The Hawthorne Thing

In his later years Jim Hawthorne was a contributor to www.laradio.com which is how I came to know of him. His radio career took in the 1940s on KXLA in Pasadena, CA. He was a wacky DJ playing novelty songs and spinning his shtick three decades before Dr. Demento got into that racket. The good doctor himself described Hawthorne as "one of a kind."You can hear air-checks here.

He was born in Victor, CO, a suburb of Colorado Springs in 1918. He enrolled at Denver University and fresh out of college in 1941 he found work on 1340 KMYR-AM in Denver, CO. (No connection to the form FM station) KMYR-AM was founded in 1940 by Frederick W. Meyer, a local grocer. The studio was on the second floor of the Industrial Federal Savings and Loan Building at 1626 Stout St. It appears that the original building still stands.

Hawthorne relocated to L.A. the following year to start at KXLA. His show was more reserved at first but by 1947,  Time magazine described it as "Hellzapoppin on the air." His overnight program featured songs by Tex Ritter,  Spike Jones, Homer and Jethro, Buddy Baker, Red Ingle and Slim Coates, and cuts that were already old even then by Arthur Pryor, Billy Murray. That's when he started cutting novelty 45s. Don't even get me started about the hogan-twanger. More here.

Starting in 1948, he produced and starred in his Saturday night syndicated NBC program, "The Hawthorne Thing." Most sources list it as starting in 1950, but Billboard clearly lists it in issues as early as 1947. But he hopped around after that. He did a Top-10 type program at KYA in 1957. He went back to LA in 1959 for a gig at KDAY, then in 1960 he worked at KFWB but the station was shut down by an AFTRA strike in 1962 and flipped to all-news. More here.

1965 he did a children's show on KMGB-TV in Honolulu from 1965 - 1969.  He was on KOA-AM back home in Denver starting in 1974 doing overnights and then PD for both KOA and KOAQ-FM. He left there in 1985 when Jacor bought the cluster and "retired" him. He was 67 and not quite done, he popped back up in 1991 on 1500 KIEV-AM to recreate his classic KXLA schtick as a weekly program. then he retired for real. He died in 2007. He was 89 years old. 

The First Free-form DJ

It's a hard point to argue. Before there were formats, technically everything was free form in a way. Really before about 1935 it was hard to tell who was taking radio seriously and who was not. In 1947 It was abundantly clear that Jim Hawthorne was not. NOTE: not to be confused with James Hawthorne of the BBC or the other Jim Hawthorne a well-known but unrelated sportscaster.

Many operate under the assumption that free-form radio as we know it today began on 94.1 KPFA Berkley, CA. The first NCE licensed station in America and crown Jewel of the Pacifica Network. But it was not so. Before they took to the air Jimbo was running amok. On his show at 1110 KXLA-AM, he played a blizzard array of Buddy Baker, Spike Jones, Red Ingle, Slim Coates, and all without regard to genre and format. That was way back in 1946! Some sources, like and AWA Journal cite the start as in 1948, but there is an announcement [SOURCE] in the May 13, 1946 issue of Broadcasting which confirms. Variety magazine announced it over a year later in August of 1947 which probably is the source of the confusion.   (Note: KXLA became KRLA in 1959.)

 

His popularity was such that in 1950 he managed to score a late night talk show on KLAC-TV it was kind of a predecessor to NBC's Saturday Night Live according to the Los Angeles Times. He landed some spots in some movies and even did some pre-3-stooges reels for film. Everything he did was counter to radio culture at the time.

His effect was barely noticed while he was active in broadcasting. It's only now that in looking back you can see the effects ripping outward. His zany all night weekend show on KOA radio was the stuff of legend. WFMU has a little tribute page here. and his fan club is here.

He's got a radio pedigree a mile long. This is far from complete...

• KMYR Denver 1941 - 1946
• KXEA - 1946 - 1946? 
• KXLA Los Angeles, 1946 -1948
• KECA Los Angeles, 1948 -1950
• KNX Los Angeles, 1950-1952
• KCBH Los Angeles, 1952 -1955
• KYA San Francisco 1957 -1959
• KDAY Los Angeles, 1959 -1960
• KFWB Los Angeles, 1960 - 1963
• KOA Denver, 1974-1981-1984
• KIEV Los Angeles, 1991

Today Jim Hawthorne is 88 years old, living in a retirement home in Santa Barbara, California. He's grown comicly cantankerous bemoaning the state of modern radio, it's voice-tracking and control by megacorporations. He still does a local TV show in Santa Barbara four times a year