolidge, Ralph Stockton's sermons, the comedy of Pie Plant Pete and  the wit of Will Rogers. WLS hosted a 1925 Military Tournament as well as Chicago's reception of Colonel Charles Lindbergh.” Of course none of this has anything to do with retailing or radio today. Except that it does. In fact, it has everything to do with today. Sears lost its way by not focussing on the customer. I worked for Sears years ago, and I can tell you, the customer was absolutely the focus back then. From training on how to help customers buy the best items for their needs — not just the item with the highest markup — to customer service backed by a true Satisfaction Guarantee that had no time limit, Sears was a company I was proud to be part of. Similarly, radio lost its way by not focussing on the listener. Instead the focus became bean-counting. How much can we cut programming costs so we can increase the pay of upper management of the huge companies that bought up the majority of radio stations throughout the country? Listeners are no longer the focus of most stations; I’d venture that listeners are not even mentioned in the Mission Statements of most major radio group owners. That is why so many listeners are no longer are loyal to the majority of stations and radio ad revenues are still down years after the end of the last recession. By focusing on the consumer, whether in retail, catalog … or radio, you benefit all. So I see no conflict or problem with taking over Sears and WLS. Eventually, I will buy back other legendary stations such as KHJ (930 AM), KCBQ/San Diego, and relaunch KFRC/San Francisco where it should be at 610 on the AM dial. When my Sears dominates retail again and my network of stations — I think I’ll call it RKO — shows the big boys how radio can be done, then I’ll start looking to do things that are actually difficult. November 2 My wife Jean and I were having an ‘80s flashback last weekend as we watched the movie “Valley Girl.”

Radio: October 19, 2018 It still seems odd for me to say, but KBIG (104.3 FM) — aka My FM — earned the top spot once again in the Nielsen Ratings released earlier this month. My FM has led the ratings race for five of the last six months and was a full half-point (is that an oxymoron?) above second-place KRTH (101.1 FM): 5.5 vs. 5.0. The regulars rounded out the top-five: KOST (103.5 FM) at 4.7; KTWV The Wave (94.7 FM) at 4.6, and KIIS-FM (102.7 FM) at 4.4. Complicating matters just a little bit is a new rule from Intercom that their stations are now to be sold separately from the on-line streams, such that advertising differs. Since the programming is not 100 percent duplicative, the streams register separately from the stations. While this makes little difference in the scheme of things, had streams been combined with the station’s main signal, The Wave would have had 0.1 more, and would have been tied with KOST. According to one programmer, the change could meant the difference between a financial bonus … or more likely not getting one … which is probably why it was done. After going head to head for most of the past year, Power 106 (105.9 FM) pulled away from direct competitor KRRL - Real 92.3 FM, with a 3.2 share compared with Real’s 2.9. Likewise, KROQ (106.7 FM) pulled ahead of Alt 98.7, 2.8 to 2.3. Considering the lead Alt had for a long time, it is interesting to see the reversal. Add in the KROQ stream rating of 0.1 and the difference is more than a half point. Speaking of KROQ, the rejuvenation of KROQ HD2 — the digital stream playing Roq of the Eighties on HD Radio — seems to be paying off. The HD2 earned a 0.1 share, the first time I’ve seen this in Los Angeles. Go Country KKGO (105.1 FM) held stead with a 2.4 share — not bad for a format that can’t survive in los Angeles. Poor KABC (790 AM). The originator of full-time talk programming in Los Angeles just cannot break out of the doldrums, and is being beaten by just about every talk station in town outside of the Communists at KPFK (90.7 FM). KFI (640 AM) was 6th at 3.7, KPCC (89.3 FM) was 16th at 2.5, KRLA (870 AM) was tied with sports-talk KLAC (570 AM) for 227th at 1.2, and KEIB (1150 AM) tied with sports talker KSPN (710 AM) for 32nd at 0.9. Where was KABC? Tied with regional Mexican music station KDLD (103.1 FM) for 41st at 0.4. For its part, KPFK was tied with a group of others (including streams) at 47th with a 0.1 share of the listening audience. The full story: Each rating is an estimate of the percentage of listeners aged 6 and over tuned to a station between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight. 1. KBIG (5.5) 2. KRTH (5.0) 3. KOST (4.7) 4. KTWV (4.6) 5. KIIS-FM (4.4) 6. KFI (3.7) 7. KCBS-FM, KLVE (3.6) 9. KPWR (3.2) 10. KXOL (3.1) 11. KNX (3.0) 12. KLOS, KRRL (2.9) 14. KROQ (2.8) 15. KRCD (2.6) 16. KPCC (2.5) 17. KBUE, KKGO, KLAX (2.4) 20. KAMP, KYSR (2.3) 22. KSCA (2.0) 23. KUSC (1.8) 24. KCRW, KDAY (1.5) 26. KXOS (1.3) 27. KLAC, KRLA, KSSE (1.2) 30. KJLH (1.1) 31. KLYY (1.1) 