When radio airtime leads to TV face time

The rest of the country got to know them as Col. Hogan, or as that fellow embarrassing young couples with questions about whoopee, or as Powdered Toast Man, but Southland radio listeners were long familiar with them -- or at least their voices.

Before he ever played a crafty POW on “Hogan’s Heroes,” Bob Crane had a long-running nighttime show on KNX-AM (1070). Bob Eubanks, before “The Newlywed Game,” was the KRLA-AM (1110) disk jockey who brought the Beatles to the Hollywood Bowl in 1964. And Gary Owens held court afternoons on KMPC-AM (710) before lending his voice to 3,000 cartoon characters, among them the sugar-dusted, bread-based hero on “Ren & Stimpy.”

“This is the hotbed for movies, radio, TV and commercials,” Owens said, so the owner of KMPC, singing cowboy Gene Autry, “wanted us to do a lot of television, because he thought it helped the radio station.”

Starting with a spot as a war correspondent on “McHale’s Navy,” Owens went on to innumerable television guest appearances, thousands of voice-over jobs and 15 TV series as either an announcer, host or regular performer, including six years on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” on NBC. These days he’s heard middays on adult-standards outlet KLAC-AM (570) and is just one of a long line of radio stars who have parlayed success on L.A. airwaves to national recognition on television.

“When you’re on a program in Los Angeles, you’re talking to the people on television, who are making the decisions on television,” said Ryan Seacrest, afternoon-drive host on KYSR-FM (98.7). “Hey, this is a place every day to be exposed. And we know this town is really, really, really built on relationships.”

Seacrest, of course, is leading the latest wave of radio stars turning their success into TV exposure, with his turn as host of the phenomenally popular Fox series “American Idol” and its spinoff, “American Juniors.” He’s also hosting an entertainment newsmagazine premiering Jan. 12 and syndicated by Fox subsidiary Twentieth Television.

KIIS-FM (102.7) had a pair of DJs expand to television -- Jojo Wright was a judge on NBC’s “Fame,” while Sean Valentine hosted “Married by America” on Fox. Ellen K, sidekick to Rick Dees on his KIIS morning show, just started her first full season as sidekick on “The Wayne Brady Show,” the comedian’s daytime talk show on ABC. And Ralph Garman, entertainment reporter on “The Kevin & Bean Show” mornings on KROQ-FM (106.7), is hosting “Joe Schmo,” a spoof of reality television on the Spike TV network.

“It’s just exposure,” Garman said. “We’re lucky enough to work in the market where the work is. It’s the best resume in the world.”

In the earlier years of television, in the 1950s and ‘60s, the medium drew a lot of talent from radio because it appropriated a lot of programs from radio.

“When you stop and think of anybody who started in TV in the ‘50s, they started in radio,” Owens said, citing Jack Benny, George Burns, Steve Allen, Red Skelton and others who simply moved their shows to the small screen.

“Almost invariably, a lot of the game-show hosts came from radio,” he added, noting that, as DJs, whether it was describing the records they played or interacting with callers, “they had a gift of conversation.”

In addition to Eubanks, who was on KRLA from 1960 to 1967 and started with “The Newlywed Game” in 1966, Wink Martindale was a DJ on KHJ-AM (930), KRLA, KFWB-AM (980) and KGIL-AM (1260) before he went on to host game shows such as “Gambit,” “High Rollers” and “Tic-Tac-Dough.” And Geoff Edwards -- now heard mornings on adult standards station KSUR-AM (1260) -- was on KHJ, KFI-AM (640) and KMPC before appearing on television in shows such as “Treasure Hunt” and “Jackpot.”

Seacrest said he’s always wanted to combine radio and television, since he first went on radio at age 15 and got a TV job at 19 hosting ESPN’s “Radical Outdoor Challenge.”

“The reason I moved here, I felt there would be a ceiling of opportunity in radio and TV in my hometown” of Atlanta, Seacrest said. “At some point you’ve got to move to New York or Los Angeles.”

Today, the proliferation of reality television shows has provided abundant need for hosts, but Garman said that can be a constraint as well as an opportunity.

“That’s the pedigree of a lot of people on radio. That seems to be the role they take when they get into television,” Garman said. “That’s the pigeonhole they want to put you in. I get offered a lot of hosting things, but that’s not what I’m into.”

He grew up wanting to act, he said, and struggled for a decade when he came to Hollywood from his hometown, Philadelphia. He never intended to get into radio and got the job on “Kevin & Bean” at the recommendation of friends Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel, who themselves were leaving jobs on the KROQ program to host Comedy Central’s “The Man Show.”

Five years later, Garman has been able to turn his radio success into stints as a commentator on VH1 and E! Entertainment Television. But, more to his liking, he’s also gotten acting roles on “NYPD Blue” and now “Joe Schmo,” in which he’s playing a character with his same name but who embodies all the worst aspects of reality show hosts.

Of course, the television forays by local radio stars have not all succeeded. In 1991, Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps, on KLOS-FM (95.5), had the top morning show in the Southland. But their NBC-TV program that fall, “The Adventures of Mark and Brian,” was canceled after only a few weeks of being drubbed in the ratings by “60 Minutes.”

From 1990 to 1991, morning radio fixture Dees tried a late-night talk show on ABC. But the network canceled “Into the Night Starring Rick Dees,” citing affiliate indifference. Dees cited viewers flocking to watch Johnny Carson’s farewell tour on NBC and Gulf War reports that extended ABC’s “Nightline,” pushing Dees into the early morning.

But despite the fame and money from television -- which can be considerably better than in radio, Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh notwithstanding -- Owens and the others say they won’t abandon the medium. Owens said he enjoys the spontaneity of radio and has no plans to get off the air, as evinced by his daily show on KLAC. It’s a sentiment that Ellen K echos.

“I’ve always said I would never leave radio. It would be nice to sleep in one day,” she said, noting that she has to awaken at 4 a.m. for the Dees show. “I’ve always been in radio since I was 19. I would feel like my arm was missing or something.”

And Seacrest is getting himself only deeper into radio: He’s now also the fill-in host for both Dees and countdown king Casey Kasem.

“I don’t need to do it [radio]. I can pay my mortgage without it,” Seacrest said. But radio is “something that’s kind of in your blood. I love it.”