DJ Ben Fong-Torres

Last year I wrote about how under-represented Asian programming is on American media outlets. [Link] About 5% of Americans are of Asian origin. While that is a smaller group than African-Americans (12.6%) or Hispanics (16.4%) that's still 14 million people. So in light of that demographic data. Ben Fong-Torres is one of those names in radio that you don't know, but you really should.

Before we start the story let me tell you that Ben Fong-Torres is alive and well today. His own website is here. I first encountered his his name when he was managing editor at GAVIN. He was there from 1993 to 1997. He left that position to write the book The Hits Just Keep On Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio, which is a must-own among radio men. He wrote four more books since then, including Becoming Almost Famous, which brought his tally to 9 books I believe.  Note about that last title... his character does appear in the film Almost Famous, he's portrayed by actor Terry Chen. Did I mention he was also a DJ?

Let's back up.  In 1966 Ben graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in radio-TV-film. While enrolled there he was DJ on KRTG-AM, the universities closed-circuit AM station. What got Ben into the music industry, and therefore radio, was Rolling Stone magazine. He was one of their original writers in 1967. He wrote for the magazine until 1981. In the mid 1960s he was a night announcer on KFOG-AM. But in 1970, while still writing for Rolling Stone he became a DJ for KSAN-FM.

Ben remained at KSAN from from 1970-1980 arguably the station's peak years. After Rolling stone he joined the San Francisco Chronicle, where he was  radio columnist until 1992. He came back in 2005 to write the bi-weekly column "Radio Waves." In 1994 he began hosting the program Fog City Radio, on KQED-FM. If that's not enough Reel Radio lists that he has guest DJ's on KUSF, KIOI, KPOI, KTIM, KVYN, KFRC, and KRQR.

The Golden Star Chinese Hour

There is'nt a lot of  Asian programming on American radio stations. Across most of the US it's just blocks of time on brokered ethnic stations such as KSQQ, WUST, WNWR, and the Multicultural Radio Broadcasting network: KAHZ, KAZN, KTWR, KMRB, WKDM, and WZRC.  The few wholly dedicated stations that exist are on the west coast, mostly centered around San Francisco. Those are as follows:

• 1450 KEST-AM (Cantonese)
• 1510 KSFN-AM (Mandarin)
• 1400 KVTO-AM (Cantonese)

Previously 92.3 KSJO was a brokered ethnic airing mostly Asian programming in that metro. They flipped to country only this last April. More here.  It's also worth nothing that the above mentioned brokered-ethnic  96.1 KSQQ airs some Chinese, and Vietnamese language programming in the same metro as well, but also Portuguese among other culturally programs. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese and other Asian immigrants came to America in the 1800s some fleeing the Taiping Rebellion, other fleeing poverty, and later waves were virtual slaves brought in as labor to build railroads. These large populations remained concentrated on the west coast following the gold rush of the 1850s. It is unsurprising then, that the first media outlets catering to these groups first appeared there as well.

It was decades before any radio programs began targeting minorities of any kind. While African-Americans were arguably the first minority groups in broadcasting, the programs were not marketed toward their communities at the time. The rise of black radio came in the mid to late 1940s. The first all Chinese-language radio program was broadcast on April 22 1939, by 1450 KSAN-AM right in San Francisco. It's director ans sponsor was Thomas Tong of the Golden Star Radio Company. Some sources cite this date as 1940 but that is incorrect.

The Golden Star Chinese Hour aired news, music and other entertainment including Chinese opera. Thoma's wife, Mary Chinn Tong delivered the nightly news. In the late 1940s (1939 - 1948) journalist Gilbert Gang Nam Woo was one of their radio commentators. It's studio address was listed as 846 Clay Street and the phone as "CHina 2322."  His radio supply and repair shop, the Golden Star Radio Company was established as early as 1936 according to advertisements in Chinese Digest Magazine. Chinese Digest itself had only been founded in 1935 by Thomas W. Chinn. The radio program aired until 1979.