32. KEIB, KSPN (0.9) 34. KFSH, KFWB, KKJZ, KKLQ (0.8) 38. KKLA (0.7) 39. KWIZ, KYLA (0.6) 41. KABC, KDLD (0.4) 43. KIRN, KSUR, KTNQ, KWKW (0.3) 47. KAMP stream, KHJ, KPFK, KROQ HD2, KROQ Stream, KTWV Stream (0.1) Contested contest When is a contest not a contest? I would argue when it's Stay or Go on KLOS. As a disclaimer, I have a personal stake in this item. Stay or Go is a segment on KLOS’ (95.5 FM) Frosty, Heidi and Frank morning show. It's an opportunity for local unsigned bands to get played on the air and critiqued by both the morning team and listeners. In addition to the on-air exposure, there's a chance to play at the show's Birthday Bash in October. So here's where my role as a radio columnist and father collide: My son’s band, Divine Intervention, entered the contest, held weekly Fridays on the morning show. But in spite on-air announcements that the band with the highest Stay vs. Go rating would play the show’s annual Birthday Bash later this month, the bands chosen w

Radio: September 28, 2018 You probably don’t know the name Bob Goodman. But you should ... he is the host of a program called Whole “Nuther Thing, a program you might call a flashback to the early days of FM radio heard locally on KCSN’s (88.5 FM) HD2 digital stream as well as on line at ksbr.org, via the TuneIn app, on iTunes, Mixcloud, and at Podomatic.Com. Goodman hails from New York City and cut his teeth on early FM. His program aired on the former KSBR since 1984; last year when Saddleback College’s KSBR merged with Cal State Northridge’s KCSN, the program was moved - along with the rest of KSBR’s programming - to the simulcast’s digital HD2 stream, which means you have to have a special HD radio to hear t over the air. Indeed, it is one of the reasons to buy an HD radio. But as with so much of radio today, online is where its at, and Goodman says that he’s averaging 2000 downloads and plays each week on Podomatic alone, placing the program in the top-200 out of the service’s tens of thousands of available programs. In the category of “freeform,” he is often number one. “My show is true ‘free-form’ radio,” Goodman explained to me recently. “All genres of music are featured in hand-mixed sets. I refer to it as ‘radio the way it ought to be.’” A recent show featured songs from William Devaughn, War, Earth Wind & Fire, Dave Brubeck, Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers, Graham Parker, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ram Jam, ZZ Top, Billy Squire, Mark Knopfler, Chris Isaak, Garland Jeffreys, Procol Harum, Rod Stewart & The Faces, The Eagles, Pat Metheny, Neil Young, George Harrison, Lovin' Spoonful, and many more. Eclectic? Absolutely. Goodman’s voice is reminiscent of early FM freeform or underground radio as well. In fact, he sounds like he could be found on any of the stations that set the stage for FM’s success: KMPX and KSAN in San Francisco, KPPC and KMET here in Los Angeles. His early radio work was in New York City as General Manager of Hunter College’s campus station. From there he moved to Long Island’s WCRN as Music Director, eventually making the trip out West to the former KSRF (now KDLD, 103.1 FM), back to New York and then finally Philadelphia ... all during the 1960s when FM radio was experimenting with formats trying to attract an audience in the days of AM dominance. The program is a wonderful mix of musical styles that is thoroughly enjoyable to hear. You can listen to each show live every Saturday from 3-7 p.m. or download/stream the podcasts at your leisure; Goodman says that archives go back six months on TuneIn and MixCloud; three years at https://bobksbr.podomatic.com. “I've got listeners all over the world with an especially large following in UK,” Goodman told me. If you haven’t listened yet, give it a whirl and let me know what you think. I think it’s great. I’m not sure why KCSN’s Sky Daniels hasn’t put it on the main signal for 88.5 FM, but for now, it’s worth the trouble to find. Ring of Honor Longtime (Spanish) voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers Jaime Jarrin has been inducted into the team’s Ring of Honor, the 12th person to be inducted and the second broadcaster as he joins Vin Scully in the Ring. Jarrin will have his name permanently affixed to Dodger Stadium. The longtime broadcaster has been with the Dodgers since 1959, and will be with them at least through 2020 ... his contract was just renewed last week. He is as beloved by his audience as is Vin Scully, who retired in 2016. Radio: September 21, 2018 Real 92.3 (KRRL) morning man Big Boy -- aka Kurt Alexander -- and a friend escaped serious injury due to the effectiveness of their seatbelts when they were hit from behind at a red light. "I heard a screech, but not long ... and everything from the back of the car went to the front," Big Boy told KABC-TV’s Eyewitness News. At first Big Boy suspected that the driver of the car that hit them was using a cell phone. He was shocked to discover that the driver was dr

