Tim Greenwood, short takes and still sorting out my thoughts
Signing off: We’re
sorry to report KNX traffic anchor Tim
Greenwood died on Monday (9-18-2023). It’s currently believed Greenwood
suffered a fatal heart attack. In addition to his work at KNX, Greenwood was a
film editor, host of the Los Angeles Regional 4th of July Televised Celebration,
plus his work at the New York Film Academy, among many other distinctions.
“Tim LOVED being on air! In his home studio, he proudly displayed a KNX banner and an On-Air light,” said his wife, Karen Shupenia Greenwood via social media. “During his shifts he used his KNX coffee cup. He was a natural educator and reporter, always wanting to help and spread good-will. He was either driving on the freeways or talking about them!”
KNX News’ Chris
Sedens created a tribute to Greenwood aired yesterday. Among those
interviewed was Scott Birt, who also
provides the all-news station with traffic news. “He had an interesting
delivery, he was different than any one of us…you want to be unique in what you
do. You could tell in his delivery he was smiling,” said Birt. KNX weekend
anchor Elsa Ramon said Greenwood
“would come home from LA into San Bernardino County, and come home (via)
surface streets, just so he could learn the roads.”
Greenwood passed before his 64th birthday next week, and a
day before his 19th wedding anniversary. No services have been announced.
Sun’s out for Letty: Power
106 (KPWR) Brown Bag co-host Letty
Martinez visited the KTLA Morning News, earlier this month. During the 10
o’clock hour, Martinez did the weather forecast alongside Mark Kriski. “And we gotta thank Beyonce, it’s her birthday and
that’s why the sun is out today,” she said. The former sidekick to Big Boy now co-hosts the Power 106 morning show with Rosecrans Vic.
LAist retiree: Herb
Scannell has served as President / CEO of Southern California Public Radio
(SCPR), which operates LAist 89.3 (KPCC) for the past three-and-a-half years.
He has announced his retirement from the organization which runs the radio
station plus the news website LAist.com and LAist Studios.
While at LAist, the former Nickelodean executive helped the
station gain prominence as the leading NPR station in Los Angeles, using
longtime flagship show AirTalk hosted by Larry
Mantle to anchor the station’s local news coverage. LAist 89.3 was noted
for their daily updates during the pandemic. “We were providing useful
information every day, and people started to really look to us for whatever
they could to try to figure out how they could mitigate their lives,” Scannell
said. “When COVID happened we were staring down the loss of potentially up to
50 jobs. And we immediately just went and mobilized,” prompting the station to
increase their fundraising efforts. Scannell credited Carla Wohl and Rob Risko,
the fundraising executives who led the campaign. “We came through,” said
Scannell. “That, to me, was an incredible accomplishment.”
Last June, the station experienced layoffs of 20 people andthe cut of one unfilled position. At the time, Scannell said the cutbacks of administrative staff, technicians, and producers would allow “more reporting,” particularly for the LAist.com website. The layoffs were unexpected, surprising, and controversial as the station had just completed a successful fundraising campaign. Scannell explained that overall revenue had still fallen off by “a couple of million dollars,” possibly due to fears of “a cloud of (possible) recession.” It also resulted in the elimination of some short-run series, which was contrary to the organization’s previous podcasting expansion with the 2019 launching of LAist Studios.
“I’m immensely appreciative of being a part of SCPR and to
have helped enhance our role as an essential voice of and for Los Angeles.”
said Scannell. “I will retire with confidence that the extraordinary team at
SCPR can continue to bring a multiplicity of compelling voices and programming
to an ever-more diverse audience within Los Angeles and beyond.” Scannell will
stay on in his position until a successor is chosen.
A (sorta) new (K-)EARTH: K-EARTH 101 (KRTH) has unveiled a new logo. Currently the longtime classic hits station sits on top of the ratings. The new logo is based on the gold-on-black California license plates which were available from 1963 – 1968. By the way, the California plates have recently made a comeback as a “legacy plate” available for a fee.
A bigger (K-)WAVE: Calvary Chapel has officially taken over AM 1110 from previous owner Disney to simulcast their San Clemente FM
outlet, K-WAVE (KWVE). Now identified as “K-WAVE 107.9 FM and 1110 AM,” the station
now offers 24 hours of religious programming. While the FM signal is heard in southern Orange County and parts of the Inland Empire, the
addition of the AM signal extends the station’s reach throughout much of the LA
metro area.
Worth noting – if you ever get confused between K-WAVE and
The WAVE (KTWV), the latter being Audacy’s “rhythmic AC” station (I don’t come
up with these format descriptions, sorry), there are other listeners who have
made the same error. As a courtesy, K-WAVE (the religious station) keeps on
hand the request line and business numbers for The WAVE (the rhythmic…whatever)
as a courtesy to callers mistakenly contacting the wrong station.
It's all-news: There’s
going to be a gathering of current and former KFWB and KNX veterans on
Saturday, October 21 in Burbank. Contact the “I Worked at KFWB News 980” group on
Facebook for more details.
Updating the ROQ: We've covered the ongoing work of bringing "World Famous KROQ" back to their former glory, we continue to wish Kevin Weatherly good luck with his leadership. A quick listen on a Wednesday afternoon offered the following:
- "Lose Yourself" - Eminem
- "Rescued" - Foo Fighters
- "Don't Speak" - No Doubt
- "Inside Out" - Eve 6
A personal note: Several of you have reached out to me about the passing of Don Barrett. I am still gathering my thoughts as I think I want to offer a proper homage to my mentor and the mentor to so many. It’s been more challenging than I thought, I hope to have something very soon, along with more tributes shared by others. Thanks for your patience, it’s still quite been challenging to write something, but this pales in comparison to what his family is experiencing, please keep them in your thoughts, prayers, and blessings. Also please note there has been no announcment about services.
I strongly disagree that the KROQ mix you described was good. No Doubt, Eminem, Eve 6 and Foo Fighters are older, rather mainstream "alternative" bands. I think that KROQ needs to play cutting edge newer music. I would add the newer alternative should be indie leaning. KROQ should play newer bands and songs, not songs that are over 20 to 30 years old. Some newer bands they should play are Starcrawler, Feeble Little Horse, Bar Italia, and similar bands. KROQ should also player older bands that are still around and cutting edge, like Teenage Fan Club, Pixies, Nada Surf, and Pavement.
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