Radio Waves Podcast #341

 Radio Waves: May 27, 2022

More Favorite “IM” Stations

A while back I asked you what your favorite app stations (IM – Internet modulation?) and podcasts were; I thought today would be a good time to feature a few more.

• Daryl James spent 25 years doing FM rock radio in the Inland Empire, most recently at KCXX (now KHTI, 103.9 FM) in the Inland Empire, where he worked for an impressive 17 years. He nominated his own station, which I’d like to point out is not against the rules, of which there were none.

“When KCXX went to pop, I started streaming music on Dirty Radio; we have two stations available, and stream rock, metal, alternative, and classic rock,” James told me. The two stations are Dirty Radio and Dirty Radio Classics, both of which are quite good. Find them at https://dirtyradio.fm, or visit the Google or Apple App stores and download the apps.

If you want some background on the stations, see https://www.sbsun.com/2016/01/16/x1039-dj-starting-dirty-radio-online-station/.

• “I actually keep a relatively long list of stations that I like to stream covering quite a few formats. I will limit myself to just three that are among the best of the best.

“WWOZ New Orleans – While classified as a non-commercial jazz station, there is no doubt this station has a total NOLA vibe that’s often more like listening to a Mardi Gras parade than a jazz club. https://www.wwoz.org/

“KBear 101 (KCVI Blackfoot, Idaho) – Especially since you have written a lot recently about stations that might flip to active rock, I’ve thought for a long time that this station does the best job with the music mix. It is at https://kbear.fm/

“Music City Roadhouse – A non-commercial online station out of Nashville playing southern rock, blues, and honky tonk, at least during the daytime when I usually get to listen, the main guy running this station knows what he’s doing.  He’s on live like an OTA station, knows how to connect with his audience, and plays a good mix of music that sticks within what he has staked out as his format.  I only wish I had the time and money to make my own online station sound this lively.  It is available on at least seven different apps including TuneIn and Live365. https://musiccityroadhouse.com” — Kevin Sammons, Crestline

• “The best radio app is KEXP out of Seattle!” — Matt Hommman

Found on various apps as well as at https://www.kexp.org, KEXP is celebrating 50 years of service to Seattle, currently playing a variety of music focussing on rock, including electronic, soul, hip-hop, alternative, and more. Studios are located in the city’s Uptown Arts District. Somehow that seems fitting.

• My favorite radio station is Cool Blue out of Taupo, New Zealand. It plays blues, Americana, soul, jazz etc, etc. No ads, no DJ’s, no repeats or high rotation…just Music! It can be found online here https://www.coolbluetaupo.com/“ — Bruce M

• “These are a few of my favorites for weekend listening.

“KHUG-LP 97.5 FM, Santa.Clarita: 

“12N Sunday- The Down Home Show: There’s no other show like it in Southern California; it salutes  talented artists from Valencia and San Fernando. 

“3:00PM – Side A / Side B with Lou Paparozzi:  A tasty bag of themed music that is always interesting and informative.

“4:00PM – Backbeat Charlie Show: A thematic music show offering up musical treats.

“KJAA 1240AM, Miami/Globe Arizona, another great oldies station. Their motto is “None of the hits, All of the time … We don’t play the old same songs over and over… we play different old songs over and over.”

All of these stations can be accessed on TuneIn Radio” — Mark C

• “A few years ago, somehow, I came across WLVN out of Livingston, Montana on Audacy. What I really like about this station is that most of the music is tied into the years of WWII.  The lyrics are very entertaining, and commercials are played from that time such as with Frank Sinatra talking about war bonds and one I recently heard with Bob Hope. I enjoy waking up and seeing what is on each morning.”  — Peter A. Keon

All excellent selections … thank you for sending them, ands keep ion sending them in.

You may notice I have not given my favorites yet. That is coming soon, after a few more of yours. One thing that Internet Modulation stations (you heard the term here first) do is give you formats, as you can read hear, that you can’t get locally on AM or FM.

Radio Waves Podcast #340

 Radio: May 20, 2022

In a case of going back to the future, or perhaps simply going full circle, KROQ (106.7 FM) and owner Audacy have announced the return of Kevin Weatherly as programmer of the once-mighty station.

