K-EARTH 101 Worst Trend EVER!

[Art Landing]

Art:

No, Hilly was hired at KFI in 1972, and picked up the "Nite Owl" title after years of disuse. In 1974, he moved to 8 p.m. to midnight and I don't believe he used the "Nite Owl" name during that show. He stayed there until early 1978, when Rook bought out his contract to complete the transition of KFI to Top 40.

The country music show I was thinking of began in 1972 and it was Bob Kingsley (who later went on to his own nationally syndicated country countdown).

In researching Red Rowe, I found a blurb in the November 2, 1968 Vox Jox in Billboard magazine, outlining a new DJ lineup at KFI. It says Pat Kelly, who'd been Program Manager since 1950, had been promoted to vice-president of operations and programming. The new lineup, effective October 18th, 1968:

6-10 a.m.: Lohman and Barkley (replacing Red McIlvane, who'd replaced Geoff Edwards just six months earlier)
10 a.m.-2 p.m.: Dave Bodington
2 p.m.-4:55 pm.: Chuck Cecil

There's no mention of what comes between Chuck and 8 p.m., but Red Rowe's "modern country music show" is listed as from 8 p.m. to 11. There's no mention of what airs between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., either.

And stitching together references in several Billboard columns, it suggests that new GM Ed Bunker brought in L. David Moorehead as P.D. in the early fall of 1968 and that Jay Lawrence was hired to do evenings (5 p.m.-8 p.m.?), replacing Dick Sinclair's "Polka Party" . So it would seem that KFI's 1966 "modernization" backslid. It also appears Ron McCoy had been doing the Nite Owl show overnight. The December 28, 1968 Billboard says Bob Arbogast has joined KFI from KMPC.

Next is a March 15, 1969 Vox Jox column, saying that in five months, it was all over. Moorehead is already gone (to KLAC as Operations Director) and Ted Randal (former KFWB disc jockey) has been hired as a programming consultant. Randal has hired new jocks and the lineup goes:

6-9 am: Lohman and Barkley
9 am-Noon: Ron McCoy
Noon-3 pm: Dave Hull
3-6 p.m: Jay Lawrence
6-Midnight: Frank Terry
Midnight-6 am: Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins

And in the April, 1969 Vox Jox, it's noted that Marc Denis from KGB, San Diego had been hired as KFI's new Program Director.

But it didn't last long. Frank Terry was gone within a year. Ned Skaff is shown in the May 30, 1970 issue of Billboard as replacing Mark Denis in the PD chair.

By fall, 1970, the music has gone back to a very conservative MOR, Dave Hull is off to KGBS, replaced by Jack Angel from KMPC and Jay Lawrence has gone to KLAC to join L. David Moorehead. That's when they brought in Dave Garroway, who himself only lasted a year. Chuck Cecil brought "The Swingin' Years" back to evenings, and by 1972, Bob Kingsley was doing Country from 10 pm-2 am and Hilly Rose had a 2-6 am talk show.

Basically, it was all a mess until John Rook. Personally, I liked the Ted Randal/Mark Denis KFI...but I was 13.

I met Mark Dennis at the Koreatown studios at 8th and Ardmore when he was doing traffic long after the Cox acquisition. He alluded to his PD tenure - seemed happy to be away from it. He seemed like a great individual and I was sorry to hear of his passing. Thanks for clarifying the Hilly Rose story - i was 90% sure he was in in the evenings but had no documentation at hand.

The entire sixties and early seventies were, from all accounts, a comedy of errors based in the fact that Anthony's automobile people took over everything after his death. They hadn't a clue about running a radio station that had essentially been set in motion by Harrison Holliway 25 years earlier KFI was losing the NBC radio network, television was stealing the audience and despite a strong dial position, excellent engineering and news people plus a lot of talent they were simply unprepared to deal with the new era.

 

[michael hagerty]

I met Mark Dennis at the Koreatown studios at 8th and Ardmore when he was doing traffic long after the Cox acquisition. He alluded to his PD tenure - seemed happy to be away from it. He seemed like a great individual and I was sorry to hear of his passing. Thanks for clarifying the Hilly Rose story - i was 90% sure he was in in the evenings but had no documentation at hand.

The entire sixties and early seventies were, from all accounts, a comedy of errors based in the fact that Anthony's automobile people took over everything after his death. They hadn't a clue about running a radio station that had essentially been set in motion by Harrison Holliway 25 years earlier KFI was losing the NBC radio network, television was stealing the audience and despite a strong dial position, excellent engineering and news people plus a lot of talent they were simply unprepared to deal with the new era.

Prior to his death, Anthony had approached Gene Autry about buying KFI. NBC wanted to buy it, but Anthony believed L.A.'s most powerful station should remain locally owned. His idea was to sell KFI to Autry, who would then move KMPC's programming, lock, stock and barrel, onto KFI and then sell KMPC to NBC.

Autry was interested, but Anthony died before the discussions got very far along.

 

[Art Landing]

Prior to his death, Anthony had approached Gene Autry about buying KFI. NBC wanted to buy it, but Anthony believed L.A.'s most powerful station should remain locally owned. His idea was to sell KFI to Autry, who would then move KMPC's programming, lock, stock and barrel, onto KFI and then sell KMPC to NBC.

Autry was interested, but Anthony died before the discussions got very far along.

