Conversations.buzz

DEBORAH PARENTI was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame on November 2, 2023, three weeks before this conversation. It's easy to see why. She's as bright and energetic as they come. With a deep career in broadcast management, she is now the publisher of Streamline's Radio Ink. Here Parenti talks about why radio will never die, but she's also brutally honest about some of the industry's serious problems. She says radio needs to put its money where its mouth is and get back to what it does best.

In 1973 I was Program Director of K-Earth in Los Angeles, formerly KHJ-FM. Automated at the time, it was the oldies music creation of the legendary Bill Drake. Shortly after I started working there Drake was fired as Programming VP for RKO. KRTH GM Hal Rosenberg and I hired GUY ZAPOLEON to create new music lists and recordings to replace the Drake/Chenault package. In my recent conversation with Guy we drifted into our Paul Drew stories. He was, as we say with deep respect, a piece of work.

Guy Zapoleon is a modern music savant. For the past fifty years he has guided contemporary music radio stations and corporations in identifying the right songs to play at the right time to achieve their target audience goals. Along the way, he discovered a generalized pattern in which contemporary music trends rise from innovation to mass appeal and ultimately to a downturn he calls doldrums. Then, the cycle starts again. He's a music scientist and journalist; he's the ultimate source for radio music directors, artists, and producers everywhere.

If WALTER SABO (aka Walter Sterling on WABC) was a baker he wouldn't own a cookie cutter or a recipe book. Walter is an innovator. For all of his decades of creating and consulting media programming, he has never relied on a formula. When I asked him what's wrong with the radio business these days he had answers I didn't expect. He also emphasized what's right: "(Radio is) the most elegant distribution system in mass media. It's elegant, it's incredible."Walter is full of surprises and brilliant insights. Have a listen. Then subscribe to this podcast. I hope Walter and I can talk again soon.
Dave Williams, November 4, 2023

JOHN KOBYLT has been half of the most popular talk radio show in Los Angeles for 36 years. Now his partner, Ken Chiampou, has announced his retirement. The famous John and Ken Show is about to become the John Kobylt Show. That's where we start this conversation, with the obvious questions: when and what can we expect?

KEN CHIAMPOU and John Kobylt electrified Los Angeles with their brash, clear-spoken brand of talk radio when they arrived at KFI 36 years ago and they haven't stopped. It's the longest-running talk show in radio history that changed the direction of the talk radio industry. In this exclusive conversation, Ken tells Dave Williams why he's retiring and looks back on 40 years of friendship with John, and the lightning they've held together in a bottle. L.A. radio will never be the same.

MARK AUSTIN THOMAS is his real name. It's a beaut, ain't it? Well, so is the man behind it. MAT, as he's sometimes known to friends and colleagues, has made the most of his deep native intellect, his curiosity, and his passion for journalism. Now retired but by no means old, Mark shares his insights and philosophies.

JOHN GEHRON is a name synonymous with Chicago Radio; he began programming the legendary WLS in 1974 and built it into a music radio institution. He also created a national standard for the “smooth jazz” format while at Chicago’s WNUA-FM, followed with senior officer and COO titles at American Radio and Infinity Broadcasting, including the role of Senior Vice President of Programming for all of Infinity/CBS. When Oprah Winfrey decided to start her own radio show she turned to John as the obvious choice to guide its programming. John's philosophy is deceptively simple: hire great talents and give them every tool and opportunity to succeed.

Bill Rogers & Camille Dixon are the voices of Disney, master voice actors with skills that enable them to cast Disney Magic on children of all ages. And, get this: they're married! How it all happened for them, and us, is a romantic story for the ages in true Disney style.

Jack Swanson is a superstar of news and talk radio. He has been a primary architect of the spoken word formats around the world. Radio towers may vanish but the desire for information and entertainment through new communications platforms has Jack excited. He says he wishes he could live another 50 years to see what comes next. We all hope he does.

