Christine Martindale set to return to LA's airwaves...

[Marv-L.A.]

After 12 years at KOST, she'll take over the midday slot at KKGO starting February 4th.

I wish she would have snagged the PM drive slot after Bryan Simmons left KOST, but having her back on the air will be a pleasure.

 

[wdb2003]

Congrats to her. Speaking of KOST whos working the weekends besides Ted and who is hosting "Sunday Journal now?

 

[36james]

Hi Marv, who has the info on Christine coming to KKGO? What souce has it, just askin.

 

[Marv-L.A.]

I subscribe to Lon Helton's Country Aircheck newsletter at http://www.countryaircheck.com

He was the country radio Editor at R&R for well over 20 years, and I believe he also worked on air at KHJ many years ago.

 

[Thomps2525]

Lon Helton was KHJ's program director and morning DJ from 1980 to 1983, when the station had a pop/country format. (Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, Rick Nelson, Jim Croce and Creedence Clearwater Revival on a country station? Yikes!) Rick Dees had done mornings at KHJ for one year but left when the format changed. Helton took over the morning show, calling himself Scott Jeffreys. "Scott" and "Jeffrey" were the first and middle names of his brother. Helton said at the time that he changed his name because he didn't want to start getting hate mail from fans of Rick Dees. Rick, of course, soon wound up at KIIS.

I remember the early years of KFOX, KLAC and KBBQ, when the country-music DJs actually sounded country. Dick Haynes, Sammy Jackson and Corky Mayberry are good examples. Nowadays it seems that most of the country DJs have no background in country---the music or the geographical area. Are we now too sophisticated to want to hear a DJ who has a slight drawl and tells corny jokes? It no longer seems important to have a DJ that fits the sound of the station. DJs on country stations have become as generic and interchangeable as DJs on AC stations.

(Does anyone remember in 1996 when former KHJ "Boss Jock" Humble Harve was on KZLA? Really out of place!)

 

[Marv-L.A.]

Having Peter Tilden in AM drive was substantially worse.

 

[michael hagerty]

Are we now too sophisticated to want to hear a DJ who has a slight drawl and tells corny jokes? It no longer seems important to have a DJ that fits the sound of the station.

Yep. Have been for about 30 years. And it wouldn't fit the sound of the station today.

It only worked (to the extent it did) in L.A. because a significant portion of the audience was made up of transplants from Oklahoma.

And actually, it's more like 40 years. Sure, KLAC had Dick Haynes in morning drive, but they were balancing him out with non-hicks like Jay Lawrence in afternoons. Haynes was probably the closest thing L.A. had to Dr. Don Rose...on paper, way too cornball for the market, but consistency and personality pulled him through.

 

[calguy]

Congrats to her. Speaking of KOST whose working the weekends besides Ted and who is hosting "Sunday Journal now?

Just Ted... Perhaps they'll employ voice trackers in the future for weekends, not sure. Over at CBS KRTH carry's 6 part time jocks. The Wave has 4. That's in part due to CBS working their full-timers 5 days only. Looking back over the years, KOST usually didn't have more than two weekenders, maybe 3. I don't recall if they ever had more than that at one time. But KOST used to work their FT people 6 days and if you go back to the 80's & 90's they had 7 full-timers counting Mark and Kim. They still work their people 6 days a week, but do at times employ voice tracking, so most of the time the full-timers are not "live" on the weekends. As for Sunday Journal, haven't listened at that time of the day on a Sunday, so it's anyone's guess. KOST, not what it used to be...

Congrats to Christine. But, it is a Saul Levine station and your job is no more safe there that any Clear Channel station. His AM in LA is a revolving door, and the changes that have been made to the staff at KKGO over the years have been somewhat baffling. Perhaps David Eduardo can chime in and explain why they recently changed their morning show yet again?

 

[davideduardo]

Perhaps David Eduardo can chime in and explain why they recently changed their morning show yet again?

I can't always explain with numbers and the associated logic the actions of owner-operator stations, which tend to be more autocratic than most. ;D

However, over the last 6 months, the 25-54 numbers on the morning show on KKGO definitely underperformed the station average. Oddly, the last two pre-holiday books showed some improvement, with the worst ratios in the summer months. As I said, hard to apply quantitative analysis to this one as the issues could just as well have been internal as anything we can spot in the ratings.

 

[calguy]

Perhaps David Eduardo can chime in and explain why they recently changed their morning show yet again?

I can't always explain with numbers and the associated logic the actions of owner-operator stations, which tend to be more autocratic than most. ;D

However, over the last 6 months, the 25-54 numbers on the morning show on KKGO definitely underperformed the station average. Oddly, the last two pre-holiday books showed some improvement, with the worst ratios in the summer months. As I said, hard to apply quantitative analysis to this one as the issues could just as well have been internal as anything we can spot in the ratings.

Thank you David. It would seem to me to be either something internal or Saul being fickle. Most stations adjust the music before terminating personalities now days. If KOST had done that, they would've been a revolving door. Jhani Kaye operated differently. He had the people he wanted, he just adjusted music, promotions and clocks and it worked quite well for him there.

