Old Time Radio... IN 1994!

When most people think of Old Time Radio (OTR) they think to the 1930s or 1940s. Some of us don't have to go so far. Los Angeles radio, 1994, had KMPC (710 kHz) still playing adult standards. There was a lot of TalkRadio, SportsRadio, and Spanglish radio. AM radio was humming 15 years ago. There was very little in the way of Top-40, although it was still around. The alternative non-TalkRadio/non-SportsRadio/non-Spanglish stations offered SUPERIOR entertainment and information.

KPLS, at 830 kHz, in Orange was the Los Angeles home of Radio Aahs. Previously, this station was the home of Catholic Family Radio, offering liturgy, music, sermons, and (really late at night) OLD TIME RADIO! As for Radio Aahs, most of the personalities were actual children with a few adult announcers and there were plenty there for supervision. The network studios were located in the Minneapolis -Saint Paul area of Minnesota and the commercials featured lots of products for which that area is famous, such as General Mills cereals and Pillsbury cookie dough.

KGRB at 900 kHz in Industry (licensed to West Covina) offered the best in popular music of the past 75 years. There were plans to offer, in addition to the NBC Radio news it had on the hour, to add NBC old time radio shows and give it the call letters, KNBC. NBC never owned a radio station in Los Angeles. Because of the illness and subsequent death of the stations owner, the planned NBC station never happened.

KNX at 1070 kHz, under George Nicholaw, offered one of the best full service AM radio stations in the country. It never offered 24 hours of news. Even during disasters, when the Drama Hour was not aired, there were other features broadcast.

But it was the Drama Hour that kept us focused on that station. The old radio shows, some of which were broadcast from Columbia Square when they first aired, were a fixture on the station until the night of October 31, 2004, when the station decided we needed more news, so they added TalkRadio and a cooking show. Bleah!

I'll have more about radio much later on.

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Today is my birthday. At 4:30 PM (Philippines time) I will officially be 52 years old (this was 1:30 AM in Riverside, California, where I was born). Since I don't like the traditional birthday song that the Hill sisters wrote about 120 years ago (and it's still under copyright), let me teach you this song.

This is great:

Put another candle on my birthday cake
We're gonna bake a birthday cake
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I'm another year old today

I'm gonna have a party with my birthday cake
Come on and take some birthday cake
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I'm another year old today

We'll have some pie and sandwiches
And chocolate ice cream too
We'll sing and play the day away
And one more thing I'm going to do

I'll blow out the candles on my birthday cake
And when I do, a wish I'll make
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I'm another year old today

Put another candle on my birthday cake
We're gonna bake a birthday cake
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I'm another year old today

I'm gonna have a party with my birthday cake
Come on and take some birthday cake
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I'm another year old today

We'll have some pie and sandwiches
And chocolate ice cream, too
We'll sing and play the day away
And one more thing I'm going to do

I'll blow out the candles on my birthday cake
And when I do, a wish I'll make
Put another candle on my birthday cake
I'm another year old today

"Happy birthday to you"
I'm another year old today.

Thanks, Sheriff John!