Radio Waves: December 23, 2022
Holiday Treats
More
Christmas/holiday programming is on tap for you, if you’re willing to listen
via apps or online … one of which has not been heard locally in years, if ever.
In the early 1980s, Drake-Chenault produced a show called Christmas At Our House.
It was very well received, since it was quite different from the usual
repetition of 50 common Christmas songs. The syndicated show hasn’t been
aired anywhere for over 20 years, and I don’t recall it ever airing in Los
Angeles.
The program
was hosted by Sonny Melendrez, who I met while he was at Magic 106 (now KPWR,
105.9 FM) circa 1984. It features lots of holiday music, along with
interesting vignettes about how Christmas is celebrated in various countries
around the world. There are also celebrity interviews, holiday stories,
and some very unique music.
It will air
commercial-free on Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24, from 2 p.m. to
10 p.m. and repeat on Christmas Day December 25, from 7 a.m. to 10pm
How do you
listen? The stream URL is https://la2.indexcom.com/player/6.
Just copy and paste the link into your web browser and a player will launch. If
you have the technical know-how you can add it to your favorite phone app, but
it will also play using the online player on your phone, so you can listen on
the go or in your car.
The second
program is a holiday tradition. Sounds of the Season will air
as usual beginning at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and running through 12 midnight
on Christmas Day. The 36-hour show includes some excellent jazz instrumental
and vocal interpretations of holiday music favorites from Ella Fitzgerald, Tony
Bennett, Marcus Roberts, Ramsey Lewis, Wynton Marsalis, Vince Guaraldi and many
more.
LA Jazz DJ
legend, Chuck Niles, provides a dramatic reading of ‘Twas the Night
Before Christmas at noon, and 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and midnight, 6
a.m., noon and 6 p.m. on
Christmas Day.
“I have
plenty of newer tracks this year, exclaims show producer David Grudt. “About 27
percent of the music comes from albums released in the last three
years. Roughly 60 percent of the playlist this year is comprised of music
in our 1,300 plus track library that are new songs, tracks that I haven’t used
ever before or tracks that weren’t played in 2021.”
In the San
Diego you can hear it over the air on KSDS (88.3 FM); in Longview, Texas you
can tune to KFRO (1370 AM) — Longview’s oldest radio station owned by Scott
Rice, former Chief Engineer of KSDS. But you’ll probably find it easier to
“tune in” online at https://jazzknob.com or https://www.jazz88.org
Music Comparison
Sean Ross
confirmed my own observations: KOST (103.5 FM) and Go Country (105.1 FM) do
have a lot of overlap, but there are enough differences that might make your
choice easier.
In a sample
hour, Ross reported on RadioInsight.com that
KOST played holiday music from The Eagles, Michael Bublé, Bing Cosby, Lindsey
Stirling, Johnny Mathis, Dean Martin, Amy Grant, Meghan Trainor, Frank Sinatra &
Cyndi Lauper, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Dolly Parton & Michael Bublé,
and Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme.
Meanwhile,
Go Country’s sample hour included songs from Bing Crosby, Darlene Love, Taylor
Swift, Elvis Presley, Faith Hill, Johnny Mathis, Kelly Clarkson, Nat “King’
Cole, Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra, Idina Menzel,
Lady Antebellum (Lady A), and
Kenny Loggins.
I note that
neither station had any songs from Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, among my
favorite Christmas songs due most likely to my listening constantly to the reel
to reel tape every season on my parent’s Akai M8 when I was growing up. But I
digress.
What the
Ross sample hours did show is that there is indeed a difference. KOST is
marginally more contemporary in the pop arena; Go Country is marginally more
traditional but includes a lot of more recent songs from country artists,
including a superb version of Baby It’s Cold Outside from Lady
A.
But again,
no Fred Waring. Such a shame.
Radio pioneer Norm Pattiz
passes
You
may not necessarily know the name Norm Pattiz, but you probably have heard
programs created or distributed by the company he founded. Indeed, Pattiz is
considered by many as the father of modern radio syndication via his Westwood
One company.
Pattiz
passed away December 4th at the age of 79.
A
graduate of Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, he worked sales for KCOP-TV
Channel 13 from 1970 to 1974. He launched Westwood One in 1976, which grew to
be a dominant player in syndicated radio programming by the 1980s, featuring
concerts and programming including “Off the Record,” the national edition of
Dr. Demento’s show.
Eventually,
the company acquired other syndicators including Mutual Broadcasting and the
NBC Radio Network, and even lured Casey Kasem away from Watermark to host a new
countdown show … then later got the rights to the American Top-40 program name
under its umbrella.
In
the late 1980s, Westwood One started buying its own stations, including the
former KIQQ (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) and launched Pirate Radio under the program
direction of Scott Shannon. Those purchases started to undermine the finances
of the company, which soon found itself having to deal with an industry in
decline brought on, ironically, by large companies buying radio stations at
inflated prices, leading to an over leveraged financial situation.
Infinity
Broadcasting purchased Westwood One in 1994; Pattiz stayed on until 2010 when
Cumulus Media took control.
Pattiz
didn’t retire, though, Instead he launched Launchpad in 2012, changing the name
to PodcastOne in 2013, once again putting him at the forefront of technology. PodcastOne.Com is a clearinghouse of hundreds
of professionally-produced podcasts covering all interests, with such shows as
Cold Case Files, Reasonable Doubt, and one of the company’s first featured
programs, The Adam Carolla Show.
In
addition to commercial radio projects, Pattiz was on the Board of Regents for
the University of California; served under two Presidents on the Broadcasting
Board of Governors, which oversees non-military U. S. Broadcasting services
such as the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe; and helped fund many radio
charity events.
Pattiz
was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009 and was a recipient
of the Giants of Broadcasting Award from the Liberty of American
Broadcasting. His big claim
to fame: he was married to former KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM) air personality Mary
Turner, original host
of Off the Record and who serves as Chairman of the Board of
the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage.
Fraudulent Advertising 101
Ever
think some radio testimonials from some of your favorite personalities are, for
lack of a better word, fake? Your instinct may be right.
The Federal
Trade Commission is accusing iHeart radio stations and Google of airing 29,000
ads on stations across the country that purported to have air personalities
speak of their use of Pixel 4 mobile phones, including scripted testimonials,
even though the personalities never used — nor even had — the phones.
As
stated on ftc.gov (https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/11/ftc-states-sue-google-iheartmedia-deceptive-ads-promoting-pixel-4-smartphone
) “in 2019, Google hired iHeartMedia and 11 other radio networks in ten major
markets to have on-air personalities record and broadcast endorsements of the
Pixel 4 phone. Google provided iHeartMedia with scripts that included lines
about the Pixel 4 phone like, ‘It’s my favorite phone camera out there,
especially in low light, thanks to Night Sight Mode,’ ‘I’ve been taking
studio-like photos of everything,’ and ‘It’s also great at helping me get stuff
done, thanks to the new voice activated Google Assistant that can handle
multiple tasks at once.’ However, the on-air personalities were not provided
with Pixel 4s before recording and airing the majority of the ads and therefore
did not own or regularly use the phones.”
This
all happened in 2019-2020; one of the reasons the phones were not available for
the endorsements: they were not even available for sale at the time.
A
proposed settlement puts iHeart under “probation” for ten years, Google for
three. Attorneys General from six states including California joined in the
action.
Let’s
see what the corporate radio apologists say about this … Didn’t RKO lose their
licenses over something not nearly as serious?
