Hollywood Hamilton Out at K-Earth

[mostb1]

Fired today.

 

[mostb1]

But what's most disgusting is that Joshua Escandon is the new afternooner driver at K-Earth.Dr. George is gone from the morning show, too.

 

[calguy]

Couldn't agree with you more. While I was no Hollywood Hammy-ton supporter I think even less of Escandon. If listeners knew more about this guy, well lets just say they don't and leave it at that. If they wanted a great jock in that shift they only needed to look to longtime K-Earther Dave Randall. But Escandon? He does have a big voice, but his rep is so damaged. Just ask anyone who's worked with him.

 

[RadioStarOne]

Re: Hollywood Hamilton Out at K-Earth Gary Bryan back to mornings!

Gee, I guess the report on the radio and records site is wrong! Over there it says that Shotgun Tom Kelly is the new afternoon drivetime host! And welcome home toGary Bryan someone at CBS Radio's KRTH finally gets it!

 

[mostb1]

Re: Hollywood Hamilton Out at K-Earth Gary Bryan back to mornings!

Gee, I guess the report on the radio and records site is wrong! Over there it says that Shotgun Tom Kelly is the new afternoon drivetime host! And welcome home toGary Bryan someone at CBS Radio's KRTH finally gets it!

Both are right. Afternoon drive is a split shift with Escandon doing 1-4 and Shotgun Tom doing 4-8.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

This one wasn't hard to see coming and many on this board predicted failure from Day 1. Became even more obvious when Jhani came and the ratings continued to spiral.Jhani really couldn't remake the station completely with Hollywood still around.Have to say KRTH music is sounding much better of late.

 

[mostb1]

This one wasn't hard to see coming and many on this board predicted failure from Day 1. Became even more obvious when Jhani came and the ratings continued to spiral.Jhani really couldn't remake the station completely with Hollywood still around.Have to say KRTH music is sounding much better of late.

Actually, I totally disagree with the exception of Hollywood Hamilton. Hollywood, an great talent, was doomed from day one in a format that just didn't fit him even though he's getting up there in age.Jhani otherwise has turned K-Earth into a horrible sounding station. The lack of processing, the strict use of liner cards, the addition of a psychopath to afternoons and poor addition of titles to the playlist isn't winning him any congrats from me. He may one day be able to write a manuel on how NOT to program an oldies station.

 

[Joey1986]

Any word on what Hollywood Hamilton did to get fired?

 

[calguy]

The only people who know the exact reason for Hollywood's termination are inside CBS' Miracle Mile complex.But there were reports of shouting matches between JK and HH a few weeks back. What I know about Jhani is that he rules the roost like many old time PD's. In other words it's his way or nothing. He believes in formatics and no deviation from them. That's what makes his choice of jock for the 1-4pm shift so odd.

 

[StreetTalkinGuy]

Fired today.

That sound you aren't hearing is me not crying.Or expressing any type of shock or surprise, for that matter.I'm not the type to wish ill fortune upon anybody, but I have to say that from first-hand experience, I believe this guy deserves whatever ill fortune comes his way. Not a pleasant man.

 

[mostb1]

The only people who know the exact reason for Hollywood's termination are inside CBS' Miracle Mile complex.But there were reports of shouting matches between JK and HH a few weeks back. What I know about Jhani is that he rules the roost like many old time PD's. In other words it's his way or nothing. He believes in formatics and no deviation from them. That's what makes his choice of jock for the 1-4pm shift so odd.

I would not say Jhani is a classic old time pd. Old, yes. But most old time pd's allowed, encouraged and nurtured creativity. This guy just wants you to read liner cards and they must be read in a certain way. His selection of Escandon is not odd. Escandon doesn't know how to do anything else BUT read liner cards. And Jhani has taught him how to do it HIS WAY. So he's Jhani's perfect robot soldier.

 

[calguy]

I would not say Jhani is a classic old time pd. Old, yes. But most old time pd's allowed, encouraged and nurtured creativity. This guy just wants you to read liner cards and they must be read in a certain way. His selection of Escandon is not odd. Escandon doesn't know how to do anything else BUT read liner cards. And Jhani has taught him how to do it HIS WAY. So he's Jhani's perfect robot soldier.

What I meant when I said "old time PD's" was that he's strict. He's known to hot-line his jocks before they can even turn the mic off. I will say that I'm familiar with many deejays who've worked for Jhani who know how to do more than just read liner cards. You gotta work to feed your family & pay the bills. It would seem to me that most of the people still at KOST fall in to this category. When allowed they can be more than just readers. But that format doesn't let them go too far. That's the format. If you listen to KBIG when Jhani programmed there it did sound as if there was room to be a personality, so I think format does dictate to a degree. It was regimented, but there was a "little" room to play. As for the new 1-4pm "talent" coming to KRTH, I couldn't agree with you more. I'm not a racist, but if they wanted someone who was Hispanic to help draw that part of the audience they could find some very fine people to fill the bill. People who are fun to work with and are actually kind to others.

 

[codered]

Kaye is used to dealing with AC yuckers and smiley puking hacks. You can't apply the same kind of formatic rules from a background AC station with an uptempo oldies station. Of course, Kaye is a weird hire anyway. No experience in the format, no record in working with big-time talent, and on genera; a control and command freak.

