980 KFWB Am flipping?

[Thomps2525]

Ah yes, somebody remembers when Freberg---on radio---built the world's largest hot fudge sundae in Lake Michigan. While we await the debut of CBS Sports on KFWB, allow me to repost the August 7 column that I wrote for LARadio.com. Anyone who hasn't heard Freberg's Lawrence Welk Show parody should go to YouTube immediately and listen to it. If you have heard it, listen to it again. It's funny!

LARadio Rewind: August 7, 1926. Stan Freberg is born Stanley Friberg in Pasadena. He performed comedy on Cliffie Stone's Dinner Bell Round-Up program on KPAS in 1943, then began providing voices for Warner Bros. cartoons. In 1953 Freberg starred in the movie Geraldine as "sobbing songster" Billy Weber, a satire of vocalist Johnnie Ray. Freberg recorded many song parodies for Capitol, including Banana Boat, Sh-Boom, Heartbreak Hotel, C'est Si Bon and I've Got You Under My Skin. With June Foray and Daws Butler, he had a number-one hit in 1953 with a Dragnet parody, St. George & The Dragonet. He starred in a 1954 CBS tv series, That's Rich, and in 1957 was the summer replacement for Jack Benny on CBS Radio. He also made comedy albums and satirical tv commercials, worked with Bob Clampett on the 1949-54 Time For Beany children's tv show, and since 2008 has provided voices for Garfield cartoons. Freberg was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995. His 1957 Lawrence Welk parody, Wun'erful Wun'erful---the source of a popular Jim Healy sound bite---can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0TSDcPW2Kk

 

[Art Landing]

The Clippers with Steve Ballmer might give the Lakers a run for their money.

Don't sell Juls short. After all, he knows more about what's needed on AM than anyone at CBS - hes been assuring us of that seemingly for eons.

If adding more sports stations is the key to a renaissance of AM in Philadelphia just imagine how effective it will bin the greater Los Angeles market with KFWB's mighty signal. Isn't their transmitter site shared with KLAC near El Sereno?

I have an unconfirmed rumor that frightened management personnel at both KFI and KNX are both holding emergency strategy meetings while Mike Thompson is providing cover by selling recreational vehicles with Tim Conway at the Rose Bowl tomorrow.

Personally I'm rather sanguine about the future of both of our local powerhouse stations. The last time CBS brought someone into the Los Angeles market, a $100,000 per year (lots of money in those days) morning host from Pittsburgh named Regis Cordic (replacement for departing morning host Bob Crane who had latched on to a tv series named Hogan's Heros I think - later murdered in Arizona) it bombed so badly that KNX shortly thereafter changed to their present newsradio format (and that's fact, not satire - see Wikipedia for complete details).

By the time CBS finished paying off Cordic's contract he'd established himself as a voiceover artist Somehow I don't think Jul's arrangement is quite so generous - if indeed it really exists.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Isn't their transmitter site shared with KLAC near El Sereno?

YACS. A quick check of the FCC database shows that to be the case.

Somehow I don't think Jul's arrangement is quite so generous - if indeed it really exists.

Of course you know that Julius May being employed in radio in any capacity is one of the signs of the apocalypse ...

 

[davideduardo]

YACS. A quick check of the FCC database shows that to be the case.

Of course, the difference is that it would take about 20,000 watts on 980 to match the 570 coverage.

If you look at the KNX and KLAC daytime 5 mV/m contours, they are nearly identical, despite the power difference. The only difference is that KNX, which is much, much closer to the coastline, gets a bit better signal into the deep south of Orange County and the Conejo Valley.

Of course you know that Julius May being employed in radio in any capacity is one of the signs of the apocalypse ...

The mere thought of that would be reason for a joint emergency board meeting of the NAB and the RAB.

 

[Thomps2525]

Art, in 1978 Bob Crane was found bludgeoned to death and an electrical cord was wrapped around his neck. John Henry Carpenter, a video equipment salesman, was friends with Crane and the two of them conspired to videotape Crane's sexual encounters with various women. Carpenter was thought to have murdered Crane after Crane decided to end their friendship. In 1992 Carpenter was finally charged with Crane's murder but was ultimately found "not guilty." Was he really not guilty? I can think of another famous murder case where the only suspect was acquitted by a jury.