Greg Tantum is one of the most successful radio programming executives in the U.S. He's also one of the happiest and most beloved human beings on the planet. That's not a coincidence. Through his decades of building great radio stations he has also built great people whose passion for the business he developed and nourished as if they comprised his own garden. Radio and people. To hear Greg tell it makes you wonder why the whole world doesn't work this way.

Andy Ludlum spent decades learning his craft and teaching it to others. He was my boss at KFWB, Los Angeles, and is still a special friend. I learned from him, I respect and like him. Andy Ludlum is a true Radio Master.

Chuck Blore was the most celebrated radio programmer and advertising genius in history. Everything he created sang of heartfelt emotion. His daughter, Jessica, was his most beloved creation. In this conversation, Jessy talks lovingly about her life with Daddy and his passing.
Audio and video bonuses, including the Master, himself, talking about his favorite ad. Special thanks to Dan O'Day for sharing his copyrighted video. And to my old friend, Zack Boles, for reading Chuck's words with the honesty they deserve.

Tuesday, April 18, 2023
SPIKE O'DELL is one of the legendary personalities who owned the airwaves of WGN, Chicago when it was simply the best small-town radio station ever to dominate a major metropolitan city. WGN Radio and Spike were rightly branded, "Chicago's own..." and today, nearly 20 years after he retired at the age of 55, he is still beloved in the Windy City and in Davenport, Iowa, the first city he he graced his remarkable talent. We start this conversation with "Spike at the Mike" at KSTT and conclude with a hilarious collection of bits he performed on WGN. Enjoy!
 

This episode opens with a wonderful recording of BOBBY OCEAN at his dynamic best on San Francisco's iconic Big 610, KFRC. It was 1983, forty years ago and nearly twenty years after the golden age of music radio was forged by Bill Drake and starring legendary deejays Bobby Ocean, The Real Don Steele, Robert W. Morgan, Charlie Van Dyke, and many others. Together these brilliant performers combined their unique individual talents with Drake's "More Music" branding to create the tight, high-energy sound still revered today as Boss Radio.
Now in his seventies, Bobby Ocean is healthy, happy, grateful for his blessings, and in awe of the Universe.  Here, we talk about his Boss Radio days but we also veer off into astrology, metaphysics, and the Zen of billiards.
Don't worry, KHJ fans, we go there, too, with a trip back to 'Osh' in 1977.
-- Dave Williams, March 2023
* ALSO ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/@conversations-buzz/featured

"Hear ye, hear ye! Let it be known to all that a wondrous spectacle doth unfold. Lady Penelope, a veritable muse of the arts, shall now regale us with one of her own original sonnets!"
Stage and screen actress Penny Peyser has a fancy for iambic pentameter and has written a book of very funny sonnets. In this episode of Conversations.buzz we begin with Penny as Lady Penelope appearing in one of her wonderful YouTube performances from her book, Sonnets From Suburbia. Then, we talk.

In 1975 I was the program director for RKO Radio's Memphis radio station, WHBQ. I hired a talented, high-energy air personality named SHEILA, who, at the time was one of the few female pioneers into the man's world of top-40 deejays. Now, 47 years later, she is a successful novelist known as SHEILA YORK. https://sheilayork.com/welcome/ I caught up with her, proud of the fact that I had brought her to WHBQ. This episode includes airchecks, actual recordings of Sheila doing her thing on the radio in 1976. - Dave Williams
(Thanks to Rob Grayson for the aircheck!) 

ROBYN FIVUSH, PhD, is the world's leading authority on autobiographical memory and its connection to parent-child conversational practices, gender, and self-identity. Her decades of research have concluded that storytelling, especially among families, is how humans maintain generational development and well-being.

A licensed clinical social worker spent 20 years helping people survive personal traumas; when her son was killed by a friend she suddenly had to help herself and her family. JAMIE WEHMEYER tells her moving and inspirational story.

