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LA Radio Waves
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September 22, 2023Radio Waves Podcast #382 Radio:
September 8, 2023Trends are funny. Funny in an
interesting way, and often caused by forces not necessarily obvious.Such an example is top-40 radio,
represented locally by KIIS (102.7 FM). The station that almost single-handedlybrought the format back from its death in the early 1980s while hitting recordhigh ratings for an FM station, is on hard times now. The July Nielsens had thestation tied for 8th place with a 3.7 share of the audience … a far cry fromthe 10+ shares of the 1980s.But I am not here to bash KIIS. I
am merely using it as an example of some trends that have come together, andperhaps help find a way out.First and foremost, the appeal of
oldies cannot be denied. Out of the top-10 stations, fully six are either fullyoldies-based or rely heavily on them in the music mix. KRTH (101.1 FM) KTWV(94.7 FM), My FM (KBIG, 104.3), KOST (103.5 FM) Jack (KCBS-FM, 93.1) and KLOS(95.5 FM) all predominantly play songs not released in the last year.KIIS is definitely not alone.
Top-40, or Contemporary Hit Radio as it is called today. has taken a hitnationwide. As the format tends to attract younger listeners, the fact thatmany younger listeners are getting their music from streaming services and appslike TikTok, it seems to be the natural progression.Indeed, InsideMusicMedia’s Jerry
Del Colliano has extensively covered the migration to and influence ofstreaming; a recent Billboard.com story spoke of TikTok’s appeal to younglisteners; top-40 stations across the country have added more “gold” to theirplaylists; and the idea of playing music that is old but “new to you” has takenhold as an easy way to attract listeners.But it doesn’t work to attract
younger listeners, thus top-40 as a format suffers.Yet the answer lies in the appeal
of the very things that are supposedly killing radio. TikTok is exposing kidsto music, new and old, from multiple genres. Streaming services use curators tofind music that listeners may like, based upon the songs they play — and thosethey skip.Add in Sean Ross, who writes in
RadioInsight.com that most people fondly remember their own top-40 listeningdays from “when top-40 played it all,” and you have the answer: play it all.Top-40 has always thrived when it
played it all, and has always stagnated when it limited itself. You saw ithappen with too much “bubblegum,” too much disco, too much country, too much of“the Miami sound,” too much grunge, and too much Hip-Hop. All of those eras hadtemporarily success, but ultimately led to ratings declines as listeners leftfor other stations.Yet when “they played it all,” such
as the 1960s where you could hear The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Jefferson Airplaneand Cream all on the same station, it just worked. Same for when Prince, TheRolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, and Foreigner all shared space on the samestation. Today KRTH is leading the ratings doing nothing more than playing themusic that once played on KIIS … Naked Eyes, Wham, Soft Cell, Tears for Fears,Madonna, Depeche Mode and Outfield.That variety of music makes things
interesting, and today’s teens especially are, according to research, morewilling to listen to different genres right now than any other generation.Inside Music Media’s Del Colliano
suggests that perhaps it is time to hire curators — locally, of course, so youcan better match the audience — to find new music and present it. “Youngaudiences are more eclectic than baby boomers, Gen X or even older millennials- they mix genres,” he explains. They are “spellbound” when they find it, opento fresh musical styles, “and amazingly curious.”Radio is losing young people, he
says in part because, aside from the commercial overload, “radio no longerbreaks new music and acts.” Fix it by doing so, and become the influencers youused to be, Del Colliano advises programmers, instead of letting social mediado it.Ross takes it a step further and
blames, in part, the record companies for not even trying to promote newmusical styles and acts to hit radio stations.I agree fully with all of the
above, which you already know if you’ve read this column very long. Yourresponses to me tell me that you agree as well. And like the dark days of hittop-40 radio before, all it takes is a KHJ, a Ten-Q, a KIIS-FM, or the like totake up the cause and do it right.Top-40 is not dead, it’s just
dormant. And the time is ripe for a comeback. Hopefully sooner than later.Rumor Mill
Is Saul Levine ready to test
all-digital AM on his K-Mozart (1260 AM)? I’ve been told “maybe.” I hope ithappens … I’d love to see how far an all-digital AM signal can carry bothduring the day and night, and if it helps reduce the interference between stations.If it happens, you’ll be the first to know.///
Radio:
September 15, 2023Over
the air television broadcasts are about to undergo another transition similarto the original transition to digital transmissions over a decade ago. Digitaltelevision broadcasts launched a few years prior, but in 2009 most analogtelevision broadcasts were shut down, and digital, using what is called theATSC 1.0 standard, was the default over-the-air standard.More
recently a new technology called ATSC 3.0 has been developed, offeringmore efficient signal use, better and easier reception, improved picturequality, and even streaming and on-demand services. One additional benefit: thesystem would allow for 50 — or more — full-fidelity radio stations to be sentalong in the space of just one channel. That is if the industry decides todevelop the concept.According
to an article at TechRadar.com, the idea was developed by Fraunhofer, “thecompany behind the original MP3 audio compression standard that ultimately ledto the development of the best MP3 players and paved the way for music andinternet radio streaming as well.(full
article at https://www.techradar.com/news/if-atsc-30-broadcasts-pack-50-radio-stations-in-one-tv-channel-im-all-ears)“Fraunhofer
is seeking to have its highly efficient xHE-AAC audio codec, which allows forhigh-quality voice transmission at a mere seven kilobits per second and stereomusic at bit rates from 24 kilobits per second and up, ‘brought into the ATSCfor standardization.’ Doing so would let ATSC 3.0 broadcast TV stations delivera package of local and national radio services using just a small fraction oftheir spectrum bandwidth.”What
this means is that, if the standards committees agree, we could have anadditional way to send and receive radio broadcasts over the air, receivable incars and homes, … and if done right could be a true competitor to current AMand FM stations dominated by a mere three owners.I
suggest the proposal include limits to ownership, such that only a smallhandful of stations could be owned and operated by any one company. This wouldavoid the mess we have now with stale formats and commercial overloads thatpush people away to other entertainment sources. I’d push for no more than twostations in one market and only seven nationwide … basically the same limitsradio had back when it was a super-power listener and ad-wise.YouTube’s
“Antenna Man” has a little video on the concept at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDUotDRS1hs… check it out if you are interested.Reception
QuestionsWe
live in San Juan Capistrano and enjoy listening to 91X. We have radios inthe master bath and garage.“The
signal from 91X is highly variable. On some days the reception is great, onothers the station barely registers. Any insight into why that’s the case?Thanks!” — Eric CarlsonFM
reception can be tricky for two reasons … under certain (usually bad weather)conditions, the signal just doesn’t travel as far, and it always has troublewith hills, since it travels in a straight line. Ironically, the othercondition is when it’s REALLY clear, and the signal gets interrupted byneighboring stations on or near the frequency. HD signals make it worse becausethey add to the sideband interference. In some cases, stations once heard justdisappear!A
house FM/TV antenna, if you can connect one, will usually make a hugedifference. Just make sure it is designed for the FM band, which is between theold analog television Channel 6 and 7.Of
course the other solution is to use a smart speaker or smartphone app.“For
the past week I have been grumbling over my poor AM reception as I have beendriving around the northern part of the San Fernando Valley in my 2006 GMCtruck with my factory installed 31-inch stick antenna projecting from my frontfender.“It
is nearly impossible to hear clearly 710, 790, and 1020AM broadcasting. Theinterference and screeching is horrendous. As a result, I thought of you andwriting you an email when your column appeared today. Thus, I look to you for asolution. What do I do to receive reception? Do I need to replace my antenna?If so, what do I replace it with? What is the solution? I would appreciate anyadvice and recommendations.” — The Reverend Greg Frost, Granada HillsAM
is a different animal reception-wise from FM. While FM is relativelystatice-free (reference: Steely Dan’s hit song “FM”), AM can pick upinterference from almost anything: cheap electrical transformers, ungroundedelectric supply wires, light dimmers, cable boxes, LED traffic lights and muchmore. In fact, it is the response by radio manufacturers in reducinginterference that caused AM to get a reputation as a terrible-soundingbroadcast system.AM
is actually capable of excellent fidelity. Many radios manufactured before the1980s sounded good; many in the 1960s were excellent. The AM stereos of the1980s and ‘90s often were superb. But too many are awful, and there isdefinitely a price to be paid with so much extra interference around us today.Add
to this the fact that too many station owners gave up their prime broadcasttowers or allowed building in and around the transmitter site, and you haveanother problem - far weaker signals than ever before for many stations.In
this specific case, in order to trace it out, it is important to know - did itcome on suddenly? Is the antenna tight? Is there ay corrosion on the mastmount? Is the antenna grounded? Does the interference happen only when thetruck is running, or all the time?Often
car radio interference can be traced to a bad ground wire, a loose batteryconnection, or in one case of my own years ago, a car phone charger that madeAM reception almost impossible whenever it was plugged in.I’d
look for corrosion and grounds first, then move on from there.Radio: September 22, 2023
The
August Nielsen ratings were released last week for Los Angeles, and while Iwill not be covering the entire list — I leave that for quarterly reports so asto not bore you too much — there was definitely a station worth mentioning: KFI(640 AM)The
reason it’s worth mentioning has as much to do with the success the station hasenjoyed as it does the dire predictions many made when programmer RobinBertolucci adjusted the programming and moved a few hosts around in earlyJanuary.“They’re
doomed,” cried some. No one will listen to John and Ken — who moved from theirlongtime afternoon drive slot to take on the 1 to 3 p.m. hours — thatearly. Tim Conway will not attract an audience in afternoons like he had atnight. Etcetera, etcetera …And
‘Mo Kelly? Who’s he?I
even had people write in talking about the steep ratings drop KFI had due tothe changes. There was only one problem: it never really happened, in astatistical sense. I looked it up … for most of the last few years, KFI rangedfrom the mid-high 3s to the low-mid 4s with a few periods even higher. So thisyear, ranging from 4.1 to 4.3 was normal.But
the ratings for August had KFI at a recent high: 4.8, good for third place overall. Done with little promotion, no marketing (why is that, by the way?) … andall those changes that “killed” it.Why
is KFI so successful? Isn’t conservative talk dead? Yes, it is … and it’s beendecades since KFI was considered “conservative talk” even when it wasn’t. Therehave always been a balance of viewpoints on the station; as it moved away frompolitically-centered topics to more general topics, it matched the mood oflisteners who wanted to be entertained more than they wanted to be angry.Thus,
the idea of shortening the shifts to keep shows fresh and fast-moving, keepingall of the current hosts while allowing for afternoon exposure of the amazingwit on the Conway Show, and the introduction, or perhaps re-introduction ofgeneral talk in the evenings with the addition of ‘Mo Kelly every eveningat 7:00 … worked out perfectly.And
having a stellar news department helps as well.“I
am super-proud of the KFI team,” said programmer Bertolucci. “In addition tobeing #3 overall — and the top-rated news or talk station — we are so happy tobe the most streamed station on the iHeart app.”She
said that on-demand and podcasts are doing great as well.“KFI
is THE live and local station for Southern California, and I think the key isall the ways people can hear us. From streaming in your car to listening onyour smart speaker at home, we’ve got you covered.”I
asked her what she thought was the secret to the success of the station.Consistency? Fun? Yes, she said, to both. “Our hope is that any time you tunein, you are not only informed, but you are also entertained,” she said adding,“Thank you to all our wonderful listeners for their support!”1110
AM Gets ReligionKRDC
(1110 AM) was finally transferred to its new owner on September 8th. On thatday it became KWVE, the AM simulcast of Calvary Chapel’s KWVE-FM (107.9). Theformat is Christian talk, which has been running on the FM signal for manyyears.With
that strong FM signal, why did the church buy the one-time top-40 powerhouse?Better coverage in the northern and western parts of the city, I am told, andan extended signal reach up and down the coast. Obviously Calvary Chapelbelieves in AM broadcasting …And
just to show that some things go full circle, 1110 AM, even though the stationis not longer using the KRLA call letters it once had, is competing once moreagainst KHJ (930 AM), which now airs Catholic talk programming.Resting
in Radio PeaceDon
Barrett announced his cancer diagnosis in mid August; last week the news camethat he had passed.I
won’t write a new obituary here; the column honoring him that ran on August25th will suffice. But I wanted to mention an interview — a rare one, sinceBarrett even to the end rarely did interviews — done by my podcast partner MikeStark. It includes some wonderful memories of radio past and present, showsBarrett’s philosophy of always looking to the positive, and even includes someclassic airchecks I had not heard before that Barrett critiques. It’s a greatlisten and can be found at youtube.com/watch?v=SJ6BjY2cwYc.In
an ordinary instant, Don, you will be missed. God bless you.Richard
Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in SouthernCalifornia. Email [email protected]///
...more August 30, 2023Radio Waves Podcast #381 Radio Waves: September 1, 2023
Antenna Mania
I recently had a chance to try out a really cool looking — at least in the opinion of some — antenna for my truck. The brand itself doesn’t matter much as these are all similar in design: flexible rubber with some sort of spiral wire inside to, as the description says, optimize reception for both AM and FM bands.
Most modern cars and trucks have special antennas that barely stick out of the body, and rely on signal amplifiers to get good reception. And most do quite well, including the one on my son’s Chevy Cruze … that radio gets better reception than almost any car radio I’ve ever used.
But my truck is a 1999 Silverado, with the old school antenna. The factory original sticking up 31 inches from the fender, it is optimized for FM frequencies but does quite well with AM too, including picking up the HD digital stream of KBRT (740 AM) from San Pedro. and occasionally getting the identification from KMZT (1260 AM) even though I can’t get the actual HD sound until I get closer. FM is similarly solid everywhere I drive.
