Rick Dees on KIIS

As a KRLA listener in the 60s, Casey Kasem was the "square" DJ at 1110, always with the syrupy and squeaky clean stories like "Snuggles." He stood out like a sore thumb among the otherwise "hip" KRLA DJs. Needless to say, he took that style with him to American Top 40. In fact, he had been doing the AT40 countdown format locally on Sundays at KRLA prior to the syndicated show.

That's what makes the 'Snuggles Meltdown' so hilarious. Hearing anger and obscenities coming out of that voice was just LOL, as the kids say these days. Like hearing Pat Boone doing misogynistic rap songs, or something

And to think "A Los Angeles Superior Court jury determined Tuesday that radio and television personality Rick Dees and his business manager acted with "malice and oppression" when they zinged him with a 10 MILLION Dollar verdict, one of a few. You should have seen the way he treated the people who worked around him. He was a nasty man

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-03-20/entertainment/ca-485_1_rick-dees

The Paul Moyer v. Ann Martin meltdown is my all time favorite. I could never figure out why they toss Harold Greene under the bus as a "stinker". Is/was he really that bad?

https://youtu.be/06_Sez2tEOk

TeaPartyDude said:

The Paul Moyer v. Ann Martin meltdown is my all time favorite. I could never figure out why they toss Harold Greene under the bus as a "stinker". Is/was he really that bad?

https://youtu.be/06_Sez2tEOk

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Before his fame in LA - in the late 70s, I think, Greene was in San Francisco for awhile, paired with super-popular anchor Dave McElhatton. This was back when the anchors were always two white guys. For some reason, he was an object of ridicule, and local TV writers and critics would trash him. All I remember is that he was kind of stiff. He didn't last long, and I was surprised to see him later in Los Angeles, seemingly popular. I hadn't heard that he was a bad guy, though.

LKellerIII said:

Before his fame in LA - in the late 70s, I think, Greene was in San Francisco for awhile, paired with super-popular anchor Dave McElhatton. This was back when the anchors were always two white guys. For some reason, he was an object of ridicule, and local TV writers and critics would trash him. All I remember is that he was kind of stiff. He didn't last long, and I was surprised to see him later in Los Angeles, seemingly popular. I hadn't heard that he was a bad guy, though.

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Greene was fairly big in San Diego in the early-mid 70s, then got paired with McElhatton at KPIX in '77 for a year. After that, it was down to KABC as an evening anchor for two years until he was replaced...by Paul Moyer and Ann Martin.

Harold went back to San Diego for three years, then was brought back to KABC to anchor weekends and work as a reporter. And he climbed the ladder from there. I'm betting the remarks Paul and Ann made in the audio clip were less about Harold not being a good guy (never met him myself) than about the fact that Ann could end up co-anchoring with a guy who got canned (for ratings) so they could bring in Moyer (whose numbers were always strong).

Side note: Greene is most often mentioned as the model for Ron Burgundy.

And, as it turned out---Ann did end up with "good old Harold Greene". They both left KABC for KCBS and were teamed there. They were both let go at the same time (contracts not renewed) in 2008---and that was the last TV news gig for both of them. Moyer, who went to KNBC, was not renewed the following year.

I heard that Moyer's nephew is Micah Olhman of KTLA.

TeaPartyDude said:

I heard that Moyer's nephew is Micah Olhman of KTLA.

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IIRC, Moyer started in LA at KNBC in the early 70s - and it was often said that he may have been hired because his look and style we're reminiscent of Tom Snyder, who had anchored at KTLA, then KNBC in the "Tom and Tom" (Brokaw) era, before fame took him to New York.

TeaPartyDude said:

I heard that Moyer's nephew is Micah Olhman of KTLA.

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True.

LKellerIII said:

IIRC, Moyer started in LA at KNBC in the early 70s - and it was often said that he may have been hired because his look and style we're reminiscent of Tom Snyder, who had anchored at KTLA, then KNBC in the "Tom and Tom" (Brokaw) era, before fame took him to New York.

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Moyer's a local boy, born and raised in Torrance. He paid his dues in Sioux City, Iowa and Peoria, Illinois before landing good gigs at KTVI in St. Louis, KDKA in Pittsburgh and WCBS-TV in New York, all between 1964 and 1972. During that time, Snyder went from KTLA to KYW in Philadelphia (where Moyer probably saw him first) and then to KNBC in 1970. They worked together at KNBC from 1972 until the fall of 1974, when Snyder went to New York. Originally, Moyer did weekends, with Jess Marlow at 5, Tom Snyder at 6 and Tom Brokaw at 11. When Brokaw went to the network, Moyer got the 11 o'clock anchor gig...and when Tom went to NY, Paul got 6 p.m. and John Schubeck was hired for the 11.

Here's a clip of the very first "SUNDAY" show, from 1973, in which Paul and Kelly Lange take us on a tour of NBC Burbank. Scroll to 9:30-ish and you'll see first Kelly and then Paul interacting with Snyder:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsA-C9usEjE

I've always wondered what Moyer would have sounded like had he never seen Snyder. There doesn't appear to be any tape of Moyer pre-KNBC online.

If he was hired because of the resemblance, it was a smart move for KNBC...Moyer was Snyder without the rough edges. Had a nice long run (27 years) in L.A. news, and always with strong ratings.