Radio: September 14, 2018 As the suits at CBS Radio were falling over themselves three years ago trying to cut costs (i.e. talent) from their radio stations in an ill-fated attempt to make the financials look better to a potential buyer, one of the victims was Freddy Snakeskin, who had been (among other things) programming and doing on-air work for KROQ (106.7 FM) HD2, the digital “Roq of the ‘80s” that you could hear on line and with a special radio. More on that later. The format technically continued, but it wasn’t the same without the personalities. Snakeskin had put together a small staff of DJs who helped make the station as close as possible to the original KROQ (106.7 FM); when the cutbacks came everyone was forced off, and the station ran jockless. Now things have come full-circle. As of last week, “Roq of the ‘80s” has relaunched on KROQ HD2 and Snakeskin is back on the air from 6 a.m. to 12 noon weekdays, followed by Tami Heide from noon to 6 p.m. Heide was with KROQ from 1991 to 2004. The station is being programmed by Gene Sandbloom, former Operations Director for KROQ who left on 2017 to move to, as I recall, France. I’m not sure what convinced him to come back or if he ever actually moved to France, but the move is part of a refresh of station owner Entercom’s HD2 streams planned nationwide. Snakeskin broke the news on Facebook, writing “Yes it's official, after a 3 year vacation (at their request), I'm thrilled to be invited back to relaunch Entercom's KROQ-HD2 The Roq of the 80s, doing some kinda daily morning show, woo hoo! “Tell everybody ... join yours truly, Freddy Snakeskin, at 6 a.m., followed by my longtime un-indicted co-conspirator Tami Heide daily at 12 noon. Listen everyday for all the great Klassick KROQ music you grew up with, via Radio.com and/or free HD radio @ 106.7-HD2. Thanks for your unwavering support all these years; apparently someone was listening!!” HD What? Digital HD Radio was officially approved as a broadcasting standard by the FCC in 2002, but many people still do not understand it. What sets it apart from AM, FM or even satellite radio is that --  while like the others you need the right tuner to hear the broadcasts -- these are special digital streams sent alongside the regular analog channel. Think of it as an internet computer stream sent along with the same carrier that your old radio uses to tune in a station. Your old radio hears it as noise; an HD tuner decodes it and plays music. Or talk. Whatever. In fact that internet stream idea is not far off. If you have an older AM radio that doesn’t use a digital tuner, you can actually hear the digital stream if you tune just above or just below the regular station. Locally, KNX (1070 AM), KBRT (740 AM) and KSUR (1260 AM) broadcast HD. That sound is the same sound you sued to hear when your modem connected to online services like AOL or GEnie in the days of dial up internet. Sangean makes three home and portable HD radios, and you can also find many OEM or aftermarket radio brands for your car that receive HD. Good online sources include Amazon and Crutchfield. The way it works on a typical radio is that you tune in your favorite regular station and wait for it to capture and buffer the HD stream. On AM you’re done - the sound will change and background noise you don’t even know you’re hearing suddenly disappears, while the high end missing from most AM radios suddenly appears. On FM, the sound may or may not change much but extra channels suddenly become available. Tuning up one or more times, depending on how many extra HD channels are carried, tunes in new stations. It’s actually a very impressive system, notwithstanding the problems that can occur with interference to other stations, especially on the AM band -- I’ll discuss that another day. Purists will also note that the sound can sound a bit off due to digital “artifacts” that you may know from bad internet listening. But it is impressive in the sense that it works, an

Radio: August 31, 2018 My oldest son committed to attend Lake Forest College in Illinois, about 30 miles North of Chicago, so I spent part of last week with him in the city of Lake Forest as well as a couple quick tours of Chicagoland itself. I discovered two interesting things in particular: 1. The stations I heard in the educational portion of the FM band are lightyears ahead of Southern California in terms of using their licenses as originally intended by the FCC. Stations  heard were (gasp!) actually run by students and volunteers, including one located on the campus of a local high school and Lake Forest’s own WMXM. 2. The software that controls iPhones in our Dodge rental car, and presumably all Dodge, Chrysler, Ram and Fiat vehicles, is the worst I have ever encountered and must be a secret way for radio to maintain dominance. In plain English, it just doesn’t work, and the people responsible for the design of the radios should be fired, tarred and feathered. Yes, it is that bad. Getting back to the local educational stations I was able to hear, WGBK stuck out as an amazing example of student radio. Located at the campus of Glenbrook South High School in the town of Glenview, the station uses advisors and students from both Glenbrook South and Glenbrook North. The format is an alternative format that my younger son says puts Los Angeles radio to shame, along with news and high school sports.  