 

[Thomps2525]

I subscribe to the "Saul is fickle" theory. Unless I miscounted, in the past forty years there have been 127 different formats on 1260 AM. That includes news, talk, jazz, country, classical, Beatles, show tunes, oldies, Retro, Shuffle, and adult standards. "Fickle" is an understatement!

 

[calguy]

I subscribe to the "Saul is fickle" theory. Unless I miscounted, in the past forty years there have been 127 different formats on 1260 AM. That includes news, talk, jazz, country, classical, Beatles, show tunes, oldies, Retro, Shuffle, and adult standards. "Fickle" is an understatement!

And in most of those changes he fired the entire staff. A friend told me about some horror stories from when he worked there and honestly, you gotta work, so I would take a job there, but I wouldn't expect to keep it for long. That being said, there are some that have stayed at his operation, so you "can" survive there, but it's a crap-shoot just like anywhere else.

 

[michael hagerty]

Well, this won't be fashionable, but here goes, after I note that I have never met or communicated with Saul Levine:

Fickle?

You're talking about a guy with one of the strongest FM signals in L.A., who devoted 30 years to jazz, 17 years to classical, and just entered his 7th year in the Country format. Have there been changes in music and airstaff during those six years? Sure.

And as for 1260, what would any of us have done with that signal over the last 20 years that would have stuck? Give Saul credit. Most other operators would have gone all Farsi infomercials long ago.

 

[calguy]

Well, this won't be fashionable, but here goes, after I note that I have never met or communicated with Saul Levine:

Fickle?

You're talking about a guy with one of the strongest FM signals in L.A., who devoted 30 years to jazz, 17 years to classical, and just entered his 7th year in the Country format. Have there been changes in music and airstaff during those six years? Sure.

And as for 1260, what would any of us have done with that signal over the last 20 years that would have stuck? Give Saul credit. Most other operators would have gone all Farsi infomercials long ago.

Actually I agree with what you said. His FM has had a relatively stable life with regard to format, and he has run it admirably. But I believe that his staffs were a bit more stable in the years previous to the Country format.

My statement wasn't meant to mitigate the way he has run his FM, rather it spoke to the way he's run 1260.

At this point I was going to site some of what I know of how people I know were treated, but I've decided it does no one any good. Let dead dogs lay...

 

[nmoore6676]

Well, this won't be fashionable, but here goes, after I note that I have never met or communicated with Saul Levine:

Fickle?

You're talking about a guy with one of the strongest FM signals in L.A., who devoted 30 years to jazz, 17 years to classical, and just entered his 7th year in the Country format. Have there been changes in music and airstaff during those six years? Sure.

And as for 1260, what would any of us have done with that signal over the last 20 years that would have stuck? Give Saul credit. Most other operators would have gone all Farsi infomercials long ago.

Amen!

I suppose the only question wold be why he ever bought KGIL in the first place. It has most of the signal directed seaward and the nighttime power and signal directional pattern combined make it not so viable after sundown. But a lot of his formats were interesting concepts and I listened to many of them as being in the valley made it possible all day long.

In any event I tend to be more loyal to "autocratic" local station operators as a listener and I even worked for a couple way back when. Everyone seems to hate the big companies because they don't "serve" their communities. By community I suppose they mean whatever they personally want to hear which isn't supplied in their area by Clear Channel, Cumulus, or CBS.

But from the staff perspective which is better to be fired by the local tyrant or fired by the far distant board of tyrants who are directed by an army of accountants? How many times have the doors spun around at Clear Channel. Los Angeles or CBS-LA? How many people have been left behind as the other market stations have been traded around in the monopoly game of big corporate broadcasting?

 

[ceejay]

Having Peter Tilden in AM drive was substantially worse.

Seriously...... Peter was the best! He wasn't all that country, but, Peter w/Buzz and Ashley started my days out right! I miss him still!

 

[nmoore6676]

I subscribe to the "Saul is fickle" theory. Unless I miscounted, in the past forty years there have been 127 different formats on 1260 AM. That includes news, talk, jazz, country, classical, Beatles, show tunes, oldies, Retro, Shuffle, and adult standards. "Fickle" is an understatement!

Probably true about 1260AM but the only question I have is why did he every buy it in the first place. The FM at 105.1 which is the point in this thread has had three formats since it went on the air in 1959. Jazz until 1989. Classical from 1990 to 2007. And now country sine 2007. Pretty consistent I'd ha e to say.

David is right about autocratic owner operators, he has probably worked for a couple over his long career. But when you get shown the door is it worse than the impersonal out of town owner. But KKGO has not really had that much on air turnover. All but a couple of exceptions have pretty much been on board since the launch as country. There wee some Dial Global shows at the very beginning until they got a full live and local lineup.

Even with the revolving door on AM and format changes many people have come back to work for Saul and I've heard of only one disgruntled former on air host who also had a similar gripe with KFI. So Mr. Levine can't be all that hateful of a tyrant. As for Christine didn't her Dad work for one or more of their Music of your life formats on AM? So wouldn't Wink have told her to stay away if it was so bad?