Misplaced Pages

#93906

142-467: Tom Leykis (pronounced: / ˈ l aɪ k ɪ s / ; born 1956 or 1957) is an American former talk radio personality best known for hosting The Tom Leykis Show from 1994 to 2009 (nationally syndicated), and April 2012 to 2018 (internet streamcast/podcast). The show follows the hot talk format, which brought Leykis much success, particularly in the Southern California radio market. Due to

284-466: A full service middle of the road format. Popular disk jockeys played records and chatted about local events, interspersed with aggressive local news and sports coverage. The station also carried Monitor , the NBC network's weekend radio service. In the 1980s, as FM replaced AM radio as the primary source for contemporary music, KFI became a news and information outlet. KFI was the flagship station for

426-399: A 195 degree tower, as do many other U.S. Class A non-directional stations, and even some Class B non-directional stations. KFI was relatively late to convert from a horizontal to a vertical antenna: same-market Class A KNX converted to a vertical in 1938, and same-state Class As KGO and KPO (now KNBR ) converted to verticals in 1941 and 1949, respectively. There is an unpatched bullet hole in

568-962: A 24-hour schedule of news, interviews, discussion, and debate and is a World Media Partner with BBC World Service and is affiliated to IRN / SKY News . Talk Radio Europe broadcasts in FM on the Costa del Sol , Costa Almeria , Costa Blanca , and across the island of Mallorca in English. It is available on the Internet and all smartphone platforms. Talk radio in the United Kingdom is popular, though not as much as music radio. Nationwide talk stations include BBC Radio 4 , BBC Radio 5 Live , BBC Radio 4 Extra , Talkradio , Talksport and Times Radio . Regional stations include BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio Wales . Many BBC Local Radio stations and some commercial stations offer

710-526: A Nazi book burning. On September 29, 1992, KFI management dismissed Leykis with only an hour's notice, based on what Leykis claims they called "a business decision"; KFI assumed the obligation of paying him his contracted salary, estimated at $ 400,000 per year, for the remaining six months of his contract. Leykis next moved on to Boston and WRKO . He later left the Boston station for a new job in Los Angeles after

852-530: A big Metromedia presence in Los Angeles. He sent Henry from New York to Los Angeles to turn KLAC into a success. The first thing that Henry did was hire the legendary morning team of Lohman and Barkley. Henry had built a strong relationship with programmer Jim Lightfoot, who had joined Henry in Miami. A unique opportunity presented itself when Joe Pyne, who had begun his career as a radio talk personality in Pennsylvania,

994-498: A blend of entertainment, comedy, and lifestyle to more political issues. Writer/Producer John Thomas was assigned to Lohman & Barkley in 1984 and helped raise their ratings for the morning show to a tie for #1 in the 25-54 demographic in Fall 1985. Shortly after Thomas left KFI for WLS in Chicago the morning show fell apart. Barkley split off from the morning show to go to KABC. The music

1136-448: A fight after they returned home from a radio station Christmas party. He was subsequently charged with "felony assault and battery and threatening to commit a crime"; according to police, she sustained bruises and scratches from the assault. In March 1994, Leykis was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to attend a domestic violence class. He completed both, and the charges were dropped, although Leykis did not admit guilt as part of

1278-748: A financial news station, and Asian Radio Live. Talk radio expanded dramatically when the BBC's monopoly on radio broadcasting was ended in the 1970s with the launch of Independent Local Radio . Some notable British talk radio presenters include Jenni Murray , John Humphrys , Martha Kearney , Jonathan Dimbleby , Libby Purves , Laurie Taylor , Pam Ayres , Melvyn Bragg , Tommy Boyd , James Whale , Steve Allen , Nick Abbot , Iain Lee , James Stannage , George Galloway , Julia Hartley-Brewer , Ian Collins , John Nicoll, Brian Hayes , Scottie McClue , James O'Brien , Nicky Campbell , and Simon Mayo . Pete Price on CityTalk

1420-530: A full schedule of talk. In the 1970s and early 1980s, as many listeners abandoned AM music formats for the high fidelity sound of FM radio , the talk radio format began to catch on in more large cities. Former music stations such as KLIF ( Dallas , Texas ), WLW ( Cincinnati, Ohio ), WHAS ( Louisville, Kentucky ), WHAM ( Rochester, New York ), WLS ( Chicago, Illinois ), KFI ( Los Angeles , California ), WRKO ( Boston , Massachusetts ), WKBW ( Buffalo, New York ), and WABC ( New York, New York ) made

1562-791: A group of stations with common ownership, although some are formed to distribute their one or two talk radio programs to several stations regardless of ownership. The largest of these is the Corus Radio Network. TSN Radio , the successor to the long-defunct the Team , is one of the newest national networks in Canada, with operations in several major markets. Syndicated programs from the United States which air on Canadian radio stations are typically non-political shows such as The Kim Komando Show and Coast to Coast AM , as well as sports radio shows from

SECTION 10

#1732876267094

1704-461: A gunshot wound in 2001, and, while the death was originally ruled a suicide, police later named Vice as their suspect in the case. Sometime after the murder confession was made on Leykis's show, Vice filed a police report stating that her cell phone had been stolen. In 2009, it was revealed that police reviewed the death of Rockwood and determined that all the evidence was consistent with suicide and that Vice would not be charged with murder; however, she

1846-648: A less-serious lifestyle and branded content format, although still maintaining a talkback element. Melbourne , 3AW is the highest rating talkback radio station and has also been the highest rating Melbourne radio station for several decades in a row. 6PR personality Garry Meadows was the first announcer to use talkback radio in early 1967. 'Talkback' radio, using a seven-second time-lapse mechanism, began in Australia in April 1967, simultaneously on 2SM , Sydney (with Mike Walsh ) and 3DB, Melbourne (with Barry Jones ). In