I hate to use the word “alternative” to describe KROQ, because that’s not what KROQ was all about during most of its successful life … at least not in the traditional sense of the word. When KROQ was the trend-setting station, breaking new bands and new music in the days of DJs Rodney Bingenheimer, Jedd the Fish Freddie Snakeskin, Richard Blade, Poorman, Swedish Egil, Ramondo, etc., the songs heard on KROQ tended to appear there first, and later on KIQQ (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) — though KIQQ broke numerous songs and bands itself — followed by other stations such as KIIS-FM (102.7), KKHR (now “Jack KCBS-FM, 93.1), and even KRTH (101.1 FM), KMET (now The Wave KTWV, 94.7 FM) and KLOS (95.5 FM).

For full disclosure, it must be pointed out that KNAC (now KBUE, 105.5 FM), during the Rock ’n Ryhythm days, played much of the same music with similar attitude … the limited signal out of Long Beach being KNAC’s downfall.

The Plimsouls, The Bangles, Oingo Bingo, The Blasters, Berlin, Wall of Voodoo, The Go Gos, Billy Idol, REM, A Flock of Seagulls, Kajagoogoo, Wham!, Human League, Peter Gabriel, X, Stray Cats, INXS, The B52s, Adam Ant, Psychedelic Furs, Prince, Rick James … almost every ‘80s band that you hear on flashback weekends — or now Jack FM — appeared first on KROQ. KROQ was the place for the hippest kids to find new music, and it was the soundtrack for so many of the era.

Which is why I was listening to other stations … I was never a trendsetter. But I digress. Intermixed with the new music, be it new-wave, British pop, or hard rock, was some traditional flavoring from The Rolling Stones, Cheap Trick, or even Led Zeppelin.

DJs on KROQ were funny, relatable, irreverent, sarcastic, and importantly, your friends. They curated the music, and especially in the case of Bingenheimer and his Rodney on the Roq Sunday evening show, they visited clubs, recording studios, and any other place they could think of to find new bands and new music. 

Original programmer Rick Carroll didn’t design the KROQ to be a station to hear “alternative” music. He wanted it to be an alternative to other stations … a  station where you heard something first. By the time you heard it elsewhere, KROQ had already moved on. 

Something changed along the way. The music got more predictable. More formatted. More limited in scope, such that the few new songs and new sounds got lost in the constant repetition of songs from bands — many of which were talented — that tended to all sound exactly like each other. I blame modern corporate ownership, in which executives are so afraid of taking chances, they choke the life out of such formats.

As time went on, ratings dropped. Stature dropped. The once mighty trend-setter became a has-been, almost embarrassing to its history. So it wasn’t surprising two years ago when Weatherly left KROQ to join on-line service Spotify as head of North America Programming. He could once again be free to innovate.

What is surprising is his decision to return. Nothing has changed at KROQ. The station is still owned by one of the worst companies to own radio stations, one in which innovation is actively blocked. One observer quipped that it probably had to do with “giving him some huge title and backing up the Brinks truck.”

Let me be clear, I hope I am wrong. If Weatherly is given the freedom to do what he wants, and he isn’t too old to remember that not everyone wants to live in the past and on past glories, KROQ could be in for something big.

The “big title” is Senior Vice President of Programming. In that capacity, he will not only oversee the programming — including content, talent operations and even the branding at KROQ, he’ll also advise the Audacy alternative stations throughout the country. No word yet on if he will be given a budget to hire DJs for each station, or if he will be stuck with the current policy to have a handful of DJs to work with, all pretending to be local, but spinning the tunes for stations nationally and regionally. 

I am not alone in my analysis. As another observer explained to me, “There's no question that KROQ's best years were under Kevin Weatherly's brilliant leadership. But let's not forget that KROQ's decline began under his watch, too. That wasn't his fault, of course. The firing of Ralph Garman, followed by failing to keep Kevin & Bean in place wasn't Kevin's idea. These moves are symptoms of the core problem. KROQ's new ownership has a deserved reputation for being cheap, especially on talent. Upon his return, Kevin will still be working for Audacy, so he'll have one hand tied behind his back.”

My message to Audacy management, and CEO David Field in particular: Leave. Weatherly. Alone. Let him do his job. Give him the financial backing to do it — invest in your stations and talent for a change. Weatherly — who officially starts June 6 — is talented enough to get the job done … when he is allowed to do his job. 

My message to Weatherly: Keep an open mind to new music. Start exposing new bands. Bring KROQ back to greatness. Los Angeles long ago lost the image of being a place to find new music … you have the ability to single-handedly change that, and in doing so save not just KROQ. 

And perhaps most importantly: don’t listen to David Field. Hopefully he has that in his contract.

