Radio Waves Podcast #144

Radio: September 23, 2016

Longtime Los Angeles radio personality Cynthia Fox has (finally!) been named the new afternoon drive host of The Sound (100.3 FM).

Fox has been at The Sound for three years (first shift: August 26, 2013 filling in for Rita Wilde, in case you are a radio trivia buff) doing weekends and fill-ins. Her promotion to afternoon drive was a no-brainer to me, as she is a tremendously intelligent DJ with a true love of music.

An alumni of the Mighty Met KMET (now KTWV 94.7 FM), Fox has also been heard on KLOS (95.5 FM), KLSX (now KAMP 97.1 FM) and KMPC-FM (now KSCA, 101.9 FM).

The afternoon position opened up after Mark Thompson left mornings on The Sound; the afternoon team of Andy Chanley and Christian James Hand was split up so that Chanley could move back to mornings; Hand ended up moving to KLOS.

It will be great hearing Fox daily.

Speaking of Thompson

I kind of miss Mark in the Morning on the Sound. Especially the initial months that had him together with Chanley and Gina Grad. Fun, entertaining radio.

Rockoff Passes

You probably don’t know the name Neil Rockoff, but he is the man who was brought in by the (then owner RKO) suits to take legendary top-40 station KHJ Country. He also was part of KNX-FM (now KCBS-FM, 93.1) and KGBS/KTNQ (1020 AM).

Rockoff passed away September 7th at the age of 78.

Tom Leykis, former local personality and now heard via the internet at BlowMeUpTom.Com worked with Rockoff. He wasn’t too kind in his posting of the news on his Facebook page:

“I've waited and waited, but this f-ing guy refused to die,” Leykis began. “78-year-old Neil Rockoff finally bought the f-ing farm last week.

“Primarily known as The Man Who Fired Rick Dees at KHJ, launching him into his phenomenally successful 23-year run as the morning jock on KIIS-FM, KHJ's then-new Country format died three years later.

“For his next act, Neil and a group of undercapitalized partners bought WNWS, a Miami radio station I was working for in 1984 with studios in an old Cuban beauty salon and it became the one radio station where I've ever worked where we were expected to bring toilet paper to work because we never had any.

“Once, when I needed some letterhead to write back to a listener, I was asked, "can't you use plain paper?"

Ultimately within 14 months, the group was forced to sell. Didn't strike me as the "great businessman" as claimed in his obituary. Ultimately, I bailed on that dump and moved to another station.

“He threatened to sue me for leaving before the sale took place, but he clearly couldn't afford to do it, One of the worst radio experiences in my career. Good riddance to bad rubbish.”

Tom really needs to stop holding back and tell us what he really feels.

Cumulus Death Watch

Cumulus Media, which has been maneuvering to try to stay listed on the stock exchange, has been given another reprieve by NASDAQ, which requires stocks to have a value above $1 to remain listed.

It’s been an issue for a while. The stock was originally supposed to be delisted in May of 2016; the company made some minor changes to the stock listing and was given more time. Now with another deadline approaching, the company hopes stockholders will approve a reverse split in which one share would be issued per eight shares currently held.

At the current price of 34.6 cents per share, that would give a price of $2.77 per share. The stock hit $50.75 on December 31, 1999, meaning it has lost over 99 percent of its value since that peak.