1988-513: A male demographic between the ages of 18 and 49. It generally consists of pop culture subjects on FM radio rather than the political talk found on AM radio. Hosts of hot talk shows are usually known as shock jocks . KFI KFI (640 AM ) is a radio station in Los Angeles, California , owned and operated by iHeartMedia, Inc. It began operations in 1922 and became one of the first high-powered, clear-channel Class A stations. It

2130-433: A man's, and will actively discourage men's ambitions for fear of him leaving the relationship if he attains success). Furthermore, Leykis urges men to live frugally , including avoiding consumer debt (what Leykis describes as "renting money"); never spending more than $ 40 for a date; and saving cash and investing for the future. He has described men who neglect their bills as "immoral". A popular and long-running feature of

2272-409: A name and hanging up on him when he called the show. The suspects left by taxi prior to police arriving on the scene and were jailed. Leykis refused to prosecute due to the distance and he felt that having a few days in jail was enough. In late 2016, an obsessed fan was alleged to have called the show around 200 times a week and to have made threats against Leykis himself. A three-year restraining order

2414-699: A national sample . On February 20, 2009, KLSX changed its format to Top 40 (CHR) under economic pressures, and The Tom Leykis Show aired its final broadcast. The show ran Monday through Friday, 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM PT from Paramount Studios and 2:00 PM to 6:00 PM Saturdays in Hollywood, California and was heard in a number of major metropolitan markets on the West Coast of the United States . Leykis's show returned on his podcast/streamcast network The New Normal Network at 3PM Pacific time, April 2, 2012 – one day after his CBS contract ended. The new uncensored show included

2556-497: A new FM and TV facility. The ceremony was broadcast from noon to 12:15 p.m. over KFI. KFI-FM began broadcasting with its first test program on 105.9 MHz in July 1946, although other sources say the station went on the air in 1947. KFI-FM only lasted until 1951, when Earle C. Anthony decided to end operations and returned the station license to the FCC for cancellation. That same year KFI-TV

2698-408: A new podcast series that would be exclusive to his subscribers on his premiumtom.com website. His new podcasting venture commenced on October 29, 2018. Typically, Leykis discusses one topic per hour. He will introduce the topic by reading a news article or peer-reviewed study, or by discussing a personal anecdote or experience. He will then accept callers for discussion and debate. The cornerstone of

2840-583: A new theme song, fewer commercials, and "Leykis 101" news at the top of each hour. The new show was financed through both advertising and a premium subscription service that offers a less-compressed stream and podcast-on-demand ability. It was produced by Gary Zabransky along with associate producer Dean "Dino" DeMilio, and engineered by Mike Timpson, who replaced Art Webb after his departure in 2013. In February 2018, Tom Leykis announced that he would be ending his live show that year. The final live episode aired on October 25, 2018. On October 13, 2018, Leykis announced

2982-492: A newspaper and local gossip. Broadcasting hours were very short, since Anthony was involved in many other activities, and programming sources were limited. However, Anthony stressed the need for quality programming that would be in keeping with his status as the seller of luxury automobiles. In November 1926, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) was incorporated. When NBC's network facilities were extended to

SECTION 20

#1732876267094

3124-595: A parking lot to the north of the site. KFI's signal was knocked off the air for approximately one hour. The Ghosophs had taken off from the El Monte Airport with a planned stop at the Fullerton Airport to pick up two passengers. From there, the plan was to fly to the island of Catalina to spend the day, after which they would make the return route to Fullerton and then to El Monte. Pilots had complained for years to KFI management that it needed to put strobe lights on

3266-425: A politically well-rounded host lineup inserting himself as a "left leaning libertarian " in the afternoons. Leykis was known for his method of gathering new callers for the station by provoking rival station KTAR . In 1987, Leykis abruptly left KFYI because of differences with station management that still has a shroud of secrecy surrounding the details. As of the late 1990s, KFYI hosts were prohibited from discussing

3408-525: A publicized domestic disturbance with then-wife Susan at the end of 1993. In March 1994, pretrial probation was granted and the charges stemming from that assault were dropped in exchange for his attendance in a program for batterers. In 1994, Leykis began the nationally syndicated program, The Tom Leykis Show on Westwood One from Culver City, California. The final years of the show were produced from Paramount Pictures studios in Hollywood. Leykis started

3550-669: A radio where they could listen to commercially sponsored entertainment for free. During its early days, KFI carried such sporting events as the World Series and the Rose Bowl . Although KFI's call letters were randomly assigned, many people assumed that the "FI" stood for "Farmers Information". Every winter evening from 1924 to 1956, KFI delivered a frost report at 8 p.m. telling citrus farmers whether to turn on wind machines or light " smudge pots " to keep their orange and lemon groves from freezing. The frost warnings moved to 7 p.m. until

3692-559: A result, the John and Ken Show was the subject of a Federal Election Commission complaint filed by the Republican National Committee , alleging that John and Ken engaged in an illegal campaign against Congressman Dreier. The "Political Human Sacrifice" campaign, as they dubbed it, was not successful, since both Dreier and Baca were re-elected, albeit Dreier by a substantially smaller percentage than in past terms. On March 16, 2006,

3834-428: A rowdy atmosphere on Friday shows, and it was in this context that "Flash Fridays" began. In 1997, Leykis's show was picked up by KLSX , an FM talk station in Los Angeles that also carried The Howard Stern Show . The station became the flagship for the show and Leykis began to tone down the political aspect of the show around this time, and started the "Leykis 101" segment soon after. In 2002, The Tom Leykis Show

