Remembering Jeff Baugh

 

(Ed. note: Don Barrett offers a marvelous tribute to Jeff Baugh on his website, laradio.com.)

For 37 years, Jeff Baugh guided commuters back and forth from home to work, flying above the freeways of Southern California. On Wednesday morning, KFI News Director Chris Little informed his staff that Baugh had passed:

Good morning,

On Tuesday evening, June 6, we suffered a terrible and heartbreaking loss. KFI’s beloved airborne reporter, Jeff Baugh, died.

For the past three weeks, Jeff had been undergoing chemo for lung cancer, and said things were going well though the chemo made him tired. He last flew on Friday. He didn’t feel well on Monday and checked into the hospital where he entered the ICU.

Jeff was a classy, wonderful, consummate professional who just wanted to fly every day and, with a smile, tell commuters they were screwed. He also enjoyed sharing good traffic news. Jeff LOVED flying and he loved talking about traffic. He even wrote a book: “Stick With Us And We’ll Get You There: How To Be Where You Want To Be On The Road And Life.”

That’s all the information I have at the moment.

After serving in Vietnam, Baugh retired from the US Marine Corps. He started reporting traffic in 1986 and became airborne for Metro Traffic (later Total Traffic), heard almost exclusively on KFWB. He continued to provide traffic and breaking news from “Jetcopter 980” until the station switched to a news / talk format. Baugh moved over to then-sister station KNX and offered aerial reports until Entercom (now Audacy) decided to discontinuetheir contract with Total Traffic (owned by competitor iHeart Media) in 2017. Almost immediately, Baugh joined Bill Handel’s morning program, reviving “KFI in the Sky,”

“Jeff and I have been friends for nearly forty years.  He liked to embarrass me by saying I taught him the key to having a successful career in broadcasting,” said Tammy Trujillo, his former KFWB colleague. “Really, it was his beautiful voice and wonderful personality along with his actually caring about and wanting to help the people who listened to his traffic reports that gave him a successful career which he dearly loved.” Trujillo said she stayed in touch with Baugh. “He and I were in contact through his illness and I pray I helped him at least a little.  I truly loved Jeff. I will miss him every day.”

Ken Jeffries also worked at KFWB twice, beginning in 1989. He said Baugh’s passing was a shock since the two of them were “on a zoom call (for Total Traffic and Weather Network) with him last week.” Jeffries said Baugh “looked fine-to me, I had no idea he had lung cancer.”

“I knew him for years at KFWB. He shared the same birthday as my wife (November 15th)…he took us up years ago on Jetcopter 98…my kids knew him…He gave them a plush toy helicopter when they were little.” Jeffries recalled with admiration Baugh’s live reporting during breaking news. “Jeff provided major helicopter coverage on KFWB during the Rodney King riots and the OJ Simpson slow-speed chase. And I remember his coverage of an air-ambulance crash in LA. Just really too many things to mention. But he was class-all the way. A great guy and a marvelous broadcaster.”

Mike Nolan flew as “KFI in the Sky” before his retirement in 2014. “We were often both flying and reporting at the same time, so I didn’t hear much of (Baugh’s) work, but I knew he was extremely bright and regarded as one of the best in the business, even nationally,” said Nolan. “Jeff was a good friend, I would see him at Chuck Street’s Christmas gatherings. He would always offer me a ‘Semper Fi’ on my birthday, since he knew I was a reserve with the Marines.”

“I was glad to hear ‘KFI in the Sky’ again a few years ago, I was glad it was Jeff Baugh,”  Nolan said.

One of Baugh’s last postings on Twitter was on Memorial Day. The retired Marine never forgot his fellow veterans:

Memorial Day 2023. This is the weekend to honor all our sisters and brothers that served this great country of ours and should be here with us but aren’t, because they gave their all. Never to be forgotten, thank you. Take a moment!! Semper Fi. kfiinthesky

There were numerous tributes to Baugh throughout social media. In addition to the homages heard throughout the day on KFI the day after his passing, Baugh was remembered by his former colleagues at KNX.

Jeff Baugh was 81. Services have not been announced.

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