I am told that Fall Out Boy lead singer Patrick Stump is an alumnus of WGBK, having worked there as a student until he graduated in 2002. Called Chicago’s North Shore alternative, you can hear it on the net at GBSradio.com. I didn’t get a chance to hear too  much of WMXM, as the station was operating on auto mode as students moved into their dorms to start the semester. But it too is a prime example of what real educational radio is supposed to be.  Te station has a freeform  format of indie rock, hip-hop, and more, along with news updates for the local community. On the air since 1975, the station is run by volunteers and can be heard at WMXM.org. Here in Los Angeles, the vast majority of educational-band licensed stations are run by paid adults. My personal belief is that operators of stations without students as the primary “employees” should give up their licenses, especially if the stations are physically located on or licensed to a college or other educational institution. Now for the Dodge radio: If you want to hear your iPhone songs alphabetical, it might work. or it might not, depending on its mood. Want to select a song or play it in random order ... you’re out of luck. It may play for a while, then it just stops. You can use Bluetooth, but if you need to charge it, you’re out of luck - you can’t use Bluetooth when the lightening cable. With the cable it might play for a while, skip songs, play a small segment of songs randomly, then lock up. It is by far the worst interface I have ever used and must have been developed by an engineer of a radio station hoping to keep listeners off of alternatives to radio. Saving AM (Continued) Your comments regarding AM radio are fascinating; most of them so far state that you already listen to AM radio, and (while I promised comments this week) I will present them next week just to give more time for others to respond. I do want to ask one more time though ... as most of the responses so far mentioned AM stations that you already listen to. What I would really like to know is -- especially if you never listen to AM -- would you tune to an AM station if it played the format you liked? If so, or if not, please state your age as well. I’ll also be presenting technical challenges and potential solutions in the coming weeks. They delayed it AGAIN … Labor Day, September 3rd is supposedly the new date for the launch date of Shotgun Tom on Sirius. I have a call into SiriusXM’s Lou Simon, who seems to be playing games because he’s ticked off that info got out before he

Radio: August 17, 2018 This coming Monday, August 20, is Shotgun Day ... the day that “Shotgun” Tom Kelly finally makes his debut on SiriusXM’s Channel 6 - Sixties on Six. He’ll be on what has become his usual shift as of late, afternoon drive or 4-8 p.m. locally, though he has worked almost every shift throughout his long career. I grew up listening to Shotgun, as San Diego stations where he worked - primarily KCBQ (1170 AM), KGB (now KLSD, 1360 AM) and B-100 (KFMB-FM 100.7) - came in as strong as locals where I lived in San Pedro. I even aimed my house antenna toward San Diego in the 1990s when he was part of “Modern Oldies” KCBQ-FM (now KIOZ, 105.3 FM), a format that played hits of the 1980s ... a decade or two ahead of its time. He is an amazing talent: always upbeat and high-energy. He was the perfect choice to take over the afternoon shift for “The Real” Don Steele on KRTH (101.1 FM) after Steele passed away far too young in 1997.  Why it took so long for SiriusXM to get him on board is a mystery. We’ve all known he was going there since early June; rumor is that negotiations actually ran about two years. But all that is history. The exciting part is that one of my favorite DJs is back on the air.  “You know, when I got hired at K-Earth, I thought that would be the last radio station I would ever work at,” Kelly told me. “I mean - how do you get better than that? But that was 20 years ago ... at the time, there was no satellite radio. Now I will be heard throughout the United States and Canada! I cannot even begin to explain how exciting this is to me!” Kelly will be recording the show -- almost every shift at SiriusXM is “voice-tracked,” where the DJ records the intros and bits ahead of time rather than in real time -- from studios in San Diego. Avoiding Fresno Kelly’s first station in San Diego was at Boss Radio 136/KGB. Then-KCBQ programmer Buzz Bennett got wind that consultant Bill Drake might be planning to send him up to Fresno for some extra on-air development, and ended up hiring him ... and ultimately almost the entire KGB air staff ... for KCBQ.  