KBLA Burbank/ Tom Duggan / 02 15 65

[MortSahlFan]

Colorful, abrasive guy (in a good way), but unfortunately, there's nothing on the internet from my searches, despite being on KLAC, etc..

This is a great YouTube channel, and the only place I could find anything

 

[TomásEstefan]

Colorful, abrasive guy (in a good way), but unfortunately, there's nothing on the internet from my searches, despite being on KLAC, etc..

This is a great YouTube channel, and the only place I could find anything

I remember tuning into KBLA at one point at the tail end of a particular Rolling Stones tune (don't remember which one) and Tom Duggan said something like: "What the hell was that? That was awful...boy, I''ll never play that again!" <Not a direct quote, I don't think he said the word "hell"> We're talking almost 60 years ago, and memories fade. But I have to say it might be only time I've ever heard an air personality on a major market station actually trash a tune.

At that time I was actually kinda surprised to hear Tom Duggan on the radio, as I thought he was primarily a "B" movie actor. I figured he was in between flicks. For example, Tom co-starred with Boris Karloff in 1958's "Frankenstein-1970" (Now that was a really bad movie-almost as bad as Bela Lugosi's "Plan 9 From Outer Space".)

 

[DrAkbar]

At that time I was actually kinda surprised to hear Tom Duggan on the radio, as I thought he was primarily a "B" movie actor. I figured he was in between flicks. For example, Tom co-starred with Boris Karloff in 1958's "Frankenstein-1970" (Now that was a really bad movie-almost as bad as Bela Lugosi's "Plan 9 From Outer Space".)

Similarities are there. But Bela met his demise before shooting ended on Plan 9 and was replaced by someone who didn't look a thing like him. Hey, it was an Ed Wood film....maybe Duggan was out on loan to KBLA?

 

[michael hagerty]

I remember tuning into KBLA at one point at the tail end of a particular Rolling Stones tune (don't remember which one) and Tom Duggan said something like: "What the hell was that? That was awful...boy, I''ll never play that again!" <Not a direct quote, I don't think he said the word "hell"> We're talking almost 60 years ago, and memories fade. But I have to say it might be only time I've ever heard an air personality on a major market station actually trash a tune.

Robert W. Morgan would do that occasionally, but more subtly. A tape I foolishly loaned out and never got back in the 70s was Morgan on KHJ in April of 1969. He played the Youngbloods' "Darkness, Darkness":

Morgan grunts through the ending, and over the final note says:

"KHJ. I'm not gonna play that again. In fact, I'm not even gonna tell you what it was, so that way, you won't know what it is I'm not playing. It's 8:22 in the Morgan."

He goes into a commercial break, comes out of it with a jingle and Andy Williams' "Happy Heart" and says "Ah, now this is more like it. Sing it, Andy!"

Historical footnote: "Darkness, Darkness" is among the 314 KHJ Hitbounds that never actually made it onto the (Boss) Thirty:

93/KHJ Hitbounds That Didn't Make The Boss 30

This page contains a list of Hitbound songs found on the KHJ Boss 30 that didn't end up making the survey.

www.thebig93.com

Emperor Bob Hudson would do it, too. I remember him back-announcing a record with:

"Sounds like a turtle drowning. Which isn't bad if you do it right."

At that time I was actually kinda surprised to hear Tom Duggan on the radio, as I thought he was primarily a "B" movie actor. I figured he was in between flicks. For example, Tom co-starred with Boris Karloff in 1958's "Frankenstein-1970" (Now that was a really bad movie-almost as bad as Bela Lugosi's "Plan 9 From Outer Space".)

Backstory on this: KBLA had been block programmed. Lawrence Welk had taken a radio version of his thing over to KBLA after ABC radio ditched it, and that was their morning drive program.

They dumped Welk and the other stuff in August of 1964, hired Tom for mornings, and began morphing to Top 40, with the payoff coming February 12, 1965 in a full-on Top 40 format intended to take on KRLA and KFWB (KHJ's flip to Boss Radio was still two and a half months away and no one knew that was coming yet---KHJ was planning at that point to launch an assault on KMPC as a personality MOR).

Duggan's act was what it was because he had been part entertainer/part commentator at WMAQ in Chicago, and became a big local star in the early 50s by being blunt and somewhat controversial. They might have thought he'd be the guy to counter Emperor Hudson on KRLA. But he flamed out at KBLA in a couple of months, then went to KLAC as a talk host, and was there four years---until he was killed in a traffic accident in 1969.

