KKGO-FM’s Mona Golabek Speaks Out as Voice of ‘Romance’

The sensuous and unhurried voice of Mona Golabek heard Saturday nights at 10 on KKGO-FM (105.1), reading snippets of poetry, love letters, diaries and memoirs, morphs at a Monday morning breakfast into a fast-paced alto as she talks about her syndicated classical music show, “The Romantic Hours.”

The hourlong show was launched here on Valentine’s Day, along with a CD of the same title, and now is heard through Classical Music Network on 11 stations across the country. Golabek potentially could be heard on most, if not all, of the three dozen or so commercial classical music outlets before spring is out, according to Roy Lindau, vice president and general manager of the CMN.

Hers is the soul of a romantic with the mind of a marketer. “In a way,” says the 40-ish Golabek, who made a career as a concert pianist, “my classical music ‘Romantic Hours’ show is ‘The English Patient’ meets ‘Titanic’ meets 19th century classical music.” Well, hardly just 19th century but her point is that romance in whatever form is in, and it sells.

While the words on “Romantic Hours,” recorded at Dove Audio in Beverly Hills, account for less than 10% of an hour, they are what sets this classical program apart. Indeed, Lindau says this blending of romance in poetry and classical music might well be a first on radio.

Her goal, she says, “is to seduce people through the emotion” into the music.

The idea was Golabek’s--but the inspiration came from her mother, Lisa Jura Golabek, who died in December at 73. A Vienna-born child prodigy, who was rescued from the Nazis and went to England on the famed Kindertransport just before World War II, she became a concert pianist and music teacher. Among her students: Mona and Mona’s younger sister Renee.

“From the time I was a little girl, my mother told me stories,” says Golabek, wearing a black beret, just like her mother used to wear. “Always when she sat me down at the piano, she said, ‘It’s not just a C-major chord going into a G-major chord. I want you to imagine a story behind the music.’ Like when I would work on ‘L’isle joyeuse’ by Debussy, [she’d say] ‘I want you to imagine a young boy calling you to an island, and the natives dancing and the drums beating. . . .’

“Growing up, I would see these strange names on the scores of music that Chopin wrote, or Debussy . . . and as the years went on and I had my share of love affairs and terrible losses, suddenly I’d ask myself, ‘Who was that person?’ ”

Later, on stage as a concert pianist, she also spoke “and discovered that people were far more fascinated to know that Franz Liszt wrote ‘Liebestraum’ for a woman who abandoned her husband, her millions of dollars and her two children for a guy [Liszt] I call the ‘Frank Sinatra of the 19th century.’ Women were fainting over him. . . . “

An interview that she did last year on KKGO promoting her recording of “Babar the Elephant”--the sisters Golabek were on piano, and the New Zealand symphony performed; Meryl Streep narrated--led to “Romantic Hours.” “I turned to then-program director John Santana, and I very timidly said, ‘By the way, John, I have a fantasy, and my fantasy is to be a voice at night, very late, telling romantic stories about the composers and the women in their lives.’ ”

A two-month trial run on KKGO last spring led to the syndication deal.

On Saturday night, for a program on German romantic music, Golabek and producer Doug Ordunio paired a Marlene Dietrich cabaret song with a selection from Kurt Weill’s “Three Penny Opera”--and words of an interview with Lotte Lenya about husband Weill. Other poets and authors excerpted for the radio show include Pablo Neruda, F. Scott Fitzgerald, D.H. Lawrence and lines from Michael Ondaatje’s novel “The English Patient.”

To hear “Romantic Hours” is to come away feeling as if you’ve had a soft massage.

“I’m trying to create a mood,” Golabek says. “Perhaps you’re alone at home or with your significant other, and you are taken to a place where for a moment you are in touch with the souls that came before you. . . . There’s this wonderful phrase, written by a poet named Jean Paul-Richter who was the favorite poet of Robert Schumann, and he said, ‘Life fades and withers behind us, but of our immortal and sacred soul all that remains is music.’ ” As she says those words, her voice transmogrifies back to sensual.

Country Feud: There are only two country music stations in the local market, and David is taking on Goliath.

Goliath in this case is Los Angeles-based KZLA-FM (93.9), whose signal covers Los Angeles and Orange counties. David is Anaheim-based KIKF-FM (94.3), whose signal not only is weaker but whose position on the dial is occupied in parts of Los Angeles by KBUA-FM (94.3), a Spanish-language music station.

KIKF has filed suit in Orange County Superior Court charging that KZLA, the William Morris Agency and others have conspired “to destroy competition and monopolize the Orange County market” by threatening not to play the music of any artist who did business with KIKF.

According to the lawsuit, the defendants told “artists and their managers, night clubs, concert promoters and other customers [that] KZLA had to be the exclusive presenter, promoter and advertiser for all events.”

If such exclusivity was not granted, the papers say, “KZLA would not play the artist’s songs over the radio, which would result in the artist selling less records [CDs etc.] . . . be less popular and make less money.”

KIKF also charged that KZLA gave “false and misleading information” about “the ability for its radio signal to be reached in the Orange County and Los Angeles areas.” Officials at KIKF could not be reached for comment and a spokesman at William Morris would not comment.

In the most recent Arbitron ratings, KIKF tied for 37th place with a 0.4% share of audience, while KZLA was tied for 13th place with a 2.7% share.

Last Friday Orange County Superior Court Judge Thierry Patrick Colaw denied an emergency temporary restraining order, sought by KIKF. A hearing for a preliminary injunction, pending a permanent injunction, will be held on May 6.

‘What’s All This Talk . . . ?’: What would the talk be like if, into one room, you put 31-year KABC-AM (790) talk veteran Michael Jackson; John Kobylt, syndicated afternoon-drive host on KFI-AM (640); Tom Leykis, syndicated afternoon-drive host on KLSX-FM (97.1); Tracey Miller who is heard with Jonathon Brandmeier on KLSX and Chicago’s WCKG-FM; and Ken Minyard of KABC morning drive? Would the talk be substantive or lightweight; the mood, amiable or contentious?

To find out, consider attending the “What’s All This Talk About Talk Radio?” seminar at the Museum of Television & Radio in Beverly Hills on April 22 from 7-8:30 p.m. Tickets cost $8 for members, $10 for nonmembers. For information, call the museum at 310-786-1000.

Dr. Genii: Laura Schlessinger--talk radio’s relationship and morality maven--is beginning to reap the awards of her popularity. Dr. Laura--who according to a survey in the March/April issue of Talkers magazine, is the most-listened-to talk radio host in the nation, toppling Rush Limbaugh--will be honored with a Genii Award next Thursday by the Southern California chapter of American Women in Radio and Television.

Schlessinger, who is heard on 445 stations across the country with a total weekly audience of 18 million, is being hailed as “host of the fastest-growing talk radio program ever.”

Other honorees at the 43rd annual luncheon awards ceremonies are Christine Lahti of CBS’ “Chicago Hope” and Beth Sullivan, executive producer of CBS’ “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.”

The ceremonies will be held at the Beverly Hills Hotel from noon to 2 p.m. The cost is $65 for members, $75 for nonmembers. For reservations, phone (213) 964-2740 or (562) 860-4574.

Schlessinger, whose show airs weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KFI-AM (640), will be able to accept the award in person. She’s on vacation during Passover week. On radio, you’ll hear reruns.