A 

A-1: KKBT, 2003-06. A-One (Anthony Morris) was born in 1976 in Wichita, Kansas. He received B.A. degree from U.C. Riverside and taught junior high school for three years. Anthony “A-One” Morris is a bit of an anomaly in music; a humbling example of what it takes to actually succeed within the framework of multiple fields. A-One has a steadfast work ethic, an obsessively extensive vinyl library and a willingness to pursue the full extents of his roots, foundation and future with no restraints. During A-One’s tenure at the University of California Riverside, his tenacious character lead him to build upon 88.3/fm KUCR. He interned at KKBT swiftly moving up the ranks from the promotions street team to an air-talent personality on primetime. By 1999, after receiving a Bachelors Degree in Theatre Arts, A-One entered the field of education as a drama teacher in Riverside while pursing his career as a radio personality and dj. He teamed with Spinderella at KKBT’s 100.3 The Beat, A-One eventually hosted his own show. He also hosted an international syndicated radio show for the Coca Cola’s Real Mix Radio Show in Nigeria and Kenya. “I love doing what I do,” A-ONE commented. “From club deejay to voice over talent, my job allows me to meet different challenges and to explore different interests. I didn’t choose this career…This career chose me, and I have been in love with it ever since."

Aalvik, Egil: SEE Swedish Eagle

ABBOT, Phil: KBET, 1997-98. Phil died December 28, 2015 of natural causes. He was 55. “Phil was an Old School radio professional,” said Patrick Leonard, Abbot’s colleague and Salem Media’s director of marketing and public relations. “And one of the most humble, professional radio colleagues I have ever worked with. Abbot worked in the radio industry for more than four decades as a morning host in Hawaii and on the mainland. During his 17-year career in the mainland, Abbot made a name for himself working with Los Angeles radio legend Rick Dees in their 'Weekly Top 40' radio program. He also took part in the legendary 98-Rock “Rabbett & Abbot” morning show before moving back to Hawaii with his family in 2009. Phil had an active voiceover career. Up until the day he passed, he was always a quiet listener, counselor, and amazing father who sacrificed so much to see us happy, according to a colleague. "He found peace in his faith, and it was often his only comfort in the quiet of the storm."

ABCARIAN, Robin: KMPC/KTZN/KABC, 1996-98. Robin took a leave of absence from writing a twice-weekly column in the LA Times Life & Style section to join Tracey Miller in the fall of 1996 in morning drive on Talk-formatted 710/KMPC. In the early 1980s she was a columnist for the Daily News. She moved briefly to Detroit before joining the Times. Robin left KMPC/“the Zone” in late summer of 1997 when the station switched to all-Kids “Disney Radio.” She has been with the LA Times off and on for almost 20 years. She concentrates on the 24/7 news cycle digital aspect of the Times.

 

ABEL, Judy: KIKF, 1986-89; KNX, 1989-94; KJQI/KOJY, 1994-95; KNNS, 1995-96; KKTR, 1998-99; KFI, 2000-01. Judy worked midday traffic reporter at KFI until the spring of 2001. She lives in Malibu. Judy was born in Whittier on October 5 and grew up in Hollywood. She worked in Providence and Boston before returning to the Southland. Judy is best known for her news and traffic reporting. She worked morning drive for the launch of all-Traffic KKTR.

Abel, Mark: KTWV, 1990-2001. Mark worked as the interim morning show host with Paul Crosswhite for a year and then weekend mornings for ten years. He left the WAVE to concentrate on his full time job at Paramount Pictures in the feature post production department. Since forced out of Paramount with department outsourced, he's now wearing many hats including yacht broker, yacht captain, sailing instructor and using his union card to work background in television.  

ABRELL, Brad: KWSV, 2015-20. Brad co-hosts the morning show with Ashley Paige on 99.1 The Ranch in Simi Valley. He grew up in Miami, where as a kid he used a tape recorder and Mad magazines as scripts to make his own radio shows. He graduated from the University of Florida with a telecommunications degree. His radio resume included mornings on 94.9 Zeta 4, WAOA 107.1 and WMMO 98.9. He moved to Los Angeles where he has been a working on-camera and voiceover actor for commercials, tv shows, movies (like all three original Men in Black films), video games and cartoons (SpongeBob SquarePants, Gravity Falls and Doc McStuffins).

Acampora, Anthony: KDAY/KDAI, 2004-06. Anthony was chief programming officer for Styles Media and pd for KDAY/KDAI from 2004-06. He now operates his own multimedia consulting firm in Arizona.

ACOSTA, Dave: KMEN, 1996-97; KOLA, 1997. Dave is now working production director for Marker Broadcasting in Palm Desert. Marker includes KPLM Country, KJJZ Smooth Jazz, KAJR Adult Contemporary, and KMRJ Rhythmic AC. He also does mornings on KMRJ. Growing up in Philadelphia, Dave knew he loved music so much that at the age of 12 he tried to get a job at local radio station. Although he was told by the program director he was too young, Dave did not let that dampen his enthusiasm for music. He began making cassette tapes of songs he heard on the radio for family and friends, making sure the songs had smooth segue and sounded like they were professionally recorded. At the age of 16, Dave’s family moved to Los Angeles. Like most teenagers, Dave liked playing video games and hanging out at the beach but knew he needed to satisfy his passion for music. In the earl y 90’s, Dave would get his first taste of getting paid for playing music when he secured a job as a happy hour DJ at local nightclub called, Bentley’s , in Santa Monica. Dave enrolled himself at the Academy of Radio Broadcasting in Huntington Beach. After graduating, Dave was hired as an intern for the morning show at 1290 KMEN, in Riverside. He next got the evening show at KDES 104.7 in Palm Springs.

Acree, Dan: KJLH/fm, 1965; KFOX, 1965-67; KIIS, 1986-87. Dan began his run at KFOX-Long Beach as a gopher to Dick “Haynes at the Reins” Haynes, then weekends doing tracks, then overnights. As a PR guy for over three decades, Dan has handled Wolfman Jack, Magic Matt Alan, and Rick Dees. Dan managed publicity for a host of recording artists including Frankie Valli, Paul Revere, and Manhattan Transfer. 
Actor, Allen: KSRF, 1977; KOST, 1978-82; KBIG, 1983-85. Allen is doing voiceover work and teaching at Santa Monica City College.

ADAM, Leigh Ann: KIBB, 1996-97; KYSR, 1998-99; KBIG, 1999-2004. Leigh Ann left morning drive at KBIG in early summer 2004. She's now doing mornings at KVIL-Dallas. The former poster girl for Coors Light was born in Wadsworth, Ohio. She started her radio career while still in high school in Alliance, Nebraska and was soon working in Dallas at KEGL and KHKS. In 1993 Leigh Ann was selected as one of the most beautiful women of Texas for the "Women of Texas" calendar (she was November). In 1995 she moved to L.A. to pursue a radio and tv career and has appeared in Walker, Texas Ranger, The Nanny, The Client and Hudson Street. She was the first female dj to give birth live on the air and on the Internet. Leigh Ann teamed with veteran Charlie Tuna. "After graduation I headed to 99KG in Salina-Kansas," Leigh Ann said in an AllAccess interview. "I was there for almost two years when the most amazing thing happened. Joel Folger was driving through town on his way from Dallas to Minnesota and heard me. Shortly after that, I got a call from him and ended up at KEGL. That was one of the best times in my life. We had a great time and a major battle with Y95. Four years later came KISS/fm. It was an amazing thing to be part of as the station shot to #1 almost immediately." Leigh Ann continued: "After 3 years I headed off to LA which was my dream. I spent 10 years there with a brief stint at B100, Star 98.7 and then ended up at KBIG where I enjoyed several years and had two babies. We ended up moving back to Dallas in 2005 so the kids could grow up near their grandparents. I did afternoons at KVIL for 10 years and now hosting my dream job at Star 102.1. How would you describe your first radio gig? An accident."

Adams, Bob: KUTE. Bob owned KUTE in the 1970s when it was on the 30th floor of the Occidental Building. The station first signed on the air on March 22, 1952 as KUTE, originally programming a "good music" format from studios in downtown Los Angeles and transmitter atop Flint Peak, just west of the Rose Bowl. In 1972, KUTE was sold to the Progress Radio Network (which changed its name to Tracy Broadcasting one year later) and changed hands again in 1979 to Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, a black-owned radio company based in New York. It was during this tenure that KUTE shifted to a Disco format under Inner City's first year of ownership.

ADAMS, Chris: KEZY, 1970s; KIKF, 1980-88; KEZY/KORG, 1988-97; KIKF, 1999-2000; KMXN, 2000-02. Chris spent in radio career working for Orange Countystations. Born in Los Angeles in 1947, Chris grew up in Costa Mesa. He began his broadcasting career in Barstow. He has had an active voiceover career, hosted in-flight airline programs and was the stadium announcer for the Mighty Ducks and Angels games. Chris was named pd of KIKF in 1985. He returned to the station in the summer of 1999.

 Adams, Doug: KNAC, 1983. Doug worked evenings at "Rock 'n Rhythm" KNAC in the mid-1980s.

ADAMS, Harry: KRLA, 1963-65. Harry had a talk show, "Let's Talk," where listeners would call in with questions about religion. He died March 1, 2017, at age 90. Dr. Adams received an undergraduate degree at Drew University, a theological degree at Yale Divinity School and a Doctorate degree at the School of Theology at Claremont. At the age of 7, he became a gospel singer. Born December 12, 1926 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 1965 he joined Martin Luther King Jr. in his march from Selma to Montgomery. His conservative congregation disapproved and he had to leave his church.

ADAMS, Holly: KOCM/KSRF, 1989-92; KACD, 1996-98; KCRW, 2007-20. Holly works at KCRW as an announcer and board op. She hosts dance events at local clubs on the West side. Holly was part of the launch of the 15-month techno-alternative rock format called “MARSfm.” Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Holly moved to Huntington Beach seeking sunshine and went to University of California Irvine and UC Santa Barbara where she started her radio career in 1987 at KTYD. After “MARS” changed formats, Holly left Los Angeles to work Alternative Rock stations KEDG-Las Vegas, KOME-San Jose and XHRM-San Diego for a brief midday stint at “The Flash.” During that time she continued working on syndicated electronic dance music programming with dance music guru and KACD pd, Swedish Egil. Holly worked middays at all-Dance format "Groove Radio" until the spring of 1998. She hosted a weekly syndicated show called "The House Groove" on Saturday nights. Holly returned to Groove Radio in January 2000 when they began their Internet-only dance format on grooveradio.com. She continues to do voiceovers in Los Angeles and is a club dj specializing in House and Techno music.

 Adams, Joe: KOWL; KDAY; KNOB. Joe played jazz on the radio and hosted a tv program. Joe left radio in the late 1950s to be Ray Charles' road manager. He now runs Ray Charles Enterprises.

ADAMS, Karen: KNX, 2017-23. Karen is a news anchor at all-News KNX. "I basically do it all. I'm a journalist, actor, voice-over artist, writer/blogger and host," she wrote on her website. "I've covered everything from natural disasters to presidential elections. I've written edited and produced three radio series, including my flight with the US Air Force Thunderbirds (award winning) and paratrooper training in Ft. Benning, Georgia. I'm excellent with digital audio editing (some video), and know all about social media. I hope to continue to evolve as a performer whether it be in news or entertainment. Before KNX, the journalism graduate from Temple University worked at WNEW-Washington DC metro as a general assignment reporter.

Adams, Ken: KYMS, 1993-94. Ken is at Christian radio KRDU-Fresno, and he also produces and hosts Christian ministry radio programs.
Adams, Mal: KNX. Mal did overnights at KNX in the late '70s. Last heard, Mal was working for CBS radio in Japan.
Adams, Sally: KHJ, 1977. Sally worked for Compaq as a marketing communications guru.
Adamson, Jack: KBIG/KBRT, 1979-86. Jack retired from Bonneville in 1994 and lives in Salt Lake City.

ADIMU: KKBT, 2000-03. Adimu Colon worked afternoon drive at the BEAT and left the station June 17, 2003. He went on to WMMJ-Washington, DC and left in late 2015. He now hosts "The Quiet Storm" at WDAS-Philadelphia.

 

ADLER, Gary: KFWB, 1977-78; KLOS/KABC, 1978-83. Gary was a production news engineer. Gary is an actor. In 1981, he played Dr. Martin Lester who was confusing Laura while attending Luke and Laura's wedding. "I was incorrectly thought of being this rotten so and so who wore a sapphire ring which would hypnotize Laura. NOT ME though," said Gary.

 

ADLER, Jodi: KFWB, 1993-98; KCRW, 2021-23. Jodi was a news anchor at all-News KFWB. Her ubiquitous life includes being a math teacher and stand-up comic. "I’m also doing radio work right now at KCRW. She also does an Instagram series called “That’s Hilarious” which combines offbeat news and cocktails plus her VO work. The native Californian was a journalism and finance major at Cal State Northridge and UCLA. After grad school, Jodi began pursuing a career in broadcast journalism after her previous job as a financial analyst left her feeling unfulfilled. She began working as an anchor and reporter in L.A. radio, and it was then that Jodi’s sarcastic and witty sense of humor really began to take hold. With the encouragement of several coworkers, Jodi began exploring the world of standup comedy, and eventually pursued acting and voiceover work. Jodi’s versatility as a broadcaster, comedian, and actress helped her create a new character and persona: Auntie Jodi. She described her voiceover style as: WRY, DRY and SNARKY. "I'm also acting and am a Fringe Festival winner! whoohoo!" exclaimed Jodi.

 

AGNEW, Bob: KLAA, 2013-15. The former pd at Sports KNBR-San Francisco was appointed programming head of the Angels' flagship station, KLAA, in early 2013. He had been general manager of On The House Media in the Bay Area. He was also pd of KXNT-Las Vegas, KNEW/KKGN-San Francisco, and WCAU-Philadelphia. He left KLAA in the late summer of 2015.

Agovino, Michael: Michael was appointed head of the Spanish Broadcasting System L.A. cluster in the Fall of 2003, from president of Clear Channel Sales. From 2006 to 2015, Agovino served as chief operating officer of Triton Digital, a digital audio technology and advertising company based in Sherman Oaks.

AIMERITO, Sylvia: KNAC, 1978-83; KEZY, 1983-84; KHJ, 1984-86; KNOB, 1985-87; KNX/fm, 1986-87; KMET, 1986; KFI/KOST, 1986-87; KBIG, 1987-97; KZLA, 1999-2001; KRTH, 2003-14. Sylvia has an active voiceover career and worked weekends at KRTH until September 2014. Born in Springfield, Illinois, Sylvia grew up in Lakewood. She attended Cerritos College and Cal State Long Beach before starting at KNAC in 1978. She has worked at KEZY, KHJ, KNOB, KNX/fm, KFI and a decade in morning drive at KBIG. "My sad was a milk man for about 40 years. He made a living as a hard working, blue-collar man, driving a truck and delivering heavy loads of milk and other dairy products. He worked long shifts, starting very early in the morning and finishing well into the late afternoon. It was back breaking work and he came home exhausted. Yet, no matter how tired he was, no matter how frustrating his day might have been, my Dad greeted his family with warm hugs and kisses. Dinner almost immediately followed his arrival. Sitting around the kitchen table my brothers and sisters and I would sit and listen in amazement as he would recall in minute detail the many funny and interesting stories that occurred throughout his day. How exciting he made delivering milk sound! Thinking back, I know now it wasn't just his stories that I liked. It was the fact that my sad was sharing with us; letting us in on the adventures that happened to him while he was away from us. It made me feel so important to him. I loved that about him. I loved that he would ignore his fatigue and give to his family the attention and love we all needed. What a lesson in love I learned."