I’ve reached out to Weatherly and hope to have a full interview with him in the very near future. At press time, I was unable to connect.

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Radio Waves Podcast #339

 Radio Waves: May 13, 2022

Solving a Radio-Restaurant Mystery

One of my favorite non-radio ways to waste time, somewhat productively, is to watch videos of “LA In a Minute” on TikTok, in which Evan Lovett gives inside stories and information on attractions in and around Los Angeles. You can access his main page at https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTdgFpy8v/.

But a recent posting combined that with radio, when he told the story of Carney’s restaurant, one of my favorite chili burgers in town and a great place to go with my wife, Jean when we were dating and she lived in Hollywood. Carney’s Hollywood location is on the Sunset Strip.

Called “Five Facts about Carneys,” (https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTdgF7F2P/) Lovett mentioned — in fact one — that Carneys was launched by John Wolfe Senior, a “marketing genius” who was “the man responsible for KKDJ, adult contemporary radio station changing over to KIIS-FM, yes, that KIIS-FM, 102.7 and its top-40 format forever altering the landscape of Los Angeles radio, and he did all this while founding Carneys.”

That didn’t sound right… I have listened to and followed KIIS-FM for years, and prior to that KKDJ and 1150 KIIS … I had never heard of John Wolfe’s connection. Digging further with a search of his name and KIIS, I found an obituary of Wolfe’s on the LA Times site from April of 1999, when he passed away at the age of 72. In it, there is a statement that Wolfe “helped create and market Los Angeles’ KIIS radio (102.7 FM) in the 1960s.” It later mentioned that he left radio in 1973 to launch the restaurant.

This got me intrigued for a few reasons. First off, KIIS-FM didn’t exist in the 1960s; it launched the same year as Carney’s, in fact, when KIIS (1150 AM) and KKDJ were “married” on the air to form a two band simulcast, KIIS AM and FM.

Adding to the mystery is the fact that KIIS itself didn’t launch even on AM until 1970; prior to that it was KRKD, call letters it had held since 1932. So basically, there was no way that Wolfe could have been part of KIIS-FM, especially its move into top-40, something that didn’t happen until later 1981.

Searching more … nothing … outside of a few mentions that seem to all refer back to that one incorrect LA Times obituary. So what’s the true story? Related: does anyone outside of me care about it? Regardless, who would know the story?

Mike Wagner, who worked at KKDJ and later KIIS AM/FM, came through with some clues, stating “to my knowledge, Wolfe had NOTHING to do with the FM…strictly KiiS 1150 AM.” That matched my thinking: that Wolfe was at 1150 and might have helped launch KiiS … written with lower case “ii” in their marketing at the time; the iiS part of the call letters approximating the look of the frequency of 115, shorthand for 1150.

LARadio.com’s Don Barrett helped fill in some other details, using a memory from Chuck Blore, the legendary programmer who brought polished top-40 to Los Angeles via the launch of “Color Radio” KFWB in January of 1958. Interesting, though perhaps not surprisingly, Blore’s memory was also regarding Carneys. Answering the inquiry “When you have a special friend visit you, is there a favorite Southland restaurant you want to expose them to?” Blore wrote,

“Yes. Carney’s. Did you know that a radio sales guy started Carney’s? He was probably the best I ever knew. His name was John Wolfe. He was by far the Number One salesperson at KFWB when I was there and then went on to become the Number One sales person at KPOL. (Remember KPOL?) It was John who talked me into going back into radio and together we worked at KIIS/AM. Then one day he walked in and said, “I’m leaving radio.”

“’My God, John,’ said I, ‘what are you gonna do?’  ‘I’m gonna start a hot dog stand.’  ‘John! You’ve got two growing boys, and two wives to support. A hot dog stand?’  ‘Yeah,’ said John, ‘I thought about that, so I want you to do a commercial for me.’ And I did. And just today I saw a billboard for Carney’s using a line I wrote for John almost 30 years ago – ‘The best thing I ever tasted in my whole mouth.’ John died about seven years ago and today his two boys are engineering the Carney’s trains, one each. “

That memory was written in 2002; Blore himself passed away just last year — July 15, 2021 — at the age of 92.

And for the chili burger purists, Lovett does another TikTok on Original Tommy’s.

More on KHJ …

“Thank you, Richard, for reminding me how privileged & blessed I was/am to have participated in those glorious, fun-filled, nervous, energized, & ‘over-the-top’ busy days.  And the opportunity of working with some of the most talented radio people who ever ‘graced the airwaves’. 

