Radio Waves Podcast #239

This episode also features legendary LA air personality Rita Wilde and radio promo man CW West talking about their new podcast "Rock and Roll Confessional - The Podcast".

Radio: November 29, 2019

I was an intern at Magic 106 (and for a few months, Power 106) during my days as a student at UCLA. I had the opportunity too took with some truly wonderful people who I will always remember, both in front of the microphone and behind the scenes.

One of my favorite things to do was to hang out in the engineering office and talk with the station’s engineering staff, Tom Koza and Terry Greiger. Their knowledge of stations was like having a walking encyclopedia of radio, not only from the technical perspective but formats and personalities.
The two helped me repair and build things for KLA, the UCLA student station where I was a DJ and student engineer; that help allowed me to repair the main broadcast board and add the ability to take and record telephone alls from the KLA studios for later airing.

Over the years I stayed in touch with Tom, but had lost touch with Terry. Until a fateful day visiting The Sound (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) … turns out that Terry was the chief engineer for the station. Programmer Dave Beasing knew this but made it a surprise to me for the visit. A very pleasant surprise.

Terry and I caught up over the next few years; he told me of his living in the transmitter area of one of his pervious stations, other projects he was working on, the state of HD Radio … which was the reason I was able to truly keep in touch. When the analog and digital HD signals got out of sync, I was one off the first to notice, so I could give Terry a heads up and he would re-set the system.

After The Sound changed owners and formats, Terry moved on to become the senior Director of Engineering for Meruelo Media, meaning he was back in charge of Power 106 and proving that the radio world really is a small world at times.

In early November, Dave Beasing wrote to tell me that Terry had suffered a bad stroke while en route to a transmitter on Mount Wilson; last week came the news that Greiger passed away on November 18th.

Rick Cummings, Emmis Communications President of Radio Programming, worked closely with Grieger. He shared this memory:

“Every year we used to do a giant fireworks show in Indianapolis. Terry would come to town to help with tech.

“One year we decided to add a laser show, not the easiest thing to do in an outdoor setting. The rehearsal the night before was spectacular.

“One thing we did not plan on though was the fire department. They plugged in their pumps to put rain on the rooftops of the nearby zoo to mask the explosions for the animals sheltered inside. That dropped the water pressure and the water cooled laser cannons failed.

“I still remember Terry sprinting to the zoo and back. Upon return, he was gasping for air so hard he was unable to explain the problem. It became a funny story to tell through the years. He claimed it was the only time he ever ran in his adult life.

“His passing was sad news to many at Emmis.”

Another one of radio’s good guys, the unassuming Greiger had worked on the technical sound of many Los Angeles stations. Memories of him and his work can be found on LARadio.Com, as Don Barrett did an extensive interview with him back in 2006 and printed highlights and reader tributes after his death.

Gould Passes

Art Gould, the longtime co-host of KPFK’s (90.7 FM) The Car Show, passed away earlier this month. He was 76.

Gould kept his private life extremely private, but Dave Kunz, who cohosted The Car Show with Gould, sent the following:

“Born in Los Angeles, Art grew up in the Washington D.C. area and at a young age developed a strong musical talent, teaching himself to play the piano by age 7. By the time he was a teenager, he was playing clarinet and saxophone professionally, working as part of a musical group that backed up Roy Clark on a record album. The youngest member of the band at age 15, Art was already making great money and could have had a career as a professional musician.

“But the California car culture was calling, and quite loudly, so Art headed west to San Jose State University and automobiles. He had a long career at General Motors on the west coast, then was recruited to become the general manager of Cormier Chevrolet in Carson in the 1970s.

“By the late 1980s Art had taken an early retirement, and started offering expert car buying advice on The Car Show as a favor to the show’s founder, the late John Retsek. With his broad car knowledge, Art eventually became the show’s third co-host, joining John Retsek and Len Frank in the booth each Saturday.

“Upon Len’s passing in 1996, the show was back to two co-hosts, and it was John and Art as a duo for many years. Eventually, John decided to step down from the show, but Art continued full-speed-ahead. He was also a contributor to various automotive publications, including Seattle-based Global Auto News.”

A special tribute to Gould is to be presented soon on The Car Show.

Retiring

Lisa May is retiring from radio after 30 years waking Los Angeles. Most recently part of the Heidi, Frosty and Frank Show on KLOS (95.5 FM), May spent many years with Kevin and Bean on KROQ (106.7 FM). Her last day will be December 13th; I’ll have some career highlights next week; if you have some personal memories as a listener, send them over.