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What Talent-Shows do you miss in Seattle? What talnet should come to Seattle?

Dunno -

I've thought about a book but it might seem a bit presumptious - I hardly fall into the "nationally known" kind of guy. Then again, there are memoirs from folks no one's heard of that go on to do well. You hit on one problem. Two, actually. First, I am embarrassed by my stories of "interacting with the female species of our audience" and to tell the stories publically would be tough. Secondly, the stories are pretty vicious and nearly all the folks involved are still alive. Rigged contests, hookers and drugs, theft, payola, sexual attack and rape - it's pretty serious stuff and a lot of it would be tough to prove. plus, I've been sued and it wasn't pleasant, ya know? I still might some day.

I really liked KNBQ. The day I was canned from KJR I literally walked in the door to the phone ringing. It was Ichabod, asking if I wanted to join the Q. It was a wild time. Ichabod drove a Christian revival through the place. At one time we were all reading Bibles, attending church, talking about God. I had one pretty will experience that I'll never forget. That was where a woman I was living with and planning to marry called the hot line one afternoon to say she was moving out. That was an interesting shift. I spent days wandering around Tacoma, trying to figure everything out. At one point I half-heartedly tried to check into a mental facility but our coverage would only pay half and it was pricey. I guess I couldn't afford to be mentally ill. I'm not sure if anyone would remember my TV show that ran on KCPQ for 4-5 months - "Nightowl Theater" and it took place in Danny's Dungeon. It was on Fri & Sat nights. I can't tell you how much I loved doing that. I would hang around the set after each taping, just soaking it in. I'm sure the KCPQ guys thought I was daft. They cancelled the show when they had a chance to get director Stanley Kramer to do a weekly show. So I was blown out for an Academy Award winner - understandable.

Look, these boards are the BEST place for radio stories. Even the show I did today is history, so everything is in the past. I'm happy to still be alive and working and thanks to any and all on this board for the space. I have such a love for both Cleveland (my adopted home town) and Seattle. The first time I rolled around I-5 coming up from Reno through Portland and saw Seattle, it just felt like home.
 
I must agree that Langon and West were my favorite of the folks not currently on air. Steve Slayton is still the best DJ alive. He is as nice in person as he seems on air. A truly wonderful talent. I remember when I was in high school and Bon Scott from AC-DC died and Langon and West had listeners call up and sing the lead vocal over the top of 'Highway to Hell.' I laughed so much at that it was priceless.

I also remember when Joe Walsh did a week at KISW back in the 90's.

On a purely radio note, A good move for Seattle Radio and I'm talking ratings and consistency here, would be to bring Ryan Seacrest to KBKS (he's syndicating soon) and get rid of Jackie and Bender. They are THE worst morning show in Seattle and have been for years. Sammy is beyond terrible and everyone thinks this is really a show that should be on in Spokane or Boise Idaho. I personally mean no disrespect to those cities. Seacrest would bring huge numbers and that would help CBS. Even though Ryan works for Clear Channel, they'd do the deal. Kinda like when CBS let Entercom have Howard Stern.....
 
KPLZ had a late nite show from New York about 25 yrs ago that I really liked....Nitetime In America or something like that hosted by Bob Dearborn who was later PD at KIXI. I never listened to him much on KIXI because thats not my kind of music but the satellite show he did on KPLZ had a great feel to it and it was interesting to hear people calling in from around the country.
 
Ah what a time trip this thread has been. I was the guy (“Mike Morgan”) Ben Hill hired to replace Lockwood when Gary signed a contract to go to KLSY..I think this was 1982 or 83. Just before I got there, Metromedia matched KLSY’s salary and settled with Gary, and he went to court, broke KLSY's contract and stayed. Ben was nice enough to give me PM drive and told me to do my “morning show in the afternoon.” You can imagine how happy Lockwood always was to see me… God knows I tried but what looks I would get. I’ll never forget telling him what a huge fan I was, and that I bought all the “California Airchecks” with his show on them. He went into a rage and wanted to sue the company!
I also remember being in the building for the Police Blotter tapings….always every Wednesday at 6:30pm. Gary and his co-hort at the time would lug in a case of beer into production and do a weeks worth of tapings, the laughing coming through the wall.
I was only there a year and a half, I left when Tracy Mitchell came back, but I have to say I really enjoyed working with Bob Brooks, Clem Daniels, Les Parsons and Joe Cooper…just some the finest pros I’ve ever. The processing….was…perfect. The building, a classic. Imagine, all that space for 1 AM station! Good times
 
Mike,

I remember you on KJR, enjoyed your show. The other person that comes to mind in afternoon I believe was Eric Chase. Were you before or after him. My mind is a little fuzzy. I love the California Aircheck story!! I didn't know you, but I do know Joe Cooper, what a great guy!! Also a very good friend of Gary's. The other guy you refer to on police blotter is Chet Rogers, who goes back to about 74 in the news department.

