Radio Waves Podcast #365

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?