Radio Waves Podcast - Special Edition - Ken Levine

SPECIAL Podcast:  We are re-publishing our career spanning interview with the multi-talented Ken Levine - who is featured in Richard's column this week.

The Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters/Hollywood Media Professionals played host to a special “Coffee With …” interview as Master of Ceremonies and interviewer Chuck Street spent two hours talking with Ken Levine.

You may not know the name Ken Levine when it comes to radio, though he did use his real name on KFI (640 AM) in the 1980s. But he was a young, up-and-coming top-40 radio star known as Beaver Cleaver on Ten Q (KTNQ, 1020 AM) here in Los Angeles and on the great B-100 (KFMB-FM — now KFBG, 100.7 FM) in San Diego, among other stations.

Why Beaver Cleaver, the name of the character on the old “Leave It to Beaver” TV series? It was catchy and helped him stand out much more than the name he used previously, Ken Stevens.

Outside of radio, Levine is a highly-respected writer, producer, and director in the television and film industries, an accomplished playwright, and even a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball. His numerous credits include television programs “M*A*S*H,” “Cheers,” “Frasier,” “Wings,” “The Simpsons,” “Almost Perfect,” “Everybody Loves Raymond” and more; he has co-written feature films, and more recently has written and produced short plays acted live over Zoom.

His baseball work includes stints with the Baltimore Orioles, the Seattle Mariners, and the San Diego Padres, and he spent a few years as co-host of Dodger Talk, the call-in program that followed every Dodger Game on the radio.

And just to show that he can do just about anything, he is also an accomplished cartoonist, with his work appearing in the prestigious New Yorker magazine. In his spare time(?), he writes a blog and produces a thoroughly entertaining podcast … go to kenlevine.blogspot.com and hollywoodandlevine.libsyn.com/

Honestly, I have no idea how he manages to find time for all of his interests, let alone all the differing careers all the while being a loyal husband and family man. But the two-hour coffee interview just wasn’t enough … as many in the audience could attest, it was among the fastest two hours on record.

Levine tends to downplay his accomplishments in radio, stating that his voice is “too squeaky” compared to his many heroes and contemporaries. I disagree, but regardless, he more than made up for any perceived personal deficiency with a quick wit, biting sarcasm, creative double entendres, and much more.

This all came out anew during his interview, with such radio-related stories as:

• Trying to get fired at KMEN/San Bernardino (now KKDD, 1290 AM).

Management wanted him back in the overnight shift; he asked to be fired instead. They refused, so he stopped by the record store to buy a special album to play.

“Radio stations were getting hip and playing album cuts more and more, so this idea was perfect.” The album he purchased to play in its entirety? “Fiddler on the Roof,” he said. “In Yiddish … I was fired before ‘Anatevka’ finished playing.”

• Convincing the General Manager of WLS/Chicago — at the time one of the most popular radio stations in the country — to put him on the air during the overnight shift leading into Thanksgiving Day.

Who was the GM? His father. “My Dad,” Levine explains, “left a memo stating that ‘My son will be doing the all-night show.’ No word on who I was or my experience on the air.”

The guy on the air immediately before Levine’s shift had no idea who he was, so Levine pretended to be entirely clueless. “Wow, what are all these buttons,” he remembers asking the other DJ. By the time his shift was up, the other DJ was convinced this was going to be bad and was scared to leave the station in the hands of an amateur. “He was just freaking out,” Levine says.

Finally, when the time came, the DJ watched as Levine leaned into the microphone, played the top-of-the-hour jingle, and opened his show with “This is Ken Levine; I’ve been on the air in Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, Bakersfield, San Bernardino … but never at the same time! This is W-L-S!”

When Levine shut off the microphone, he remembers, “The DJ says, ‘You’ve done this before!’ I said, ‘Yes, of course; my father’s not going to put someone on the air at a 50,000-watt clear channel station in Chicago who’s never done it before!’”

• The time that a program director at K-100 (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) worried they might get sued over his on-air name.

Levine told the program director not to worry: “If we get sued, we’ll get a ton of free publicity, and the worst that will happen is they’ll make me change my name.”

The program director called the station co-owner for direction, and Levine describes the response this way: “What’s the problem?” Levine says was the response. “The worst that would happen is that we’d get some free publicity and they’d make him change his name.”

You can hear recordings of some of Levine’s on-air work by searching YouTube.Com using the keywords Beaver Cleaver, Ken Levine, Ten-Q and B-100. Mike Stark and I did a full career-spanning interview with Levine, which can be found at http://la-radiowaves.blogspot.com/2020/08/radio-waves-extra-ken-levine.html

Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com

Radio Waves Podcast #373

 Radio: March 24, 2023

            It is time to admit: executives of the major radio corporations - Audacy, iHeart, and Cumulus, primarily - have no faith in the future of the industry they control. 

            There is no fighting from them against automakers who are removing AM from the dashboard of new cars, and the potential future removal of FM. There is no marketing plan to attract listeners to their stations, and hasn’t been for years. And they don’t even pretend to try to attract younger listeners, the lifeblood of the future.

            You need proof? Remember KROQ (106.7 FM)? You know, the station that knocked KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM) totally out of the album rock format by beating it to the punch playing new bands and new artists, just as KMET had done years before … before they got too successful and, one might argue, lazy.

            KROQ became the “Roq of the ‘80s,” and earned a reputation of being the place to go for new music. That was a long time ago, though. Now KROQ is basically an oldies outlet playing music primarily from decades back.