Alan, Bernie: KFAC, 1971-72 and 1987-88; KPPC/KROQ, 1972-73; KLVE, 1973; KVFM, 1973; KEZY, 1976; KOST, 1979-82; KZLA, 1982-84; KKGO, 1990-91; KCSN, 2004-08. Bernie was the voice of PBS' KCET for many years and now is part of KCSN, the Cal State Northridge radio station.

ALAN, Cody: KKGO, 2014-16. Cody's syndicated Country show aired all-night at Go Country 105.1. He was also be a regular contributor to the station with call-ins reporting the latest news live from Nashville on KKGO’s morning show. Cody has more than 20 years' experience on the air, and winner of two Academy of Country Music Awards for ‘National Personality of the Year.’  “It’s truly a dream come true to soon be on Go Country 105!” stated Cody Alan.

 

ALAN, Magic Matt: KIIS, 1989-91; KMPC, 1996; KIEV, 1996-97; KIIS, 1996-97; KRLA, 2000. Matt is the morning man at Sirius' Totally 70s channel. He also hosts a syndicated cigar show, "Outlaw Radio." Born Matthew Shearer in 1962, he grew up in the Northwest. At age 12, Matt was performing magic at fraternal organizations and at the Seattle Space Center. Through a magic performance at an Everett, Washington radio remote, he developed a passion for radio. His magic led to a stint on the 1970s hit tv program, The Gong Show. His radio journey took him to a variety of radio stations. He worked in Seattle, Houston and WHTZ-New York. In the summer of 1989 Matt realized his dream of working in Los Angeles when he started in afternoons at KIIS. He told the LA Times, "I believe there's no reason you can't do a morning show in the afternoon." In October 1991, Matt's contract was not renewed due to "philosophical differences." Matt contended that the station cut him to cut costs. He told the Times that he had been seeking a raise of no more than 2%, of his rumored salary in the $500,000-a-year range. Matt kept his home in the hills of Encino when he went to KKLQ-San Diego and WYXR-Philadelphia. He said over lunch at the Magic Castle, "I will always consider Los Angeles my love." Speaking of another kind of love, a flight attendant from American Airlines attended one of his performances at the Magic Castle and performed her own magic, resulting in marriage in 1993. The former VH1 and MTV jock has been working with the owner of the Magic Castle, Milt Larsen, on a tv show.

 

ALAN, "Radio Rick": KWIZ, 1982-89; KWDJ, 1983-84; KQLH, 1991-92; KOLA, 1994-2012. Rick had been working part-time at KOLA in the Inland Empire until late 2013. "My mentor in college radio was a man named Jim Bain. He's pretty well-known among those who came up in  So. Cal radio in the 60's and 70's. Great teacher, believed in me when few others did. It was his first year teaching at FJC and the only reason I landed at FJC the same time as Jim was because I spent 5 years after high school kind of knocking around in college and not very focused until I just decided to go for my radio dream. Not only did he give me a great radio foundation, he also was responsible for me getting my first paid gig - a union shop in Southern California. Yah, believe me,I knew how lucky this green kid was. But here is the real kicker: In the Fall of 1968, I was riding in my step moms car. It was afternoon drive and the jock on the radio was on fire. I said to myself, 'what a great job that would be" (which led to the aforementioned lecture at the dining room table later that night). Anyway, years later we figured out that the guy on the radio that day, that this 11 year old kid was so impressed with, was Jim Bain." Rick is now director of Publications/Graphics & Branding Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona.

Albert, Lee: KROQ, 1985-90. Lee participated for three years in the "Loveline" show on KROQ, providing legal perspective.
Alberts, Mal: KHJ, 1970. Mal has passed away.

ALBOM, Mitch: KABC, 2001. Mitch's syndicated show started on KABC January 2, 2001 and was dropped in the fall of 2001. Mitch is a tv and radio personality, known internationally for his best-selling book, Tuesdays With Morrie. He has long been an award-winning syndicated columnist, as well as best-selling author and accomplished musician. Born in Philadelphia, he splits his home time between Laguna Beach and Detroit. Mitch first gained notoriety as a sports columnist for 12 years for the Detroit Free Press, where he was named the #1 sports columnist for 12 years by the Sports Editors of America, an honor never won by any other journalist more than once. His first love is music, which explains his affection for live bands in his studio during The Mitch Albom Show. Mitch, an accomplished pianist and composer whose music has been recorded and featured in a number of network tv films, still performs on occasion. He graduated from Brandeis University and earned a Master of Science degree from Columbia University School of Journalism and an MBA from Columbia University School of Business. His background includes stints as an amateur boxer, a nightclub singer in Greece and a lounge pianist in New York City.

ALDI, Roger: KMLA, 1964; KHJ, 1964-72; KRLA, 1972-74; KPOL, 1974-75; KDAY, 1975-89. Roger is senior minister of the First Church of Religious Science in Houston. The longtime news director of KDAY grew up in a radio family. Born in Brooklyn, Roger spent his youth in Scarsdale. At age 13, he decided that he wanted to be a tv director. He studied telecommunications at Columbia College and started his radio career at KMLA (100.3). Art Kevin was with KMLA and had known Roger's father. A year later Roger joined Art at KHJ. Roger has received numerous awards. He won a Golden Mike award for conducting the first interview with Charles Manson after his arrest. Concurrent with his radio career, Roger studied for the ministry. In 1989 he left radio and became pastor of the Burbank Church of Religious Science. He is also married to a minister. Does he miss radio? "The only time I really missed it was during the 1994 Earthquake. I had nothing to do. I felt that I should be doing something, like phoning in a story."

Alexander, Bill: KPWR, 1987-93; KYSR, 1994-99; KELT, 1999-2001; KMXN, 2002; KPSA, 2002-04; KSUR, 2004-05. Bill left Oldies 1260 & 540 AM in the summer of 2005. He's a bartender in Orange County.
Alexander, Clark: KGBS, 1969-74.  Clark served a the newsman for Dave Hull. Clark died of a heart attack while on the air at KGBS in 1974.
Alexander, Dave: KOCM/KSRF, 1991. Unknown.
Alexander, Eddie. Unknown.

ALEXANDER, Kermit: KLAC, 1984. The former San Francisco 49er and Ram and one-time president of the NFL Players Association was part of the broadcast team of the Los Angeles Express football games on KLAC. Affectionately known as, "Kermit the Ram," he was a two-sport All-American at UCLA before becoming an enormously successful NFL football player with the Rams, Eagles and 49ers. Active in the NFL Players Association and various charities, Kermit lives in the Inland Empire, close to his father (and hero), a former World War II Marine veteran. He is active on several boards, which directly benefit children and education.

Alexander, Mark: KRTH, 1974; KUTE, 1974-77. Unknown.
Alexander, Pat: KUSC, 2004-08. Last heard, Pat's Deinver-based syndicated show was carried on Classical KWTU-Tulsa.
Alexia: KWST, 1976-78; KROQ, 1978-79. Alexia owns Wine Country dj in Sonoma County.
Allen, Bob: KKGO, 1986; KSRF, 1986-87; KNX, KGIL, KJOI & KLAC [traffic] 1987-89; Transtar 1988-90; KIKF, 1989-90; Dial-Global 24/7 formats, 1994-2008; KKGO, 2007-08. Bob Manfredo passed away in December 2012.
Allen, Bob: KVCR, 1966-68; KCIN, 1971-72; KBBL, 1973-74; KMEN, 1975-76; KDES, 1976; KACE, 1977; KQLH, 1987-88. Bob lives in San Bernardino and he is retired.
Allen, Caron: KPOL, 1976-78. Last heard Caron was living in Glendale and working for Peat Marwick.

ALLEN, Dex: KBLA, 1961-62; KDAY, 1969-70. Dex, dj, radio executive (programming and sales), owner and most recently president/ceo of Pacific Start Communications, died in early May 2018. He was 74. Dex was best known for spearheading the “underground” movement at KPRI-San Diego. In the late 1960s, he drove to Southern California every weekend to work as a jock at KDAY (1969-70). Eventually he became general manager of several stations in San Diego. Dex made one of those rare journeys from dj to station owner. Born Claude Turner in Ventura, Dex graduated from John Burroughs High School in Burbank and the University of Denver. His career can almost be broken down into decades. During the '60s Dex was a dj at KBLA, KTLN-Denver, KQV-Pittsburgh, KOL-Seattle, and KCBQ-San Diego. In the '70s he moved into radio sales and gm positions in San Diego. By the 1980s he was ready for station ownership. He created Commonwealth Broadcasting and KGGI/KMEN was his first purchase. He went on to own KROY-Sacramento, KMZQ-Las Vegas, KRST/KRZY/KOLT-Albuquerque and KYJT/KTTI/KBLU-Yuma.

Allen, Don: KIKF, 1985-96. Don worked as Don Conlee at KEZY.

ALLEN, Don "Early": KKTT, 1983. When Don left the Southland he went to WWRL-Washington, DC. In the spring of 1995, the 27-year veteran returned to WBLK-Buffalo for morning drive. Allen, 48, died unexpectedly on November 11, 2003. Allen was a radio station manager in Lancaster, South Carolina. Don "Early" Allen, as he was known on the air, was a longtime Buffalo resident. He was born in Buffalo, graduated from Hutchinson-Central Technical High School in 1973 and attended the University at Buffalo. Allen got his start in radio in Buffalo at age 14 with WBLK, where his father, the late Donald E. Sr., was gospel program director. The younger Allen was employed over the years in broadcasting in Buffalo, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York City, St. Louis and Lancaster, S.C. "It was something he loved that was the joy of his life," said his mother, Adelene B. of Buffalo. Allen also became an ordained minister.

 Allen, "Hurricane" Gary: KEZY, 1986-90; KCBS, 1991-98. Since 1998, Gary has been doing contract radio engineering. He is also a tv station engineer at KESQ/TV 3 in Palm Springs. He worked as Mark St. John at "Arrow 93." Gary still works for CBS Radio in Palm Springs at Sunny103.1. He has been there since 1997.

ALLEN, Jo Harvey: KPPC, early 60s. Jo Harvey hosted a music and talk show, Rawhide & Roses, on Underground KPPC. She is a performing artist living in the Southwest.  Allen was born and raised in Lubbock, Texas. In 1961, she married artist and singer Terry Allen and moved to the Southland where she walked away from a BFA degree from the Woodbury College of Design over a disputed sixty dollar fee. In the 1970s, she was one of the first performance artists appearing in alternative spaces, cafes, art galleries and museums. She is best known, however, for her work in film and for her one-woman plays which she has toured extensively including off-Broadway productions written and performed by Allen of A Moment's Hesitation, As It Is in Texas, and Counter Angel. Jo Harvey and her husband Terry live in Santa Fe and a small town in Texas.

Allen, Keith: KTWV, 1991-97. Keith is retired and living in Lake Tahoe.

ALLEN, Laurie: KIIS, 1982; KNX/fm, 1983-84; KMGG, 1984-86; KPWR, 1986-94, KKGO, 2008-20. The Morris, Minnesota-born jock got her first job in broadcasting as an 18-year-old weather person in Fargo. Her love affair with radio started early. "I loved to steal mom's radio up to my room at night and listen to the mysterious big city airwaves of WLS-Chicago and 'Beeker Street' in Little Rock. It opened up a whole new world for me.” From Fargo, she moved to a small radio station, KCLD in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, in 1975 where she met her husband-to-be, Bruce Vidal. They married in 1976. That trek took them from Princeton, Minnesota, to KSO-Des Moines and in 1978 to KOIL-Omaha. In 1979 Laurie worked in St. Louis, first for KMOX/fm and then KSD/fm. Prior to joining KIIS in 1982, she was at K1O1-San Francisco. She was often the first on-air woman hired. "Women have made such incredible strides in radio. There was a time when the only time slot for a woman was being tucked away late at night and sounding very breathy." Laurie got to Los Angeles before Bruce and started in the evenings at KIIS. Bruce joined as a part-timer. Laurie briefly went to KNX/fm, and after a format change, she returned to KIIS and read news for Rick Dees.

She looks back fondly on the national attention she and her former-husband received in People magazine and on Good Morning America. The media was fascinated with the fact that the husband/wife team were on competing radio stations - occasionally in the same time slot.

"We had our own careers plus each other’s to consider and with all our moving around it put a professional strain on us, but it had some fun advantages, too." Since 1987 Laurie has hosted a "classic rock" show on Armed Forces Radio. One of her career highlights was an AFRTS Tour of Europe in 1992. "I feel privileged to have been a part of the changes for women while working on some very high-profile stations." 

For 11 years, Laurie worked at the Bright AC format at Dial-Global (Westwood One Radio Networks) until late 2008. She worked weekends at KKGO, "Go Country" until the fall of 2020.

ALLEN, Mark: KWIZ, 1976-80. Mark is now an attorney living in Seattle. He serves as the President of the Washington State Broadcasters Association. He spent fifteen years on-the-air at radio and television stations in Washington, Oregon and California, including Spokane, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles markets. He is a 1970 graduate of the University of Washington with a B.A. in Communications; a 1980 cum laude graduate of Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles; and, is admitted to practice law in the State of Washington and Washington, D. C.

Allen, Mike: KABC, 1969-70; KMPC, 1970-72; KFWB, 1974-75 and 1977-78. Mike lives in Phoenix.
Allen, Norm: KSFV, 1964-66. Norm was gm/owner at 106.3/fm. The broadcast facility was at 212 S. Brand Blvd in San Fernando. Norm eventually sold the station or returned the license.

ALLEN, Perry: KRLA, 1959-60; KHJ, 1962-63; KFI, 1976-77 and 1980. Perry died January 31, 2007. He was 75. Born Perry Gerstein in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, Perry attended Denver University on a broadcasting scholarship and arrived at KRLA from an enormously successful stint on Buffalo powerhouse, WKBW. He was almost one of the original "11-10 Men." Perry arrived two months into the new format in November 1959. KRLA ran a contest to "locate Perry Allen" with a $50,000 prize. KFWB knew that Perry hadn't left WKBW yet and dispatched newsman Charlie Arlington to Buffalo where he "found Perry Allen" and KRLA had to pay their crosstown rivals $50,000. While he was working at KTLK-Denver, Perry hosted a children's program. "I brushed immortality by throwing up on camera."  He stayed with KRLA until 1960 when there was a legendary switch of morning men with Wink Martindale, who did morning drive at KHJ.  Perry worked the talk format on KFI and hosted a KHJ/Channel 9 kid's show called Cartoonsville. He went to KCBQ-San Diego in 1979, then returned to KFI. If you were in San Diego in the 1970s and early 1980s, you should remember Perry Allen as one of the funniest, smartest, wittiest disc jockeys ever heard on local radio. First on KDEO in El Cajon, and later on KFMB, KSDO, KCBQ and KOGO, Allen entertained listeners with his infectiously irreverent spirit, off-the-cuff quips and bizarre stunts. Through the 1950s and 1960s, Allen was on both KHJ radio and television. He also wrote scripts for The Danny Thomas Show and McHale's Navy. "They were truly awful," he said. He also wrote sketches for Laugh-In and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. "I also hosted a terrible kids cartoon show on Channel 9 that my own kid wouldn't watch," Allen said. Once, he recalled, he "told the kids to go down to Dad's workshop and get a hammer and nail, and nail the dial in position" so the channel couldn't be changed. "We got numerous protests, and I got off the show. There was a lot of anger in the air. Those people get so sensitive." Fired from KHJ, Allen went to San Diego and then worked stints in Seattle, and Denver. Allen also set up his own company producing radio and television commercials. Allen made so many moves over so many years, their precise sequence eludes him today. "My resume," he once said, "was written on change-of-address cards.” Allen recounted his firing from KFI. “I was summoned into the office of the sales manager. He directed me out of his office and away from that facility. Painfully I schlepped down the hall toward my now ex-office to purge my desk of whatever remained to be exorcised. On my junket, the station manager stopped me just long enough to smile brightly and to solidly quip, ‘Perry, you're sounding better than ever and I want to thank you for being with the station.’ There must be something profound about irony in this saga. But, I doubt it."

