New KFI Branding Voice

[michael hagerty]

Thanks Michael for that. I was listening to KFI a lot from late 68 to till Dave Hull left in 72(?). I wasn't that into Paul Compton, so I didn't listen as much until Dick Whittington did afternoon drive. I tuned in when the signals started hitting Phoenix.

After that, with my favorite jingle package gone, I only listened for a few minutes in the evening. During their rock era, I did win a copy of the Dan Hill album that had the song, "Sometimes When We Touch" on it.

Memories are fading.

I think Hull went to KGBS in '71. KFI's numbers dropped when they got hipper and they panicked.

 

[oldtimeradio]

Right. I've got Hull's autobiography, but I am skimming for the best parts first. I'll start memorizing the dates and stations later.

Have you looked for the CDs and DVDs mentioned towards the back of his book? I just looked at the website and I can't figure out what button to push to find the offer. ;-(

Mike

 

[michael hagerty]

Right. I've got Hull's autobiography, but I am skimming for the best parts first. I'll start memorizing the dates and stations later.

Have you looked for the CDs and DVDs mentioned towards the back of his book? I just looked at the website and I can't figure out what button to push to find the offer. ;-(

Mike

No, I don't have Dave's book.

KFI's panic attack was pretty severe. They replaced Jay Lawrence (who went to KLAC vouluntarily) with Dave Garroway in afternoon drive and followed that from 6-10 PM with Chuck Cecil's "Swingin' Years". I think Dave followed Chuck for a few weeks, realized he had the wrong lead-in and got afternoons when KGBS pulled Ron Landry out to team him with Bob Hudson in the morning when their comedy act took off.

 

[Thomps2525]

"Do you have beer?"
"We have beer."
"Okay."
"We have 18-ounce cans and 12-ounce cans."
"O-kay."

Hudson & Landry were hilarious. I have all their albums. I also liked Lohman & Barkley (KFWB/KFI) and the late 1980s team of Lohman & Gary Owens (KFI). Michael, do you know if there any comedy teams still on morning radio anywhere?

 

[Bryan Simmons]

Lohman and Barkley are legends. They were huge here in LA for a long, long time, more than 20 years, I think 23 or 24 as a team. They even had their own TV show on NBC. Al teamed with Gary Owens a little while after Gary arrived as I recall and they were very familiar with each other, so they were able to make it work and sounded great together. I always thought that Cox missed the boat there. When KFI went talk they should have kept Owens & Lohman for AM Drive. It took them years of unsuccessful morning shows to finally get Bill Handle installed in the morning and really could have benefited from having O&L continue for some time.

 

[michael hagerty]

Lohman and Barkley are legends. They were huge here in LA for a long, long time, more than 20 years, I think 23 or 24 as a team. They even had their own TV show on NBC. Al teamed with Gary Owens a little while after Gary arrived as I recall and they were very familiar with each other, so they were able to make it work and sounded great together. I always thought that Cox missed the boat there. When KFI went talk they should have kept Owens & Lohman for AM Drive. It took them years of unsuccessful morning shows to finally get Bill Handle installed in the morning and really could have benefited from having O&L continue for some time.

Right on all counts, Bryan.

Al did leave KFI when Roger did (the station wasn't interested in him solo) and worked at KWNK, Simi Valley for a while before he and Gary (who'd just come out of Saul Levine's KKGO) got KFI to buy them as a team.

Trouble was KFI was interested in being edgy. I was on vacation in L.A. when they let Al and Gary go. One day, the sweepers were Gary's voice: "KFI. We're talkin' Southern California." The next day it was a listen-or-we'll-kill-you voice "KFI. Mouthing off for a living."

I knew right there that Gary and Al were gone.

 

[Bryan Simmons]

Lohman and Barkley are legends. They were huge here in LA for a long, long time, more than 20 years, I think 23 or 24 as a team. They even had their own TV show on NBC. Al teamed with Gary Owens a little while after Gary arrived as I recall and they were very familiar with each other, so they were able to make it work and sounded great together. I always thought that Cox missed the boat there. When KFI went talk they should have kept Owens & Lohman for AM Drive. It took them years of unsuccessful morning shows to finally get Bill Handle installed in the morning and really could have benefited from having O&L continue for some time.

Right on all counts, Bryan.

Al did leave KFI when Roger did (the station wasn't interested in him solo) and worked at KWNK, Simi Valley for a while before he and Gary (who'd just come out of Saul Levine's KKGO) got KFI to buy them as a team.

Trouble was KFI was interested in being edgy. I was on vacation in L.A. when they let Al and Gary go. One day, the sweepers were Gary's voice: "KFI. We're talkin' Southern California." The next day it was a listen-or-we'll-kill-you voice "KFI. Mouthing off for a living."

I knew right there that Gary and Al were gone.

The dumb thing about letting them go because they wanted edgy was that the station under the new talk format was anything but edgy. They had these really terrible jingles "We're Talkin' Southern California!" and a staff that was pretty conventional, even boring with the exception of Tom Leykis. Oh and the Aussie evening host who got himself canned in less than 2 weeks because of a racially un-acceptable comment he made that I won't repeat. Letting O&L go was just plain wrong. I felt that way then as I do now.