            Need proof? Here are two sample hours taken from the 3-5 p.m. shift on a random day about a week ago. Now remember, this is afternoon drive, which is one of the dayparts that would in the past have been programmed to young people just getting out of high school or college classes for the day, not the mid-day hours where more oldies might be found:

            3-4 p.m.: Toxicity (System of a Down), from 2001; Bad Dreams (Cannons), 2001; Basket Case (Green Day), 1994; Somebody Told Me (Killers), 2004; Time to Pretend (MGMT), 2007; Welcome to the Black Parade (My Chemical Romance), 2006; Landslide (Smashing Pumpkins); 2001; Bones (Imagine Dragons), 2022; Kryptonite (3 Doors Down), 2000; Africa (Weezer), 2018

            4-5 p.m.: Tighten Up (Black Keys), 2010; Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode), 1989; Uprising (Muse), 2009; Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz), 2001; The Boys of Summer (The Ataris), 2022; Black Summer (Red Hot Chili Peppers), 2022; Friday I’m in Love (The Cure), 1992; Sex, Drugs, Etc. (Beach Weather), re-released but originally from 2016; In Bloom (Nirvana ); 1992, Jumper (Third Eye Blind), 1997

            There was a time that KROQ would not even go back more than a year or two, all music being new and current. In fact, most stations popular with young adults did so, including KHJ (930 AM) when they played top-40, KIIS-FM (102.7) of the 1980s, and even, yes, KMET. That in two hours, KROQ only played five songs released or re-released in the past two-three years is, frankly, surprising even to me. But there it is.

            There’s hope, though, right? LA’s New Alternative (using that slogan for the past decade at least) Alt 98.7 must be playing new music, right? Think again. Another recent afternoon:

            3-4 p.m.: Fat Lip (Sum 41), 2001; Dissolve (Absofacto), 2017; Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day), 2004; Lovefool (The Cardigans), 1996; Just Like Heaven (The Cure), 1987; The Kill (Thirty Seconds to Mars), 2005

            4-5 p.m. Lost (Linkin Park), re-released but originally from 2003; Doin’ Time (Lana Del Rey), 2019; Dreams (The Cranberries), 1993; I write Sins Not Tragedies (Panic! At the Disco), 2005; Friday I’m in Love (The Cure), 1992; Bad Dreams (Cannons), 2021; Come as You Are (Nirvana), 1991.

            That’s two songs from the past three years or so. Any wonder why young people use Spotify for “radio” and in fact call it “radio?” That’s where they find new music.

            Now keep in mind that I am most definitely not commenting on the music itself, most of which I personally like. That’s not my point. My point is that if you can’t rely on KROQ or Alt to play new music, what station can you count on? KRTH (101.1 FM)? I didn’t check, but I’d bet they aren’t that much different year-wise … and at least they admit it! What to do?

            Legend has it that FM progressive rock radio got its start when Tom Donahue made telephone calls to local stations. Those that had disconnected phones due to non-payment — remember that everyone listened to AM at the time, and few people even owned FM radios — got pitched his new format. As the new format caught on and spread, people started buying FM radios. Eventually the band took over to the point that roughly 75% of radio listening is on FM.

            Which brings me back to my broken-record point: if you want to attract young listeners back to radio - real radio - you have to play what they want to hear. And I argue that it doesn’t matter if it’s on AM or FM, weak signal or strong. 

            I see kids listening to music on their phones or via cheap bluetooth speakers all the time … hardly the epitome of high fidelity. AM stations playing modern rock/pop/progressive/whatever would compete just fine. … certainly better than with political talk or sports. And they have less to lose … it is likely the stations are already losing money, just like the stations contacted by Donahue over fifty years ago.

            It is long past the time to do this. It can be done. It will take effort, time, and marketing, but the rewards will be great … I have faith in radio. But if the industry wants to let Spotify take over as the “radio”of choice, it won’t happen … unless a small company wants to take a chance.

            What are your thoughts?

            Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com 

Radio: March 17

KLOS (95.5 FM) broke a fundraising record - its own - by raising more than $1.27 million in just 26 broadcast hours last month during the 6th annual KLOS St. Jude Rocks radiothon. That beat the stations previous recored of $1.24 million earned in a previous year.

During the event, listeners making donations became eligible to go on adventures with station personalities in addition to receiving specially-designed attire … mainly t-shirts commemorating the drive: The T-Shirt that Saves Lives.

KLOS programmer Keith Cunningham was ecstatic over the results off the drive, telling me how proud he is of both his staff and loyal listeners and humbly stating that “it is very rewarding to be able to help.” 

“For many of us, it is the most rewarding two days of the year,” he said.

The money raised benefited St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and will help kids at St. Jude to fight cancer. Also supporting the drive were station sponsors and artists. In a press release, KLOS owner Meruelo Media’s Otto Padron said “(this) is a fierce reminder that live and local radio compels, and deeply connects with the community to make a positive difference.”

Emmis Podcast

My podcast partner Michael Stark and I recently sat down and spoke with Emmis Chairman/CEO Jeff Smulyan and President of Radio Programming Rick Cummings for an open discussion of Emmis, radio in general, marketing, and more. It was supposed to last about a half hour but ended up going almost 60 minutes … and in reality, there is so much more to talk about we hope to have them back at a future date.

Emmis is the former owner of Power 106, which was known as Magic 106 at the timethey bought it; later creating Power and for a time dominating local radio. The company is what I consider one of the “good ones” in radio, running their stations like they actually like radio. In fact, the love of radio oozes out from both Smulyan and Cummings as they speak.

I realized in speaking with them that my own ideas on how to save radio - especially AM - evolved form my time interning at Magic and Power. Apparently their corporate structure stuck in my head without me realizing it.

Hear the interview and subscribe to the podcast at https://apple.co/3T8g1ny.

New Morning Show 

Speaking of Power 106 - now owned by Meruelo Media and thus a sister to KLOS, by the way - the station has a new morning show.

Called the Brown Bag Morning Show, it airs from 6 to 10 a.m. and is a former podcast of a similar name hosted by Letty Paniche with co-hosts Rosecrans Vic and DoKnow.

You may remember Paniche as “Rikki Martinez” when she worked with Big Boy on Power mornings from 2011 to 2014; she left to work at KRRL and returned to Power in 2021. 