 

ALLEN, Steve: KHJ, 1945-46 and 1961; KNX, 1947-48; KCBH, 1969. The versatile entertainer who excelled in radio and television, starred in movies, wrote thousands of songs and over 50 books, was born in New York to Vaudeville-team parents and raised in Chicago. After attending college and a stint in the army, Steve’s first radio job was in Phoenix. He soon moved to Los Angeles, teaming up with Wendell Nobel and June Foray in 1945 to originate “Smile Time” from KHJ to feed the Mutual Network. He then went solo at KNX as a disc jockey but delighted fans more by talking and interviewing members of his studio audience than playing records. In 1950 CBS moved Steve to New York where he had a television program, but he moved to NBC in 1953 to be the original host of The Tonight Show. His television career continued with The Steve Allen Show, The Steve Allen Comedy Hour and others.  In 1954 he married actress Jayne Meadows. He was the master of ceremonies on many television shows including I’ve Got a Secret and What’s My Line? He acted in several movies, including The Benny Goodman Story, in which he played the title role. His best known songs are This Could Be the Start of Something Big, Picnic, Impossible and Gravy Waltz. But he was probably best known as a humorist, believing that everyone had a “silly center” which should not be repressed. A practical joker, he once released an album by a supposed posthumously-discovered talent. Critics loved it but discovered later Steve had written and performed the entire album. During a hospital stay in 1986 his condition was reported as stable. Steve’s response: “You know what the condition of the average stable is.”

Many skits and gags he originated in his early television days have been copied and repeated by the current generation of late-night television talk-show hosts. His PBS program Meeting of the Minds offered imagined conversations between such figures as Darwin, Galileo and Attila the Hun with Mr. Allen as moderator. He was keenly interested in social justice, often writing on the subject, and in recent years became an activist against what he saw as a rising tide of smut on television, condemning shows he felt had, “taken television to the garbage dump.” 

Steve died October 30, 2000, following injuries he received in a traffic accident. He was 78. 

Allen, Terry: KPPC. Terry is a professional storyteller/songwriter and author, living in the Southwest.

ALLEN, Whitney: KQLZ, 1989-91; KIIS, 1991-94; KMLT, 1998-2004; KZLA, 2003-06; KKGO, 2007. Whitney worked afternoons at Country KZLA until a format flip in late summer of 2006. She worked afternoons at Country 540 and 1260. In the summer of 2022, Whitney was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame. What did you want to be when you were 5? And really…what kid actually gets to be the astronaut, rockstar, explorer, or radio host?!? Whitney Allen, that’s who! Her parents bought her a red transistor radio (that she slept with under her pillow every night) and adopted her first cat, Thomasina (who slept with her every night.) That’s when she knew, it was radio or animals. Since she was better at talking than biology, she knew she was going to be on the radio. So at the age of 5, she set out to make it BIG. Before her first radio gig, Whitney heard a dj who sounded like a woman that wanted to steal your boyfriend. If Whitney was going to be a dj, that was not the sound she was going for. KATA in Eureka was the first station to give her a shot on the air. There, Whitney spent 2 years in place of that exact girl that wanted to “steal your boyfriend.” When she had enough of the northern California rain, Whitney headed south to San Diego. In 1989, Whitney was part of the launch of Scott Shannon's Pirate Radio (KQLZ). Then KIIS/fm for 3 years where she hosted nights, middays, filled in and even co-hosted some mornings with the legendary Rick Dees. Blair Garner who worked at KIIS with Whitney, left to start his syndicated show “After Midnite.” He asked Whitney to join him, so she became the host of “After Midnite Weekends with Whitney Allen” for 8 years, on over 200 country stations. She went on to host the syndicated, “The Big Time Saturday Night.”

ALLISON, Hank: KFWB, 1968-74. Henry Roger Allison III, better known as Hank Allison, died September 6, 2008, of a blood clot at the age of 64 in Nashville. “After covering the SLA shoot-out, I figured that I didn’t survive Vietnam to be killed on the streets of Los Angeles,” Hank said while being interviewed for Los Angeles Radio People. After the SLA shoot-out he was given a “safe” assignment covering a court hearing, when he ended up in the middle of another shoot-out, this time a domestic quarrel. Hank and his wife bought a farm and moved to Montesano, Washington. He went back to school to earn a clinical psychology degree. Born in Patterson, New Jersey on October 8, 1943, Hank moved to the Southland with his parents when he was 6. After San Fernando High School and Woodbury College, Hank served two years in the Army with the 1st Cavalry Division. After the service he pursued journalism and became a writer for the South Bay Daily Breeze followed by the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. During the 1968 Examiner strike, Hank was driving his car when he heard that KFWB was going all-News. “I pulled my car over to the curb, called the station and applied for a job.” He started as an editor and moved to outside reporter.

“It was a fascinating time working for a news station. We covered the Manson trial, Bobby Kennedy’s assassination and the Ellsburg trial. KFWB was on top of all of it.” In 1974 Hank moved to Nashville and for the better part of a decade worked for the CBS and ABC stations while attending law school. He graduated from the Nashville School of Law in 1983 and began practicing law in Nashville. “The information gathering, organization and public speaking skills from that first career are brought to bear now as a trial lawyer,” he said. 

ALLISON, Joe: KXLA, 1952; KRKD, 1957; KFOX, 1960. Joe, a former Country dj, died of a heart attack on August 2, 2002, at the age of 77. He was one of the most influential figures in the rise of modern country music. Born October 3, 1924, in McKinney, Texas, he began his career as a disc jockey in 1944 at KPLT-Paris, Texas and went on to become a songwriter, recording and music publishing executive, record producer and tv producer. He moved to Los Angeles in 1952, succeeding Tennessee Ernie Ford on his daily KXLA radio program. While at KRKD, Joe hosted Town Hall Party on KTTV/Channel 11 and ABC’s Country America. He and his wife, Audrey, wrote Teenage Crush for Tommy Sands. As the former pd of KFOX, he joined the country music department at Liberty Records in the early 1960s. He was a founder of both the Country Music Association and the Country Music Foundation. He wrote for Jim Reeves’ a huge crossover hit, He’ll Have To Go that topped the country charts for 14 weeks and inspired cover versions by Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Eddy Arnold, and Mills Brothers. In 1976, Joe was elected to the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame. In a R&R salute to  Country, Joe reflected: "My best memory was having Tex Ritter as my mentor and father figure. He would take the time to show me things and teach me. He taught me to be fair and to give back to the business the things you take out of it. Tex was that way; he was probably the greatest man who was ever in our business. He was the wisest man I ever met. My worst memories are now. The business itself is beginning to forget the people who brought them here." He retired from the music business in 1970 and spent his later years buying and selling antiques and paintings, finally retiring in 1988.

Allison, Mike: The former announcer for the Los Angeles Kings hockey on radio is now living in Minnesota and teaching.
Allison, Randi: KRLA, 1983; KRTH, 1983-84; KFI, 1984-87. Randi was a newswoman for KFI. She now writes for tv and films. 

ALLISON, Steve: KABC, 1967-69. How often does a radio personality make a market move and it gets entered into the Congressional Record? Well, that’s what happened when Steve left WWDC-Washington DC to join KABC in 1967. He left WPEN-Philadelphia for DC. After a decade in Washington, ‘the Man Who Owned Midnight’ (as he was known) traveled west to be one of the early Talkers at 790AM. John Conyers entered into the House record on March 13, 1967: “I know that many of my colleagues had the opportunity to appear on Steve’s show. Congressmen were among his favorite guests.” Conyers had high praise for Allison: “The city is not the same without one of its major promoters. I wish Steve much luck in Los Angeles at station KABC. I would like to insert after my remarks several articles which describe Steve’s long career in Washington radio and as a personality in his own right.” Steve died in 1969, at age 53, of lung cancer.

 

ALLRED, Gloria: KABC, 1993-2002. Gloria left KABC on October 29, 2002. Gloria continues with her high profile law career. In the fall of 2011, she started hosting a new courtroom tv show, We the People. She was featured in a 10-page article in a 2017 issue of The New Yorker. Some highlights: "Gloria Allred may be the most famous practicing attorney in the United States. What she does, as far as the public can see, is show up in front of tv cameras, five feet two, in her black turtleneck, with her gold jewelry and her brightly colored jacket and her clients by her side, and deliver her message with bulldog aplomb. She has a dry sense of humor, which, these days, tends to emerge in a bemused tone or a sly look, and in a general willingness to play herself as a character. "Allred's career can be seen as a decades-long project to expand the boundaries of legitimate victimhood. She was born Gloria Rachel Bloom on July 3, 1941, to two doting Jewish parents, Morris and Stella. Stella was English, she and Morris had met in Baltimore, on a streetcar named desire. When Gloria was in junior high, she and her mother would put on American Bandstand and dance around the living room after school. In 1960, at nineteen, she married a tall, attractive senior, from a patrician family, named Peyton Bray. In her sophomore year, she got pregnant and gave birth to their daughter, Lisa. Allred writes that Bray left her side while she was in labor and went out for a beer. He committed suicide in 2003. Allred majored in English at Penn, and wrote her undergraduate honors thesis on Ralph Ellison, Alex Haley, and James Baldwin. She graduated as a single mother, flat broke, recently divorced, and undecided about how to make my way in life. By all accounts, Allred refuses to consider retirement. "You'd have to drag her kicking and screaming out of the office," said Lisa Bloom.

Gloria was part of a recent Vanity Fair story on Bill Cosby's legal woes over charges of drugging and sexually assaulting women in the past. Over the years we've gotten to know Gloria. The nationally known attorney and active feminist was born in Philadelphia, earning her B.A. with honors in English from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned her M.A. from New York University and her JD cum laude from Loyola University School of Law in Los Angeles. Gloria has won countless honors from numerous organizations for her civil rights work on behalf of women and minorities and is well-known for her pioneering legal work in the area of women's rights. She was a regular commentator on KABC/Channel 7 Eyewitness News. She received three Emmy nominations for her television broadcasts. Gloria has a daughter, Lisa Bloom, who is also an attorney and a permanent legal analyst with NBC and appears frequently on the Today Show. Lisa has also hosted a weekend talk show at KABC. But there was something about Gloria that was new news to me. In the story by Mark Seal, he revealed that one by one women had been relating encounters with Cosby: "In the midst of this outpouring came Gloria Allred, who, in her mid-20s, had been raped by a Mexican doctor at gunpoint in Mexico. The Cosby case was the one she had been working for her entire career: a famous serial sexual offender with what she calls an 'unprecedented' number of victims."

Alpert, Dave: Dave is with ABC News.

ALSPAUGH, Blanton: KKGO, 1997-98. Blanton left his program director position at KKGO in the summer of 1998. He is a multiple Grammy-winning record producer who has received nominations for Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Classical in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013, winning in 2013. Blanton has been a member of the Soundmirror team since 1999. He is a senior producer who oversees recording projects ranging in size from the largest operatic and symphonic productions to solo piano. He received a B.S. in Music Education from Tennessee Technological University and a M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

Alvarez, Arturo: KWKW, 1988-90; KTNQ, 1990-92; KWKW, 1992-98. Arturo, long-time all-night dj/talk show Spanish host, was a bartender at Champions at the LAX Marriott. 

ALVAREZ, Nicole: KROQ, 2004-23. Nicole joined all-nights at KROQ in the summer of 2004 and now works middays. Her show is now syndicated into a number of Audacy (formerlyEntercom) markets. She is a proud Cuban American born and raised mostly in Miami. Nicole tells her story on the KROQ website: "To cut to the chase, I am a fiery wild child who has gotten in a fair share of trouble, but somehow I've always managed to get to the other side. I have been a radio baby my entire life. At 11 I told my parents that I would work in radio when I grew up and that was that. I fully committed. I have done most of my growing up at KROQ. I find people and the psychology of behavior fascinating, so I do pride myself on conducting in-depth interviews. It's the scariest part of my job but also my favorite. I was recently asked to serve on the rock committee for the Grammy's and I fully intend to move the needle in the right direction. My other huge passion is The Suitcase Joe Foundation. I am actively involved with the homeless community, from warehouse work to fully immersing myself in the street culture. My team and I focus on distributions and creating awareness, plus bringing dignity back to the forgotten people of the streets. I have a little girl. Her name is Evie. I named her after my hero and she set my sails on a better course. I keep her close to the vest. Music, my kiddo, my passport, my family, some whiskey, and the ocean...that's a good life more me. I try to be fearless with my words and will always try to sum up a situation poetically. If you were to ask me what else I want to do in life, I would most likely smile and say, 'live it.' The end."

 

ALVY, Ted: KFWB, 1967; KVFM, 1967; KPPC, 1968 and 1970-71; KMET, 1968-70 and 1973-76.  Ted passed away alone in his Van Nuys home March 10, 2012, of natural causes, according to his brother-in-law, Brian Teeter. Ted was 62.   Ted was part of a group of djs at the inception of underground FM rock radio in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was known as Topper Cosmos for some of his time at KPPC, working with Les Carter. Ted was an L.A. native who worked behind the scenes with B. Mitch Reed. His series of web pages and books included a “true fiction” cybernovel and paperback titled: 60’s L.A. UNDERGROUND RADIO I was a Teenage Disc Jockey. Ted Alvy remembers the “Hippie Strike” in 1968. “The hippie deejays and the entire KPPC staff walked a 24-hour picket line around the Pasadena Presbyterian Church, where the KPPC/fm 106.7 broadcast studios were located in the church basement,” wrote Ted. “The KMPX/KPPC Strike began at 3 a.m. on March 18, 1968 [with most KMPX-San Francisco deejays going on the air at KSAN/fm-San Francisco on Tom Donahue’s birthday, May 21, 1968], as we picketed KPPC until the weekend before the 1968 Summer Solstice [the day the then-still-automated [dashes added] KMET/fm 94.7 started playing some Rock And Roll with taped programs by B. Mitchel Reed and Tom Donahue). Jolly Joe Yocam, the always happy KFWB deejay, was friends with 1968 KPPC deejay B. Mitchel Reed, who was also a former KFWB deejay.

 

ALYN, Mark: KCSN, 1971-80; KFI 1973-76; KRLA, 1975-77; KVEN, 1986-88; KABC, 2013. Mark hosts a weekly show on Cable Radio Network and owns Mark Alyn Communications of Thousand Oaks. His show addressed the mature lifestyle of the baby boomer audience and covers “a wide array of topics that range from travel...entertainment...legal affairs...financial news...romance...and health concerns...to the newest blips on the restaurant radar, all aimed at the graying generation.”  Broadcast consultant Valerie Geller of Geller Media International, said: "The baby boomers are aging, but NO baby boomer thinks he, or she is ‘old.’ Time marches on and people in their 50s, 60s and beyond are not traditionally served by mainstream media. The media darlings have been the 25-54 demographic with an emphasis on the younger end of the demo.”

Amador, Andrew: SEE John Clark
Amaya, Pam: KRLA, 1995-99. Pam left radio to go to law school. 

AMBROSE, Mike: KFWB, 1965; KRLA, 1969. Mike was a Top 40 jock at KFWB in the mid-1960s and KRLA in the late 60s. For the three decades, Mike was a tv fixture in San Diego as a favorite weather reporter. He died August 29, 2008. He was 69. Mike was born in Handley, Texas and got his early start in radio at the age of 16 at a local station in Cleburn, Texas. While attending Arlington University of Texas he jocked at KLIF-Dallas. In 1964 he worked at KDEO-San Diego before arriving locally. At KRLA Mike worked weekends. He returned to San Diego in 1970 and did production at KOGO. In the late 1980s Mike substituted for Spencer Christian on ABC's Good Morning America. His annual KGTV Christmas Toy Drive was the largest drive of its kind in San Diego's history. "This event has become the most meaningful event in my television career," he once said.   The happy-go-lucky Ambrose was an extremely private person, almost a recluse. He never married nor had children. Ambrose suffered a mild heart attack in 1997, forcing him to cut his hours at the tv station. Close friends say Ambrose had recently been hospitalized for internal organ issues but never let on just how sick he was. Mike's brother, Dave Ambrose, was a very popular midday personality during KLIF-Dallas' glory years.

