Radio Waves Podcast #265

Radio: September 13
    I received a lot of interesting responses arrived recently related to the last few columns; it is obvious that radio means as much to you as it does to me. Here is a sample.

    “I saw your article in The Sun recently. I didn't grow up around here but spent most of my time in the Mid West and the South, traveling between Kansas City MO and Nashville TN.

    “There was a station in Little Rock Arkansas, KAAY.  They were a typical top 40 station, but around 10:00 or 11:00 at night the Clyde Clifford show would come on. Clyde would play something a harder than top 40. He rarely talked during the show, but just played music.  The show would go on for 3-4 hours, followed by an hour long radio serial called Chandu the Magician.  The station could be picked up in Kansas City and in Nashville at night. I would stay awake until 1:00 to 2:00 in the morning just to listen.”

    “Thanks for letting me share.” — Jay Still

    Thank YOU for sharing. I love the memories.

    “Love your column! To add to the subject of early AM radio and DXing, I began as a listener in the late ‘40s when we would listen to the radio in my Dad’s 1940’s Chrysler.  We had only one station in Yuma at that time.

    “Later, as a teen, we would wait until after sundown to tune into KOMA/Oklahoma City (1400 AM) or the “Mighty 690” in Tijuana for our daily dosage of rock n roll. Eventually, we got our own station, KBLU and had access to local DJs.

    “By the way, the radio in my dad’s car had a buzz like a hornet coming from it. I later understood that this was an object called a vibrator which changed DC current from the battery to a form of AC. This was needed to power the vacuum tubes within the radio!

     “Currently when I DX, I frequent KSL/Salt Lake City (1160 AM), KKOB/Albuquerque (770 AM), and KKOH/Reno (780 AM). Keep up the good work!” — Nick Yagar, Anaheim

    Those vibrators are interesting. It doesn’t quite generate AC, but it creates pulses in the DC, allowing a transformer to, as you stated, increase the voltage required for the tubes which was then smoothed out again with a rectifier. Back then they were mechanical and not the most reliable part made … today there are electronic versions that can be used in vintage radios. Much quieter, too!

    “I meant to email you last week, but I got busy. One top 40 radio station you may not be familiar with was KFXM (590 AM, now KTIE), which covered what we now call the Inland Empire. It was (is) based in San Bernardino. I graduated from Hemet High School in 1971 and it was the station that many of us listened to. The school cafeteria even played it at lunch time! They even printed up weekly handbills which they distributed to record stores, including ours here in Hemet … one side listed the top 40 singles for the week. The back had a listing of the DJ’s and their shifts. KFXM had a professional DJ staff equal to any Los Angeles station.

    “Thanks for bringing back those memories!” — Mike Christie

    My wife, Jean grew up in Redlands; she has memories of listening to both KFXM and KMEN (now KKDD, 1290 AM). Both stations helped launch many careers in broadcasting. And you can learn more at http://kfxm-kmen-radio.blogspot.com.

    “I really enjoy reading your articles in the Star news....Listened to KRLA and KHJ religiously as a teenager. I remember Dick Biondi coming to our school for a football rally! Dave Hull was a kick; Bob Eubanks, Casey Kasem, and of course Emperor Bob Hudson all made and impression in my life as teenager growing up in the sixties

    “And the crew at KHJ did the same...the Real Don Steele and  Robert W. Morgan to name a few. But I wanted to add one more name to your top 40 stations….KOMA/Oklahoma City. My girlfriend went to OU; I went to the University of Arizona … and I could tune in KOMA at night time and listen to it. I always thought my girlfriend would be listening to it at the same time, and it made me feel closer to her. That girlfriend became my wife in 1973.

    "Keep up the good work.” — Tim Sheedy

    What a great memory! Radio was my companion growing up … and it’s why I write this column today. Thank you for sharing.

    “On Aug 23rd, 2020 I picked up radio signals on a San Diego AM radio station late at night. I could not believe what station I was getting that far away. Though it would fade in and out I was able to hear that it was in San Diego CA.
 
