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L.A. DJ Jimmy O'Neill and host of TV's Shindig dead at 72

Oh boy, someone remembers Al Jarvis! And we all know how much I love getting off-topic. :D Jarvis created KFWB's Make Believe Ballroom program in 1934. He played big-band records but tried to create the illusion that he was broadcasting from a ballroom where the bands were performing live. A year later, Martin Block starting doing the same thing at WNEW in New York. More people remember Block than remember Jarvis---Go figure! Jarvis was at KFWB from 1932 until 1960, then did middays at KLAC for two years, then very briefly hosted a late-night show on KHJ. For a few months in 1967, he hosted a new Make Believe Ballroom program on KNOB-97.9.
 
I think Alan Freed also ended his career at KNOB...

No disrespect to the great Bill Ballance, but when B. Mitchel Reed left KFWB to go to New York's WMCA, Jimmy O'Neill should have been at least considered for the 6 to 9 pm shift instead of just weekends and fill-ins. Another wasted opportunity.
 
Alan Freed worked in radio in New Castle, Youngstown, Akron, Cleveland and New York. But this is a Los Angeles forum so we won't discuss that here. In 1960 Freed was fired from WABC because of allegations that he had accepted payola. Despite the charges, which he didn't deny, he was hired by KDAY and given the freedom to play whatever he wanted. (KDAY was owned by the same company that owned WINS, another station Freed had worked at.) Then Freed got fired from KDAY for giving free on-air publicity to concerts that he hosted. In late 1962 he finally pleaded guilty to two counts of "commercial bribery"---legalese for "payola"---and was fined $300. He started working at KNOB in late 1964 but died of uremia on January 20, 1965.

Dave, you can see that I had to write an entire paragraph instead of responding to your first sentence with a simple "Yes." :D
 
Hi Steve,

While Al Jarvis did indeed create Make Believe Ballroom in late-1934 at KFWB, he was not at KFWB all the way from 1934-1960. He began his career in radio at KELW in Burbank in 1932. (KELW, a small station of 1,000 watts day and 500 watts night went dark in 1937, and shared time on 780 all those years with KTM and KEHE, which evolved into todaty's KABC-790, after KEHE absorbed KELW and went full time on 780).

After working at KELW, Jarvis was at KMTR-570 in Hollywood by June of 1933 (now KLAC), but soon left KMTR to announce at KFAC-1300 in Los Angeles (now KWKW-1330). By June of 1934, Al Jarvis was on the air for KMPC-710 in Beverly Hills (a 500-watt limited time station back then, mostly a daytimer with a few night time hours).

Finally, Al Jarvis went from KMPC to KFWB by September of 1934. It was first in a late-afternoon timeslot, but in 1935, Make Believe Ballroom moved to the noon-1 pm timeslot at KFWB. And who was one of Jarvis' regular listeners? An announcer named Martin Block, who was woeking at KMPC at the time. Block paid close attention to the way Jarvis did his record show, and yes, took the idea and name to WNEW in NYC in 1935. Sometimes, the LA Times radio column referred to Al Jarvis only as "The Record Man."

Sometime around 1946, Al Jarvis left KFWB for KLAC-570. He did his Make Believe Ballrooom for KLAC for the next several years. In fact, in June of 1947, Warner Brothers hired Martin Block for KFWB to go up against Al Jarvis on KLAC from noon to 1 each weekday. But, Block did not stay in Los Angeles very long. Jarvis remained with KLAC, until he came back to KFWB about 1956. In addition to his radio job, Jarvis was the host of Hollywood on Television on KLAC-TV channel 13 with Betty White working with him in the late-1940s to early-1950s.
 
Don Barrett is not planning an LARadio.com column for September 16. Because the date marks the 50th anniversary of the debut of Shindig, hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, I'm posting the Rewind feature here because it would otherwise go unseen:

LARadio Rewind: September 16, 1964. KFWB dj Jimmy O'Neill begins hosting Shindig, a weekly musical variety series on ABC. Guests on the first episode are Sam Cooke, Bobby Sherman, Alan Sues, the Everly Brothers and the Righteous Brothers. The house band, the Shindogs, includes Glen Campbell, James Burton and Leon Russell. The Shindiggers dance troupe includes Teri Garr. Among the many artists appearing on Shindig during its 16-month run were Johnny Cash, Bobby Rydell, Neil Sedaka, Del Shannon, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Roy Orbison, Petula Clark, Gene Pitney, the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Beach Boys and the Lovin' Spoonful. Among the other mid-'60s musical variety series were Shebang, hosted by Casey Kasem; Shivaree, hosted by Gene Weed; 9th Street West (retitled Hollywood A Go-Go), hosted by Sam Riddle; Boss City, hosted by The Real Don Steele; and Hullaballoo, hosted each week by a different pop singer.
 
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