{"id":5756,"date":"2009-08-24T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-24T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/lbbj-creates-krth-fan-club\/"},"modified":"2009-08-24T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-24T13:00:00","slug":"lbbj-creates-krth-fan-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/lbbj-creates-krth-fan-club","title":{"rendered":"LBBJ Creates KRTH Fan Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s the deal with the Long Beach Business Journal<\/em>\u2019s Aug. 18-31 advertorial for KRTH (K-EARTH) Radio on the (unmarked) page 11?  As far as vintage music is concerned, notwithstanding Art LaBoe\u2019s Sunday night low rider oldies show, KRTH is the only commercial radio game in town.<\/p>\n

In the full color full page spread, the Business Journal<\/em> does a complete sales job for a CBS-owned radio station which, between major commercial breaks, features \u201cUnchained Melody,\u201d \u201cStand By Me,\u201d some Motown, some Stones, \u201cGood Vibrations\u201d and that\u2019s about it.   <\/p>\n

According to KRTH, the \u201cgreatest hits on earth\u201d don\u2019t include Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Bobby Bland and Little Junior Parker, all blues folks who had hits on the pop charts; Hank Ballard & the Midnighters, the Dominoes, the Dells, the Spaniels and Little Willie John, all R&B acts who had hits on the pop charts; Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Ray Sharpe, Wanda Jackson, all rockabilly acts who had hits on the pop charts.   <\/p>\n

What they do offer might compete against a well-stocked jukebox, but barely.  If I\u2019m wrong in my extremely foreshortened list, tell me when the record by one of the above artists or groups was played on KRTH along with its title.  Don\u2019t think you can do it.<\/p>\n

Why is the Business Journal <\/em>involved in touting this researched-to-death outlet?  Was the article bought and paid for?  Is there anything unpredictable or surprising or jarring on KRTH, or is it all wallpaper, only those hits that research well as KRTH\/CBS corporate bragged about in the article, as if that\u2019s a good thing.  <\/p>\n

Read the article carefully\u2026 you\u2019ll note not one song or one artist or group was mentioned, apparently a superfluous fact not needed for an article which concentrates on station research about what songs \u201cthe audience wants to hear \u2013 and equally important, what songs they would rather not hear\u201d and a paragraph about the DJ as your friend.  <\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the \u201cBack To the Beatles\u201d show that\u2019s touted as well, ignoring other Beatles shows, like the \u201cThe Beatles Show\u201d with Casey Piotrowski heard Tuesday 8 to 9p.m. on www.wpmd.org, that\u2019s well-researched and lively, because the host is a fanatic, clear and simple.  The KRTH hosts are anything but\u2026 take from a guy who\u2019s not exactly a Beatles devotee\u2026 go ahead, call me to task for conflict of interest as I\u2019m on WPMD also\u2026 but also recall, I believe Casey goes way, way overboard in his Beatles appreciation class, which is just the thing I look for on radio\u2026 passion.  <\/p>\n

I admit it.  I got turned off to the whole KRTH article in the Business Journal <\/em>when the current \u201cBack To the Beatles\u201d host, Jim Carson correctly noted, the predecessor show, \u201c\u2019Breakfast With the Beatles\u2019 was a huge hit daring back to the 70s.  Then the host passed away.\u201d  Right.  Saying that is akin to profiling the LBJ administration, then noting that Johnson became president because his predecessor was assassinated\u2026and leave it at that.  <\/p>\n

In case Carson isn\u2019t aware, LBJ\u2019s predecessor was John F. Kennedy and his death was much more than an opportunity for Johnson to fill out his term.  So was the death of Deirdre O\u2019Donoghue, whose death, in case Carson hasn\u2019t bothered to find out, was the \u201copportunity\u2026to pick up\u201d the show.   She was much more than a deceased predecessor. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Donoghue\u2019s career was stunning, beginning with the legendary KPPC in Pasadena, the first free form radio station, now known as KROQ, the equally legendary WBCN in Boston, then to KMET, KCRW and to KLSX for her Beatles shift, which she hosted with passion, something KRTH won\u2019t likely ever need to worry about in its constant fine-tuning of their sound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Propes wonders what’s behind a recent rosy Long Beach Business Journal article about the K-EARTH radio station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5756"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5756"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}