Sea of love:Checking out a report of...

Sea of love:

Checking out a report of a body floating in the L.A. River in Van Nuys, an LAPD helicopter crew was unable to determine if the form was human. A police diver took a closer look and discovered it was “a blown-up male sex doll,” said Lt. Don Farrell. Let that be a warning--don’t let your sex doll go swimming alone.

IT LEFT A BAD TASTE IN THEIR MOUTHS: Two Southland men pleaded guilty the other day to conspiring to avoid paying $9 million in duties on garlic imported from China.

AND NEITHER ADMITS INFLATABLE DOLLS: In case you’re wondering, there is absolutely no link between L.A.’s Temple Hospital and the business advertised on an adjacent sign.

TO LOVE, CHERISH AND CHANGE YOUR STATIONERY? A male talk-show radio host who is engaged to be married held an on-air debate about whether wives should take the last names of their hubbies. Why? The host’s fiancee is resisting. Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that his name is Joe Crummey. Still, Crummey’s feelings are hurt. After all, he’s no male sex doll.

BY THE LETTER: Ironically, Crummey (his real name) was talking about name changes just after his station, KMPC-AM (710), had re-christened itself KTZN to advertise its new format “The Zone” (we don’t get it, either).

Call letters are constantly shifting in radio’s alphabet soup. What made this switch notable was that KMPC had been KMPC since 1930. Those initials referred to MacMillan Petroleum Co., then the station’s owner.

Here are some slogans, names and companies associated with other call letters:

* KLAC-AM (570): “Los Angeles, Calif.”

* KFI-AM (640): “Farm Information”

* KECA-AM (790): Owner Earle C. Anthony (now KABC)

* KHJ-AM (930): “Kindness, Happiness and Joy,” which was chosen by listeners (now KKHJ)

* KFWB-AM (980): Owner Fox-Warner Bros.

* KFSG-AM (1150): Four Square Gospel, operated by evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson (now KIIS)

* KGFJ-AM (1230): “Keeping Good Folks Joyful” (now KYPA)

* KCRW-FM (89.9): “College Radio Workshop” or “Corsair Radio West” (Stories differ as to the origin.)

* KJLH-FM (102.3): Owner John Lamar Hill III (His first studio was in a Long Beach mortuary.)

miscelLAny:

Then there’s KNX-AM (1070). One theory holds that the letters referred to an annex in downtown L.A. where the station was formerly based. But the letters seem to have been assigned arbitrarily by the government. In its 77 years on the air, KNX has not (to our knowledge) held a contest to come up with a slogan that fits the letters, as KHJ did. Surely, Only in L.A.’s readers can help fill the void for the all-news station. How about “Knowledge, No Xylophones”? Hey, at least we tried.