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What Jock served the longest at an L.A radio Station 1920's to Current?

3

32james

Just wanted to know what jock had the longest run at any given radio station. For example Rick Dees was at KIIS, from 1981 to 2004, 23 years. So was Rick the longest to serve at an L.A. radio station or did someone else top him?

Just curious.
 
James, just yesterday I wrote a March 13 Rewind feature for this Friday's LARadio.com about Tom Dixon, who died on that day in 2010. Dixon became an announcer at KFAC in 1946 and remained until New Year's Eve of 1986, when new owners fired five announcers. The only one to keep his job was the host of the Gas Company's nightly Evening Concert program. Dixon had a forty-and-a-half-year run at KFAC before moving to KUSC and later KKGO.

Mark & Brian had a 25-year run as KLOS morning hosts. Kevin & Bean's KROQ morning show reached its 25th anniversary on January 2, 2015. Dick Whittinghill was at KMPC from 1950 to 1979. Ken Minyard was at KABC from 1969 to 1998 (and again from 2001 to 2004).
 
I think I know the shortest run at L.A. radio might be Tennessee Ernie Ford, in the early 50's before he became a Country music superstar. I think he spent like 6 months in San Bernardino,
before it was KDAY AM 1580.
 
Carl Princi was at KFAC from 1953 to 1986. Yes, he was one of the five announcers to be fired on New Year's Eve. If you want to include sportscasters, Cleve Hermann was heard on KFWB from 1952 to 1989 and Fred Hessler was at KMPC from 1953 to 1984. I should also mention Chick Hearn, who became a Lakers announcer in 1959. From the 1977-78 season through the 2001-02 season, Lakers basketball was heard on KLAC, giving Hearn a 25-year span at that station. Vin Scully is now in his 66th year as Dodgers play-by-play announcer. From 1974 through 1997, Dodgers games were heard on 790 AM so we can credit Scully with a 24-year run at KABC.
 
Would Dan Ingram qualify as the Los Angeles DJ with the shortest run? The New York radio legend (WABC, WKTU, WCBS-FM) did mornings at KRTH for five days in June of 1998 in hope of becoming the replacement for Robert W. Morgan, who had died of lung cancer. Charlie Van Dyke wound up getting the job. A short aircheck of Ingram at KRTH is on the ReelRadio site: https://www.reelradio.com/access.php?anchor=dikrth98
 
...as for shortest, what of John Lennon's single morning drive shift at KHJ in 1974? ;-) ...
 
I believe the talk show host with the most longevity in Los Angeles radio is Roy Masters. Masters started at KIEV 870 in 1960. He was still there until recently but has disappeared from the schedule. Masters can still be heard in the Los Angeles area via KDWN from Las Vegas.
 
Thomas Cassidy

Longtime classical music radio announcer in L.A.

Thomas Cassidy, 95, an announcer who was the longtime host of classical music programs on the now-defunct KFAC radio station, died Nov. 5 at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, his daughter Peggy Friedman said. The cause was not given.

From December 1943 until January 1987, Cassidy was the host of KFAC's "Evening Concert" series. He also hosted the station's "Musical Masterpieces" and "Luncheon at the Music Center" shows for many years.

In the 1950s and '60s he was the intermission announcer at the Hollywood Bowl.

Cassidy was born Nov. 4, 1917, in Valparaiso, Ind., and, aspiring to become an opera singer, studied at the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. He met his future wife, Dorothy, there and the couple married in 1942.
 
32james said:
I think I know the shortest run at L.A. radio might be Tennessee Ernie Ford, in the early 50's before he became a Country music superstar. I think he spent like 6 months in San Bernardino,
before it was KDAY AM 1580.
Click to expand...

IIRC - Ford was also on KXLA 1110 for quite a bit longer.
 
I have to say that, given the longevity winner being the late Mr. Cassidy, that the phrase "announcer who was the longtime host of classical music programs" is far preferable to "jock".

Thomas Cassidy was not, as Gary Owens would have said, a "josh dickey". (Actually, I think that's one of the long lost brothers of the family that owns Cumulus.)
 
Thank you, K.M. and HotHits, for hopping along with the information about Thomas Cassidy. (Old-timers will get that reference. They'll groan...but they'll get it.) LARadio.com's "Where Are They Now" section says Cassidy joined KFAC in 1946 but it was indeed December of 1943. He was among the announcers fired on December 31, 1986.