But I couldn’t help wondering if the mini flex antenna — a “new generation” with a carbon-fiber base covering, built-in copper wire, and “optimized AM/FM reception by nearly 40%,” whatever that actually means — could live up to the hype and at least match or even beat my factory install.
Turns out, it couldn’t, and I realized that the 40% optimized reception means the reception is about 40% of what I used to receive with my original.
Most people may not have noticed the difference in FM performance, but I have an HD radio head unit, and it likes a good clear signal. FM stations generally did come in well with little interference similar to the original, though a few stations were just missing, such as KFBG (100.7 FM) and KGB (101.1 FM), which usually come in decently due to the signal shooting straight up the coast from San Diego to San Pedro … at least on a clear day.
But the HDs were hit and miss, with more reception problems than ever. Even Go Country (105.1 FM) had trouble locking in the HD stream, and that is usually one of the most reliable where I like.
AM on the other hand, was an entirely disappointing experience. Static everywhere, even over flamethrower 50,000 watt powerhouse KFI (640 AM). KMZT could not even be heard, and mid-signal stations such as KLAC (570 AM), KABC (790 AM), and KHJ (930 AM) were essentially unlistenable.
To prove it wasn’t just weather or atmospheric conditions on the test day, I put my factory antenna back on and all the reception problems cleared up. Immediately.
I bring this up not to bash the manufacturer of the antenna I evaluated. Instead I want to highlight the fact that antenna design, including length and other aspects, is exceedingly important to good reception. AM likes an antenna as long as possible, FM seems to work well with — on a car at least — that 31 inches preciously mentioned. Something to do with wavelength as I recall — engineers, feel free to confirm or correct me.
Newer cars usually use special small antennas are just that: antennas designed to work with the car’s construction and electronics to optimize reception.
Home radios and stereos can suffer from the same issues, and reception there can often be improved for AM by rotating the radio or moving it away from other electronics to cancel out interference. For FM, if you can connect it to a house antenna just like most televisions used to be, you’ll hear stations from greater distances than ever before.
Of course all of this is moot if you listen via apps. But that’s another column …
Sound Science
Another new toy I recently evaluated is a special little box that turns my normal iPhone’s Car Play wired system into wireless. Not an amazing must-have, mind you, but really a nice thing if you do have it. When I start up the truck, the phone connects automatically and starts playing whatever I was listening to last.
Yesterday I was driving my dog Snoopy back from a check-up at the vet’s office, and Alt 98.7 FM came on. I really wasn’t paying attention, but it turned out it was playing through CarPlay via the iHeart app. How does it compare with the over-the-air signal?
I checked. While it does sound good on the app, over the air is vastly superior on a direct comparison. More open, more dynamic … just better.
This is not an indictment of apps, by the way. Some stations, including both over-the air simulcasts and internet-only stations sound absolutely phenomenal on apps. And Alt does sound fine. But the difference in quality was noticeable, and probably related to reducing bandwidth on the internet stream to allow more connections as well as cut streaming costs. Just a guess … again, engineers can feel free to confirm or correct me.
Where the apps excel, though, are areas of weak reception. As long as the internet signal is good, apps can work where AM and FM cannot.
And while I am on the subject of Alt 98.7 … I mean this with love … The Foo Fighters and Maneskin both made more than one song each … just sayin’.
///
Radio: August 25, 2023
Don Barrett is one of the radio’s biggest supporters. Not only was he in radio — among other accomplishments, he launched KIQQ (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) in the early 1970s — he is and has been a friend even to those radio personalities he never met.
His book, “Los Angeles Radio People,” set out to highlight every radio personality who was ever on the local airwaves between the years of 1957 to 1994 (First Edition) and 1957 to 1997 (Second Edition). As much as possible, many behind the microphone were also featured. There was supposed to be a Third Edition, but a tragic hard drive crash and the lack of suitable backup caused the update to be abandoned.
In order to publicize the book, Barrett created the Los Angeles Radio People website, at laradio.com. At first it was just information about the book, but it soon grew in to a news and information site that quickly became a must-read daily gathering of radio people and radio fans alike. In time the site eclipsed the book in importance, with daily updates of the industry including what people were up to, the state of the industry, and even a call for help for those down on their luck. Kind of the gathering place at the company cooler.
Barrett always made sure that both in his books and the site, he was always positive. Rare was the case when he wasn’t presenting only positive vibes. Even after he decided to retire from the daily updates, he still maintained contact with his thousands of radio friends, updating the “Where Are They Now” listings, and continuing to act as radio’s cheerleader with re-posts of past columns highlighting various achievements, awards, and more.
Last week, Barrett posted something more serious.
“I discovered the writings of Joan Didion late in life,” he wrote. “She coined the phrase, ‘ordinary instant.’ Perhaps the phrase leaped off the page because death comes in such a rushing finality. She wrote: ‘Life changes fast/Life changes in the instant/You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.’ Joan’s husband was robbed of 3,500 days. In an ordinary instant.
“For the past two months, I have been in constant pain. Doctors, hospitals and ERs. Yesterday I was in the San Luis Obispo ER for more tests. And there it was in an ordinary instant – advanced stages of liver cancer that had spread.
“The doctor was sorry to pass on the news and couldn’t hold back tears. Cherie and I looked at each other, burst into tears and almost simultaneously said, ‘I think this is my ordinary instant.’
“I have been blessed with two great loves in my life. I struggled with relationships for the first 70 years. In 2012 the most amazing woman entered my life. Cherie taught me about unconditional love. She is the greatest blessing ever. It is never too late to start over. My three children embraced her from the beginning.
“My second love has been radio. Thank you for supporting my love affair for over a quarter of a century. I will be shutting down LARadio in the coming days.”
I asked Don if it was OK to share the news, and he told me that he keeps no secrets … and immediately thanked me for all I’ve done … typical Don … looking toward the positive. His positivity over time helped me to become more positive in life, a better person overall, and certainly a better supporter of the radio community. I have truly appreciated our friendship.
Barrett supported others as well, writing in that same post, “Another blessing, after 42 years of being clean and sober, I have been so privileged to share my experience, strength and hope with younger men on the path to sobriety.
“If we're lucky we get 28,000 days. Cherish them and don't waste one of them. God bless!”
The site’s front page is still up as I write this, but no content is available except for a mention of the shut down: “In an ordinary instant - cancer has taken LARadio.com”
Don - may your remaining time on earth be without pain and as positive as you deserve. Be with your family. And remember, you will forever and always be radio’s historian.
Condensed Access
AllAccess.Com founder Joel Denver announced in July that mid August would be its shutdown; early August bright some good news, with the following post on line … “The outpouring from the radio and music communities, our clients and partners since our ALL ACCESS closure announcement set for August 15th has been unbelievable. Thank you, so much. Your feedback gave us pause to review what could still be possible despite the financial headwinds we have been facing.
“ALL ACCESS has heard you loud and clear, so beginning AUGUST 16th, a modified/abbreviated ALLACCESS.COM site will be available with some basic services still intact.”
The daily Net News updates have been discontinued, as have much of the original content. But various elements will live on even if just archival form. Of course I hold out hope that over the course of time, more original content will return. For now … it’s good news regardless.
Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email [email protected].
///
Radio Waves: September 1, 2023
Antenna Mania
I recently had a chance to try out a really cool looking — at least in the opinion of some — antenna for my truck. The brand itself doesn’t matter much as these are all similar in design: flexible rubber with some sort of spiral wire inside to, as the description says, optimize reception for both AM and FM bands.
Most modern cars and trucks have special antennas that barely stick out of the body, and rely on signal amplifiers to get good reception. And most do quite well, including the one on my son’s Chevy Cruze … that radio gets better reception than almost any car radio I’ve ever used.
But my truck is a 1999 Silverado, with the old school antenna. The factory original sticking up 31 inches from the fender, it is optimized for FM frequencies but does quite well with AM too, including picking up the HD digital stream of KBRT (740 AM) from San Pedro. and occasionally getting the identification from KMZT (1260 AM) even though I can’t get the actual HD sound until I get closer. FM is similarly solid everywhere I drive.
But I couldn’t help wondering if the mini flex antenna — a “new generation” with a carbon-fiber base covering, built-in copper wire, and “optimized AM/FM reception by nearly 40%,” whatever that actually means — could live up to the hype and at least match or even beat my factory install.
Turns out, it couldn’t, and I realized that the 40% optimized reception means the reception is about 40% of what I used to receive with my original.
Most people may not have noticed the difference in FM performance, but I have an HD radio head unit, and it likes a good clear signal. FM stations generally did come in well with little interference similar to the original, though a few stations were just missing, such as KFBG (100.7 FM) and KGB (101.1 FM), which usually come in decently due to the signal shooting straight up the coast from San Diego to San Pedro … at least on a clear day.
But the HDs were hit and miss, with more reception problems than ever. Even Go Country (105.1 FM) had trouble locking in the HD stream, and that is usually one of the most reliable where I like.
AM on the other hand, was an entirely disappointing experience. Static everywhere, even over flamethrower 50,000 watt powerhouse KFI (640 AM). KMZT could not even be heard, and mid-signal stations such as KLAC (570 AM), KABC (790 AM), and KHJ (930 AM) were essentially unlistenable.
To prove it wasn’t just weather or atmospheric conditions on the test day, I put my factory antenna back on and all the reception problems cleared up. Immediately.
I bring this up not to bash the manufacturer of the antenna I evaluated. Instead I want to highlight the fact that antenna design, including length and other aspects, is exceedingly important to good reception. AM likes an antenna as long as possible, FM seems to work well with — on a car at least — that 31 inches preciously mentioned. Something to do with wavelength as I recall — engineers, feel free to confirm or correct me.
Newer cars usually use special small antennas are just that: antennas designed to work with the car’s construction and electronics to optimize reception.
Home radios and stereos can suffer from the same issues, and reception there can often be improved for AM by rotating the radio or moving it away from other electronics to cancel out interference. For FM, if you can connect it to a house antenna just like most televisions used to be, you’ll hear stations from greater distances than ever before.
Of course all of this is moot if you listen via apps. But that’s another column …
Sound Science
Another new toy I recently evaluated is a special little box that turns my normal iPhone’s Car Play wired system into wireless. Not an amazing must-have, mind you, but really a nice thing if you do have it. When I start up the truck, the phone connects automatically and starts playing whatever I was listening to last.
Yesterday I was driving my dog Snoopy back from a check-up at the vet’s office, and Alt 98.7 FM came on. I really wasn’t paying attention, but it turned out it was playing through CarPlay via the iHeart app. How does it compare with the over-the-air signal?
I checked. While it does sound good on the app, over the air is vastly superior on a direct comparison. More open, more dynamic … just better.
This is not an indictment of apps, by the way. Some stations, including both over-the air simulcasts and internet-only stations sound absolutely phenomenal on apps. And Alt does sound fine. But the difference in quality was noticeable, and probably related to reducing bandwidth on the internet stream to allow more connections as well as cut streaming costs. Just a guess … again, engineers can feel free to confirm or correct me.
Where the apps excel, though, are areas of weak reception. As long as the internet signal is good, apps can work where AM and FM cannot.
And while I am on the subject of Alt 98.7 … I mean this with love … The Foo Fighters and Maneskin both made more than one song each … just sayin’.
