KIQQ entertainment reporter Francesca Capucci passes
I was a huge fan of KIQQ (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) during the station’s new-wave top-40 days of the early 1980s. It wasn’t necessarily the most polished station; indeed, the station could at times sound very low-budget. But it had a playlist that overlapped the best of KROQ (106.7 FM) and was often the first station in town to break new music and new bands with an emphasis on British acts along with homegrown artists.
Often KIQQ was so far ahead of its competition, primarily KIIS-FM (102.7), that it seemed like a song was at the top of the charts forever. The reality was that KIQQ would break the song and then it would later hit the charts and other stations. KIQQ was where I first heard Eddie Grant, The Style Council, Rick Springfield and more. I don’t think I ever heard the wonderful “She Means Nothing to Me” by Phil Everly and Cliff Richard on any other station, with the one exception of UCLA’s student station KLA … because I played it there.
Personalities included Bruce Chandler, Tony Saint James, GW McCoy, and a few others who stayed with the station until it gave up on the format and went light rock in mid-1985. One personality left early and went right to television, to become KABC-TV Channel 7’s entertainment reporter. That was Francesca Capucci, who started at KIQQ in the public affairs department, later moving up to report entertainment and celebrity gossip news, as well as features on and interviews with many of the bands and artists played on the station.
For a time, in addition to her other duties, she worked with Jay Coffee in morning drive, but her best-known work was her features. If you were a faithful listeners as I was, you may remember her extended sign-off: “I’m Francesca Capucci on K ……….I ………..Q ………………………………….Q.”
I never knew why they had — or allowed — her to do that; it was actually kind of cheesy. I was told later that it was designed to make her sound a bit sexy. True or not, she was definitely distinctive, and her features added a lot to the station’s on-air presence.
After leaving KIQQ in 1984, she moved over to Channel 7, reporting on entertainment news for ten years. Other television work included acting on such shows as Columbo, 7th Heaven, The Practice, and Charmed, usually playing, of course, a reporter.
Last week, I got the bad news from KPFK (90.7 FM) Car Show host (and column reader) David Kunz that Capucci had passed away; she died at the age of 64 due to cancer.
If her name sounds familiar, it may also be because it was used in the recent movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. There is no connection between her and the character in the movie; I am told that Quentin Tarantino just liked the name.
Her friend Kim Fitzgerald Kelly wrote on Capucci’s Facebook page on March 30, “It is with profound sadness that I share the passing of Francesca Cappucci. As those of you on this page know, Francesca was a force of nature, a source of true joy, a devoted mother to sons Ian and Will, and a great lover of music.
“Francesca’s name was itself a melody and it played throughout Los Angeles radio and TV stations for decades beginning in the early 80s. A celebration of life, love, and music is currently being planned and details will be announced. Until then, every time you hear a song by Foo Fighters or Crowded House, let it remind you of this beautiful icon.”
You can read tributes on that same page: facebook.com/francesca.cappucci
Commercial Breaks
For years, I have felt that it was a huge mistake for stations to run large blocks of commercial-free music. I am referring to the hour or two — sometimes longer — periods of nothing but music. The problem, of course, is that it shifts the commercials that have to be run to other hours and makes the commercial breaks longer during those hours, as well as making each advertisement of less value to the advertiser.
Seems like a lose-lose to me — the station earns less per advertisement because they are worth less as a longer block than they would otherwise be, the advertiser loses potential exposure due to listener tune-out, and listeners have to endure up to ten minutes of commercials when the breaks do come.
But I recently found out why they do this, from an expert on the industry. It seems the stations sell the advertisements based upon the entire shift a DJ is on. For example, perhaps 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. If the station can get a ton of listeners by playing no commercials the first two hours, it doesn’t care what happens during the rest of the show. The station can still sell the ad based upon the average rating over the entire four hours.
No wonder radio is suffering…
Nothing is Sacred
Ford announced it is removing AM radio reception not only from future EVs, it is also removing it from future gas-powered vehicles. On the heals of that news came General Motors announcement that it is removing Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on its future EVs.
The reason? GM wants subscription income from the dashboard.
I don’t know about you, but I love CarPlay. I won’t buy a car without it. Seems like a bad idea to me … what are your thoughts? More on this topic next week.
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