Danny,

Do you have any video arichecks of your 13 gig or the national show. I'd love to see them on youtube or are they already there? How would I find them. Also be fun to hear a old aircheck! I've been breathing radio since I was 17, so yes I'm a radio geek!!!
Just don't have crazy, clean radio like that anymore!

Thanks!!
 
dunno said:
Mike,

I didn't know you, but I do know Joe Cooper ... The other guy you refer to on police blotter is Chet Rogers, who goes back to about 74 in the news department.
Click to expand...

Also need to remember BR Bradbury's (RIP) tenure there...did PB segments as "Bunko"!
 
I was post-Eric Chase. As for the year, I remember playing a ton of Men At Work, Air Supply and Ebony and Ivory.

Mr. Lockwood somehow thought I was in cahoots with the California Aircheck people (who I did not know) to profit from his show. The only times he would later talk to me was a semi-threatening "tell that guy I want him to call me" or "I want your buddy's name and his company address." He finally conversed with me on a friendly basis, once he found out I was leaving!

Some other cool things I remember: KJR invited listeners to the station staff garage sale in the parking lot, a weird tradition back then. Newscaster Ann Martin and GM Ed Wodka were also very cool people.

My producer was a just-out-of-high-school Rusty Humphries.
 
Re: What Talent-Shows do you miss in Seattle? What talnet should come to Seattl

dunno - I do have video on some of the Q13 shows and the NBC thing as well. I need to get them converted to digital. Never thought of putting that stuff on YouTube - seems like kind of a circus of vanity to me but your note might make me do it. I don't really care how many "hits" I get so, why not? I'll think on that -

BR Bradbury was a good news guy but the only one who truly had the Police Blotter chemistry with Lockwood was Chet. That was epic stuff. BTW - if Lockwood though CA Airchecks was "profiting" off his show - that's funny. I'll bet the guy made maybe six bucks profit. I WANTED to be featured on it, saw it as an honor that other radio guys wanted to ck me out. Gary? It was because they LIKED you - not to make money. As dunno states - they're radio geeks.

And for some reason, somewhere along the line, I got on the bad side of Eric Chase. I have no clue how, but ...

It's all good now.
 
And for those who don't know (or don't care!) Chase has been the "anchor" of a classic hits (formerly Oldies) station in Houston ... using nom de air of PAUL CHRISTY. That name was once used by some startup jock whose real name was RUSH LIMBAUGH.
 
Charlie Brown would have to be #1. He and Clydie Clyde... Back in '75 he did Clydie's Big Money Mouth contest where a caller had to talk about a topic without pausing, or saying, and ah, or, er.. They got a dollar a second.. One morning the topic was brassire.. Uncle Les Parsons was even cracking up about that..
Ichabod Cane used to have Mrs. Cooper call in to KJR.. Kevin O'Brian did nights.. Tracy Mitchell got in trouble doing KJR live from the Space Needle when he told the listeners to change lanes one night..
On the other part of town Andy Barber from KING-AM had the joke line at 421-JOKE.. Gary Lockwood could be obnoxious.. even more so on KJR when he complained about his parking space and being moved from mornings to mid-days there.. Police Blotter was funny, some of the other features became dated..He overplayed "The Heats.. I don't Like Your Face."
We all miss Larry Nelson.. His personality made radio your best friend..
Robin & Maynard.. Funny, crude, below the belt.. Roy Otis..(he looks like ousted Gov Rod Blajovich doesen't he?)
 
Morningjock said:
Jeff King at KPLZ pre- Kent and Alan Days.... the K-PLUS days...

I loved the Jingle "Jeff King in the Morning won't you tell us, won't you tell us what time it is? Do do, do do, Jeff King in the Morning won't you tell us won't you tell us what the climate is?

Fun stuff...
Click to expand...
Oh wow! I had totally forgotten about Jeff King "Hey Jeff! What time is it?" I do remember that he bore a striking resemblence to 70s porn star Harry Reems.
 
While no one EVER loved Jeff King as much as Jeff King loved Jeff King ... I thought he had some talent. One thing he did that I liked (and many PD's absolutely HATE) is he'd talk into a stopset by doing some "bit setup" and the punchline would be the first line of the (recorded) spot. It really kind of hooked you into listening to the spot!!
 