///
...more August 08, 2023Radio Waves Podcast #380 Radio:
August 11Hearing Taylor Swift 24/7 wasn’t
enough for you? You needed more?On the heals of Taylor 105.1 HD3,
in which one of the HD radio streams tied to Go Country 105 plays nothing butTaylor Swift (you need a special HD radio to hear it; new cars often have them)came word that KIIS-FM joined the trend.Scheduled for August 3-9 — so
depending on when you read this it may already be over — KIIS-FM became“SWFT-FM,” playing at least four Swift songs an hour. Last weekend includedclassic Taylor hits, Monday was Merch-Monday in which listeners could winofficial Swift memorabilia, Tuesday was Taylor TWOsday — back to back Swiftsongs — and much more.Even morning man Ryan Seacrest got
into the act giving way a pair of tickets for the final show on August 9th.Not to be outdone, Alt 98.7 was
doing an “anything but Swift” promotion. Different strokes.Stunting
While 105.1 HD3 continues to play
all Swift through the end of the month, rumors are circulating on what willhappen when the stunt is done. I originally assumed that the format wouldrevert to the Adult Standards format that focussed on Frank Sinatra andfriends, but there is word on the street that something new night be coming.And you know what happens when one assumes.HD radio signals are a tough sell,
as the reach is limited compared with regular FM signals, due to a far lowernumber of HD radios in the hands of consumers as well as receptionproblems — dropouts — when the signal isn’t pristine. That can often bemade up by the use of smartphone apps and smart speakers … unfortunately addingmore costs, such as music streaming license fees and costs associated withcomputers. As most HD signals have few to no commercials or sponsorships, it ismost definitely a labor of love for owners who truly try to make a go of it.Could the right format combined
with the right promotion make an HD stream at least break even, if notprofitable? That’s your question of the week: If you could program an HDstream, such as 105.1 HD3, what would you put on it and why? For extra credit,how might you promote the station to not only attract listeners, butadvertisers?In the meantime, I’ll keep an ear
to the ground to see if a new format will indeed be replacing All-Taylor.Not Quite
“In a significant change for Los
Angeles radio listeners, KNX has stopped simulcasting its broadcasts on 1070AM, a frequency it had occupied for over a century,” read the story posted atnewsbreak.com. “The shift comes about a year and a half after KNX movedits main broadcast to 97.1 FM.” The story — no longer available on line — wenton to state that listeners were shocked when they tuned in to 1070 AM anddidn’t hear the normal news format.A reader of this very column sent
me the posting; at first I just assumed that management made a decision thatwas, um, questionable. Most people I know still tune to KNX on the AM band dueto its significantly stronger signal, even if the fidelity on most radios isnot quite as good. “Stupid,” I responded.But then I tuned in to hear it for
myself. Same news as always, an exact simulcast as has been happening for thepast year. That’s odd…Soon KNX management responded
directly to the story: “Hi there, Alex Silverman here, Director of News &Programming at KNX News,” said the social media post. “Just want to clarify: wehave not ended the simulcast. KNX News is still on both 97.1 FM and 1070 AM inall hours except weekend mornings (Sat 6-11a and Sun 6-8a), when 1070 AM airssome paid and specialty programming.“This has been the case for more
than a year, and there has been no change recently. During those hours the newsis available on 97.1 FM as well as the Audacy app and by asking your smartspeaker to 'play KNX News.’”So what happened? AI, or artificial
intelligence that can be used to wrote stories. According to sources close tothe subject, it was a story written primarily by artificial intelligence, and Iwill go out on a limb and state that the AI system involved probably justpicked up a discussion by people related to the weekend morning paidprogramming. In the beginning of the simulcast, I am sure there were listenerssurprised/shocked/etc. to hear something other than news in those time blocks.But weekend mornings does not translate to all the time.Luckily for you, we don’t use AI
here. In fact, I try to avoid all intelligence, not just artificial. Just askmy editor - he’ll agree completely.Future Series
I am planning to start a feature in
stations that don’t exist any more. But not just the big boys, or even thebig-boys’ big formats. Stations like the original KDAY when it played top-40and rock. Magic Oldies Radio K-WOW. KBLA. Stations you loved, but were notnecessarily the stations that made it big.I can use your help on this … if
you have ideas for stations — and the personalities involved — to cover, sendthem my way.Radio: August 4, 2023
If you tuned in lately to digital HD Radio station 105.1 HD3
to hear Frank Sinatra and friends, you might have been shocked to find … TaylorSwift!In
a nod to the format stunts of the past, station owner Saul Levine has changedthe format of Unforgettable LA to Unforgettable Taylor Swift. I would havecalled it K-SWIFT, but I digress. In addition to the digital stream thatrequires a special HD tuner to receive, if you live in San Fernando, you canlisten on a regular FM radio via the local low-powered transmitter thatsimulcasts the format.Originally
scheduled to begin July 29th — my wife Jean’s birthday, by the way — it startedtwo days early and is planned to run for 30 days.Says
Levine: “Due to the extreme interest in the coming tour of Taylor Swift, we areplaying “All Taylor All the Time.” He added that the KKGO HD signals (there arefour) have a potential reach of 12 million people, and that many new carsinclude HD radios as standard or optional equipment, depending on themanufacturer.Discovering
RadioSomething
wrong with the software or a module in my wife’s car causes her radio to“forget” four of the preset pages, which also leads to the radio tuning in thelast AM or FM station heard no matter what other setting you had. For example,you might have been tuned into SiriusXM’s Coffeehouse when you were driving …next time you start up, you’re back listening to the radio.I
don’t think it’s a feature pushed by broadcasters in order to get peoplelistening to traditional radio. But it is working … Jean has spent the lastmonth listening to Alt 98.7 and KRTH 101. “It’s too much trouble to switchback,” she says, adding that she’s enjoyed the music.AM
for AllThough
automaker Ford agreed to keep AM radio in its cars for at least one more modelyear, there are others that already removed it from the dashboard and thethreat is there regardless. So work continues in the legislative arena.Last
week the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation passed the“AM for Every Vehicle Act,” sending it to the full Senate for debate.According
to industry newspaper Radio World (radioworld.com), The act “would direct theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a rule requiringautomakers to maintain AM broadcast radio in their vehicles without a separateor additional payment, fee or surcharge. It says AM should be clearly visibleon the vehicle’s dashboard; and until the new standard would take effect, carslacking AM radio receivers would have to be labeled as such for buyers.”Interestingly,
the act was opposed by Senate Democrat Gary Peters (Michigan), who stated thatthe act is not only unnecessary, but that “Congress has never mandated radiofeatures in vehicles ever before.”Ah,
but while Congress may not have, the FCC required something similar in the1960s when it mandated all televisions include UHF tuners (covering channels14-83) in the days when most homes watched VHF (channels 2-13). So it’s notexactly unprecedented. In fact, had the FCC mandated AM stereo or selected asingle stereo system for the band, we may not be in the position we are inright now.Some
observers are concerned, however, that mandating AM without minimum qualitystandards for reception may make things worse.
Radio Waves: July 28, 2023Ken and Dave talkradio!If you have
not already subscribed to Ken Levine’s podcast — available on multiple sourcesincluding Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Audible, or even links at his blog page,kenlevine.blogspot.com — you owe it to yourself to start listening. Right now.Go ahead …
I’ll wait.Levine is a
multi-talented man, having worked in radio (aka Beaver Cleaver on Ten-Q andB-100 among others), written for television and movies, written books andcartoons, and even written plays. His intelligence, humor, and humble attitudeshine through his writings, and his “Hollywood and Levine” podcast is superb.Recently he
interviewed former programmer of The Sound, Dave Beasing —now a podcast creatorand developer himself, regarding all things radio: programming, music,competition, commercials and more. I won’t give away the content, but sufficeto say that he talks about much of what is discussed right here … or when heguests on my own podcast I co-cost with Mike Stark (Radio Waves, also availableon numerous platforms). Great minds think alike, apparently.Beasing, or
for that matter Levine, Stark, and myself, is a huge fan of radio and thepotential it has still. Not that he would want to necessarily be directlyinvolved in day to day programming right now. But his insight and knowledge ofradio and podcasting is tremendous. Look for episodes 333 and 334.Career-Spanning InterviewsSpeaking of
Stark and myself – over the years we have done numerous career-spanninginterviews with people both in front of and behind the radio microphone whomade huge contributions to our favorite medium.The series
actually goes back many years and includes some greats, including:Los Angeles
and surrounding city air personalities: Ace Young (KMET), Jeff Gonzer (KMET),Cynthia Fox (KMET), Dr. Demento (KMET), Elliot Mintz (KABC), Mo Kelly (KFI),Geno Michellini,(KLOS) , Shotgun Tom Kelly (KRTH), Dave “Hullabalooer” Hull,(KRLA), JJ Johnson (KDAY), Ken Levine (KTNQ, KABC), Poorman (KROQ), Thrasher(KNAC), Phil Hulett (KFWB), the “Insane” Darrell Wayne (KROQ), Lee Marshall(KHJ, KABC) and a tribute to newswoman LizFulton (KIIS-FM).Program
Directors: Chuck Martin (KHJ) and Dave Beasing (The Sound).Radio
executives: Jeff Smulyan and Rick Cummings (Emmis Communications)Radio
historian: Don Barrett (LARadio.com)Listen day
or night – 24/7 on TuneIn at: https://tunein.com/radio/LA-Radio-Studio-s196975/or tell your smart device to “Play LA Radio Studio”.The shows
will run continuously — and randomly — through mid-August, and will be aregular part of the stream’s programming after that.We
definitely need to do some more of them as well!Where’s KaplanWhere is
Leon Kaplan, the longtime “Motorman” as heard weekends on KABC (790 AM) for,well, seemingly forever?Retired,
says KPFK (90.7 FM) “The Car Show” host Dave Kunz. Kunz posted on social media,“Congratulations to my friend Leon ‘Motorman’ Kaplan, retiring after anincredible 43 years on the air at ONE radio station.No word on
if it was his decision or not, but with new management coming in, perhaps hejust decided to hang it up.State of the IndustryThe news
broke with an announcement on its own website July 14th: radio and musicindustry news site AllAccess.Com will be shutting down.“It is with
much sadness that we announce that in our 28th year ofoperation, ALLACCESS.COM will cease publishing at the close ofbusiness at 6p (PT), TUESDAY, AUGUST 15th, 2023 due to a marked decrease inrevenues that makes moving forward impossible. The site will remain online foran undetermined amount of time.“This was
not a decision that was reached lightly nor without earnest tries to find apath forward. It comes on the heels of major changes in the music industryannounced in JANUARY of this year. These strong financial headwinds also extendto our non-music partners as well. Both downturns have greatly affected how ALLACCESS operates. The dollars are just not there to support our operation andstaff any longer. “The changes
in the music industry mentioned reflect changes in promotions … and the budgetsspent on said promotions, which are in decline. With the radio industry itselfalready having done that years ago, I can see why publisher and site founder Joel Denver ispulling the plug.But it is a
huge loss for both music and radio fans … All Access has been a source ofinformation and research since its founding in 1995. And a class act the entiretime. I will miss it a lot.///
...more July 17, 2023Radio Waves Podcast #379 Radio
July 21, 2023Billboard Magazine announced last
week that — with her song “Karma” making it to #1 on the Pop Airplay chart —Taylor Swift has tied the record for the most number one songs by an artist inthe history of the chart.“Karma” is her 11th #1 hit, and
that record puts her in good company, tying with Maroon 5, Katy Perry, andRihanna who all also had 11 Number 1s. Right below them is Justin Bieber withten Number 1s. No other artists are in the double digits.Now, you may be asking how can that
be? What about The Beatles? The Bee Gees? Michael Jackson? Elvis? Well, it’snot really a technicality, but it has to do with what the list actuallymeasures and how old the list goes back. In this case it is a measure not ofsales, but how many times the song has been played by major stations across thecountry … and it only goes back as far as October, 1992.If you investigate the actual
number of times an artist hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, the leaderin indeed The Beatles, with 20 Number 1 hits; Mariah Carey is second on thatlist with 19. Where’s Elvis? Third, with 18.Small Town Radio
Brian Winnekins is the owner of
WRDN/Durand Wisconsin, one of the handful of AM AM stations across the countrystill utilizing the Motorola C-Quam stereo system, which means that mostcurrent radios can’t decode the stereo signal, but many from the 1980s and ‘90sstill can. With the improvements and investments in equipment he (and those insimilar situations) have made, his stations sounds remarkable on any decentradio — stereo or not.Durand is a small farming town,
with a population of only about 1900 residents in the 2020 Census. But unlikesome small town stations, Winnekins doesn’t take the easy way out by justputting on syndicated programming or political talk. Instead he takes hiscommunity service roll seriously, and presents extensive agricultural news andinformation, local high school athletic games, local news, local events, andlocal weather. Oh, and country music.Note the word local. Back to that
soon.Recently, Winnekins posted
information on Facebook regarding the station’s Summer programming special:“Doing the community service thing from our first fair of season,” he wrote.“Yes we do live video streams of livestock shows. Don't laugh, we have 17sponsors.”Seventeen sponsors, in a town of
fewer than 2000 residents, not counting the cattle. On a station that is on theband that some say is dead. How can that be?Back to the word “local.” It is so
key to connecting with your audience — and advertisers. That focus on the localaudience is what makes the difference. An active audience that can then bereached by local advertisers who have no other easy way to reach their targetcustomers.But certainly you could not do that
in Southern California. Really? Why not? There used to be local stations … infact all the stations used to be local in some sense. But the move to become“bigger” can hurt when you can’t compete against the big boys with, forexample, a limited signal. Or even just a limited budget. The solution? Programlocal.The original setup of many stations
was designed to be locally-focussed. As some stations grew, they becamedominant, of course. But there was still room for stations serving a localaudience. KGIL (now KMZT, 1260 AM) was designed and originally programmed forthe San Fernando Valley. KEZY (now KGBN, 1190 AM) was for Anaheim. KFOX (nowKDAY, 93.1 FM) was for Redondo Beach. How about a station actually programmingto the local community, whatever that community may be? San Pedro … Wilmington… Huntington Park … Hermosa Beach… Fountain Valley… You get the idea.If I was a local business owner, I
could probably never afford to buy advertising time on KIIS-FM (102.7), and itwould probably not be worth it even if I could. But if I could advertise on astation targeting my local community, it might be the best marketing investmentI could make.So as we continue the talk of
helping improve radio, programmers must remember that local trumps all, evenfor the larger stations. KHJ (930 AM) wasn’t the most influential station ofits time when it played top-40 because it syndicated its programming or usedout of town DJs… it was so because it was Los Angeles… there were stationssimilar, but there was only on KHJ. Only one KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM).Only one KROQ (106.7 FM).Be the best you can be, program
locally, and there is no stopping you.Wheel of Reaction
Not everyone was happy with the
news that KIIS morning man Ryan Seacrest was chosen as the replacement host for“Wheel of Fortune” when Pat Sajak retires. Posts on social media were not allpositive, and letters from you were not necessarily supportive either…
“Seacrest sucks! He's going to
drive that show off a cliff faster than Dick Clark in a van getting away fromMichael Moore in ‘Bowling for Columbine.’” says reader Eric Peterson.In case you don’t know the
reference, as explained on documentarychannel.tumblr.com, in the movie “the formerAmerican Bandstand host is ambushed outside his production office and made tolook insensitive because he shuts a minivan door in the filmmaker’s face.”I’m still reserving judgement. You
never know who will make a good host … I thought Snoop Dogg was going to beawful on the relaunch of television game show “Joker’s Wild.” Instead he provedto be quite good at it. Who knew?Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro
freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email [email protected].///
RadioWaves: July 14, 2023McIntyre’s Musings“About 15-years ago, I did one air shift at KFI (640 AM) radio,
wrote (former) longtime KABC (790 AM) morning talker Doug McIntyre on a socialmedia post. “I so impressed management that, after only a decade and a half,they have invited me back. I will be filling in for John & Ken on Thursday,June 29th and Friday, June 30th from 1-4pm. Nobody is more surprised than me.”He did fill in, and it most certainly did not go unnoticed by
you … I received numerous emails asking if, just perhaps, McIntyre might comeback permanently to radio via KFI. So I asked; his response will disappointsomewhat. But there is some good news too.“I’m just happy to have had the opportunity to fill-in for John
and Ken, McIntyre explained, adding, “I am not looking for work. They called andasked if I’d do it and the timing was good, especially with my book coming outJuly 18th, so I said yes.“It was a ton of fun, but after 4-1/2 years off the air, I was
as nervous as I was the first time I ever hosted a show. I’d be happy to domore fill-in work if they ask. I have a lot of old friends in the building.”Any possibility of a permanent position? Not interested.