When the United Nations was founded in San Francisco in 1945, Gilbert Gang Nam Woo was still commenting on Golden Star, but was also acting as a translator for President Truman. In this interview [SOURCE] Thomas W. Chinn describes a book printed by Golden Star. In it he describes a picture of  the owner —Thomas Tong, President Harry S. Truman, and Gilbert Woo, posed together.  I'd like to see that.

The original KSAN-AM was a pioneer in many different ways over the course of it's existence. Until at least the late 1950s it was alone broadcasting programs for minority groups; not just the Chinese and Japanese, but also Italian, Portuguese, German communities. The station originally debuted as KGTT in 1925 and became KGGC in 1929. It was in 1938 it became KSAN. In 1958, KSAN flipped to all R&B and I'm not sure where Golden Star went, but by all reports the program continued another two decades.

Interracial Host and Co-Host

I came across a quote from Ahmet Ertgun that sent me thumbing through my radio history books for attribution:

"The hot show in New York in those days - the two hot shows - were Willie and Ray - Willie Bryant and Ray Carroll, and the Symphony Sid Show..."

The quote was in the context of Alan Freed but of the other two shows mentioned I only knew one. Symphony Sid was Sid Torin. But who were Willie and Ray? Ray Carroll was the first white DJ to co-host a program with a black DJ. He started out co-hosting with another white jazz man Symphony Sid on WMCA. I think ray was at WWRL prior to that.  Ray and Sid paired up for just a year in 1947.  Bryant was already the emcee at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem which is how he got his nickname. He appeared in a couple films. In 1946, CBS hired him as the first black host of a network radio program, "Night Life. By then Ray Carroll was already on WMCA with Sid. Sid Hired Bryant to flip records.  Ray and Willie started their program together that February and stayed at it for 6 years on 1480 WHOM-AM. In 1952 they added a second program together on WOV. Sometimes it aired live from Birdland.

Willie Bryant was born in New Orleans and raised in Chicago. He did vaudeville tours tap dancing with the Whitman Sisters, and later the Chocolate Revue with Bessie Smith. He played the Shim Sham Club in Harlem with Leonard Reed where they invented the dance, the Shim Sham. In 1934 he put together his first band, The Wilie Bryant Orchestra. Between 1935 and 1938 they cut 26 sides mostly for Victor and Bluebird. They were truly excellent. Give it a listen here. 

Their program was cancelled in April of 1954 by the VP of WHOM, Charles Bolton. Bryant said it was the first time he'd been booted from a job in 30 years. He described the firing as political. Bolton denied it but he was the same guy that later that month very publicly "banned" some slightly risque songs from the station playlist. At the time WHOM was actively pursuing a license from the FCC for UHF TV license. They had first applied for channel 31 in 1952. They abandoned in in April 1954. Maybe Bolton was feeling some pressure about his Interracial program? Maybe it was because Alan Freed had just hit town and White DJs playing R&B were just safer.

Ray just went back to WMCA and was hosting an R&B program, "Night Watch" by May of 1954. Like any career his had peaked, he'd already been in radio 20 years. In 1957 he moved to WICC-AM in Bridgeport, CT to host a morning program. By the early 1970s he was hosting an interview program called "Sounding Board" on 1450 WNAB-AM in Bridgeport, CT. Bryant tried to move into television he was already negotiating terms but it wasn't until 1949 his program debuted. He hosted "Uptown Jubilee" a Tuesday night black variety show on CBS-TV.  It was short-lived. In 195, he got another network radio show, ABC's "Rhythm on Radio. He bought a bar in the Bronx. None of that lasted either. He moved to California and did a little more radio on KSAN and KALI. He died in 1964. More here.

The Magnificent Montague

In 1974, Billboard published an article claiming that as of that year, the Magnificent Montague aka Nathaniel Montague, had worked at 80 radio stations. He was a radioman among radiomen. He brought his style and personality with him everywhere, for better or worse. His career began in 1949 by his own recounting which means for 25 years he was on an average of 3.2 radio stations per year. It seems impossible. It might not even be true. By his own recounting in for that 1974 article, that he couldn't remember all the dates and places. He went on to say:

"For years I never lived in any one city more than six months. I was the original rebel and I had to move around the country because I was always getting fired for moving my mouth... trying to bring in unions, and things like that...  That's why I consider myself a leisure time executive rather than a disc jockey."