    “As a young teenager in Alaska in the 1960’s we could occasionally get radio stations on the car radio late at night from California. Most likely the stations were more powerful and there was hardly any interference. There were no FM stations here at the time. Would you have an explanation for me how I was able to access a station so far away on my little portable battery radio?  — Jane Sparks. Wasilla, AK

    You may be the most-distant reader I have ever had, Jane! To answer your question, AM signals actually bounce off the atmosphere at night (technically, they do during the day but the energy from the sun absorbs/blocks them during daylight hours). So essentially, the signal hits the sky, bounces back to earth, bounces back up to the sky … (I may have that slightly wrong). It’s called “skip” and it allows and AM station to travel quite far under the right conditions.

    I was told that the EARLY AM stations could be heard across the country even at their low power, due to so little interference and so few stations; the farthest I ever got was WCCO/Minneapolis from my home in Southern California in the 1970s and ‘80s. Used to get WLS out of Chicago,  but another station is on the frequency now.

Radio Waves Podcast #264

KNX 1070 AM, one of the oldest broadcasting stations in the United States dating back to 1922, is about to celebrate 100 years on the air. If those numbers don’t add up, you’re right. But it’s a technicality that I am letting slide. Here’s the full story as it has been told to me:

On September 10, 1920, Fred Christian started broadcasting his amateur radio station, 6ADZ. A former shipboard radio operator, Christian was manager of the Electric Lighting Supply Company in downtown Los Angeles. Broadcasting primarily to customers who had constructed radios they assembled from parts bought at the store, his first transmitter put out five-watts and used the 1500 kHz (AM) frequency.

Now, five watts doesn’t sound like much, and it isn’t. But in the early days of broadcasting, there wasn’t nearly as much man-made interference in the air as there is today, and five watts would actually travel pretty far. Especially with no other stations on the same frequency … or almost any frequency, for that matter. There were truly only a handful of stations in the entire country at the time.

In early December of 1921, the Department of Commerce, which was placed in charge of regulating radio broadcasting, formally adopted rules that placed all stations on just two frequencies — 619 kHz (to be used for market and weather reports) and 833 kHz (for entertainment). Christian’s station was thus issued an official license to broadcast on 833, using the call letters KGC and the hours of 2 – 2:30 and 7:30 – 8 p.m. KGC shared 833 with six other stations, all off which also had specific hours with which two broadcast.

Here’s where it gets interesting. In May of 1922, the Supply Company was issued a second license to broadcast on 833, with the assigned call-letters KNX and a broadcast time of 9 – 10 a.m. For whatever reason — probably related to allowed broadcast time — the Supply Company decided to broadcast exclusively on KNX, and gave up the KGC broadcasts. KGC got deleted from the Department of Commerce station list; the Department then decided that, since they were under common ownership, KNX and KGC were really the same station,. KNX thus “assumed” KGC’s identity and used December 8, 1921 as the date it was first licensed to broadcast. That means the experimental broadcasts — by default — became part of KNX history as well.

And that history is valid, I believe. I don’t know, but I am assuming that the Supply Company originally wanted more broadcast time and a new set of calls was needed under the 1921 regulations to do so. That means KNX was really just an extension of KGC anyway … if anyone can confirm or deny this (radio historian Jim Hilliker, I’m looking at you), please let me know.So as KNX begins the plan to celebrate 100 years on the air, what can we expect? The station is mum, but I expect on-air tributes, and if they were found, early recordings of KNX itself. I doubt there are many of the very early days that still exist (if they ever did) but what an exciting thing if they are around.

KNX’s Bill Nesbitt has been sharing posts on social media over the past months looking for such historical audio; he announced on Facebook that there will be “a lot of historical audio, jingles, and memories” on September 10th, and my bet is that this will continue through the month. As it should: it’s not often that your station turns 100 years old.

Other upcoming centennial birthdays include KHJ 930 AM, and KFI 640 AM, among others.

Speaking of the Past.

Dave Beasing, formerly of The Sound (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) and now head of Sound That Brands, sent me a link to 1940sradiowlvn.com.

What is it? A recreation of a radio station from the 1940s.

