july 6

Airwaves: July 6, 2007

Game Show Congress Features Radio Greats

Some big names from radio's past will be on hand at the 2007 Game Show Congress being held July 14th and 15th at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in North Hollywood.

Wink Martindale will receive the Ralph Edwards Career Community Service Award in recognition of his extensive efforts on behalf of various charities; his radio resume reads like a list of classic radio stations: KHJ (930 AM), the original KRLA (now KDIS, 1110 AM), KFWB (980 AM), KGIL (now KMZT, 1260 AM), the original KMPC (now KSPN, 710 AM), and KJOY (now KMZT). Most recently he was with the syndicated Music of Your Life standards format heard outside of Los Angeles.

Of course he is perhaps best known as the always smiling host of television's Tic Tac Dough, along with Gambit and High Rollers. I find it interesting that he never strayed far from radio, though. Martindale will be roasted by friends including Charlie O'Donnell who also got his start in radio on KRLA, KGBS (now KTNQ, 1020 AM) and KLAC (570 AM).

Game show producer Bob Stewart (WNEW/New York) will receive the Bill Cullen Career Achievement Award; Others attending or speaking will be Betty White, Don Pardo, Geoff Edwards (KHJ, KFI 640 AM, KMPC) Florence Henderson and many more. The event will be hosted by Rich Fields (KKHR/KODJ/KCBS-FM 93.1) and Steve Beverly.

The awards luncheon is Sunday July 15th. For more information, head over to www.gameshowcongress.com.

Siegel Passes

By now you've read that Joel Siegel passed away last Friday from colon cancer. He was 63. Most know him for his movie reviews on ABC Television's Good Morning America, but he also had ties to radio as a news reporter on KPPC (now KROQ, 106.7 FM) and KMET (now KTWV, 94.7 FM). He left KMET for television in 1972.

I-Man Rumors

WFAN/New York spent June 29th celebrating 20 years as a sports station, including the playing of recorded bits from former morning man Don Imus, who was fired in April for remarks made on the air.

Imus has still not been replaced on WFAN, and some comments made by current hosts during the anniversary broadcast have started the rumor mill that Imus may return to the station.

Radio and Records reported that Imus co-host Charles McCord made a comment about looking in to a rearview mirror, stating "some objects were closer than they appear." Later another host, Mike Francesa, added, "When we return to our regular schedule this September, I hope the team will once again be complete."

Of course this means nothing, and may be little more than former colleagues trying to get people on board for an I-Man return. But with CBS radio having little luck in finding morning hosts in general, let alone for their flagship New York sports outlet, anything is possible. Stay tuned ...

Chairman's Hour

Sirius Satellite Radio is presenting rare material from the Sinatra family on The Chairman's Hour, a weekly show on Siriusly Sinatra channel 75.

"Hosted" by Frank Sinatra himself via these recordings, the show will span decades of his career and is reflective of his body of work, emotional composition, and respect for those who he collaborated with personally and professionally, according to Sirius. The show premieres July 7th at 2 PM.

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