R.I.P.: Boss Radio Programmer Ron Jacobs

Ronald Herbert “Whodaguy” Jacobs, a famous Hawaii-born broadcaster who was the brain  brain behind the revolutionary and award-winning “Boss Radio” format at KHJ in Los Angeles, died Tuesday morning at his home in Pearl City.

He was 78, according to staradvertiser.com.  A close friend and caregiver said Jacobs had been contending with bouts of ill health.

Born in Honolulu to Raymond and Shirley Jacobs on Sept. 3, 1937, Jacobs earned his Federal Communications Commission radiotelephone operator’s license at age 17 and started his career at the old KHON radio, as most broadcasters do, working the overnight shift.

“Words cannot express my sorrow at the loss of my great friend and former colleague, Ron Jacobs,” said longtime colleague and friend Tom Moffatt, former broadcaster and longtime Hawaii concert promoter.

“A true radio pioneer with a genius few could fathom, Jacobs broke new ground in the industry here in Hawaii, first with Henry J. Kaiser’s KHVH station, then KPOA, then KPOI with the “Poi Boys” and on the mainland as the brain behind the revolutionary and award-winning “Boss Radio” format at KHJ in Los Angeles,” Moffatt said, in a statement.

At 23, Jacobs moved to the U.S. mainland. In 1962, he was promoted to vice president of programming for the Colgreene Corporation. From there he programmed San Bernardino’s KMEN Radio, and then, Fresno’s KMAK.

In Fresno, Jacobs found himself competing head on with radio consultant Bill Drake. They soon combined their talents to program RKO General’s KHJ Radio in Los Angeles. Within six months, the Drake-Jacobs’ “Boss Radio” format was Number One in America’s second largest radio market, garnering national recognition for creating pop radio’s most influential sound of the 1960s.

Jacobs produced the 48-hour-long History of Rock and Roll. Radio’s first "rockumentary," which aired on KHJ and subsequently other stations in the RKO chain, and was accepted into the Library of Congress as the “first aural history of rock and roll music.”

While programming the RKO radio chain from KHJ, Jacobs teamed again with Moffatt and Tom Rounds to form Charlatan Productions to produce films featuring recording artists in strange but eye-catching settings.

After four years atop the L.A. radio ratings, Jacobs left KHJ to co-found and become vice president of Watermark Inc. In 1970, with Tom Rounds and veteran LA deejay Casey Kasem, Jacobs co-created the syndicated radio program, American Top 40.

Some sad news Watermark co-founder and AT40 producer #RonJacobs has died. A member of the founding 5 who started “American Top 40.”

— Kerri Kasem (@KerriKasem) March 8, 2016

At Watermark, Jacobs also produced the award-winning Elvis Presley Story, written by rock author Jerry Hopkins and narrated by broadcast personality, Wink Martindale. Next, Jacobs produced a 15-album record series of legendary top-40 DJs re-creating their station's sound with the original music, commercials and jingles. The albums covered 1955 through 1969 and were titled "CRUISIN': A History of Rock 'n' Roll Radio."

Jacobs then went to San Diego to program KGB AM/FM Radio. It was there that Jacobs conceived and produced the original Home Grown album. The KGB Chicken, later known to the nation as "The San Diego Chicken" was also hatched from Jacobs' imagination.

In 1972, Ron Jacobs was honored by Billboard as Program Director of the Year. Jacobs’ documentary about Max Yasgur, on whose farm the Woodstock festival was staged, won Program of the Year honors and two years later, Billboard named KGB, Station of the Year.

Ron Jacobs 2007

During this time, Ron Jacobs continued concert promotions with Tom Moffatt, Tom Rounds and Mel Lawrence. In 1964, the four men formed Arena Associates, staging the first rock show in the Honolulu International Center (now, the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena). In 1968, Arena Associates produced the Miami Pop Festival. Jacobs produced concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles Sports Arena, Orange County Fairgrounds (first US appearance of the Rolling Stones), San Diego Stadium, in conjunction with KMEN, KHJ and KGB radio stations, which he served as program director.

RON JACOBS: An Appreciation by Ken Levine.  Click Here

In July 1976, Jacobs returned to an on-air position doing morning drive on KKUA Radio, in Honolulu, as “Whodaguy Ron Jacobs.” It was at KKUA that Jacobs introduced Home Grown, a radio station promotion in which contest winners had the opportunity to record their winning songs for release on a compilation album with the proceeds being donated to Habilitat, a drug/alcohol rehabilitation facility in Honolulu. Jacobs did three albums, Home Grown (1976), Home Grown II and Home Grown III, that featured a track named " Kona Winds " that introduced singer Marvin Franklin, while he was at KKUA.