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It's not "HearAche" but nonetheless.

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Don Barrett used to call his short takes “HearAche” at LARadio.com. I don’t know what to call this than “random thoughts,” but I guess it beats “deep thoughts.” Anyway, here we go: The current count of layoffs at iHeart – that’s been trickling over the last three (3) weeks – is more than 120. There’s a partial list of those now looking for jobs at www.allaccess.com . And it’s apparently not over yet. It was well-known that Bill Ballance and B. Mitchel Reed were always feuding during their time at KFWB.   At the 2000 LARadio.com day, hosted by the Museum of Television and Radio, Ballance was asked about BMR. He replied “you really want to know about that SOB” (he spelled out the latter). Chuck Blore, then PD of KFWB recalled when Ballance and BMR had a physical confrontation in the hallway. “I caught him stealing mail out of my mailbox. I said ‘Mitch,’ and then splat, I let him have it in the corridor.” After a pregnant pause, Ballance then said “God, those were happy days!” Needless to
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Remembering KKDJ's "Brother T."

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  It’s hard to think that Tom Nefeldt is gone. I actually trace my top 40 interest more to KKDJ than to KHJ. T. Michael Jordan, his nom de plume , was on from 7 p.m. until midnight, precisely the time I was procrastinating on my high school homework. I actually won my first radio station contest, $20 from Brother T. when I was caller number 10. His early days at KROY, 1969 I later became one of his regular callers when he joined his other KKDJ veterans at Anaheim’s KEZY, led by Rick Carroll (Carroll was the modern rock wunderkind who turned KROQ into a ratings powerhouse in the 1980s). Brother T. invited me to visit the station on 1190 East Ball Road, back when radio stations were housed in stand-alone buildings. It was an older building seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but I knew I was in the right place when I saw his brown Datsun 260Z with “TOM TMJ” personalized plates. There was definitely a party going on over “the Mighty 1190.” Tom drove a fast car and lived in the fast lan
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Breaking news - We've lost Mike Lundy and T. Michael Jordan

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Although it may have been reported elsewhere, I did want to acknowledge the L.A. radio community has lost two of its own over the past few days. Photo courtesy LARadio.com Loren Lundy was better known to his listeners as Mike Lundy. He made his name known as a news anchor, including nine years at KGIL / KMGX and seven years at all-news KFWB until his retirement in 2007. He also had his own media group producing radio programs and English lesson CDs for the Japanese market. Facebook.com From his bio at LARadio.com:  “The success of KFWB was not only the news itself, but its presentation,” Lundy wrote in an essay for LARadio.com. “Whenever one hears, ‘Give us 22 minutes and we’ll give you the world,’ there is instant identification to KFWB.” He entered hospice care over a week ago and passed four days later. He was a solid journalist and newswriter. Our best to his family and friends. Tom Nefeldt has been a friend for over four decades. Most L.A. listeners remember him as T. Michael Jord
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In the public interest: K-100's cancer countdown and Carl Goldman, yesterday and today

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M y short time in radio largely involved working at the campus radio station with the News and Public Affairs department. Back then, an FCC requirement involved a station having to provide both news (sometimes offered at 3 a.m. in the morning) and public affairs (often heard on early Sunday morning or late Sunday night). Some of the top 40 stations of that era had news departments that were exponentially bigger than some stations now referring to themselves as “newsradio” or “newstalk.” So as an insomniac / homework procrastinator, I was one of the listeners who paid attention to some of that fringe hour programming, including Carl Goldman’s “K-100 Conversations” among other public affairs efforts. More on Carl in a moment.   From my personal collection, somewhere deep in my garage. Speaking of K-100 (note the very slick segue), the station offered something that – as far as I know – was unique to L.A. The top 40 outlet partnered with the American Cancer Society to offer listener
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A quick welcome, redux!

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Hi and hi again -- thanks to Don Barrett many of you are finding this blog for the first time. Welcome! Normally I update the blog once a week, however if there's breaking news and / or my day job gets in the way, the schedule might become a bit more erratic. My goal is not to emulate LARadio.com -- no one can do what Don Barrett did so well and for so long, but I simply needed an outlet to keep writing about my favorite media. Yours truly, Dick Whittington, Don Barrett earlier this year Thanks to Don Barrett, I've met a number of individuals who are my heroes -- talent that graced the local airwaves. That may be one of you that I had the privilege of meeting and perhaps interviewing! I probably will write more based on my memories about my time listening to the L.A. radio dial, but to reiterate, if there's breaking news I'll try to offer my two yen. And of course, there's my annual year in review, my once-a-year attempt to try to make sense of the twelve previous m
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The big station that could - KGBS AM 1020

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  While remembering Dave Hull over these past few days, I was also recalling the station where I first heard him, Storer Broadcasting’s KGBS. As I previously mentioned, the station was a daytimer, which meant the station broadcast only from sunup to sundown. Though the station did have a 24-hour FM simulcast, it was really all about the 50,000 watt AM operation. It’s worth noting the frequency was notable as K-POP, featuring Earl McDaniel and the still-going-strong Art Laboe. But as KGBS, the station brought in “Emperor” Bob Hudson for mornings and Ron Landry for afternoons. Then it was PD Ron Martin (truly underrated in the history of LA radio) who combined the two talents to become Hudson & Landry, both the popular KGBS morning show and a nationally famous comedy team, earning four gold records and a Grammy nomination. With Landry moving to mornings, that gave the opportunity for Dave Hull to come aboard for afternoons. More on the Hullabalooer in a moment.   Middays were
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Dave Hull, the Hullabalooer (1934 - 2020)

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The news of the passing of Dave Hull came the same day the Dodgers tied their playoff series with the Atlanta Braves with three games apiece, a great comeback for the Dodgers. The next day, the Dodgers won the National League championship, winning three games in a row after being behind 3 games to one. The Hullabalooer was a great Dodger fan. In fact, I can see his big smile from his perch in the heavens. That’s just one of the many memories I have of Dave Hull. I’ve started and restarted this posting several times already because there is so much that can be said about him. A wonderful read, contact Lisa Hull Hemstreet for purchasing info, https://www.facebook.com/lisahemstreet The Hullabalooer lived up to his nickname. You never knew what sort of goofiness you’d hear on any given day. It might be him tooting his "little horn" after another double entendre, harassing another competing DJ on the air (he actually called Jay Lawrence live on KLAC after dunking his country mus
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