“It all started with the purchase of my first antique radio, a 1935 GE Tombstone,” says the anonymous creator on the website. “This has been a 2-year journey and finally, WLVN Radio was established in 2020, in Livingston, MT with one simple mission in mind: to bring you back in time to the 1940s.

“I have always enjoyed listening to 40s music on my time period radios, but it never had that real feel to it. So over 2 years’ time I collected over 20,000 files of music and radio shows from the ’40s and created this radio station.”

The music is basically a jukebox, at least during the time I have listened. Production quality is superb, though it seems oddly…too good. But there are old time radio shows that “air” at the same time — or close — as they did when they were on the radio during the ‘40s.

Jack Benny — my favorite comedian of all time — is there, along with Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Burgin, Burns and Allen, Fred Allen, Glenn Miller, Fiber McGee and Molly, The Shadow, The Mercury Theater on the Air, Captain Midnight, President Roosevelt, and many more.

Good find, Dave. Thanks!

Radio Waves Podcast #263

 Country stars Luke Bryan and John Langston are coming to a radio near you

Luke Bryan and John Langston will be hosting the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. midday shift on Go Country (105.1 FM). Bryan and Langston will be heard weekdays starting Monday and running through Sept. 25.

Expect a lot of stories … both are known for storytelling in their music and my hunch is they will be entertaining as DJs spinning their favorite country tunes.

Go Country station manager Michael Levine says, “We couldn’t be more excited … They have such a loyal following in Southern California, and I know listeners will be thrilled to hear them on the station each day!”

More Sports

There’s a brand-new station in town. Well, almost in town. And almost brand new.

Flamethrower station XEPRS (1090 AM) — the onetime home of Wolfman Jack — was sports-formatted The Mighty 1090 when it abruptly went off the air over a year ago in April of 2019.

Bill Hagen of Out the Window Advertising put together a business plan to get the format back on the air. Now known as The Mightier 1090, there are no studios … everything is done from home studios and “the cloud,” but listeners won’t be able to tell due to the magic of modern technology. Besides, due to Covid-19, most stations are doing essentially the same thing.
Related Articles

On the air weekdays as of August 17 is The Morning After with Ariel Epstein and Jared Smith (6 a.m. – 9 a.m.); Rich Eisen (9 a.m. – noon); Coast to Coast with Scott Ferrall (1 p.m. – 3 p.m.); Scott Kaplan and Crew (3p.m. – 7 p.m.); On the Bench with Scott Ferrall (7 p.m. – 9 p.m.); Into the Night with Tony Bruno and Harry Mays (9 p.m. – midnight); SportsRage Late Night with Gabe Morency (midnight – 2 a.m.); Bagels and Bad Beats with Scott Wetzel (2 a.m. – 4 a.m.) and The Early Line with Kevin Walsh and Dane Martinez (4 a.m. – 6 a.m.).

Weekends include Mike Blewett, George Kurtz, Joe Lisi, Kevin Walsh, Dane Martinez, Elissa Walker Campbell, Jake Asman, John Michaels and many more.

I am impressed that they have programming 24-hours per day without repeats, but come on … Scott Ferrall twice a day? That’s just torture.

Top-40 Responses

No, I’m not going to count them down. But I am impressed that you so quickly sent your additions to my list of “the best” top-40 stations of all time … keeping in mind there is absolutely no way to create such a list.

And I am also aware that there are numerous other stations that can be recognized as well, both current and in the past, from different formats. That will happen in later editions of this very column.

A sampling so far:

Russ from Glendale: “Richard, here in no particular order, is my list of favorite Top 40 radio stations: KFWB, KHJ. KRLA, KKDJ, KGBS, KTNQ, KMGG, KROQ (when it was an AM station), KIQQ, KEZY KFMB” By the way, KGBS is in a league of its own for various reasons, I want too highlight the one-time daytime station in the near future.

Rick Shafarman of Santa Clarita: “To me, as a kid growing up in the NYC suburbs, the gold standard was always WABC in NYC. Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, Chuck Leonard, these guys were the greatest. I’d walk around with a little transistor radio listening. I distinctly remember as a 9-year-old, one wintry Sunday night, watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, going to bed listening to WABC, and waking up the next morning listening to WABeatleC. They really embraced the Beatles. It was from listening to WABC that I yearned to be a DJ.”

Mike Weyhrich: “I wanted to add a favorite to your list. It is a station that is often overlooked in the powerhouses you noted. It is the “Mighty 1290 KOIL” in Omaha, Nebraska. If you look at its history it was the launching point of so many top 40 names like the real Don Steele, Robert W. Morgan, Gary Owens, Fred Winston at WLS and more.

“By the time I made it out to Orange Country in the late 70’s, the great LA top 40 stations were fading. I got attached to KFI because of Lohman and Barkley. It was only a couple more years and mostly all the AM top 40 world was gone.”

Steve Portias: “KFXM, which was an AM mainstay from the late 1950s through the ’70s bringing bands like Dick Dale, Beach Boys, Elvis and others’ concerts were broadcasted live on their station. Then the most important one was KMEN, out of San Bernardino from the 1960’s though 2015 … bringing the Rolling Stones for their very first American performance which was at the Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, as well as other bands like Sonny & Cher, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Janice Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Dylan, Donavon, Canned Heat, and dozens more. All these concerts were broadcast live.“They also featured Hall of Fame DJ’s like Chuck Clements, Bill Watson, William F Williams who  were all inducted into the Crusin’ Hall of Fame around 2004; These stations had promotional contest and give-aways of new Corvettes and other muscle cars…cash prizes, concert tickets, parties, and more.”More letters … next week. In the meantime, stay tuned to this very newspaper.

Radio Waves Podcast #262

Radio August 23, 2020

    I didn’t see it until earlier this month, but in August of 2017, Radio Ink (radioink.com) ran a story on the “greatest top-40 radio stations of all time.” You can read it yourself at tinyurl.com/rw0823.

    It’s an interesting read, though in my opinion it is an impossible list to create. Even the two “programming experts” — Lee Abrams and Randy Michaels — didn’t agree. I myself have some ideas, but I am in no way qualified to find the “greatest” simply because I have not heard them all.

    Nor can I use my formative years as the basis for the list, as early top-40 stations (before my time) that set the standard were working from a different starting place yet still influenced the industry as much or more than the later stations generally credited with being the most influential. KHJ, for example.

    What makes the list viable, though, is the idea of what would put a station onto the list itself. Abrams details what he looks for: 15 elements including such aspects as on-air production, music, personalities, swagger/vibe, audience respect, the ability to influence record sales, and more. His choice for the top station? KHJ. Michaels top-pick? KIIS (alluding to both the AM and FM versions). The station chosen by readers of the piece? CKLW/Windsor-Detroit.

    Again, my perspective is somewhat limited. I was born in 1963 so early stations were often gone by the time I started listening to the radio. And I am limited to Southern California, as I have lived here all my life, plus recordings I hear via sites like ReelRadio.Com and YouTube. But if I were to come up with a list, I would use basically the same criteria as Abrams, with a focus on the on-air presentation, the stations vibe, and the excitement generated by all elements of programming, from the personalities, to the contests, to the breaking of new music.

    In no particular order, then, are stations that I would place on such a list, and the reasons why.

    • KRLA/Los Angeles. They knocked KFWB out of the top-spot and brought the Beatles to Los Angeles. They also launched the careers of many television stars, as well as Casey Kasem who went on to count down American Top-40.

    • KHJ/Los Angeles. No list can be complete without KHJ, arguably the most imitated station ever. In its prime, it was flawless. Exciting promotions, great DJs, excellent news coverage, special events and concerts for listeners, and engineers who could get the best sound and distance one could get from a little 5000 watt transmitter.

    • KFRC/San Francisco. When KHJ was at its prime, it was flawless. So was KFRC, and KFRC was at its prime more often than was KHJ, which suffered from a revolving door of programmers in the 1970s and a resulting inconsistent sound. KFRC, on the other hand, maintained its sound throughout its history and actually held ion to the format — and top-ratings — about five years longer than did KHJ. On the other hand, KHJ got screwed by owner RKO when the decisions as made to go country … had Chuck Martin continued as programmer in the 1980s, it might be a different story.

