July 2

Radio AM to FM: July 2, 2004

Elvis. Siriusly.

Today marks the launch of All Elvis All the Time on Sirius Satellite Radio's Elvis Radio channel.

Sirius has partnered with Elvis Presley Enterprises for this new channel, and a special studio was built at Graceland, Elvis' home in Memphis, where the programming will originate. The audio feed will be played in all public areas of Graceland and will be available in guest rooms at the Heartbreak Hotel.

Need a Sirius radio? You can buy those in the gift shop.
Programming will consist of the pretty much everything Elvis that can be found, from early Sun Records releases to rarely-heard "B" sides.

Tuna on Steele

Charlie Tuna, who lost his former partner to contract negotiations, has caught some Steele. Kari Steele, to be exact. Steele replaces Leigh Ann Adam, who could not come to an agreement with KBIG management, and left the station when her contract expired.

Steele moves to mornings from afternoons on the same station.

She's been in Los Angeles since 1999, first at sister KOST and then at KBIG beginning in 2001. Prior to arriving at the City of Angels, she was in the State of Surf -- Hawaii -- working as host or co-host on I94, KQMQ and KRTR.

Howard Passes

Marv Howard, a veteran Los Angeles radio newsman who kept us informed for almost 40 years, died June 26 from a massive brain hemorrhage. He was 72.

Howard's resume reads like a list of pioneering and legendary stations and formats: KDAY, KBBQ, KHJ, KFI and KMPC. It was at KHJ where he got into news -- prior to that he was on the music side of things -- when he was asked to cover the Watts Riots. He was Robert W. Morgan's newsman (among others) on KMPC, where he worked from 1982 to 1994, and it was at KMPC where he had the most fun.

"This period at KMPC was the most joyful time," Howard told laradio.com's Don Barrett, in a past interview. "Mornings would just fly by."

He was a wonderful communicator from an era when radio news was taken seriously. Services were held Thursday (July 1st) at St. Paul Episcopal Church in Westwood.

Format Idea

Reader Marlene Krapf wrote in with a new format idea: "With all the radio stations we have, wouldn't it be wonderful if there was one that would have books on tapes. I bet that would interest a lot of people. Maybe you can get that done. I would love to get to sleep at night listening to books on tapes."

Well, I can't really do anything myself (if I could, KHJ would still be playing hits). But it is an interesting idea. I wonder if anyone has ever given serious thought to it.

San Diego Standards

Hear anything new on San Diego's 1040 AM ... besides the digital interference when KTNQ has its HD Radio system turned on? More details next week.

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