An all-news reunion part 2, remembering Dusty Street, and short takes

As promised, some more pics from the KFWB-KNX reunion held at Universal City on October 21 (click to enlarge the photos).

Pete Demitriou served as the "informal" emcee of the event. He had all those in attendance introduce themselves and what they did at the two all-news stations. Demitriou recalled Ken Jeffries at the KFWB anchor desk, hitting the repeated beep tones indicating breaking news on the morning of the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Demitriou then contacted the station on his mobile two-way, then was told he'd be on the air in 10 seconds. He decried the claim "radio is dead," noting that in times of emergency, it's radio that becomes "the" essential source for information, "and it will always be that way."

Other photos from the gathering:

Vicki Cox, Linda Harris; Sharon Katchen, Max Pearl 

John Brooks, Paul Lowe, Nancy Plum; Mary Helen Campos

Pat Baker, Rhonda Kramer; Jan Stevens, Johanna Kreindel

John Brooks, Stephanie Popcher; Rolando Lira, Monica McGarva

Randy Roberts; Memo Muñoz

Kathy & John Baird; Jodi Adler, Cherylyn Howard

Melinda Smith, Diana Rosales; Rick Reese

Remembering Dusty Street: She was considered a pioneer of rock radio, being one of the first female deejays of the format. Dusty Street died on October 21, 2023. 

Her bio from LARadio.com: 

Dusty Francis Street is her birth name! The native Californian was born in San Francisco and started her career in 1967 at KMPX as an engineer and weekend jock under Tom Donahue. "I followed Tom (the only female engineer that did) to KSAN in 1969, doing middays until 1974," Dusty said. She worked at KSFX and KTIM in the Bay Area before moving to LA and KROQ in 1979. As of 2022, Dusty lives in Eugene, Oregon.

radioink.com

Dusty was one of the youngest female AOR rock djs. Her father's name was Emerson Street, and they lived on Emerson Street in Palo Alto. Dusty was part of a radio/video production company (Rock Around the World) that was launched in 1979.

Dusty returned to the "Roq" in March of 1982 and stayed until 1989. She claimed she was fired from KROQ because she had "too strong of a personality." She told the LA Times: "DJs no longer have any voice. They might as well hire people with no ears. By the end of the year, I doubt seriously the station will resemble what KROQ used to be."

Interviewed in 1994, she talked about the highlights of working in Southern California radio: "I loved the experience of interviewing Billy Idol, Wendy O Williams, Johnny Rotten, the Cult and Slash of Guns and Roses." Dusty commented on the state of women in radio: "A lot of ladies who got into radio decided that they had to do that bedroom thing, and not many of them developed an individual personality." She left KLSX in the spring of 1994. She told Gary Lycan of the OC Register, "It was like mini-purgatory working in "Classic Rock" radio. My background is free-form, progressive rock. I started with Tom Donahue and hopefully I'll be getting back into new music." In the fall of 1994, Dusty went to Las Vegas for middays at KEDG. In the spring of 1995, she moved to weekends at KXPT-Las Vegas.

deadline.com

Dusty is the host for SiriusXM 26 broadcasting from the R&R Hall of Fame on Saturday and Sunday noon to 6pm. "I also have a podcast that reflects how I think good radio should be. Like most people my tastes are varied and cross many decades, you'll hear a large assortment of new and old music from Alternative to the Blues. It's called Flylow Show on flyingeyeradionetwork.com." In 2015, Dusty was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.

NPR's Elizabeth Blair offered a tribute to Street. The passing of the legendary rock-and-roller was announced on social media by former KLOS personality Gino Michellini, her longtime friend. "I have been in Eugene the last two days at Dusty Street’s bedside," Michellini wrote. "The numerous afflictions that she has been so indomitably fighting these last years finally caught up to her. I am writing with a broken heart to say that Dusty left us tonight." He added that she "died peacefully, quietly and surrounded by love in a beautifully serene location overlooking the most beautiful lake you could ever want. As befitting the queen that she was."

Dusty Street passed at the age of 77.

Oh my gosh, Christmas is coming: The ratings behemoth, also known as KOST's annual offering of all-Christmas music is coming sooner than later. The current guess is November 10, a tie-in with the start of Disneyland's "Festival of Holidays." Last year, the ratings for the iHeart "soft hits" outlet more than doubled, with an increase in cume of over 500,000 listeners.

Then there's the 32nd Annual KROQ "Almost Acoustic Christmas." The show will happen on Saturday, December 9 at the Kia Forum in Inglewood. Performers include Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Offspring, Garbage, Portugal. The Man, Bleachers, Cannons, Lovejoy, Bakar, and The Beaches. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 3rd at Noon on Ticketmaster.com. Proceeds from the show benefit Para Los Ninos and the Al Wooten Jr. Youth Center.

In depth now out: With Bill O'Reilly featured as their final guest to discuss his new book Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts, the afternoon program featuring long-form interviews and stories ended their seven year run last Friday, October 27. First hosted by Ron Kilgore and Charles Feldman, other co-hosts have included Mike Simpson and Rob Archer. "We've heard from many of you that you'll miss us," said Feldman, but explained the ratings for the midday feature were not sustainable. Simpson will stay at Audacy's local all-news outlet while Archer continues his afternoon anchor duties with Karen Adams. 

So where have I been?: It turns out my interim assignment at my school is now a permanent position. For those who are in academia, they recognize this is a time-consuming job, although as always I remind myself what my grad school advisor once told me, "a job is a job, and a job is a good thing to have." It does mean I have more meetings and more time on the commute, but I do plan on keeping up the blog as often as I can. And as I always state, you can join the email list by sending your info to ayodaradio@gmail.com, I'll alert you when the blog is updated. Your info is kept confidential -- you can trust me, I'm the chair.