{"id":2608,"date":"2023-01-18T18:45:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T02:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/?page_id=2608"},"modified":"2023-01-18T18:50:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-19T02:50:28","slug":"2023-0120","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/2023-0120\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Waves: January 20, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Benny Martinez, the young kid and relative newcomer to Los Angeles when he was picked in 1981 for the early evening shift on program director Chuck Martin\u2019s top-40 K-WEST 106 (now KPWR, 105.9 FM) has passed away on January 3rd from complications related to diabetes. He was 66.<\/p>\n

I remember listening to Martinez on K-WEST, the little station that should have dominated radio in Los Angeles, a true version of KHJ (930 AM) on FM, launched about six months after KHJ went country. Unfortunately, upper\u00a0 management didn\u2019t give it enough time and dropped the format just as KIIS-FM was moving in; KIIS would eventually become the top-rated station in America due in part to K-WEST leaving the format to them.<\/p>\n

I asked Martin to talk about Martinez. \u201cI first heard of Benny while I was programming KHJ. We would receive a lot of air checks from DJs around the country \u2026 so many people wanted to work at KHJ. One day my assistant, \u201cHurricane\u201d Heron, came to me and said \u2018you want to listen to this one.\u2019 It was Benny Martinez, which was working at a little station in El Centro called KXO.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBenny had a decent voice, but there was something more to it. He had a vibe, something in his attitude, that stuck out. He had excellent delivery, with a great pace and momentum. He was not ready for KHJ yet, but he was close to the type of personality I wanted for the station: someone with an ethnic feel\u00a0 \u2026 who can talk with Southern California in a general sense, but relate to listeners in the inner city as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne day, he showed up in my office. My secretary said he was in the lobby, had sent me a tape and was hoping we could go over it together. So I brought him to my office, we sat down and listened; I gave him suggestions, such as to start speaking both Spanish and English on the air, moving between the two as effortlessly as he could. He was quite talented in this. After the meeting, we agreed to stay in touch while I continued to offer suggestions\u2026 which we did for many months\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the Spanish-English announcing that made Martinez fun to listen to for me, even though I am still most definitely not a Spanish speaker. Long before it was trendy at some stations, Martinez would through in a few Spanish words as he spoke, often culminating with \u201con K-WEST, uno cero seis.\u201d But I am getting ahead of the story.<\/p>\n

Fast forward a bit \u2026 KHJ has gone country, Martin is up in San Francisco consulting with KHJ sister station KFRC, when he gets the opportunity to program K-WEST. \u201cWe had most of the staff set \u2026 Bobby Ocean, Pat Garrett, London and Engelman, and the one holdover from the old format, China Smith. But I still needed an evening jock. Hurricane brought up Benny.\u201d<\/p>\n

After thinking about it for a while, \u201che was at the top of my list\u201d for potential candidates, he explained. But Martin had lost track of Martinez when the young DJ left KXO. \u201cI had no clue where he was,\u201d said Martin. \u201cI finally found him \u2026 working at a bank! He had given up radio because he needed a more stable job as he started a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Would he be interested in working the evening shift on K-WEST? \u201cYes,\u201d came the immediate reply from Martinez. And he didn\u2019t let Martinez down. \u201cHe was exactly what I wanted for the format, for that time slot especially. He did really well for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, as I said, it didn\u2019t last. Just as the format was building momentum, and immediately prior to KIIS-FM starting its ascension, Martin realized the station was not being supported correctly, and promises were being broken. So he reluctantly left the station, the last station he ever programmed. Martinez went on to work at other stations in town, including the KIIS-AM (now KEIB, 1150 AM) \u201cshadow cast\u201d of KIIS-FM, B-100 (KIBB, now KKLQ, 100.3 FM), and KRTH (101.1 FM).<\/p>\n

Martinez also worked on Westwood One\u2019s syndicated 70s format but ultimately realized what he already knew: radio is not the most stable of industries. So he left and sold cars at Ed Butts Ford in La Puente.<\/p>\n

I realize this is a long tribute for Martinez, who certainly would not be considered a \u201clegend\u201d in the vein of Charlie Tuna, Robert W. Morgan, or \u201cthe Real\u201d Don Steele. But he represents the last gasps of personality-oriented top-40 radio, and for that matter made his mark in an increasingly tough industry. I remember him so well because my radio was glued to K-WEST in that era, whether I was driving to Long Beach State or working at the Sears Surplus Store warehouse. It was fun; Martinez will be missed.<\/p>\n

\/\/\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benny Martinez, the young kid and relative newcomer to Los Angeles when he was picked in 1981 for the early evening shift on program director Chuck Martin\u2019s top-40 K-WEST 106 (now KPWR, 105.9 FM) has passed away on January 3rd from complications related to diabetes. He was 66. I remember listening to Martinez on K-WEST, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2608","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2608"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2615,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2608\/revisions\/2615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}