But the book? What’s up with that? I have not read it, have not
seen an advanced copy, nor do I have any real information as to its content.But I do know it is being released (as stated) on July 18th. And it is hisfirst full-length novel, entitled “Frank’s Shadow.”You can read the synopsis by searching out the title, but this
part of the description jumped out when I read it on various bookseller sites:“Frank’s Shadow is a deeply (sometimes darkly) human story wrapped in thetrappings of a delightfully gritty love letter to New York City’s lessglamorous neighborhoods.” Sounds intriguing!McIntyre will be out promoting the book in person Tuesday July
18th from 7 to 8:30 p.m. atThe Grove at Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles; July 22nd from noon to 1:30 p.m.at Gatsby’s in Long Beach; and July 26th from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Pages: A BookStore in Manhattan Beach. More signing events will be held in August as well …you can see a calendar of events for the book and other aspects of his life atdougmcintyre.com/upcoming-appearances.More Oldies … on Hit Radio?Well, I guess it figured to happen. Considering that even the
supposed new music stations like Alt 98.7 FM and KROQ (106.7 FM) areessentially alternative oldies stations, perhaps it was just a matter of timebefore top-40 stations became oldies stations as well.I mean, why attract young people to radio when you can play the
same songs you played 20 years ago? Simple. Easy. Mindless. Lazy.I am referring to a trend highlighted in a recent
RadioInsight.Com report by Lance Venta, who writes that “WKFSMilford/Cincinnati Ohio has joined the growing number of CHR stations shiftingto a gold-heavy presentation.“WKFS is still playing 3-4 currents per hour, but has removed
all of its re-currents and recent golds replacing them with golds mostly from2000 to 2010,” he says.To translate that into normal-speak, what they have done is
limited new releases — within the past year or so — to three or four songs perhour, cut back on music over a year old (re-currents) along with those justslightly older (recent golds). In their place are what we used to call oldies –songs over ten years old. Note that the station is not going back too far,though it is the modern equivalent of when stations like KHJ (930 AM) or K-WEST(now KPWR, 105.9 FM) would drop back into the 1960s era when they played top-40in the 1980s … or when KHJ played songs from the ‘50s in the 1960s and ‘70s.The difference, though, is that stations like KHJ and K-WEST
maintained playing a LOT of new music, and the oldies added spice to the mix,maybe twice an hour at most. And they were carefully selected to make you go“wow – I haven’t heard that in years.” Usually the songs were part of aflashback specially highlighted as “Yesterday,” “Number One then…” or the “timemachine.”The modern version, by contrast, places the oldies at the
top-tier. Which would be OK if the stations sold themselves as the oldiesstations that they are, much like KRTH (101.1 FM) did in the late 1970s andearly 1980s.Perhaps it will work, and radio can continue to shun younger
listeners, forcing them to other entertainment sources. But I find the entiremovement kind of sad when formats that are supposed to play new music … don’t.If this continues, the only people who will listen to radio will be older thanme.Sure it could bring in some listeners from other stations. But
it won’t bring in new listeners to radio, and it is basically the easy way totemporarily make a buck. Like other make-a-buck schemes of the past — satelliteformats, “Jack” formats, cloned stations in every market, little promotion,nationwide contests, one DJ for multiple stations — it will do nothing to makeradio competitive long term against the industry’s numerous competitors, fromstreaming services to TikTok.Sometimes it really does seem that the radio industry wants to
fail.Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering
radio in Southern California. Email [email protected].
Radio Waves: July 7, 2023Seacrest Takes the WheelRadio has a long history of sending many of its top
personalities to host television game shows. Among the most famous include WinkMartindale, Jim Lange, Bob Eubanks, Gene Rayburn, and Pat Sajak, among manymore.To that list, add KIIS (102.7 FM) morning man Ryan Seacrest, who
will replace Sajak on “Wheel of Fortune” at the end of the 2024 season. WhenSajak leaves, he will end more than four decades with the show, after takingover for original host Chuck Woolery who left the show in a salary dispute in December,1981.Seacrest got his start in Los Angeles radio in 2004 at Star 98.7
FM (now known as Alt 98.7, KYSR). But he was only 16 when started in theprofession by winning an internship at his hometown radio station WSTR/Atlantawhere he learned all aspects of radio … including filling in for ill orvacationing air personalities and eventually getting a regular weekend shift …while still in high school.His show on Star was during afternoon drive, and he was
definitely a “star” (pardon the pun) on the station paired with Lisa Fox. Heleft for San Francisco’s K-101 in 2003, returning to Los Angeles less than ayear later to replace Rick Dees in February, 2004, a position he still holdsand has held all the while taking on numerous other radio and television gigsincluding hosting syndicated radio program “American Top 40” and televisionshows such as “American Idol,” “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” and the legendary“New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” which he inherited from another radio personality,Dick Clark.Many have compared Seacrest with Clark, primarily due to his
boyish looks and on-air charm.He has always been able to engage his audiences, and Seacrest has often saidthat he idolized Clark growing up.Interestingly and somewhat humorously, there was some pushback
on the internet boards over the announcement of the Wheel replacement. Onecomment on twitter asked “how many jobs do you need?” with another pleading himto reconsider, writing “We don’t want you! Go away lol! You’re just going toruin this amazing show.”“Wheel” producers obviously feel differently, and are paying
Seacrest a reported $28 million per season, $13 million more than Sajakreportedly earned from the show. Sajak, by the way, will stay on as aconsultant for three years. For historical reference, Woolery was let go whenhe was asking $500,000 per season.Salary issues aside, I do think Seacrest will be a good host.
His radio duties including hosting KIIS mornings will continue at least through2025, the end of his current contract. My hunch is that he will remain at KIISfar longer. Radio stations often benefit from television exposure of theirpersonalities, and you can’t get much more exposure than Seacrest.Cardinal RuleA wise programmer and consultant once told me that a general
interest morning show should shun discussion or presentation of politicalviewpoints in order to avoid ticking off half of your potential audience.Which is why I was so surprised when I tuned in to KROQ’s (106.7
FM) morning Klein and Allyshow last Friday. During a segment that was presented as news, co-host AllyJohnson launched into a short rant condemning a recent Supreme Court decisionand lamenting how bad the country has become.Remember, this was supposedly news, though the segment also
devolved to include conjecture as to how couples can “hook up” behind the rowsof port-a-potties at festival concerts. KROQ does not run editorials.Personally, I don’t care what her opinion is, on any subject.
She can think whatever she wants. But if I was the program director of KROQ,trying to build an audience for a dying station against competition that hasbeen killing the morning show in the ratings for years? I’d be livid.If I were in management for the ownership, Audacy, which just
instituted a reverse 1-for-30 stock split in order to try to shore up finances… I’d be questioning my choice of program director. There’s just too much atstake....more June 27, 2023Radio Waves Podcast #378 Radio Waves: June 30, 2023
Remembering John FelzJohn Felz began his radio career in 1971, working in the mail
room of KMPC (now KSPN, 710 AM). In the small-world department, one of hiscolleagues in the mail room was future KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM) newscaster andpersonality Pat “Paraquat” Kelley, whose father Bob Kelley was the play-by-playannouncer for the Los Angeles Rams.After a time, Felz was moved to the newsroom as an assistant,
supporting the newsroom staff by sorting and compiling stories that came acrossthe teletype machines from the various news services of the time, including theAssociated Press and United Press International. His duties also includedwriting sports and weather reports for the news anchors and stationpersonalities such as Dick Whittinghill, Ira Cook, Johnny Grant, Gary Owens,Geoff Edwards, Johnny Magnus, Wink Martindale and Robert W. Morgan.Eventually he expanded into more programming elements both
within the station and as part of the Golden West Broadcasters Radio Network —Golden West owned KMPC and the station was its flagship — which carried gamesfor the California Angels, the Rams, and UCLA football and basketball. Felz wasin charge of producing in-studio and in-stadium broadcasts for the networkaffiliates.He moved on — and up — to hold positions in management, including
Operations Director, Assistant Programmer, and producer for the morning show.He left KMPC in 1995 and worked at a few stations, notably KRTH
(101.1 FM), KIEV (now KRLA, 870 AM), and the Music of Your Life RadioNetwork.Felz passed away on June 11th at the age of 78; no details on
the cause of his death were released but friends say he had been having aseries of health complications that most likely played a role. Friends andfamily will gather for a remembrance of his life on July 1st in Sherman Oaks.Bebop DeluxeNo, not the band. After a year of preparations, KKJZ (88.1 FM)
has launched a full-time bebop jazz sub-station, which can be heard online(look for the special button at jazzandblues.org) or on a digital HD radiotuner on 88.1 HD2.While I am certainly not an expert, I do know that bebop is a
style of jazz music that is generally fast-tempo, uses many chord changes andeven key changes … and a lot of improvisation. This came about due to a youngergeneration of jazz musicians pushing the creative boundaries of the genre inthe early to mid 1940s. Unlike much of the music of the time, bebop was notintended as being danceable; instead it was to be heard. Charlie Parker, SonnyRollins and Miles Davis are among the influential bebop artists and composers.Station consultant Saul Levine says that the music is being
compiled by the KKJZ staff, directed by Jose Rizo. “We are fulfilling a needfor jazz lovers, and we thank the California State University, Long Beach —owner of the station — for its support of our efforts.”“We are doing this in honor if Chuck Miles and the great bebop
music of the past.” he said.Hayes OutThe rumors proved to be true … I had heard rumors from
absolutely reliable sources that KABC (790 AM) programmer and market managerDrew Hayes had parted ways with the station and owner Cumulus Media, but Icould not get confirmation from any of the players involved.Turns out the rumors were true. AllAccess.Com confirmed that
Hayes left the station in earlier June after many years with the station … thisbeing his second stint.Hayes has extensive experience in the format and in radio,
having worked at WLS/Chicago, ESPN Radio, and KABC itself the last ten years inaddition to his first time at the helm back in the late 1990s.Where this takes the station is unknown. It has been years since
KABC has been any type of force in the market, and conditions have gotten worseas owner Cumulus continues to shed costs .. and stations. I cannot evenremember the last time I saw an ad for KABC … the last one I can rememberfeatured Ken (Minyard) and Bob (Arthur) … meaning it was decades ago.With all the choices for stations and non-radio entertainment, a
marketing plan is imperative. KABC has had none, and the results speak forthemselves.And rumors continue to swirl regarding Cumulus simply selling
the station, so perhaps Hayes dodged a proverbial bullet.Radio Waves: June 23, 2023Where’s My Oldies?I received more than a few emails regarding the loss of the LA
Oldies (aka K-SURF) stream. While the station can still be heard over theairwaves if you have an HD radio and are able to clearly tunein 105.1 HD4, many listeners used the internet or smartphone apps to listen,and that’s what had been turned off due to the costs involved. The financialburden for streaming rights has been an issue for many stations, especially insmaller markets and niche formats.Station owner Saul Levine knew that people liked the station and
listened through the stream, but he didn’t realize just how many. And it caughthim somewhat off guard when he started receiving calls and emails from aroundthe world asking what happened.“I was amazed at the response and the size of the audience,” he
told me in early June. “We are reviewing the potential to bring it back,especially if we can cover the costs to stream it.”Then, last week, the good news: “K-SURF is making its way back
on the air,” Levine told me. “The outpouring of excitement for the formatsurprised me. K-SURF is truly America’s Oldies station.”It is taking time to get things going, but it will be back, he
says, with an even better experience on the apps. That’s music to many ears.Legend SoldThe original KRLA (now KRDC, 1110 AM) has been sold.