 And that' swhat most of the press blubs say as well. In Ebony magazine they plainly state that KSAN fired Montague and described him as "uncontrollable." But in that same 1974 issue, IBS was taking out two full pages to advertise his shows syndication. He was huge.

He's used so many different names on air: Rodney Jones, Georgie Woods, Fat Daddy, Chatty Hatty, Charlie Brown, John Hardy, and it was on WWRL-AM where he became the Magnificent Montague.

In 1965 he was blamed for the riots in Watts. Mobs of rioters in the primarily black neighborhood chanted "burn baby burn," a signature line for Montague. He had used it in reference to "hot" records. The Los Angeles Times ran a front-page story explaining where the "hep" slogan came from. The mayor and the police chief pressured KGFJ to fire him. Instead they cut his hours and banned his catch phrase. Then they cut his hours a bit more. Then whittled him down to nothing. It was no problem to Montague. He just moved onto another city and another station. Supposedly that scene repeated more than 80 times. I read everything I could find and I came up about 60 stations short. If you can add one please do leave a comment.

WVOM-AM Brookline, MA 1949
WHAT-AM, Philadelphia 1952
KCOM-AM, Beaumont, TX 1953
KTLW-AM, Houston, TX 1953
KCOH-AM Houston, TX 1954
WGES-AM, Chicago, IL
WAAF-AM, Chicago 1955-1957
KSAY-AM San Francisco, CA ? (apocryphal)
KSAN-AM, San Francisco, CA 1957-1961
KGFJ-AM Los Angeles, CA 1958 -1959
KXLW-AM St. Louis, MO 1960 - 1961
WWRL-AM, New York , NY 1962
WVON-AM, Chicago, IL
WEEJ-AM (apocryphal)
KGFJ-AM, Los Angeles, CA 1965-1967
XERB-AM, Tijuana, MX 1968
KYNO-AM / KPHD-FM Fresno, CA 1971
XPRS-AM, Tijuana, MX 1972
KPLM-FM Palm Springs, CA 1990

In 2003, Montague published his autobiography through University of Illinois Press. Think of it as an early Christmas gift to yourself. History matters. You can read about it here.

Crumb and the Blues and the Radio

Robert Crumb is enigmatic to say the least. Most people consider him a disturbed man. That said, his Book of Genesis illustrated is probably the most inspired and insightful biblical interpretation in the last thousand years. You can in fact be smart and crazy. It may even be easier to be creative and crazy. But I didn't come here to give my armchair diagnosis of Americas favorite savant comic book artist. I came here to write about R. Crumb and radio.

People that know Crumb, or even know of Crumb, usually know that he is a fan of dusty discs almost on par with Joe Bussard. Crumb has recorded his own albums and even a couple 78 rpm singles in the early 1970s. The Cheap Suit Serenaders are an old time string band mostly doing covers of song from the 1920s.  It's strangely wholesome. When he relocated to France, he started a new band Les Primitives du Futur.  But that was it so far as I know. He was a music geek, not a radio geek. He's always avoided discussing his work with the media and was very distant even in his own documentary footage. His discomfort is apparent. 

Then I found that in September of 2004, R. Crumb participated in a radio program.  He and host, U. Penn Professor Jerry Zolten produced a one-hour one-shot program on 91.5 WPSU. Crumb could have probably picked any non-com in America.. and he picked a 1,700 watt college station in State College PA. It's market # 249 of a possible 290. Even with the stations 3 repeaters: 102.5 W273BE Huntingdon,  104.7 W284AK Clearfield, and 106.7 W294AE Altoona... it's still one of the smallest and least dense markets he could possibly have selected.  The show was called "Chimpin' the Blues" and they spent it spinning old blues and gospel and discussing the various oddities and gems in Crumb's personal 78 collection. The program is archived online at prx.org. It is very much worth listening to.