    • WCFL/Chicago. Purists will say that competitor WLS was the winner, and indeed it did often beat WCFL in the ratings. But to my ears, WCFL — owned by the Chicago Federation of Labor — was more exciting. But that’s why this is in no particular order.

    • WLS/Chicago. Realistically, you cannot include WCFL without also including WLS. Many of the personalities worked at both stations, and WLS had a flamethrower signal that in the 1980s make it to Southern California — cleanly — at night. The competition between the two stations was intense and made both of them better.

    •KCBQ/San Diego. One of my earliest listens. The same elements as with the local Drake/Boss station KGB, but even more polished and even more creative.
 
    •KFMB-FM/San Diego. Better known as B-100, this is the station that knocked KCBQ out off the top-spot, and was the first top-rated FM top-40 station, not only in San Diego, b ut nationwide.

    • KIIS-FM/Los Angeles. Not the early days … when former KKDJ became the FM simulcast of KIIS (AM), it was OK. But the killer KIIS-FM came during the early 1980s when the experts said top-40 was dead. That “dead” format (using the WLS jingles, by the way) went on to dominate the city just as KHJ had done 17 years prior. And to give credit where credit is due, the format is still running today (though the current version would be an honorable mention due to lack of anything setting it apart from the crowd).

    KEZY/Anaheim. The big-sounding station from the small town in Orange County. It was highly respected for its presentation, and many DJS from KEZY could write their own tickets after working there. One of the most exciting small stations anywhere.

    KTNQ/Los Angeles. Just when KHJ was going through one of its bad eras, Ten-Q came out hard and (other than the payola-based lame songs they added to the playlist) for a short time just dominated the city. Exciting, vibrant … kind of like KCBQ when it dethroned KGB.

    KGB/San Diego. But not for the era everyone thinks. The early days were great, admittedly, but when KGB became really exciting was in the later stages as 13-K … going top-40 just when so many other stations were leaving the format in the mid-late 1970s. Ot was a time when it went from being a has-been to a truly competitive station with great personalities, eclipsing AOR-formatted KGB-FM for a time.
 
    Honorable mentions: KKDJ/Los Angeles, for being a great top-40 FM only to be prevented from making inroads due to AM’s continued dominance at the time (and being squeezed by K-100); KIQQ/Los Angeles post K-100, when it was breaking new music even faster than KROQ; XETRA/Tijuana as The Mighty 690 making AM music relevant just a little longer; KFI/Los Angeles during the John Rook Hitparade era; KRIZ/Phoenix which went off the air while still number one in town when the owners just wanted to sell.

    What are your favorites? Let me know and I’ll get them on to the “list.”

    Short Takes

    Music will return to weekends on the former MusicRadio WABC/New York. “Cousin Brucie” Bruce Morrow has left SiriusXM’s 60s on 6 and will return to the station where he spun records in the 1960s, every Saturday from 6-9 p.m. Eastern, beginning September 5th.
 
    The Hollywood Bowl may be closed down due to the Covid scare, but KCRW (89.9 FM) is presenting recorded performances from the Bowl every Sunday from 6:30 - 8 p.m. through October 11.

    A variety of artists will be featured; go to kcrw.com for full details.

Radio Waves EXTRA: Ken Levine

 A "career spanning" interview with Ken Levine (aka on the radio as Beaver Cleaver)

Ken's blog:  http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/

Ken's podcast: https://hollywoodandlevine.libsyn.com/

Radio Waves Podcast #261

This radio website has the hit song chart information you used to get at record stores

If you grew up in the 1960s and ‘70s, one of the things you would pick up at your local Music City, Sears, Penny’s, Wards, Licorice Pizza, Wherehouse or Music Plus when you went to buy your favorite 45 RPM records was the local radio station music surveys.

In the early days, the lists were more akin to station newsletters. The KRLA Beat, for example, had station, artist and music news presented in a newspaper style. The later surveys such as the KHJ Boss 30 lists included a list of the top hits of the week — “hitbounds” (that were often not) — a little blurb on one of the DJs and perhaps some info on the latest contest.