Unfortunately not to anyone who will play top-40 or oldies as I would havedone. Perhaps bring back some of the magic that once propelled the station tothe top of the ratings in the 1960s or even as HitRadio 11 in the 1970s.Disney sold its last remaining radio property to Calvary Chapel
of Costa Mesa for $5 million. Calvary also owns KWVE/San Clemente (107.9 FM) …Southern California’s other Wave (K-Wave), not to be confusedwith KTWV (94.7 FM – The Wave).Not that I expect anyone to confuse K-Wave with The Wave, but it
is interesting that both stations serve much of the same area.I am a little surprised that Calvary bought KRDC as they already
own a very powerful FM station, while KRDC’s signal is hampered with an oddtransmitting pattern that seems to send much of the signal over the ocean.Perhaps they have plans to put some money into refurbishing the transmittersite. Nominating Class of ’23The Museum of Broadcast Communications — part of the Museum of
Broadcast Communications in Chicago — received over 2500 suggestions for newinductees into the Radio Hall of Fame. In the end they whittled the list downto 24 candidates.Among the nominees is our own John and Ken (currently heard 1-4
p.m. on KFI 640 AM), former local talk host Larry Elder, and Shadoe Stevens(KRLA, KMET, KROQ). You may also remember Stevens as Fred Rated, the“spokesman” for the now defunct Federated Group, and the voice of also defunctUniversity Stereo among his popular voiceover work.The full list, in alphabetical order by first name — for
whatever reason — as presented on the websiteradiohalloffame.com/2023-nominees:Bert Weiss, Bob Rivers, Charles Laquidara, Dyana Williams, Gerry
House, Jaime Jarrin, John & Ken, John DeBella, Johnny Magic, Kevin Matthews,Kid Leo (Lawrence Travagliante), Larry Elder, Laurie DeYoung, Lee Harris, Rev.Louise Williams Bishop, Mark Simone, Mary McCoy, Matt Siegel, Mojo in theMorning, Monica May, Nina Totenberg, Pat St. John, Shadoe Stevens, and Shelley“The Playboy” Stewart.Voting among 800 specially selected industry insiders will run
through the end of the month; this year’s inductees will be announced on July24th.PlaybackJust a few comments from recent columns …
“I read your column this morning and I sure agree with you
regarding KABC. The station could be so much, but it has just become plainawful lately. The presentation is just terrible.“I would hate to see one of the last stations to leave talk
radio. I disagree with you in that it should be converted to music. Don’twe have enough music stations already?” — Mike SkibbaNot on AM … and that is a concern for me. Some owners are
turning in licenses because the land they sit on is worth more than the stationitself. Not enough listeners (and those that do listen are old like me orolder, so advertisers don’t want them) because there is too much politicaltalk, sports, etc. … there needs ti be something that attracts youngerlisteners before the band disappears completely, perhaps as soon as one moregeneration.“I used to listen to KABC all day but not anymore. It is
all politics and especially LA politics and I live in the OC. I would LOVE tofind an oldies station (50’s 60’s 70’s) and see John Phillips on TV or onanother stronger station. He is the only one I listen to now. — Lin Akins///
Radio Waves: June 16, 2023Goodbye, Jeff BaughThese are getting difficult to write: we lost another good one
last week.Jeff Baugh, who reported on traffic conditions and major news
stories from the air for almost 40 years, passed away June 6th due to lungcancer. He was 81.Baugh was with only three stations his entire Los Angeles radio
career: KFWB (980 AM) starting in 1986, followed by KNX (1070 AM … the FMsimulcast did not exist at the time) in 2008, and KFI from 2017 until hisdeath. His approach to traffic reporting was listener-driven – he didn’tbelieve it was enough to report on an incident, he understood the importance ofmaking the reports relevant and useful by explaining, whenever possible, how toget around the problem.LARadio.Com’s Don Barrett was a friend of Baugh’s; he says that
Baugh’s smile was contagious … one “that you would never forget – a smile that wouldlight up the dreariest of skies.”Born in Brooklyn on November 15, 1942, Baugh was a Marine who
served two tours in Vietnam. After the war he eventually found himself in LosAngeles where he became a DJ at Carlos and Charlie’s on the Sunset Strip untilhe landed at KFWB. As an airborne reporter, he was the recipient of numerousawards including multiple Golden Mikes, the award of awards for local newsreporting.Back LiveLive 105 (KITS/San Francisco) was the Bay Area’s alternative
music source for over 30 years before first switching its name to “Alt 105.3”in 2017 and then changing its name and format to the soul-less adult hitsJack-FM clone called “Dave FM” just under two years ago.Well, that didn’t work, so Live 105 is back. The switch happened
on June 2nd and included a fairly creative pre-recorded promo announcing thechange, including a short portion of the classic Cheech and Chong routinestating that “Dave’s not here!”The change back has caused quite a buzz throughout the area,
including coverage from local newspapers and television stations, as well asposts all over social media and studies from industry observers. Headlines suchas “Listeners rejoice as Live 105 returns to the airwaves” are common.Currently the station is running jockless; DJs are expected on
the air in the coming weeks. As I tuned in on the internet stream, though, onething stuck out … in its current form — like our own KROQ (106.7 FM) — it isbasically an oldies station. I listened for an hour earlier in the day beforewriting this and heard only a few songs released in the pasts three years.Perhaps it is by design; Live 105 and KROQ are both owned by the
same company — Audacy — so perhaps copying KROQ is policy. Or it could be thatthe play list was still filled by many of the former Dave-FM songs … as so manysemi-alternative songs can also be found on Jack-FM right here … also owned byAudacy.My hope, though, is that new songs will become more prevalent
and help make the format a success, which may help spread the idea to here.Overall, I’d say this is a tremendously positive move. Now we
just need to get the big 610 KFRC back on the air … Live trivia: Alt 98.7’s“The Woody Show” originated at Live 105 and was heard there until it wasremoved from the air for reasons that still are not totally clear. Their lossis our gain, of course.Changes at KABCHost Leo Terrell and programmer Drew Hayes are both out at KABC
(790 AM). It appears that Hayes was let go and that Terrell left on his ownterms in response. Left unsaid is what will happen with the rest of thestation. For now, no one is talking.But something does need to be done. It has been decades since
KABC was truly relevant; too many syndicated programs and a woeful lack ofpromotion left the station so low in the ratings that many industry watcherswere wondering when, not if, a change would come.Personally, if I owned the station, I’d switch it to music.
Perhaps a full service format backed by the oldies — or mellow rock — that youno longer hear on the radio.But if management wants to keep it talk, start with the
strengths, primarily mid-day son John Phillips. Phillips has a way of makingpolitics and local issues entertaining and informative without preaching to thechoir, and is definitely, by far, the best show on the station.Once the hosts are chosen, it is imperative to clean up the
on-air presentation. Too many programs sound like a bad college or high-schoolstation, with volume levels uneven, unclear sound, music played too loud overthe host making it difficult to hear, and an overall sound that screamslow-budget. Additionally, promotional announcements sound too much like theyare talking at listeners not to listeners.Strange that the station that launched full-time talk in Los
Angeles does it so badly today.It could work, though. Once mostly live and local hosts are in
place — you can keep a few of the syndicated podcast shows — then it’s time to clean up the soundby dumping all pre-recorded promos and make them all read by the hoststhemselves. I don’t need to hear the deep-voice guy say “Dan – Bon – Gino”exactly the same way multiple times each day, every day.Just a thought, anyway. Let me ask you this – what would you do
with KABC?///
Radio Waves: June 9, 2023No Surf?For a station with little exposure, LA Oldies — also known as
K-SURF — has quite afollowing. At one time available on the AM band at 1260 kHZ, it moved off theband to make way for K-Mozart, relegating it to the HD4 digital radio streamtied to KKGO (105.1 FM) but still available world-wide on the internet, smartphone apps and smart speakers.No longer. Station owner Saul Levine confirmed that the station
stoped streaming as of May 22nd, a victim of increased streaming and licensingcosts.It’s not necessarily gone forever, and is still available on the
HD stream if you own an HD Radio-capable receiver. Many carshave them as standard or available equipment, and aftermarket radios ofteninclude HD standard as well.Keep in mind, Levine is a radio guy at heart and indicated that
if he could figure out a way to at least cover the costs — via a new marketingplan, for example — it could very well return. In that vein, if you or someoneyou know wants to become an LA Oldies sponsor, you might consider contactinghim. Just sayin’ …But that doesn’t help now … where can former LA Oldies listeners
find the music they like? Luckily, there are some alternatives that might notbe exactly like the old K-Surf, but are quite good in their own approach. Someinitial suggestions:• Big 8 Radio, a tribute to CKLW, which still broadcasts from Windsor/Ontario
but basically serves The Motor City Detroit. The broadcast station runs talknow, but was a Boss Radio station in the 1960s, and that is the focus of thistribute. You can tune in on various apps (I recommend StreamS HiFi Audio andMyTunerRadio) or at the website big8radio.com. It’s the Detroit version of BossRadio, and noncommercial as well.The station plays primarily hits of the 1960s but dips into the
‘50s and ‘70s as well. As I write this, they are presenting a Million DollarWeekend, which fans of RKO top-40 and Boss Radio stations (KHJ, KGB, KFRC,CKLW, and more) will remember well.• The Eagle, playing non-stop ‘70s music. I wouldn’t call it a
station tribute; more like an era-tribute, but remarkably well-produced. TheEagle, like Big 8 Radio, has stunning sound quality (especially using StreamS)and has a format that runs the full decade of 1970-1979 (or is it 1971-1980?)give or take a year or so. Find it on the apps as well as TheEagle.FM• Top 40 Hit Clock, which plays clusters of songs by year, and
covers the 1950s through the ‘70s. It’s a tough find and doesn’t always show onthe app searches; the best way to hear it is to use the online stream link,which is https://la2.indexcom.com/player/6.Fidelity of this is also remarkably good, and can beconfigured on the apps … I just can’t remember how. It definitely took someexperimentation.You can also find a ton of streaming internet-only as well as
broadcast stations using the apps; just search by genre and decade. The goodnews for LA Oldies fans? Levine told me that he was “amazed at the nationalresponse and national audience.” He has been receiving emails from fans aroundthe country. As we speak, he is reviewing ways to make it work.Feedback Loop“The main thing I don’t like about local radio is there are just
too many commercials. Once when I was in my car, all the radio stations I hadon my presets had commercials … at the same time! The other issue I have is therepetition of the music that is being played, especially on the classic hitsand classic rock stations I listen to.“The main thing I really enjoy about local radio is the DJs I
listen to. It is so good to actually hear a live voice talking to you. I likeDJs that announce the songs, tell you the time, and the weather. I also enjoyhearing people winning contests on the radio and the voice of the DJs showinghow happy they are for the listener who won. You just don’t get that samefeeling when you listen to a radio station that is automated, with no onethere. The best part is you are truly never really alone, it is like having adear friend over to your place to visit with you. — Russ, Glendale“I usually find your takes spot on, but as a former Woody
listener, I am now back on KROQ (106.7 FM) with Kline and Ally. Show is so muchmore So Cal, and actually find myself laughing a lot more without all the oldsounding ‘radio bits.’“I get an authentic early Stern vibe but with modern humor from
Kline. Ally has grown on me a lot. I hear a lot of people talking about that‘morning show on KROQ’ and talking about what they heard. I always think goodradio (and TV) does that. Make people think and tell others. I think they aredoing it better than most right now.” — Troy GrassoYou definitely hit the nail … word of mouth and a positive
“vibe” are definitely the ways to go. Definitely....more June 01, 2023Radio Waves Podcast #377 Radio:
June 2, 2023Whether it was the threat of
legislative action that would require it, or just a reaction to simple lobbyingby government officials, listeners and buyers alike, Ford announced that it hasreversed its decision to remove AM radio capabilities from some gas-poweredvehicles in 2024 and through a software update will add the ability to receiveAM in its 2023 electric vehicles.One of the arguments for
maintaining the ability to receive AM signals has to do with safety - theEmergency Alert System often relies on AM stations to spread news andinformation in the case of an emergency — KFI (640 AM) is the key link locally,for example — and the long-distance reception that AM transmissions offer canget news to distant rural areas with ease.It is honestly a compelling
argument; while cell-phone notifications can also be used in emergencies, thecellular network relies on cell towers and internet connections, which are notnearly as universal or robust as AM transmissions.The notice was made by Ford CEO Jim
Farley via social media posts, writing in Twitter, “After speaking with policyleaders about the importance of AM broadcast radio as a part of the emergencyalert system, we've decided to include it on all 2024 Ford &LincolnMotorCo vehicles. For any owners of FordEVs without AM broadcast capability, we’ll offer a software update.”Notice the year: 2024. Nothing is
stated on any year further ahead, so the battle may not necessarily be over.And obviously Ford’s decision doesn’t affect the operations of other companieswith what I consider bad engineering departments — those that can’t figure outhow to eliminate interference from their electric vehicles even though itdoesn’t seem to be an issue with the likes of General Motors, Toyota, and now,of course Ford. Yes, BMW, Volvo, Volkswagen, Tesla, Rivian and Mazda — all ofwhich have already or plan to remove AM from the dashboard — I just outedyour lack of basic engineering expertise. Convince me otherwise.So the legislative action continues
and may indeed require AM reception in all vehicles in the future,similar to how television sets were required to offer UHF tuners starting inthe 1960s.Yet I can’t shake the feeling that
if more AM stations offered compelling programming and maintained their signalsbetter, we wouldn’t be having this discussion at all. But you already know myposition on that. Perhaps the renewed focus on AM will help start someprogramming momentum.Cheers and Jeers
More on your radio loves and
tune-outs:“My wife and I enjoy listening to
the radio during the day. What we dislike is hearing the same five songs(on every channel) over and over every day and usually at the exact same times,when there is such a wealth of good oldies music available from the 50's, 60s,and 70s. Thank you for asking” — Tony Elia, Mission Viejo“My comment on news radio stations,
particularly morning KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM), is that they read the news toofast and don't use proper nouns much. They usually say the proper noun of acity or person at the beginning of the story but from then on it's just: cityor he or she. Sometimes I miss the proper name and don't know the location orwho the story is referring to. Also, an introductory phrase between storieswould help - sometimes I'm still trying to digest a story when they quicklyread the next one without warning.“What I like: the three minutes of
CBS news on the hour on KNX as well as the in-depth reporting, the JerrySharell show on KJAZZ (88.1 FM), and Rich on Tech on KFI (640 AM).” — CliveSoden“I love the Kevin and Sluggo Show
on KLOS (95.5 FM) 3-7 PM. There are different daily segments like a funny orweird current news event, including audio, usually a human fail story. Theyhave listeners call in with their responses to the daily topic; ie what is atattoo you regret getting? There is a daily top ten list such as top-10 Eastercandy sold. Then Kevin tries to guess at least five correctly and if he does,Sluggo gives him a dollar. It is very funny & entertaining for theafternoon commute.” — Cee Cee Curti“I love K-SURF (105.1 HD4) oldies.
