April 13 Radio History

➦In 1922..KHJ Los Angeles officially signed on.

KHJ - 1927

Today KHJ is owned and operated by Relevant Radio, Inc., the station broadcasts Roman Catholic religious programming as an affiliate of the Relevant Radio network.

KHJ was first licensed on March 18, 1922 to C. R. Kierulff & Company in Los Angeles, for operation on the 360 meter entertainment wavelength. The Kierulff company acted as contractors responsible for installing the station in the Los Angeles Times building at First and Broadway, and in November the newspaper's owner, the Times Mirror Company, became the official licensee.  The KHJ call letters were randomly assigned from a roster of available call signs, although the station quickly adopted the slogan "Kindness, Happiness and Joy".  Test transmissions began on April 8th.  The station's formal debut broadcast was held on April 13th from 6:45 to 7:45 p.m.

In April 1965, programming consultant Bill Drake crafted KHJ's top 40 format. Drake hired program director Ron Jacobs, who had created formats in Hawaii and California. The format, known as "Boss Radio", featured a restricted playlist and restrained commentary by announcers (although a few, such as Robert W. Morgan, Charlie Tuna, Humble Harve Miller, and The Real Don Steele, were allowed to develop on-air personas). 

Other DJs from this era (1965–1980) included Roger Christian, Gary Mack, Dave Diamond, Beau Weaver, John Leader, Sam Riddle, Johnny Williams, Frank Terry, Johnny Mitchell, Tommy Vance, Scotty Brink, Steve Clark, Bobby Tripp, Tom Maule, and Bill Wade. One defining characteristic of Boss Radio was the jingles by the Johnny Mann Singers.

Drake's format spread throughout North America, bringing high ratings to KFRC in San Francisco, WFIL in Philadelphia, KGB in San Diego, WQXI in Atlanta, WRKO in Boston, and CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, Canada (serving Detroit). Drake and his business partner Gene Chenault brought many of their announcers from the other Boss stations, using those stations as a farm system to develop talent.

The station switched to a country music radio format in 1980 and back to pop music in 1983. In 1986, KHJ changed its call letters to KRTH, adopting an oldies format as a sister station to KRTH-FM 101.1 FM. Three years later, the station was sold to Liberman Broadcasting who aired Spanish-language formats from 1990 to 2014, using the call letters KKHJ until 2000, when it regained its original calls.

➦In 1930...WHOM AM NYC signed on.

This station was founded in 1925 by the New Jersey Broadcasting Corp., owned by Outdoor Advertising executive Harry O'Mealia, whose company owned thousands of billboards around the metropolitan area. WHOM was originally a Jersey City station, having taken over 1450 AM from the merged WIBS/WKBO.

WHOM debuted with a 15 minute inaugural broadcast on April 13, 1930 at 5:45pm. The host was chief announcer Howard Lepper, previously the manager of WIBS. Then, according to Angelfire.com,  the station left the air to make time for WNJ and WBMS, returning to the air at 9pm for a gala show that lasted until 2am. In 1931, WHOM absorbed the airtime of WNJ, and the following year, it became a full-time station with the demise of WBMS.

In 1946, WHOM officially changed their "city of license" from Jersey City to New York.

In 1989, the station was sold to Infinity Broadcasting, owners of WXRK 92.3, among others. Calls were changed to WZRC on April 28, 1990 and the station instituted a heavy-metal rock format as "Z-Rock," a service of the Dallas-based Satellite Music Network and was so anxious to enter the New York market. In December 1992, WZRC switched to country music.

Then in 1993, Infinity signed a lease agreement with a Korean programming service making WZRC 1480  the first full-time Korean-language station in New York.

➦In 1953...Music ‘Til Dawn with host Bob Hall premiered on WCBS 880 AM NYC. American Airlines owned the program.  The show also aired on five other CBS-owned stations in cities served by the airline. The list of cities expanded to include at least eight others, with many hosts over the years all bearing the signature "soothing" voice.

The program's theme song, an orchestration of "That's All," introduced and ended each evening's program, and also ran under the announcer's voice at anytime the mike was open.  The show continued until 1970.

In 1964...Robert Todd Storz died (born: May 8, 1924)  He headed a very successful chain of radio stations and is generally credited with being the foremost innovator of the Top 40 radio format in 1951. 

Todd Storz

In the early 50's he owned KOWH, an Omaha radio station and as  the story goes that while sitting with an employee at a diner near his station, he noticed that the waitresses kept playing the same popular songs over and over on the jukebox each time they got a tip. Figuring that this observation might give KOWH a bit of an advantage in attracting listeners, he implemented a new music format of just the hits, over and over.

On April 13, 1964, Todd Storz was found dead at his Miami Beach home. He was about three and a half weeks shy of his 40th birthday. 