“And it didn’t stop there – the entire team on & off air, administrative, engineering, clerical-support, sales, etc. all contributed their best efforts to make ’93/KHJ/Boss Radio’ the incredible and never duplicated success that it became. Being part of that is one of the great joys of my life! Thank you for bringing those memories forefront for me today.” — Betty Breneman 

As mentioned in the story last week, Breneman was the music director of KHJ at the launch of Boss Radio in 1965, and was definitely one of the reasons for its success. 

And KFI …

Barry Mishkind has an excellent online article giving a wonderful history of KFI as they celebrate 100 years on the air. Read it at https://www.thebdr.net/earle-c-anthony-drives-kfi-to-fame. An excellent read!

Radio Waves Podcast #338

Radio Waves: May 6, 2022

KHJ and KFI turn 100

Two local radio stations celebrated birthdays in April, though you’d never know from listening. To my knowledge, neither mentioned a thing about it on the air, which is quite surprising as both are now centurions.

April 13, 1922 was the first broadcast day of KHJ (930 AM), a station launched by the Los Angeles Times newspaper. From 6:45 to 7:45, the station’s “dedicatory” program included the playing of The Star Spangled Banner, remarks from Times-Mirror General Manager Harry Chandler, soprano solos, “Ten Minutes of Fun,” news, a baritone solo, and “Bedtime Stories.”

While only 50 watts and broadcasting from the Times building at First and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, the station was heard as far away as Montana … a testament to what can happen when the atmosphere and airwaves are uncrowded and unfilled with electrical interference. 

KHJ increased power to 500 watts by 1924, in 1930 it increased to 5000 watts, the most it ever used and the power it still uses today. Early programming was noncommercial and intended more to help sell subscriptions to the newspaper; that ended when Cadillac dealer Don Lee bought the station in 1927

It was April 16, 1922 when KFI (640 AM) went on the air. According to radio historian Jim Hilliker, the first broadcast was an Easter Sunday service and music from 11 a.m. to 12 noon using a 50-watt transmitter on the roof of the Packard Motor Car building on Hope Street; station owner Earle C. Anthony owned the station and was not only a Packard dealer at the time, he was also the distributor for Packard throughout the entire state of California..

By 1927, KFI was already up to 5000 watts of broadcasting power, and by 1931 it became the first 50,000 watt clear channel (no other station on the same frequency) radio station in the Western United States, making it then and now one of the most powerful radio stations in the country.

KFI and KHJ shared the same frequency (750 AM) — as did many stations in the early days of broadcasting — until January of 1923, at which time KFI moved to its present home of 640 as part of the expansion of the broadcast band. KHJ moved a few times, eventually settling in at 930 in March of 1941.

While many think the call letters stand for something, such as Kindness, Happiness and Joy for KHJ; Farm Information for the FI in KFI, the letters were actually just random assignments; it wasn’t until later that station owners could request particular calls. 

What I never knew until recently was the fact that early broadcasts from the stations didn’t necessarily mention the call letters at all. Indeed, advertisements and stories in the Times for KHJ’s first broadcast mention only “The Times radio station” or “The Times Radiophone.” Most stations were named by or for the owners rather than any call letter combination.

It is a shame that neither station is covering its own birthday. Regardless, let me wish them both a happy birthday, and many more.

Boss Radio

April is a big month for KHJ in another way: it was in late April of 1965 that Boss Radio made its debut … the most imitated format ever.

The new high-energy fast-paced format — an evolution of top-40 programming from the brains of consultants Bill Drake and Gene Chanault, programmer Ron Jacobs, station manager Ken DeVaney, music director Betty Brenneman, and a relatively unknown but soon-to-be all-star cast of air personalities including Robert W. Morgan and “The Real” Don Steele — was supposed to debut on May 5th, but word got out and then competitor KFWB (980 AM) tried to steal some of the ideas, so the decision was made to make the switch early.

So, on April 27, 1965, KHJ launched a “sneak preview” of the new format, utilizing music bought at Wallach’s Music City utilizing the KRLA (1110 AM) hit list! The switch was made at 3 p.m. when Steele opened the microphone for the first time as a Boss Jock.

A surprising number of air checks exist from that era, though I have yet to find one of the Steele debut on the first day. Perhaps you have one … please send it my way. In the meantime, get over to MixCloud.com and YouTube.com and just search for “KHJ Sneak Preview.”

