media bytes: monday, february 5, 2007

Monday, February 5, 2007 by SDRadio.

Welcome to SDRadio for Monday, Feb. 5, 2007

The GelderHead Thought For The Day: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Remebering Perry Allen: Southern California radio legend Perry Allen died last week at the age of 75. One of the original radio veterans that help to shape personality in San Diego, Los Angeles and Southern California.
Perry spent time in San Diego at KDEO, and KFMB. Yesterday, Perry’s son, Lee, wrote: “As is predictable for me, my Dad’s passing is sinking in slowly. Your warm thoughts and memories have been comforting and have brought a smile to my face.

“My parents were divorced when I was 4, in 1969. I would talk with Dad very week (on Sunday nights, if I recall). Up until I was in junior high school, my brother and I would spend Summer vacations out in California with Dad. He was so excited to have us to himself! I have particularly fond memories of going to work with him when he was at KDEO and KFMB. We would get up so early in the morning and go to the station. Dad always introduced us to EVERYONE. He would put us on the air, which I thought was the coolest. He never hustled us out of the studio. We knew to be quiet when the mic was open and he would play with us during records or the news. I never felt like a burden or something that had to be dealt with. He was proud to have us there and loved us very much.
“As I moved into adult life (whatever THAT means!), I enjoyed talking with Dad about almost anything. The combination of his intellect and sharp wit made him so interesting to talk with. I think about how discourse in general today is so divisive and abrasive. Agreeing and disagreeing with my Dad were the same. Challenging. And fun. The world needs more of that, doesn’t it?
“Consistent with my Dad’s wishes, he has been cremated and we will be having a private service.”
Here are some thoughts from those who worked with him in the market:

Sherry Daniel: Perry used to tell me, “I just want something to say I mattered.” He mattered. He just couldn’t see it the way we did. He, like other jocks, lived those WKRP lyrics, “Got tired of packing and unpacking, town to town, up and down the dial.” After a while, he thought no one remembered.
“My first thought on seeing that picture was, “Who is that? Lee?” Then I saw the little notation that it was Perry. Here’s an old stale joke Perry told me about the days when he looked like that, when he worked in Buffalo, New York.
“I used to know Buffalo Bob. One day I passed him in the hall and said, ‘Howdy’. He replied, ‘Doody.’” OK, everybody groan. That was Perry.
“However, I think Perry would want us to remember the good times he gave us. We, too, need closure for the big hole Perry just left in our hearts. At first, I was envisioning Perry having the radio version of a James Brown send-off memorial. But I’ve re-thought that. I think Perry’s memorial would be something closer to the “Chuckles The Clown” funeral in the old MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. You just can’t tell about the real Perry Allen with a straight face. And he wouldn’t want you to.
“I was once honored to have read the original draft of Perry’s never-published book GOOD LUCK DISC JOCKEY. It was a hoot and a half, those true anecdotes from Planet Perry Allen. I think someone later had him convinced to fictionalize it and sell it as a novel (which also never got published).
“In those days when both rock and roll and television were taking their first baby steps, Perry was active in both. He was really there, and he gives a glimpse into that in his book.
“He also gives a glimpse into the Perry Allen who couldn’t follow the rules even the military laid out. Has anybody ever heard the story about how when he was in Asia on the Far East Network, he and a co-jock auctioned off the base commanding officer to the civilian populaton? He almost got dishonorable discharge for that one. Perry says actor George Kennedy, then stationed in the miliary, saved his rear. That’s a story in the book.
“And I’m sure a lot of you have heard that story about when Perry hosted a live kiddie TV show, in the days when the emcees also had to do live commercials. His sponsor was Fizzies. He came to work with a hang-over and had to do the commercial. The way Perry told it to me, “Down went the Fizzies. Up came the Fizzies. Right on live TV in front of all those knee-biters.”
“Perry would want us to laugh. He would want us to share his peculiar bent for following a drummer no one else could hear.

Paul Palmer, former General Manager of 760 KFMB: “He really was one of a kind. Fortunately I have several pictures of Perry in my old KFMB Radio archive of 1970’s promotions such as the Pongathon, where a listener stayed awake for 7 days playing the old original Pong against other players… ”

Ken Copper: “When I came to San Diego in August of 1976 Perry was just leaving for a gig at KFI. (What a line-up at KFI: Lohman & Barkley in the morning, Sweet Dick Whittington and Larry Van Nuys and various others in midday; then Perry in PM Drive.) He used to call me and say nice things about what I was doing on KOGO, a much appreciated gesture that I never forgot. Later, when I met him, I found him to be a genuinely good and damned funny person.
“Perry didn’t sound like anybody else on the air. That, I think, is the biggest compliment that can be paid to anyone in the radio business. Perry….thanks for the laughs.”

Don Barrett at LARadio.com did a three part essay on KPPC. The story included a picture of an old radio log dial for the market. See the San Diego stations that were included ….. (Bigger view, click on the graphic.)

KFI’s weekend host, Leo Laporte takes his tech show national in Saturday, February 17. Premiere Radio Networks takes the show to KFI, WOAI, KPRC and other stations. “From computers, the internet, iPods, cell phones to camcorders, digital cameras, gaming systems and home theatres…Leo Laporte provides entertaining tech talk that appeals to the inner geek in all of us.” The show has been on LA’s KFI. In December, Leo remarked on his popular TWiT podcast that he may have to cut the radio show to concentrate on his various podcasts. Premiere grabbed the situation. The time remains the same: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days. Stay Tuned.

HDRadio in San Diego as of February 2007

Slated to come: KyXy and Free FM (CBS Radio); FM 94/9 and KiFM (Lincoln Financial Media). Table courtsey of Society of Broadcast Engineers Chapter 36. Stay digitally tuned.

Thank you for making SDRadio part of your internet travels. See YOU on the radio today, and here the rest of the week. All the news before it hits the stands at SDRadio.net.

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