The coroner's report cited “pulmonary congestion and edema” and “marked coronary and aortic narrowing” as the probable causes. However, a second cause of death might have been barbiturate intoxication. The drug in question was Tuinal, which was sometimes prescribed to insomniacs to help induce sleep. Tuinal was known to be dangerous because the amount of the drug that induces drowsiness is only slightly less than the amount that can lead to death. But the specific cause of Todd's premature death was never determined.

➦In 1969...Radio personality Jack Spector last show at WMCA 570 AM NYC.

Spector began his career in 1955 and in 1961 became one of the original WMCA Good Guys. In late December 1963, WMCA, with Spector, earned the distinction of being the first New York City radio station to play the Beatles' Capitol Records' single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (Outside New York, the single's broadcast debut is widely accepted to have occurred earlier at WWDC in Washington, D.C.)

Jack Spector

In the late 1960s WMCA moved to a talk format. Spector stayed on as host of a sports talk show. In about 1971 Spector moved to WHN, then a vocal-based easy listening station. He remained for a while after WHN became a Country music station in 1973. In 1974, Spector left WHN to go to WCBS-FM where he hosted a 1955-1964 based Oldies show called "The Saturday Night Sock Hop" and another regular weekend shift. He was also a full-time swing host there, filling in for various air-staffers over the years. In 1983, Cousin Brucie began doing every third Saturday night of the month. Spector remained at WCBS-FM until the Spring of 1985.

In 1985, Spector was at WNBC as the original host of "Sports Night", eventually replaced by Dave Sims. He went then to WPIX-FM, which was playing an adult contemporary format. Upon their change to NAC and soon after to smooth jazz, he became one of the first air personalities on CD 101.9. Spector also worked as an optician when he was not on the air.

Late in 1988, Spector left WQCD and joined the staff of WHLI at Hempstead, New York playing an Adult Standards format. On March 8, 1994, he suffered an apparent heart attack at age 65and collapsed.

➦In 1970...Apollo 13, four-fifths of the way to the moon, was crippled when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst. (The astronauts managed to return safely.)

➦In 2009...Sportscaster Harry Kalas, play-by-play voice of the Philadelphia Phillies for 38 years and also a narrator for NFL films, died of heart disease at the age of 73.

He had collapsed in the Nationals Park press box at approximately 12:30 pm, several hours before the Washington Nationals' home opener against the Phillies.

Kalas joined NFL Films as a narrator in 1975. He became its primary voice, following the passing of John Facenda in 1984. He provided the narration to the highlights on Inside the NFL from its inception in 1976 through the 2008 season.

➦In 2018...Radio host Arthur William Bell died at age 72. Known as Art Bell, he was the original owner of Pahrump, Nevada based radio station KNYE 95.1 FM. And perhaps best known for his conspiracy theory in the paranormal, with his radio show "Coast to Coast" - which was syndicated across the nation.

Lester Chambers is 83

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS

• Actor Edward Fox is 86. 
• Singer Lester Chambers of The Chambers Brothers is 83. 
• Composer Bill Conti (“Rocky” film theme) is 81. 
• Musician Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane is 79. 
• Musician Al Green is 77. 
• Actor Ron Perlman is 73. 
• Actor William Sadler (“Wonderfalls,” ″Roswell”) is 73. 
• Singer Peabo Bryson is 72. 
• Drummer Max Weinberg of the E Street Band (and “Late Night With Conan O’Brien”) is 72. 
• Keyboardist Jimmy Destri (Blondie) is 69. 
• Comedian Gary Kroeger (“Saturday Night Live”) is 66. 
• Actor Saundra Santiago (“Miami Vice”) is 66. 
• Guitarist Joey Mazzola (Sponge) is 62. 
• Actor Page Hannah (TV’s “Fame”) is 59. 
• Actor-comedian Caroline Rhea (“Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” ″The Biggest Loser”) is 59. 
• Bassist Lisa Umbarger (The Toadies) is 58. 
• Guitarist Marc Ford (Black Crowes) is 57. 
• Actor Ricky Schroder is 53. 
• Singer Aaron Lewis of Staind is 51. 
• Actor Bokeem Woodbine (TV’s “Fargo,” ″Saving Grace”) is 50. 
• Singer Lou Bega is 48. 
• Actor Glenn Howerton (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) is 47. 
• Actor Kyle Howard (“Royal Pains”) is 45. 
• Actor Kelli Giddish (“Law and Order: SVU”) is 43. 
• Actor Courtney Peldon (“Boston Public”) is 42. 
• Singer Nellie McKay is 41. 
• Rapper Ty Dolla $ign is 41. 
• Actor Allison Williams (“Girls”) is 35. 
• Actor Hannah Marks (“Necessary Roughness”) is 30.

✞DEATH ANNIVERSARIES

• In 2009..Harry Kalas, American sportscaster, dies at 73
• In 2009..Mark Fidrych, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers) nicknamed "The Bird", dies at 54