If you want to get a feel for the events leading up to the launch, you owe it to yourself to get a digital copy of KHJ Inside Boss Radioby Ron Jacobs (available at Amazon.Com), or head over to https://socalradiowaves.com/wp/20170505-2/ for a little taste.

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Radio Waves Podcast #337

 Radio Waves: April 22, 2022

Gunslingers on the air

A radio show about guns? In Southern California? And Los Angeles, no less?

Absolutely. It’s the Gunslingers hour and has been heard on KABC (790 AM) Saturdays at 8 a.m. Effective immediately, the show is transitioning to KRLA (870 AM) Sundays at 8 p.m.. Currently the program is airing separate editions for both stations, but the final KABC show will air July 30 … after that it will be exclusively heard on KRLA

The program is hosted by Jeff Taverner, owner of Gunslingers Gun Shop and Gunslinger Auctions in Glendora; co-host Mark Romano is a political science college professor. Both are expert shooters and in fact, both are Cowboy Action Shooting Champions.

The shop opened almost 25 years ago as a way for Taverner to make some money selling part of his own personal collection. He is very proud of the fact that he made a sale on his very first day open, back on June 1st, 1998 … “unfortunately the sale was denied” from the background checks, he says, “but it was a sale!”

The program evolved out of his own advertising. He created an ad to air on KEIB (1150 AM) that he purposely made a bit quirky and different to stand out, voiced by himself. It worked, both as an advertisement and a side career as a talk host: the ad was heard by someone at KABC, who suggested he start his own show.

For the first month they made him pre-record the program, but he wanted to go live and convinced KABC to let him do so. Since that time he has been able to take listener phone calls along with presenting information and interviews in order to help people learn about such things as firearms history, safety, collecting, purchasing, and the paperwork involved.

“I try to make the show as lively and fun as I can,” says Taverner. “I hope to reach people on the fence and help them realize that they don’t need to be scared, that it’s actually fun to go shooting at ranges and competitions.”

No politics allowed, though. “This is not a political show by any means,” he insists. “That would take the fun out of it.”

Taverner is more than firearms. In addition to being what Brian Tominaga — one of his listeners who told me of the show — described as “a walking encyclopedia of guns and firearms history,” he is also a collector or cars, a collector of guitars, and a musician who toured with his band around the world, later booking acts for some of the clubs in Hollywood.

It’s only an hour, but it is a fun little show. Past recording of it are on the KRLA and KABC websites (870theanswer.com and abc.com, respectively), as well as https://gunslingerradio.com.

High Fidelity Broadcasting

Ask almost anyone under the age of 50 if AM radio sounds good, and — if they even know what AM is — the likely answer will be “no.” Indeed, even one of the inventors of AM — Amplitude Modulation — radio, Edwin Howard Armstrong, so hated the sound of AM that he went out and invented an entirely new broadcasting method: Frequency Modulation, or FM.

But what most people don’t understand is that it is not the fidelity, per se, that caused Armstrong to head back to the lab. It was interference. Lightening, for example, makes AM broadcasts crackle. The problem with fidelity is entirely different, though very much related: in an effort to reduce interference from the atmosphere, man-made sources and from adjacent stations, radio manufacturers long ago decided to limit the fidelity of most AM receivers by reducing he audio bandwidth, or the range of sounds heard, to little better than the sound of a telephone.

It wasn’t always that way. Back in 1959, WLW/Cincinnati  installed a new transmitter and built new studios, the combination of which allowed them to broadcast from as low as 17 Hz to as high as 21,500 Hz — better than typical adult human hearing. For comparison, analog stereo FM broadcasts from 20 to 15,000 Hz.

Station management began calling WLW “the nation’s highest-fidelity station” when the station debuted its new facilities in January 1959. R. J. Rockwell, vice president of WLW engineering at the time told Broadcasting Magazine, “There seems to be a prevailing misconception that AM stations are limited in their permissible bandwidth … (we’ve proven that) high fidelity transmission can be accomplished in the AM band.”

Unfortunately, Rockwell and his associates couldn’t do anything thing about interference, which is the AM band’s kryptonite. Modern technology can fix some of it, but crackles and static will always be a problem. So what is the the future of AM? Opinions vary, and I have my own ideas. Stay tuned …

Radio: April 29, 2022

A slightly more normal ratings period, to a point — no major holidays or locally big events … though the Ukraine invasion is certainly having an effect — led to a March ratings period with few surprises. Nielsen released the results last week.