Ultimajock mentioned John Lennon's KHJ morning show but Lennon was only a "guest DJ." In 1974, Ringo Starr and Cher also had stints as "guest DJs." As for Roy Masters, he's currently heard in southern California on KPSI-920, KIXW-960 and KMET-1490. His website is https://www.fhu.com/adviceline.html
 
Even though I never worked in L.A. I might have one of the shortest tenures at a radio station......8 hours! Hired in the morning to start the graveyard shift and just before heading into the station to familiarize myself with the board get a call from the PD that hired me saying "Don't bother coming in; station's just been sold and we've all been fired, including you" He was really embarrassed, he didn't have a clue that the owners even had the station for sale. Needless to say I was pissed. But not as mad as the DJ who unplugged his headphones and walked out the door in the middle of his shift.
 
I could almost top that ... how about having been told you have the position, gone over the contract terms, then having the GM keep the unsigned contract on his desk for three weeks without telling anyone why.

The format change (which, like the previous story, no one had a clue was coming) was announced on my 33rd birthday, to take effect five days later, everyone was fired, including the one whose contract was never signed.

I don't even know how to calculate my "tenure" under those circumstances.
 
Yabadabado1 said:
Even though I never worked in L.A. I might have one of the shortest tenures at a radio station......8 hours! Hired in the morning to start the graveyard shift and just before heading into the station to familiarize myself with the board get a call from the PD that hired me saying "Don't bother coming in; station's just been sold and we've all been fired, including you" He was really embarrassed, he didn't have a clue that the owners even had the station for sale. Needless to say I was pissed. But not as mad as the DJ who unplugged his headphones and walked out the door in the middle of his shift.
Click to expand...
We could open up another thread for the shortest Radio gigs in L.A.? Offered to interview for a fulltime position at KFI, jumped in the shower and it changed to part time shift.I still went down to KFI on Ardmore, David G. Hall got up to shake my hand, tripped over his Desk and fell down. Poor Stella looked horrified. Never even got the part time shift.

Better story though, worked 4 hours for Shamrock/Chancellor at KLAC playing 2 minute Christmas Songs,. Had words with the receptionist (she wasn't going to allow me back in after making a quick trip to the bathroom) and I never returned the following day. They decided they weren't going to pay me. Took them to the California State Labor Commissioner, and they had to pay me for 30 days, the business manager was shaking at our hearing! That was a fun day in Van Nuys!
 
32james asked which Los Angeles DJ has spent the longest time at a single station. The worldwide champion almost certainly is Luther Masingill, who died last year at age 92. On December 31, 1940, he became morning host at WDEF in Chattanooga. He later moved to WDEF-FM. Excluding the two years when he served with the Army during World War II, Masingill spent almost 62 years with the same station!

http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/26827798/luther-masingill
 
LKellerIII said:
32james said:
I think I know the shortest run at L.A. radio might be Tennessee Ernie Ford, in the early 50's before he became a Country music superstar. I think he spent like 6 months in San Bernardino,
before it was KDAY AM 1580.
Click to expand...

IIRC - Ford was also on KXLA 1110 for quite a bit longer.
Click to expand...

...Tennessee Ernie Ford was a prominent cohort of Cliffie Stone on Cliffie's various KXLA, KFVD, KFI and KFWB programs, both as a disc jockey and a live stage performer (much of the KXLA run was a simulcast of Cliffie's Hometown Jamboree shows on KLAC-TV/KCOP/13 and KTLA/5)...

...there's also the couple of days the comedy team of Pat Harrison & Robin Tyler subbed for Bob Hudson & Ron Landry on KGBS circa '71. Both Harrison & Tyler and Hudson & Landry were signed to Lew Bedell's Dore Records at the time, and Harrison & Tyler essentially tried out for their own KGBS show. From what I've heard, their material didn't adapt to Top 40 radio all that well...
 
Ultimajock, do you remember in 1967 when Joby Baker and Ronnie Schell filled in for Lohman & Barkley on the KFWB morning show? Baker and Schell were portraying morning DJs in the CBS-TV comedy series Good Morning World. The prissy Billy DeWolf played the program director and Goldie Hawn played Baker's gossipy neighbor. I could be mistaken but I think Baker and Schell were on KFWB during the week before the tv show debuted (on September 5, 1967).

As for Bob Hudson, he recorded three comedy albums with Ron Landry, one with Bobby "Boris" Pickett and one with Dave Hull. The Hudson and Hull album, Who's On First (1978), showed the duo as "Hudson & Judson." It included the "Who's on first" routine made famous in 1945 by Abbott & Costello and a hilarious routine about chewing gum: "Would you like a stick of gum"? "No, thanks." "What's the matter----don't you like gum?" "I didn't say that. I just don't want a stick of gum." A lengthy argument ensues before Hull finally screams, "All right, I'll take a stick of your ϧ@¥ɸ%$Ω◊ gum!" :)
 
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