Pics, ponderings, performances, and partings

Jeff Leonard organized another reunion of LA radio talent. We'll share a few pics over the next few postings (click on any photo to enlarge):

Tom Patterson, Richard Turnage, David Grundt

Claude Ortome, Gary Hamilton, Chris Hays

Sharon Dale, Joe Collins, Don Jennett, Jeffrey Leonard

Andy Lundlum, Mark Wallengren

Bob Gowa, Carson Schrieber

Pat Gaffey, Lee Wade, Richard Wagoner


One week in: It's been just about a week since KNX and their sister station, KCBS-San Francisco, started simulcasting overnights. There was no fanfare and little acknowledgement that the stations were simulcasting when KCBS anchor Rebecca Goodeyon signed on, other than the traffic reports getting a bit longer (and LA freeways being identified with "the" as a preceding article) and weather forecasts offering Bay Area and SoCal info. Stories eliminated the lockout of either station's call letters. It still sounds as if there's some rough edges to smooth down.

Bob Brill

A major concern is what happens if there's a local emergency. We learned early Monday morning that former KNX overnight anchor Bob Brill is there, apparently is monitoring the feed from San Francisco. When there was an interruption in the feed sometime after 4:30 AM, Brill turned on the mic and tried to fill in. It's assumed if there is an emergency, either station can go to local coverage as needed.


Ken Jeffries, Beach Rogers

Worth noting is during their days of all-news programming, KFWB used to record the midnight newscast and replay it from 1 - 5 AM. A news anchor was always available, as it was on January 17, 1994 when Ken Jeffries broke in to provide live coverage of the Northridge earthquake. Also, KNX cut their overnight anchors from two available to one in the early 1980s, having Beach Rogers and other anchors monitor the rerun of the KNX Drama Hour from 2 - 3 AM which had been aired during the previous evening. 


Getty Images for Audacy

Christmas ROQ: KROQ hosted their 34th annual Almost Acoustic Christmas at the Kia Forum over the weekend. The sold-out concert featured Evanescence, Papa Roach, Social Distortion, Rise Against, The All-American Rejects, Third Eye Blind, Yellowcard, Wet Leg and The Paradox.

One surprise was the appearance of the group 4 Non Blondes. The evening culminated with a finale featuring Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach joining Evanescence on stage to perform "Bring Me to Life."

This year's beneficiaries of Almost Acoustic Christmas are Para Los Niños and Al Wooten Jr. Youth Center, two organizations that support local youth education. 

Big time out: "The Big Time with Whitney Allen" has been heard across the country since 2005, initially titled "America's Hotlist" and "The Big Time Saturday Night" before the current moniker. At one time, the show was heard on 180 affiliates, it's currently heard on 70 affiliates independently syndicated and distributed by Westwood One, Dial Global, and Katz Media. The show comes to an end this upcoming New Year's Eve.

Allen sent the following note to her affiliates:

Perhaps what we are most proud of is that The Big Time was never a group-owned or corporate-backed syndicated show. Our growth, our relationships, and our success were earned, built independently on our own merit, one station and one listener at a time. That independence shaped the heart and soul of the show, and it remains one of our greatest accomplishments.

Allen said she wanted to be a radio host or work with animals when she was five years old. Deciding she was better at talking than biology, she pursued an on-air career. She recalled hearing a DJ who "sounded like a woman that wanted to steal your boyfriend." Allen decided that wasn't what she wanted to be for her on-air persona. Her first gig was at KATA in Eureka, before heading to San Diego and eventually Los Angeles.

In 1989, Allen was part of the launch of Scott Shannon's Pirate Radio (KQLZ). She then headed to KIIS-FM for nights, middays, and co-hosting with Rick Dees. When her colleague Blair Garner left KIIS-FM to start his syndicated show, "After Midnite," he invited Allen to join him. For eight years, she hosted "After Midnite Weekends with Whitney Allen" for eight years on over 200 country stations. She did afternoons at KZLA before a fomrat flip, then headed to Country 1260 (KKGO) before "The Big Time" show. 

She has interviewed top country artists including Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Luke Bryan, and Kenny Chesney. Over her 46-year career, Allen has been honored by the Radio Music Awards as the "National Personality of the Year," and was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2022.

=================================================

We're still working on the year-end column. Your suggestions, as well as if you'd like to be added to our mailing list (always confidential, your info will never be sold) are welcomed, ayodaradio@gmail.com



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Local layoffs at Audacy (and a resignation), the 2025 edition

Image
  The latest downsizing of Audacy involves 250 - 300 layoffs across the country . The company's digital content division is almost completely eliminated. Morning hosts in New York and Boston were let go. RIFs happened with talent, management, sales, and traffic.  T he last major Audacy layoffs locally were in 2022 . The current Audacy layoffs hit the LA market quite significantly, perhaps more signifcantly than three years ago. Ralph Stewart is described as both a strong radio man and a wonderful person. Raised on Seattle rock-n-roll, he started with rock and progressed to CHR. In 1987, his station flipped to the format first heard in LA known as "the WAVE." He suddenly had Yanni's home phone number. He guided the station through the transition until the station itself was sold. As it turned out, there was an opening at the original WAVE whcih brought him to Southern California in 1991. He briefly left CBS Radio to help launch All Comedy Radio in 2003 before returning...
Read more

Update: RIFs at Total Traffic and the grounding of "KFI in the Sky"

Image
  While we were out of town last week, we'd been hinted the 2024 edition of layoffs at iHeart Media were not yet completed. We can confirm the latest changes involve their Total Traffic & Weather Service  (TTWN) which also is affiliated with their "24 / 7 News" which now feeds KFI and other iHeart stations from a regional hub. Twenty-eight year TTFN veteran Mike O'Brien is among those who were laid off from Total Traffic. He most recently served as the afternoon airborne reporter for "KFI in the Sky." He is a native of the Inland Empire, a graduate of Redlands High School. The Riverside resident also studied at Saddleback College and California Baptist University. O'Brien previously provided traffic reports for country station 95.1 K-FROG (KFRG) as "Commander Kermit," before heading to all-news KNX and later KFI. Nick Pagliochini was "the traffic guy" for KFI's "Wake Up Call," Bill Handel 's morning show, the Gar...
Read more

Vicky Moore signs off

Image
  As we reported yesterday , Vicky Moore is leaving all-news KNX. Earlier this morning, she offered her farewell to her listeners: Vicky Moore, Mike Simpson So today is my last day, 22 years…and someone told me I should say something. It’s not really my nature. Anyhow, so I wrote something, so here I go.  Brian Douglas, Sioux-Z Jessup, Sabina Mora I really love radio. Because radio is about community. At a time when the phone in our pocket and in our hands right now creates distance between us, and the politics divide us, the AI make us questioning what is real, people here at KNX all around me are real. And they are people who live and work in this community. Brian Douglas and Sioux-Z Jessup , our traffic team, Sabina (Mora) – they care about people driving in from places like Santa Clarita. Or when you hear sirens on the westside or Monrovia, we here at KNX are curious too! And we can joke about the differences between LA and Orange County and how Irvine is always topping ...
Read more