Of note, however, is the Ukraine effect: with KFI (640 AM) and KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM) both up substantially. In KFI’s case, it was a jump of more than half a point from February,, a full point since January, and almost 2 points from the holiday season making for a 57 percent increase in the ratings so far this year and a solid 5th place finish. KNX was not as dramatic, but rose substantially as well - up 39 percent so far this year, seventh place overall in March.

Was some of the KNX increase due to the new FM simulcast? Possibly, but in my opinion unlikely. As the ratings are released as a combination, only insiders know and they aren’t saying. Interestingly, however, outside of KFI and KNX, the other talk or information stations were essentially unchanged.

The overall winner for the month, of course, was adult contemporary juggernaut KOST (103.5 FM), which settled down to a post-holiday 5.5 share of the audience, more than half a point above second-place KRTH’s (101.1 FM) 4.9. Third place was a tie between KTWV The Wave (94.7 FM) and My FM KBIG (104.3 FM) at 4.8, showing just how close those stations are. In fact, statistically speaking, I’d consider places two through five as a tie.

KLOS (95.5 FM) is on fire … earning the highest rating the station has seen in quite some time: 3.0, and 11th place overall. Go Country KKGO (105.1 FM) did very well, too, tying Spanish adult hits station Jose-FM KLYY (97.5) at 14th with a 2.7. Right above that? Real (KRRL, 92.3 FM) and another Spanish adult hits station Recuerdo KRCD (simulcast on 98.3 and 103.9 FM) tied for 12th at 2.8. Can you say close?

Alt (KYSR, 98.7 FM) — still calling itself  “LA’s New Alternative” more than a decade after it actually was “new” — once again beat format originator KROQ (106.7 FM),  but the two were closer than they’ve been in a while: 2.2 vs 1.4 overall, respectively. I still think changes are coming to KROQ, sometime sooner than later.

The highest-rated public station? 16th place KPCC (89.3 FM) with a 2.4 share of the audience.

You may wonder why the station streams toward the end of the list are not included in the main station ratings. This is due to the streams not being 100% duplicative. For example, some commercials may be changed or removed. The m Ian programming is the same, however, so I’d personally count them together if I had the choice. This would move Jack, KRTH and The Wave all up by 0.2 shares. 

Each rating is an estimate the percentage of listeners aged six and older, tuned to a station between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight. © 2022 Nielsen. May not be quoted or reproduced without prior written permission from Nielsen.

1. KOST (5.5) 2. KRTH (4.9) 3. KBIG, KTWV (4.8) 5. KFI (4.7) 6. KLVE (4.4) 7. KNX (3.9) 8. KCBS-FM (Jack), KIIS-FM (3.7) 10. KLAX (3.2)

11. KLOS (3.0) 12. KRCD, KRRL (2.8) 14. KKGO, KLYY (2.7) 16. KPCC (2.4) 17. KSCA (2.3) 18. KJLH, KXOL, KYSR (2.2)

21. KBUE, KCRW, KPWR (2.1) 24. KLLI (2.0) 25. KUSC (1.8) 26. KDAY, KLAC, KROQ (1.4) 29. KKJZ (1.0) 30. KABC, KEIB, KFWB, KRLA (0.9)

34. KDLD (0.8) 35. KCSN, KFSH, KSPN, KWIZ (0.7) 39. KKLA (0.3) 40. KCBS-FM Stream, KPFK, KRTH Stream, KTWV Stream (0.2) 44. KHJ, KMZT, KROQ HD-2, KTNQ, KWKW (0.1)

Tribute

Shana — aka Shana LiVigni, though she never used her last name on the air, was a pioneering woman on local radio. Making her big-city debut on San Francisco’s KFRC, moving South to KHJ (930 AM) and later to FM via KLOS and many more, she was equally at home playing the hits on legendary top-40 powerhouses as she was introducing album cuts on the album rock leaders.

Always a fan favorite, she passed away far too young at the age of 62 back in 2015 (https://www.dailynews.com/2015/07/22/female-radio-pioneer-shana-livigni-dies/).

Retro Radio Joe just posted a tribute to Shana, where you can hear her evolution through time and formats from 1975 to 2001 It’s a real treat! Check it out at https://bit.ly/3v56jrJ

Radio Waves Podcast #336

 Radio Waves: April 15, 2022

The Radio Return of Bryan Suits

One of the more popular specialty hosts on KFI (640 AM) was Bryan Suits, especially when he hosted The Dark Secret Place on weekends in which he spoke of military operations and related subjects. Suits left the station in 2021 to focus on a paid podcast program.

Suits was an Army medic during Operation Desert Storm, served in the National Guard, and was deployed as part of a NATO mission to Bosnia and as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and more. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal and was wounded in action several times, eventually being awarded a Purple Heart. 

His experience combined with superb storytelling made for a must-listen program; my email was filled for weeks when he left the local airwaves.

Reader Nancy J. recently brought it to my attention that Suits is back on the air. “Don’t know if you’ve covered the most recent whereabouts of Bryan Suits but he has moved back to the Seattle area and, since early February, has a regular drive-time gig on conservative talk radio KTTH,” she wrote.

“From the sounds of it, many SoCal fans are listening via livestream because he reads texts on the air and notes the area codes – 714, 949, 909, 562, etc. including a recent 661 from Bakersfield. The podcasts are available on all platforms. 

“The nice thing is to be able to hear salient, intelligent information about the war in Ukraine. He also throws in current references to CA politics as a cautionary tale to the local Washingtonians,” she concluded.

Suits’ new show is live and local for the Seattle area, airing over KTTH from 6-9 a.m. locally. Beginning on February 7th, the program is part of a total revamp of the station’s programming day, though he is among the few local programs. Others include Dan Bongino, Michael Medved, Jason Rantz, Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles and Mark Levin … outside of Suits, only afternoon driver Rantz is local to the area.

“When we moved back to Western Washington, the last thing on my mind was radio,” Suits told Radio-Online.com at the launch of the daily show. “After filling in on KTTH mornings, I realized that I was born to do this. This is where I started and found my voice. Someone has to reflect what the sensible people are thinking and thankfully, KTTH is doing that. I’m humbled and grateful to be part of the team that tells the truth every day.”

Suits was previously heard in Seattle on sister station KIRO; in 2002 he left the area to work at KOGO/San Diego (600 AM) and later, KFI.

KTTH programming is available on various apps or through their own podcasting network, but like many stations across the country, the station streams its programming. Access it on the website at https://mynorthwest.com/category/ktth/. 

Best April Fool’s “News” Story

“ Audacy Surrenders KNX-AM license, keeps KNX-FM,” screams the headline of an April 1st posting on Facebook’s I Love AM Radio group. The story goes on to say that the city of Torrance has sold the land on which the transmitters are located to developers, so it made sense to just turn in the license. 

The tremendously well-done story  — good enough to fool a few people — was written by Steve Mittman, who posted a story last year that KHJ (930 AM) was going back to playing music of its Boss Radio days.

Alas … the KHJ story would be great, if it were true.

How’s School?

KCRW (89.9 FM) wants to hear from students by asking the question: How has this school year treated you? The followup? What does “normal” now link like?

KCRW has always been active in reporting on local education issues. If you want to give your perspective on the study, head over to https://kcrw.co/3uoY5uu.

Quick Takes

According to one study, more than one-third of regular radio listeners own a turntable. I do myself, though it is rarely used. Are these listeners/owners hip, or just old? … 

The FM simulcast of KNX (1070 AM), heard on 97.1, is no longer in stereo. Is owner Audacy doing this to try to extend the usable range of the signal? With rare exception, monaural signals have a larger clean reception area than do multiplex stereo signals, and without the ability to manually select mono on most receivers, it is a plausible reason. I don’t believe the station has broadcast in mono in my radio listening lifetime … 

Radio Waves Podcast #335

 Radio Waves: April 8, 2022

Your Favorite App Stations

Two weeks ago I asked for some suggestions regarding what online streams and/or podcasts you liked. Here are some musically tasty treats:

“Love your column in the Press Enterprise.

“We use StreamS to listen to martiniinthemorning.com. Brad “Martini” Chambers and Miriam give us some fun in our mornings. Since it’s a subscription station it’s sort of a family. He usually comes to LA once a week every month and does some great studio interviews like Steve Tyrell, Dave Damiani, Jonny Blu, etc. 

“Thanks to Brad we have become friends with many of the artists who carry on the American Songbook today. They are called The Wolfpack (the new Rat Pack), led by Dave Damiani with Landau Eugene Murphy, Sal Valentinetti, Jonny Blu, James Torme, Haley Reinhart, and Renee Olstead. It’s great fun to listen in and hear the classics and the new artists carry on the music.”  — Joe B 

Chambers should be programming an on-air station, and the fact that he isn’t is an indictment of radio. While at KLAC (570 AM) and XETRA (690 AM), he not only got ratings and brought new listeners to the AM band, he was successful at bringing younger people to the format via playing standards from contemporary artists.