A more-recent fired host I'd love to hear back on the air is Alan Prell. First time I heard him I didn't know what to make of it. Did he actually howl once? But after a few mornings in a row, he hooked me. Knew how to get you in by getting right into a story that you'd want to hear the end of. First thing he'd say, not the call letters. He knew how to use the power of being a personality on the air, as someone you'd want to check in with every day.

Anyone know if he's still in Edmonds looking for a gig?

Another host I love and miss is Christine Craft, who used to host mid mornings on KFBK Sacramento years ago and then did fill in on KGO San Francisco. One of the best talk radio hosts I've heard in the last 20 years. She really knew her stuff, understood the politics of California from the inside out, not just opinions and reactions, and did it all with a charming sense of humor. Which threatened management at WFBK when she didn't kiss ass of a wacko local congressman and confronted him on the air about something inflammatory he had said.

Any more like that out there?

GL
 
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
While no one EVER loved Jeff King as much as Jeff King loved Jeff King ... I thought he had some talent. One thing he did that I liked (and many PD's absolutely HATE) is he'd talk into a stopset by doing some "bit setup" and the punchline would be the first line of the (recorded) spot. It really kind of hooked you into listening to the spot!!
Click to expand...

That seems awfully cerebral for the teen station K-Plus was.
 
Didn't know there was radio in the "pre Kent and Alan days" ;) ;)
If the best thing this King cowboy could do is talk into a commercial break no wonder he ain't around anymore. Seems K@A have been at that station since the beginning to time and sounds like the bar wasn't too high for them thanks to the previous morning cowboy :-X Compared to great ad-libs into commercial sets Kent and Alan are NPR ;) My guess is KPLZ will be looking for a new morning show once the PPM is out. Most of the old shows are going away :-\
 
Goldi -

I remember the first few times I heard Prell as a fill-in guy on KIRO. Like most, he was a shock to the system. But I recall thinking "that's what I'm talkin' about" and a real change from the usual palaver. But to be honest, I tired of his act very quickly. It became grating and while I can't recall specifics, there were times I think he was really walking the line in ticking off mgt, the other personalities, etc.

You know, there's a reason why certain things just "work." When Jimmy Kimmel started there was all this hoopla about how they were reinventing the talk show, blahblahblah. He had "guest hosts" a week at a time (one of the earliest was Mike Tyson - a total washout) and served beer to the audience. The beer service ended very quickly after the first few shows because audience members were clearly rowdy and loaded. He dressed as if he was still doing the inexorable Man Show, looking like a slob. The show struggled and there were rumors of it being dropped faster than you can say "Chevy Chase." But then Kimmel started showing up dressed in a suit, doing a fairly conventional monologue. Bantered with the band and announcer. Started drawing bigger guests. Ratings went up and he was suddenly taken seriously.

Sometimes there's no need to reinvent the wheel. That's the problem with TBTL. You can almost hear the strain of adults trying to sound like college kids let loose in a studio. There's no need to try so hard, KIRO. There's nothing wrong with the basic idea of talk radio: a clever, entertaining host who knows how to work callers and let the guests be quirky and hip. Works every single time but radio execs seem to have really poor short term memory.
 
I'd be willing to fork out a few more bucks to KPLU if they can bring Robin & Maynard back together......

Anybody here remember Steve Larson (of KZOK/KJET and KQIN)?

Chet Buchanan should get out of Vegas and come back to the town that misses him.....

Wendy Christopher is another fave.....

Steve Rabow would be another (even though he's living the good life on the Florida coast.....)

Sean Lynch anyone?
 
Bongwater said:
I'd be willing to fork out a few more bucks to KPLU if they can bring Robin & Maynard back together......

Anybody here remember Steve Larson (of KZOK/KJET and KQIN)?

Chet Buchanan should get out of Vegas and come back to the town that misses him.....

Wendy Christopher is another fave.....

Steve Rabow would be another (even though he's living the good life on the Florida coast.....)

Sean Lynch anyone?
Click to expand...

Wow. Talk about living in the past.
 
AQH -

Based on what's going on with radio these days, what's wrong with living in the past? I generally agree with your attitude and don't like the oldsters who seem to think everything was better in the past. But I don't think you can disagree that at least for those of us in the business, radio WAS better back in the day. And I'm talking 5-10 years back, not 1978.

Chet was one of the very best news guys to ever sit behind a mic.
 
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