3976-417: A simulcast of KNX (AM) . When Leykis's show went off the air in 2009, he was in the middle of a five-year contract with CBS. This contract included the rights to his show over terrestrial radio, internet rights, and specific to airing on KLSX; this kept Leykis from appearing on any other CBS station. In addition, CBS also would not allow podcasts for them, as they were concentrating on other online ventures at

4118-450: A staple of radio since the medium's infancy. Aimee Semple McPherson began her radio broadcasts in the early 1920s and even purchased her station, KFSG which went on the air in February 1924; by the mid-1930s, controversial radio priest Father Charles Coughlin 's radio broadcasts were reaching millions per week. There was also a national current events forum called America's Town Meeting of

4260-400: A subsidiary of Capstar. On the day of the 9/11 attacks, Bill Handel remained on air for seven consecutive hours. Handel hosted his morning show from 5-9 am, then continuted hosting from 9-noon as an emergency fill-in on the syndicated Rush Limbaugh show. Limbaugh was scheduled to be off that day, but his planned fill-in host could not broadcast from New York due to communication problems in

4402-583: A talk format, for example, BBC Radio London , the BBC's flagship local station. Other notable commercial talk stations include London's LBC which pioneered the newstalk format in Europe . LBC currently operates two services – LBC , a newstalk station on FM (London) and via several digital platforms nationally including DAB and Freeview ; and LBC News , a rolling news station on AM in London and DAB+ nationally. There are many specialised talk services such as Bloomberg ,

Tom Leykis - Misplaced Pages Continue

4544-558: A talk format. Other stations such as Radio New Zealand National have a large component of talk-based content but do not have talk-back (i.e. listener phone-ins). Newstalk ZB is the New Zealand market leader, but Radio Live is continuing to try to establish itself with a greater presence in the talk radio market since its inception in 2005. Almost all AM radio stations are talk stations. A few stations from Radio Mindanao Network and Bombo Radyo are on FM. Radyo 5 News FM (now True FM)

4686-488: A two-hour podcast show. In the show he discussed "fine wine, high-end spirits, and craft brews [plus] first-rate dining and premium cigars". The show was first broadcast mostly on West Coast radio markets but has later moved online. Leykis has no children. He says that four women he impregnated all had abortions. He is an atheist , although reared as a Catholic . He has been married and divorced four times, which he unabashedly proclaims on-air regularly. His second marriage

4828-438: A way to bring his political views into listeners' homes. (He later became Mayor of Galveston ). Cherry gives no specific date, but the context of events and history of the station would seem to place it also in the 1940s, perhaps earlier. The format was the classic mode in which the announcer gave the topic for that day, and listeners called in to debate the issue. In 1948, Alan Courtney – New York disk jockey and co-composer of

4970-605: Is also known as the DJ who rushed to the aid of a regular caller who died live on air during a call. Previously, he had kept a teenager talking for 45 minutes before meeting him to convince him not to commit suicide. Talk radio is most popular on the AM band . "Non-commercial", usually referred to as " public radio ", which is mainly located in a reserved spectrum of the FM band , also broadcasts talk programs. Commercial all-talk stations can also be found on

5112-544: Is followed by Gary Hoffmann and Shannon Farren in middays, John and Ken in early afternoons, Tim Conway, Jr. (son of comedian Tim Conway ) in late afternoons and Mo' Kelly in the evening. One syndicated show is heard overnight, Coast to Coast AM with George Noory . Two Los Angeles TV stations do live segments with cameras in KFI's studios: KTTV (Bill Handel) and KTLA (John and Ken). Weekends feature specialty shows, some of which are nationally syndicated from KFI: Handel on

5254-515: Is known as "talkback radio". The most popular talkback radio station historically was Sydney's 2UE , whose populist programs like The John Laws Morning Show , were widely syndicated across the continent. In recent years though, 2UE has been eclipsed by its Sydney rival 2GB after the defection of 2UE most popular talkback host, Alan Jones . As a result, 2UE and owned by the same company as 2GB) abandoned most of its rigid political and hot topic -driven talkback programming in 2016, moving to

5396-441: Is mainly dedicated to literature, the arts, classical music, and general cultural issues. Several regional stations use a format combining that of all-news and talk radio. In New Zealand , the talk radio format is popularly known as talkback radio. The major radio networks broadcasting in the talk radio format are Newstalk ZB and Radio Live . Their sports sister networks, Radio Sport and TAB Trackside also largely broadcast in

5538-560: Is no Canadian content requirement for talk radio, or "spoken word", programming unless the individual station's license expressly stipulates such a requirement; most do not. (In Canada, prospective radio stations may propose certain restrictions on their license to gain favor with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and have an easier time obtaining a license.) The most recent nationally syndicated, politically oriented weekday talk radio show in Canada

5680-776: Is now a music station. A group of English expats set up OCI International in the early 1990s. Based in Marbella on the Costa del Sol, it was owned by the ONCE National Spanish Network. It provided a link for the English-speaking expats living on the coast, as well as some content for Scandinavian expats. OCI was closed down in 2007 to make way for Radio Europa music. In 2004 REM FM began broadcasting, with shows mostly fronted by former OCI presenters. The station closed in 2008. In 2008, Talk Radio Europe began broadcasting. It offers

5822-461: Is owned by Radio Wnet sp. z o.o., a Polish media company. Its programmes are broadcast in two large cities including Warsaw (87.8 MHz), Kraków (95,2 MHz). The programme is available via Internet. It was founded on 25 May 2009 by Krzysztof Skowroński , Grzegorz Wasowski , Katarzyna Adamiak-Sroczyńska and Monika Makowska-Wasowska , Wojciech Cejrowski and Jerzy Jachowicz . Talk radio in Spain

Tom Leykis - Misplaced Pages Continue

5964-495: Is popular. Radio 24 , part of the group Il Sole 24 Ore privately owned by Confindustria , is the most important commercial "news/talk" talk radio station in the country. Its focus is mainly on independent news about the Italian and European economy, finance, culture, and politics, but it also hosts programs focusing on sports, personal finance, music, health, science, technology, and crowdsourced storytelling. State-owned Rai Radio 3

6106-461: Is strong competition since it is also a very important time slot, when typically people going to the workplace listen to the radio in their cars early in the morning (around 7   am to 8   am). As Spain has large English-speaking communities from many different countries, it is a natural place for English language talk radio broadcasting. The first Talk radio station in English was Coastline Radio broadcasting from Nerja , Costa del Sol . It

6248-721: Is the Gascony Show . Launched in early 2011, this show is broadcast weekly to the Gascony region of the southwest of France, as well as to the rest of France via Internet streaming. Radio talk shows are popular in Germany and have a long tradition. The first talk show on public radio was Werner Höfer 's Der Internationale Frühschoppen  [ de ] , a political talk begun in 1952. The talk show on wheels Hallo Ü-Wagen ran from 1974 to 2010, begun by Carmen Thomas for WDR . Talk radio in Italy

6390-627: Is the first talk radio station in the Philippines. There is two talk radio station in Poland, called TOK FM , which is owned by Agora SA , a Polish media company. Its programmes are broadcast in 10 large cities including Warsaw , Kraków , Gdańsk , Poznań , and Katowice . The programme is also available via the Internet and transmitted by the Hot Bird constellation . It was founded in 1998 as "Inforadio" Second talk radio station called Radio Wnet , which

6532-444: Is the top internet radio talk show in the world, as well as the number two internet radio station in the world, according to SHOUTcast . On September 25, 2018, Leykis announced the end of his online stream and Internet call-in radio show would be on October 25, 2018. He claims there will be some form of podcast behind a paywall because of the freeloaders who never supported his Premium Tom paid podcast subscriptions. For some time there

6674-419: Is very popular, where the most important radio stations are exclusively dedicated to talk shows, such as Cadena Ser, Cadena Cope, Onda Cero, Radio Nacional, or Punto Radio. There is a very wide variety of topics, such as politics, sport, comedy, and culture. Sport talk shows are particularly relevant, since football attracts a massive interest in Spain, with a special focus on FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF, and

6816-511: The 2003 recall of the Governor of California , afternoon drive hosts John and Ken have become actively involved in several political causes, most notably that of illegal immigration . In the months leading up to the 2004 election , the hosts instigated several political rallies advocating the defeat of Congressmen David Dreier (a Republican ) and Joe Baca (a Democrat ), both of whom they felt were wrongly supportive of illegal immigration. As

6958-556: The California Pelican , UC Berkeley ' s first humor magazine. He was best known as the owner of a Packard automobile dealership. KFI was originally located at Anthony's home, using a 50-watt transmitter Anthony had personally constructed on a kitchen table. 1922 saw a rapid expansion in the number of broadcasting stations, most sharing the single entertainment wavelength of 360 meters, which required progressively more complicated time sharing schedules among stations in

7100-657: The Los Angeles Chargers professional football team during its inaugural year in the American Football League in 1960, when the team was based in Los Angeles, before spending the next five decades in San Diego. From 1960 to 1973, the station was the radio flagship station of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. KFI aired all the games as well as feeding the play-by-play broadcasts to other stations in

7242-449: The Phoenix, Arizona area called the show and confessed to shooting the father of her child when he refused to pay child support. The caller described herself as a nurse who went by her middle name, Sue, and said that she shot the man in the heart with a 9 mm because she "knew how to aim for it", and moreover asserted that she made the shooting look like a suicide. Leykis asked if the woman

SECTION 50

#1732876267094

7384-469: The 1990s and 2000s, "talkback" on FM was attempted. The Spoonman was a program hosted by Brian Carlton on the triple m network in the late 1990s and returned in 2005 for three and a half years, the show wrapping up in 2008. It was a show that covered many topics, but the "hot talk" format in the U.S. would probably be the best way to describe the program. Talkback radio has historically been an important political forum in Australia and functions much like

7526-629: The 24-hour networks in the U.S. Traditionally, politically driven talk radio from the United States does not air on Canadian stations, with a few scattered exceptions (e.g. the now-defunct CFBN , which carried political programming such as the Glenn Beck Program and Dennis Miller , and the also-discontinued talk format of CHAM , which carried Miller). Top political programs such as The Rush Limbaugh Show are never broadcast on Canadian stations, mainly due to high rights fees compared to their relevance to non-American audiences. American stations near

7668-460: The Air which broadcast once a week starting in 1935. It featured panel discussions from some of the biggest newsmakers and was among the first shows to allow audience participation: members of the studio audience could question the guests or even heckle them. Talk radio as a listener-participation format has existed since the 1930s. John J. Anthony (1902–1970) was an announcer and DJ on New York's WMRJ. It

7810-775: The Blue Network carried the sustaining ones where the network sold individual commercials within the shows. In 1931, NBC reorganized its West Coast operations, creating regional Orange and Blue networks that replaced its previous Pacific Coast network. KFI was part of the Orange group, along with KGO in Oakland , KGW in Portland , KOMO in Seattle , and KHQ in Spokane . In July 1931, KFI increased its transmitter power from 5,000 to 50,000 watts, becoming