The Brown Bag Podcast also debuted in 2021; the show moved to the Power airwaves on February 16. I’ll have a full review in a future column; in the meantime if you have heard it, let me know your thoughts

. 

Top-10

In the past I covered ratings quarterly, primarily because that is when the full “books” were released. But it’s been years since Nielsen (formerly Arbitron) moved to a new system allowing monthly results to be released, perhaps it is time to update may thinking.

I’ll still do a more in-depth look quarterly, but give the top-10 monthly. This way we are all current without getting too predictable. Here’s the first top-10 of the year for the month of January, recognizing listeners aged 6 and over tuned to a station between 6 a.m. and 12 midnight:

1. KOST (6.8) 2. KRTH (4.9) 3. KTWV (4.7) 4. KBIG (4.6) 5. KLVE (4.3) 6. KFI (4.1) 7. KIIS-FM (3.6) 8. KCBS Jack-FM (2.9) 9. KLAX, KLOS, KNX, KRRL (2.8)

I’m a little late covering the January ratings, released by Nielsen at the end of February; the February ratings will be out in just a couple weeks.

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Radio Waves Podcast #372

 A VERY SPECIAL "Radio Waves":  Join Richard and Mike for an interview with two of Emmis Communications' top execs - CEO and founder Jeff Smulyan and President of Programming Rick Cummings.  In the full podcast, we discuss a variety of "radio" topics, Jeff's new book titled "Never Ride A Roller Coaster Upside Down:  The Ups, Downs and Reinvention of an Entrepreneur" and they give us their thoughts on the future of the radio business. 

Radio Waves: March 10, 2023

Austin’s SXSW Radio Day Concert on The SoCal Sound

There is a huge music, film and television festival happening March 10 through the 19th in Austin, Texas: SXSW 2023. Festival organizers describe it as “an essential destination for global professionals,” featuring “conference sessions, film and TV festival screenings, music festival showcases … and much more.”

Music festivals are held with various themes Monday through Saturday; Thursday March 16th is dedicated as Radio Day, and our own “So Cal Sound” (88.5 FM) will carry that day’s concerts live beginning at 10 a.m.

Each artist will perform for an hour, beginning with Bailen at 10:00, followed by Blondshell, Sunny War, Ron Gallo, Girl Scout, and Katie Toupin. 

Can’t get the station clearly on your radio? It’s on smart speakers, all the smartphone apps as well as online, at thesocalsound.org.

Fighting Back

Radio in the dashboard of cars has become a battle ground between auto manufacturers and radio station owners. Not just for AM, which is being pushed out due supposedly to interference from electric car internal electronics, but potentially FM as well as carmakers look to push subscription services that allow radio apps receiving stations over the internet rather than the traditional airwaves. The thinking is that if AM can easily be pushed out and replaced by apps, then by extension FM can be removed easily as the same apps can receive FM station streams as easily as they receive AM streams.

The problem for radio stations is two-fold: people may not bother getting the apps, especially if they are difficult to use or the access to use them costs extra, and there are extra costs to stations running streams, including music licensing fees.

So some station owners are beginning to fight back. A recent article in industry engineering newspaper Radio World highlighted the perspectives of Tom King, of Kintronics Labs — an expert on AM transmission and noise interference, Saul Levine, owner of K-Mozart (1260 AM) and Go Country (105.1 FM), Don Elliot, owner of Schwab Multimedia.

Essentially the consensus among the three is that interference concerns are overblown, that there are easy fixes including special antenna setups, and that many electric cars do indeed have reliable AM radio reception without issue. Who benefits from the removal of AM from cars, Elliot asks? Certainly not listeners.

In a related move, broadcaster Neal Ardman has announced an initiative to force electric vehicle manufacturers to stop causing interference to the AM band, a problem I eluded to in a previous column. In a nutshell, if EVs cause enough interference to cause in-car reception problems, they are potentially creating interference outside the car as well … which is illegal.

Broadcasting stations, including radio and television, is a protected medium in part because of its use in emergency situations. And AM stations in particular are often the hub of the emergency alert system. And that brings up an important issue, as Ardman stated in a press release announcing his initiative: “EVs don’t just cause noise to the radios built into the EV they also cause harmful interference to the cars that are nearby.”

Adrian told Radio World that he hopes to work out an agreement without going to court, but that if a lawsuit is needed to protect the AM band from this interference, “we will do just that.”

Mail Bag

“I liked your article today where you mention ‘The Woody Show.’

“Another fun morning show is on KRTH 101 with Gary Bryan, Lisa Stanley and

Brandon. They have listeners call in for various things and is so fun to hear. I’ve even called in a few times and have been on the radio with Gary Bryan! They do such a fun show and crack me up a lot!

“Always enjoy your column – especially when you talk about old-time radio from the 60s and 70s – my fun era of radio!” — Michele

Absolutely! There are actually a few who still take advantage of phones when allowed, including those and afternoon drive hosts such as Kevin and Sluggo on KLOS (95.5 FM) and Booker and Stryker on Alt 98.7. It seems that some stations have finally rediscovered that entertainment between the records is often what makes a station win.

“I look forward to your Friday columns in the Daily Breeze and today’s was a good one. I’m a longtime listener of KPFK and enjoy The Car Show while running errands on Saturdays.

“If I wake up and don’t want to get out of bed I listen to the radio with headphones and check in to The Woody Show. It’s so much better than the (competition)” —  Richard Graling, Redondo Beach

Here’s a little trivia regarding The Car Show … did you know that host Mark Vaughn graduated from San Pedro High? Yes, he is a local boy!

Radio Waves: March 3, 2023

Car Show celebrates a half century on the air

My first car — and the car I learned to drive in — was a 1974 Chevrolet Vega GT Hatchback, bought new by my sister’s college roommate, Roxanne. Roxanne taught me to drive it when I was 12, in the back parking lot of Food King in San Pedro. In 1979, she gave it to me, and it became my cherished first car to drive in high school, while my Dad and I worked on rebuilding his 1967 Camaro RS that would eventually be my second car. 

