July 31.cwk

Airwaves: July 31, 2009

Harvey Finds Kindness, Joy, Love and Happiness

The syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show is returning to the Southern California airwaves, this time via Stevie Wonder’s KJLH (102.3 FM). Harvey’s show will begin airing on August 10th, and will be heard weekdays from 6 to 10 AM.

Harvey was last heard on KDAY (93.5 FM), but was dropped from the schedule early this Summer as the station decided to move in a more local direction.

It’s an interesting move for KJLH, which to my knowledge has never run syndicated programming and has stayed true to its roots as a station super-serving its primarily black audience and focussing totally on localized radio ... one of the last stations in the area to do so. In fact, KJLH has so served its audience that it is a legend in the radio community ... classy, and doing exactly what radio is supposed to do. My guess is that Harvey’s syndicator made an offer that KJLH management couldn’t refuse.

At the same time, Harvey will be a good fit for the station, being a classy guy himself and always striving to be his best and set a good example for his audience.

The show will be the same one everyone remembers, joined on the air by Shirley Strawberry, Carla Farrell, and his “nephew” Tommy. The show is heard on more than 60 stations nationwide.

KJLH -- Kindness, Joy, Love and Happiness, as it was once known, has served the Los Angeles community for more than 40 years with good music, great personalities, and a positive interaction with the community that is truly refreshing in this era of corporate radio. Listen online at www.kjlhradio.com.

More Music

According to Don Barrett’s laradio.com and www.allaccess.com, KIIS-FM’s Ryan Seacrest and KROQ’s Kevin and Bean spent some time on the telephone -- and on the air -- commiserating about recent meetings with their respective managements regarding their performance. Or more accurately, their talking.

Seems that stations that play more music in the morning get better ratings under Arbitron’s Portable People Meter ratings system.

Never mind that Seacrest and Kevin and Bean are among the highest rated morning programs in town. We want more. Actually we want them to be slowly reigned in so that eventually we can phase out of having any personality on any station during any time period. Then we’d have real radio. Or cheap radio. Hard to tell the difference these days.

Wanting More

Music is an issue, but people do want personality. Judging by the numerous emails I received after The Sound’s tribute to KMET on July 10th. Comments included:

“Hopefully The Sound will run with the Mighty Met ball and shake up SoCal radio.”

“I totally agree that we are all ready for the free thinking and truly entertaining commentary the folks at KMET could give us again.”

“I could totally relate to your comments.”

“If KMET surfaces again, I’ll be a dedicated listener.”

And these are just a few of the comments. It seems that personality radio is not a problem, when done right. And the time has come for its return. If I were programming The Sound, I’d have Ace Young and Jeff Gonzer in the morning ... Now. David Perry in the afternoon. Make room for Jack Snyder and Rick Scarry, and keep the best of The Sound jocks as well. And Dr. Demento would be back on the air for a full shift every Sunday evening.

And I’d clean up. Guaranteed.

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