Radio Waves Podcast #172

Radio: May 12, 2017

Seacrest Movin’ On Up

KIIS (102.7 FM) morning man Ryan Seacrest has been selected as the permanent host for television’s newly-named Live with Kelly and Ryan. In joining Kelly Ripa on the ABC-TV show, the busiest personality on earth will be moving to the East Coast. 

In a related move, iHeart Media announced that it is extending the contract with Seacrest ... for an estimated $73 million over three years.

He better get the majority of those iHeart bucks in the first year ... most observers doubt the company will even make it a year, let alone three, especially with deals like this. But I digress. The contract means Seacrest will continue hosting the morning show on KIIS along with a syndicated version of it that airs on iHeart stations nationwide.

Now let’s analyze this ... On Air with Ryan Seacrest airs on KIIS from 5-10 a.m. weekdays Pacific time. Live with Kelly and Ryan airs on WABC-TV/New York from 9 - 10 a.m. Eastern time ... 6-7 a.m. Pacific. Do you sense a conflict?

Yes, a local studio will be built in New York so that he can just “go up the elevator and do his radio show,” as a Seacrest spokesman said, but it will still take some time to end the television show and just get to the radio studio. And that is still two hours past the KIIS morning show start time.

This means Seacrest is either an amazing human being ... time traveling and doing both shows at once, or more likely, he is no longer live on the morning radio show. Or at least not a large portion of it. Will anyone notice?

I had a professor of Economics at UCLA explain that you can make some big money by taking advantage of opportunities at dying industries or companies ... grabbing as much as you can just before the company goes under. Seacrest must have been in my class.

Readers Write Back

“My name is Ray Lisman, San Pedro High class of Winter 1970. I enjoy reading your column in the Daily Breeze because whenever you reminisce about the music scene of your youth, you strike an emotional chord with me.

“My all time favorite DJ from my teenage years is Robert W Morgan from 93 KHJ. I'd listen to him daily while getting ready for school because he had this way of bringing joy and laughter to his listeners. He connected with me. I remember the time that he'd found several other DJ's named Robert W Morgan throughout the country and tried to get them all on the phone at the same time to share them with us.

“Maybe you can shed light on another memory. As a teen I enjoyed watching Sam Riddle's Boss City television show that came on late afternoons after school. One of his shows stands out in my mind, probably in 1969. 

“As I remember it, he was introducing a new rock group that was becoming very popular at the local clubs. As he was about to introduce them, he had a ‘brain fart’ and couldn't remember their name. After an embarrassingly long moment of silence, Jim Morrison glared at Sam and said, ‘The Doors’. If looks could kill, Sam would have been ashes on the floor. I had never heard of them, but that moment burned the group into my mind, and the rest is rock history.

“Do you think there is any recording of that show on the internet? Did it occur as I remember it?”

Your memories prove that when radio is done right, people do connect. There are few things that can connect as well as good radio with a dedicated listener. Too bad it’s been lost on so many modern programmers.

Regarding Boss City, I don’t have any source for recordings of the program, but I’m hoping someone else does. Any ideas?