Airwaves: February 11, 2011
Popejoy Passes
Jack Popejoy, who spent over two decades anchoring the news at KFWB (980
AM) and more recently was part of the morning anchor team of Popejoy, Dick
Helton and Vicky Moore on sister station KNX (1070 AM),
passed away February 5th from a recurrence of cancer. He was 63.
Probably best remembered for his long stint at KFWB (1986 to 2009) ... indeed,
he was synonymous with the all-news station ... Popejoy has been in town since
1972 at KIIS (now KTLK, 1150 AM), where he was named programmer at the
age of 24.
In 1976 he made the move to KPOL (1540 AM, 93.9 FM) first as a newscaster,
then later the FM station program director. It was Popejoy who changed the
FM call letters to KZLA in 1977, launching a soft-rock format that few
people other than me seem to remember (I can still recall the jingles, singing “ninety-four-FM
... ooh, rockin’ you easy, ninety-four-FM!”) The station was sold
and changed to country in 1980.
According to Don Barrett’s book Los Angeles Radio People, Volume
2, Popejoy moved to KLOS (95.5 FM) in 1979, spent some time in San
Francisco, then came back to Los Angeles for some television reporting and
fill-in anchoring in 1983 for KCOP-TV Channel 13 before settling in
for the long haul at KFWB.
In addition to his regular reporting on KFWB, Popejoy in 1987 prepared a series
of reports on earthquake preparedness. He created the Great California Shakeout
drill to help people prepare for earthquakes and other disasters in 2008.
A very private person when it came to his personal life, few people knew he
was sick, In fact, he anchored the morning mews along with the rest of the
team until just two weeks before his death. Friends said that he found out
in early January that tumors had returned to his body and that they were not
operable. He has no immediate survivors.
Real Radio
KABC (790 AM) has dropped the investment informercial -- Moe Ansari’s
Market Wrap -- that they have been carrying weekdays at 6 PM. In its place
is John Phelps, who starts an hour earlier than before. Said KABC programmer Jack
Silver, “Ansari will remain a part of the KABC family, hosting financial
seminars and providing advice to listeners.” In other words, he’s
gone.
Religious Fun
Nothing is quite so entertaining as people of different religions duking it
out. OK, maybe that’s not quite the image KRLA (870 wants you to
have) but it did grab your attention, right?
February 27th is the day to witness Religion on the Line in person (for
a small fee): Jew and Christian, personalities Dennis Praeger and Hugh
Hewitt answering crucial life questions and pondering the differences and
similarities of their chosen religions. It’s being held at the Pasadena
Hilton beginning at 5 PM, and tickets start at $25 ... Call 818-662-3782 for
more information.
Stern on Leno
So Sirius Radio’s Howard Stern was on David Letterman’s CBS
television show last week explaining how he thinks NBC-TV’s Jay Leno is
not funny, that TBS-cable’s Conan O’Brien is funny, and that
to put the world right Letterman should beat them both. And the whole time
I kept thinking ... does anyone care what Stern thinks about Letternam, Leno
and Conan?
Trivia Factoid
O’Brien was born 13 days after me, April 18, 1963.
///
Copyright © 2011 Richard Wagoner and Los Angeles Newspaper Group.
To subscribe to The Daily Breeze, call (310) 540-5511