The Vega got passed over to my Mom, sold to my friend, then another friend. Eventually I saw it in one of one of junkyards where you pull parts off of cars yourself … it still had the back window sticker I had put on it years before. I have to admit, it was a bit sad seeing my old car there… I learned a lot about cars from it and had fond memories of it.

I use that story for perspective … the Vega would have been 49 years old now, and it long ago bit the dust. (The Camaro was stolen, so keep an eye out for it). On the other hand, a radio program about cars the year before is still on the air: KPFK’s (90.7 FM) The Car Show just celebrated its 50th birthday in February.

It all started in the Fall of 1972 when John Retsek and Jack Kirkpatrick were asked to talk about cars on KPFK’s Helpful Hints consumer-oriented program. The two had so much fun with their occasional appearances that then-station programmer Ruth Hirschmann proposed that Retsek host a car-oriented show weekly. So, in February of 1973, The Car Show was born.

Much has changed since then … Hirschmann became Ruth Seymour, moving on to become general manager of KCRW (89.9 FM) in 1978 and creating one of the most prestigious public radio stations in the country. Carburetors became obsolete, replaced by fuel injection of various forms. Steel belted radials replaced bias ply tires. Unleaded gas became the norm. FM radios started showing up more and more, as did in-dash tape players, then CDs, then smart phone connections and bluetooth. Fuel mileage increased. Maintenance needs decreased. Safety and cost went way up.

But the Car Show has held on, and is now the longest-running automotive program in history, predating National Public Radio’s Car Talk by four years “and obviously outlasting it,” says current co-host Dave Kunz. Now, in addition to hearing it live over the KPFK airwaves Saturdays from 1-2 p.m., you can also find it in podcast form on various apps and sites including Spotify and TuneIn.

Described as “everything about the automotive world including listener call-ins, event calender, industry news, racing news, new products, vehicle road tests, classic and collector vehicles, in-studio and call-in guests on all automotive and related subjects,” the program is now hosted by Kunz and Autoweek magazine journalist Mark Vaughn.

Explains Kunz: “The show has been through numerous hosts over the years. Retsek was at the helm until 2010, when he retired. Art Gould took over with me moving from fill-in to regular co-host. When Gould passed away in 2019, I sort of inherited the program, and that is when I was joined by Vaughn.”

Through the years the program has remained true to its purpose: talking about cars, the technology involved , new and exciting trends in the industry … and fun. That translates to some long time listeners, according to Kunz. “I have heard from listeners who’ve been fans for decades,” he says. “One listener recently called to tell he he’s been listening since the beginning!” That’s dedication.

So raise a glass to the show that originated on a station that, when the show first debuted, couldn’t even be heard in most of the cars on the road due to the then-dominance of AM radio. Happy birthday, The Car Show!

Old Tech

As I was driving into work this week — due to the rain I couldn’t ride my bike — and listening to Alt 98.7’s  The Woody Show as I usually do, it struck me: Here is a show that embraces old technology, at least to an extent. Many of the contests, bits, and listener participation segments on the popular program involved listeners calling in on the telephone.

Yes, the telephone, something that so many seem to have forgotten exists in the era of text messaging and Instagram posts. Yet that banter with listeners is one of thew things that makes The Woody Show so entertaining.

It also creates a conduit for personalization, as callers who participate and win contests can be promoted on the air, unlike generic “text this number to win” contests that not only don’t really do anything to drive listenership, they don’t give the rest of us a chance to hear someone else win. 

Something to think about … maybe Woody proves the past is the future. Perhaps these are the Days of Future Passed. Or like sand through an hourglass, these are the Days of Our Lives. Showing my age again …

Radio Waves: February 24, 2023

Riding the Emmis rollercoaster

Never ride a roller coaster upside down. Good advice, and also the title of a new book by Emmis Broadcasting founder and CEO Jeff Smulyan. The subtitle perhaps better describes the technical content: “the ups, downs and reinvention of an entrepreneur,” but the roller coaster imagery is fitting, as I am sure many entrepreneurs will attest. 

It’s certainly not always smooth sailing.

This is not a radio book in the traditional sense, nor is it a book on broadcasting. It definitely stays true to its title and focusses on the trials and tribulations experienced by Smulyan as he built his radio empire, branched into professional athletics team ownership, and in many ways tried to help keep an industry he loves on track and profitable … unfortunately to no avail. 

In its pages, the book explores all aspects of his multi-faceted career, and at times is brutally honest toward himself and others. He gives accolades when appropriate; derision when necessary. And while it is not a tough read, it is a long read solely due to the details presented and the passion behind his words.

Not that I always agree fully with him … As you know, I have long held that AM station owners and programmers pushed listeners to FM through bad programming — and other — decisions. Yes, FM can sound better, but doesn’t have to, and had programmers presented something people value, they would have stayed with the band. Smulyan actually proves my point with the initial failure of WFAN — a formerly successful country music station before he changed it to all-sports, which took years to catch on and like conservative talk radio became a popular format to present — if not listen —on the AM band … to the band’s ultimate demise.

Also demonstrated by Smulyan, the current decline of FM is due to the same type of forces … content not appealing to listeners, and a commercial load approaching 25 minutes per hour on some stations. But I digress.

In reading the book you get a feeling that you are there. In. My case, in one example, I was there … I was an intern at Magic 106 (now Power 106, 105.9 FM), working with on-air personalities such as Sonny Melendrez, Brian Roberts, Laurie Allen, and the great Robert W. Morgan. Emmis had spent a lot of money on Magic, but it was never the force they had hoped for … mainly due, in my opinion (and something I sensed even as a college intern) … a music mix that was too limiting. Magic never wanted to break songs, and instead relied on KIIS-FM (102.7) to do so … to its ultimate decline.

