Hey, Let’s Put on a Show Tune

Musical theater fans seldom hear theater music on the radio. Or at least they haven’t until last weekend, when the West L.A.-based KGIL-AM shifted into an all-show-tunes format.

Suddenly you can switch to 1260 AM and hear the entire cast album of “South Pacific” or “Kiss Me Kate” or “Cats” or “Funny Girl.” Breaking up the cast albums are recordings by, say, theater stars Bernadette Peters or Michael Crawford, singing selections from a variety of shows.

In truth, the station’s fare isn’t just theater songs. The station’s owner and general manager, Saul Levine, tried that in 1985-86 with KSHO, which was licensed to Hesperia. The new KGIL, licensed to Beverly Hills, includes Hollywood soundtrack albums as well as theater albums, Levine said. However, a listener who tuned in to KGIL half a dozen times over its first few days heard only theater-related music.

Overlooking three hours of public affairs programming on Sunday morning, Levine maintains that KGIL is the first radio station ever to use an all-show-tunes format around the clock, seven days a week. His own KSHO broadcast show tunes only about 18 hours a day.

The new format is still “a work in progress” at this point, Levine said. So far, the music hasn’t been identified on the air. On-air hosts won’t arrive for at least another week, Levine predicted. When personalities go on the air, there will be more talk and, at least in the daytime, fewer entire albums played from beginning to end. Information about local musical theatrical productions as well as what’s happening on Broadway will be broadcast. Levine said the station will try to help foster the many small musical productions that don’t have large publicity budgets.

There probably will be more commercials, too. In the beginning week, there was only one commercial break every hour. However, after two days of the new format, Levine reported “a phenomenal response” coming over the phone from advertisers as well as listeners.

“Everyone loves show tunes,” beamed Levine.

KGIL is a sister station of all-classical KKGO. Levine expects a lot of crossover between the two audiences and will encourage it through cross-promotions.

Despite concerns about graying theater audiences and the high price of theater tickets, Levine expects his new format to “cut across the spectrum of age.” He said that a 20-year-old friend of his daughter and her 45-year-old mother are both tuning in. “By exposing theater music to a diverse and wide audience, we can help spread the gospel to young people who don’t think they can afford theater tickets,” he said. “We can whet their appetite to go to the theater.”

The station has a library of only 400 CDs, “but we’re adding more every day,” Levine said. “As long as a song has melody and is hummable, we’ll play it,” he said. “We won’t play Philip Glass or Steve Reich.” Opera will stay on KKGO, but KGIL will play “The Threepenny Opera” and Sigmund Romberg’s operettas.

KGIL had been an all-Beatles station for the last seven months, but its ratings were so low they weren’t even registering, Levine said. “We had been contemplating a change for six months, wandering all over the AM side to find a niche. We made the decision [the week before last] and asked ourselves, ‘Why delay it?’ We realize it will take six months to a year to get where we want to be. But we’re committed on a long-term basis because we think it will help promote our classical side.”

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GALILEO’S 50TH: One of the most famous world premieres in L.A. stage history occurred 50 years ago Wednesday, when Bertolt Brecht’s “Galileo” was presented at the then-new Coronet Theatre.

The current occupant of the Coronet, Playwrights’ Kitchen Ensemble, will mark the historic anniversary Wednesday with a reading of “Galileo” starring Brian Dennehy in the title role.

Charles Laughton played Galileo in the 1947 premiere at the Coronet, which was presented by the Pelican Players, a group run by Laughton and John Houseman. Joseph Losey directed.

There was as much drama onstage as off. In Houseman’s “Front and Center,” he recalled that Laughton exploded when he noticed Brecht’s mistress Ruth Berlau taking photos during a rehearsal, threatening to kill her. John Fuegi’s “Brecht and Company” reported that Losey stormed out, resenting Brecht’s bossiness, and that Laughton had his lover cast in a role above his abilities.

But the reviews surely made it all worthwhile. The L.A. Times called the play “an arresting footlight event.”