The acting gigs were a side hustle not uncommon for L.A. radio talent in the early-mid-60s (and later)---from Dick Whittinghill to The Real Don Steele, and Michael Jackson.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

Colorful, abrasive guy (in a good way), but unfortunately, there's nothing on the internet from my searches, despite being on KLAC, etc..

This is a great YouTube channel, and the only place I could find anything

Colorful, abrasive guy (in a good way), but unfortunately, there's nothing on the internet from my searches, despite being on KLAC, etc..

This is a great YouTube channel, and the only place I could find anything

Most of this is just my opinion, but first the facts: Duggan was born in 1915, and by Feb. of 1965, he was already 49 years old, pushing 50. His views about what constituted "good music" had already been formed. He wasn't a fan of rock music, as evidenced by his grim announcement at 1:09 in your video : " I don't know what that was, but it was better than rock n' roll", or his observation at :06
"Music on this program is annoying enough to keep you awake." He spends a lot of time rambling on about what the time, temperature, and date is and seems to be bored.

1965 was a terrific year for rock music. It was a year of a lot of British invasion bands, plus Motown and girl groups, plus the beginnings of folk-rock, which morphed out of the acoustic guitar songs of the early 60's. There was much to be excited about. Duggan didn't think so, nor was he interested in learning anything about it. My thought is that if you're going to be a "morning man" in the mid-60's at a station trying to do a Top 40 format, then it's necessary to: 1) enjoy the music you're playing ( at least most of it), know something about the songwriters, artists, and producers that made the music 2) sound enthusiastic as if you're having fun in what you're doing.

If you ( impersonal you) sound cynical, depressed, and listless on your first morning, then you're probably not going to do very well in de-throning Emperor Hudson, or Wink Martindale, or Dave Hull, or the comedy of Lohman and Barkley, any other morning men like that who knew how to sound young, energetic, engaged, and "bright and tight." I do understand, however, why Duggan lasted only a few months before he transitioned to a station who was trying out a talk format. He's much more suited to that. JMO.

 

[TomásEstefan]

Robert W. Morgan would do that occasionally, but more subtly. A tape I foolishly loaned out and never got back in the 70s was Morgan on KHJ in April of 1969. He played the Youngbloods' "Darkness, Darkness":

Morgan grunts through the ending, and over the final note says:

"KHJ. I'm not gonna play that again. In fact, I'm not even gonna tell you what it was, so that way, you won't know what it is I'm not playing. It's 8:22 in the Morgan."

He goes into a commercial break, comes out of it with a jingle and Andy Williams' "Happy Heart" and says "Ah, now this is more like it. Sing it, Andy!"

Historical footnote: "Darkness, Darkness" is among the 314 KHJ Hitbounds that never actually made it onto the (Boss) Thirty:

93/KHJ Hitbounds That Didn't Make The Boss 30

This page contains a list of Hitbound songs found on the KHJ Boss 30 that didn't end up making the survey.

www.thebig93.com

Emperor Bob Hudson would do it, too. I remember him back-announcing a record with:

"Sounds like a turtle drowning. Which isn't bad if you do it right."




Backstory on this: KBLA had been block programmed. Lawrence Welk had taken a radio version of his thing over to KBLA after ABC radio ditched it, and that was their morning drive program.

They dumped Welk and the other stuff in August of 1964, hired Tom for mornings, and began morphing to Top 40, with the payoff coming February 12, 1965 in a full-on Top 40 format intended to take on KRLA and KFWB (KHJ's flip to Boss Radio was still two and a half months away and no one knew that was coming yet---KHJ was planning at that point to launch an assault on KMPC as a personality MOR).

Duggan's act was what it was because he had been part entertainer/part commentator at WMAQ in Chicago, and became a big local star in the early 50s by being blunt and somewhat controversial. They might have thought he'd be the guy to counter Emperor Hudson on KRLA. But he flamed out at KBLA in a couple of months, then went to KLAC as a talk host, and was there four years---until he was killed in a traffic accident in 1969.

The acting gigs were a side hustle not uncommon for L.A. radio talent in the early-mid-60s (and later)---from Dick Whittinghill to The Real Don Steele, and Michael Jackson.

I wanted to add that I'm guessing that Robert W. was really just trying to be funny (he may indeed have hated that tune) but first and foremost he wanted to be funny. What I said about Tom Duggan on KBLA, was that he was totally hostile (livid !) about that Stones tune, and couldn't give a damn what any listener would have thought. That was my impression...