The KGB-KCBQ battle went on for a few years with KCBQ eventually winning; San Diego was one of the few, if not the only city where a Drake station was beaten. KGB adopted an album-rock format in 1972. But I am told that the battle made for some of the most exciting top-40 radio ever. And Kelly didn’t have to move to Fresno. Short Takes • The latest Nielsens released this month had KKLQ (100.3 FM) at a 0.0 share of the ratings ... a far cry from the sub-3 shares the station had when it played classic rock as The Sound. • The National Association of Broadcasters is busy trying to convince its own members that the plan they are pushing to more deregulation in the industry is a good thing. Having to convince your own membership that more of what destroyed them must make for an interesting campaign. Additional deregulation will no doubt cause even more stations and companies to go under; perhaps the NAB is secretly a spy organization for Apple Music, Spotify, and all the other music services that could not have thrived without radio’s decline directly attributable to decisions made under the deregulation model. • The story last week on KPRO (1570 AM) going off the air brought in a few letters asking about the frequency or history being “wrong” ... No, it isn’t wrong but your memory is OK ... there was a station at 1440 AM in the IE that used the KPRO call letters until a format change in 1987. • Is AM radio dead? Absolutely. The problem is with the owners and programmers, though, not listeners. Before I expand on this, however I am curious what you think ... can an AM station attract you as a listener if it played the right format? What would that format be? • The LA Radio Studio at Ports O’ Call is gone, a victim of  - is it ok to call them corrupt, evil bastards? - officials from the Port of Los Angeles as construction continues on a new development pl

Radio: August 10, 2018 The Inland Empire lost a radio station last Friday, as KPRO (1570 AM) left the air, a victim of declining listenership to AM radio and the vastly increasing value of property in Southern California, which makes the land many stations sit on with more than the stations themselves. But it’s a station with a local presence dating back to 1957 when it was put on the air by husband and wife Ray and Helen Lapica and Helen’s sister, Ollie Shervan. After the three original owners passed away ownership transferred to Ray and Helen’s children, Ronnie Olenick and Larry Lapica. According to Olenick, her father originally ran the station much like he thought a newspaper should run. “He’d go out to the City Council meetings and interview local politicians. He liked to editorialize,” she told me this week. “In many ways it was the beginning of local talk radio!” “He thought he would be able to use the station to make an impact on the community,” Olenick explained. “What he didn’t realize is that you can’t make an impact unless you sell ads, and ads can be hard to sell.” Eventually Ray went to law school and left the running of the station to Helen and Ollie. To show how much has changed in the years since the station went on the air, Ray Lapica once held a license for an FM station as well, which simulcast the AM programming. But it was sold to another company as there were so few listeners to FM radio at the time. The new owners eventually let the FM station go “dark,” or off the air.  Over the years the call letters changed a few times. Originally they were KACE; 1976 brought KHNY; KMAY came in 1978, and the KPRO calls have been in sue since 1986. The station has broadcast at 1570 AM since the beginning. Formats have changed over the years as well. Talk, country music, “you name it,” Olenick told me. For the past 30 years or so the broadcasts have been religious, the most recent years as block programming sold to ministers and preachers. That hasn’t paid the bills, though - Olenick explained that she and her brother have been putting their own money into the station for quite some time, though “we did it because we knew the land was worth something.” In the end it was a tough decision to let the station go, due to the longtime family and local community connections. That longevity includes the staff: station general manager, Valorie Stitely has been with KPRO since she was a teenager, over 40 years. “We tried to sell the station, but could not find a buyer for it and that’s why it is now dark. But the land the transmitter and studios are on was sold; the developer will be building new houses on the property,” Olenick said. I personally hate to lose a local radio presence, but I can understand why it happens. Perhaps some day someone else can pick up the license for 1570 and share transmitter space with another station as has been done by numerous stations in populous cities throughout the country. In the meantime, I hold my glass high as a toast to a station that was run by the same family for 61 years. Ronnie and Larry: enjoy your retirement from radio! Radio: August 3, 2018 The notice at the late-Richard Irwin’s reelradio.com was promising: “Please stand by. Reelradio will return. Thank you for your patience and continuing support.”  