 

AMBROSINI, Michael: KNX, 1980-2006. Michael was a reporter for KNXNewsradio. In 1999 he won a Golden Mike Award for Best Individual Writing. KTLA's Stan Chambers made a brief mention of Ambrosini in the first chapter of Chamber's book, News at Ten in recalling the LA Riot. Ambrosini established himself as being one of KNX's premiere field reporters during his coverage of the first Rodney King beating trial in Simi Valley. Michael left KNX in the summer of 2006. Mike grew up in Indianapolis and was a bandleader throughout high school and Indiana University. He graduated in 1969 with a major in radio and television. He joined the KNX news department in January, 1980. A 30-year broadcast veteran, Ambrosini began his radio career in 1966 at KTKI in Terre Haute, Indiana. He subsequently worked for several other Indiana stations, including WAAC (Terre Haute), WATI (Indianapolis), and WTIU (Bloomington). Mike also worked for WCKY in Cincinnati, WWJ in Detroit, and just prior to joining KNX, he worked for WIND in Chicago. While at KNX, Ambrosini has covered a number of high profile trials including Reginald Denny, both Rodney King trials, and the OJ Simpson trials. He has won numerous awards for his work, including honors from the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association, the Clarion Award from Women in Communication and the Golden Mike Award from the Radio-TV News Association of Southern California. He has won First Place honors from the California AP TV and Radio Association and First Place from the International Radio Festival of New York. In addition, Mike won the Odyssey Award from the Institute of New York, several First Place Awards from the Los Angeles Press Club, an Ohio State Award, and a Gold Medallion from the California State Bar Association.

Ameche, Jim: KBLA, 1961-63. Jim was the younger brother of Don Ameche. Jim was the original voice of Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy in the radio dramas. He also was the announcer on the radio version of Amos 'n Andy. Jim died of lung cancer on February 4, 1983, at the age of 68.  

AMES, Christopher: KHJ, 1970-72; KRLA, 1972-73; KNX/fm, 1973-80; KFWB, 2003-09. Christopher is an excellent writer and he was active part of the success of iconic KNX/fm. Chris was born in Santa Monica and grew up in the San Fernando Valley. During KNX/fm's heyday, Chris was a news director/news anchor/public affairs director and morning drive personality. He also created the interview shows "Insight Out" and "After Midnight." He produced news and music documentaries for which he won numerous awards. Additionally, he was responsible for the station's "Sixty Seconds" feature. He participated in the "Odyssey File," one of the classic features on Los Angeles radio during the '70s. Chris wrote the 20th Century Fox film Class Action, starring Gene Hackman.

 

AMEZCUA, Carlos: KEIB, 2014-15. Carlos joined KEIB, "The Patriot" as part of the new Conservative line-up at 1150 AM and left a year later. Carlos is a Southern California native, born in San Diego. He owns Carlos Media Corp. Most recently, Carlos co-anchored the KTTV/FOX 11 newscast that he joined in September 2007. Before FOX 11, Carlos was very well known as anchor of the KTLA Morning Show where he worked from 1991 to 2007. He has also been a reporter in San Diego, Denver and Portland and a network correspondent for CBS News, NBC Nightly News, CNN and HBO’s America Undercover. Carlos has been the recipient of numerous awards including 18 Emmys for his journalistic efforts covering stories such as the Northridge Earthquake, the Malibu Fires, and the McDonald's Massacre in San Diego, among others. In addition to his work in news, Carlos created and produced the critically acclaimed Comedy Compadres, the first all-Latino stand up comedy program in Los Angeles that aired on KTLA. In his spare time, Carlos loves spending time with his new bride, Sharon, and enjoys oil painting, golfing, surfing, skiing, watching hockey games. He is a big San Diego Chargers fan and is active on social media.

AMICHE, Don: KJLH, 2007-18; KBLA, 2021-23. Don was a jock at KJLH. As a native of Los Angeles he started his radio career in the 90′s at KJLH as an intern. In the summer of 2021, Amiche joined Tavis Smiley's Progressive station at 1580AM for evenings. Don teamed with Tammi Mac for a very successful afternoon drive show at KJLH. The Santa Monica College graduate in Broadcasting spent a year as Creative Service Director at KNX and did brand imaging for a year. One of the highlights of his active voice career was doing the CIROC Vodka commercials. He was also involved in a 7-minute bit with Howard Stern, which you can hear on YouTube.

 

AMIDON, Kim: KUTE, 1983-84; KHJ, 1984-85; KRTH, 1985; KOST, 1985-2007; KTWV, 2010-12. Kim worked with Mark Wallengren for 22 years in morning drive at KOST.  Their show was rated #1 in the early '90s. She left November 29, 2007. Kim went from weekends at KTWV, "the WAVE," to morning drive in late spring 2010. She left the WAVE in late spring 2012. Kim was born in Middletown, Connecticut, and worked at campus station KLON until her graduation from Long Beach State. Her first radio job after college was at "Kute 102" in 1983. “I love interviewing interesting people, especially those of whom I am a particular fan, like Linda Ronstadt." She's proud that she and Mark beat the 1980s' morning radio leader, Rick Dees. Kim was nominated for Billboard's 1993 Music Director of the Year and AC Radio Personality of the Year Awards (with Wallengren).

 

AMOS, Wally: KRLA, 1970s. Wally "Famous" Amos, the cookie creator, is a motivational speaker. He was a semi-regular with Matthew "Doc" Frail, mornings on KRLA. He's been an ongoing media happening, a high school dropout, a secretGeorgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif school graduate, an Air Force radio and radar repair specialist, a Saks Fifth Avenue executive, a talent representative for the William Morris Agency in New York, a Hollywood show-business personal manager, a cookie magnate, a writer and a muffin maker. Wally has been about anything you can name, but mostly he was just famous. “I never burned my bridges behind me. I got the job at William Morris Agency because of a great letter of recommendation from Saks, even though I quit there because they wouldn't give me even a $5-a-week raise." A few months later he was a talent representative, pulling down $30,000 a year. Amos soon moved to Hollywood and opened a personal management agency. He was a one-man band doing everything that William Morris did, but with a limited clientele. “It didn't last long. The business was just crumbling around me, but everybody loved my cookies. I'd bake up a batch and take 'em to meetings with clients, lawyers, whoever.

They encouraged me to try the cookie business, and some of them even invested." A tasty product and upbeat promotional program built sales to $11 million at its 1982 peak, but Amos "just lost control" of his own business. One of the problems, he now realizes, was trying to retail a product with no retail expertise and Amos had to keep selling off bits of his control. Finally, with no equity stake left and unable to get along with the venture capitalists who were calling the shots, "I just quit." His parting from the cookie company became fairly ugly, but in his last book, Man With No Name, he even thanked the lawyers who had obtained a court order prohibiting him from using his own name on any future food product.

 In typical Amos style, he said it turned out to be one of the best favors they could have done him and he began selling cookies, and later muffins, under the brand name Uncle Noname. "It gave me a story…a lot of people identified with this little guy and his legal problems.” Wally has lived in Hawaii for decades. "I love it out there in the middle of the Pacific," he said.

Anders, Holly: SEE Whitney Allen 

ANDERSON, Bob: KMPC, 1948-52; KNX, 1957; KPOL, 1958-59; KLAC, 1959-61; KABC, 1961-2007. For decades, Bob was part of the news operation at KABC. He died March 11, 2012, at the age of 86, suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Born in New York on April 2, 1925, Bob came to L.A. at the age of 10 with his future movie star brother Richard Anderson and parents. He graduated from University High and then served our country in the Navy during WW 2 on an oil tanker ship in the South Pacific. After the war, Bob attended both UCLA and UC Berkeley to prepare for a radio career which he had picked as his goal in grammar school. Bob's radio career began in 1947 when he joined the staff of KXOB in Stockton as a news writer and broadcaster. He then signed on with KWBR in Oakland as a news editor. Moving back to Southern California in 1948, where he would spend the rest of his life, Bob became a news writer and announcer on KMPC, broadcasting many sporting events. Following a short stint at KNX, Bob then settled in at KABC where he was a staff announcer for 46 years, from 1961-2007. He hosted Religion on the Line. Bob was heard regularly delivering the commercials during Dodger baseball broadcasts. He could also be heard on movie trailers and heard as announcer on such shows as Engineer Bill, Oscar Levant and Channel Nine Movie Theatre.

 

ANDERSON, Fred: KFMU, 1960; KRHM, 1960; KGBS, 1961-62; KNX, 1963-69. In the late 1960s, Fred was one of the original members of a then-revolutionary page in local tv news, KABC/Channel 7’s Eyewitness News. He also did stories with Elmer Dills and "The Food Life" for Channel 7. His roots are in radio and they laid the foundation for his move into tv. "When Eyewitness News was launched, there were many seasoned tv news people who auditioned. Robert Irvine hired ONLY radio people for the first team of Eyewitness News reporters. He believed the tv reporters of that day had developed lazy habits," said Fred, when interviewed for Los Angeles Radio People. They usually had all day to think about their story. Radio reporters, however, were used to meeting several deadlines a day, dashing to a phone to report a tight, coherent report and then rushing on to another story."

Fred was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and caught the radio bug at 15 after a visit to a local station. Two weeks after his 16th birthday he was working part-time at WAAB-Worcester, through high school. He really wanted to be a musician, playing the trumpet and later switching to string bass. He went to Leland Powers School of Theater in Boston and then the New England Conservatory of Music. As he worked in radio at Boston stations WEEI, WBOS and WCOP, he played bass after hours in nightclubs. In 1957 he was hired to be nd at WHYE-Roanoke and as a one-man news bureau for UPI. Before arriving in the Southland, Fred was nd of WJBW-New Orleans. His first job in L.A. in 1960 was, as Fred recalled, "A little FM classical music station in the Farmers Market on Fairfax, KFMU. We all lost our jobs when it became one of the first stations to be completely automated."

In the early 1960s Fred was part of the ABC Radio series, "Weekend West" which led directly to his being hired by KNX in November of 1963 to take over a half-hour program called "Kaleidoscope." To survive in the early 1960s, he also did engineer work for ABC and was one of the regular engineers for acerbic-tongued Joe Pyne. At KNX, Fred covered increasing amounts of science, space and medicine and eventually became the science editor. During his six years with KNX he was also a regular reporter for the CBS network program, "Weekend Dimension."

In the LA Times' listing of the best of 1968, Fred was named Announcer of the Year. The Times said: "Fred Anderson anchored numerous special reports for KNX over the years, handling every assignment with forcefulness and integrity." Three weeks before his death: "I have many fond memories of radio and its power to be the theater of the mind. I love being in tv...but I do miss radio a lot." Fred died June 23, 1996. A week before his death he suffered a heart attack and had triple bypass surgery. Fred had been in critical and unstable condition after the surgery and suffered a fatal heart attack. KNX’s Beach Rogers called Fred one of broadcasting’s true "nice guys," with no one in the business ever making an unkind word about him.

Fred died June 23, 1996, at the age of 59.

Anderson, George: KMPC, 1968-80. George is in sales at KDWN-Las Vegas.

ANDERSON, Howard: KHWY. Howard was the founder of the Highway stations, connecting two destinations on the I-15 between Barstow and Las Vegas. Howard died on January 21, 2014, at the age of 85. Howard succumbed to Multiple Myeloma and complications from Parkinsons' Disease. The youngest of three sons, Howard was born on May 24,1928 in Denver. Howard attended University of Utah, where he majored in Radio Speech. He met Midene McKay, and they were married in the Salt Lake Temple on January 31, 1951, and subsequently enjoyed each other's company for 63 years. Howard had grown up loving the radio, and knew from a young age he wanted to own a radio station. After beginning his career at KDYL/TV in Salt Lake City, Howard moved to WFAA/TV in Dallas, and then ABC Films in Chicago and later, New York.

Twentieth Century Fox Television came calling, first in New York and then in Los Angeles, followed by the Hughes Television Network, and ultimately the Summa Corporation. Howard made his childhood dream come true in 1980, when he created KHWY/fm, and became the Big Broadcast Baron of Barstow. Beyond his career, Howard cherished his years as a Mission President for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, servi!lg as the President of the California Mission -- including all of Southern California, the State of Arizona, and Clark County, Nevada -- from 1962 to 1965.

Howard loved his sayings: "It's better to be seen than viewed;" "Every day above ground is a good one;" and "It doesn't get any better than this." 

ANDERSON-POWELL, Lynn: KHJ, 1979; KIIS, 1980-89. The former general manager at KIIS joined the RAB in San Francisco. She also became a cluster national sales manager in San Francisco Lynn was born in Detroit and earned a B.A. in business from Michigan State University. She was an intern at age 15 for WXYZ-Detroit. Lynn worked in sales in Chicago for the first half of the 1970s. In 1976 she joined Los Angeles Metro Radio Sales. Beginning in 1980, Lynn went from senior account executive to president and general manager at KIIS. Her broadcasting career includes vp/worldwide sales & marketing for Radio Express and president of her own consulting company, Broadcast Strategies.

 

ANDERSON, Paul Oscar: KRLA, 1970-71; KROQ, 1972. Paul had one of those booming news voices at popular music stations in the late 1960s and early 1970s – KHJ, 1110/KRLA and KROQ. His voice has been stilled. Paul died June 5, 2009, following a long battle with heart failure and cancer. He was 77. Paul’s career took him to major radio jobs in Chicago and New York. In 1971 he received the LA Times Award for “Best Documentary of the Year” for his project “Fifth and Main, Los Angeles.” Paul was born in Knoxville, graduating from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

“I went into the military when I was 15 years old, finished high school when I got out of the Air Force at 18 and was married with a child,” he remembered during an interview with LARadio a few years ago. “I went to college when I had two kids and left Knoxville for the broadcasting wars in 1953. My first job was as ‘Dean’ of Midwestern Broadcasting School in Chicago.” His radio career started at KJFJ-Webster City, Iowa and then on to KWMT-Ft. Dodge, KOIL-Omaha, KISN-Portland, WIFE-Indianapolis, KIMN-Denver, WMAQ-Chicago, Monitor for NBC-New York, KCBQ-San Diego, and then Los Angeles. “I worked at 37 broadcasting facilities in a little over 35 years. I came home to Knoxville in 1974, just out of a drunk farm in Minnesota, married my childhood sweetheart on Valentine's Day 1975. To everyone’s surprise, including mine, I have been totally clean and sober since leaving Hazelden Center in Minnesota after six weeks of treatment. Over many years, I have owned a couple of ad agencies and a marketing consulting firm. I also have published a couple of textbooks on marketing [The Handbook of Successful Marketing for the Professions] and done hundreds of seminars on the topic. I taught Marketing at the University of Tennessee. I retired from air work in 1993. I had been among the pioneers in the South to do a talk show, which I did for about ten years at a number of stations in Knoxville. At the same time, I was doing a highly controversial news commentary at several stations.” When interviewed recently he said his sole occupation/avocation those days was writing – for publication – and songs for his daughter who sings country soul and lives in Santa Rosa, California. “Unfortunately, that's about all I can do – I suffer from heart failure, prostate cancer and diabetes. Except for the terminal illnesses, I feel pretty good. God, how I miss the mic.” 

Anderson, Rick: KLOS or KMET. Last heard, Rick was working in Salinas radio.

