Everyone, listen up
SCANNING up and down the radio dial on weekends is a game of chance. Will you land on a real estate infomercial? Or an uninterrupted performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 41?
Such diversity reflects the unpredictable nature of the audience. Unlike weekday listeners trapped in commuter traffic, weekend radio listeners either have almost no time -- or all the time in the world -- to tune in. Stations imagine their weekend audience is either frantically running errands, planting a new bed of flowers or lounging half-asleep in a hammock. The resulting programming that seeks to cater to these varied attention spans is, not surprisingly, all over the dial. Find a niche and weekend radio can still fill it.
But weekend radio has changed, and many would say not for the better. Once a training ground for budding talent, the consolidation of radio stations over the last decade has squeezed out some of the richness of local programming in favor of more infomercials and syndicated programs.
“Weekend radio used to be much more vibrant and lively,” said Don Barrett, publisher of LARadio.com, a website that tracks local radio. “But companies had to find ways to control costs, especially on the weekends.”
Still, there are plenty of gems. Amid the vast, polyglot Southern California market, we spotlight 10 locally recorded English-language programs that typify the eclectic spirit of weekend radio. Given that there are well more than 200 programs on any given weekend, it’s just a starting point. But the selected shows span a spectrum of topics -- religion, sports, food, the law and computers, to name a few -- that together form an audio snapshot of the sprawling city from which they originate.
“Good Food”
Station: KCRW-FM (89.9)
Time: 11 a.m. to noon Saturdays
Your Host: Evan Kleiman
The Concept: All things about food
considered
ALTHOUGH it features discussion staples such as recipes and restaurants, the show is actually a thoughtful examination of what food reveals about who we are. “There is so much about food that illuminates funny things, tragic things, hip things and sardonic things,” said Evan Kleiman, 53, the owner and executive chef of Angeli Caffe on Melrose Avenue. “Basically everything there is in life can be expressed in food.” That philosophy animates the six to eight segments in each program that have recently encompassed pieces on healthy fats, the history of utensils, growing food on Mars and the controversy surrounding a royal English composer who found a dead swan last year and decided to cook it.
Few know as well as Kleiman that food excites the passions, even political ones. She has long since adopted the Swiss diplomatic approach to highly charged food topics, which is to say she remains defiantly neutral. Whether it’s the heavily processed American diet or animal rights activists outraged about meat products, she refuses to judge.
“I have no interest in curating topics so it reflects a certain agenda,” said Kleiman, who inherited the show about eight years ago. “I’m really interested in people.”
*
“The Jesus Christ Show”
Station: KFI-AM (640)
Time: 6 to 9 a.m. Sundays
Your Host: Neil Saavedra as Jesus Christ
The Concept: What would Jesus say to callers?
IT takes a lot chutzpah to speak for Jesus, but Sunday mornings KFI’s director of marketing, Neil Saavedra, does just that. It sounds like blasphemy, but even Saavedra’s most ardent religious critics, after tuning in, are usually won over by his Scripture-bound take on Jesus.
The show started almost as a joke roughly eight years ago on the weekday morning show of his KFI colleague Bill Handel. Saavedra, who had earned a reputation around the station as the staff theologian, was asked to appear as Jesus to discuss the Easter holiday. At first, Saavedra rejected the idea as sacrilegious. Then, after consulting with clergy, he decided to do it. “As long as the answers are theologically strong, it’s no different than a Passion play or movie,” Saavedra said.
The switchboard lighted up, and a show was born. Today, each show typically begins with an opening monologue that lasts anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes and usually deals with a moral question, be it global warming or whether grocery store carts should be returned.
It’s the interaction with listeners that provides the real drama. Callers sometimes want to play “gotcha” or be smart alecks. “One guy wanted to know if I knew who was going to win the Super Bowl, to which I said yes and hung up,” Saavedra said.
But most are looking for guidance and an understanding of why evil exists.