Smulyan and his executives including Rick Cummings, who I believe at the time oversaw programming for the entire company, let me listen in and even take part on some of their evening strategy meetings, which was a tremendous opportunity for a radio nut like me. I never forgot the experience, and it helped me not only understand the inner workings of radio, but develop a periphery understanding of Emmis itself. Indeed, my experience with Emmis matches what Smulyan describes as the corporate attitude within the company – a company that values people; they treated me — unpaid intern radio nut —  as a valuable employee. No wonder the same executives I sat with in the mid 1980s are for the most part still with the company.

So I was there when the decision to drop the adult contemporary music and move to a rhythmic top-40/dance format was announced. At the time I remember thinking that it would be a  tough move; KIIS-FM was firmly entrenched as the top-rated music station in the United States, setting records for listenership and revenues. Emmis executives came up with a format designed to appeal to young, hip listeners cutting across cultural barriers (sound familiar? Chuck Martin did the same at KHJ 930 AM). Ultimately, Power was the only station ever able to knock unstoppable KIIS-FM out of the top spot, at least for a while.

Smulyan later describes the purchase of the Seattle Mariners … what went right and what went terribly wrong, including a reflective analysis of how he totally misread the market for professional baseball in Seattle. That chapter in the book may change a few opinions on Smulyan being a “terrible owner” of the team, even though that is not the intent. 

He speaks of his competitors both good and bad, talks about initiatives he was part of that may have indeed helped extend the reach of radio, and discusses the problems — including in particular one short-sighted competitor — that led to Emmis ultimately becoming less of a “radio” company and more of a media company … a move that you correctly sense makes him somewhat sad. Smulyan is, indeed, a radio guy, and it is his first love.

As I mentioned, one thing I found interesting in reading the book was that the attitude of Smulyan and the corporate culture he claims to have encouraged at Emmis matches that of my limited experience way back in my intern days, which were only a few years after Emmis was founded. Over time I watched the company’s successes and declines, and was impressed when — unlike so many other companies — Emmis actually worked to pay down debt by selling stations, including one that Smulyan loved, Power 106. 

As I said, it’s not truly a radio book, but well worth the read for both radio fans as well as anyone interested in starting a business. Smulyan imparts knowledge that successful business owners learn by experience; perhaps his experience will help others avoid mistakes … or at least help others understand what entrepreneurs often go through …

Radio Waves Podcast #371

 Radio: February 17, 2023

Last October, Adult Album rocker 88-5 … aka The SoCal Sound (KCSN/KSBR, 88.5 FM) … ruffled a few feathers by moving specialty programming out of “prime” hours, described as Monday through Friday 6 a.m. to 7p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

General Manager Patrick Osburn stated emphatically at the time that all hosts were offered new slots and no shows were outright canceled, but that not everyone wanted to make the move and some hosts decoded to hang it up.

This prompted numerous emails and letters at the time, and some observers wondered if it made a difference in support and donations to the stations, with the thinking being that listeners of specialty programming are more likely financially support a public radio station.

So I reached out to Osburn and asked directly … was there any fallout? His response is that it was basically a wash: 

“For several weeks I got a lot of hate mail and resentful notes that missed the Beatles show, and others,” he explained. “I made a big effort to explain,  placate them, and even compromise. In the end, I generally stuck to the plan for the good of the future of the station.  

“Over a few weeks, the number of letters decreased.  Nothing for a few weeks, then back to notes and donations”

  Osburn insists that the move was needed to help ensure the longterm visibility of the station, explaining, “our goal to evolve for the next 10 years is working, and the previous donations are being replaced by the new.  In short, it’s a push, but we are well set up for the future.”

The Real Threat

Radio engineering newspaper Radio World recently ran a story on what the writer feels is the real threat to radio longterm: subscriptions. Not to the stations or content providers, but to auto manufacturers who want to expand monthly payments to include in-dash entertainment services.

A couple throwaway lines in the story written by InsideMusicMedia.Com’s Jerry Del Colianno, namely that electromagnetic fields in electric cars make AM radio virtually unlistenable and that manufacturers claim that AM radio drains batteries in electric vehicles prompted letter reply from a Radio World reader that succinctly states what I have been saying for years: Those companies using interference as an excuse for removing AM are basically lazy … or worse, just bad.

Writes Broadcast Engineer Jeremy Burnham (bit.ly/3HSHkgu), “The article states, 'Fact: electromagnetic fields generated in non-gasoline engines make AM virtually unlistenable.’ Apparently Chrysler found a way around this issue because my 2021 Pacifica EV has a radio that receives AM just fine. I can even do some DXing (long distance listening) with it at night. If Chrysler can build a necessary filter, so could other automakers.

“The article goes on saying that manufacturers claim: ‘AM radio drains the batteries of their electric vehicles.’ Really? Quick, get me an ammeter; I need to see for myself that the radio draws excessive current while tuned to 570 AM but not for 102.7 FM or Willy’s Roadhouse on satellite radio.”

Could they both be right? Yes, absolutely. It would not surprise me one bit if automakers wanted to expand a subscription base launched with in-car internet services, or going back further, services like On-Star. And if the companies can use the excuse that it is “too hard” for regular radio reception as a way to remove AM and/or FM from the dash of future models, then subscriptions will — perhaps — increase.

But it is true that with correct shielding and a good antenna, reception of both AM and FM in electric vehicles is absolutely possible. GM, Toyota, Chrysler and others have proven it. And if the electronics and motors produced so much interference that it negatively affected reception in the car, it is likely that the cars themselves are interfering with others on the road, or even at homes and businesses nearby. Which means, basically, the cars themselves are operating illegally. It is up to the manufacturer to eliminate the interference of the products they build. Has been that way for decades.

Oh, and the claim about draining the battery? That is just bull.

Radio Waves Podcast #370

 Radio: February 10, 2023

            The holiday ratings period - representing roughly the last four weeks of the year - were kind once again to KOST (103.5 FM), which dominated the local ratings by playing holiday music. Earning a 13.1 share of the audience , KOST earned almost three times the rating (2.79 times actually, rounded off) held by second place KRTH’s  (101.1 FM) 4.7 share.

            Interestingly, though, the rating was a little lower than last year at the same time, when KOST earned a 13.4 share, and down even more from 2020’s 13.9. I wouldn’t read anything into that … many things are at work, not the least of which is the fact that people were allowed to leave their homes more freely, unlike the past two years. Still - interesting. 

            Also interesting: Go Country’s switch to holiday music didn’t seem to make a dent one way or another, with the station earning a 2.5 … about what it earns normally. 

            KFI (640 AM) was 3rd with a 4.4, followed by KLVE (107.5 FM) at 4.2 and My FM KBIG (104.3) at 3.9.

            Moving down the list a bit, the competition of Alt 98.7 and KROQ (106.7 FM)  found the stations closer together than they have been in a while, which Alt earning a 15th place 2.3 share and KROQ tied with KPCC (89.3 FM) for 19th at 2.0

            KLOS (95.5 FM) fell a little, to 2.5 from December’s 2.9 and the 3.0 share it held in September, October and November. This gave Jack-FM KCBS (93.1) a chance to take back the classic rock lead even though it was flat from December’s 2.8. The problem for Jack is that back in August, it had a 3.9 share, and other than in November, the trend has been down. It should be interesting to see what happens the first half of this year.

            KLOS sister station Power 106 (KPWR, 105.9 FM) is still struggling. In spite of an excellent signal, it continues to languish far below closest competitor KIIS-FM (102.7), with a 23rd place 1.6 share against KIIS’s 7th place 3.0. There was a time when Power beat KIIS, and it wasn’t that long after KIIS set records for FM ratings — as high as 10.0 — in the mid 1980s. Kind of makes you wonder why either station doesn’t try harder.

            And from the files of “I Told You So,” KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM) earned a 2.5 share of the ratings, tying KLOS and Go Country at 11th place. For historical comparison, KNX earned a combined AM-FM 2.8 share in Holiday 2021, and an AM-only 3.2 share in Holiday 2020. Clearly the simulcast on FM has not helped, and owner Audacy lost the approximately 1.5 share it had with the old KNOU format it ran on 97.1 before the simulcast, even as bad as that format was. In the meantime, KFI has increased its ratings over the same period. Weird. 

            Honestly, Audacy should drop the simulcast, move the call letters back to 93.1 FM and play mellow rock on the FM. But they won’t.

            Perhaps the biggest surprise of the Holiday ratings? KRTH’s online stream earned a 0.7 share … higher than 15 rated stations on the list and just below KABC’s (790 AM) 0.8 share of the audience.

            Each rating is an estimate of the percentage of listeners, age 6 and over, tuned to a station between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 midnight, as determined by Nielsen.

            1. KOST (13.1) 2. KRTH (4.7) 3. KFI (4.4) 4. KLVE (4.2) 5. KBIG (3.9) 6. KTWV The Wave (3.4) 7. KIIS-FM (3.0) 8. KCBS-FM (2.8) 9. KRRL (2.7) 10. KLAX, KXOL (2.6)

            12. KKGO, KLOS, KNX (2.5) 15. KYSR Alt (2.3) 16. KBUE, KLYY, KRCD (2.1) 19. KPCC, KROQ (2.0)

            21. KUSC (1.9) 22. KSCA (1.7) 23. KPWR (1.6) 24. KLLI (1.5) 25. KJLH (1.4) 26. KKJZ (1.3) 27. KDAY, KFWB (1.2) 29. KCRW, KLAC (0.9)

            31. KABC (0.8) 32. KDLD, KRTH Stream (0.7) 34. KCSN, KEIB, KRLA (0.5) 37. KFSH, KWIZ (0.4) 39. KKLA, KPFK (0.2)

            40. KCBS-FM Stream, KHJ, KIRN, KNX-FM Stream, KROQ Stream, KTNQ, KTWV Stream, KWKW (0.1)

            ///

Radio Waves Podcast #369

 Radio: February 3

            I got into a minor disagreement with my podcast partner and friend Michael Stark over a recent column in which I was trying to clarify something and perhaps ended up making things murkier. It all had to do with the the word “stale” and radio station KABC (790 AM).

            Going back a couple weeks, I had mentioned that KFI’s (640 AM) recent changes had a lot to do with not becoming stale, as KABC had become. What I meant to reference was the mid 1980s, when KFI was moving to the talk format, and was able to overtake KABC relatively quickly due to sounding young, hip, and modern … while KABC was holding on to the old guard and had become somewhat stale in comparison. 

            It was not a direct judgement of KABC’s programming then or now, and often sounding fresh isn’t so much the talk programs themselves, but how they present themselves. What music  they use coming out of breaks, and more. A station that doesn’t evolve is likely to die due to a lack of new listeners. Done right, and a station thrives.

            A perfect example of that is KRTH (101.1 FM) … diehard oldies fans lament that they no longer play songs from the 1950s and ‘60s, but as KRTH has moved into the ‘80s and even the 1990s — still a longer period back than when it launched in 1972 and played music from 1955 and up — it has gained new listeners and remained one of the areas top-rated stations.

            My partner Stark believes I was too easy on the current KABC program lineup. It is stale, he says. I’m not sure that is the correct word, but I understand where he is coming from. Indeed, if KABC was playing something people wanted to hear, they would not be among the lowest-rated full-power stations in town. My choice of word to describe KABC: irrelevant.

            I think that the real problem with KABC is that it isn’t offering much to attract listeners, and they aren’t really even trying. The station is mostly repetitive conservative programming, basically preaching to the choir, with no promotion at all. Two of the shows are essentially replays of podcasts, and outside of midday host John Phillips and (another disagreement with my friend Stark) Ben Shapiro, the shows are not even really fun nor all that informative. Just kind of a rehash of negative political news.