ANDRE, Sean: KCMG/KHHT, 1999-2007. Sean worked middays at "Hot 92 Jamz" until December 2007. Sean returned to Dallas and for ten years did nights at KRNB. He also images for a number of stations. "I then went to be the exec producer for The Al B. Sure show." Sean has been hosting “Love Songs” in some of the country’s top major markets, including Los Angeles, Miami, Las Vegas, and Dallas, Sean continues to serenade the ladies with his sultry, sexy voice on 105.7 KRNB-. Sean got his start in radio at The University of Texas at Arlington, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Communication. After finishing school, Sean took his talent to Dallas and that’s where the sexy fun began! The highlight of Sean’s career came most recently in Los Angeles where he was able to host the “Quiet Storm” on the same station where the legendary Smokey Robinson also hosted a show. (from Benztown website)

Andres, Juan: KFI, 1996-98. Unknown.

ANDREWS, Charles: KUSC, 1998-2009. Charles worked afternoons at Classical KUSC. Charles grew up in the South Bay and Hawaii, and began his broadcast career as part of the team that put Hawaii Public Radio on the air in 1981. He worked as air talent and md at KBBI in Homer, Alaska, and moved to WKSU, public radio at Kent State University. At WKSU, Charles was air-talent, producer, md and finally program director in 1996-97. Charles is a professional-level flutist, and has nearly completed a master's degree in media management from Kent State University.

 

ANGEL, Bill: KWKW, 1955; KFWB, 1956-83. Bill started at KFWB in 1956 and stayed until his retirement in 1983. He bridged the gap from rock and roll to an all-News format. Born Angelo Fiorrvanti, Bill was born and raised in Conway, just outside Pittsburgh. He started his radio career in 1938 at WJS-Pittsburgh and after serving four years in World War II, Bill came to the Southland with his Arkansas wife to work at KIEV. For two years Bill attended the Pasadena Institute for Radio and then worked in New Mexico and Wichita Falls. In 1955 he returned to the Southland and worked briefly at KWKW before joining KFWB as music director, freeway reporter and fill-in jock. He was assistant to Chuck Blore for the launch of historic "Color Radio/Channel 98" on January 2, 1958, which ironically was Bill's birthday. Bill covered Vietnam for Westinghouse in 1967. "I went to Vietnam mainly because my son was wounded. He tragically died in the fall of 1996 from Agent Orange." In 1983 Bill turned 65. "I was making the most money of my life and I walked in and quit. I just walked away and retired." Bill underwent vascular bypass surgery a few years before his death. He died July 18, 1998. He was 79.

ANGEL, Jack: KMPC, 1968-70; KFI, 1970-76; KIIS, 1972. Jack hosted "Night Flight" at KMPC. He died October 19, 2021, at the age of 90. After years as a dj, his legacy was established in the world of voieover. Best known for the Transformers franchise includes several key characters from the original G1 cartoon such as: Omega Supreme, Ultra Magnus, Smokescreen, Astrotrain, Breakdown, Ramjet, Cyclonus, a Sweep and some other support characters of the show. Besides Transformers, he had a prolific career being part of other classic franchises like Voltron, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, G.I. Joe and more. Jack was the voice of "Teddy" in Steven Spielberg's A.I. He left KFI when the station attempted a bold, albeit ultimately unsuccessful all-Comedy format.

Angel, Jill: KODJ, 1989; KNX, 1990-96. Jill is living in Lodi and working the health and safety section of the California Highway Patrol in Sacramento. 

ANGEL, Steve: KFWB; KGIL; KNJO, 1994-95. Born in 1945, Steve graduated from Dorsey High School and served in the Army in Vietnam. Steve's broadcast career spanned 20 years, including stints in sales at KFWB and KGIL, before becoming vp/gm at KNJO. Steve died of leukemia on October 5, 1995, at the age of 50.

 

ANGOTTI, Roberto: KNAC, 1982-85; KROQ, 1989-95; KWIZ, 1995. Roberto is promoting reggae bands. Roberto ran a cutting edge reggae show and he wrote liner notes and worked publicity for UB40. He was the originator of the Reggae Revolution at KNAC, helping establish many artists and managing many reggae groups. Roberto began his broadcasting career as an undergraduate film studies student at Claremont McKenna College in 1980. While pd of KSPC on the Pomona College campus, Roberto was hired as a full-time jock at Rock 'n Rhythm KNAC during the summer of 1982. He stayed while finishing college. When KNAC changed its format to Pure Rock in 1986, Roberto was hired at KROQ, where he remained for six years. In the early 1990s he headed for the NPR station in San Luis Obispo. In 1995 he joined KWIZ to produce America's first daily prime-time drive reggae show - 3 O' Clock Reggae - until the station was sold to the Little Saigon Broadcasting Network. "I sought refuge in San Diego where I worked weekends on '91X' before signing on to '92five' with Charger David Binn for the Irie Independent Radio Show. I also produced 'Run 4 Cover: Songs for a New Generation', a mock radio show compilation CD featuring comedian Tommy Chong as the ‘host with the most’ and some of the best unsigned Reggae & World Music bands performing cover versions of classic rock and pop anthems from the 60's through 90's."

   

ANKARLO, Kris: KFI, 2016-23. Kris joined KFI as a reporter/anchor from WNEW-Washington DC's bureau chief. In addition to being bureau chief, during his stint at the CBS station he was a transportation reporter, and afternoon drive editor. According to his LinkedIn profile he also spent five years as a tour manager for Contiki, directing 26-day transcontinental tours throughout the United States and Canada. From 2005-07, Kris was the morning news anchor, news director and program director for WBLF-Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. In the 2004 election year, he was a field organizer, and assistant director for the Democratic National Committee. Kris is  graduate from Penn State University, where he majored in Broadcast Journalism and was active in student politics and wrote for the campus paper.

 

ANSILIO, Suzanne: KLSX, 1990-93; KQLZ, 1991-92; KLOS, 1993-2005. Suzanne left the Washington, DC Classic Rock station in September 2011 following a format flip. She's now an AE at K-EARTH. Following a management change in the mid-1980s, Suzanne found herself in Miami without a job. Instead of sending out tapes, she hopped on a plane and went skiing in Europe for a month and a half. The attractive, free-spirited single woman took off over the weekend on a Travels With Charley-type John Steinbeck trip around the United States. How long? Suzanne doesn’t know. Suzanne grew up in Pennsylvania where her father was in the flower business. She went to East Stroudsburg State College (now university). She got her first radio job because her father used to advertise on radio in Wilkes-Barre. “My dad met one of the program directors, Rich Piombino, and asked him to interview his daughter. I went in to see him and he asked for an aircheck. ‘What’s that?’ I asked. Rich introduced me to the production guy, gave me some liner notes and I cut an aircheck. Later that day I took a job as the diving coach at my former high school. I was a diver all through school.”  Rich didn’t have a job for Suzanne. He didn’t think she was ready yet but encouraged her to hang out at the radio station. He told her she had a nice voice. “He told me to practice in the production room when it wasn’t being used and when I was ready, he would put me on the air. It wasn’t like I had to make a bunch of money all of a sudden. I was 22 years old and living at home.”

She worked in Tampa for two and a half years and then got a call from Rad Messick, a pd in Orlando. “He was one of my favorite program directors. I had a blast in Orlando and had many cool girlfriends,” enthused Suzanne as she ordered a French Dip sandwich from the Rancho Golf Course restaurant where we were meeting before she hit a bucket of balls. A competing pd in Orlando also was in charge of a station in Miami. “Gerry Cagle wanted me out of the Orlando market and offered me a job in south Florida. I took it and six months later they fired Gerry and the new pd wanted to bring in all his friends.”

Suzanne went to the owner of the Miami station and explained that she left a very secure job in Orlando and didn’t think it was fair to be booted after a half year. He agreed and immediately wrote out a check. On a visit to L.A. before she left Orlando, Suzanne applied to be a contestant on the Wheel of Fortune. “I’m a real game show junkie,” admitted Suzanne. The timing was right because the popular syndicated program had recently abandoned the studio filled with wonderful prizes and went to a cash-only payout for the winners. Suzanne won $13,950.  

Suzanne went overseas to ski. She booked a room for a week in Chamonix, France and from there just “winged it.” She went on to St. Moritz where she met an American stationed in Germany. They spent some time together in Paris. “And then I went on to London because I had money to do my thing,” said Suzanne. 

She briefly went to work for the music trade publication, the Hand Report. “He loved how I sounded on the phone, but within a day there was no way I was going to sit at a desk all day and talk with music directors about what they think of the new INXS record.” She got job offers in Phoenix (too hot) and Cleveland where she joined WNCX, a competitor to the legendary Buzzard, WMMS. Turned out the pd at WMMS was her first boss, Rich Piombino. “He was so kind to send me tickets to concerts they were sponsoring. I got to play lots of golf, and go to Browns football games.”  

One day Suzanne received a message from the 213 area code. She had been attempting to establish relationships with the record companies in California to get new music. She didn’t recognize the name Steve Ellis, but called anyway. “When the receptionist answered, she said ‘KLSX.’ Ellis said he was looking for a female rock jock for his Classic Rock station. He flew me out and I did an on-air interview. The guy who recommended me was Dave Hamilton, one of the top guys for ABC Radio. He had been a pd at the very successful WQRS-Minneapolis.” She didn’t know Hamilton but later learned how it all came together. When Suzanne went on the Wheel of Fortune, she put a package together with a resume, tape and a photo. “I had a big, white envelope made up with big red lettering across the front, “See me on Wheel of Fortune on such and such a day.” She sent the package to program directors all over the country and Hamilton was impressed. Ellis and Hamilton grew up together. When the opening at KLSX came, Hamilton recommended Ansilio to Ellis. “The package was a very successful marketing ploy.

Trip Reeb was programming a station in San Diego and he remembered the package.” At KLSX, Suzanne changed names one more time – Suzy Who – which was her favorite name. Before long, Ellis was leaving and Andy Bloom was coming into KLSX. “Andy was a consultant for stations I worked for in the past. He always had nice things to say to me and about me, so I wasn’t too concerned about him coming in.”

Before long Suzanne heard that he wanted to bring in Shana, a name that Bloom felt had more market recognition. Suzanne was out.  But not for long. She called her buddy Cary Curelop who has now pd at KLOS. They went to lunch and Cary told Suzanne that he and Bob Moore were headed for Pirate Radio (KQLZ, 100.3/fm) and she was part of their plans. “Unbeknownst to me, before I got fired they had already decided to take me to Pirate,” said Suzanne. “The change happened really fast with Scott Shannon leaving and Curelop taking over.”  Suzanne was at Pirate from 1989 to 1991. The relationship came to an end on a holiday weekend. Suzanne was frustrated when her replacement didn’t show up. “I played my favorite new song, You’re Invited but Your Friend Can’t Come, the first song from Vince Neil after he left Motley Crue, 25 times in a row. The building was empty except for Jay Resnick [who still works for Westwood One] and he kept saying, ‘Do it, man, do it.’ He gave me tons of encouragement. If I had taken a second to think about that decision to play one song for an hour and half, I probably would not have done something like that. I just did it!”

Later that night Bob Moore called and told her to come to his office on Tuesday. “I stopped in Cary’s office and he said that Bob wasn’t ready for me yet and to come back in an hour. When I returned Cary said that he couldn’t save my job. He also told me that he just resigned from Pirate.” Turned out the Curelop was headed back to KLOS and he hired Suzanne for her 13-year run at the Classic Rock station that came to an end when Joe Benson was hired. “I had a good long run at KLOS. The move didn’t surprise me. Nothing shocks me about this business. I have a lot of good memories.” 

ANSON, Bill: KFWB. Born in Chicago in 1908, he was discovered by Paul Whiteman. Bill was the first host of the old "Play Broadcast," a game show offered nationally by the Mutual radio network. He also was a composer and lyricist. Bill helped create the popular tune When I Write My Song recorded by Herb Jeffries and was also a lyricist for The Man Upstairs made popular by Kay Starr. He was one of the first members of AFTRA when it was formed in 1939. Bill worked Southern California radio in the 1940s and 1950s. The popular host of KTTV/Channel 11's Glancin' with Anson died in June 1983, of a heart attack. He was 75.

 

ANTHONY, Big Bob: KIQQ, 1974; KHJ, 1977-78. Bob is the founder of EMF Broadcasting, which includes the Christian Music Radio Networks Air 1 (CHR) and K-LOVE (AC), heard in 200 cities. Bob currently lives in Oregon, and is the president of a non-profit ministry called “Gospel Spots.”  Bob Anthony worked at KIQQ and KHJ in the 1970’s. After leaving KIQQ, Bob moved to Portland to work for KGW and program KREM. “In 1977 Michael Spears offered me a job at KHJ. Well, since that had always been my BIG RADIO GOAL, it was back to Boss Angeles!” When he left KHJ, Bob went to KFRC-San Francisco. In 1980 he headed for a start-up project at KCLB-Santa Rosa, an AC Christian music format. By the mid-1980s he had returned to Portland. Bob soon applied for and received a new construction permit and ran his own station until selling it in 1995. "In 1995 I helped start the Air 1 Radio Network, a CHR/Rock/Alternative Christian format. We have since merged with KLOVE and I am the national pd for 12 non-commercial contemporary Christian affiliates," said Bob. He met his wife at KGW/Channel 8-Portland where she was a graphics director.

 

ANTHONY, Dave: KODJ, 1990-91. Originally from Pennsylvania, Dave grew up in Las Vegas and studied journalism, broadcasting and music education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). As a proficient sax player, the life of a musician began during college years at UNLV, followed by professional performances. He co-founded the Minnesota Music Academy in the 1980s, and was inducted into the Las Vegas Rock Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Nevada Broadcasters Association in 2015. But morning radio was part of his early work in Las Vegas, Tucson, Denver, and Minneapolis. He could be heard in other cities like San Francisco, Houston, Phoenix, Milwaukee, and Jacksonville on prime midday and afternoon radio shows. Growing up in Las Vegas, Dave would make trips to LA. “I could never imagine being part of radio there. The traffic, the mega professionals on practically every station. Yikes. It took years of moving to bigger and bigger cities to condition me for when the opportunity came to program one of Southern California’s strongest signals,” he emailed. The intimidation factor had vanished, but he discovered a new personal challenge.  “Coaching on-air talent that had already achieved true greatness by the time I was just getting started in radio. What on earth could I possibly teach these guys? Yet looking back, I consider my years in LA to be among my biggest personal successes because of what those professionals taught me while I thought I might have been teaching them. No question, I was the bigger beneficiary.” Broadcast management soon beckoned, and Dave became a very successful program director for companies like CBS, Metromedia, and Doubleday in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Denver, Las Vegas, Jacksonville, and Tucson. Broadcast consulting quickly followed, with clients across the U.S. and internationally. Providing voiceovers for commercials and corporate videos was a natural extension of his radio career and has been a fulltime occupation for years.

ANTHONY, Ken: KLOS, 1991-92; KLSX, 1994; KLOS, 2015-19. In the summer of 2015, Ken started working weekends at KLOS.  He left in late 2019. Prior to KLSX, Ken was operations manager of River City Broadcasting in Southern California. In the 1980s, Ken worked as pd of KLOL-Houston, KPNT and WFXB-St. Louis, KSJO-San Jose and KISS-San Antonio. In 1994 he joined Zoo Entertainment and three years later formed Radio Think Tank, an alliance of actively working programming specialists. He has been a Rock music lover since he wore out the grooves on the first Led Zeppelin album. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Ken started his radio career in San Jose in the 80’s. In 1991, he was named Radio MVP of the Year by the Album Network magazine for his work at KLOS. A year later he won Billboard Magazine’s Major Market Program Director of the Year in the Rock category for the second time in three years. In 2004, Anthony was named Rock Editor of Radio & Records. In August of 2012, Anthony joined All Access as Rock Editor.