“I’m made of the same clay as the callers, and I’m going through the same crap as they are,” said Saavedra, a former punk rocker who found religion at 17. “But if it has his name on the show, I have a responsibility to provide truthful, biblically based answers.”
*
“The Joe McDonnell
Experience”
Station: XTRA Sports (570)
Time: 2 to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Your Host: Joe McDonnell
The Concept: Bark and yell, mostly about sports, with your ol’ pal Joe
SPORTS are a window into a culture that Joe McDonnell likes to throw a baseball through. You think Barry Bonds is a cheater? Joe doesn’t. “It’s overblown,” said the L.A. radio veteran of some 30 years. “Even if he did take steroids, which he probably did, it wasn’t against baseball rules at the time.... Any steroid expert will tell you it helps the recuperative process, but it doesn’t help your hand-eye coordination.”
Bonds aside, the show’s meat and potatoes are the Los Angeles Lakers. To McDonnell, there is never an off-season for the purple and gold.
“I just say, ‘Lakers,’ and our switchboard lights up,” he said. “I’d say for the last 15 years they’ve really been the only sports show in town.”
Unlike most sports programs, McDonnell welcomes hot-button topics off the athletic beat. Mel Gibson’s drunken tirade in Malibu, the legalization of marijuana and the war in Iraq are all topics that have found their way into his show.
“I know some people who tune in just to call me an idiot, which is fine,” said McDonnell, who hosts another similar sports talk show, “The Joe McDonnell Show,” on KTLK-AM (1150), noon to 2 p.m. on Sundays. “I like to acknowledge what’s happening in the world.”
*
“Handel on the Law”
Station: KFI-AM (640)
Time: 6 to 11 a.m. Saturdays
Your Host: Bill Handel
The Concept: Handel makes fun of callers from a legal point of view
BILL HANDEL not only has the top-rated weekday morning drive-time show in L.A. but has consistently one of the highest-rated weekend shows as well. On the surface, the difference between the two is focus: The weekend is about the law. But actually, just like the weekday show, it’s about Handel.
Syndicated nationally in about 120 markets, the show began in 1985 as an outgrowth of Handel’s former legal practice that specialized in surrogate parenting. Handel pleads ignorance to most other areas of the law, but that rarely stops callers or him from delivering his favorite zinger: “You have absolutely no case.”
“I realized very early on in my radio career that this is all entertainment,” Handel said. “If you don’t get that, you shouldn’t be in this business. My advice to these people is nuts. I scream at the radio. If you want a real lawyer, you don’t call up a radio lawyer.”
While Handel admits that he has become increasingly impatient with callers through the years, he holds particular disdain for those who want to pursue small legal slights on grounds of principle.
“I have huge fun with people who call up because they’ve been given a ticket incorrectly or treated poorly by the police,” Handel said.
“I always love telling people to go mortgage their house and the judge might actually say, ‘Yes, you’re absolutely right they shouldn’t have done that.’ Meanwhile, you just blew $250,000 on legal fees.”
*
“The Motor Man”
Station: KABC-AM (790)
Time: 8 to 11 a.m. Sundays
Your Host: Leon Kaplan
The Concept: Tune in for a down-home tune-up of your engine
THE first thing that strikes you about Leon Kaplan is that he’s not from around here. When he left his native North Carolina for California decades ago with dreams of becoming a race car driver, he didn’t leave his heavy Southern accent at home. It’s unmistakable and all part of the charm of a man who has been on L.A. radio helping folks with their cars since 1979.
“I talk to people,” said Kaplan, who is also a pilot, a boater and a motorcyclist and who owns an auto repair shop. “I don’t talk down to them. I enjoy talking, and I guess that’s why they call me motor mouth as well as motor man.”
Although he does the occasional phone interview with guests such as Jay Leno and Lee Iacocca, Kaplan devotes most of his program to helping callers. How do I talk to my mechanic? Never diagnose the problem for him. What’s a reliable used car to drive? Narrow it down to three and I’ll tell you.