            So what to do? The way I see it there are two choices. Either build around Philips and go live/local all day with people who can relate to local audiences and get out of the political gutter, or drop talk altogether and play music. Find a format for an audience that isn’t served by existing stations … such as oldies (new or old) that KRTH or KOLA (99.9 FM) doesn’t play, metal, or progressive rock. I guarantee any of those moves would do better than now, and may even bring a few younger listeners back to the band.

            You Know That …

            It’s funny how certain stories get told, and I suppose when they get told often enough they become “fact.” But many “facts” about radio are more legend than reality. Here are but a few examples:

            You always heard that KHJ (930 AM) used a cappella jingles when they launched the Boss Radio format in 1965 because there was a musicians strike. Sound reasonable, except that it’s not true. Oh, there may have been a strike — I didn’t check — but station consultant Bill Drake had already been using similar jingles at previous stations he consulted or programmed, including KGB in San Diego (now KLSD, 1360 AM) among others.

            Speaking of KHJ and KGB, it was actually KGB that launched “the Drake format” roughly one year before KHJ. They didn’t call it Boss Radio, but the elements were all there - quick jungles, fast moving format elements, and the top-30 records. The success of KGB helped pave the way for its implementation on KHJ.

            You know that Rick Dees came to Los Angeles to work at KIIS-FM (102.7), right? It must be true, as I even read it in an LA Times retrospective of Dees’ career and how his arrival at KIIS led immediately to the rise of the station to the top of the ratings.

            Except it wasn’t that way at all. Dees arrived with his “Cast of Idiots” to work at a revitalized KHJ (can’t get away from that station today) in 1979; he didn’t move to KIIS until 1981. And KIIS didn’t switch to a true top-40 format until a while after Dees’ arrival. Had they kept playing the sleepy “adult contemporary” format they ran when Dees first arrived, KIIS-FM would never have set records for ratings earned in the mid 1980s.

            Of course you know that AM radio broadcasts always sound awful and it is due to the AM transmission system. The only way to get good sound on the radio to listen to FM.

            Wrong again. While Edwin Armstrong, a key developer of AM, hated the sound or AM broadcasts so much that he invented FM, it wasn’t due to what we consider AM’s lack of fidelity. It was the interference. AM radio, due to the frequencies it uses, is prone to interference from natural and man-made sources: lightening, automotive ignition systems, computers, dimmers, and more. But Amplitude Modulation itself is not inherently bad — it was used for the video portion of television broadcasts prior to the switch to digital … which is why you could sometimes get a picture before the sound on distant stations in the old days  — AM travels further than FM.

            Radio manufacturers handled interference by reducing the audio bandwidth on AM radio broadcasts. Made it easier to listen to, but it cut sound quality dramatically. From a technical standpoint, analog AM broadcasts can actually have a greater bandwidth — the frequency response spread from the lowest notes to the highest — than FM stereo (20 Hz to 20KHz vs 20 Hz - 15KHz). 

            With modern circuits, it is relatively easy to design a great-sounding AM receiver; Carver, Denon, and a few others made great AM stereo receivers as far back as the 1980s. It just costs a little more, and the companies want to keep costs down. Too bad, actually … some AM stereo stations sounded better than their FM competitors, but few people had the right radios.

            Have any similar stories? Send them over - I’d love to hear them.

Radio Waves Podcast #368

 Radio: January 27, 2023

            I have always had a pipe dream of buying a radio station or two … primarily AM — because I want to prove you can get listeners when you program and promote a station correctly — or maybe an AM-FM combo in a major market. I’d probably run top-40 or progressive rock on the AM and something to complement it on the FM … such as Big Band.

            But as I write this, something dramatic is happening in radio: mega-owner Audacy — owner of six stations in Los Angeles, a handful more in the Inland Empire, and a total of 235 nationwide — has seen its stock decline by almost 90 percent over the past year, closing January 19th at just over 26 cents per share. With about 141 million shares outstanding, that puts its total market value at about $37 million.

            I think it’s time to buy the whole company. Anyone want to invest?

            Here’s my plan: offer a premium to buy the entire company at, say, $50 million. Then sell off most of the stations to others. You truly don’t have to get much for them … the selling price would only need to average a little under $213,000 to break even, and even stations in smaller markets would be worth more than that.

            Considering that KBLA (1580 AM) sold for $7 million in 2020, KLOS for $43 million in 2019 and KFWB fetched over $11 million in 2012, as but three examples, I figure I could sell just four of the six LA properties (KROQ 106.7 FM, KNX-FM 97.1, KTWV 94.7 FM, KRTH 101.1 FM, KCBS-FM 93.1, and  KNX 1070 AM) and pay off the debt; the rest of the stations nationwide would give me a lot of operating income. Keep about 10 stations total and I’m set.

            Why ten? That’s about as many as any one company should be allowed to own. More than that and you have what you have today — failing companies creating a declining industry.

            Of course in purchasing the company you’d have to deal with staggering debt, for which there may be no way out short of bankruptcy . Something that some observers say is inevitable. A search revealed that as of last September, Audacy had over $2 billion in total debt, with liabilities totaling $2.73 billion. That would bring the average station selling price quite a bit higher to break even: almost $12 million. But … and this is a big but - it seems do-able, given the right management. The trick is, the company cannot remain in its current form: it must sell assets in order to get down to the handful of successful stations and remain debt-free.

            Any financial wizards reading this want to tell me why the plan doesn’t work? Seems a no brainer … I haven’t seen a bargain like this since Cumulus stock was selling for under $1 a few years ago.

            Stale?

            I received a few letters regarding my recent column on KFI’s (640 AM) programming changes, one particularly good one from reader Alan Wolfe. 

            “I disagree that KABC (790 AM) programing is stale. 

