• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Changes At KFI

Yes, that was a tragic day. As I recall Bruce's wife had some broadcast background and was allowed to help cover the day as a reporter/commentator. The link below refers to a story that she was on the air for two hours.

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-06-05/news/mn-9650_1_traffic-reporter

The KFI traffic studio was renamed in his honor, but after awhile that fell into disuse. I don't know that it was ever officially determined what caused the crash. His widow recovered a settlement from Cox broadcasting despite Wayne's blood alcohol level being elevated - a circumstance unrelated to the crash as witnesses heard engine problems.

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-05-20/local/me-3638_1_bruce-wayne

His widow writing a book about traffic reporters before his death. The tentative title "Asphalt Angels" was preempted by a children's book and I've no idea if it was ever published.

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-06-05/news/mn-9749_1_traffic-reporter

A few years ago,long after KFI discontinued aerial reporting, Mike Nolan had to make an emergency landing of his private plane when the engine quit and was injured. Fortunately no one was killed. Captain Max of KMPC and Gary Powers of KGIL also died in crashes as I recall.
 
Last edited:
I really like the changes. (I'm in my early-30s).

I remember KFI using the old TOH and traffic bed back in 2004, so it was due for a refreshening. I think after a year, we'll all feel as nostalgic about the new TOH and traffic as we did with the old one.
 
KFI's big voice announcer is a mix between between the classic deep voiced KFI guy (sorry, I should know his name since he's been such a mainstay) and now some lilty voiced dude that seemingly just graduated the Columbia School of Broadcasting.
I'm being facetious of course, but I don't see any need to replace the deep voiced guy with this new guy.
And mixing the two lately makes KFI sound a bit schizophrenic.

But what do I know, I still miss the TOH date stamp lady.

Mike Nolan was silently downgraded to OC traffic bimbo in some traffic bureau under Clear Channel's "slave them till they finally quit" department.
Rich Marotta got a proper send off when he retired.
Nolan is getting properly shafted for his many years of service which predate Marotta.

Leaves a bad taste it does.
 
Art Landing said:
A few years ago,long after KFI discontinued aerial reporting, Mike Nolan had to make an emergency landing of his private plane when the engine quit and was injured. Fortunately no one was killed. Captain Max of KMPC and Gary Powers of KGIL also died in crashes as I recall.
Click to expand...

True. And Max had a close call eight years before the one that killed him (a mid-air collision with an LAPD chopper near Dodger Stadium in 1966).

Max and Donn Reed had co-founded Airwatch in 1957 and contracted with KABC to provide L.A.'s first airborne traffic reports from a single helicopter.

In 1958, they had a mechanical malfunction and crash-landed with both Max and Donn on board. They could probably have escaped injury by making an emergency landing on an elementary school playground, but there were children on it at the time, so Max (later honored as a hero) risked his life and Donn's with the next-best option. It took six months before Max could fly again. Donn refused to.

KABC got cold feet and in summer, 1959, Gene Autry bought Airwatch and brought it, with Max and Donn, to KMPC (later that year, Gene also stole Roger Carroll from KABC).

Within five years, KMPC Airwatch grew to three helicopters and a twin-engine Beechcraft airplane. Their ground-based traffic coverage, which pre-dated the Airwatch purchase, grew from two cars to six.
 
michael hagerty said:
Within five years, KMPC Airwatch grew to three helicopters and a twin-engine Beechcraft airplane. Their ground-based traffic coverage, which pre-dated the Airwatch purchase, grew from two cars to six.
Click to expand...

And today, all of that has been replaced by the state-owned camera system. Your tax dollars at work.
 
Total Traffic LA is in Long Beach at the 405/710 interchange (NW corner) I would assume they use a web-enabled software now so they can produce reports from Burbank or live remotes, and probably do have the capabilities to do it from TX. You probably know if you switch from 640 to 1150 you will hear the same person giving reports, although Angel Martinez will turn into Dana James with a twang or Dusty Roads or some other name.

And if you switch from 640 to 600 KOGO (San Diego) during Coast to Coast, you will hear Aron Bender doing news breaks on both.



Art Landing said:
Is Total Traffic doing reports for the CC Los Angeles cluster from Burbank? Reports elsewhere indicate that some TT clients in Los Angeles are being served by reporters as faraway as Texas! I have no direct evidence that this is true but would like to know. When KFI was still at 8th and Ardmore with the late Mark Dennis everything was done from a dedicated studio.
Click to expand...
 
Well, you can add KOST to the group - all are CC (whoops - IHeart Media) owned stations with the Burbank news team handling all the LA stations all the time plus San Diego part of the time. Michael Clark (who does morning news for KOGO) is actually the KFI Asst News Director.

Mike Nolan has been heard on KOST for decades and now KEIB as well. Even the late Mark Dennis was heard on both KFI in Los Angeles and KGB in San Diego. This is nothing really new.

I have reservations about assuming Angel Martinez and Dana James are the same person. They do both work for Iheart Media but Angel works into the late evening on KFI while Dana is frequently on mornings on KEIB - where Angel is at other times. Why would she use two names on the same station?.

What I find difficult to understand is the point of having TT based in Long Beach when Iheart Media has its Burbank studios. Is it because TT also serves non-IHeart Media stations?

What I would like to know is the degree to which the Burbank based KFI news team also serves the Iheart Media cluster in the Inland Empire. KOGO does have local reporters in addition to support from Burbank - they're just not 24/7. Does the same hold in the IE?.

As for Coast to Coast have you noticed that KFI consistently runs about 7-10 seconds behind KOGO? This was true of the Rush Limbaugh program before it shifted to KEIB as well. It appears that the traffic reports and some newsbreaks are taped and then played after a short delay as well. Is this just to insure that the engineers don't get in one another's way if a host runs long or short?
 