WARREN ECKSTEIN has spent his life helping people and animals bond and communicate through his unique “Hugs and Kisses” approach to animal behavior, care, and training.
He has hosted a call-in syndicated radio show for forty years, worked with the biggest Hollywood stars, has been featured on too many network TV shows to list, and has written many books.
Warren has also developed Warren Eckstein's Hugs & Kisses vitamin and mineral supplement/treat for dogs and cats, which funds the Hugs & Kisses Animal Fund, a not-for-profit organization he founded in memory of his wife Fay who died in 1990. Its mission is to fund hundreds of small animal organizations across the US.
Learn more about Warren here, on his home page.

DR. BENJAMIN NEUMAN is a biology professor and internationally known virologist who oversees the Texas A&M University Global Health Research Complex, which identified a variant of the COVID virus. He has also served on the international committee on the taxonomy of viruses and has been doing important research into COVID. With all that scientific knowledge you'd think he might be difficult to talk with and understand. Nope. He's a hoot.

DAVID G HALL started working as a radio station gofer when he was 12. Ten years later he was the Program Manager of KFI, Los Angeles, making it the most successful news and talk station in the country. His successes multiplied, his stock soared and now he is widely considered to be the greatest radio programming mind of our generation. As an international consultant, David has guided the talents and fortunes of major market stations across the U.S. and around the world. His formula is simple: passion, energy, and a spark in his eye.

DR. HAROLD BURTON is a retired OB/GYN who practiced for 50 years in Roseville, California, just outside of Sacramento. Among his thousands of adoring patients was Dave Williams' wife, The Lovely-and-Feisty CarolAnn. Dr. Burton is one of those old-fashioned docs who took time to sit down with his patients and their husbands to talk about medical and family issues. Generous with smiles and hugs he earned their trust and eternal respect.

As the war in Ukraine rages on, Russians in exile are making plans to replace Putin and create the world's next great democracy. This is happening now. GREG STEBBEN tells Dave Williams the true story of Ilya Ponomarev and of the historical event that will take place in Warsaw within weeks of this conversation, recorded October 25, 2022.

RAELYN NELSON is the increasingly famous granddaughter of country music icon Willie Nelson. She inherited the singer/songwriter gene from the man she proudly calls, "Papa Willie". Here she talks with Dave Williams about the Family, the loss of her daddy, Willie (Billy) Jr., her kids, her divorce, her songwriting, and the Nashville band that bears her name. ALSO ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbk4pyr_1Aw

JEFF BELL is an author, health advocate, and former radio news anchor. His two books, Rewind, Replay, Repeat and When in Doubt, Make Belief, have established Bell as a leading authority on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In this episode, he tells former radio colleague Dave Williams of his personal battle with his borderline crazy OCD and how he eventually overcame it.

STEVEN RAICHLEN is arguably the most famous barbecue and grilling expert and educator in the world. He has written 32 books, produced and starred in countless TV shows, and circled the earth four times to exchange outdoor cooking cuisine with other cultures. 
As you enjoy this conversation, visit Steven's website.

KEN LEVINE is one of the most successful TV writers in the history of the medium. A former head writer for M*A*S*H, along with his partner David Isaacs, Ken has also written, directed, and produced such iconic shows as Cheers and Frasier, plus many others. But that's just the beginning of his amazing creative achievements. In this conversation, Ken explains how he worked hard to become a deejay, a talk host, a Major League Baseball play-by-play announcer, an author, and a cartoonist for the New Yorker. As the late, great John Houseman surely would have said, "He earned it."

DOUG MCINTYRE is one of those rare people who can apparently do anything they try (except math) and do it brilliantly. Who graduates college, moves to L.A. and lands work as a TV writer/director/producer? Doug. Who parlays that into success as a talk radio host, a newspaper columnist, and an emcee/interviewer to the stars? This guy. And, who has his first attempt at a novel going to press as we speak? Your old Red Eye Radio pilot.
We're lucky to have him.

If you've ever thought of traveling alone you need to hear this. If you've never thought about it, you need it even more. Kirsteen is a woman of the world with no permanent address. She counsels and teaches the tranquility and joy of solitude.
As my dear dad told me: "If you don't learn to love yourself you'll never be worth a damn to anyone else."