I hate the fact that when I listen to it on my car’s HD radio setting it isconstantly cutting on and off all the time. Where I live, reception isalways spotty. Would I tune in to a different station? Absolutely, if onlythey would play the 60s rock like K-SURF. There are plenty of us oldboomers still around who would love to hear the 60 music being played on theradio.“Why cant one of the regular
FM oldies stations play the stuff from the 60? At least with the regular FMstations I don’t have any reception issues and they all come in nice andclear. I have the KKGO app on my cell phone but really who wants to listento music on their cell phone while driving. It sounds so much better onthe car radio than on your cell phone.” — Dan Schary(The trick is to get your phone
connected to your car stereo!)“I love KFI. I listen to Gary
and Shannon, John and Ken, and Tim Conway. I was crushed when John andKen changed their time from 1-4, because I liked to listen to them afterwork. Dislikes? The monotonous KARS-FOR-KIDS jingle. I will slamthe OFF button the second I hear it start. How about they just SAY thatyou can donate your car to them. FACT: I NEVER will!“I also love The Patriot (KEIB,
1150 AM), especially the Joe Escalante show on Sundays, country and classicrock stations, and Sirius Satellite Radio.” — Bonnie HoyStill more to come …
Radio: May 26, 2023
You
probably already heard that longtime UCLA Bruins men’s football, basketball,and baseball announcer Chris Roberts passed away May 12th at the age of 74 dueto complications from Parkinson’s Disease.This
paper had one of the best looks back on his career that I’ve seen, focussingnot only on his work with the Bruins but also his radio career beginnings startin Victorville, as well as his stops in San Bernardino where he worked withJhani Kaye among others … I mention Kaye because the two would work togetheragain from 1981 - 1992 at KFI (640 AM) and KOST (103.5 FM) when Kaye was theprogram director of the stations.During
the KFI/KOST days, Roberts eventually became sports director, but it didn’tstart that way, exactly. He was actually first working the overnight shift onKOST, and would prepare a sports report for the KFI morning show. You mayremember the tagline: every sportscast ended with “Chris Roberts, AthleticBriefs.”I
first heard of Roberts’ death from a Facebook post by Kaye. “My best friend inbroadcasting, Chris Roberts, Passed away this morning,” Kaye wrote. “He was mypal. I admired him for the way he rose to become one of the most respectedvoices of UCLA sports broadcasters.” I have never heard an unkind word aboutRoberts; this is a huge loss to both the radio industry and the sportsworld.Likes
and DislikesIt
actually started as a response to a column by InsideMusicMedia.Com’s Jerry DelColliano, who wrote of Top Listener Gripes on April 28th. I still haven’twritten of his gripes because I wanted to hear of yours first. But I alsowanted to know what you live about radio as well. Here’s what you think,positive and negative, in no particular order … Jerry can wait.“I
listen to Mottek On Money from KABC.com as a podcast. I don’t know if thiswould fall under your question, but hey interject commercial ads mid-sentenceduring the podcast. I find this very annoying … I don’t know if this is aMottek or Cumulus thing. No other podcasts I listen to does thismid-sentence advertising. — Steve Lui“The
morning DJs turn me off. It’s the same format almost everywhere youturn. I like some introductions but not the stupid banter now. But, Iam not in their market group being 58 as of a short time ago.” — Erik Hassold(Program
note: Happy birthday!)“I
hate the annoying ‘this has been previously recorded’ preamble before an ad fora radio show, as if the general listener isn’t smart enough to realize it’s anad. I’m sure it’s an FCC thing, but annoying nonetheless.” — Cody Lyons“The
playlists are all the same songs OVER AND OVER AND OVER. There's no creativityor imagination. And it doesn't matter if the station is ‘alt’ or ‘oldies’ ...it's all the same stuff. It's actually dumb that 98.7 and 106.7 categorizethemselves as alternative. Those stations don't know what that means anymore.What do I enjoy? Klein and Ally in the morning on KROQ; very talented andunderrated show that deserves more listeners. I was a huge Kevin and Bean fanfor years and this show is different, but equally as entertaining. “ —Marc Levine“BAD:
Same songs over and over. Ok, so your research says it's best to stick tothe superstars - I get it. But Journey, Elton John, Rolling Stones, Heartetc. have more than a half dozen hits in their catalog. By just doublingthe number of songs played by the popular artists the stations would increasetheir interest from me.“If
you're a political-leaning talk show, fine. If you're not, please don'tsay anything political. I have even heard political issues discussed onlocal 88.5 fm - disguised as songwriting information from local artists.“GOOD:
Variety. Stations can stick to their format and still have morevariety. Like my point above, include more songs from the favoredartists. Include more artists, and that doesn't mean they have to gamblewith ‘lesser’ names - there are enough established artists in each category toexpand. And what about including some live tracks of the hits? Ilove when stations do that.“Disc
jockeys. There's a place for music-only stations with no DJs, but a fewmore DJ-led stations would provide more personal connection to uslisteners. And it doesn't have to include long comedy segments orlistener calls - just some connection.“Don't
know how to title this - DJ emotions. This might seem hokey. Thesedays it seems like most DJs and their interaction with listeners is eitherdistant or factual. In my day — I’m your age — they seemed a lot moreemotional - you know, like hey it's Friday - school's out - party time (cutdirectly to party anthem song) or "hump day" ...Contrived? Maybe … maybe not. But they and the music helped steerour emotions, usually for the better. They talked to us and with us andtook our thoughts away from everyday life. I don't think life's just a party,but I think radio - like sports, entertainment, the movies - are to help ustemporarily escape from things like work and other responsibilities. — DarrenTo
be continued …Radio: May 19, 2023
If
you were a listener to KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM) during the station’s earlierdays and rise to dominance in the 1970s, you remember “The Burner” Mary Turner,one of the early female pioneers of progressive and album rock radio. On theKMET airwaves from June of 1972 until August of 1982, she in many waysrepresented exactly what KMET was to its listeners: intelligent, passionate …and human.Details
are unusually lacking, but Turner passed away May 9th. The news was announcedby Turner’s KMET colleague Ace Young, who posted the news and a tribute onsocial media.Speaking
to LARadio.Com’s Don Barrett years agoregarding her career and the early days of progressive rock radio, Turnerreflected on the times."It was an exciting time back then, because youdidn't operate under any rules. You could play anything you wanted, sayanything you wanted and who cared? FM at that time was a joke, especially toTop 40 people. We were the hippies, and they were the stars.”Did
the fact that she was a woman in an industry dominated, especially back then,by men? Turner told Barrett,”I think being a woman helped more than anythingelse. The time was right for it, and I happened to be in the right place at theright time.”Just
a short time after her arrival at KMET, the station hired a female programdirector, Sam Bellamy, who also spoke with Barrett, saying “When Iarrived at KMET in 1974, Mary was already there paving the way forwomen in radio. We became fast friends and partners in crime, based a loton our shared sense of humor and intense desire to succeed.“I
learned very quickly that Mary would set the bar high for aspiring airpersonalities and radio executives alike, especially in the highly competitiveL.A. market. Before Oprah and others started preaching it, Mary was livingthe purpose-driven life. Back in the early 70's, Mary had set goals forherself and she kept building on, and and reaching for, those goals -always mindful of inspiring and teaching others along the way.”She
produced short interview and music information segments for KMET that evolvedinto nationally syndicated special programs called Off the Record; thesespecials reached an estimated 25 million listeners and are highly respected tothis day. She was among the first to ever interview a young Bruce Springsteenfor her regular evening air shift.After
leaving KMET, she continued with Off the Record, did a daily show for ArmedForces Radio, did a stint for a Canadian broadcast group, and even worked on“Music in the Air,” an entertainment service used on the now defunct TWAAirlines. She returned to the local airwaves on KLSX (now KNX-FM, 97.1) for atime in 1993.More
recently she was the chairwoman of the Betty Ford Center at Eisenhower Hospitalin Rancho Mirage … the first chair to not be a member of the Ford family sincethe Center’s inception. Her expertise in this area came from her own life anddetermination to overcome her problems - in the early 1990s, she fought back asubstance abuse problem, went on to become a UCLA-certified drug and alcoholcounselor, and then earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.Turner
is preceded in death by her husband Norm Pattiz, who she met through her radioshows. Pattiz, founder and former chairman of Westwood One radio networks,passed away just this past December.As
if to prove the importance of Turner and her career, The Paley Center for Mediain New York City includes in its collection recordings of her last show onKMET, dated August 6, 1982. The collection also includes a portion of JimLadd’s program that followed immediately after, which on this night became atribute show to Turner’s career.Hear
Turner’s interview with Springsteen from July 4th of 1978 at bit.ly/TurnerSpringsteen. Find otherairchecks by searching YouTube and others for Mary Turner KMET.The
passing of turner hit many hard … as Ace Young said in his Facebook post, ithit him “like a ton of bricks“Mary
& I worked together for many years at KMET, Young wrote. “In fact, ourfriendship dates back to San Francisco. We both came to the Mighty Met in theSpring of 1972. Mary was the best. So much can be said of her career; hersuccess; her life with husband, and recently passed, Norm Pattiz. I’ll, for themoment, leave that for others.“I
am grief stricken!” he concludes.Richard
Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in SouthernCalifornia. Email[email protected].///
...more May 10, 2023Radio Waves Podcast #376 Guest: Dave Beasing
Radio Waves: May 12, 2023Who do you love?Last week I spoke of an article from Inside Music Media’s Jerry
Del Colliano in which he made a list of easily-fixed programming elements thatturn listeners off. In case you missed it and want to take part, I am askingfor your “things” … what would cause you to tune to another station or eventurn off the radio completely.Before I follow up, though, I wanted to put together a list of
things I like about radio. Scratch that – things I love. What keepsme going back to the radio every day? You can join in this as well.Without further ado:
I love The Woody Show. Airing on Alt 98.7 FM
weekday mornings from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m. (kind of … they definitely repeatsegments), the program has been a huge hit for the station … and for goodreason.Starring Jeff “Woody” Fife, (Renae) Ravey, Sebastian “SeaBass”
Davis, Greg Gory, Jason “Menace” McMurry, and Sammi Moreno, the show billsitself as “insensitivity training for a politically correct world.” I’d call itmore of a gathering place to hang out with friends.Yes, at times, they get a little raunchy. But
usually it’s good clean fun. They make fun of bad behavior, call people ontheir stupidity, and in general bring listeners in on their party everymorning.I appreciate that, unlike some shows of the past, they are professional
broadcasters as well, intelligent, quick-witted and extraordinary funny andentertaining. Ravey’s laugh is infectious. Bits and contests are well-designed,and include DUIQ, wherein listeners try to guess if a drunk partier can answera simple trivia question, stories on stupid criminals, “redneck” news andoccasional interviews. I include The Woody Show in the list of all-time bestmorning shows; the program has aired locally since April 21, 2014.I love Booker and Stryker, also on Alt 98.7 FM. Chris Booker and Ted Stryker got
together just over a year ago — February, 2022 — but the flow of the show andthe chemistry between the two makes it seem like they have been togetherforever. Like Woody mornings, they quickly become your friends and make theafternoon drive pass much faster … to the point where you don’t even want toget out of the car. Or leave work. Or whatever. As long as the show is on theair, I don’t care what I am doing; I even listen on my bike ride home fromwork.The two wouldn’t hurt a fly; this is one program where all ages
can listen.I love Go Country 105 FM. Country music purists
will disagree, but I really like modern country music … it reminds me of top-40music of the past – songs you can sing along with in which the artists (or thecountry version of The Wrecking Crew, if one exists) still play realinstruments. DJs are good, the commercial load is not ridiculous, and thestation is locally owned by a guy who loves dogs and helps facilitate petadoptions. What more do you want in a music station?I love KFI (640 AM). I don’t necessarily listen
to every show, but they tend to be entertaining with a variety of topics. Butwhat I really like is the news department – KFI news has always been top-notch,and the long history of good reporting continues today. Without question, KFIproduces the best local newscast heard on the local commercial airwaves. Yes,better than KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM).I love the stations that go the extra mile to
produce content for niche audiences. For example, you do have to use streamingor an HD radio, but the fact that Saul Levine uses Go Country’s signal todigitally send out classical music, 50s, ‘60s and ‘70s oldies, and adultstandards focussing on Frank Sinatra and his friends — commercial-free, no less— does not go unnoticed. He does it because he wants to serve an audience thatothers ignore, and knows that it will never bring in much in the form ofrevenue. Levine just loves the art of radio. Local ownership at its best.And finally, I love that so many stations both
locally and nationally stream their programming on apps I can use with my smartspeakers phones. Being able to tune stations far and wide wherever I am is muchappreciated by me and so many others. I’d mention the distant stations I like,but the focus of this column is local, so I won’t.So now you have a choice … you can still let me know what bugs
you, but besides that … what do you love? Let me know!///
Radio Waves: May 5, 2023March Nielsens show some changesWhat’s happening with KIIS-FM
(102.7)? Since December, the hit music station has been on an upward trajectoryin the Nielsen ratings; the March results released in late April have thestation at second place overall with a 5.0 share of the audience … a full 2points higher than it earned in December. If memory serves right, this is thehighest finish KIIS has had in years … is pop music on the radio making acomeback?Perhaps. But it was oldies that
won the day, with KRTH (101.1 FM) taking the top spot overall, beating KIIS byalmost a full point at 5.8. That’s an increase of just over a point sinceDecember, when it had a 4.7 share, and is the highest rating the station hashad this year. Oddly, KRTH’s online stream, which led all streams before, wasnot present in the ratings list this monthThe big — and truly surprising —
drop came from KOST (103.5 FM), which found itself out of the first placeposition it has held for much of the past year … tied with KFI (640 AM) andKLVE (107.5 FM) at 5th at a 4.1 share. What makes this surprising is that KOSTtruly has led for most of the past year.Another surprising drop came from
Go Country 105 (KKGO, 105.1 FM), coming in with a 1.8 share of the audiencecompared with 2.1 in February and 2.5 back in December. I doubt this is along-term trend, though … perhaps the excitement of the Stagecoach festivalheld last week will help out. Or perhaps it’s one of those anomalies thathappen when the ratings meters are distributed to new listeners.KFI led the talk wars as per
usual, it’s 5th place tie dominating the rest, including KRLA (870 AM)’s 0.7and KEIB’s (1150 AM) 0.6. Where’s KABC? Nowhere to be found, but it doesn’tmean they have no listeners. I confirmed that the area’s talk format originatorno longer subscribes to Nielsen and thus does not show in the ratings list. Ialso noticed that KSPN (710 AM) isn’t on the Nielsen list either, for the samereason. My hunch is that many stations will begin to consider such a move dueprimarily to monetary savings; I’ll have a story on that in an upcoming column.More interesting items from the
ratings list: Alt (98.7 FM) beat KROQ (106.7 FM), but the two remain fairlyclose: 2.4 vs. 2.1. KKJZ (88.1 FM) was the top-rated public station with a 2.3share. Regional Mexican music station KFWB (980 AM) has been moving up, almostdoubling its 0.9 December rating with a March finish of 1.6. And the stream forMega 96.3 (KXOL -FM) came from nowhere to earn a 0.9 share in March. Added tothe station’s regular signal 2.6 share, the station would total 3.5 … and wouldhave placed 8th overall in the city!Overall, two companies have
almost half of all listeners tuned into their stations. iHeart has a combined25.1 rating for its roster that includes KIIS-FM, KOST, Alt, and KFI, amongothers, while Audacy has a 19.0 total for its stations including KRTH, The Wave(KTWV 94.7 FM), KROQ, and KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM).The full story: Each rating is an
estimate of the percentage of listeners aged six and over tuned to a stationbetween the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight.1. KRTH (5.8) 2. KIIS-FM (5.0) 3.