“I don’t remember how I found this site, but they are 3 stations in 1 from the University of Pennsylvania that is such an eclectic mix! I’m an elder, but get so tired of ‘classic rock’ stations, and this has opened up such new stuff to me! PLEASE give it a long listen! bit.ly/38n7b2b. Thanks!” — Sonni Hopkins

I feel the same way … I get tired of the same songs over and over. Frankly, I actually like new music and there is some research I’ll share at a later date claiming that listening to new music is actually good for your brain.

“Oldies – Big 8 Radio.com (programmed by radio vet Charlie O’Brien)

“Indie rock-  BAGeL Radio (live-hosted 480 Minutes show, originating on Fridays, is ‘The Place’ to go for breaking new music mixed with deep-cuts classic alternative) Both are available via several streaming aggregators as well as directly at the own websites. Cheers! —Mark, London, UK

Wow … a true long distance listener!

“Some time back you wrote about Accuradio. Another very similar service is SomaFM (https://somafm.com/). Like Accuradio they offer a variety of stations, and like Accuradio they claim that their music is hand-selected and not generated by algorithm. I have listened to some of their stations and haven’t like many of them much, but one I really do enjoy is Left Coast 70s. It’s roughly similar to Yacht Rock in SiriusFM. Left Coast 70s is available via TuneIn, so it makes it easy to listen to on my Amazon Echo.

“By the way, I have The Mellow Sound set up as an Alexa routine, so I just say ‘Alexa, play the Tribute Station.’ That works much better as Alexa easily gets confused about stations on myTunerRadio.” — Mike Christie, Hemet

It’s an art sometimes getting some stations to play on smart speakers, but well worth the time. The shortcut you mention (and a similar one with the others) is a great way to make it work better.

“We found Q102.3 Palm Springs when we were there a few years ago. It is a locally owned radio station that plays classic rock and we LOVE it. Hope you like it as well.” — Tish Husak

KRHQ is available on TuneIn and the station website at https://q102classicrock.com

“I watched a movie, ‘Music In Exile’ about the effects of Hurricane Katrina at the end of November 2021. Two public radio stations were mentioned, WWOZ (90.7 FM)  in New Orleans and KRVS (88.7 FM) in Lafayette.  Both play all the types of music I love. I was able to find them on the Radio Garden app and stream them frequently via my phone and JBL Bluetooth speaker. I also listen to Xpression3.16 and Radio Panamericana from Peru as my wife is from there and we both enjoy the music.” — Bob Beberfall, Ontario, CA

I have to try the Radio Garden app … you are not the first to suggest it.

“Enjoy your column immensely. Here are my favorite streaming radio stations: https://www.psychedelicjukebox.com; WWOZ for New Orleans music; and WPKN and WKZE  for eclectic” — Bob Andrews, Huntington Beach

WWOZ, WPKN and WKZE are all found on the various tuner apps.

“One of my favorite online stations is KFXM 98.3 Lancaster. An oldies that is similar to K-Earth of days past. Not being able to get 91X here on LA radio it is another fav …  Both are on MyTunerRadio and other apps. — Bill “telephonebill” Lodge, Redondo Beach 

“My wife and I have close ancestral ties to England which may explain why our musical tastes are somewhat reserved.

“1.  Smooth Radio London (FM 102.2).

“2.  Exclusive Radio, from Dubai. Over 500 “stations” of a wide variety of music. No commercials, just a brief station ID between songs. Our favorite station is the Moody Blues.

“3.  Classic FM, London. Perfect for a quiet Sunday morning.  Includes interesting background about the classical music they play

“We enjoy your weekly columns in the Riverside Press Enterprise.” — R/John, Riverside.

“I saw you asking for people’s favorite online station and thought I’d offer mine. It’s laoldies.com. I used to listed to it on AM when there and then on HD radio, but now listen via app or online at home. The songs of my life are always good to hear again.”  — Susan B

“I have been listening to the ACCU Radio app quite frequently since you had it in your column. They have quite a range, and I listen to new music, to me anyway, almost every day.

“There is a great radio station that I listen to out of Auckland, New Zealand. It is ‘The Sound.’ I like to listen to it over the website at https://www.thesound.co.nz/home.html, but it can also be found on myTuner and TuneIn Radio. — Jere Seitz

All great suggestions … keep them coming; I’ll check all of them out.