Charlie Tuna, KHJ Los Angeles, June 1, 1978 (1:31:28)

. . . and Ricardo Montalban kicked the whole set off . . .

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

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A spot for Beatlemania at the Pantages in Hollywood opens this exhibit, as Charlie Tuna is heard rolling out the new KHJ "AM Means All Music" format on Thursday (new diary day), June 1, 1978. While Charlie manages a few clever bits, he's (sadly) constrained to "KHJ All Music 93" liners more than once. It's obvious KHJ was in trouble and this was the attempted repair — eliminate the jingles, restrict the jock talk, and promote how great KHJ is supposed to be.

And not only is Charlie required to backsell music sets (just like AOR radio), the stop sets have grown from a comfortable two-unit, ninety-second limit to bloated 4-unit mega-sets. We all know what that led to, with commercial sets running six minutes and longer today. On the other hand, consider the calibre of advertisers - nearly all national spots, undoubtedly at correspondingly fat rates. This station was still making a lot of money!

The "information we need to know" with Mary Lyon includes news about important issues for Californians: The anti-gay Briggs Initiative, the anti-tax Jarvis initiative (Proposition 13), and the preference of pollees for Susan B. Anthony on the proposed One Dollar coin. There's a KHJ Sound-Off, several recorded promotional announcements, and a sweet sixteen-pack of Mass Appeal Hit Music of the era.

Our thanks to contributor Neil Hopper for this great recording, which is actually the second half of Tuna's entire show from that morning. It's a ninety-minute escape to summer 1978, and despite the shortcomings of the new KHJ format, wonderful listening.