A popular question these days is “What do you think of hybrids?” Kaplan said he’s still on the fence. Hybrids may be the future, but he thinks you’ll be paying a premium for an untested technology that might have long-term maintenance issues.
“But if you want to ride in the diamond lane by yourself,” Kaplan added, “I say OK.”
*
“Off-Ramp”
Station: KPCC-FM (89.3)
Time: noon to 1 p.m. Saturdays (Show is biweekly in September -- Sept. 2, 16 and 30 -- then weekly thereafter)
Your Host: John Rabe
The Concept: We’re cool, but we don’t hate L.A.
THE new kids on the block, so to speak. Hosted by public radio veteran John Rabe, the show premiered Aug. 5 and provides the city with something it really didn’t have before on weekends: a magazine-style show devoted to Southern California culture without the hipper-than-thou attitude.
“We’re not going to do the old tropes -- complain about the architecture, snarky comments about celebrities or about driving,” Rabe said.
“We don’t need to be a cynical show; we dig L.A.”
Beyond a pair of two-minute breaks per hour, Rabe half-jokes that everything is flexible.
The first two shows have already demonstrated its eclectic nature: One segment focused on a swap meet that sells rare Mexican fruits and vegetables, and another celebrated the works of filmmaker Roger Corman.
But the show will have its staples: interviews with artists and writers, and a look at the film world.
“We’re not trying to be edgy or outside the box,” Rabe said. “Just interesting and compelling.”
*
“The Pet Show”
Station: KRLA-AM (870)
Time: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays
Your Host: Warren Eckstein
The Concept: Your pet is a person too
TO outsiders, L.A. may seem like a city of animals. To pet psychologist Warren Eckstein, it is, and he couldn’t be happier. Nationally syndicated on radio, Eckstein records his program in L.A. as he has for two decades and always with a simple underlying message: People need to accommodate their pets, not the other way around.
“We’re not doing that whole Gestapo thing, ‘Sit!’ ‘Stay!’ ‘Lie down!’ ” Eckstein said. “We try to have some fun here, not take ourselves too seriously, but also to try to communicate to people that this is how your pets are and how you have to deal with that.”
The heart of the show is fielding listener questions, whether it’s how to house-train a pet or how to grieve over a dearly departed one. Eckstein thrives on answering the tough ones. For instance, a common concern these days is how to prepare a pet dog for the arrival of a human baby. Eckstein says the key to a smooth transition is to desensitize the dog to a baby.
“This may sound eccentric,” Eckstein said, “but I recommend buying a doll and actually playing house with it. Put on Pampers, the whole deal. So when the baby finally comes, the pet isn’t going to be jealous.”
*
“Sunday Night Folk”
Station: KKGO-AM (1260)
Time: 9 p.m. to midnight Sundays
Your Host: Jimmy Kay
The Concept: Preserving American folk music
REMEMBER the songs you used to sing around the campfire? Jimmy Kay does, and his mission is to play them every Sunday night. The show is heavy on the classics -- Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Peter, Paul & Mary -- but still open to newer blues/folk artists such as Lucinda Williams.
“The highest priority is to play great American folk music,” said Kay, whose real name is Kalmenson and whose day job is general manager and president of Spanish-language KWKW-AM (1330).
“I don’t try to act like a DJ on the air. I feel more like a camp counselor leading a singalong,” he said.
In a three-hour span, Kay, who handpicks the music, will broadcast around 50 tunes and will sometimes concentrate on a subgenre such as protest, train or kids’ songs. Songs such as those by Bob Dylan that might make it onto a classic rock station won’t be on his show, said Kay.
He doesn’t take calls until after the first hour, and then he opens up the few phone lines. There aren’t any screeners, and he usually takes the calls himself. “I love the unpredictability of radio,” he said. “That’s its greatest charm. We make mistakes all the time, and we just laugh about it.”
*
“Computer News”
Station: KNX-AM (1070)
Time: noon to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Your Host: Jeff Levy
The Concept: High-tech talk for the low-tech
INDIA could outsource to Jeff Levy, someone who understands computers and excels at talking someone out of Windows hell.
