A Sound(off) and other short takes

 

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 pleasantly pleased at the response to my retirement from 885 and Saturday with the Beatles.

First of all thanks to everyone for the kind words and disappointment that SWTB will no longer be on the air.

So, Let me set the record and situation straight...It was my decision to retire. My decision however was based on scheduling and programming decisions made by station management and their consultant.

Based on listener comments and response (far more than I expected)..I feel like I have let many people down and for this I apologize. The programming offer they made me was totally unacceptable to me and I'm sure 90% of my audience. I had a decision to make and I did what I think was the best.

Once again thanks for all the kind words and good wishes.

Just take comfort in the fact that all your generous contributions and your hard earned money went to hire an incompetent consultant.

Pat Baker

Another show heard for the last time this weekend was “Tangled Roots,” a Sunday morning show featuring alternative country, folk, folk / rock, gospel, blues, and other music described as “roots-based America.”  Hosted by Pat Baker, his last program featured selections from John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Ernest Troost, Mc 'n Mac, Barry Big B Brenner, Feed The Kitty, and the Grateful Dead.

Admittedly, I was a fan of “Peace, Love, and Sundays” hosted each weekend by “the Flower Child,” the nom de plume of Mimi Chen. The good news is Chen will continue to be heard every Sunday, but her featured program, first heard on The Sound 100.3 (KSWD), has also signed off. “The station’s commitment to their new format means that they had to do some housekeeping on the weekends, in order to be consistent with their re-branding,” said Chen. “For me, I’m going back to being myself as a regular DJ and not as the Flower Child. It was fun while it lasted…there was a lot of joy in being able to pick the music myself.”

Centennial celebration: Over the weekend, “Sacramento’s Newsradio” KFBK celebrated their centennial. A number of Los Angeles radio people were in attendance, including Dave Williams, Amy Lewis, Vicky Moore, and David G. Hall. The sold out event was both a reunion of the station’s veterans as well as an opportunity for the public to commemorate the station’s 100 years of serving the Greater Sacramento valley. Nationally (and locally), the station may be best known for launching the talk show career of Rush Limbaugh in 1984.

Dave Williams, Vicky Moore (courtesy Facebook)

A personal note – my very, very brief time in commercial radio was at KFBK as a stringer. I really enjoyed my short time there, so I’d have had fun at the reunion but my day job once again took priority. It was also on a Sunday evening at the studios when I realized I was better off writing about people on the air than being a broadcaster. A story for a future column.

When will Bob the Builder have a podcast?: We still need to write up (and probably update) our interview with Steve Mason and his “Culture Pop” podcast. It’s definitely worth a listen, it’s fun hearing Mason and his colleague Sue Kolinsky talk about sports and a whole lot more. Other notable radio (and TV) personalities I’ve recently encountered range from Bill O’Reilly and Mark Levin to Keith Olbermann. That’s quite a range. Seems a lot of well-known names are now podcasting.

What I wasn’t expecting was the debut of a podcast by the PBS children’s character Arthur. You read that correctly. The animated aardvark is currently the longest running animation series on Public Broadcasting. “It’s been so fun to help ARTHUR make his new podcast. He, D.W., and Buster has done a great job sharing their adventures,” said Carol Greenwalk, GBH Kids senior executive producer. “The podcast platform will allow us to reach new audiences as well as reconnect longtime fans to many of our classic stories.” It’s been said someday, every individual will either have their own or at least be heard on a podcast. I didn’t know that included animated characters. Go figure.

A little more on KGO: In our stories about the demise of KGO, San Francisco’s heritage news / talk station, we forgot to include the comments of Joe Talbot. You may not have heard him on the air, but if you’ve listened to radio in California, you’ve heard his work. Talbot is one of several “wunderkinds” in radio engineering, having built the then state-of-the-art studios which once housed KABC and KLOS on La Cienega Boulevard to being the chief engineer at KGO. “It’s disappointing yet not entirely surprising to see what’s happened to KGO. It’s been a shell of itself since the days of topping the ratings,” said Talbot. “The newscasts were really good. I remember when I’d hear Gene Burns offer the kind of conversations could have you stop in your driveway to hear the whole thing.” Someday I’ll do a story about the trials and tribulations of radio engineers, whom I consider the least and yet most heard talent on the air, Joe will be someone I definitely interview.

One more KGO note: Mark Thompson is now doing a live YouTube offering every weekday morning from 10 a.m. to noon.

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