 

[calguy]

Re: Jhani Kaye at K-Earth

Kaye is used to dealing with AC yuckers and smiley puking hacks. You can't apply the same kind of formatic rules from a background AC station with an uptempo oldies station. Of course, Kaye is a weird hire anyway. No experience in the format, no record in working with big-time talent, and on genera; a control and command freak.

Wow I really don't want to defend Kaye, but I believe his history shows him working with Lohman & Barkley, Jay Stone, Machine Gun Kelly and Charlie Tuna right off the top of my head and none of them were or are small time talents. By the way, nice little stab at the guys & gals from KOST who all had backgrounds that were diverse before being assembled for that station. I've read some of their bios. Besides, KOST ain't no slouch station. Kaye may have no pure oldies background, but he was a successful Top 40 programmer in the 70's where a lot of the music KRTH is playing came from. Geeze I can't believe I'm defending him. Actually I just like to see all the facts laid out. I don't like the processing at KRTH now, nor do I care for some of the formatics. I've heard them before at KOST, KBIG and at KFI when Jhani programmed there. Kaye's big days and ratings may be behind him, and anyone who was given the power could have changed the music for the better at KRTH. Any number of posters on this sight could do that. But the fact is that he's the one in power there now. Bottom line, for every good decision he's made, he's made a bad one too. Case in point, Escandon. He's doing what many PD's have done since the beginning of radio and that's to hire a friend, even if it's a terrible decision.

 

[calguy]

Re: Jhani Kaye at K-Earth

Wow, feel like I was goaded into that last post, more I guess to stand up for some of the jocks at KOST that I’ve had the chance to meet over the years. I wouldn’t categorize the majority as AC yuckers and smiley puking hacks. I can think of a couple of current KOST jocks who could easily do a shift on KRTH and sound great doing it. It ain’t rocket science… Come to think of it, I've heard some pretty good people try their hand at doing "background AC" and sound pretty awful doing it. My hat's off to anyone who can hold down a successful major market gig for as long as some of those people at KOST have. It certainly didn't sound easy working for someone who was that in to controlling the situation... Working AC can't be that low on the ladder if a great talent like Bobby Ocean is doing it, and he's at a station in SF that makes KOST sound downright lively. Okay, I've said my piece, I'm going to try and stay away from this board and take the weekend off...

 

[CatfishJimPrewitt]

Excuse me, i don't want to sound argumentive, but what does a "big voice" have to do with connecting with listeners?

 

[calguy]

Excuse me, i don't want to sound argumentive, but what does a "big voice" have to do with connecting with listeners?

Guess I was trying to say "something" nice about the guy. Pretty tough thing to do too.

 

[codered]

Doing KOST type AC is a skill, no question about it. I'm not trying to offend anyone, but it isn't the same skill required to do personality Top 40. KOST always had this totally affected delivery, liner-driven formatics, and soft presentation. Kaye has had some dealings with star talent such as MG Kelly, Charlie Tuna, and the great Lohman & Barkley. I really doubt he had squat to do with their show. I know enough former KOST people, to draw a huge line between dealing with them, and dealing..trusting veteran talent like Shotgun Tom Kelly, or Gary Bryan. Can you imagine Kaye laying that liner jive on the KRTH crew from 1992?. (Robert W Morgan, Johnny Hayes, The Real Don Steele, Danny Martinez, and Humble Harve) .

 

[calguy]

Doing KOST type AC is a skill, no question about it. I'm not trying to offend anyone, but it isn't the same skill required to do personality Top 40. KOST always had this totally affected delivery, liner-driven formatics, and soft presentation. Kaye has had some dealings with star talent such as MG Kelly, Charlie Tuna, and the great Lohman & Barkley. I really doubt he had squat to do with their show. I know enough former KOST people, to draw a huge line between dealing with them, and dealing..trusting veteran talent like Shotgun Tom Kelly, or Gary Bryan. Can you imagine Kaye laying that liner jive on the KRTH crew from 1992?. (Robert W Morgan, Johnny Hayes, The Real Don Steele, Danny Martinez, and Humble Harve) .

Ahh, but I was around KOST at the beginning and can tell you that many of those jocks came from personality driven radio, and were successful doing it. From what I know, the liners didn't start right away and at first there "was" some personality there. Kaye's problem is that he is a control freak. But you know, not many personalities can compare to RDS or RWM either. They were one of a kind. Remember too, the Drake format didn't always allow a lot of room to be a personality either unless you did morning drive. You had to add what you could when time and format allowed. I did that kind of radio myself and we always had formatics to follow. I hear a lot more leeway on KOST now than when Kaye was there, but you don't mess with what works too much or you can kill the golden goose. The problem with KOST and most AC's is that the format is the star, but crappy jocks can drag the numbers down. The audience knows quality, and I think the jocks at stations like KOST or WLTW do make quite a difference. While Mike Sakellarides or Valerie Smaldone may never be mentioned in the same sentence with Morgan, Steel or Doctor Don Rose, they are the best at what they do. That's why those stations have so many long running talent. There aren't many who seem to be able to pull it off, and you had to be a personality to start with to know how to do it with any great skill, but that's just my opinion.

 

[accessdlp]

The K-EARTH website is still mentioning Samantha Stadler as the "producer of the Hollywood Hamilton Morning Show," FYI.