Last edited:
Art Landing said:
As for Coast to Coast have you noticed that KFI consistently runs about 7-10 seconds behind KOGO? This was true of the Rush Limbaugh program before it shifted to KEIB as well. It appears that the traffic reports and some newsbreaks are taped and then played after a short delay as well. Is this just to insure that the engineers don't get in one another's way if a host runs long or short?
Click to expand...

I believe the difference is in the delay required for the HD system at KFI, vs the others which I believe are not in HD.
 
Bill Handel this morning noted that "What Did Jesse Jackson Say?" will be part of Tim Conway Jr.'s program tonight. Gary Hoffmann asked, "How does he know what Jesse Jackson says?" "He doesn't," Handel replied. "I think he calls Jackson's publicist to find out." Handel then described Jackson as a "cartoon" and no longer relevant and wondered how Jackson earns any money nowadays. Nobody had an answer. How much longer is that idiotic "Jesse Jackson" segment going to continue? It got old after the first few weeks. Yeah, Jackson is often hard to understand. We get it. Please, Tim, drop it and find something else to put on the air!
 
LARadioRewind said:
Bill Handel this morning noted that "What Did Jesse Jackson Say?" will be part of Tim Conway Jr.'s program tonight. Gary Hoffmann asked, "How does he know what Jesse Jackson says?" "He doesn't," Handel replied. "I think he calls Jackson's publicist to find out." Handel then described Jackson as a "cartoon" and no longer relevant and wondered how Jackson earns any money nowadays. Nobody had an answer. How much longer is that idiotic "Jesse Jackson" segment going to continue? It got old after the first few weeks. Yeah, Jackson is often hard to understand. We get it. Please, Tim, drop it and find something else to put on the air!
Click to expand...

Don't subscribers get detailed ratings by the quarter hour? I betcha the ratings spike during that segment so he keeps doing it, even though the bit may be stale. If as a listener you think it is stale, he probably does too and probably has a hard time digging up fresh material for it every week.

You go with what the audience wants. I've read that David Letterman has hated the top 10 list for years, but he is smart enough to give the people what they want. After all, it is all just show business.
 
As a followup to last fall's speculation KFI's (also KEIB and KOST) Mike Nolan HAS retired (to Arizona, of all places). Here is a link to the story (I sensed it was coming then):

http://www.pe.com/articles/nolan-756388-traffic-years.html

His parting was voluntary and apparently low key because its the way he wanted it. Frankly both on the air and in my limited personal contacts with him he was always a gentleman. I wish him well.
 
KFI tied this month with KNX for Golden Mike awards - seven each! Steve Gregory of KFI snatched six!

One interesting side note - although KFI has links with Fox News it has as of the first of the year concurrently snared exclusive Los Angeles access to the ABC news feed abandoned by Cumulus.

Reports indicate this in part may have been done to regain access to ace fire reporter Alex Stone, who in recent years has also done other events for ABC. Stone is famous for his coverage of wildfires at KOA in Denver, gaining certification as a wildland firefighter and equipping his own vehicle in order to optimize coverage in dangerous areas. Before jumping to ABC news (where he is now based in Los Angeles) CC (owner of KOA as well as KFI) gave him a brief stint at KFI. Apparently the KFI news department is eager to again access his reports.
 
Art Landing said:
Reports indicate this in part may have been done to regain access to ace fire reporter Alex Stone, who in recent years has also done other events for ABC.
Click to expand...

Which "reports" are these? There's been nothing in any of the trades that Stone had anything to do with the decision.
 
Never said it was a report from the trades - there are other sources.

Example:

"Hear Ache. Cumulus dropped the ABC News network at KABC at the end of the year. KFI was quick to become the exclusive affiliate for ABC News in the Southland. We will get West Coast correspondent Alex Stone, not only on the news but integrated into regular programming with the Talk show hosts when news breaks. Great move "

--- Don Barrett's LA Radio, January 8, 2015

The point is, KFI continues to improve.




'
 
Last edited:
Followup: since posting the above I've heard numerous KFI newscasts. Several have had reports credited to Fox news reporters; none as yet from ABC.

One unusual item yesterday: Asst KFI news director Michael Clark, who normally remotes morning news anchoring from Burbank for Iheart's KOGO in San Diego, had a story included in a late afternoon KFI newscast.

KFI. which has all sports KLAC as a sister station, also has a new female voice for "KFI sports," apparently succeeding the recently retired Rich Marotta. I haven't noticed her doubling omn KLAC as Marotta did but I don't follow the latter station closely. She sounds excellent, both as a broadcaster and as to her comfort level with sports (actually broadcasting as opposed to just reading what's been placed in front of herr), so a good choice.
 
Art Landing said:
Followup:...
KFI. which has all sports KLAC as a sister station, also has a new female voice for "KFI sports," apparently succeeding the recently retired Rich Marotta. I haven't noticed her doubling omn KLAC as Marotta did but I don't follow the latter station closely. She sounds excellent, both as a broadcaster and as to her comfort level with sports (actually broadcasting as opposed to just reading what's been placed in front of herr), so a good choice.
Click to expand...

Erin V (Vermeulen) has previously worked in US radio in Detroit, Phoenix and Denver.
Her most recent stop before joining KFI in December 2014 was in South Africa.

Erin's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/erinonyourradio

A humorous video of Erin with some of the KFI staff - "Does Erin V wear a wig?"
Link: http://www.kfiam640.com/onair/bill-handel-30603/does-erin-v-wear-a-wig-13070624/
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom