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Johnny Magnus
- Thread starter imlayguy
- Start date
No. He’s gone from the website, too.
KKJZ had been playing old shows during the pandemic…noticeable because Johnny’s voice was fuller and stronger than in the past couple of years.
I hope he’s well and simply chose to retire on his own terms. He’s been on the air in Los Angeles, with only a few pauses, since 1957, outdone only by Art Laboe.
I miss Johnny Magnus' unique styling as an air personality. I've enjoyed his radio work in LA since I moved here decades ago. I think he is the last of the KMPC greats, if memory serves. I wish KKJZ would provide an update on why he departed or acknowledge his tenure and talent. Chuck Southcott is also a talented air personality, so grateful he is in the seat on weekend mornings.
Chuck's terrific.
Saul Levine doesn't talk about talent that leaves. Ever. Hell, he rarely talks about talent that's working for him currently.
Whether Johnny's the last depends on how you define "greats". Pete Smith was weekends and fill-ins for KMPC in the 60s and 70s, and he's still with us, as are Wink Martindale, Sonny Melendrez and Kathy Gori, all of whom joined the station in the early 1970s.
I have saluted Saul many times on this site for being an independent guy and doing things his way in an industry that almost requires you to be part of corporate behemoth to succeed. What I have always not liked is how he treats his staff. Everyone is replaceable in any organization, but when you work for Saul, it is front and center and everybody knows it. I am sure there are some people he has been loyal to over the years and by whom he has done very well, but for many others, they were just a game piece, to be cast aside as soon as a new game is played. And like you said, never any on-air appreciation for the (sometimes immensely) talented people who have worked there.
I happen to contract with an organization that has lived with the motto "everyone is replaceable" (fortunately, I don't work there!). The staff are not paid well, rarely if ever acknowledged, and are offered almost no chance for upward mobility. This served the organization very well for many years as they simply rotated staff in and out - until this year when they learned that professional organizations as employers are also sometimes replaceable. Nearly all of their most talented employees have left them to work elsewhere, and in 2021, they have not been able to replace them. So it is true, everyone is replaceable - employees are replaceable, bosses are replaceable, and entire organizations are replaceable.
Saul has been loyal in the sense that he has re-hired talent many times. Johnny Magnus, Chuck Southcott, Wink Martindale and Gary Owens have all worked for Saul on more than one occasion.
But in terms of any acknowledgment, promotion or public praise of talent, if he’s done it, I must have missed it.
Johnny Magnus is one my heroes. I'll always miss his "Weather with a Beat" from his KMPC days. He truly is "The host that loves you the most". Chuck Southcott is great too... I first listened to him on my parents favorite station back in the 60s: KGIL.
I developed my taste in jazz from listening to Johnny from age 8 onward, transistor radio tucked inside my pillowcase.
I've been fortunate to have communicated with Johnny a few times over the last 15 years, not to the point where I think it would be appropriate for me to reach out and ask what's up. But I'll never forget the first time I sent him an e-mail. I think it was to ask if he'd saved an original KMPC "Weather With A Beat" using Count Basie's "Cute" (there's one out there from his Music of Your Life days using a different piece of music).
I mentioned that I grew up from a young age listening to him and thanked him for forming my musical tastes. I expected to either not get a reply, or to get one via e-mail. I went to lunch.
I came back an hour later to find the message light blinking on my office phone. When I played it back I heard that voice. "Michael. This is YOUR fan, Johnny Magnus."
One of my biggest regrets is not copying that message off onto something else before the system auto-deleted a year later.
He certainly lived by his catch-phrase: "The host that loves you the most!"
I hope Johnny is well. His voice on air was occasionally weak, and the station went to replaying old shows. If anyone knows him or his friends well enough to reach out and inquire, we'd all like to know how he is. It would be great to let him know a large number of fans care about and miss him.
After several departures (including Johnny Magnus) KKJZ announces a new hire: Rhonda Hamilton:
www.insideradio.com
Rhonda spent 40 years at non-commercial WBGO in Newark NJ. Apparently she moved west, and now will be heard in LA.
Rhonda Hamilton
Rhonda Hamilton joins California State University-Long Beach “K-Jazz 88.1” KKJZ Los Angeles for middays (11am-3pm). A format veteran, Hamilton began her career at WBUR Boston and also worked at WBGO
Rhonda spent 40 years at non-commercial WBGO in Newark NJ. Apparently she moved west, and now will be heard in LA.
Rhonda Hamilton
"Rhonda Hamilton, a native New Yorker, is a legend in jazz broadcasting due to her being one of the co-founders of the immensely popular Newark radio station WBGO, where she 's been on the air four almost four decades. Since 1980 she has also been a regular voice on NPR on many syndicated shows including ""Jazz Set"" and ""Toast of the Nation."" In addition she 's been honored by the Jazz Journalists Association and was honored by the city of New York with a ""Ladies In Jazz Award.""" This is also has been on the Sirius xm real Jazz channel.
I had the pleasure of working the Johnny during his KPRZ days, and what a talent. Hope he's ok.
Ed
Ed
Anybody remember Johnny on KIQQ (100.3) ?
No. When was that and for how long?
This was in the late 70's, probably for no longer than a year. The station played soft pop/rock like KOST103. The KIQQ calls followed the unsuccesful KFOX 1280 Country simulcast. It was at first strange hearing Johnny Magnus playing music like this but he talked about it the same way he talked about Jazz or any of the other music he played on KMPC, so he seemed perfectly at home.
Found it. It must have been a very short stay. Would have loved to have heard it.
Magnus left KMPC in 1973, unhappy with Angel baseball pre-emptions, was at KAGB in 1974, KRLA in 1975, during their MOR experiment, did fill-ins at KGIL in '76 and '77, went to Las Vegas at KLAV and then KDWN in 1978, came back to L.A. in mid-1980 to do contemporary Christian music at KBRT, then did however long at KIQQ before he went to KPRZ in November of 1981. It was something like two and a half years at KPRZ before going back to KMPC in '85 and staying until they dropped music in '92.
KIQQ replaced KFOX-FM in early 1973. By December of that year, Drake-Chenault took it over, and took a run at KHJ with Robert W. Morgan, Jim Carson, Eric Chase, The Real Don Steele, Billy Pearl and Jerry Butler. It failed. Steele was gone in '74, Morgan in '75 and Drake-Chenault in '77. The station was more or less Top 40 (sometimes softer, sometimes not) until 1985, when it re-branded as "K-Lite", a satellite-delievered AC with Jim Carson in the morning as the only live show. The KIQQ call letters survived until March of '89, when it became KQLZ, "Pirate Radio".
I forgot to mention that Johnny still did his "Weather with a Beat" on KIQQ, and I should also say that Billy Pearl was a terrific Top-40 type DJ...wonder where he went...
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