KFWB is in an "asset trust" while CBS tries to find a buyer. Since buying KCAL-Channel 9 in 2002, CBS has been in violation of the market cap which limits a company to owning no more than eight radio/tv stations in a single market. So how much longer before somebody buys KFWB? Will a sale be more likely after the switch to a sports format?

As for Steve Ballmer and the Clippers, Vegas.com now has the team's odds of winning the 2014-15 NBA Championship at 12-to-1. The Cavaliers are favored. The Spurs rank second. The Lakers are 100-to-1. The odds are updated as trades are made and the season progresses.

http://www.vegas.com/gaming/futures/nba-championship/

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Guess the idea of a fun stunt is off the radar. It's infomercials today as I assume is the usual fare on Sundays. Remember when local radio had the fun element working for it? I hardly do myself.

I won't be staying up to hear the changeover at midnight, as I have two things that preclude - a job and a life. I don't think I will be missing anything. To go along with the old myth though, maybe someone could say at 11:59 "And now we will take an in depth look at sports..."

 

[Thomps2525]

In December 1993 when KLAC dropped country music and started running Westwood One's satellite-fed "AM Only" adult standards format, there was nothing special about the changeover. Stoney Richards said "We hope to see you around some day" (or words similar to that), then came the station ID at midnight, followed by Peggy Lee's I Could Have Danced All Night. The first song of each hour of the AM Only programming was timed to fill three minutes and 30 seconds. Some stations had a top-of-the-hour newscast and some chose to stay with the satellite fead. KLAC went right to the song because news director Dean Sander, who had been with the station for 31 years, had been fired! Satellite programming in the nation's second-largest radio market! Shameful!

I expect nothing special on KFWB at midnight---just the ending of an infomercial, an ID and a switch to the CBS Sports network feed. For those of us who grew up with Color Radio Channel 98, it would have been nice to have Elliot Field, Gary Owens and Wink Martindale work the final hour before the switch. *Sigh*

 

[Thomps2525]

Bill Seward and Bob Harvey were told that they would still be on KFWB after the format change. I don't know who told them so.....but it turned out to be false. Ted Sobel is apparently the only on-air employee who remains. KFWB registered several domain names with the word "Beast" but right now the URL is simply http://kfwbam.com/

 

[hm insulators]

KFWB will also provide coverage of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, August 5-21. Listening to the Olympics on the radio will probably be every bit as exciting as listening to a golf tournament on the radio or listening to a NASCAR race on the radio or.....

Yep. You simply cannot appreciate the magic that is synchronized swimming until you hear it live on the radio.

Don't forget the diving events, too.

 

[hm insulators]

Ah yes, somebody remembers when Freberg---on radio---built the world's largest hot fudge sundae in Lake Michigan. While we await the debut of CBS Sports on KFWB, allow me to repost the August 7 column that I wrote for LARadio.com. Anyone who hasn't heard Freberg's Lawrence Welk Show parody should go to YouTube immediately and listen to it. If you have heard it, listen to it again. It's funny!

LARadio Rewind: August 7, 1926. Stan Freberg is born Stanley Friberg in Pasadena. He performed comedy on Cliffie Stone's Dinner Bell Round-Up program on KPAS in 1943, then began providing voices for Warner Bros. cartoons. In 1953 Freberg starred in the movie Geraldine as "sobbing songster" Billy Weber, a satire of vocalist Johnnie Ray. Freberg recorded many song parodies for Capitol, including Banana Boat, Sh-Boom, Heartbreak Hotel, C'est Si Bon and I've Got You Under My Skin. With June Foray and Daws Butler, he had a number-one hit in 1953 with a Dragnet parody, St. George & The Dragonet. He starred in a 1954 CBS tv series, That's Rich, and in 1957 was the summer replacement for Jack Benny on CBS Radio. He also made comedy albums and satirical tv commercials, worked with Bob Clampett on the 1949-54 Time For Beany children's tv show, and since 2008 has provided voices for Garfield cartoons. Freberg was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995. His 1957 Lawrence Welk parody, Wun'erful Wun'erful---the source of a popular Jim Healy sound bite---can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0TSDcPW2Kk

Geez, is HE still alive?! I used to hear all his stuff on Dr. Demento.