7952-617: The Blue Network for $ 800,000. (In 1942, under the provisions of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act , NBC had been required to divest itself of its Blue Network, which later became the Blue Network Incorporated, and subsequently the American Broadcasting Company .) During World War II , KFI was a prime source for war news in the Los Angeles area. It was feared that an attack on the west coast of the United States

8094-534: The Canadian border can provide many Canadians with access to American talk programs (the signals of Limbaugh affiliates WJR , WBEN , and WHAM , for example, cover almost all of Southern Ontario ). Local talk radio plays a significant role in the politics of Newfoundland and Labrador. Political parties have systematically coordinated call-ins by Members of the House of Assembly when public opinion pollsters are known to be in

8236-591: The Department of Commerce set aside a second entertainment wavelength, 400 meters (750 kHz) for "Class B" stations that had quality equipment and programming, and KFI was assigned to this more exclusive wavelength, joining KHJ on a timesharing basis. In May 1923 additional "Class B" frequencies were made available, with Los Angeles allocated 640 and 760 kHz, and KFI was reassigned to 640 kHz, with KHJ moving to 760 kHz. From 1922 to 1926, early programming consisted of such things as reading news from

8378-610: The FM band in many cities across the US. These shows often rely less on political discussion and analysis than their AM counterparts and often employ the use of pranks and "bits" for entertainment purposes. In the United States and Canada , satellite radio services offer uncensored "free-wheeling" original programming. ABC News & Talk is an example of "repackaging" for the digital airwaves shows featured on their terrestrial radio stations. Expressing and debating political opinions has been

8520-451: The Hour" and "Emphasis" became the network staples as entertainment programs were slowly phased out. NBC radio affiliates like KFI had to decide whether to reduce or eliminate their network connections in order to maintain profits. KFI began using disc jockeys playing phonograph records. KFI programming transitioned during this period from block programming, often featuring 15-minute shows, to

8662-482: The Law with Bill Handel, Rich DeMuro on Tech and The Jesus Christ Show with Neil Saavedra . Other weekend shows focus on money, psychology, food, home repair and unsolved crimes. KFI has news and traffic updates every 15 minutes and is an affiliate of ABC News Radio . Effective December 1, 1921, the U.S. government adopted regulations formally defining "broadcasting stations". The wavelength of 360 meters (833 kHz)

SECTION 60

#1732876267094

8804-430: The Los Angeles market to buy, and a deal was reached with Dallas broadcaster Gordon McLendon to purchase KOST (103.5 FM) for $ 2.2 million. Wesley also decided against renewing the long term agreement for carrying Dodger baseball, allowing KABC to become the new Dodger radio station in Los Angeles. Starting in the mid-1970s, KFI switched to top 40 music. Cox Broadcasting hired John Rook as program director. Rook

8946-771: The Southwest. KFI's founder, Earle C. Anthony, died on August 6, 1961. In April 1972, KFI celebrated its 50th birthday. Festivities included a 12-hour special, featuring interviews and commentaries from many former NBC Radio personalities. In 1973, Cox Broadcasting , headquartered in Atlanta , purchased KFI for $ 15 million, which at the time was the highest amount paid for a radio station. James Wesley, Cox's general manager at WIOD in Miami , and that station's operations manager, Elliott "Biggie" Nevins, were dispatched to Los Angeles to manage KFI. Cox instructed Wesley to find an FM station in

9088-502: The United States. In an odd turn of events, Pyne's radio show led him to television. Henry suggested to John Kluge that Joe Pyne should be put on Metromedia's newly acquired TV station in Los Angeles, KTTV-TV. Kluge told Henry to speak to KTTV-TV general manager Al Kriven, but Henry had already done that, and Kriven had adamantly refused. Kluge telephoned Kriven, and Pyne soon became the nation's first controversial late-night talk television host. The Joe Pyne Show on KTTV-TV quickly shot to

9230-507: The WNWS night show hosted by talk radio personality Neil Rogers . Rogers, who had previously signed conflicting employment contracts with both WNWS (790 AM) and WINZ (940 AM) , had just won permission from a Miami court to take his act to WINZ and hoped leaving WNWS would be devastating to Leykis' program. Rogers and Leykis became rivals and, in June 1984, just after Denver radio talk show host Alan Berg

9372-407: The agreement. The couple have since divorced. In August 2004, Leykis was attacked outside a Seattle bar and all-night diner, The 5 Point Cafe . In the assault, he was kicked in the face and knocked down to the ground, causing him to require 17 stitches over one eye, and leaving him with scratches and bruises on his knees. The assailant reportedly had an accomplice who accused Leykis of calling him

9514-526: The cable news televisions in the United States, with live and "saturated" coverage of political issues. The most important talk radios in Brazil are CBN , Band News and Jovem Pan , which has also sports and news broadcasts. In contrast to talk radio stations in the United States, where syndicated programs tend to make up a significant part of most schedules, privately owned Canadian talk radio stations tend to be predominantly local in programming and focus. There

9656-618: The ceiling of the transmitter building, where a National Guardsman accidentally discharged a rifle during World War II on December 10, 1941. The bullet hole has been preserved as a monument to KFI's wartime service. On Sunday, December 19, 2004, at 9:45 a.m., Jim and Mary Ghosoph were killed when their rented Cessna 182P single engine airplane, traveling from the El Monte Airport to Fullerton Municipal Airport , struck KFI's transmission tower . The solid steel truss , originally built in 1948, collapsed upon itself, mostly landing in

9798-497: The city. Handel's broadcast was also carried on the other Clear Channel stations in Los Angeles. In summer 2004, KFI became the most listened to talk radio station in the United States, beating New York City's WABC in cumulative audience during the rating period. That year KFI was named the Radio & Records "News & Talk Radio Station of the Year". The syndicated Rush Limbaugh Show

9940-484: The complaint was dismissed. The main transmitter was eventually relocated from Anthony's Packard dealership to its present location in La Mirada, California , where a "T" antenna was erected between two medium height towers, and the studios of the KFI and its sister station, KECA, were moved to 611 South Ardmore Avenue. The 611 South Ardmore Avenue building is now gone, replaced by a parking lot. (The Packard dealership site

10082-443: The conclusion of his contract with CBS. On the first day of the show's return, there were some streaming issues that were rectified within the first 30 minutes, due to a far greater influx of listeners that he was expecting. After receiving data from his analytic sources, Leykis announced on the air that in the first week of the show, over 401,000 different IP addresses tuned into the show. During live broadcasts, The Tom Leykis Show

10224-828: The departure of Howard Stern to satellite radio in January 2006, KLSX became known on-air as "97.1 Free FM " – so-called to highlight that its stations broadcast free-to-air, funded by commercials, whereas satellite radio requires a subscription fee. The station was produced by CBS Radio as part of its Free FM format , and The Tom Leykis Show was broadcast in a number of affiliate markets nationwide including but not limited to Portland , Dallas , Seattle , Phoenix , Las Vegas as well as multiple California markets in addition to its Los Angeles flagship such as San Diego and San Francisco . Talkers Magazine , analyzing Arbitron data, show that Leykis has an estimated listening minimum weekly cume of over 1.75 million for Spring 2007, based on

10366-525: The details of Leykis' departure from the station. While still in Phoenix, Leykis also had a local public-access television show called Backstage Pass . After leaving Phoenix, Leykis moved on to Los Angeles to work for KFI , where he hosted a talk-radio program from 1988 to 1992, as a liberal counterpart to Rush Limbaugh . During this time, KFI was hit with a $ 6,000 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indecency fine over Leykis' on-air comments; however,

10508-574: The early-1980s, KFI began broadcasting in AM stereo , with the C-QUAM system. The stereo broadcasts ended in January 2000. By the mid-1980s ratings began to slip, as music listening switched to the FM band. In the spring of 1984, KFI was ranked 28th in the Los Angeles Arbitron ratings , ahead of only KHJ among the market's AM music stations. KFI moved the music to more of a soft gold-based AC and began to play less of it. The talk shows moved from

10650-664: The field. The provincial government routinely purchases transcripts of calls. A state-owned public channel called YLE Puhe. is broadcast throughout the whole country in the Finnish language. The programs include sports and news broadcasts. Its weekly listenership is about 550,000. Finland's first commercial talk station, Radio Rapu, started operations on March 1, 2014. Talk radio is a popular form of radio entertainment in France, exemplified by Europe 1, RTL, and RMC, plus state-owned France Inter. A premier English language talk radio in France

10792-412: The fine was paid in full from contributions by listeners. During Leykis' tenure at KFI, KFI host Geoff Edwards was suspended and then resigned over an incident related to steamrolling a massive collection of Cat Stevens ' work sent in by listeners, which was motivated by Leykis' denouncement of Cat Stevens' comments about Salman Rushdie . A local Nazi historian likened the stunt as being reminiscent of

10934-455: The first U.S. station west of Chicago to broadcast with that power. A special 4-hour program was aired, featuring congratulatory speeches by NBC West Coast vice president and others, joined by entertainers from New York and Chicago on a coast-to-coast live hookup. Variety reported that Los Angeles mayor John Clinton Porter was comically effusive in his praise. NBC's, and KFI's, programming expanded in 1930s and 1940s. The NBC radio network

11076-415: The first to explore the medium in the 1950s. A breakthrough in talk radio occurred in 1960 at KLAC in Los Angeles. Alan Henry, a broadcaster in his early thirties, had been hired by John Kluge, president of Metromedia in 1963. Henry had previously worked in such diverse markets as Miami, Florida; Waterloo, Iowa; Hartford, Connecticut; and St. Louis, Missouri. KLAC was dead last in the ratings but Kluge wanted

11218-523: The first to have done so. KABC station manager Ben Hoberman and KMOX station manager Robert Hyland independently developed the all-talk format. KTKK , 630 AM in Salt Lake City, then known as KSXX, adopted a full-time talk schedule in 1965 and is the third station in the country to have done so. KSXX started with all local talent, and KTKK, which now airs on 1640 AM, has a larger portion of its schedule featuring local talent than most other stations that run

11360-581: The first year Dave left abruptly for crosstown Top 40 competitor KTNQ (1020 AM; Ten-Q). John Rook then moved in Eric Chase (midday), Charlie Fox (early evening) and Dave Diamond (late night). KFI shot to #1 in the ratings, at some points being the most listened-to Top 40 station in the nation at 50,000 watts. By the late 1970s the staff was revised to Lohman & Barkley mornings, Tim & Ev Kelly in middays, Jack Armstrong afternoons, Big Ron O'Brien evenings and Charlie Fox at night. Rook and several of

11502-493: The host commonly discussed relationships, religion (Leykis is an atheist ), and other issues. On Fridays, listeners were allowed to call in and talk about anything they wanted, in contrast to other days when Leykis established a single topic for each hour of the show. Friday was also the usual day for live appearances in cities around the U.S., when Leykis would broadcast from a bar or other public place with an audience present. The free-for-all subject matter and large crowds led to

