• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

930 KHJ stunting w/God rock

My longtime friend Bill Earl was the official KRLA historian and wrote a book about the station. In Dream-House (pages 79-80), Bill noted that it was KRLA program director Dick Sainte who hired Murphy away from KJR in 1971. Sainte told Murphy that KHJ morning man Charlie Tuna had been ordered by management to listen to airchecks of Murphy "to hear how a morning-drive radio show and real high-personality radio star should sound." Bill added---not necessarily objectively---that KHJ knew Murphy would eventually be the top morning DJ in Los Angeles.

Murphy, of course, did not last long at KRLA. Shadoe Stevens became program director and moved Murphy to the 9-to-noon slot and later to the midnight-to-six slot and finally fired him and replaced him with Jay Stevens. If KHJ had considered Murphy to be such a threat, then why didn't KHJ hire him after he left KRLA?
 
LARadioRewind said:
My longtime friend Bill Earl was the official KRLA historian and wrote a book about the station. In Dream-House (pages 79-80), Bill noted that it was KRLA program director Dick Sainte who hired Murphy away from KJR in 1971. Sainte told Murphy that KHJ morning man Charlie Tuna had been ordered by management to listen to airchecks of Murphy "to hear how a morning-drive radio show and real high-personality radio star should sound." Bill added---not necessarily objectively---that KHJ knew Murphy would eventually be the top morning DJ in Los Angeles.

Murphy, of course, did not last long at KRLA. Shadoe Stevens became program director and moved Murphy to the 9-to-noon slot and later to the midnight-to-six slot and finally fired him and replaced him with Jay Stevens. If KHJ had considered Murphy to be such a threat, then why didn't KHJ hire him after he left KRLA?
Click to expand...

No room.

Murphy, in fact, came very close to beating Charlie Tuna in mornings. As in "one more book oughta do it."

Robert W. Morgan wanted to come home, so KHJ hired him back. They offered Tuna middays at the morning salary, but Charlie said no, knowing that move would brand him a failure as a morning jock. They expected Tuna to say yes, so they'd already made plans to transfer Pete McNeal to KYNO in Fresno. Drake knew his consulting deal with KGB was about to implode, so he pulled Charlie Van Dyke out of there to do middays at KHJ. By the time of KHJ's next opening, Murphy was long gone.
 
I've never understood Shadoe. He left KHJ very upset that they'd passed over him twice in just a few weeks...first when they fired Chuck Browning and brought in Jerry Butler from WRKO and then when they brought Mark Elliott down from KFRC to do noon to 3 after Tuna went to mornings. He jumped ship to KRLA without telling anyone at KHJ. He did an evening shift on Sunday, October 17th and the next night, October 18th, showed up on KRLA. When he became PD at KRLA, he had the tools at his disposal to hit KHJ where it hurt. Instead, Shadoe took what turned out to be a disastrous left turn toward AOR. The numbers dropped by half in the first year and he was out of a gig. Lasted 13 months.
 
Oh boy, look at what I found on the Backbone Hub site: WRKO program director Bob Henabery had come to Los Angeles in June 1966 so he could hear Boss Radio 93/KHJ and he wrote a detailed analysis of KHJ's format, clock, jingles, promos, newscasts and DJs. It's included in a lengthy essay by Mel Phillips about the March 1967 launch of the top-40 format at 68/RKO:

http://www.backbonehub.com/WRKO-TheLaunch-gnc.pdf
 
LARadioRewind said:
Oh boy, look at what I found on the Backbone Hub site: WRKO program director Bob Henabery had come to Los Angeles in June 1966 so he could hear Boss Radio 93/KHJ and he wrote a detailed analysis of KHJ's format, clock, jingles, promos, newscasts and DJs. It's included in a lengthy essay by Mel Phillips about the March 1967 launch of the top-40 format at 68/RKO:

http://www.backbonehub.com/WRKO-TheLaunch-gnc.pdf
Click to expand...

That's been online 15 or more years now. I re-read it just now. It's amusing how much Henaberry either mid-heard or mid-describes.
 
<I bet Ed Sullivan would have been thrilled to see which Rolling Stones song is on that list.>

Right. Ha ha ha.

Aaaah, but God uses even the basest of creatures.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom