It's not "HearAche" but nonetheless.

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 say, the audience had a good time with that one.


Tavis Smiley has acquired AM 1580 KBLA from Multicultural Radio Broadcasting for $7 million, his plans are to debut a new talk station which is described as “unapologetically progressive.” Stay tuned.


It’s fun seeing Vin Scully on social media. I finally got Spectrum cable TV a couple of months ago (just in time for the MLB playoffs and World Series, by the way). During the off season, SportsnetLA (the Dodger channel) shows classic games from the past. Watching and listening to the games called by Scully is a reminder of how good of a job he did game after game. How does anyone remember that many stories, and weave the tales so effortlessly throughout a nine-inning game?


David Bernhart has some interesting memories of the late Jim Healy. Here’s a link to his website: https://www.davidbernhart.com/post/defining-success


I always find the international perspective of the news, especially about these United States, to be quite fascinating. Although I appreciate an extra live hour of NPR’s “All Things Considered” on KPCC at 1 p.m., I miss hearing the BBC News Hour.

Courtesy 1240kroy.com

One thing I didn’t mention about the late T. Michael Jordan was he was also quite technically savvy. He was a big fan of Gregg Ogonowski’s innovative AM processing at KEZY and marveled at what Paul Wieman was able to do with KKDJ’s 8,000 watt signal that was loud and clear from the Valley to Orange County. He actually knew how to deal with the electronics and equipment, and had a good ear. He really disliked Dolby FM – I mention that only to make readers feel old if they actually have any recollection of Dolby FM. That includes me. 

If you haven’t done seen it yet, I wrote about my memories of Brother T. in a previous post.


I actually have a subscription to Sirius XM. Don’t hate me. When I’m not doing pandemic home-work, my campus is 47.3 miles one way (but who’s counting) from my home, so I need local radio, satellite radio, and podcasts to deal with a sometimes two-hour commute. Anyway, it’s interesting my 16-year-old’s favorite station is “the Beatles Channel.” He can’t get enough of it. He also likes George Harrison more than I do. Again, don’t hate me.


This seems like a good time to revisit the quote that I think I once heard offered by Gary Owens, but maybe not: “It was a wise man or gastroenterologist who said this too, shall pass.”


Comments

  1. When will progressive talk KBLA go on the air? Any idea who some of the hosts will be?

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  2. No one has confirmed a date about the KBLA debut, although I thought I'd heard sometime in January. What will be interesting is the target audience for the new station, will it be narrowly or widely focused. We'll share what we know.

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  3. My 15 year nephew loves the Beatles Channel too. So as a 'older' Beatles fan I'm happy to see the young generation embrace real music again.

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    1. And my 16-year-old is interested in acquiring classic Beatles on vinyl!

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  4. Speaking of Beatles radio...back in the 90s wasn't 1260 AM an all Beatles station? I think it was programmed by Jim Roope. And speaking of George Harrison, I think Jim had in on the air once.

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    1. KNNS 1260 switched from news to a Beatles format on January 3, 1997 and returned to its original call letters, KGIL. The station played songs from all the Beatles' studio albums but nothing from their live albums or the "Anthology" series, nor any of the four Beatles' solo recordings. After several weeks (and way too much repetition), KGIL added a few Beatles songs as done by other artists, such as Earth Wind & Fire's "Got To Get You Into My Life." After a little more than six months, the Beatles format was replaced with Broadway and show tunes. The only DJ to remain was Jim Roope, who became program director.

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  5. Just became aware of this site today- good news that someone around to keep the information and recollections passing on to the rest of us. (and just realized that my use of "passing" not related to the Gary Owens quip, as no pun intended). So good to see the remarks on Bill Ballance and BMR at that panel discussion in 2000. I was also there and got to meet Bill and Dave Hull, two of my longtime favorites. Now we see that many of those are gone, both from that panel and from the audience members of that day. So many stories there, independent adventures and others intertwined with fellow radio people. Thanks, Alan for this opportunity to remain linked to the evolving industry and people. In L.A. , Robert Guevara

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    1. There are other sites that are also trying to fill the gap, Jeffrey Leonard's "Memories of L.A. Radio" come to mind on Facebook. I'm not going to approach what Don Barrett did for so long and so well with LARadio.com, but I decided I needed an outlet somewhere. Thanks for reading, stay in touch!

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  6. I can't remember the name of the TV show, it was probably on ON TV (1977-1985 sez Wikipedia)
    but an older guy wants to date a very young woman who admiringly says, "I bet you can name all four Beatles!"

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