Essentially they were cheap promotions for a station, and they were a great way to keep up on the latest hits during an era when so much music was available, an “oldie” was anything more than a few months old … today music even a few years old is considered “new.”

Reader Marilyn Kirkpatrick of Covina remembers. “I’ve never seen you mention this in one of your columns, but, for those people who might have listened to local L.A.  stations in the past, there is a web site — oldiesloon.com — that has weekly lists of charted songs for the following stations: KRLA (1959-1966), KFWB (1958-1967), KHJ (1965-1975) and KFI (1979-1980). These are the weekly lists that used to be available in record stores. Although I realize that these are mere lists, they are a really nice reminder of the music that a lot of us grew up with. They have also been invaluable as resources for class reunions, such as the top songs for the week when we graduated from high school.”

Absolutely. And it’s an interesting way to find songs you haven’t heard for years, as many of the top songs of a station were not necessarily popular nationwide, or for whatever reason just are not played today.

In addition to oldies loon, I found another site that has the actual scans of the surveys from KHJ in addition to a ton of station information focussing on the early years Boss Radio, 1965 through 1973. You can see what they have to offer at https://93khj.blogspot.com.

Mess around

Entercom is making a mess of mornings … with a new morning show on Amp Radio (KAMP, 97.1 FM). As you read about in Kelli Skye Fadroski’s piece on the Morning Mess crew, the new show with Joey Boy, Aneesh Ratan, Jeana Shepard, and Karla Hernandez started August 3rd and runs weekday mornings from 5-10 a.m.

In a press release, Entercom Regional President Jeff Federman said that “Joey Boy and The Morning Mess are a true reflection of Southern California. They are diverse, dynamic, socially responsible and completely transparent.”

They are not, however, in Southern California. The Morning Mash is a morning show out of sister station KALV-FM/Phoenix, with a bit of local content added in order so it seems like it’s a local show.

It’s not.

As reported extensively over the past few months by InsideMusicMedia.Com‘s Jerry Del Colliano, Entercom is in the process of reducing its talent payroll by position cuts, salary cuts, and plan to syndicate talent around the country rather than having local programs. “The plan would give the company a chance to syndicate what they consider their top-rated (and paid) talent so they can fire largely morning hosts in other markets,” he wrote on July 22nd, and it appears Del Colliano is right on the money.

In my opinion, a major, full-power station in Los Angeles using a syndicated morning program is an embarrassment; there is absolutely no excuse for the cuts Entercom CEO David Field is making, which seems designed to run the company — and all of its stations —  into the ground.

At least, host Joey Boy was grew up in Los Angeles, while Ratan and Shepard were raised in the Valley. Hernandez is a native of Napa. And honestly, I have nothing against the show itself nor any of the hosts; they are seemingly great people. I’ll do a full review of the show in a few weeks, once I give them a fair shake and let them get used to doing a show for here even if it isn’t done here.

My only complaint has to do with the idea itself: Radio is local and should have local shows. Phoenix is not local, sorry.

Radio Waves Podcast #260

Radio: August 9, 2020

    Entercom is making a Mess of mornings … with a new morning show on Amp Radio (KAMP, 97.1 FM).

    It started August 3rd and runs weekday mornings from 5 - 10 a.m., with Joey Boy, Aneesh Ratan, Jeana Shepard, and Karla Hernandez presenting The Morning Mess.
 
    In a press release, Entercom Regional President Jeff Federman said that “Joey Boy and The Morning Mess are a true reflection of Southern California. They are diverse, dynamic, socially responsible and completely transparent.”

    They also are not in Southern California. Keeping with Entercom’s corporate mandate to do everything on the cheap, the Morning Mash is actually nothing more than a morning show out of sister station KALV-FM/Phoenix, with a bit of local content added in order for them to be able to pretend it’s a local show.

    It’s not.

    As reported extensively over the past few months by InsideMusicMedia.Com's Jerry Del Colliano, Entercom is in the process of reducing its talent payroll by position cuts, salary cuts, and plan to syndicate talent around the country rather than having local programs. “The plan would give the company a chance to syndicate what they consider their top rated (and paid) talent so they can fire largely morning hosts in other markets,” he wrote on July 22nd.
 