Correct - and there was another matter: Autry was in the midst of starting the major league Los Angeles Angels. Notes Wikipedia:

"The American League franchise of today was established in 1961 by Gene Autry, the team’s first owner who bought the rights to the Angels name from Walter O'Malley, the former Los Angeles Dodgers owner who acquired the PCL franchise from Philip K. Wrigley, the owner of the Chicago Cubs at the time."

O'Malley's Dodgers were on KFI and O'Malley was on the Board of Earle C Anthony Inc. Autry's KMPC woold bring the Rams and Bruins to a station which i believe still had the Trojans and Lakers. Would the sports franchises go long with the talent switch? Or would KFI wind up with two football teams, two baseball teams, two college basketball teams, and the Lakers/Kings? Obviously it was a programming nightmare with multiple parties involved. But Anthony had seen Autry's Golden West brosdcssters and considered him a worthy successor. Not since Harrison Holliway had anyone but Anthony held the title of "KFI President" - it was an honor for Autry to be so strongly regarded.

 

[michael hagerty]

Correct - and there was another matter: Autry was in the midst of starting the major league Los Angeles Angels. Notes Wikipedia:

"The American League franchise of today was established in 1961 by Gene Autry, the team’s first owner who bought the rights to the Angels name from Walter O'Malley, the former Los Angeles Dodgers owner who acquired the PCL franchise from Philip K. Wrigley, the owner of the Chicago Cubs at the time."

O'Malley's Dodgers were on KFI and O'Malley was on the Board of Earle C Anthony Inc. Autry's KMPC woold bring the Rams and Bruins to a station which i believe still had the Trojans and Lakers. Would the sports franchises go long with the talent switch? Or would KFI wind up with two football teams, two baseball teams, two college basketball teams, and the Lakers/Kings? Obviously it was a programming nightmare with multiple parties involved. But Anthony had seen Autry's Golden West brosdcssters and considered him a worthy successor. Not since Harrison Holliway had anyone but Anthony held the title of "KFI President" - it was an honor for Autry to be so strongly regarded.

Legally, the teams would have had to stay put unless there was a (likely expensive) re-negotiation of contracts. So (at least early on), the baseball team Autry owned would have been airing on the radio station he no longer owned.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Legally, the teams would have had to stay put unless there was a (likely expensive) re-negotiation of contracts.

Unless, in this scenario, NBC didn't want to carry the Angels, in which case they might have let Autry out of that contract for convenience's sake.

 

[michael hagerty]

Unless, in this scenario, NBC didn't want to carry the Angels, in which case they might have let Autry out of that contract for convenience's sake.

Most likely NBC would have taken the sports franchises. KNBR (then KNBC) would probably have been their model. And Autry would have taken their money. Better that than having to clear competing baseball schedules for months on end, or shopping for a new home for the Angels. The Dodgers moved from KMPC to KFI in 1960 because Walter O'Malley couldn't hear KMPC at his house in Big Bear. O'Malley bought off on the move to KABC, but that was 14 years later. In '60 or '61, it would have been KFI, KNX or nothing.

 

[briancraig]

I assume KFI carried NBC's Monitor on weekends in the 60s and early 70s.

Was Bob Kingsley's country show geared toward truck drivers? WWL in New Orleans began the overnight Road Gang show in 1971 catering exclusively to truckers but remained block programmed during the day. Other 50 KW MOR stations like WHO in Des Moines and WSM in Nashville had similar overnight programming. I wonder if KFI was hoping to create a west coast version of one of these type shows.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I assume KFI carried NBC's Monitor on weekends in the 60s and early 70s.

I can't speak to those later years, but I did some spot checking in the late 1950s at JJ's Radio Logs, and ... not as much as you might have thought, even then.

Saturday, May 12, 1956: 8:30am-9:00am, 10:00am-11:30am, 1:00-1:30pm, 2:00-2:30pm, 3:00-3:30pm, 7:00-7:30pm.
Sunday, August 12, 1956: 11:00am-3:15pm, 3:30pm-5:00pm, 6:00pm-6:30pm.
By the beginning of 1957, no reference to Monitor in the Saturday KFI listings, but lots of generic "Music" listings.
Sunday, February 17, 1957: Noon-3:00pm, 6:00-7:00pm.
The last listings available are for 1960, and Monitor appears only in the Sunday listings, from 12:30pm-3:00pm, 4:00-5:00pm, 6:00-7:00pm and 10:30pm-11:00pm.

It appears that old ECA saw Monitor as nothing more than a filler service for the relatively few weekend timeslots he didn't have a local program in.

Dennis Hart's excellent tribute site says that Monitor was on from 8:00am Saturday morning until midnight Sunday night -- 40 non-stop hours -- when it launched in 1955, but the midnight to 8:00am Sunday hours were eliminated at the end of the year. Still, there was plenty of Monitor available for KFI to carry, if ECA had wanted.

Not as much available in the time period you asked about. In 1961, Monitor was cut to 16 hours per weekend (Saturday 9:00am-noon, 3:00-6:00pm, 7:30-10:30pm and Sunday 2:00-6:00pm, 7:00-10:00pm) and was further cut in 1974 to 12 live hours plus 9 repeat hours.

Hart says that by the time the plug was pulled (January 26, 1975) only 125 stations were carrying any of Monitor, and most of those were small-market stations. Even NBC's O&Os had dropped it by then. Of course, six months later the ill-fated News and Information Service took over the network line between NBC's top-of-the-hour newscasts and feature feeds at the half-hour.

 

[briancraig]

Thanks K.M.

In the Billboard archives, in an issue from September 1968, it says that KFI has dropped a number of NBC programs including the weekend Monitor.