 

[Thomps2525]

I remember one time Gary Owens said, "I'm wearing three hats today. I'm not doing three jobs---I'm just wearing three hats."

I made a few airchecks of Owens & Lohman. I believe they were together at KFI from June 1987 to July 1989. In 1989 they were the only KFI hosts who were still playing music, albeit it was usually just three or four songs an hour. Michael is right---KFI wanted to be "edgy." They fired Gary Owens & Al Lohman and we got the edgy "TNT In The Morning" program with Tracey Miller and Terri-Rae Elmer. TNT might have been more successful had they been doing middays on KABC. I'm guessing that KFI's audience in 1989---and every year since---has been predominantly male, and I'm guessing that males prefer male talk-show hosts. Maybe David Eduardo can provide ratings to verify my conjectures.

On the occasions when Roger Barkley worked solo at KFI because Al Lohman was out sick---which is a polite way of saying "drunk"---he spoke very little and didn't make any attempts at humor. Working solo at KWNK and occasionally on KFI, Roger was polished and professional, but he needed Al the way Sonny needed Cher.

 

[michael hagerty]

I remember one time Gary Owens said, "I'm wearing three hats today. I'm not doing three jobs---I'm just wearing three hats."

I made a few airchecks of Owens & Lohman. I believe they were together at KFI from June 1987 to July 1989. In 1989 they were the only KFI hosts who were still playing music, albeit it was usually just three or four songs an hour. Michael is right---KFI wanted to be "edgy." They fired Gary Owens & Al Lohman and we got the edgy "TNT In The Morning" program with Tracey Miller and Terri-Rae Elmer. TNT might have been more successful had they been doing middays on KABC. I'm guessing that KFI's audience in 1989---and every year since---has been predominantly male, and I'm guessing that males prefer male talk-show hosts. Maybe David Eduardo can provide ratings to verify my conjectures.

On the occasions when Roger Barkley worked solo at KFI because Al Lohman was out sick---which is a polite way of saying "drunk"---he spoke very little and didn't make any attempts at humor. Working solo at KWNK and occasionally on KFI, Roger was polished and professional, but he needed Al the way Sonny needed Cher.

One minor correction: Al was at KWNK. Roger went to KJOI and then KABC.

 

[Thomps2525]

Oops. You're right---Lohman went to KWNK and Barkley went to KJOI. That's what I get for reading a radio history book written by Ted J. Baloney and W. Eva Schneider Baloney!

I taped some of Roger's first day in 1990 as part of the KABC morning show with Ken Minyard. I think he was in awe of Ken, who had been at KABC since 1969. Roger didn't talk much during the first few programs. Maybe he felt like an "outsider." Eventually, of course, he was more comfortable working with Ken.

By the way, does anyone remember Lohman & Barkley's final show at KFWB? I wish I had taped it. They buried Ted J. Baloney inside a coffin and they were going to dig him up just before the show ended. The final hour of their show was pre-empted for a Frank Sinatra special and we never learned what happened to poor ol' Ted.

 

[michael hagerty]

By the way, does anyone remember Lohman & Barkley's final show at KFWB? I wish I had taped it. They buried Ted J. Baloney inside a coffin and they were going to dig him up just before the show ended. The final hour of their show was pre-empted for a Frank Sinatra special and we never learned what happened to poor ol' Ted.

Steve: it's on Reelradio. Has been for many years.

Ted was buried under the studio floor with an air hole as a promotional stunt.

During the final half hour, Leonard Leonard, the food critic, dies following a minutes-long hunger strike protesting the switch to news, Maynard Farmer gets his foot stuck in the air hole that's keeping Ted alive and Mrs. Bansback is killed trying to free him.

All the while, Al and Rog try to decide what their final song will be.

The special wasn't a Sinatra special (though he, Sammy Davis, Petula Clark and an uncredited bit of Burt Bacharach are heard in it), but a half-hour program called Flight 98 that KFWB PD Royal Oakes swears had something to do with the format change, but I'll be damned if I can figure out what it was.

Again, both on Reelradio as one exhibit, the way it aired.

 

[Art Landing]

And did L&B exclusive traffic reporter Cecil Hudspiff ever get the Hudspiffmobile out of the KFI parking lot? i tend to doubt it.

But as I recall they did rescue Ted from the ever increasing myriad of Longo Toyota service bays.

Oh the memories!

 

[Thomps2525]

I have the "Family Album" that Lohman & Barkley published in 1967 while they were at KFWB. It was filled with supposed "photos" of Ted J. Baloney, Roscoe Boscoe and many of the other characters who were voiced by Al Lohman. Cecil's last name was Hudspeth.The brown-tinted photos of strange-looking people appeared to be from the late 1800s or early 1900s. Lohman & Barkley also offered a Lemonade Stand kit and invited us young entrepeneurs to record and use their "Lohman & Barkley Lemonade" jingle.

Remember Louis Lomax and William F. Buckley Jr.? One morning on KFWB, Lohman was excited about a new program jingle that he got for half-price. He played it on the air:

"Some stations play what they want to hear
But KFWB plays what you want to hear
So don't go away, whatever you do
'Cause we've got somethin' special for you...
On the Lomax and Buckley show, doo-wahhhhhh:

Barkley questioned, "Lomax and Buckley?
Lohman explained, "That's why it was half-price."