He was often referred to as "Uncle" Joe Benson, indeed he was that friendly, familiar, and familial presence on the local dial. Don Barrett once described him as "an AOR legend, for 15 years he was the host of KLOS's Sunday night "The Seventh Day" program, highlighting entire albums with in-depth background stories." Benson had three stops at KLOS, with KLSX, Arrow 93 (KCBS-FM), and The Sound 100.3 (KSWD) also mics that he graced. Benson died this past Tuesday at the age of 76.Peter Larsen of the Orange County Register offered a comprehensive review of Benson's career. Some highlights:
I started in October of 1980 (at KLOS), and it was basically put on the record, ‘Here’s such and such by such and such,’” Benson says of many disc jockeys at the time. “I’d go, ‘You know one of the things about Jethro Tull was that Ian Anderson recorded the music first and then tried to figure out what the words were going to be, which is really kind of backward.’
“At some point a year or two down the road, someone’s going to come up and tell me about that story,” he says. “That’s a payment right there. Makes me feel like I’m communicating with people.”
Benson's first on-air gig was working for a small station in Dubuque, Iowa while he was attending college. After time in the Milwaukee and Cleveland markets, he arrived at KLOS in 1980. Benson wrote several volumes of discographies entitled Uncle Joe's Record Guides. In attidion to his "Seventh Day" program, Benson hosted "Off the Record" and "Local Licks." Motley Crüe was just one of the new bands he featured. He also hosted his annual "Rock and Roll Christmas Show," featuring artists performing holiday songs.
Benson was a racing enthusiast and driver. He covered motor sports on-air since 1986, including his Sunday night program "Rock and Roll Racing Report." Benson also served as the annoucer at the California Speedway in Fontana for over two decades. Hundreds of listeners offered their condolences on Facebook. Former KLOS colleague Rita Wilde wrote “A radio legend silenced. Nothing but love and respect. At least you aren’t in pain anymore. Love you forever, JB.”
Courtesy KLOS
Benson had suffered from the complications of Parkinson's Disease and Parkinson's dementia, exacerbated by a recent fall. His brain has been donated for research to the Brain Donor's Project. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations in honor of Joe Benson to (https://braindonorproject.org/support-us/ ) or the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research (https://www.michaeljfox.org/). Benson is survived by his wife Jan, and two children Jay and Jeremy.
Talking about the news: Before my schedule was abruptly changed (see comments below), I'd prepared a 2025 year-end review with news / talk programming dominating the stories. It now needs some updating, but I do plan on (eventually) publishing this piece. Nonetheless, a few comments are worth sharing:
Michael Monks, Chris Merrill
There wasn't a lot of surprise that KFI was going to make some changes, given their recent ratings decline. Still, listeners did respond with surprise when John Kobylt returned to afternoon drive, with Tim Conway Jr. moved back to evenings. A new show combining weekend host Chris Merrill and reporter Michael Monks debuted two weeks ago following Bill Handel's morning program. 
John Kobylt, Tim Conway Jr.
The additional programming is revenue neutral as no new talent was hired, plus there's a bit of cost savings as the last hour of Conway Jr.'s program is a repeat of the first hour. After years at the top of the ratings, KFI is now somewhere in the middle of the pack.As for their news / talk competition, we'd documented the significant departures throughout 2025 from Audacy's all-news outlet, though Alex Silverman and Brian Ping are both back at the station. What has been puzzling to observers is the cost-saving move for KNX and sister station KCBS simulcasting the overnight hours. Diplomatically, it's still a work in progress. It's also worth noting many of the decisions about Audacy's all-news station in the #2 media market are being decided from Audacy's management team in San Francisco, the #10 media market. This partically explains why KCBS is being simulcast in LA and not vice-versa. Again, we hope to say more about this in a future posting.
A personal note: I'm fully aware this blog can be irregular as I still have a full-time job, an admittedly paltry excuse. However, what's recently changed is a family member is now dealing with significant issues associated with advancing Alzheimer's Disease. Recently, my free time has been spent consulting with neurologists, investigating board-and-care vs. in-home care options, navigating through insurance, et cetera, et cetera. I've been told others in my family's situation is you eventually find a rhythm. That rhythm has been a bit evasive.
It means I'll do my best to cover breaking news about the local dial, but there's a lot of catching up regarding the day-to-day. Then again, there are long stretches when there really isn't much happening on the LA airwaves, and that's not necessarily a good thing.
Once again, please stay tuned.
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