KBIG (4.5) 4. KTWV (4.4) 5. KFI, KLVE, KOST (4.1) 8. KBUE (4.0) 9. KRRL (3.4)10. KNX (3.3)11. KCBS-FM “Jack” (3.2) 12. KRCD
(3.0) 13. KLOS, KXOL (2.6) 15. KLAX, KYSR “Alt” (2.4) 17. KKJZ (2.3) 18. KLYY,KPCC (2.2) 20. KROQ (2.1)21. KUSC (2.0) 22. KDAY, KKGO,
KLLI, KPWR “Power” (1.8) 26. KSCA (1.7) 27. KFWB, KJLH (1.6) 29. KCRW (1.3) 30.KLAC (1.0)31. KXOL Stream (0.9) 32. KDLD,
KFSH (0.8) 34. KCSN, KRLA (0.7) 36. KEIB (0.6) 37. KKLA (0.3) 38. KWKW (0.2)39. KHJ, KNX Stream, KROQ HD2, KROQ Stream, KTNQ (0.1)Listener GripesYou already know my opinion of
what makes for good radio. Inside Music Media’s Jerry Del Colliano recently puttogether a list of easily-fixed programming elements that turn listeners off.Before I report on his research, I’d like to hear from you. But I want toexpand the list to not just what turns you off, but what turns you on. What isit you cannot stand about the radio you hear, and what is it you you trulyenjoy?Send your thoughts to me and I’ll
start compiling our own list to be presented later. it will be interesting tosee how your “bad” list compares with Del Colliano’s, and it will be fun torecognize the great things about local radio.///
...more April 26, 2023Radio Waves Podcast #375
All Day, Every Day: American Top 40I’ve never been a fan of the iHeart Radio app you can download to your
smartphone. I always thought it too cumbersome to use compared to alternatives,and I don’t like the way iHeart restricts its own stations to its own apprather than allowing them to be available on other apps as well. If iHeartreally believed in the app, why do they not let it compete on an even playingfield?But I broke down and started using it recently. Keep in mind I still don’t
actually like it, but there is a reason to use it … American Top 40.Yes, the very same AT40 you can find on SiriusXM channels 7 — for the 1970s
version — Saturdays at 3 a.m. and 9 a.m., Sundays at 6 a.m.; or our ownsemi-local KOLA (99.9 FM) which airs the ‘80s version Saturdays at 5 a.m. andSundays at 7 p.m.But what if you want to totally live in the past and listen to nothing
but AT40, the countdown show hosted by former original KRLA (now KRDC,1110 AM) personality Casey Kasem, launched on July 4th, 1970 on but a handfulof stations, and eventually heard on stations around the globe as the mostpopular countdown show … ever? If that’s you, the iHeart Radio app — oriHeart.com on a computer — has you covered.A special channel called Classic American Top 40 plays old AT40 countdowns
continuously. The ‘70s followed by the ‘80s followed by the ‘70s, etc. 24 hoursa day, seven days a week. As I write this they are just starting a replay from1983 after the completion of a week from 1973. Audio heaven, for those who grew uplistening to the classic program … and a major reason to use the iHeart app.Ryan Seacrest, by the way, hosts the current version of AT40 heard locally
on KIIS-FM (102.7), starting at 6 a.m. Saturdays, 8 a.m. Sundays.Billboard ControversyWas the top song for at least one week of mid-July, 1978 not really the top
song? Was there behind the scenes shenanigans? It wasn’t a problem with AT40directly, but what AT40 used as the basis for the countdown list: BillboardMagazine. I read about this first on (I believe) the AT40 fan page of Facebook.The story goes that Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street should
have been the number one song on the Billboard charts in the second half ofJuly, 1978, but that pressure to keep Andy Gibb’s Shadow Dancing atthe top spot won out. Here’s what I found at https://djrobblog.com/archives/6222:“Among the many tales of “Baker Street’s” undying legacy is the one
involving a bit of chart shenanigans that may have robbed Rafferty of ascendingto that coveted No. 1 spot.“As reported in several publications since, legend has it that in one of its
final weeks at No. 2 in July 1978, Billboard had actually calculated “BakerStreet” to be No. 1. At thetime, Billboard’s charts were based on phoned-in radio station lists and recordstore reports, which staffers or computers would then compile, before theadvent of more modern and accurate airplay and sales tracking technology in theearly 1990s.Apparently, Gibb threatened to back out of a show being sponsored by
Billboard if his song didn’t remain number one, said show being the pet projectof then-chart manager Bill Wardlow. “It was alleged that Wardlow had a changeof heart about the No. 1 position after having dined with Andy Gibb’smanagement on the night the chart was compiled. The story goes that Wardlowcasually mentioned over dinner that Gibb’s tune had been displaced byRafferty’s – much to RSO Records’ displeasure.”So Billboard issued a “correction,” apparently forcing American Top-40 to
re-record the ending of the how, without the new number one song. BakerStreet remained stalled at the number two slot on Billboard, thoughother sources did indeed put it at the top, such as including Cash Box whichhad it there on July 15, 1978.It is said that Baker Street is one of the all-time most
beloved number two hits; the incident proves the power that top-40 radio onceheld over American culture. And as former newsman Paul Harvey used to say, nowyou know … the restof the story.No Static HereThis is an old story, but but comes from former KHJ (930 AM) Production
Director (among other stations) Douglas Brown. When FM by Steely Dan wasreleased in 1978, may top-40 stations were still on the AM band, including inLos Angeles area, KHJ, Ten Q (KTNQ, 1020 AM), KFI (640 AM), and KEZY (1190AM).Many of the stations across the country didn’t want to play a song that
hyped the FM band, so a few figured out that the “A’ in Steely Dan’s Ajamatched the note well, and simply changed the song so that it played as “A-M,no static at all.” Which, of course, is somewhat absurd.The more powerful and influential stations, such as KHJ, convinced the
musical band’s record company at the time to produce a special version of thesong, one in which the the radio band is not mentioned at all. The resultingsong simply refrains “no static at all.”A testament to the power that AM radio once held over American culture.
Letters for April 28 Radio
Some
email reaction from recent column topics …“WABC
has come back from the radio graveyard twice: first when Rick Sklarcreated the legendary MusicRadio77 and now. In ratings released today thestation is #9 with a 3.7, the first AM rated in NYC. They gotta be doingsomething right!” — Steve Moravec“To
paraphrase a movie line: If you play it (great local content) they will listen.“Local
: News. Weather. SPORTS (high school and college). Talk with and by localleaders and personalities. City and county government. One station doingthis and while still learning is doing it well is KYCA-AM in Prescott, AZ.“AM
will not die in spite of Detroit.” — Dusty Baker“I
agree w/ every word u wrote. Hate Google, and all this ‘new’ approach to radio… for auto manufacturers to go along with this travesty is unconscionable. Keepup the good work and clear writing on this subject. — Beverly Riggs, La Habra(who describes herself as “a devoted sincere Radio junkie for 40+ years” andsays that “radio has always been my ‘preferred passenger’ since I first learnedhow to drive”“I
wanted you to know how much I enjoy your articles about radio in the SanGabriel Valley Tribune … always informative, interesting and your passion forradio come thru loud & clear.“Yes,
my wife & I are with you…keep AM radio in our autos!“I
grew up in the ‘40s and ‘50s with radio; we listened to music and live shows inthe evening on a Farnsworth that become mine at about 8 years old when wefinally got a TV and Pop setup he own ‘stereo’ system in the living room. But Istill used my home made crystal set with a surplus store military ear-phone.I
remember driving Van Nuys Blvd between Bob’s Big-Boy and A&W Rootbeer with my radio blazing away was a real treat. Work/home/yard/shop, theradio was always on – and still is much of the time, albeit much lower andslower music these days. In the car, my wife is addicted to AM talk-show radio.“Again,
thank you for sharing your passion about a media that was most impactful duringmost of the 20th century — Drexel Smith...more April 18, 2023Radio Waves Podcast #374 Radio: April 21, 2023
InsideMusicMedia.Com’s
Jerry Del Colliano posted a column on March 31 that — like many of his columns— could have been written by me. Great minds think alike, you know. EntitledThe AM Station That Defies Failure, it tells the story of WABC/New York and thesuccess it has had since being bought by a local owner from Cumulus.WABC is
much like numerous AM stations across the country. Powerhouse top-40 formatleaders in the 1960s and ‘70s, they lost their way when large corporate ownerscouldn’t figure out what to do with them. They dropped music, sometimes foundtemporary success with political talk, and then floundered once programmersfocused more on their FMs.Weird
how a neglected station would lose listeners.Anyway,
for all intents and purposes, WABC was a failure in 2019 when Cumulus Media,owner of KABC (790 AM) here in Los Angeles, sold the station to a 74-year-oldNew York businessman named John Catsimatidis, Jr. — a guy with no radioexperience other than being a radio fan.Catsimatidis
then did what some think is impossible: brought a dead radio station back tolife. How? He made it local. He served his local audience. He wasn’t afraid toembrace older listeners, and he started super-serving those willing to tune in.And
tune in they did. The station has been above a 3.0 share for at least the lastsix months, and has had a 3.9 share the last two months. It is the top-rated AMstation in New York. Under previous ownership, it had fallen to the mid toupper 1s. Could other stations learn from the recent success?Yes …
more than that: the entire industry could learn from its success. The formulais so simple, it’s almost as if stations of the past could help with thelesson. In fact, that’s pretty much all Catsimatidis did … look at what madeprevious stations “tick,” and applied it to his new toy.WABC
found an audience that was being underserved, then designed a format that wouldappeal to that audience, in this case an eclectic mix of talk, news, and music.Yes, music … on AM. Weird.Cousin
Brucie, a legendary WABC disc jockey, plays oldies on weekends. The stationruns its old iconic jingles. News coverage focusses on the local area. The talkhosts are mostly local, including former mayor Rudy Giuliani, former RushLimbaugh producer Bo Snerdley, and a founding member of the Guardian Angels,Curtis Sliwa.Catsimatidis
even has his own show, hosted by himself and local broadcaster Rita Cosby.While
it is impressive that Catsimatidis took a failing station and made itsuccessful, he is not alone. I’ve written about the success of stations such asWION/Ionia, Michigan and WRDN/Durand, Wisconsin. What all three and others likethem have in common is local owners who care enough to program to their localaudience and not rely on cheap syndicated programming.This
approach benefits not only the stations and listeners, but local businessesthat can advertise to reach an audience otherwise hard to find. ThatCatsimatidis does it in New York City, arguably one of the toughest markets inthe United States, makes it even more impressive …. and in my opinion, frankly,embarrassing to owners like Audacy that has gone so far as to just shut downsome of its AM stations.This
lesson isn’t just for AM, though. FM stations definitely can use more localcontent , and in the cases in which the local audience is super-served, theresults are impressive. Local content is the one thing that Spotify, AppleMusic, or any other streaming service simply can’t match.Fight
for the DashboardOn the
heal of the news that engineers at Ford are as lazy or incompetent as those atBMW, Mazda, Polestar, Rivian, Tesla, Volkswagen and Volvo due to the decisionto remove AM radio from their future automobile offerings — because unlikeevery other company they are unable to deal with interference — comes news thatGM has decided to drop Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support from future EVs.While I
hate that AM is being dropped, and I believe it to be a bad decision, at leastyou can — usually, at least — use apps to replace the tuner and in some wayshave better reception and better sound.But
dropping CarPlay? That’s a non-starter for me. My family, starting with mygrandfather, my father and now me, has owned GM almost exclusively since 1926.If CarPlay is not offered, I will not buy one.I want
the choice to use the mapping software I want to use. I want the ability to usethe apps I want to use, for example StreamsHiFi Audio and MyTuner Radio foronline radio streams. I can connect myphone to any of my current car stereos and have all of my apps and preferencesready to go; without CarPlay I’d have to set all my preferences individually inevery car.And I
certainly don’t want my life controlled by Google, which GM plans to use as thebasis for its dashboard infotainment system. I am not a Google fan by any means,and I certainly don’t want their intrusive anti-privacy ad-based system in mycar.In my
opinion, GM is making a tremendously bad decision in dropping CarPlay andAndroid Auto. In doing so, though, you can now understand what is in store forthe future … the ability to charge for being part of and using the dash. It isanti-competitive and anti-consumer.I hope
that the move is met with consumer resistance similar to my own - as I said, Iwill never buy a car without CarPlay ability. Even if I have to keep my currenttruck forever.///
Radio Waves: April 14, 2023
KIQQ entertainment reporter Francesca Capucci passes
I was a huge fan of KIQQ (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) during the
station’s new-wave top-40 days of the early 1980s. It wasn’t necessarily themost polished station; indeed, the station could at times sound verylow-budget. But it had a playlist that overlapped the best of KROQ (106.7 FM)and was often the first station in town to break new music and new bands withan emphasis on British acts along with homegrown artists.Often KIQQ was so far ahead of its competition, primarily
