Radio Waves Podcast #290

 Radio: March 19, 2021

Several local radio stations were big winners in the annual Golden Mike competition, presented by the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California. This includes Best Newscast awards for KNX (1070 AM) and KFI (640 AM), with the former winning in the category for newscasts over 15 Minutes in length, and the latter winning the award for newscasts under 15 Minutes.

But that’s not all for the two popular stations. KNX also won in the categories of Best Traffic Report, Best Live Coverage of a News Story (Division A), Best Business and Consumer Reporting, KFI, meanwhile, won for Best Continuing News Coverage, Best Documentary, Best News Reporting (Division A), Best Light Feature Reporting (Less than One Minute), Best News Special, Best Internet News Reporting, and Best Podcast.

KLAC (570 AM) took two awards in Best Sports Segment and Best Sports Reporting; KCRW (89.9 FM) claimed two in Best Hard News Series Reporting and Best Use of Sound (Division A); KPCC (89.3 FM) also won two in Best News Public Affairs Program and Best Government and Political Reporting (Division A).

KCLU (88.3 FM) in Thousand Oaks took three awards: Best Live Coverage of a News Story (Division B) , Best News Reporting (Division B), Best Light Feature Reporting (One Minute or Longer), Best Entertainment Reporting, Best Government and Political Reporting (Division B), and Best Use of Sound (Division B).

The two divisions, A and B, relate to the size of the station, with Division B referring to stations or podcasts with five or fewer full-time news staff members.

The category of Best Medical and Science Reporting (Division A) was won by a podcast, inewsource.

Golden Mikes are the longest-running broadcast news awards in the country, and are quite distinguished as judges include some of the top journalists in the country. Due to the pandemic, the awards were presented in a live-stream show on March 13th; you can watch the presentation ceremony and get more information on the awards and categories by visiting RTNA.org.

Helping Hand

KLOS (95.5 FM) and the station’s loyal listeners united to raise money benefiting St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital during a two-day on-air radiation held March 11th and 12th. In its 4th Annual St. Jude Rocks radiation, the station raised more than $880,000.

The two-day radio broadcast featured the participation of rock celebrities like Gene Simmons, Metallica, Dirty Honey and Daughtry. Sister stations to KLOS even got involved, with  Power 106 FM, KDAY (93.5 FM), and the new KALI (93.9 FM) rallying their listeners for the radiothon.

“Everyone stepped up in a huge way,” KLOS programmer Keith Cunningham told me, including the entire Meruelo Media stations in Los Angeles. Personalities encouraged fans to make a monthly commitment to St. Jude as a Partner in Hope to receive a “We Won’t Stop” t-shirt, a custom KLOS “St. Jude Rocks” t-shirt, and then snap photos wearing them using #StJudeWontStop on social media. 

Still At It

For over 30 years, Royal Oakes has provided commentary on America's most talked about legal cases to national and local broadcast media. He's appeared nationally on the syndicated programs "Inside Edition," "Extra" and "Access Hollywood." He’s also served as Legal Analyst for Los Angeles television station KNBC Channel 4, KABC (790 AM) and KFWB  (980 AM) All-News Radio. As an ABC News Legal Analyst, he contributes to network radio news broadcasts, and to ABC's Good Morning America.

Now he’s doing a new feature, and can be heard on affiliates to Benztown, a radio imaging and production company. Called "It's the Law," the one-minute short form feature provides Oakes' topical daily legal analysis and insights about laws -- controversial and otherwise -- that affect Americans. The feature presents Oakes' legal analysis and updates in an information-packed format, and is available to all Benztown News Library users for airing Monday through Friday.

This new segment is in addition to his work with “Bunker Diaries,” a 60-second spot airing locally on KABC, as well as KOMO/Seattle and KTRS/St. Louis. “It’s a labor of love,” Oakes told me “It takes me back to the 20-year run I had on KFWB with the one-minute spot, “KFWB Legal Adviser.”

Oakes is a Capital Partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP in Los Angeles.