Airwaves: March 18, 2016
Shortly
after the sad news that legendary disc jockey and programmer Charlie
Tuna had passed away came news that programmer John Rook had died. Then
just a few days later, programmer -- and former boss of Tuna himself --
Ron Jacobs passed away.
You
may not necessarily know the names Rook and Jacobs, unless of course
you read this column religiously. But both are known as industry leaders
who helped shape radio; both influenced radio in their own ways ... at
the same time.
John Rook
Rook
is perhaps best known in Chicago, where he programmed top-40 WLS,
building it into Chicago’s highest-rated station. WLS led the ratings
during Rook’s tenure of 1967 to 1970; in 1970, he left to head radio
consulting company AIR -- American Independent Radio -- later known as
Drake-Chenault. By 1972 he formed his own company, John Rook and
Associates; among his clients was WLS competitor WCFL which, with Rook’s
help, soon overtook WLS and dominated the ratings in Chicago for a few
years.
His
connection with Los Angeles comes by way of KFI (640 AM), which hired
Rook as programmer in 1977. Rook made KFI into what might be called an
adult-leaning top-40, compete with new jingles, full promotions and a
real advertising budget. Almost out of nowhere, KFI’s “hot parade”
format started making inroads against longtime leader KHJ (930 AM) and
relative top-40 newcomer Ten-Q (KTNQ, 1020 AM). Among KFI’s
personalities hired by Rook: Big Ron O’Brien, Eric Chase, Jackson
Armstrong and Charlie Fox, all of whom gave the former sleepy giant a
level of excitement that was hard to beat. As it turned out, KFI ended
up out-lasting both KHJ and Ten-Q in the format, with KHJ going country
in 1980 and Ten-Q going Spanish in 1979.
Like
WLS and WCFL, KFI’s ratings dropped after Rook left in 1982, as it
morphed into a light-rock station and essentially holding on until it
went talk in 1988.
Interestingly,
Rook was hired in 1988 to program KABC just as KFI was making it’s
serious move into the format. He quickly found that management
questioned every move and often reversed his decisions. One infamous
example: Rook tried to sign up Rush Limbaugh’s syndicated program for
KABC; management said “it was not KABC material” and he was rebuffed.
Limbaugh’s show ended up on KFI is considered major reason for KABC’s
nosedive in the ratings as KFI quickly dominated the format.
Rook
was a strong opponent of deregulating the radio industry, especially in
regard to the ownership limits. He felt allowing companies to hold
large numbers of stations would hurt independent owners and ultimately
harm the industry; history proves he was absolutely correct.
Unfortunately the inept and impotent Federal Communications Commission
didn’t listen, didn’t care, or both. Today’s sad state of radio is
exactly what Rook predicted.
Rook died in his sleep of natural causes on March 1st. He was 78.
Ron Jacobs
Before
programmer Ron Jacobs arrived to work with consultants Bill Drake and
Gene Chenault, KHJ was a has-been. One of LA’s oldest radio stations
(dating back to 1922), KHJ had a long history of great programming. But
the decade prior to 1965 was not kind. It had gotten so bad that most
employees inside the building at 5515 Melrose in Hollywood didn’t think
the new team would last any longer than the previous few programming
teams.
They were wrong. Oh, so wrong.
Based
on what all of them learned as they competed in Fresno, the team put
together a tight top-40 format that came to be known as Boss Radio.
Launching as a sneak preview in late April, 1965 due to competitor KFWB
(980 AM) trying to steal format elements without actually knowing what
they were, the station was the first in Los Angeles to be programmed
primarily for teens, but with careful attention paid so as to not push
away adults. In doing so, Jacobs, Drake and Chanault’s KHJ
revolutionized top-40 radio throughout the country.
Airchecks
of KFWB (980 AM) and the original KRLA (now KDIS, 1110 AM) of the era
demonstrate the difference. While all three played top-40, both KFWB and
KRLA tended to be a lot less music-intensive. DJs were allowed to talk
more, jingles ran longer, and there was a lot more “clutter” on the air.
While attracting teens, the primary focus was more broad, and KFWB even ran promos highlighting that “my mommy listens to KFWB.”
At
KHJ, however, Jacobs enforced a strict policy of minimal DJ chatter,
well-produced promos and commercials, a limit on commercial minutes and
high-energy at all times. Call letters were never to be said before
commercial sets, only music, so that mentally KHJ would be associated
with music. Contests were big: big-budgeted as well as designed to sound
bigger than life ... as was the goal for the station. Even the time was
to be brief: 7:40 is much faster to say than “20 minutes before 8.”
Jacobs
changed the music mix when teens were out of school and listening to
the radio, meaning that the station sounded a bit different depending on
the time of the day and the time of year. He constantly monitored the
station and could be quite feared by DJs who were the brunt of his calls
on the studio hotline.
He
also made sure that the air staff worked together. Jock meetings were
held weekly and everyone had to attend. “How can you feel part of a team
if you never get together with the rest of the team?” he reflected in
an audio interview Mike Stark and I did with Jacobs last year. DJs
promoted each other on the air.
Within
months, KHJ was at the top of the ratings; KFWB would switch to news in
1968, while KRLA would eventually try an album-oriented approach.
Jacob’s
final project at KHJ was the original production of The History of Rock
and Roll in 1969 (interestingly, John Rook would help with a syndicated
version of the documentary when he worked at Drake-Chenault), a 48-hour
look back at the development and evolution of rock and roll music.
Voiced by Boss Jock Robert W. Morgan, you can hear it on
www.reelradio.com (donation required).
After
leaving KHJ in 1969, Jacobs co-founded radio content supplier
Watermark; one of the first projects was to create -- with Casey Kasem
-- beloved national countdown show American Top-40.
In
1972 it was on to San Diego and radio station KGB, which was being
beaten badly by KCBQ (one of the few instances in which a Boss Radio
station was beaten). Jacobs evaluated the market, produced a repeating
program that ran all one weekend mocking himself as the station was
“recycled” (recording also available on ReelRadio), and then launched
KGB as an album-oriented rock station. It was Jacobs who created the
“Homegrown” series of albums that highlighted local bands; he also came
up with the idea for the KGB Chicken, a wildly popular mascot that
attended events throughout San Diego and helped promote the station.
Jacobs
was also a concert promoter, writer, blogger and Facebook poster; his
influence on radio will be felt forever. His “Inside Boss Radio” is
available on
Amazon.Com as a Kindle download (for the KHJ price of $9.30) He died March 8th at his home in Pearl City, Hawaii. He was 78.
