Time for a K-Big Side Bar
Just a quick note about Fred Klestine's first show on WADV. He had been unceremoniously dumped at KB so Jeff Kaye could stick it to WYSL by hiring its morning man, Jack Sheridan (am I remembering his first name correctly?) for Klestine's midday timeslot. Fred landed at WADV. I don't know if it was a vacation day or if I was home sick from school, but I was able to hear Fred's first show at 106.5FM. He started out with a Chicago song, mimicking what he did at KB, and then said he was just kidding. And remember his sign off? "Good night, sweetheart. Good night (enter the name of your favorite lady here)!" And out with that big band send off.
Fred Klestine was smooth as silk, no matter what format or daypart he was doing. Whether it was middays at KB, playing Ella Fitzgerald at WADV or Bobby Vee on WBUF, his resonant voice and style were Major Market. He was The Dude long before the dude was The Dude.
What many people should know, and because readers of this board relish the "Inside Baseball" aspect of the business, is that Fred was a very funny, witty guy... and a great production voice as well.
Neaverth and Beach get props for their "funny" KB work, but Fred deserves accolades for his sense of humor, too. One of his funnier bits that I remember, was playing the character "Sid Friedman, Richest Man in the World" on Neaverth's afternoon show.
I know this is "back in the day" stuff, but it's part of KB's rich history, which I had the good fortune to soak in at the time as a starry-eyed high school kid who was in Junior Achievement with other kids who are now professionals, such as Tom Donahue and attorney Bob Sikorsky, who now heads the Reading Association for the Blind.
Fred used a great Yiddish dialect ("Dis is Sid Freedman, Richest man in the vurld...") that was a good as anything Mel Brooks did. Fred would get on the phone in the production room, call the control room and do his schtick with Danny, pretending to call from his yacht, his private jet or his penthouse in Las Vegas. It was great radio, theatre of the mind, and it was funny. It was also, by today's standards, a bit politically incorrect... and very long.
The bit usually included "inside stuff" with characters whose names were people who worked behind the scenes (including "...Marty Krimsky, oil baron and tycoon...") and the occasional reference to internal goings on at the station.
To be sure, I wasn't anywhere near being employed at KB when this stuff was going on. But years later, in the brief time that I worked there, I made it a point to ask about the legendary guys who worked there. Engineers-producers like Jim Adler, Norm Bruckner and Al Laffler were great sources of historical information, anecdotes and great side stories. It also helps that I worked with Neaverth twice at WHTT and got some of the "Inside Baseball" from him.
Jim Adler is generally considered (by Beach Neaverth, Berns and Armstrong) to be one of the funniest men at KB who never made it on the air... some of the funniest lines used by the jocks were first spoken by Adler. Today, he'd be a sidekick as good as ony on the best major market morning shows.
As to the reference to Jeff Kaye "unceremoniously" dumping Fred from KB in favor of Jack Sheridan, there's an interesting story behind this event as well. Details of my account have been confirmed by two people who worked at KB. Jeff once spoke to me about it and secondly, one of the union stewards confirmed Jeff's version of the story.
As I have been told, Jeff, did in fact want to "stick it to WYSL" and kill two birds with one stone by hiring Sheridan, who had a big voice and was one of the best jocks at WYSL at the time. But Jeff didn't want to "unceremoniously dump" Fred. The guy who wanted Fred out was Joe Somerset, the corporate PD of CapCities, who was universally disliked by most every jock (and production engineer) at KB.
It helps to understand that KB was the flagship of CapCities' radio empire in those days, and Jeff and his unorthodox airstaff were famous for producing very successful radio, often in the most unconventional way. As we know, the station had great ratings and was a cash cow. Somerset had little if anything to do with KB's success.
More than a few staffers told me there was a degree of tension between Jeff Kaye and Somerset. Jeff usually won the battle, but not always the war. It was Somerset who wanted Jeff to put Fred on the all-night show at KB to force Fred to resign. As many contracts are written, the station had the option of assigning jocks to dayparts, as was the case at KB with Fred. But Jeff felt strongly that Fred deserved more respect for his service to the station and wasn't about to force him out by way of the all-night show.
As one person recounted, Fred may have done a few all night shows (one opr two while this scenario was being hashed-out,) but within days, it came down to Jeff firing him, which automatically triggered the severence provisions in Fred's contract. By doing so, Fred was able to collect a respectable severence and leave the station as the midday guy with his head held high and self-esteem intact.
It was a magnaminous gesture on Jeff's part.
Admittedly, I hold Jeff in high esteem and this recollection of history might be perceived as apologist in nature. However, the details have been recounted to me by more than one person and corroborated by another.
Hope you enjoyed "Pastrick's Perspective" and this brief chapter in KB history.
Jim Pastrick