But this was not Crumbs first foray into radio. But they are very rare. Like an endangered bird, there have only been two other sightings. In 1978, owing to some trouble with the IRS Crumb hosted a 90-minute program on 94.9 KSAN. He spun 78s, talked with callers and plugged a fund raiser to get himself out of debt.  Back then KSAN was a free form FM station that was wildly more interesting. It's impossible to imagine the modern KSAN, "The Bone" doing anything that novel. The event was as epic as you might imagine with wild mockery of all things modern. It's recorded in the book R. Crumb: Conversations by D.K. Holm. The KSAN-FM of the 1970s was on 94.9, the station that's now KYLD; they flipped calls in 1980.

He also hosted a half hour, four-part radio series on BBC Radio 3 as part of the Jazz File program. (one source says it had 5 parts) The Jazz File runs for half an hour on Saturday nights at 5:00 PM. BBC 3 mostly airs Opera and Classical so the program is a "specialty program" in the western sense. Crumb spun 78s from his own collection focusing on the 1920s and 1930s primarily. I cant find an exact date but it appears to have run in 2001 or 2002.

Art Laboe is still alive

In 1981, the city of Los Angeles declared that July 17th would be "Art Laboe Day." That day Art received his star on Hollywood Boulevard. Sadly nobody under the age of 60 had any idea who the hell he was.Art Laboe is the main that coined the term "Oldies But Goodies." The phrase is used on Oldies stations cost to coast but Art was the originator. Art put together the first Top-40 comps. There were already best-of compilations, but he was the first to gather hits by multiple artists. His were called "Oldies But Goodies™" and the idea was so novel that the releases stayed on Billboard's Top 100 LP's chart for years. He owned Original Sounds and Starla records. He began as a DJ. He was on KSAN, KPOP and KDAY.

"The Art Laboe Show" was on 1020 KPOP-AM in Los Angeles. He'd come there fresh from KCOP-AM. From 1955 to 1960 1220 was known as K-Pop. Prior to that it was KFVD. More here. Despite the fact that the station was a daytimer until 1976, Art Laboe had the the #1 radio program in the Los Angeles area in 1956. (This was pre-Arbitron so that is a Hooperrating) More here.

K-Pop was primed for rock n' roll. Before the new called debuted the station was already playing rhythm & Blues. DJ Hunter Hancock was on the air in that era. The Standard Broadcasting Company bought 1020 AM from Frank Burke and took the station Top-40 rock, pop and all. But in 1960 Standard sold it to Storer broadcasting who changed the calls to KGBS who went Easy Listening. So sad.

Though KPOP was dead, Art Lived on. He's been putting out records, playing record hops and already emceed shows on KTLA-TV (for Prez Prado for example.) He founded Original Sounds in 1951. He put out records by all kinds of artists rhythm & Blues, country and even that Bongo Rock 45 by Preston Epps. Art wasn't #1 anymore but he kept busy. In 1974 his "Oldies but Goodies" comps were selling like mad. In 1972 he opened his own club, The Art Laboe Club... they focused on oldies. He started doing a show on KRTH our of the second floor. IN 1960 he started Now records and putting out soul 45s.

...And let there be no doubt, he's still alive and still on air. More here.

DJ Sly and the Family Stone

Sly of Sly and the Family Stone was a DJ on 1450 KSOL-AM. His career as a disc jockey was previous to his career as a singer. He was a great DJ, but his talent there was overshadowed by the four gold records and his later descent into a wack job strung out on PCP and cocaine. The upside is that his career self-destructed in before disco, leaving his catalog to end abruptly before funk itself was hopelessly corrupted by mirror balls and John Travolta.

...Anyway, his story is an interesting tale of transition. Sly Stewart had been to The Chris Borden School of Broadcasting in San Francisco. It was only a 3 month course, but it's more training than most DJs get. He had done some fill in at KEWB already. He was seasoned enough to be confident, and it made him a great on-air personality. After graduating high school in 1964 he started full time at KSOL, on the night shift Monday through Saturday. With his growing popularity Sly was moved off the night shift to afternoon drive.

