Tim Conway Jr. goes from formerly ribald KLSX to conservative news-talk station KFI
For a dozen years, Tim Conway Jr. played host on weeknights at the former talk station KLSX-FM (97.1) -- the outlet where he and colleagues including Howard Stern, Tom Leykis and Adam Carolla held court with lifestyle observations and ribald humor.
But this week Conway takes over nights at KFI-AM (640), the conservative news-talk powerhouse that’s always near the top of Los Angeles-Orange County ratings -- and he says he feels more at home.
“It was a little more loose over there” at KLSX, said Conway, 46. “I actually enjoy the politics, the calls.”
Conway, who on Monday took over the 7-10 p.m. weeknight slot from the departing Bryan Suits, said that KFI is actually closer to his own sentiments, as he always felt more conservative than those around him at KLSX.
“It’s as if you were going to go to a party,” Conway said, comparing the two talk-radio styles. “FM, there would be pot smoking, drinking and eventually someone was going to take their clothes off. AM, it’s a little more conservative . . . a little more directed at people with jobs.”
Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, the trade journal of the talk-radio industry, said that Conway could bring some of FM talk’s edge, and focus on entertainment and lifestyle issues, to his new outlet.
“It’s a good hire for them,” he said. “He’s a spirited guy, funny and irreverent. They took the opportunity to take the station in a little different direction at night, which I think is great.”
Conway had already been working weekends at KFI since June and will continue his Saturday, 4-7 p.m. program. KFI program director Robin Bertolucci said “listeners just love him. He’s just super-sharp, smart and really funny.”
In development
Conway said the style of his nighttime show was “still in the works,” though he predicts it will feature guests and callers, and be lighter in tone than those of KFI stalwarts John & Ken or Bill Handel. During his first hour Monday night, the San Fernando Valley native opened with comments on the day’s rainstorm and the threat of flooding and mudslides. That also gave him the chance to balance the news with his own humor, and to make fun of L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council.
Next he spoke about the horrors of the Haiti earthquake and chided listeners who hadn’t yet given to relief efforts. But, citing the story of a man saved from under rubble by text messaging, he also urged listeners to make sure their phones can text, in case of earthquake: “I’m not L-O-Ling here, I’m D-Y-I-N-G!”
Conway’s new gig is a far cry from “Late Net,” the online talk show he began hosting in 1996 from a storefront studio in Santa Monica, as an early pioneer in Internet programming.
“We told people it was being listened to by 400,000 people worldwide every night,” Conway said -- a figure he and his cohorts simply made up. More likely, he admits now, “there were two people listening every night, and their audio dropped out every eight seconds.”
Grabbing attention
But in those days, when the Internet was still a novelty to many and such claims were hard to verify, a few credulous media outlets came calling to check out the new venture. That attention, and Conway’s ploy to tap radio-station executives as guests on the show, eventually led to an invitation to go on-air at KLSX in 1997.
There he and partner Doug Steckler, an Emmy-winning comedy writer, held down weeknights until 2005, after which Conway worked with impressionist Brian Whitman as co-host. But in February 2009, the station switched from the genre known as “hot talk,” featuring Carolla, Leykis, Danny Bonaduce and others, to Top 40, featuring the music of Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake.
At first, Conway landed at news-talk station KABC-AM (790), filling in for ailing host Al Rantel -- that is, until Conway got fired after his third day, when he told a risqué joke about a traveling salesman.
“I was at KLSX 12 years, and at KABC for 12 hours,” he cracked.
KFI turned into a life raft, as Bertolucci offered Conway opportunities to fill in for Suits, and for afternoon hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou. Conway even brought in longtime KLSX partner Steckler on occasion. When Suits opted to return to be near family in Seattle, where he’s taken over mornings at KVI-AM (570), Bertolucci turned to Conway to fill the evening time slot.
Suits will keep his Sunday show on KFI, “Dark Secret Place,” from 2 to 4 p.m.
Conway said having a famous father -- star of movie comedies and a beloved regular on “The Carol Burnett Show” -- has undoubtedly gotten him in the door over the years. But then it was up to him to prove himself. And though critics have questioned the role celebrity played in his success, defenders point out the dearth of other famous comedians’ offspring who have made it on radio -- much less, for a dozen years or more.
As for his dad, Conway said he borrowed a line from Rodney Dangerfield when he joked to his son, “You have comedy in your blood -- I just wish it was in your show.”