Born and raised in Los Angeles, like most kids of the 60s, I grew up listening to my hometown's Top 40 music stations. My folks gave my sister and me our first radios. I was 11.

When I wasn't listening to Dodger baseball and Vin Scully - whom I thought had the best job anybody could ever have or want - it was KFWB and KRLA. Bill Ballance and Gary Owens were KFWB favorites. On KRLA, it was Emperor Hudson.

KHJ hit big when I was in high school and that was when I decided on a broadcasting career - something that station probably had a hand in doing to more than just a few of us.

Robert W. Morgan and Charlie Tuna were favorites, and my biggest influences, given their humor and instinctual timing. The Real Don Steele and Humble Harve made the station street cool. I actually lucked into a right place at the right time, part-time job at KHJ while still in school. What a time!

I spent my entire full-time radio career in Top 40 and Adult Contemporary — in Honolulu (KPOI), San Diego (B-100), Chicago (WFYR) and Seattle (KJR).

For the past several years, Financial Services has been an enjoyable second career that has required none of the geographic moves radio always did.

My wife Kim and I have two great kids - Troy and Brooke - now graduated from the University of Washington. Barring major geographic moves of their own, our kids won't have to board planes to get to their high school reunions like we have.

I appreciated every minute of radio's fun and competition, as well as the too-many-to-name, good people I came to know or was fortunate to work with during my career.

Finding and enjoying the REELRADIO website brought back the memories — and finally sent me into the boxes in the garage, looking for some history to share.

I hope you enjoy some of what turned up.

  Lowell Thomas Dolly Dimples Blooper (02:03)

[Description by Uncle Ricky]

. . . And now, Lowell, have you a few more unforgettable words? . . .

Legendary network vets Lowell Thomas and Warren Moran are featured in this famous clip where a simple slip by Thomas results in uncontrollable laughter for the remainder of his LIVE, nationwide radio newscast. Hey, and they did it in the allotted time.

And while the subject is, by today's standards, offensive and hurtful (555 pound women have feelings, too!) it's pretty easy to understand the meaning of "infectious laughter" after hearing this one.

  Bobby Ocean at KFRC Tribute, 1975 (05:14)

[Description by Uncle Ricky with notes from Glen Martin]

. . . What did the Top 40 disc jockey call the old salad? . . .

Contributor Glen Martin didn't know who should be credited for this, but it is an excellent and entertaining composite of Bobby Ocean on KFRC that chronicles his arrival in 1972 and departure for Los Angeles and KHJ in 1975. UpFront: a phone call with Bobby that was likely not aired, and you'll also hear Dr. Don Rose and Wolfman Jack.

We can't help but wonder as to the identity of the "Listener From Daly City", and if that same listener ever became a "top 40 deejay", and if that listener was the individual who assembled this composite. If so, we hope he'll step forward and take the credit - it is very well done, and a really nice tribute to Bobby's first gig at KFRC.

Of course, Mr. Ocean appeared at 610/KFRC again, and one more time and then... (2005) there is no more "KFRC" on AM in San Francisco. The Good News is that Bobby Ocean is online and on-the-air elsewhere, and maybe he can tell us about this unusual 1975 "Tribute"?

  KHJ Composite, Summer 1975 (28:48)

[Description by contributor Glen Martin]

. . . Ladies and Gentlemen, The Beat Goes Dawn . . .

Bobby Ocean (promos, 0:00-02:48) Charlie Van Dyke (02:49-10:10) Billy Pearl (10:11-16:03) Machine Gun Kelly (16:04-21:39) Big John Carter (21:39-25:31) Bobby Ocean (aircheck, 25:32-28:48)

  B-100 KFMB-FM Presentation, San Diego 1976 (17:07)

[Description by Glen Martin]

B-100 Boogie Boys, October 1976 (L-R): Shotgun Tom Kelly, Willie B. Goode, Gary Kelley, Gene Knight (in front), Phil Flowers, Glen McCartney. (When the picture was taken, Dave Conley was on the air, and PD Dr. Boogie was somewhere else.)

I copied this from PD Bobby Rich, who put this together nine months into the station's existence. With the exceptions of newsperson Terri Lynn and 'Rocket Man,' who had already left before I came aboard in August 1975, this composite features the rest of the original B-100 air staff.

Included are Rob Landree, Dave Conley, Willie B. Goode, Jimi Fox, Billy Martin and Phil Flowers, plus me and, of course, Dr. Boogie. You'll also hear the late Rod Serling — one of his last gigs, as it turns out — was at KFMB-FM.

Dr. Don Rose, John Mack Flanagan,
KFRC San Francisco 1976 (RESTORED) (56:31)

[Description by Glen Martin]

Recorded on January 20, 1976: KFRC is humming along — still the same great station it had been over the preceding decade. There are a couple of sets from John Mack Flanagan following Dr. Don Rose (d. March 29, 2005), one full and one edited newscast from Paul Fredericks.

Heading into 1976, you had to decide if it was worth buying a new 280Z for about $6,700, when you could just as easily have a new Buick Skyhawk-S Hatchback for only $3,953. It needed a CB radio though. That's a Big 610-Four.

Reportable music performances in this recording have been RESTORED by REELRADIO.

Glen McCartney, WFYR-FM Chicago, April 7, 1985 (58:23)

This Exhibit 'SCOPED (09:12)

[Description by Glen Martin, aka: Glen McCartney]

WFYR Super-"Bowl" Team, January 1986 I was hired as PD of WFYR, both because of my success at B-100 and because RKO wanted a foreground approach for their Chicago station. This was an AC (Adult Contemporary) format, but the station is 'produced'; we talked over intros; promos lead into music - not spots, it
Frame from WFYR TV Spot was current and recurrent-based with only a couple of "softer" hits (which actually also got CHR chart play then too) and there are no cold segues.

This is one of a few that I have that is unscoped. The STEREO is nice and the audio chain (as was the case with all the RKO stations) is awesome.