{"id":800,"date":"2018-12-18T19:14:31","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T19:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/?page_id=800"},"modified":"2018-12-18T19:14:31","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T19:14:31","slug":"2018-1221","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/2018-1221\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Waves: 12\/21\/18"},"content":{"rendered":"

McIntyre Retires from KABC after 22 years<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Yes, that was Leo Terrell filling in for Doug McIntyre this week on KABC (790 AM) mornings. Well, filling is perhaps not quite the right word McIntyre announced early last week that he was retiring from the station he called home for 22 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve actually been thinking about it for a while now,\u201d he explained. There are so many things I would like to do including the completion of a novel I\u2019ve been working on for about 20 years. It\u2019s been on hold while I work out details in my mind for the story line,\u201d he explained. \u201cIf I don\u2019t finish it now I may never do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIntyre\u2019s shoes will be hard to fill at the station. While KABC itself long ago gave the ratings crown away to KFI (640 AM), McIntyre has remained not only one of the most popular personalities on the station, he elicits a great response in the form of emails from fans every time I mention his name, the show, or just KABC in this column.<\/p>\n

He is a thoughtful commentator, leaning conservative but in no way on the extreme fringe. He\u2019s battled people and policies in Los Angeles, but for the most part he is an intelligent conversationalist who did the show his way \u2014 he even picked the \u201cbumper music\u201d heard coming out of commercial breaks that were songs he personally enjoyed.<\/p>\n

Prior to working the morning shift, McIntyre was the host of the syndicated program Red Eye Radio, perhaps the best overnight radio talk show ever. It was there that many local fans heard him for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in I don\u2019t know how many years, I\u2019m going to be asleep at normal hours and awake at normal hours,\u201d McIntyre told me at 10:00 p.m. one night last week \u2026 less than six hours before the 3:30 a.m. time he was scheduled to get up in the morning to get ready for his show. \u201cI don\u2019t know how other morning hosts do it \u2014 I\u2019ve always been a night owl. I just can\u2019t get to sleep before 10:30 or so!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so appreciative of listeners who have been so supportive over the years,\u201d he said. \u201cOther personalities at KABC have been wonderful as well, as has been KABC management. (Programmer) Drew Hayes has been especially supportive, and he also understands my desire to retire from radio.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIntyre will continue with his columns published in this newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying that I would never consider going back on the air if the right opportunity came up at the right time,\u201d he said. \u201cBut for now, the right decision is to step away and work on all the projects I\u2019ve put on hold over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

And work himself into a normal sleep pattern.<\/p>\n

Replacement<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Who will replace McIntyre? And will it matter? That\u2019s a tough call. KABC actually does a good job with talk and includes some excellent programs. But it seems that outside of a few stations across the country, talk as a format is hurting.<\/p>\n

For years, I;I\u2019ve wondered aloud if it is time for KABC to ditch the format in favor of something else. Occasionally the idea of 60s oldies gets floated around, based on the lack of the music elsewhere and the success K-SURF has had with the 1950s – \u201870s oldies.<\/p>\n

Personally I\u2019d go full service, similar to what was done on the original KMPC (now KSPN, 710 AM), but modernized for today\u2019s podcast-savvy audience. Put together a great news department that breaks news rather than joint covering it. Keep the good hosts that currently entertain well such as John Phillips, and add music shows playing whatever will attract a younger audience to the AM band. Super-serve the local audience including coverage of sports from pros down to preps, and promote the heck out of it so people will actually find it.<\/p>\n

Gift Guide II<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Last week\u2019s book suggestions brought forth some others from readers who mentioned some excellent older books that are still available.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid You Whittinghill This Morning? The Madcap Adventures of a Hollywood Disc Jockey\u201d originally published on 1976 tells the story of one of Los Angeles\u2019 all-time popular morning DJs, Dick Whittinghill. I have a copy myself.<\/p>\n

And available hard cover or Kindle, the excellent 2016 \u201cAircheck: Life in Music Radio\u201d by J.J. Johnson is an example of how books written by radio stars should be written.<\/p>\n

Remember Dave Hull? Sure you do. His 2012 book \u201cHullabaloo! – The Life and (Mis)Adventures of L.A. Radio Legend Dave Hull\u201d is also available as a hardcover or Kindle.<\/p>\n

Ron Jacobs\u2019 2012 \u201cInside Boss Radio\u201d tells the story of Jacobs\u2019 programming tenure at KHJ (930 AM) through some narrative but primarily previously unreleased memos to staff. It\u2019s a high-energy manic read that is at the same time hard to read and hard to put down.<\/p>\n

Any and all of these are great additions to the libraries of radio fans. Now we just need to get people like Shotgun Tom Kelly and some of the KHJ DJs to write theirs \u2026<\/p>\n

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

McIntyre Retires from KABC after 22 years Yes, that was Leo Terrell filling in for Doug McIntyre this week on KABC (790 AM) mornings. Well, filling is perhaps not quite the right word McIntyre announced early last week that he was retiring from the station he called home for 22 years. \u201cI\u2019m ready,\u201d he told […]<\/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-800","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/800","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=800"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":801,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/800\/revisions\/801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}