Then for a day it came back, as a teaser to let fans know they were indeed working on a re-launch. “They” being the ReelRadio board of directors along with friends and family of Irwin, who are working behind the scenes to update files, get some site housekeeping done and eventually bring in new content and allow new registrations. The radio recording museum -- featuring recordings, or “airchecks” of top-40 stations from across the country -- had been down since just before Irwin’s death, and many subscribers and donors had hope that his legacy will live on through others. It appears that will indeed be the case, and I for one am ecstatic. As I write this, it the site is

Radio: July 27, 2018 Radio is still among the most popular of all available media, dwarfing the on-line services as far as reach and even beating television for overall reach. So what is causing revenue to stay far below what it should be, considering how far the economy has come since the drop in 2008? My personal belief is that today’s young-buck programmers and executives don’t have history on their sides ... indeed, they seem to shun history, forgetting that what worked in the past will probably work today, as long as it is updated to match the modern audience. Yet often programmers seem ignorant of the elements of good radio. You probably have your own ideas, and I’d like to know what you think as well. Here are some examples of what may sound like good ideas, but ultimately are not ... ideas intended to help but actually hurt a station’s success: • Long music sweeps. This sounds like a great idea: keep a listener looked for 45 minutes and then run the commercials as a block. Ratings soar and advertisers and the station win. The reality: long sweeps of music force a station to group commercials together, so that the typical commercial break ends up as long as 10 minutes ... or more. No one will listen through that, so listeners change stations or tune out completely. Advertisements are thus worth less and stations must give price breaks to advertisers, lowering revenue. Solution: Limit sweeps to three or four songs, with a maximum of 20 minutes. Commercial breaks should be limited to no more than three (two is better) ads. Listeners won’t tune out, commercials are actually heard, and both stations and advertisers win. • Music marathons. Music sweeps on steroids. Many stations run 18 minutes of commercials per hour ... you think taking two hours or more of prime time and forcing those potential ads into other hours helps? Really? In the end, stations lose out on revenue, advertisers lose the ability to market products and services, and listeners lose out too.  Solution: Only run sweeps when -- and this should never happen if your sales staff is worth anything -- you truly have no ads to run. Ratings mean nothing if you can’t capitalize on potential revenue from advertisers. • Thinking advertisements are bad. Yes, there are bad advertisements. But advertising in general should be considered a service and a positive part of your programming. I myself had windows installed on my house due to an ad I heard on KFI (640 AM). I had such a positive experience I have recommended the company to others and used them again for another project. I never would have found them without the help of KFI. Solution: Embrace ads. Consider them a service to your listeners. But don’t abuse them: make sure the quality of the ad is as high -- including its entertainment value -- as is the rest of your programming. Never run more than three at a time. And never run ads for competing products or services in the same set. • Accepting bad commercials. Yes, revenue is important. But just as the fictional WKRP in Cincinnati ended up dropping a very lucrative campaign for a funeral home, you cannot run ads that are tune-outs. No station should ever run ads from “Kars for Kids,” for example. Guaranteed tune out. Solution: Your program director should have final say for everything that airs on the station. Don’t let the sales staff dictate what makes it on the air. And make sure your PD is good enough to know the difference between good and bad. • Running too many commercials. It’s easy to think more ads bring in more revenue, but in fact the opposite is true. In their heydays, both KHJ (930 AM) and KIIS-FM (102.7 FM) set revenue records while limiting ads run per hour. The rule for KHJ in the 1960s was eight minutes maximum per hour and no more than TWO commercials per break. KIIS-FM limited ads as well when they almost single-handedly brought top-40 back from the brink of death in the 1980s ... then set ratings records. Solution: Just limit the ads.