Sly was already performing with bands and and producing records for Autumn records. In 1965 Sly started cutting his first demos with the Family Stone. Sly Stewart became Sly Stone and he developed a louder more outlandish personality that we later saw on stage. Then Sly did a 2 month stretch in 1967, across the bay in Oakland on 1310 KDIA-AM. He only left when Columbia records showed up with a recording contract.KSOL-AM has been known as KSAN-AM since 1939. John "Les" Malloy bought the station in 1964 from Norwood Patterson and changed the calls to KSOL to match the K-SOUL branding. Les had been a DJ on KSAN, in the 1940s and called himself the Midnight son and was then a TV host on KGO-TV. It was already a rhythm and blues station. It was Sly that started adding white artists to that very black playlist. Ray Charles sat along side the Rolling Stones. The R&B format lasted until 1970. Today KSOL is KEST-AM.

AIRCHEXX.com has a clip HERE
So does REEL Radio HERE

AIRCHECK WEEK: Jim Randolph

"Big" Jim L. Randolph rose to fame in the 1950s and became an Los Angeles staple by the sixties. There are precious few airchecks of the man but they are worth finding.

He helped break the careers of R&B artists like Booker T & The MG, Larry Bright, and KoKo Taylor.He was the first African-American to attend the Oklahoma University School of Communications. He was a program director at KSAN in San Francisco, CA; and KLIF in Dallas, TX where he was also rated a Top 5 Lone star state DJ in October 1955. By 1969 he was booking talent for the Watts Summer festivals.

This clip is from KGFJ, in Los Angeles but he was also on WYNR, in Chicago, IL;  WERD in Atlanta others. More here. There was a "Big" Jim Randolph at KNOK in 1956, but I can't verify it's the same gentleman. An issue of Radio Daily-Television Daily lists him as replacing Dean McNeil in April of 1957, but gives the calls incorrectly as KNOX in  Dallas confusing the trail.

His obituary in Record World was brief and understated.

Jim Randolph, noted broadcasting executive, died Sunday, May 3, at his home in Los Angeles. Program Director of KGFJ (LA) and for the Tracey Broadcasting chain at the time of his death, Randolph had enjoyed success in several major markets as both air personality and executive. He achieved notable success in the Dallas, Fort Worth, Chicago and Los Angeles markets. A native of Oklahoma, "Big Jim" attended Morehouse College and the University of Oklahoma. Most recently he had guided KGFJ from "also-ran" to one of the four or five most important facilities in the Southern California market areas. Randolph is survived by his wife, Lillian, their six children, all of who reside in Los Angeles, and by his parents who live in Oklahoma City.

KGFJ was very progressive for it's day having an integrated staff. Their staff included other legends like Magnificent Montague, Johnny Magnus, Herman Griffith, Jim Wood, and Hunter Hancock. He died of a heart attack in 1970 at the age of 39.



 ***AUDIO EXPIRED***

*POST UPDATED 5/9/2020
*Anyone want to share a Jim Randolph aircheck?

Quadrophonic Radio

Quadraphonic sound was one of the earliest consumer offerings in multichannel audio, (i.e. more channels than stereo) It was introduced to the American market in the early 1970s. Quad was not a single format; but actually an array of several different incompatible formats. Quadraphonic media was available on vinyl records, eight tracks, and reel-to-reel and yes, even broadcast radio. It was uncommon, but some brave and bullish broadcasters bought into it. Some Quad Hi-Fis can be found here

In Seattle back in 1977, an experimental Quadrophonic broadcast was attempted at 92.5 KZAM and 98.1 KING. In conjunction with Windham Hill records. In a very MacGyver-ish approach, this required two separate stereos and tuners. Each station broadcast two channels of the quadrophic audio. If you did, you got to hear 360 degrees of John Klemmer. [Not sure if that's worth it] (KZAM is now KLSY)

In Chicago 97.9 WLUP broadcast one live quadraphonic concert in 1979. It featured Joe Jackson, Rainbow and the Blue Oyster Cult.
In Detroit Quadrophonic radio was attempted by several stations 102.9 WWWW, 101.9WDET, and WABX at different times.