 

[Art Landing]

Yep, alive and still working - see his page in Wikipedia

 

[Thomps2525]

Stan Freberg's first wife, Donna, died in 2001. He's now married to Betty Hunter. Professionally she calls herself Hunter Freberg. She and Stan, billed as "Two Funny Frebergs," continue to perform together at banquets, coventions and comedy clubs. In 2010 they recorded an album of novelty songs, Songs In The Key Of Freberg. It includes that instant classic, Your Call Will Be Answered In The Order In Which It Was Received.

http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Key-Freberg-Hunter-Stan/dp/B004194YPI

 

[semoochie]

June Foray is also still working, now nearly 97! I see her name in the credits of an animated movie every now and then. She was the oldest person to ever win an Emmy in 2012.

 

[ShawnHill1]

KFWB will start its new lineup on September 22nd with a mostly local lineup (with Jim Rome in his current 9-noon spot), with CBS Sports Radio covering overnights. Among the notable names--Marques Johnson (former UCLA/Clippers player and current Fox Sports 1 basketball analyst), Jeannie Zelasko (former XTRA Sports 690 on-air personality) and Fred Roggin; the former two will co-host a morning show; Roggin follows Rome at noon. Doug Gottlieb's national radio show, currently live at noon local time, gets bumped to 9 to 11pm.

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2014/09/former_kfwb_now_the_beast.php

 

[benale]

Again..does Los Angeles really need a fourth sports station? Of course not. If KFWB didn't go sports I'm sure a brokered, religion or a non English format would have surfaced. I miss the morning and afternoon news blocks. They were a nice alternative to KNX. Can't imagine KFWB rising above a .2. Only difference that tiny audience will now be heavier on 18-49 men, as if the pie isn't sliced small enough.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Can't imagine KFWB rising above a .2. Only difference that tiny audience will now be heavier on 18-49 men, as if the pie isn't sliced small enough.

As has been noted over and over and over again, sports-formatted stations do not need ratings to sell. Certain advertisers will issue instructions to the agencies to buy all the sports stations.

Every time someone tries to make the argument above, they prove that they either (a) ignored all the times this has been said or (b) refuses to believe it. Either way, they are wrong.

However, you can prove it for yourself. Listen to each of the sports-formatted station for one day each and write down every advertiser and how often their spots play. Then compare the lists ... you will see the pattern.

 

[hm insulators]

Stan Freberg's first wife, Donna, died in 2001. He's now married to Betty Hunter. Professionally she calls herself Hunter Freberg. She and Stan, billed as "Two Funny Frebergs," continue to perform together at banquets, coventions and comedy clubs. In 2010 they recorded an album of novelty songs, Songs In The Key Of Freberg. It includes that instant classic, Your Call Will Be Answered In The Order In Which It Was Received.

http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Key-Freberg-Hunter-Stan/dp/B004194YPI

I just played a couple of samples from his new album ("Your Call Will Be Answered..." and "The Remodeling Song,") and maybe there was some "sweetening" in the recording studio done, but my gosh, he's still in fine voice! Much more so than say, Brian Johnson or Geddy Lee.

 

[hm insulators]

Again..does Los Angeles really need a fourth sports station? Of course not. If KFWB didn't go sports I'm sure a brokered, religion or a non English format would have surfaced. I miss the morning and afternoon news blocks. They were a nice alternative to KNX. Can't imagine KFWB rising above a .2. Only difference that tiny audience will now be heavier on 18-49 men, as if the pie isn't sliced small enough.

If nothing else, it would be nice to have "Romey" back on the next time I go to Los Angeles. Now wouldn't it be nice if he were back on here in the PHX?

 

[Thomps2525]

KFWB will carry Brett Winterble's program from 3 to 7 pm. He'll be joined by former Jaguars tight end George Wrighster. A program called L.A. Sports Today will air from 7 to 9 pm and CBS Sports Radio network programming will air from 9 pm to 5:30 am. I'm excited---pretty soon Los Angeles will have more sports stations than sports teams!

 

[CaliRadioFan]

Add to that a local morning show with Marques Johnson and Jeanie Zelasko, and none other that KNBC's Fred Roggin from Noon-3pm. This will be interesting.