Radio: July 20, 2018 I’ve been listening to KOLA (99.9 FM) since I was in junior high school, about the time I figured out how to tune it on my family’s “Sonic Servant FM” home intercom system. At the time it was an automated top-40 station; one of my memories of the time is when the automation system got stuck and the station played Paper Lace’s “The Night Chicago Died” something like 16 times in a row. Honestly I don’t know how I was able to listen that long, but I did. Today the station is a live personality-driven oldies station. Or in modern vernacular, “classic hits” as the term “oldies” is apparently a turn-off. Perhaps more accurately, as rock and roll spans so many years, the term “oldies” connotes the era of the 1950s and ‘60s, something KOLA (and LA competitor KRTH) shuns. With the current format focussing on ‘80s and ‘90s hits, KOLA certainly found its niche: it has consistently been among the most popular stations in the Riverside/San Bernardino area for years. The latest Nielsen Ratings have it number 2 in the area; prior to that and at least as far back as January, it was the top-rated station in the Inland Empire. Knowing of and following KOLA for four decades, then, I have no excuse to miss the fact that they, too, carry classic editions of American Top-40 mentioned last week. In this case they carry recordings from the 1980s, every Saturday morning from 5 to 9 a.m. and Sunday nights from 7 to 11 p.m. And if you can’t get enough of the ‘80s, KOLA features “Absolute ‘80s Weekends” that start Saturday mornings at 9:00 ... immediately following AT40. Through August 3rd, KOLA is giving away tickets to listeners daily to a weekly featured local theme park as part of their “Summer Ticket Window.” The window opens every weekday at about fifty minutes past the hours of 7:00, 10:00 and 11:00 a.m., and 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. Listen for the window to open; the 19th caller to the station wins the tickets. Ratings Not much change in the Los Angeles ratings since last time I reported on them: KBIG (104.3 FM) won the most recent survey released July 10th with a 5.8 share of the audience, followed by KOST’s (103.5 FM) 5.6, KRTH’s (101.1 FM) 5.1, KTWV’s (94.7 FM) 4.5 and KIIS-FM’s (102.7) 4.3. These are roughly the same positions -- and ratings -- the stations held three months ago. There were a few interesting results. For example, competitors KPWR (105.9 FM) and KRRL (92.3 FM) -- both playing a similar format -- tied in the ratings (along with KNX 1070 AM KLOS 95.5 FM and KXOL 96.3 FM) at 2.6. Alt 98.7 FM beat KROQ (106.7 FM) to take take the alternative crown, but just barely: 2.8 versus 2.5. And KPCC (89.3 FM) found itself in the top-10 -- tied with KAMP (97.1 FM) for 10th place -- with a 2.7 share. KABC (790 AM) needs to give serious thought to making some major changes. The one-time talk format leader -- the station originated the format in the 1960s -- hasn’t broken a 1 share in quite some time; the June ratings found KABC at the bottom of the English-language talk format ratings at 0.4 ... tied with oldies KSUR (1260 AM), a station that doesn’t even reach much of the city. I think it is time to consider a full-service format similar to the original KMPC (now KSPN, 710 AM). As it is, KABC was beaten by every other English-language general talk and sports-talk station in town. The full story: Each rating is an estimate of the percentage of listeners aged 6 and over tuned to s station between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight.  1. KBIG (5.8) 2. KOST (5.6) 3. KRTH (5.1) 4. KTWV (4.5) 5. KIIS-FM (4.3) 6. KCBS-FM, KFI (4.1) 8. KLVE (3.5) 9. KYSR - Alt 98.7 (2.8) 10. KAMP, KPCC (2.7) 12. KLOS, KNX, KPWR, KRRL, KXOL (2.6) 17. KROQ (2.5) 18. KLAX, KRCD (2.4) 20. KKGO (2.3) 21. KBUE (2.2) 22. KSCA (2.1) 23. KXOS (2.0) 24. KUSC (1.7) 25. KDAY (1.5) 26. KJLH (1.4) 27. KCRW, KSSE (1.3) 29. KRLA, KSPN (1.1) 31. KLAC, KLYY (1.0) 33. KEIB, KKJZ (0.9) 35. KFSH (0.8) 36. KFWB, KKLQ (0.7) 38. KDLD, KWIZ (0.6) 40. KYLA (0.5) 41. KABC,