As early as 1975 WQIV in New York City attempted full time quad broadcasting. They broadcast live concerts, including the earliest syndicated Rock Around the World shows, whole albums, and other things unusual at the time on commercial radio. It was very much a product of the free-form FM era. It eventually flipped to become classical WNCN, the calls and format it had previously. (Currently 104.3 WAXQ )

In 1969, WCRB radio in Boston collaborated with WGBH to present a series of Boston Symphony concerts live in quadraphonic sound. Two channels being transmitted on WGBH and the other two on WCRB. Oddly WCRB continued to broadcast some of its recorded music in quad for several more years.

In 1979 Amex tape did promotion with San Francisco's KRON and KIOI with KRON broadcasting the front two channels and KIOI taking the rear two channels. For this first Quadraphonic broadcast, The Greatful Dead performed. It was televised on KQED and simulcast on KSAN.

Quad was killed by the advent of the CD and completely stalinized with the birth of surround-sound. Skip Pizzi at RW online continually writes propaganda in favor of surround sound for radio. I have not bought into this cult yet. Radio has been struggling to push HD radio for 10 years now, I doubt surround sound will fare any better. Feel free to read up and judge for yourself [Link here]


...And here is the surround sound system that could have been, The Ambsonic Sound System...

Classic Rock is born

Classic Rock is a radio format, not a genre. It contains many genres including actual oldies from the 1960s, proto-metal, psychedelic-blues, psychedelic rock, prog-rock, and others. It is an odd radio format in that it has become totally entrenched in our language as if it were a music genre. If you get deterministic about etymology; because we all use it as if it were, it has become so.

Interestingly enough, most Classic Rock stations originally played a little something we used to think of as AOR. Album-Oriented Rock. That too was a radio format but despite the persistence of the term, it no longer exists. The AOR format is completely extinct! The idea was to play album cuts, in addition to (or instead of) singles. It was very FM-focused as you'd imagine.

I have seen the argument that this was also the birth of alternative rock radio. I think this is mostly crap since the term alternative rock did not even exist in 1967. I see it as something that sprung organically, decades later from another generation of pop music. But it was very related to so called "Free Form" FM. 

Previously 106.9 KMPX had been many things, a jazz station, MOR (middle of the road) and others. But in 1967 KMPX was owned by the Crosby-Pacific Broadcasting Company and was brokered ethnic and running a mighty 80,000 watts. In 1967, rock promoter Tom Donahue scraped together some favors, some cash and some chutzpa and sweet talked Station manager Ron Hunt into phasing out some foreign language programs in favor his "hippie-station" concept: album-oriented rock music with an emphasis on San Francisco-based bands, and announcers who took a more laid-back approach to the mic. By August of that year they were hippie-rock 24/7. Donahue was the First AOR PD in the nation. Months later they picked up a sister station in Pasadena KPPC. Clips of Donahue talking here:

Early on, things were promising but not profitable. Staff worked for little or nothing. But a year later cash was flowing, listenership was up and so were their ad rates. But salaries were still ranged from terrible to non-existent. Management fired Donahue on March 11th and brought in Bob Prescott as PD. This is sometimes described as Donahue walking out, but with some nuance. [SOURCE] This led directly to a strike by the KMPX staff on March 18th, 1968.

Ever the capitalist, Leon Crosby opted not to meet the demands of the workers. Instead he brought in a replacement staff. It was much like the way Regan handled the air traffic controllers strike in 1981 except a mixing console wont kill anyone. The strike at KMPX lasted eight weeks. KMPX lost almost it's entire staff and most of it's advertisers and even lost some of it's playlist's core artists. Several rock bands including the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead requested the the station no longer play their music.

Then Donahue took the whole staff across the street to KSAN and reassembled his radio commune. KMPX had a limited revival but never recovered. By 1972 after a series of ownership changes the station flipped to a Nostalgia format. Today KIFR operates on the 106.9 channel in San Francisco, as a Infinity Broadcasting licensee running News/talk. KSAN is still a big classic rocker. More here including a documentary film.

NOTE: the book the Art of Rock has several of the now famous psychedelic KMPX promotional station posters. You can see it here.