11644-415: The host's sidekick . In the mid-1970s Leykis hosted one of the first public access TV shows on Long Island's Cablevision system, "The Graffiti Hour", a call-in program. Leykis eventually left WPIX , later went to WBAI leaving in the fall of 1981 to go to Albany to work at WQBK . Leykis also contributed to a show called The Phonebooth on WABC that ended in 1981. After his departure from WABC, Leykis

11786-597: The incident on his Geraldo at Large syndicated television program. Geraldo: "So what was your first reaction when you got this call?" Leykis: "I was shocked. You know, people call talk shows and say all kinds of things, but they never confess to murder." On August 7, 2008, Leykis interviewed an officer involved in the investigation. Evidence was presented to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and charges were considered against Megan Suzanne Vice of El Mirage, Arizona . Her ex-boyfriend, Tortsen Rockwood, died of

11928-415: The institution of marriage is flawed and that family court systems are often corrupt because DNA testing after childbirth is not mandatory to prevent paternity fraud , and because courts have forced men to pay child support even after DNA testing has established that a man was not actually a child's father. To guard against sperm theft , he advises men to dispose of their own condoms by flushing them down

12070-520: The internet streamcast network The New Normal Network , featuring streams like New Normal Music , in July 2010. The Tom Leykis Show began in 1988 broadcasting from KFI in Los Angeles . Originally the show was often political in nature, a fact Leykis highlighted at the start of every episode by proclaiming his show the only radio talk show that is "not hosted by a right-wing wacko or a convicted felon", references to radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy , respectively. In addition to politics,

12212-629: The late 1970s when they were removed from the schedule. From 1929 to 1944, Earle Anthony also owned KECA, now KABC . KFI was an affiliate of the NBC Red Network, while KECA carried programming from the Blue Network. However, in August 1941 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a "duopoly" rule, which restricted licensees from operating more than one radio station in a given market. Therefore, Anthony sold KECA in 1944 to

12354-598: The lyrics of this song … are about me ." With that, Leykis rolled into Joe Jackson 's "I'm the Man" (the title track of Jackson's 1979 album ). By the time the song was over, the studio was filled with people—as could be seen by the live online video broadcast on the station website. The host thanked his producers, the program director , the crowd in the studio, and everyone in southern California who made it "12 great years", and he finished with "Let's do this thing one more time..." The crowd yelled "Blow me up, Tom" one last time to end

12496-505: The men's national football team. Typically the programming of main talk radio stations is modified whenever there is a major football event, such as a La Liga or a national team match. Daily late-night sport (football) talk shows are also very relevant, with a very intense competition of the radio stations in this time slot which typically starts around midnight. Comedy morning talk shows are also very popular in music radio stations (40 principales, M80 radio, Europa FM, and others), where there

12638-592: The on air personalities left in the early 1980s. At that point, KFI began softening its playlist to adult top 40 (in between top 40 and adult contemporary ). By the mid-1980s the station was more news and personality driven than music intensive with a full service format. In the 1970s and '80s, the station featured a hybrid format combining adult contemporary music with comedian hosts. In addition to Lohman and Barkley, other hosts included Hudson & Landry , Charlie and Mitzi ( Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ), and Gary Owens . In

12780-424: The policy in practice only applies to alleged victims, allowing for the release of names of alleged offenders, a policy which Leykis disagrees with and does not follow, as he regularly states he is "not a journalist". Leykis contends that either all names in a case (the alleged offender[s] and the alleged accuser) should be protected or all should be public. The radio show host has caused considerable controversy over

12922-520: The popular song "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" – began a call-in program for the Storer station in Miami, Florida (WGBS) and then on Miami's WQAM, WINZ and WCKR. The "Alan Courtney Open Phone Forum" flourished as an avowedly conservative and anti-communist political forum with a coverage area over the Southeastern U.S. and Cuba. Joe Pyne , John Nebel , Jean Shepherd , and Jerry Williams ( WMEX -Boston) were among

13064-467: The production company Westwood One were sued by Karen Carpenter of Juneau, Alaska . She claimed to have suffered post-traumatic stress from disparaging and sexual comments Leykis made about her on the air. Leykis has stated on air that the case occupied much of his attention in the winter of 2002. Tom Leykis did win the case. On June 25, 2003, Marty Ingels , a voice actor , called into Leykis's show and tried to challenge him on moral grounds. Ingels, who

13206-677: The program was the Thursday broadcast of "Leykis 101", in which the program is set up as an ad hoc lecture and question and answer session, over which Leykis presides as a self-styled "professor". The subject of the "101" segments are how men can spend less money on women while achieving greater sexual and personal success. The intent of his advice is to serve as a father figure for his mostly-male listeners. Thus, many callers address Leykis as "Dad" or "Father". Along with general information on life for young men, Leykis's 101 advice mostly consists of his principles of looking out for oneself. He argues that

13348-504: The provocative nature of the show, Leykis has often been described as a shock jock . The show's best-known feature is "Leykis 101", in which he claims to teach men how to get women while spending the least amount of time, money, and effort. Leykis retired in 2024, streaming his last new show on May 15. Leykis was born in New York City and spent his early childhood in the Bronx . His father

13490-929: The same region. In mid-May 1922, KFI was assigned 1:45 to 2:30 and 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. weekdays. An August 1922 schedule reported that KFI was conducting broadcasts, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Examiner , on both the 360-meter "entertainment" wavelength (daily from 1:45-2:15 p.m, with additional hours of Tuesday, 9 to 10 p.m; Wednesday, 6 to 7 p.m; Friday 9 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 6 to 7 p.m., and Sunday 10:45 to 11:30 a.m. plus 4 to 5 p.m.), and on 510 meters (588 kHz) on Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. A regional schedule adopted November 1, 1922, listed KFI's slots as 1:00 to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m Tuesday and Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Sunday, and 9:20 to 10:00 p.m daily. Anthony moved quickly to expand operations. The station's studios and transmitter were moved to

