Saluting K-Earth 101: Radio the Way It Should Be
Some people are movie buffs, while others are into the theater. Me? I’m a big radio fan.
When I was 12, my uncle Specs Howard (then the top-ranked morning man at WKYC in Cleveland) used to take me to work with him whenever I came to visit. I was in awe of him and his job, and soon dreamed of being a DJ myself at CKLW, a Detroit radio station well known to anyone living east of the Mississippi who came of age in the late 60s and owned a transistor radio. In those days, radio was fun and was dominated by zany and distinctly local personalities such as Cousin Brucie (New York), Larry Lujack (Chicago), Dick Purton (Detroit), “The Real” Don Steele (Los Angeles), and Brian Skinner (Toronto).
Regretfully, radio took a really bad turn some 20 years ago. The FCC relaxed restrictions on the number of radio stations that media companies could own in individual cities. That sparked a massive wave of consolidation and the advent of generic radio formats that plague the industry today. No matter where you live, chances are there is a “Lite” radio station on your FM dial that drones on just like the one we have here in New York.
It is no secret that radio has been suffering a decline in listeners over the last 20 years or so. Everything but the real culprit – vapid programming – has been blamed, from the advent of MTV and VH1 to personal cassette players, CD players, MP3 players, iPods, and even alternative personal entertainment devices like home-based video games. Personally, I point the accusatory finger at the bland, cookie-cutter approach to programming.
Thankfully, there remains one station that still harks back to the glory days of radio. It’s K-Earth 101 (ok, technically KRTH, 101.1 FM), a Los Angeles radio station that sounds as unique and vibrant today as it did 35 years ago when it debuted as Southern California’s “oldies” station.
Even if you’ve never left the East Coast, chances are strong that you’ve heard some of the stentorian voices that have crackled through the airwaves from that station over the years as many of them enjoyed nationally syndicated shows or did commercial voiceover work on the side. In addition to Mr. Steele, they included Charlie Van Dyke, whose God-sounding voice is quite fitting since he left full-time radio to become an ordained minister (and who also lived my dream of being the morning man at CKLW), Robert W. Morgan (”a good Morgan to you”), and Charlie Tuna. Sadly, Messrs. Steele and Morgan have since passed on to that great DJ booth in the sky, but Mr. Van Dyke still does K-Earth’s station identification spots and Mr. Tuna, who has a Star on the Walk of Fame, recently rejoined the station and sounds as great as ever.
I’ve been listening to K-Earth online for a while now. Some of the station’s personalities seem like family. I often fantasize about living in southern California and listening to an LA radio station allows me to live there vicariously. Admittedly, it can be frustrating to hear about their 70 degree temperatures as you bundle up to head out into NYC’s freezing cold, but then again, there is something to be said about listening to news of interminable freeway tie-ups knowing you won’t have to experience them.
One of my favorite personalities is Gary Bryan, a former bass player in a Seattle rock band who subsequently morphed into one of America’s top DJs. In addition to being quite funny with a Count Dracula-like laugh, Mr. Bryan strikes me as a modern-day Ward Cleaver: he frequently talks about his wife and three daughters, and judging by his comments, he’s quite the family man. Mr. Bryan also isn’t afraid to take on controversial issues – for weeks he waged a campaign lobbying for The Monkees to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Mr. Bryan’s sidekick is entertainment reporter Lisa Stanley, an effusive and quite likeable woman who sometimes comes across as the stereotypical bleach-bottle blonde. Whether it’s an act or not I don’t know, but either way, Mr. Bryan has great fun at her expense. Once, during a discussion about the incoming Santa Ana winds, Mr. Bryan suggested to Ms. Stanley that she stick her head out the window so she could get a refill. That’s the type of all-in-good-fun banter that goes on during their morning show.
Also accompanying Mr. Bryan is a seemingly soft-spoken producer named Samantha Stander, newscaster Bob Malik (who has a classic 60s news voice), and someone generally referred to as “Timmy the Cabana Boy”, who I assume is the show’s engineer. The ensemble works well together and they seem to genuinely like each other.
Although all the K-Earth announcers are quite talented and all have very distinctive personalities, my other favorites include “Shotgun” Tom Kelly, Dave Randall – unquestionably the hardest working all-night guy in the history of radio– and Christina Kelley, one of the top female personalities working in radio today.
Although oldies formats are fast disappearing round the country, KRTH does surprisingly well in the local ratings. According to K-Earth’s program director Jhani Kaye, the station ranks number four in the highly coveted 25-54 demographic, which underscores there is still a strong market for personality-driven radio.
So thank you Gary, Lisa, Bob, Charlie, Tom, Christina, and all your colleagues at K-Earth. In a world that sometimes moves too quick, is sometimes too impersonal, and is sometimes just too downright mean, it’s comforting to know there are still a few folks left in radio who are fun, civil, and a delight to listen to.