KIIS-FM (102.7), that it seemed like a song was at the top of the chartsforever. The reality was that KIQQ would break the song and then it would laterhit the charts and other stations. KIQQ was where I first heard Eddie Grant,The Style Council, Rick Springfield and more. I don’t think I ever heard thewonderful “She Means Nothing to Me” by Phil Everly and Cliff Richard on anyother station, with the one exception of UCLA’s student station KLA … because Iplayed it there.Personalities included Bruce Chandler, Tony Saint James, GW
McCoy, and a few others who stayed with the station until it gave up on theformat and went light rock in mid-1985. One personality left early and wentright to television, to become KABC-TV Channel 7’s entertainment reporter. Thatwas Francesca Capucci, who started at KIQQ in the public affairs department,later moving up to report entertainment and celebrity gossip news, as well asfeatures on and interviews with many of the bands and artists played on thestation.For a time, in addition to her other duties, she worked with
Jay Coffee in morning drive, but her best-known work was her features. If youwere a faithful listeners as I was, you may remember her extended sign-off:“I’m Francesca Capucci on K ……….I ………..Q ………………………………….Q.”I never knew why they had — or allowed — her to do that; it
was actually kind of cheesy. I was told later that it was designed to make hersound a bit sexy. True or not, she was definitely distinctive, and her featuresadded a lot to the station’s on-air presence.After leaving KIQQ in 1984, she moved over to Channel 7,
reporting on entertainment news for ten years. Other television work includedacting on such shows as Columbo, 7th Heaven, The Practice, and Charmed, usuallyplaying, of course, a reporter.Last week, I got the bad news from KPFK (90.7 FM) Car Show host (and column reader) David Kunz
that Capucci had passed away; she died at the age of 64 due to cancer.If her name sounds familiar, it may also be because it was
used in the recent movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. There is no connectionbetween her and the character in the movie; I am told that Quentin Tarantinojust liked the name.Her friend Kim Fitzgerald Kelly wrote on Capucci’s Facebook
page on March 30, “It is with profoundsadness that I share the passing of Francesca Cappucci. As those of you on thispage know, Francesca was a force of nature, a source of true joy, a devotedmother to sons Ian and Will, and a great lover of music.“Francesca’s name was itself a melody and it played
throughout Los Angeles radio and TV stations for decades beginning in the early80s. A celebration of life, love, and music is currently being planned anddetails will be announced. Until then, every time you hear a song by FooFighters or Crowded House, let it remind you of this beautiful icon.”You can read tributes on that same page:
facebook.com/francesca.cappucciCommercial Breaks
For years, I have felt that it was a huge mistake for
stations to run large blocks of commercial-free music. I am referring to thehour or two — sometimes longer — periods of nothing but music. The problem, ofcourse, is that it shifts the commercials that have to be run to other hoursand makes the commercial breaks longer during those hours, as well as makingeach advertisement of less value to the advertiser.Seems like a lose-lose to me — the station earns less per
advertisement because they are worth less as a longer block than they wouldotherwise be, the advertiser loses potential exposure due to listener tune-out,and listeners have to endure up to ten minutes of commercials when the breaksdo come.But I recently found out why they do this, from an expert on
the industry. It seems the stations sell the advertisements based upon theentire shift a DJ is on. For example, perhaps 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. If the stationcan get a ton of listeners by playing no commercials the first two hours, itdoesn’t care what happens during the rest of the show. The station can stillsell the ad based upon the average rating over the entire four hours.No wonder radio is suffering…
Nothing is Sacred
Ford announced it is removing AM radio reception not only
from future EVs, it is also removing it from future gas-powered vehicles. Onthe heals of that news came General Motors announcement that it is removingApple CarPlay and Android Auto on its future EVs.The reason? GM wants subscription income from the dashboard.
I don’t know about you, but I love CarPlay. I won’t buy a
car without it. Seems like a bad idea to me … what are your thoughts? More onthis topic next week.///
Damion Passes
He may
be retired, but it was Don Barrett of LARadio.Com who broke the news: Damion —last name: Bragdon, though he rarely used his last name on the air — formerlyheard on KLOS (95.5 FM), KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM) and KLSX (now KNX-FM, 97.1)has passed away from complications related to cancer.Immediately
prior to landing in Los Angeles to be part of the KLOS air staff in 1971,Damion was at WDAI/Chicago as the station evolved from its “free-form” progressiverock format to the more traditional album-oriented “Rock ’n Stereo” … inessence repeating exactly what he did in Chicago here in Los Angeles.Those
changes were not coincidence … the two stations were both owned by ABC, and in1971 ABC decided to have all of its owned and operated FM stations nationwidetake on the same format, as well as take on new call letters to distinguish theFMs from the co-owned AMs.In the
case of KLOS, Damion joined Jeff Gonzer, J.J. Jackson, Jim Ladd, and programmerTom Yates to launch the new format here. By the late 1970s, he would work up tothe position of station programmer himself, a position he would give up when heleft to work at then-competitor KMET.In
1986, he found himself at brand-new classic rocker KLSX, where he stayedthrough 1994. After that he moved on to satellite-delivered formats withUnistar and Westwood One/Dial Global, between times doing a stint in Hawaiiincluding programming an AM/FM combo. He finally retired in 2008 but kept busyproducing a one-hour program called Rock and Roll Cowboy — modern country musicmixed with classic rock — that aired on a few stations across the country.In an
interview with Barrett back in 1994, Damion spoke of some of the highlights ofhis career, which included partnering with Ladd to produce early “InnerView”programs; interviewing Led Zeppelin, being part of the California Jam in 1973,and more.“The
end was terrible,” his wife Joy Hall told Barrett in an email. He was put onlife support against his directive, and as they took him off some of hismedications, he suffered multiple strokes. He passed away March 26th at the ageof 79.Friends
and colleagues always spoke highly of Damion, describing him using such wordsas kind, sweet, friendly, and considerate. “He was truly one o’ the good guys —a sweet man with virtually no ego,” wrote Michael Benner in an email toBarrett, as but one example.All of
that was something you heard over the airwaves as he did his shows, no matterwhat station he was on. His delivery was always - always - smooth: the perfectalbum-rock DJ, and someone who like many of his contemporaries loved the musiche played.You can
hear airchecks for yourself searching YouTube.com for Damion KLOS and KMET.February
RatingsThe February
Nielsens showed a narrowing of the gap between 1st place KOST (103.5 FM) and2nd place KRTH (101.1 FM), with only 0.1 separating the two: 5.5 to 5.4. Therest of the top-10 included KTWV (4.6), KBIG (4.5), KFI (4.1), KLVE (4.1),KIIS-FM (3.9), KRRL (3.9), KBUE (3.2) and KCBS-FM (3.1)That
Real 92.3 tied with KIIS-FM would in the past be a wake-up call to KIIS-FM …but now that both stations are owned by the same company, in this case thebeleaguered iHeart Media, it won’t be. Just shy of the top-10 tied with KRCD at11th was KNX … still no better than it was as a standalone AM station. Nowusing both the 1070 AM and 97.1 FM frequencies, it earned a 2.9.Cutting
the B.S.Bo
Snerdley was conservative talker Rush Limbaugh’s longtime producer; he helpedline up guests, screened calls, and most importantly helped put together theday’s news for Limbaugh to expound upon.Since
Limbaugh’s death, Snerdley stayed busy producing shows for the replacementhosts, produced the Limbaugh Letter, started a podcast, and launched his ownprogram on WABC/New York entitled Bo Snerdley’s Rush Hour.He also
produces a twice-daily conservative-leaning news headline email called BoSnerdley’s Daily BS - Bo Cuts Through It. If you’re interested, subscribe athttp://eepurl.com/hKLLg9Snerdley’s
on-air name was inspired by Bo Jackson; his given name is James Golden. Hespent 30 years working with Limbaugh, right until the very end.///
...more March 28, 2023Radio Waves Podcast - Special Edition - Ken Levine SPECIAL Podcast: We are re-publishing our career spanning interview with the multi-talented Ken Levine - who is featured in Richard's column this week.
The Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters/Hollywood Media Professionals played host to a special “Coffee With …” interview as Master of Ceremonies and interviewer Chuck Street spent two hours talking with Ken Levine.
You may not know the name Ken Levine when it comes to radio, though he did use his real name on KFI (640 AM) in the 1980s. But he was a young, up-and-coming top-40 radio star known as Beaver Cleaver on Ten Q (KTNQ, 1020 AM) here in Los Angeles and on the great B-100 (KFMB-FM — now KFBG, 100.7 FM) in San Diego, among other stations.
Why Beaver Cleaver, the name of the character on the old “Leave It to Beaver” TV series? It was catchy and helped him stand out much more than the name he used previously, Ken Stevens.
Outside of radio, Levine is a highly-respected writer, producer, and director in the television and film industries, an accomplished playwright, and even a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball. His numerous credits include television programs “M*A*S*H,” “Cheers,” “Frasier,” “Wings,” “The Simpsons,” “Almost Perfect,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and more; he has co-written feature films, and more recently has written and produced short plays acted live over Zoom.
His baseball work includes stints with the Baltimore Orioles, the Seattle Mariners, and the San Diego Padres, and he spent a few years as co-host of Dodger Talk, the call-in program that followed every Dodger Game on the radio.
And just to show that he can do just about anything, he is also an accomplished cartoonist, with his work appearing in the prestigious New Yorker magazine. In his spare time(?), he writes a blog and produces a thoroughly entertaining podcast … go to kenlevine.blogspot.com and hollywoodandlevine.libsyn.com/
Honestly, I have no idea how he manages to find time for all of his interests, let alone all the differing careers all the while being a loyal husband and family man. But the two-hour coffee interview just wasn’t enough … as many in the audience could attest, it was among the fastest two hours on record.
Levine tends to downplay his accomplishments in radio, stating that his voice is “too squeaky” compared to his many heroes and contemporaries. I disagree, but regardless, he more than made up for any perceived personal deficiency with a quick wit, biting sarcasm, creative double entendres, and much more.
This all came out anew during his interview, with such radio-related stories as:
• Trying to get fired at KMEN/San Bernardino (now KKDD, 1290 AM).
Management wanted him back in the overnight shift; he asked to be fired instead. They refused, so he stopped by the record store to buy a special album to play.
“Radio stations were getting hip and playing album cuts more and more, so this idea was perfect.” The album he purchased to play in its entirety? “Fiddler on the Roof,” he said. “In Yiddish … I was fired before ‘Anatevka’ finished playing.”
• Convincing the General Manager of WLS/Chicago — at the time one of the most popular radio stations in the country — to put him on the air during the overnight shift leading into Thanksgiving Day.
Who was the GM? His father. “My Dad,” Levine explains, “left a memo stating that ‘My son will be doing the all-night show.’ No word on who I was or my experience on the air.”
The guy on the air immediately before Levine’s shift had no idea who he was, so Levine pretended to be entirely clueless. “Wow, what are all these buttons,” he remembers asking the other DJ. By the time his shift was up, the other DJ was convinced this was going to be bad and was scared to leave the station in the hands of an amateur. “He was just freaking out,” Levine says.
Finally, when the time came, the DJ watched as Levine leaned into the microphone, played the top-of-the-hour jingle, and opened his show with “This is Ken Levine; I’ve been on the air in Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Bakersfield, San Bernardino … but never at the same time! This is W-L-S!”
When Levine shut off the microphone, he remembers, “The DJ says, ‘You’ve done this before!’ I said, ‘Yes, of course; my father’s not going to put someone on the air at a 50,000-watt clear channel station in Chicago who’s never done it before!’”
• The time that a program director at K-100 (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) worried they might get sued over his on-air name.
Levine told the program director not to worry: “If we get sued, we’ll get a ton of free publicity, and the worst that will happen is they’ll make me change my name.”
The program director called the station co-owner for direction, and Levine describes the response this way: “What’s the problem?” Levine says was the response. “The worst that would happen is that we’d get some free publicity and they’d make him change his name.”
You can hear recordings of some of Levine’s on-air work by searching YouTube.Com using the keywords Beaver Cleaver, Ken Levine, Ten-Q and B-100. Mike Stark and I did a full career-spanning interview with Levine, which can be found at http://la-radiowaves.blogspot.com/2020/08/radio-waves-extra-ken-levine.html
Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist. Email [email protected]
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