I see they will do the rounds on kabc. They must not want anyone listenin to them.
If this is part of a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the station, then there is a lot less going on here than there should be. For one thing, the whole structure of the M&B visit is weird. They are going to do interviews with Frank, Heidi and Frosty on their morning show and then with whoever KABC has for daytime talent these days, and then do a show from 3:00 to 7:00 pm. Why not just do what is appropriate and give them the morning show slot for a day? The whole thing feels a bit awkward.
Then there is the topic of the 50th anniversary celebration itself. KLOS history is about a lot more than just M & B. It is also about:
• Their launch as KABC-FM (name change to KLOS came a few years later) as a free-form-rock competitor to KMET under a multi-station conglomerate distribution package called "Love" (which I had never heard of; before my time). KLOS was always known as the "Corporate Rock" station, but man I didn't know it went all the way back to the beginning.
• Their change to the "Rock n' Stereo" format which basically gutted the playlist and Top 40-ized the presentation.
• Their presentation of the “Calfornia Jam” at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1974. Probably the only time Seals and Crofts and the Eagles were on the same bill as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Emerson Lake and Palmer! The Seventies Rocked!!
• The change in the mid-80’s from identifying themselves as “95.5 KLOS” instead of the original and way more cool “95 ½ KLOS”
• Frazier Smith going crazy in the morning drive. Like a lot of jocks, Frazier bounced back and forth between KMET and KLOS. To this day I can't think of Frazier without also thinking the word "Cheeselogs"! I think I still have the KLOS bumper sticker saying "Too Hip" on it (Frazier basically coined the phrase "Too Hip, Gotta Go" on his show)
• Same with Jim Ladd who is a part of both station’s legacies, and for many years held the night slot down with all of his (mostly) non-coherent rants, Indian Dream Catchers, the Doors cued up to play next, and God knows what else. “Lord Have Mercy!”
• Geno Mitchilini, who held down afternoons and started traditions copied by many other drive-time shows such as the five o’clock funnies (It’s George Carlin again today!!) and the Friday Bang the Drum party music set, which always started with Todd Rundgren’s “Bang the Drum All Day” and usually featured a lot of Jimmy Buffett’s music that wasn’t played at any other time on the station.
• Bob Colburn who hosted Noontime Nuggets in the late 80’s, playing really cool rock n’ roll oldies and roots music, much of which was most definitely not approved by the station consultants. Bob also hosted Rockline every week, a great chance to listen to your favorite band promote their new album and give the fans a chance to call in an ask questions themselves.
• Uncle Joe Benson, who hosted The Seventh Day on Sunday afternoons and evenings, playing seven albums in their entirety in a row. Get your tape recorders ready!!
• Shana, who hosted the morning show for a while in the mid-80’s. I believe at the time she was the first solo female to host an LA Radio morning drive show. One day in 1986 I was actually given the honor of announcing one of my favorite Rolling Stones songs, “Happy” on her show. I believe I was one of the very first people to use the phrase “95.5 KLOS” instead of the 95 ½ on the air because they had just made the decision to change the imaging either that day or the day before.
• The story of Rita Wilde, who started out at the very bottom of the station doing one-off weekend shifts to gradually rise through he ranks to become the program manager and public face (outside of M&B) of the station.
• The Friday in 1987 that all of the KMET jocks were told of the impending demise of he station and were fired in mass. They all came to the KLOS studios to mourn the station on air and congratulate their KLOS colleagues for winning the LA rock wars.
• The period in the mid 90s when KLOS went all in on Grunge and played nothing but Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden all day (this memory should be brief; the station sounded terrible back then).
• The fact that KLOS has been the home of “Breakfast with the Beatles” with Chris Carter for years. The program started on KMET with the late Dierdre O’Donoghue in 1983 and has been on a few stations since, mostly on KLSX, but it has been on KLOS for many years now in its own right and is now part of the KLOS story too. The program has run basically uninterrupted every week for the last 35+ years. That is an amazing accomplishment for any show, particularly one with such a narrow focus. But,
The Beatles! ‘Nuff said.
• The charity work they have done over the course of that time, with food drives, pet adoptions, and most of all, the annual KLOS blood drive, which must have saved thousands of lives over the years. There couldn’t be a better drive or tradition for the American Red Cross.
• And as much as I have no use for them, the Frank, Heidi and (sometimes) Frosty show has been holding down the morning drive slot quite ably since the departure of M&B in 2012, so they are going on seven years themselves, which is quite an achievement in its own right.
I am sure I am forgetting some things, but this is all I have off of the top of my head. Other notable jocks over the years include JJ Jackson, Damian, and Cynthia Fox. I am sure I am forgetting a few others. Point is, there is a lot more to the KLOS story than just M&B.
