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Best On-Air Talent Ever In The City Of Angels

M

MChase2017

New Participating Member
Lots of greats have called Los Angeles home over the years. Who would you consider the best of all time in The City Of Angels? Name/Call Letters/Years The only rule....no syndicated shows piped in from other places.
 
ChannelFlipper said:
Vin Scully is Number 1. Everyone else is playing for runner-up.
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I wouldn't consider Casey Casem a runner-up to anyone. KRLA, 1963. No one will likely ever eclipse the sheer recognition or success that Casem built throughout his career. If we're speaking only of those that stayed in LA for the majority of their career, then yes, Vin Scully. I didn't see any specific qualifications pertaining to such. Casem was indeed syndicated, but he didn't start off that way.
 
Absolutely! You'll get no arguments here. A very strange and sad ending to his story though. Rest in peace Casey, wherever you may be.
 
Vin Scully certainly gets the longevity award and also is tops talent-wise in his field, sportscasting. But who today remembers Andy Mansfield, who with his wife Virginia used his encyclopedic music knowledge not only on KFI but the worldwide armed forces network? He was the Vin Scully of pre-rock and roll radio and his "Turn Back the Clock" program (utilizing his own music library augmented by that of KFI) featured music that stretched beck to the depression era. And then of course there was the comedy team of Lohman and Barkley before talk radio took over KFI. Not to mention the Ladies Day program hosted by a team headed by the venerable Dave Shaw (who later moved ion to KFAC after Cox bought KFI). All of these broadcasters were AM stalwarts fifty years ago, but their contributions deserve to be remembered..
 
benale said:
Robert W,Charlie Tuna,Don Steele and Gary Owens.
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I'd have to agree with that. I didn't appreciate Morgan at the time - I preferred Lohman & Barkley and Dave Hull. Robert W. was a bit too low-key for me in the morning...uh...morgan. Odd thing to say about a Top 40 jock on Boss Radio. But I've listened to a lot of his air checks at Reelradio the last decade or so, and can now really appreciate his talent.

RE: Casey Kasem - KRLA was considered the "hip" AM station in the late 60s, and Casey, who was doing his countdown show only locally and then was the fill-in guy, came off as the squarest of the square...at least among my hippie friends. It was funny listening to him fill in for Jimmy Rabbit at night - who threw away the playlist and played what he wanted. The best "The Caser" could come up with was the long version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. We were a bit flabbergasted when he hit the big time with AT40.
 
Art Landing said:
Vin Scully certainly gets the longevity award and also is tops talent-wise in his field, sportscasting. But who today remembers Andy Mansfield, who with his wife Virginia used his encyclopedic music knowledge not only on KFI but the worldwide armed forces network? He was the Vin Scully of pre-rock and roll radio and his "Turn Back the Clock" program (utilizing his own music library augmented by that of KFI) featured music that stretched beck to the depression era. And then of course there was the comedy team of Lohman and Barkley before talk radio took over KFI. Not to mention the Ladies Day program hosted by a team headed by the venerable Dave Shaw (who later moved ion to KFAC after Cox bought KFI). All of these broadcasters were AM stalwarts fifty years ago, but their contributions deserve to be remembered..
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And I am glad you brought these broadcasters to our attention. Radio does a terrible job of remembering its past.

I listened to Lohman and Barkely when I was a kid and they were indeed very funny, although I just considered them to be the KFI morning guys, just like everyone else has a morning show. At that time I didn't really know of or appreciate their longevity. The only difference to me was that they were on the best signal in town, meaning you could literally hear them all over Southern California and most of central California, even during the day. The rest of the names you mentioned I have heard of, but have never heard any sample of their work.
 
ChannelFlipper said:
And I am glad you brought these broadcasters to our attention. Radio does a terrible job of remembering its past.

I listened to Lohman and Barkely when I was a kid and they were indeed very funny, although I just considered them to be the KFI morning guys, just like everyone else has a morning show. At that time I didn't really know of or appreciate their longevity. The only difference to me was that they were on the best signal in town, meaning you could literally hear them all over Southern California and most of central California, even during the day. The rest of the names you mentioned I have heard of, but have never heard any sample of their work.
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I'm dating myself, but for most of my high school years (66-69), Lohman & Barkley were on KFWB, which was Top 40 at the time before going All News in '68. I didn't follow them to KFI, because that was one of my parents' stations...though I made an exception for Dodger broadcasts with Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett on KFI.
 
No mention of Jaime Jarrín? I hate anything to do with Baseball yet with the Dodgers since 1959, that is impressive if this was a longevity thread.
 
MChase2017 said:
Lots of greats have called Los Angeles home over the years. Who would you consider the best of all time in The City Of Angels? Name/Call Letters/Years The only rule....no syndicated shows piped in from other places.
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Humberto Luna on KTNQ... late 70's to the late 90's.
 
Jim Healy. KMPC 1984-94.

(I'm sure he was just a great on his other stations before the 80s, but I never heard his stuff from that era.)
 
From someone who's never set foot in LA, and only heard LA radio via the miracle of the interwebs, you have had an embarrassment of riches over the years. The best I've gotten to hear from the past are Gary Owens, L&B, Morgan, Steele, Don Mackinnon, and Bob Crane's morning show on KNX. Rick Dees has been kind of an off-and-on punching bag, but you don't have that kind of career by accident. As far as current people, Tim Conway, Jr. has become my second-favorite talk host ever.
 
badltnt said:
Jim Healy. KMPC 1984-94.

(I'm sure he was just a great on his other stations before the 80s, but I never heard his stuff from that era.)
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I remember Healy from the early 70s - on KLAC when it was a country station.

"Hoowwww do you do, I'm Jim Healy on KLAC, Los Angeles - brought to you by your Southern California Datsun dealer. NObody demands MORE from a Datsun than DATSUN! Dateline: Los Angeles..."
 
Michael Jackson's 30 years of talk dominance on KABC Talkradio 790 was exceptional. He exuded warmth, humor, comradery, education, and had a rolodex of EVERYONE in every industry from Hollywood to Washington to Moscow to Jerusalem to the nation's kitchens (Wolfgang Puck) and gyms (Richard Simmons), etc. His daily must-listen 9a to noon program was truly vibrant radio in a class above anything today's talkmeisters who mistakenly believe "the mic belongs solely to me".
 
LKellerIII said:
I remember Healy from the early 70s - on KLAC when it was a country station.

"Hoowwww do you do, I'm Jim Healy on KLAC, Los Angeles - brought to you by your Southern California Datsun dealer. NObody demands MORE from a Datsun than DATSUN! Dateline: Los Angeles..."
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As I have mentioned before, Jim Healy was a radio genius and innovator. When he went to the taped bits to add color to his stories, it was a stroke of genius, and then through careful cultivation on Jim's part, the bits became stars in their own right and he would drop them in at just the right time to get maximum laugh value. But having the bits would be just another guy on the radio with a different shtick if it wasn't for one thing. He was the most plugged in sports reporter in town, including reporting on the sports media itself. He was the one guy who was not only willing to take you behind the ropes and curtains, but show you how idiotic the scene actually was when you got there and then name names as to who the chief idiots were.

For many, his show was must-hear appointment listening. That is the highest compliment a radio personality can get. He earned his.

Oh, one more thing - he did all of his own show prep, wrote all of his own reporting, and ran his own board. Considering how many clunky carts he must have had to get all those bits in at the right time, that is an amazing performance. Can you imagine anyone doing all that today?
 
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