Anthony, Michael: KFOX, 1973-75; KWOW, 1978; KNOB, 1978; KORG, 1991. Michael lives in Orange County is the director of the National Business Development Council.
Anthony, R.: KGFJ, 1984-85. Last heard, Marc Anthony was working in New Orleans.
Anthony, Roger: XTRA, 1980. Unknown.
Anthony, Ted: KLAC, 1975-76. Ted is the booth announcer at WDIV/TV and evening jock at WLTI-Detroit. When he left KLAC, he spent the next two years programming an English speaking radio station for the Irannian Government. "My last radio shows were done with a helicopter pilot ready to fly me out in case of a seige upon the Government's Main National Broadcast facility by Iranian rebels. In 1999,Ted attained a Florida real estate license and sold time-share vacation ownership for Marriott. He's also a licensed private pilot and world travelled scuba diver.
Anthony, Tom: KIKF, 1981-90. Born Winston Burnette, he is a professor at CSUF in Fullerton.

ANTI, Don: KDAY, 1958-62; KFWB, 1962-68; KFI, 1969; KLAC, 1970. Don was an active part of the music presentation at 1580/KDAY and Top 40 KFWB. He died on May 23, 2009. Born in San Francisco in 1940, Don graduated from Lincoln High School in 1957, and then went on to City College of San Francisco. In the spring of 1958, he joined KYA-San Francisco. Following stops at KLAC, KFI and KNBR-San Francisco, he went to work at Mercury Records, followed by MCA in the early 1970s. In 1975 Don started Anti/Muscolo Promotions. Five years later he joined Feedback Magazine and then became an independent record promoter. “In 1985 I joined Jeff McClusky in a partnership.” Don had been recovering and making nice rehabilitative progress following a series of strokes that sidelined him for a time.

Antoinette, Karla: SEE Karla with a K

ANZUR, Terry: KABC, 1997; KFI, 2010-17. The former tv anchor at KCBS' Action News and KTLA's News at 10, has a talent coaching business and continues to be active in her acting and voiceover career. She did weekend news at KFI until March 2017.  Back in the 1990s, Terry Anzur was part of the morning drive team at KABC radio. Most of her success came from television in virtually every major market including KCBS/Channel 2 and KTLA/Channel 5. She is a former assistant professor in the School of Journalism, Annenberg School for Communication at USC.  For a time, Terry anchored the news at West Palm Beach CBS affiliate, WPEC/TV but returned to L.A. and she has an active talent coaching business at www.TerryAnzur.com. Terry is also freelancing as tv, radio, film and voiceover talent. “I just did reporter roles on ABC's Pushing Daisies and HBO's John from Cincinnati,” said Terry.

Born in Wilmington, Delaware, and raised in Southern California, Terry began her career in journalism at the age of eight with a byline in the Pasadena Star-News. Terry was one of the youngest women to gain a solo anchor position when, at age 23, she headed a newscast at WCHS/TV in Charleston, West Virginia.  

One of Terry’s greatest accomplishments was co-hosting In Depth Coast to Coast from 1994 to 1996 on America’s Talking, the NBC-owned national cable network. Terry traveled to Poland while it was under martial law to document the delivery of humanitarian aid. Sidestepping the threat of riots, bombs and tear gas, she interviewed Lech Walesa while he was still under house arrest. Her tenacity won her Chicago’s prestigious Lisagor Award for feature reporting and the Polish American Congress Award for her documentary Shoes for Poland.

APARICIO, Nestor: KMPC, 2000-01. Nestor left Sporting News 1540AM in late 2001 and he retired from daily radio in 2004 to concentrate on running WNST-Baltimore, which he owns and operates as Nasty 1570 Sports. Born October 14, 1968, in Dundalk, Maryland, he's best known by the nickname 'Nasty Nestor.' He is Venezuelan-American, and the first cousin, once removed of former MLB shortstop Luis Aparicio, as his father is a first cousin of Luis Aparicio. Nestor began as a sports writer at The Baltimore Sun where he continued as a sportswriter and music critic from 1986 until 1992. Starting in 1992 at WITH-AM 1230, Aparicio began doing daily sports talk radio both in Baltimore and later for three years at Sporting News Radio in national-syndication with 425 markets, including KMPC-Los Angeles.

Applegate, Bobby: KPPC, 1971-72. Bobby is the father of Christina Applegate. He lives in Grover City.

ARBOGAST, Bob: KMPC, 1962-67; KLAC, 1967; KFI, 1968; KGBS, 1969. Bob died March 21, 2009 of cancer, at the age of 81.  Bob Arbogast struck the funny bone for millions of fans who enjoyed his unique brand of comedy at 710/KMPC, KLAC, KFI and KGBS. Bob was admitted to St. Agnes Hospital in Fresno, near his home in Mariposa, a month before his death. Bob was diagnosed with stage IV cancer and he died three weeks later, according to his son, Pete Arbogast, the voice of USC Trojan football. Bob’s family was with him at the time of his death.

Arbogast was born on April Fool’s Day, 1927 in Bellingham, Washington. Bob was the only child of Lewis, a champion tennis player and veteran of two World Wars and Christine, also a champion tennis player, both of whom preceded him in death. 

Bob attended John Marshall High School, where he was an accomplished tennis player. He graduated in 1944.  He enlisted in the navy and was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for his work during a multi-ship raid on Tokyo Harbor. When the war ended he attended Los Angeles City College, then the University of Arizona.   

While attending the University of Arizona on a tennis scholarship, he studied broadcast journalism. As part of a class assignment, he broadcast the noon news over the campus P.A. system. “I could see out the window that no one was paying attention to the news so I began broadcasting outlandish stories.” It was the beginning of a new career.  His efforts led to an offer to do a comedy show on a local station. 

A big break came when the owner of WHB-Kansas City, Charles R. Cook, had a summer home in Tucson. In 1950 while vacationing, Cook was listening and was so impressed with Bob’s comedy that Bob was soon headed for Kansas City. Bob later went on to Chicago’s WMAQ.  

Bob then turned to writing, one featuring Tom Poston, the other Peter Marshall. It was on to San Francisco where Bob worked with Stan Bohrman on KSFO and KFRC, before finally landing – many stations later – in Los Angeles. While in the middle of a show with Stan, the pd asked Bob to come into the hallway. “He fired me and it was my birthday. I must have offended him,” remembered Bob when being interviewed for Los Angeles Radio People. 

At KMPC, he wrote for Dick Whittinghill and Gary Owens. Bob moved up the dial to KLAC, where he partnered with Jack Margolis. Despite high ratings, their objection to the Vietnam War and their pro-choice stance resulted in both being fired. The pair also hosted a television show called To Be Announced on KTTV/Channel 11. 

There were a number of popular characters created by Bob. One of his most popular characters was that of little old lady Emily Norton for KMPC. Earlier, Arbogast created the “Question Man” in Kansas City in 1951. It was used by Poston in New York and eventually by Steve Allen, who credited Bob with the idea in his book The Question Man. The concept – divulging the answer before the question was offered – lived on with Johnny Carson for ‘Carnac the Magnificent’ and is still used today on the tv show Jeopardy.  

In 1958, Arbogast teamed with Stanley Ralph Ross to write and perform a hit 45-rpm single Chaos Pt. 1 & 2, which was banned from play on many radio stations for satirizing the Top 40 formats of the day. George Carlin later used some of the material in his parody of the same sort of radio stations. In addition, Arbogast and Ross co-wrote an album of parody songs titled My Son, the Copycat, a play on Allan Sherman’s My Son the Folksinger. 

“By 1969 I decided to leave radio for an even more insecure career in commercials and cartoon voice work,” said Arbogast when he was reviewing his career in the 90s. He was one of the first writers for Sesame Street and received substantial residuals for his voice work. Bob voiced 100 episodes of Roger Ramjet and hundreds of cartoons. “In 1994 I received a residual check for 2 cents for my earlier work on Jetsons. From 40 cartoon shows I received a total of $25 in residuals.” He was the original voice for the ‘What would you do for a Klondike Bar?’ commercials. Still, among Bob’s hundreds of voices, he is probably best known for those on the Roger Ramjet cartoon series.   

Bob won several awards, including an Emmy as writer for Stars of Jazz in 1958 and a Clio in the 1970s. He also wrote for the Pat Paulsen Show and has the distinction of being a writer for the tv show Turn On, which for many years held the dubious distinction of being the shortest-lived tv show – it was cancelled after one night. Bob also appeared in the movie The Falcon and the Snowman and drove the bus in Linda Lovelace for President.  

In 1992 Bob and his wife packed up for Mariposa and they worked and lived on a 5-acre ranch. “I’m pretty good with a tractor. I’m a city boy who has adjusted to the country quite nicely. Our area is made up of either six-toed hillbillies or those who are sophisticated and funny. We haven’t had a murder in our county for two years.”   

Bob was a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and has left them a World Series championship in his will. He was also a fan of the UCLA Bruins.   

ARBOGAST, Pete: KGIL; KFOX; KNX, 1983-95; KDAY, 1984-85; KFI, 1985-86; KHJ/KRTH, 1986-87; KNX, 1984-95; KFWB, 1997; KMPC (1540), 2001-06; KSPN, 2006-19; KABC, 2019-20. Pete is the play-by-play announcer for the USC Trojans. In the late 1990s, Pete was the voice of the Cincinnati Bengals. Then the Bengals switched radio outlets and the new station had their own guy. Pete takes it from there:  “In early 2001, I felt pretty low, and was trying to find a new direction. Maybe teaching, or coaching full time, even considered being a postal carrier. Then, Brian Kennedy called out of the blue and asked if I might be interested in coming back home to be the voice of the Trojans again. “So we drove across country, landing back in So Cal in early August of ’01. On August 14, 2001 I began a long stay at 1540 KMPC in Santa Monica." "Our first show was in studios barely finished on a Tuesday night doing USC Insider. Outside the studio a party was going on to welcome the new station into the world. Nancy Cole was the gm, and I have only worked for one or two others in my entire career whom I can say was as good a boss as ever there was to work for. Kurt Kretzchmar, a big Bruin, was the pd, but was very supportive of USC during his tenure there.  We picked up Fred Roggin for his radio show very early on. Good guy, funny guy. Although, no one wrote down in their ratings books that they were listening, we figured with USC on board, how could we not get into the book eventually. The signal was so bad you couldn’t hear it in Santa Monica! They tried and tried to fix it, but there’s only so much that can be done with FCC restrictions on such things."

 

ARCHER: KQLZ, 1989. Archer is now doing copywriting, voiceovers and production.

 

ARCHER, Robert: KBIG, 1999-2006; KFI, 2007-15; KNX, 2015-23. Archer left KFI News in April 2015 and later joined KNX News. Archer was born November 2, 1963, in Belle Glade, Florida. “When I was 16, my dad announced it was time for me to learn the value of money, so he started charging me rent. I lined up two jobs: one at the drug store, and one at the local Country station, WSWN/fm. I took the radio job so I wouldn't have to work in a stock room loading heavy boxes. Within a few months I was doing afternoon drive, after school. Eventually I performed every job at the station, except engineer and salesperson. When I left in 1985, I was the pd and morning host.” He moved on to WSTU-Stuart, Florida for afternoons/md, ending up doing mornings. “I was hired away by Adult Contemporary WSTF in Orlando in 1988. In 1993, the station changed format to Alternative Rock WJRR, where they kept me on as afternoon driver. I was hired by heritage rocker WSHE-Miami right in the middle of a format/identity change there, once again for afternoons. The station became Modern A/C WPLL in 1996. I was elevated to apd and had the most fun of my career. In 1999, I re-located to Los Angeles to be with my fiancée, budding actress Lauren Nissi. We packed up the Jeep and drove to L.A. with no jobs, no home and no money. But the Gods of Radio took pity on me and I landed a spot on KBIG, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

 

ARCHERD, Army: KABC, 1972. Army spent most of a half-century in show business, most of it at Daily Variety. The former talk show host at KABC in the early 1970s died September 8, 2009, at age 87. According to Variety’s Web site, Archer died of a rare form of mesothelioma, “a cancer thought to be the result of his exposure to asbestos in the Navy during WWII.”   Army introduced the stars on their arrival at the Academy Awards for 30 years. Army’s Star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame is in front of the Chinese theater, where he emceed dozens of movie premieres. He broke one of Hollywood’s biggest stories on July 23, 1985, when he printed the Rock Hudson story on AIDS, despite denials from all quarters. Army was born on January 13, 1919 and raised in his birthplace, the Bronx. He graduated from UCLA at age 19 and started work in the mail room at Paramount Pictures. A few months later when World War II was declared, Army joined the Navy. After the war, Army and Bob Thomas opened the AP bureau at the Hollywood Citizen News. Army covered Hollywood. His first local tv show in the ’50s was Heart of Hollywood on KNXT/Channel 2. He talked about the tv show: “I’d call up Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and say, ‘Come on down and be on my tv show tonight’ – and they’d say, ‘Why not?’ and come on the show.”  Over the years Army appeared as himself in over 100 movies and tv shows. He has been honored by every major press group in the Southland. On April 15, 1996, Army was saluted by the Museum of Television and Radio with “An Evening With Army Archerd,” celebrating his showbiz coverage for 50 years. Generations of show business actors and studio heads respected Army because of his integrity, truthfulness and kindness.

(Bill Alexander and Pat Alexander) 

ARCHULETA, Jr, Alfred: KFWB, 1973; KJOI, 1973-75. Alfred is now retired and pursuing his hobbies of LA radio and music from the 1940's through the 1970's. Al was born January 22, 1947 in San Pedro and grew up in Norwalk. He graduated from Santa Fe High in 1964. His first job was for Gemco/Lucky Stores in Downey. Al earned his A.A. degree in radio  communications from L.A. City College and B.A. in radio/tv journalism from Cal State University L.A. His first radio gig was at KSEE-Santa Maria in 1971.  After working part-time at KFWB, he joined KJOI (98.7fm) in 1973 and went from weekends to all-nights. In summer 1976, Al traveled to Europe and wrote articles for the Glendale Ledger. In 1978 he returned to Lucky Stores (now Albertson's). He is an avid collector or radio memorabilia. "The Top 40 music years of  KFWB, KRLA, KHJ, KGFJ and KLAC with djs like Bill Ballance, Jimmy O'Neill, Robert. W. Morgan, Jim Wood and Larry Scott will live forever."

 

ARDOLINO, Dr. Danielle: KACD, 1996-97; KFI. Danielle is a primary care physician and health care giver for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. She currently holds a private practice in internal medicine and is one of the group physicians at the Beer Medical Group, an organization of physicians who have particular expertise in the treatment of HIV and are also proficient in managing all general medical conditions.  Ardolino received her medical degree from the UCLA School of Medicine, did her internal medicine residency at the University of California Irvine Medical Center and did a fellowship in digestive diseases at UCLA. She is a member of the American Medical Association, American College of Physicians, American Society of Addiction Medicine and the Los Angeles County Medical Association. Ardolino has served as the medical advisor, co-host and commentator on numerous Los Angeles-based and nationally broadcast radio programs, including medical advisor and reporter on KFI. Ardolino is the featured medical doctor on the Travel Channel's "Travel Daily" and a featured medical writer in Edge, Frontiers, and In L.A. magazines. She married David Zucker (Airplane and Naked Gun director) in 1997 and were divorced in 2019, though they had been separated for ten years before that.

 

ARESTI, Klaudia: KKGO, 2014. Klaudia spent many years as a producer at KOST. In early 2014, she joined KKGO as the traffic and entertainment anchor in morning and afternoon drive. Before the year was out, Klaudia had exited the station. "I kicked off my radio career at KOST 103.5 while finishing school at UCLA," said Klaudia. "Since then, I have produced and hosted various radio shows on iHeart radio. I love the world of entertainment." When she's not reading up on celebrity gossip, Klaudia is reporting on the latest entertainment news for various tv outlets including NUVOtv and CNN. "As a social media enthusiast, I plan to follow what's trending in Country and entertainment and share the latest with Go Country listeners," concluded Klaudia.

ARLINGTON, Charlie: KBBQ; KLAC; KFWB; KMPC. The forty-year veteran of Los Angeles radio and tv died in 1989 at the age of 74, following surgery. He was born September 23, 1905. One of his quiet pass times was repairing grandmother and grandfather clocks in his San Fernando Valley garage. One of his peers said of Charlie: "He was always meticulously dressed. He wore a shirt, tie and jacket as he popped out of his mobile unit, bullets at his feet! Somewhere in the early ‘40s he made his name as the feds closed in on an illegal gambling ship off the Southern California coast. With bullets flying Charlie did a live broadcast of the incident and the arrests that followed." Charlie graduated from Syracuse University. During World War II, he voiced hundreds of news broadcasts to the entire Pacific Theatre of Operations from the Office of War Information Headquarters in San Francisco. For many years he voiced The March of Time and Pathe Newsreel. In 1965 Don Page of the LA Times chose Charlie as announcer of the year. Charlie rode a motorcycle and in addition to his work as a newsman, he had a pool cleaning business. During his stay in the Southland, Charlie worked news on the Mutual Network. He had a way of phrasing that set him apart, e.g., "Among the halls and walls of Sacramento...."

Armstead, Tony: KACD, 1998-99; KRLA, 1999-2000. Tony hosted "Commonsense" at KRLA. 

ARMSTRONG and GETTY: KEIB, 2015-19; KABC, 2020-23. The pair joined morning drive at KEIB, The Patriot in October 2015 and left in 2017. They returned but left when KABC put the pair in morning drive.  Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty started out as djs in music radio in the early 90s but transitioned to all-Talk and landed a big-time slot in 1998 as the morning team on news/talk station KSTE in Sacramento. They’ve remained at KSTE while syndicated to many markets, incluing Los Angeles and heard in San Francisco and San Diego. “When I first heard them years ago, they sounded to me more like the kind of talk show hosts one would expect to hear on a rock station than on a serious news outlet," said TALKERS founder Michael Harrison. "They were funny and irreverent and surrounded with a cast of characters that gave their show more of the feeling of a morning zoo than a round table of stuffy panelists. But even though they were zany and played the goofball roll to a certain degree, their antics were offset by obvious intelligence, keen insight, excellent interviewing skills and a ton of information about what was happening in the news.”

 

ARMSTRONG, Dan: Transtar. Dan was part of the staff of Transtar's Adult Standards format for years. He died March 17, 2010, at his home in Arizona. He was 68. Dan was born in Superior, Wisconsin June 11, 1941. He began his radio career at the age of 14 years old working for various radio and tv stations. He spent 13 years in Phoenix at KOY and hosted TV 8 Dance Time in San Diego. Dan retired from Broadcasting in 2003.   “Dan was with us for about five years,” said Chick Watkins, program director of Adult Standards at Dial-Global. “He did the evening shift and came to us from San Luis Obispo, where he was a partner and vice president of programming for a station there, KVEC.”  Chick first met Dan when he was programming in Phoenix, where Dan worked from 1968 to 1982 at KOY. “He also worked as a newsman at KCBQ and KFMB/TV in San Diego, KCMO-Kansas City. “Dan was a good guy and a talented guy, very friendly and everyone got along with him very well.”  Dan broke his arm and it wasn't healing properly, according to one source. They went in again and found a tumor. It was bad news; cancerous. He was undergoing treatment and then got pneumonia.

ARMSTRONG, Dave: KWIZ, 1981-87; KYMS, 1987-91; KKLA, 1994-2000; KIEV, 1999-2000; KRLA/KFSH/KKLA, 2001-03. Dave left the general manager post at the Salem properties in Southern California for vp of operations at Salem/New York and Boston on May 23, 2003. In the fall of 2006, he was appointed head of the Salem cluster in San Diego. Dave is one of those who understands the synergy between programming and sales. He was in charge of the Salem / LA cluster for many years. He’s now working with the Diocese of Orange to create The Southern California Catholic Network. The new venture includes KHJ-Los Angeles and KCEO-Vista. “The network covers nearly 7 million Catholics from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border and the stations were recently converted to commercial,” emailed Armstrong. “I will be developing the sales function with the programming coming from Relevant Radio. This is an exciting new adventure and I look forward to helping them increase their revenue.”

ARMSTRONG, Jack: KTNQ, 1978-79; KFI, 1980-81; KKHR, 1984-86. Jack died March 23, 2008. He was 63. In 2021, Armstrong was posthumously inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. Jack was a veteran of KTNQ, KFI and KKHR in the '70s and '80s. "If you knew him at all, you would know that he wouldn't want you to be sad for a moment," wrote Jack's daughter Devon Llarsh Fischer. "He would want you to remember all the good times, what he gave to radio and to the world. He would also want you to help fight to bring back the personality in radio if at all possible. He loved being a dj almost as much as he loved being a father and that says A LOT. He put his blood, sweat and tears into both and never gave up what he believed in. He was honest, brave and could tell a joke like no other!"

Jack arrived in the Southland from WNBC-New York, where he was known as "The Unknown DJ." In 1982, he traveled to San Francisco and worked at KFRC for two years. When he left L.A. for the last time, Jack went to Cleveland and Fresno. He was a.k.a. "John Larsh" or "Big Jack." A Prodigy contributor recalled, "While attending Kent State University in 1967, I remember Jack shouting 'Yoooooouuuuurrr LLLlleeeadaaa!' on WKYC." A co-worker at "the new Ten-Q" said, "Jack had a 'gorilla' character voice that he used as an alter ego to get outrageous."  

ARNOLD, Dwight: KLYY, 1999; KMZT/KJAZ, 2000. Dwight was the program director for KRUZ 97.5 and "The Surf" 106.3 in Santa Barbara. Upon graduating from Palomar College, in 1983 Arnold took the show he had developed while in college, Backstage Pass to 91X- the legendary San Diego Alternative radio station. Additionally Arnold has worked on and produced two radio sponsored tv shows and four  magazines. Dwight's personal skills included a degree in auto body mechanics. He can pound dents out of fenders and paint cars. He skis and snowboards every winter. He also has excellent swing biking skills, which have been on display on boardwalks and at parade events for years.  After stops at San Diego stations KCLX and XHRM, Dwight joined KCXX-Riverside. At “Y107” he worked weekends. He is now group marketing director for six-station Morris Desert Media based in Palm Springs.

ARNOLD, Ed: KNBB, 1962; KNOB, 1963; KOCM, 1964-68; KDAY, 1968-69; KOCM, 1970-74, pd; KHTZ/KRLA, 1984-85; KMPC, 1986-88. Ed is one of the most familiar faces on local television, but his heart has always been in radio. He started his radio career at age 14 at KOSY-Texarkana in 1954. "They had these new things called 45 rpm records that were replacing 78s and I was hired to create a filing system." Less than six months later he had his own show called "Rockin' with Eddy." His first live remote was from the local theater showing Rock Around the Clock. He helped host a weekly Country jamboree with huge stars like Johnny Cash, Hank Thompson, and "this new kid from Memphis named Elvis Presley." In 1958 he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and came to California, where he stayed. In the Marines he was offered a football scholarship at Santa Ana College, which he took. While in school he secured a job at KNBB. A few months later he moved to "The Jazz Knob." Ed received his B. A. degree in speech/radio/tv/film in 1968 from Long Beach State. After graduation he was hired by Tom Clay at KDAY. It was soon after that he began doing the on- and off-camera announcing for Dr. Robert H. Schuller's Hour of Power telecast which became known as the Crystal Cathedral. Their service was internationally syndicated and Ed continued to be the volunteer announcer for over a quarter century. In the late '60s and early '70s Ed was a KTLA/Channel 5 booth announcer and in 1974 he replaced the legendary Tom Harmon on KTLA's News at 10. A year later he moved to KABC/Channel 7 and spent a decade with the station while jointly serving as the voice of KCET. Ed has been given every prestigious award imaginable for his community work. He has served on various civic boards and continues to be active in the KCET pledge drives. At KMPC Ed worked with Jim Lange and Robert W. Morgan in morning drive. When asked if he missed radio, Ed replied, "You bet!"

Arnold, Lee: KLAC/KZLA, 1987. Unknown.

ARTHUR, Bob: KNX; KABC, 1969-90. Born Joseph Arthur Prince in Kansas, June 2, 1921, Bob was one-half of the popular "Ken and Bob Company" morning news block on KABC. He studied journalism in college and began his career on tv in Wichita. He came to the Southland in the mid-1960s and worked for KTLA/Channel 5. After two years at KNX, Bob started at KABC in 1969 as a newsman. Beginning in 1973 and for the next 17 years "EGBOK" was Ken Minyard and Bob's catch phrase for "everything's gonna be OK." There was a spontaneous chemistry between the two. Ken was the more talkative of the two, would comment about news events or quirky happenings, while Bob, the more authoritative newsman, would provide wry one-liners and snappy observations. Bob retired in 1990. He explained the success of the team to the LA Times: "I've heard it said that it was like eavesdropping on a poker game where the stakes weren't very high."

Bob died March 25, 1997, at his home in Albuquerque at the age of 75. According to former KABC partner Ken Minyard, his body was cremated and the ashes were spread off the Southern California coast. Half a bottle of Chivas Regal was poured over the ashes. "He didn’t want to waste a full bottle," according to Ken. His wife said: "His nickname was ‘Mr. News.’ The thing he was most proud of was he interviewed John F. Kennedy twice."

Artis, Dick: KWOW/KPMO, 1955-59. Dick lives in Washington, DC and works as a systems consultant.

ARVIN, Steve: KGBS, 1964-65; KMPC, 1965-85. Steve was the entertainment editor for the Gene Autry station. Steve got to KMPC in 1965 and for decades was the entertainment reporter. Steve was born and raised in Chicago and earned a B.A. from the University of Illinois. "I worked a variety of professions before going into radio, including Cook county sheriff's juvenile bureau after serving in Korea and Japan," said Steve. "Several reporters suggested that I had the training, background and intelligence to become a journalist, and the demeanor and voice to succeed in radio or tv. I heard it often enough, particularly in high profile cases, to make me curious about my potential. I went to a small radio station in downstate Illinois." He came to California from Davenport, Iowa's WOC radio/tv station and after doing news in Bakersfield for Danny Thomas' station. Steve started as nd at KGBS then KMPC in 1965. "From 1980 to 1985, I did a review show for the old Z channel called Cinemascore." Steve was a writer for Entertainment Tonight. "I reviewed film for UPI radio until my wife Ann's serious illness in 1996. Annie is just fine now, but it put us both in touch with our mortality, as they say, and from my status on leave of absence, I retired permanently." Steve has appeared in hundreds of tv and film roles, almost always as a newsman/interviewer. "My wife and I travel as much as possible, and we can be spotted almost every day at one of the three Southland race

Asher, John: KMPC. The genius behind Dick Whittinghill's 450 "Romance of Helen Trump" soap opera series and the marketing campaign, "Did You Whittinghill This Morning?" died in the mid-1990s.
Ashley, Lorelei: KOCM; KOST, 1991-92. Lorelei runs a video production company in Orange County.

ASHLIN, Tony: KLON, 1977; KGER, 1989-95; KMAX, 1995. Tony produced Christian radio programs for Branches Communication and was heard on Hal Lindsey's "Week in Review" (over 100 stations) over the USA Network. Today, he is the webmaster and chief investigator at iRumorMill.com and reports on conspiracy theories, Internet rumors and warnings circulating the Internet. He lives in Alamogordo, New Mexico

 

ASHLOCK, Greg: KFI/KLAC/KXTA/KIIS/KBIG/KOST/KTLK/KYSR/KEIB, 2001-23. Greg was president/market manager for the Clear Channel/LA cluster. In the spring of 2014, he was promoted to president/Clear Channel Southern California and then evp of operations for iHeart/Southern California. In January 2016 he was promoted to President iHeartMedia Markets Group. Greg earned a Master's degree in communications management from the USC Annenberg School of Communication with a minor from the Business School.     Beginning in 1994 and for the next three years he worked for the LA Dodgers as a corporate sales manager. In 1997 he joined Jacor as an account executive for KXTA / XTRA Sports 1150, focusing on Dodger radio sales. A year later he became the sports sales manager.    In 2001, as part of the AM/FM merger, Greg was named general manager of the AM properties; KFI, KLAC and KXTA. A year later he was named co-market manager for the Clear Channel cluster with Roy Laughlin over their eight radio stations. In 2005, he was made president of the L.A. market, a position he holds today.     When Greg first arrived in Los Angeles, he had $500 to his name. “The Dodgers had a position that paid $7 an hour,” said Greg. “They had interviewed me on the phone, but told me they could not hire anyone without a face-to-face meeting. I had just graduated from college a week earlier and was at home in Malakoff, Texas [population 2048]. I thought, ‘what the heck,’ and packed my 1987 Sunbird, withdrew $500 from a checking account, which was all I had, and headed to sunny California. If it didn’t work out, I'd chalk it up as a mini-vacation.”

Greg made a deadhead drive and after 29 hours, he arrived in Santa Ana. “One of my friends was doing some missions work in Orange County and told me that the family he was staying with would let me crash there for a few nights before they went on vacation. By the way, this was on a Wednesday. On Thursday, I had my interview with the Dodgers. The meeting went great and they offered me the job. The offer was followed with a couple of questions, ‘Do you have a place?’ and ‘Can you start Monday?’ I replied, of course, ‘Yes and yes.’”   

Greg spent the next day making the rounds of local churches asking the ministers if someone in the congregation would be willing to rent him an inexpensive room until he got on his feet. “Remember, I grew up in Mayberry and this was what people did in small-town USA. Good Southern hospitality. Needless to say, everyone I talked to was rather skeptical and I couldn't find any takers.”   

The pressure was on. It was Saturday and he was going to start with the Dodgers on Monday and he had no place to stay. “I spent all day browsing the papers looking for a cheap place to rent [really cheap],” remembered Greg. “I found a place downtown for $200 per month and called the landlord to set up a walk-through. He showed me the place around 3 p.m. and my ‘would be’ room-mates [about 10 of them] were all still asleep. So here was Howdy Doody about to move in with a large group of questionable characters in a place that screamed ‘crack house.’”   

Greg continued: “I told the guy I needed until 6 p.m. At that point, I walked down to the corner 7-Eleven and took one last shot with the Yellow Pages. I called the First Baptist Church of Beverly Hills. C’mon, Beverly Hills. Surely, someone could lend me a hand for a few months until I could cash in those huge checks I would be making from the Dodgers. The pastor answered the phone. He told me that he couldn't think of anyone in his congregation that could help, but he might be able to give me some suggestions if I wanted to swing by. He gave me directions and I was on his doorstep in 30 minutes. We hit it off. He was a Dodgers season ticket holder of 30 years. After a long chat and agreeing to help out with the youth group and to do odd jobs around the church, he offered to let me rent the house next to the church that they used for the nursery on Sunday mornings. It had a shower. A kitchen. And a porch. He charged me a whopping $100 per month. I worked him down to $75 [just kidding]. I took it and unpacked my car on the spot.”    

Greg and the pastor, Tom Stringfellow, became really good friends. Strange how things work out. That pastor is now Greg’s father-in-law. “God's grace was in full effect. It all worked out,” said Greg.     

ASHMAN, Chuck: KABC, 1976-77; KMET, 1980; KMPC, 1981; KFI, 1990; KBLA, 1991-92; KNNS, 1996. Chuck anchored the news (both straight ahead and satirically) at Channel 11 in its Metromedia pre-Fox/TV days. But he has always been a radio man who took some time off to do tv. He hosted talk radio on KABC and KFI. He also did a brief stint as a newscater on KMET. Chucki moved on to a marketing role in the film industry and consulted to high tech companies while producing in-flight radio programming for United Airlines.  He is the ceo of Vet Matchmaking and a Vice Commander of Jewish War Veterans.

 

ASHTON TAYLOR, Ruth. Born April 20, 1922 in Long Beach, she was the first female tv reporter on the West Coast. She has inspired generations of women covering serious news for local and national broadcast outlets. A graduate of Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, Scripps College and Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism, Taylor started her career with CBS radio in 1944. She subsequently became part of Edward R. Murrow’s celebrated documentary team and was hired in 1951 by KNXT (now KCBS/2). She retired in 1989. "Nobody knew what to do with a woman reporter so they let me do what I wanted to do," she told the LA Times. In the 1960s, she appeared with Jerry Dunphy, Gil Stratton, and Bill Keene as part of the legendary “Big News” on KNXT/Channel 2 (now KCBS). While the station later tried out many different anchors and restructured the station’s news throughout the following decades, Ruth continued as one of the constants.  In accepting her Golden Mike Ruth was as feisty as always, offering some stern advice for the crowded roomful of news people and news executives. “I would like to see more inside work. I’d like to see you get out and inside the Capitol and our political organizations.” She was concerned that it now takes four or five people before you can have access to a city councilman. “There are an awful lot of people and let’s find out what’s going on here.”

 

ASKEW, Ted: KUSC, 2003-05. Ted was heard on weekends at the Classical, KUSC. After graduating from Western Washington University with a BA in Literature, Ted worked for 6 years as a pianist, composer, and music producer in the Seattle area.  He has been involved with Public Radio since 1980, serving as Classical music director and host at Northern Sound Public Radio, production director and classical music host for the Northwest Public Radio network, and most recently as general manager at KUGS/fm at his alma mater, WWU.  He has produced a wide variety of musical and educational programming and continues to enjoy playing, writing, and recording music in his free time.

 

ASTOR, Art: KHJ, 1965-70; KDAY, 1970-72; KHJ; KIKF, 1980-2000; KMXN, 2000-03. Art Astor, veteran Southern California broadcaster and owner, died December 7, 2016, following a short illness due to cancer. He was 91. Born in Fresno to Armenian-immigrant parents who came to this country to escape the genocide, Art lived in Southern California since he was five. Following a tour of duty with the Air Force, he graduated from USC with a degree in communications. Over a long and distinguished career, he has held management positions with two national rep companies, RKO (gsm of KHJ and KRTH), Rollins Radio (gm at KDAY), and evp and gm of Drake-Chenault Enterprises. Art became an owner in 1983 when he purchased KIK/fm (later COOL 94.3) and an AM/FM combo in San Francisco. In 1987, he added two more stations to the group by purchasing an AM and fm in San Diego. Later, he purchased KSPA in Ontario. Art's automobiles are his second passion in life. He owned over 200 classic cars. "In broadcasting, two years employment at the same station is a miracle," emailed Jeff Gehringer. "I was lucky to work with Art for 18 years.  He was a class act. He is one of the last independent owners in Southern California."

Asuna, Bernardo: KPWR, 1997. Unknown.

ATTEBERY, Larry: KNX, 1970-72. Larry was best known for his four decades of tv work as anchor and reporter at KCOP/Channel 13 and KTTV/FOX 11. At KNX, Larry worked morning drive as co-anchor at KNX. He retired in 2001 and moved with his wife to Henderson,  Nevada, where he died of complications from pancreatic cancer on May 5, 2006. The Chicago-born Attebery began his broadcast career in 1960 at WBBM-Chicago, where he worked as a reporter and he anchored a popular call-in program. From 1965-67, he anchored Today in Chicago and Larry Attebery's Private Line. He also produced and anchored a series of half-hour specials for NBC that earned him a local Emmy Award.   Arriving in Los Angeles in 1968 to work at KNX, Attebery joined KTTV's "On Target" investigative team in 1973 and was later promoted to principal news anchor. In 1983, he became the news director at KTTV. "He not only was a damn good street reporter, but he was a good writer, a good producer and, on top of that, a damn good director of news," tv news veteran George Putnam, who worked with Attebery at KTTV, told the LA Times. "He was incisive in his approach to news, and he was a tough master," Putnam said. "If he differed with you, and he was on firm ground, he let you know it. He was preeminently fair, however. And you listened to Larry, because he had done it himself."

While reporting for KCOP from 1988 to 2001, Attebery covered the criminal and civil trials of O.J. Simpson, delivered a series of "insider" political reports on the California primary and general elections, and covered the Los Angeles Police Department corruption scandal, according to the Times obit.  

"He was a gentleman," said tv news reporter Hal Eisner, who worked with Attebery at KTTV and KCOP. "The guy was polite but aggressive. He knew how to go out and get a story, but he was nice about it. "He was a very familiar person to all in Los Angeles for a very long time."  

Attebery won more than 50 local and national awards, including three local Emmys, seven Golden Mikes and eight from the Los Angeles Press Club. In 1999, he received the Edward R. Murrow Award for his series of reports on construction of the troubled Belmont Learning Center. Attebery, a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism who served as a journalist during a stint in the Navy, was a past president of the Los Angeles Press Club and of the Radio and Television News Assn. of Southern California.   Attebery also wrote, with Marvin J. Wolf, the 1993 book Family Blood: The True Story of the Yom Kippur Murders.

 Atkins, Steve: KHOF, 1964-68; KYMS, 1986-90; KORG, 1991; KMXN 2002. Steve was working morning drive at KMXN (1510 AM).

ATKINS, Ted: KHJ, 1970-72; KIIS, 1973. Most of Ted Atkins’ success came to him in Pittsburgh as general manager at WTAE. But he made his mark in LARadio as program director at 93/KHJ from 1970-72, followed by a year at KIIS. Ted died July 19, 2012, of pancreatic cancer. He was 72. Charlie Van Dyke, one of the premiere Top 40 jocks at legendary stations, worked for Ted three times and expressed his sadness: “I am surprised at the depth of sadness I feel with Ted's passing. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Ted was the pd who hired me into the Drake organization. He coached me and encouraged me to find my wings at CKLW. He believed enough to move me to San Francisco when he took over a very sick KFRC. And later, he brought me on board when he was running KHJ. I will never forget Saturdays in that era. I followed Robert W. Morgan and filled the time until The Real Don Steele. Just magical. What Ted was able to do was make every person feel like they were the most important person he could possibly speak with.  He had an amazingly positive attitude at all times and a rare sense of humor. He made you laugh. He made you try harder. He was your coach and your friend.  For the rest of my radio career, I tried to use his style when I was a program director. I don't think any pd had any greater influence on me or made a more lasting mark than Ted Atkins. He was called Captain Showbiz. I am so sad that he has now done his final encore. And my life will forever be richer for having known him for many years. Thank you, Ted. Well, I called him ‘Theo’ and he called me ‘Chaz.’ He used code talk for many folks. It's just wonderful to think of all the great times with him. In faith, I know that I will one time see him again and thank him one more time. I only wish that everyone in radio could have a Ted Atkins in their life. It makes all the difference.

Ted started in radio while attending the University of Denver. His first job was doing weekends at KLAK, a Country station. Within months he was working at three stations on-air simultaneously under three different names: all night, weekends and news. Leaving Denver, Ted returned to his hometown, Kansas City, and took over afternoons at KCKN and later KUDL and WHB.

After time-out for the Air Force, he was named pd at KDAB-Denver and then KBTR. Hired away by KIMN it was the beginning of Denver's greatest Top 40 battle. In 1967 Ted became om at WOL-Washington, DC, which led to teaming up with Bill Drake and RKO as pd of CKLW-Detroit and KFRC-San Francisco. At KFRC he was involved in the production of the 48-hour "History of Rock and Roll." Ted joined Chuck Blore as pd at KIIS in 1973. When he left the Southland Ted joined WTAE-Pittsburgh as gm and WXKX, where he remained for 12 years.

In 1985 he became a partner in a group that bought KROY-Sacramento and KSJQ-Modesto. Selling to Great American, he returned to Pittsburgh and tried, unsuccessfully, to buy a local station. In 1989 he became gm at WWSW and in 1991 a consultant to WMXP.

Classic radio promotions in his career include giving away a Denver record store with just one listener phone call, giving away an entire used car lot over a weekend and the infamous turkey drop from a helicopter, later recreated on WKRP. When interviewed for Los Angeles Radio People, Ted said: "A great thrill was visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and hearing Morgan, Steele and Humble Harve in the radio museum."

Attack, Jack: KIKF, 1992-94. Unknown.
Austin, Harold: KKBT, 1993-97; KIBB/KCMG, 1997-98; KKBT, 1999-2000; KTNQ/KLVE/KSCA/KRCD/KRCV, 2001-02. Harold works for Global Media Research & Consulting Partners.

AUSTIN, Phil: KROQ, 1977. Phil a founding member of the Firesign Theatre satirical comedy troupe, died June 19, 2015, of cardiac arrest following a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 75. His most popular character was Nick Danger, a zany detective with the mysterious power of a third eye. Born in Denver, Austin grew up in Fresno and studied drama at Fresno State and UCLA. He began performing in plays and in 1966 appeared with fellow actor Philip Proctor and documentary filmmaker David Ossman on Radio Free Oz, Peter Bergman’s late-night talk program on KPFK. The four began doing improvisational comedy. After several more radio appearances, they became the Firesign Theatre and started performing at local clubs such as the Ash Grove and the Magic Mushroom. They landed a recording contract with Columbia and eventually released more than 20 albums for various labels. Eight of those albums appeared on Billboard’s Top 200 chart. The biggest was I Think We’re All Bozos On This Bus, which reached #50 in 1971. In 1967, Radio Free Oz moved to KRLA, where it aired on Sunday nights in 1967 and to KMET in 1968. The troupe starred in The Firesign Theatre Radio Hour on KPPC in 1969. They returned to KPFK in 1970 with a short-lived weekly comedy program titled Dear Friends. The best segments were released on an album. During the 1980 Presidential race, the troupe’s satirical political commentaries were heard on NPR. The Firesign Theatre also released four books and starred in 16 films. (Written by Steve Thompson, LARadio Rewind)

Austin, Tracy: KIIS, 1995-98. Tracy left Hot AC KHMX (Mix 96.5) in Houston in early 2012. She is now svp/general sales manager at Media Audit.

AUTRY, Gene: KMPC/KSCA. Gene Autry's career spanned more than sixty years in the entertainment industry. He is the only entertainer to have five Stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, one each for radio, records, movies, television and live theatrical including rodeo performances. Orvon Gene Autry was born September 29, 1907 in Tioga, Texas, population fewer than 500.  He began singing in the church choir at age 5 and was taught to play guitar by his mother when he was 12. Beginning his radio career in 1928, by 1937 he was America's Favorite Cowboy. His CBS radio show "Melody Ranch" ran for 16 years. He produced and starred in close to 100 television shows. His film career began in 1934 when he first went to Hollywood to sing one song in a Ken Maynard Western, In Old Santa Fe. Gene appeared in 94 feature films. To moviegoers in the 1930s and ‘40s, Gene was a red-blooded American hero whose films featured a dashing horse, Champion, a flood of happy endings and simple Western songs. From 1937 through 1942, Gene was voted the top Western star in Hollywood. No cowboy had ever done as well. He recorded 635 records including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which has sold over 30 million copies. Rudolph was cut in one take during the last few minutes of a recording session in 1949. In 1952 he purchased KMPC for $800,000 and sold it in 1984 for $18 million. His fm property sold to a Spanish conglomerate for $112 million.

In 1961 he acquired the California Angels and in 1995 he agreed to sell his beloved Angels. Disney purchased 25% and assumed control, with an agreement to acquire the remaining rights to the team at Autry’s death. In 1964 he bought KTLA/Channel 5 for $12 million and sold it in 1982 for $245 million. His Western Heritage Museum opened in November 1988 and has attracted millions of tourists. He ranked on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans for several years and in 1990 was the elite group’s only entertainer. By 1995 he had slipped into the “near miss” category with an estimated net worth of $320 million.

Gene died October 2, 1998. His death came three days after his 91^st birthday and three months after that of his celluloid rival and friend Roy Rogers.

Avenatti, Jeff: KNAC, 1984; KOCM, 1990. Unknown.
Avery, Mark: KLOS, 1993-94. Mark has an active voiceover career.

(Bob Manfredo Allen and Arturo Alvarez)

AVEY, Dan: KWIZ, 1978; KFWB, 1976-86; KFI, 1986-89; KFWB, 1989-2001; KABC, 2001-07. Dan was a remarkable radio man. No, strike that, Dan Avey was a remarkable man. Dan Avey died August 15, 2010, following complications of prostate cancer. He was 69. Dan was a proud man. He loved his family (four girls) and he loved his radio family. He won 15 Golden Mikes and more than a dozen other major awards for sports, news anchoring, reporting and writing at KFWB. He served in Vietnam as a green beret captain. Born in Spokane, Washington, he was raised in Whittier. "I spent my high school years hanging out at KFWB [ironically, since I ended up there later], going in at night to pull records and referee fights between Bill Ballance and B. Mitchel Reed,” Dan remembered when looking over his career. He went back to Spokane for college and law school at Gonzaga University, where he also "warmed the bench" on the basketball team. His first job in radio was at KXLY-Spokane as a college freshman. For the next 7 years he was the morning dj, sometimes pd, and afternoon tv kid show host of Mr. Wallaby and Dan. He spent a year in the mid-70s running the Fabulous Forum and its teams for Jack Kent Cooke. He was one of the early color men for the Los Angeles Kings. In the late 1980s he teamed with Gary Owens and Geoff Edwards on morning shows at KFI, where he also did a nighttime sports show.

In 1990, he ran Metro Traffic's LA office. Dan taught sports PR and broadcasting at USC and Cal State Northridge. He was a news anchor at all-News KFWB  a number of times. He also teamed with Ken Minyard when Ken returned to KABC following a brief retirement. In 2006, Dan received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Just before the Star unveiling, Dan addressed the crowd. “As I told Doug McIntyre the other morning, it feels like you’re going to your own funeral. Everybody’s all dressed up and they say nice things.” Johnny Grant presided over Dan's ceremony: “Whether the story is social, political, or of an entertainment nature, Avey’s 30 years as a journalist make him a credible and professional broadcaster. His well-known straightforward approach to the news has made him one of the most trusted broadcasters in Los Angeles. Talk formats, play-by-play sports and his unparalleled news and features, he has received over 30 journalism awards for writing and reporting news, as well as his expertise in sports, show business, the law, economics, political and the military.” Dan thanked his broadcast colleagues. “My career has been illuminated by the brilliance of the people I’ve worked with. I got to hang out with everybody from the Beatles to John Wooden. From the President of the United States to OJ Simpson and everybody in between. Today is like the frosting on the cake. I am so indebted to all of you I’ve worked with. Some of my bosses really took a chance – Jhani Kaye, Greg Tantum, and Erik Braverman who worked for five months to get me to KABC. To all my colleagues, friends and family, it is great to have you all here. You have enriched my life by being here.”

 

AXE, Lisa: KACD, 1996. In the late summer of 2001, Lisa left mornings at "The Peak"-Denver. She's now married and last heard was living in a mountain community. Lisa grew up in Columbus, Ohio and graduated magna cum laude from Ohio State University in 1994 with a B.A. in English literature. While in college, Lisa worked in Columbus at WWCD, WSNY and WCOL. She also served as an airborne traffic reporter. After working the summer of 1996 at KACD, Lisa became an instructor at the Academy of Radio Broadcasting in Huntington Beach. For a time in 90s, she was been hosting the morning show at KCXX-Riverside and a few years later joined a morning team in Denver.

 

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