    It appears Del Colliano is right on the money.

    For a major, full-power station in Los Angeles to use a syndicated morning program is an embarrassment, and an indictment of the leadership of Entercom itself, including CEO David Field. There is absolutely no excuse for the cuts he is making, other than the fact that he is running the company — and all of its stations —  into the ground.

    There is, at least, a tie to Los Angeles for the team: Ringleader Joey Boy — aka Nachoo — was raised in los Angeles, while Ratan and Shepard were raised in the Valley. Hernandez is a native of Napa. And honestly, I have nothing against the show itself nor any of the hosts … they are seemingly great people. I will also do a full review of the show in a few weeks, once I give them a fair shake. My only complaint has to do with the idea itself - radio is local, and should have local shows. Phoenix is not local. Sorry.

    Feeding LA

    While Entercom is destroying the radio industry, it is trying to be a good neighbor. The company has teamed up with the Los Angeles Unified School District to raise money and help feed needy children and families.

    All Entercom Los Angeles radio stations — Amp, Jack-FM (93.1), The Wave (94.7 FM), KRTH (101.1 FM), KNX (1070 AM) and KROQ (106.7 FM) — are participating. From August 3rd to the 28th, stations will encourage listeners to donate by texting “NEED” to 76278. The money generated will bring meals to those in need throughout the region through the school district’s Grab and Go program.

    More than 50 million meals have been provided via 62 Grab and Go Food Centers since the program began in March, according to LAUSD’s Superintendent Austin Beutner. About one-third are adults hard hit by the COVID shutdowns.

    Donations can also be made by visiting need.givesmart.com, and you can get more information on the program by heading to radio.com/feedourfamilies.

    Help Request

    The special interview that KNXFM93.Com ran a short time ago with Carly Simon brought in some nice emails, many oof which mentioned interviews they remember from years past as heard win the original KNX-FM (now Jack-FM). The problem, explains net station volunteer and production director Douglas Brown, is that no one has the tapes. The Simon interview just happened to be in Christopher Ames’ garage. Others are MIA.

    So I thought I’d ask you … if you have, or if you know people who have, original interviews with any of the artists, signers and songwriters as originally run on KNX-FM, let me know and I’ll connect you with the right people. In fact, if you have any from any station, including KHJ’s (930 AM) Special of the Month, let me know that as well.

    Elvis Tribute

    Elvis: A Three Hour Special tribute show is set to air via the net on August 16 — the day Elvis died at the age of 42 — at noon, and again at 6pm.
 
    The show was produced at Drake-Chenault beginning on the day Elvis died in 1977, and was shipped to clients just two days later … airing that weekend. “Our competitors were shocked and astounded at how quickly we were able to get such a high caliber program on the air in such a short time, said Hank Landsberg who worked at the company back in the 1970s.  He explains how it all came together. Much of it was luck in timing!

    “The second week of August, 1977, we had just begun production of  a new edition of The History Of Rock And Roll,” which originally aired on KHJ in 1969.  “The show would be a 52 hour 'blockbuster' that documented the birth and development of rock and roll music. Hours three and four were already planned to chronicle the life and music of Elvis Presley.”

    Basically, the team decided to pull the material already planned for HRR, and use it for a tribute to Elvis’ life and career. Explains Landsberg: “The ‘Elvis hours’ scripts were already written, music was researched and pulled, instrumental tracks for voiceover backing were ready, interviews and other actualities had been edited and were ready for final production by studio engineer Mark Ford.

    “We had everything ready to go when Elvis died on Tuesday, August 16!  HRR writer Gary Thoreau made some last-minute script revisions;  Bill Drake came in Tuesday afternoon and began recording the voice tracks for the show.  We all pulled an 'all-nighter'...staying thru the night while Mark did the studio production. I believe he finished about 10 a.m. the following day.
 
    “The master tapes went into duplication, and we had station copies ready to ship Wednesday afternoon.  They went via UPS-2 Day, and arrived at the stations on Friday, for air that weekend.”

    Elvis: A Three Hour Special will be presented without commercial interruption, and will run about 2 1/2 hours. Listen at:  https://la2.indexcom.com/player/6