Radio AM to FM

Radio AM to FM: January 10, 2003

KLAC Gets Some Personality

Almost one month after signing on as a modern adult standards station, KLAC has added an air staff. And in a move that is quite rare (though at one time was the norm), air shifts are only three hours long, rather than the now traditional four or five.

Station programmer Brad Chambers handles morning duties from 6 to 9 am, followed by Jim Duncan (formerly at KFOX, KHJ, KLAC and KZLA), 9 to noon. Los Angeles legend Gary Owens (KFWB, KMPC, KPRZ, KKGO, KFI, KLAC, KJQY, and Laugh-In) takes over from 1 - 4 pm, while Daisy Torme -- yes, Mel's daughter -- handles 4 - 7 pm.

No DJ, continuous music is heard during the noon hour as well as evenings and overnights, unless it gets preempted by a Lakers basketball game.

BIG FAN

My father, Earl, would have liked KLAC. In fact he did like the old version of adult standards KLAC very much, as he did similar stations including the Music of Your Life on KPRZ (now KXTA) and the original KMPC. But he never had a chance to listen to the new KLAC: his Alzheimer's Disease, diagnosed in 1999, combined with declining health in general, prevented him from hearing the music he loved so much. Dad passed away Monday evening.

Always a fan of "good music," dad played piano as a hobby and sang in the choir for years at the First Methodist Church in San Pedro. He was not a fan of rock -- he found the melodies monotonous and the singing just bad -- but he loved jazz, big band, standards and what was once called "beautiful music," as played on stations like KPOL (now KMPC) ... the station that was always on in the car when I was growing up. I remember the harp in the background of the ID as they announced "1540, KPOL, Los Angeles."

He once looked at sheet music of a Bob Dylan song and thought it quite good; later when he heard Dylan perform it on the radio, he wondered why we listened to such junk. Perhaps the closest things to rock and roll that he liked were the Beach Boys and, interestingly enough, Buddy Holly. Or at least he said so when we saw "The Buddy Holly Story."

While it is always sad to lose someone you love very much, it is even sadder to see them slip away from a disease such as Alzheimer's ... unable to enjoy the very things that once brought them so much joy. Dad is cured now; now he can hear the music he loves, now he can play the piano again. He's with his parents and his sister, and he'd be really mad if he saw any of his family sad over his death.

Dad, I love you and I'll miss you. But you're in a better place now.

IBIQUITY DEAL

Clear Channel has come to an agreement with Ibiquity Digital for licensing Ibiquity's In-Band, On-Channel digital radio system, with a commitment for an initial group of CC stations to begin transitioning to IBOC in the near future.

More information is expected to be released in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

///

To subscribe to The Daily Breeze, call (310) 540-5511