“What I try to do is just translate ‘geek speak’ into plain English,” said Levy, whose first computer was a TRS-80 purchased from Radio Shack in 1976. “I want listeners to know it’s OK to be a Windows weenie or a computer cream puff.”
On local radio for more than a decade, Levy sees his audience as essentially busy, well-educated people who have little time to read through the hundred-page-plus manuals that accompany most high-tech products. The show takes phone calls but is not built around them, and is fearless about taking on anything computer-related. What’s the difference between wireless Web and wi-fi? How does a plasma screen work? My computer keeps shutting down. Why?
He enjoys his teaching segments, in which he usually tries to supply listeners with a computer trick or two. For instance, hit the F11 button when you’re on Internet Explorer and see what happens. (It expands the window; click it again to go back.)
“It empowers people when you show them things they can do that nobody else can,” Levy said.
*
“The Record Shelf”
Station: KUSC-FM (91.5)
Time: 7 to 8 p.m. Sundays
Your Host: Jim Svejda
The Concept: Classically classical
JIM SVEJDA is one of the most respected critical voices in classical music radio, and his show is carried on about 200 public radio stations across the country. More than merely a jukebox for classical music, Svejda’s show is notable for his interviews, commentary and wide-ranging knowledge and interests.
He inherited the show, whose title recalls a simpler time of vinyl and record players, in 1982. It started as “a dead conductor’s show, but then we branched out into live conductors and composers and whatever else interests me,” Svejda said.
Today his shows could showcase an extended interview with composer John Williams or an assessment of the piano music of Edvard Grieg. He designs his shows with a weekend audience in mind. “I assume, perhaps foolishly, people will have time to just sit and listen to radio. I always have an image of them sitting down next to a radio, listening, the way we used to,” said Svejda, who is also a film critic for CBS Radio Network. “Because it’s the weekend, I try to deal with more complex things with more depth.
“The greatest pleasure of all is when I get an e-mail or a letter stating that a listener, after arriving at their destination, just sat in their car and listened.”
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Not all radio experiences are found on a dial
--
It’s one thing to hear radio, it’s another to see or touch it. To do so, you could check out a remote broadcast. But where else do you go for a different radio experience? A brief itinerary of sites past and present:
The Museum of Television & Radio
Probably the best spot to revel in radio’s glorious past, the site has a listening room and an archive of about 27,000 radio programs.
465 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills. Free but suggested contribution is $10. (310) 786-1025, www.mtr.org.
*
Hollywood & Highland Center
KROQ-FM (106.7) has had live studio broadcasts here on Fridays; past bands include AFI and the Killers. More shows may begin airing this fall, station officials say.
Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, Hollywood. Check www.kroq.com for updates.
*
CBS Columbia Square
Once the heart of local radio, the 86-year-old square lost its last station, KNX-AM (1070), last summer. The square used to see live productions of radio shows by Jack Benny, Art Linkletter, Burns and Allen, Jackie Gleason and Orson Welles.
6121 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 460-3000.
*
Astor Classics Event Center
Radio station owner Art Astor has built an impressive collection over the last three decades of more than 650 working antique radios dating from the late 19th century through the 1960s. Tours, available for groups, must be coordinated first by calling the center.
1045 S. East St., Anaheim, (714) 502-9494, www.astorclassics.com.
*
Mt. Wilson
Drive up into the San Gabriel Mountains and witness the site that houses the radio towers for many of the region’s FM stations.
The summit can be reached on Mt. Wilson Road, and then by walking along Sturtevant Trail to the east of Skyline Park.
*
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Sure, it’s kitschy. But radio pioneer Gene Autry, whose “Melody Ranch Show” started in 1940 and ran for 16 years, has five stars on the Walk of Fame. He joins dozens of other radio stars, among them “The Real” Don Steele, Casey Kasem and Rick Dees, who is set to return to morning drive-time in L.A. in mid-September.
Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, Hollywood