            “Armstrong and Getty: I give this show a thumbs down. I don't know what the show is about the constant laughing of one of the hosts is totally annoying. New hosts. 

            “Dan Bongino: Two thumps up for this excellent show. Great show

            “John Phillips: One of the best interviewers on either the radio or TV. Great show

            “Ben Shapiro: Also a good show if Ben  did not talk so fast. Ben, slow down

            “Leo 2.0: During  the 60 minutes Leo covers more information than some of the other stations cover in four hours. Great show

            “Frank Motek: One of the best financial shows on the air and he is not selling anything.

            “Susan Shelley with John  Coupal: In one hour you know so much about what the city, county and the state are doing to rip you off.”

            That is an excellent analysis.

            Which made me realize I was unclear. I didn’t mean that KABC was stale; what I meant was that KFI changed this month because it didn’t want to become what KABC HAD become back in 1984. KABC being old and stale is what KFI — with a young, popular Rush Limbaugh and a few others such as Tom Leykis  — used to surpass them in the ratings.

            What KABC has now is an image problem that they refuse to do anything about. And their technical sound is occasionally abysmal: the audio often sounds like high school quality … Leo Terrell could not even be heard talking the other night coming out of a commercial because the music level was so high. There are also too many syndicated programs, and they refuse to promote ANY of them. 

            Which is too bad - Shapiro is considered by some as genius and even fun, and Phillips is a definitely a wasted talent waiting for someone to notice how good he really is. I like Bongino, but you can only say something sucks so many times before it gets dull. He needs to listen to early Limbaugh shows to see how it’s done. And why is Dr. Kelly Victory still not on the air here? She was a highlight of the day on The Doctor Hour of Phillips’ program.

            KABC should be a competitor … they invented the format! But they just won’t go the extra mile to make it work. There is no reason for a major market station, even on AM, to be rated as low as is KABC, shares running between 0.6 and 0.9 for the past six months. 

            KABC is probably a station that purists wouldn’t want me to own: I’d take it to top-40.

Radio Waves: January 20, 2023

Benny Martinez, the young kid and relative newcomer to Los Angeles when he was picked in 1981 for the early evening shift on program director Chuck Martin’s top-40 K-WEST 106 (now KPWR, 105.9 FM) has passed away on January 3rd from complications related to diabetes. He was 66.

I remember listening to Martinez on K-WEST, the little station that should have dominated radio in Los Angeles, a true version of KHJ (930 AM) on FM, launched about six months after KHJ went country. Unfortunately, upper  management didn’t give it enough time and dropped the format just as KIIS-FM was moving in; KIIS would eventually become the top-rated station in America due in part to K-WEST leaving the format to them.

I asked Martin to talk about Martinez. “I first heard of Benny while I was programming KHJ. We would receive a lot of air checks from DJs around the country … so many people wanted to work at KHJ. One day my assistant, “Hurricane” Heron, came to me and said ‘you want to listen to this one.’ It was Benny Martinez, which was working at a little station in El Centro called KXO.”

“Benny had a decent voice, but there was something more to it. He had a vibe, something in his attitude, that stuck out. He had excellent delivery, with a great pace and momentum. He was not ready for KHJ yet, but he was close to the type of personality I wanted for the station: someone with an ethnic feel  … who can talk with Southern California in a general sense, but relate to listeners in the inner city as well.

“One day, he showed up in my office. My secretary said he was in the lobby, had sent me a tape and was hoping we could go over it together. So I brought him to my office, we sat down and listened; I gave him suggestions, such as to start speaking both Spanish and English on the air, moving between the two as effortlessly as he could. He was quite talented in this. After the meeting, we agreed to stay in touch while I continued to offer suggestions… which we did for many months”

It was the Spanish-English announcing that made Martinez fun to listen to for me, even though I am still most definitely not a Spanish speaker. Long before it was trendy at some stations, Martinez would through in a few Spanish words as he spoke, often culminating with “on K-WEST, uno cero seis.” But I am getting ahead of the story.

Fast forward a bit … KHJ has gone country, Martin is up in San Francisco consulting with KHJ sister station KFRC, when he gets the opportunity to program K-WEST. “We had most of the staff set … Bobby Ocean, Pat Garrett, London and Engelman, and the one holdover from the old format, China Smith. But I still needed an evening jock. Hurricane brought up Benny.”

After thinking about it for a while, “he was at the top of my list” for potential candidates, he explained. But Martin had lost track of Martinez when the young DJ left KXO. “I had no clue where he was,” said Martin. “I finally found him … working at a bank! He had given up radio because he needed a more stable job as he started a family.”

Would he be interested in working the evening shift on K-WEST? “Yes,” came the immediate reply from Martinez. And he didn’t let Martinez down. “He was exactly what I wanted for the format, for that time slot especially. He did really well for me,” he said.

Unfortunately, as I said, it didn’t last. Just as the format was building momentum, and immediately prior to KIIS-FM starting its ascension, Martin realized the station was not being supported correctly, and promises were being broken. So he reluctantly left the station, the last station he ever programmed. Martinez went on to work at other stations in town, including the KIIS-AM (now KEIB, 1150 AM) “shadow cast” of KIIS-FM, B-100 (KIBB, now KKLQ, 100.3 FM), and KRTH (101.1 FM).

Martinez also worked on Westwood One’s syndicated 70s format but ultimately realized what he already knew: radio is not the most stable of industries. So he left and sold cars at Ed Butts Ford in La Puente.

I realize this is a long tribute for Martinez, who certainly would not be considered a “legend” in the vein of Charlie Tuna, Robert W. Morgan, or “the Real” Don Steele. But he represents the last gasps of personality-oriented top-40 radio, and for that matter made his mark in an increasingly tough industry. I remember him so well because my radio was glued to K-WEST in that era, whether I was driving to Long Beach State or working at the Sears Surplus Store warehouse. It was fun; Martinez will be missed.