An ayoda on radio

  Nic Harcourt, Julie slater, Andy Chanley The SoCal Sound(off):  We reported earlier “the Independent 88.5 FM” (KCSN-Northridge and KSBR-Mission Viejo) had rebranded their stations as “the SoCal Sound.” Though many of the personalities, including morning host Nic Harcourt , Julie Slater on middays, and Andy Chanley serving as both PM driver and the station’s music director. Although there were some changes in the playlist, most of the programming was status quo. Until this weekend. Les Perry, Bob Eubanks ( csunshinetoday.csun.edu) Three shows hosted by local veterans were heard for the last time. For 22 years, Les Perry hosted “Saturday Club with the Beatles.” Over the past weekend, he announced his show was ending and he was retiring after a 55 year radio career. Formerly the operations director for the non-profit station, in a Facebook post, Perry assured his listeners it was his choice to leave: To All My Facebook Friends and 885 Listeners.. I am stunned and pleasan...

Part of local interest about KGO is due to premonitions (fears?) that the fate of their Bay Area sister station portends what will happen to the Cumulus station here in LA. There are also a good number of KGO veterans who traveled southward – we’ll share some of their comments below. But we're also guessing many remember KGO was once “the” station, news / talk or otherwise, sitting atop the ratings of the nation’s number four market between 1978–2009. You didn’t have to live in San Francisco to be aware of the station’s dominance. A bit of a confession about my own obsession with KGO. I arrived in Northern California in 1977, when I started my college years at UC Davis. I was expecting to spend most of my time listening to KCBS, which I could hear every night while living on LA’s westside. I could hear KCBS in the Sacramento Valley, but a 500 Hz whistle (geeky enough for you?) made it somewhat difficult to hear. By comparison, KGO was loud and clear. I first became a fan of Ronn Ow...

Sometime before 10 am Friday morning , Dick Helton will share some final thoughts, then switch off the microphone on the KNX anchor desk. He’ll then head to a celebration commemorating a five-decade career in news, the last 24 years at the Los Angeles all-news station. “It almost like I’m going on vacation,” said Helton. “I’m now preparing what I’m going to say tomorrow.” Helton attended the University of Illinois, graduating with Honors in 1966 with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, plus majoring in Political Science and Economics. While a student, he started his broadcast career at WKID, hosting a classical music show. He then worked for the Illinois Radio Network before being hired by CBS to work at WBBM Newsradio in 1969. At that time, he was the youngest news anchor on the air. In addition, he hosted “Ask the Mayor” (the first of its kind), later adding “Ask the Governor” and “Talk to the Mayor.” “I loved working in Chicago,” said Helton. “Politics there is blood sport. I e...

(Updated October 11 to include comments from Mike Wagner.)  Art Laboe in 2018 (Russell Contreras for the Asociated Press) The Los Angeles disc jockey who coined the phrase “Oldies But Goodies” is gone. Art Laboe died last Friday at the age of 97.  “If you think of the day you first listened to Art Laboe, you realized he sounded the same many years later,” said Don Barrett of LARadio.com. “Art was so consistent, you heard him dedicate a song from a gang member in prison to his girlfriend just as gracefully as he was breaking a new record.” The Armenian American was born Arthur Egnoian in Salt Lake City and raised during the Great Depression. He lived in Utah until the age of 13. Laboe told LARadio.com about his early years. “(My parents) divorced when I was nine or ten. My mother used to work in this motel/gas station for four hours every morning for twenty-five cents an hour so my brother and I could have lunch. I came from pretty simple beginnings.” He moved to South Lo...