13632-583: The same, as a way to gauge the audience size (Jean Shepherd). Leykis asked his listeners to do the same with their car headlights, and a few minutes later, jokingly suggested that women flash their breasts. A listener called in to report that he saw a woman flashing fellow drivers, and it became a regular feature of the show. Both women and men commonly call during the Friday broadcast to alert other listeners as to their location, and to recount stories of flashing or being flashed, respectively. In July 1998, Tom Leykis and

13774-409: The show and mark the end of KLSX as "The FM Talk Station" in what coincidentally became a strikingly appropriate catch phrase to be had: The phrase "blow up the station" is a radio term for ending a particular format or station run. After a much longer than usual explosion sound effect, the crowd cheered and KLSX changed format from hot talk to CHR/Top 40 , which continued until 2021 when it flipped to

13916-460: The show is "Flash Friday", in which men are encouraged to drive with their headlights on and women are encouraged to expose their breasts to such vehicles. The feature began as a one-time bit; while on the air, Leykis recalled a radio host he listened to as a child, who asked his listeners in New York apartments to flash their lights on and off and then to look outside to see how many neighbors were doing

14058-401: The show was #1 in time spent listening with an average of over 4 hours per week, in addition to being #1 in share for men aged 18+. The Tom Leykis Show had its last regular terrestrial broadcast on Friday, February 20, 2009, and ended at 5 p.m., the middle of its usual time slot. Leykis took calls until the last five minutes. At that point, the host mentioned that people had asked him how he

14200-795: The slogan More Stimulating Talk Radio was created. Rush Limbaugh 's nationally syndicated conservative talk show replaced Edwards in 1988 after Edwards refused to play promotional spots for the controversial Leykis show. In 1999, Chancellor Media traded 13 stations to Cox to acquire KFI and KOST. Cox opted to exit the Los Angeles market and focus on medium radio markets and its TV stations. Chancellor merged with Capstar in 1999 and became known as AMFM Inc. In 2000, AMFM merged with Clear Channel Communications making KFI Clear Channel's top AM radio station in Los Angeles. In 2014, Clear Channel changed its corporate name to iHeartMedia to identify its radio stations with its iHeartRadio internet streaming platform. The station license continued to be held by

14342-428: The station on a regular basis. He said, "This show will never work in New York." Now, that may be true or it may not be true but how do you know until the people have had a chance to listen to it?". In addition to his weekday show, Leykis began hosting a new syndicated weekend show called The Tasting Room in February 2005, covering lifestyle topics such as wine and spirits , luxury cars, and high-end technology. With

14484-440: The switch to all-talk as their ratings slumped due to listener migration to the FM band. Since the turn of the 21st century, with many music listeners now migrating to digital platforms such as Pandora Radio , Sirius XM Radio , and the numerous variations of the iPod , talk radio has been expanding on the FM side of the dial as well. Hot talk , also called FM talk or shock talk , is a talk radio format geared predominantly to

14626-401: The technology for Internet-based talk-radio shows became cost-effective in the form of live internet website streaming and podcasts . Now, an individual can use a variety of services to host an Internet-based talk-radio show without carriage by a traditional radio station. Also, TV programming from talk and news outlets such as BBC , CNN , Bloomberg , and Fox is now often available expanding

14768-496: The time. Despite all this, Leykis has no regrets over his contract terms, and still speaks highly of CBS. During his show's hiatus, he created The New Normal Network in 2010 including the Gary and Dino Show. The network has also at times held multiple music streams, in order to take the media into his own hands. After setting up his new network, Leykis announced on the network's website that his show would return on April 2, 2012, one day after

14910-412: The toilet or filling them with tabasco sauce . Other examples of Leykis 101 guidelines include never dating single mothers or co-workers; never cohabiting with a woman; using birth control during each sexual encounter; and immediately ending a relationship if a woman issues an ultimatum. In the event of an unplanned pregnancy, Leykis advocates a strategy known as "The Hail Mary", whereby the man persuades

15052-456: The top of the Packard dealership building, formerly located at Tenth and Hope Streets in Los Angeles, with a rooftop "T" antenna mounted between two short towers. This installation reportedly cost $ 30,000, and included a 500-watt Western Electric transmitter, the most powerful commercially available transmitter at this time. This new facility went into operation on January 27, 1923. In September 1922

15194-594: The top of the ratings. The format later proliferated on cable television with a variety of new hosts, many of them taking on a similar persona to Joe Pyne. Joe Pyne and Alan Henry were major factors in establishing a new trend in radio and television programming. Alan Henry elaborates on the launching of Joe Pyne on KLAC radio and KTTV-TV in his memoir A Man and His Medium . Two radio stations – KMOX , 1120 AM in St. Louis, Missouri , and KABC , 790 AM in Los Angeles – adopted an all- talk show format in 1960, and both claim to be

15336-608: The west coast of the United States, KFI immediately became one of its affiliates . In joining this network, KFI had the advantage of NBC's vast entertainment and news resources. One of the first NBC programs to originate on the West Coast , and KFI, was the broadcast of the 1927 Rose Bowl Game from Pasadena, California , with announcer Graham McNamee . On November 11, 1928, the Federal Radio Commission 's (FRC) General Order 40 divided transmitting frequencies into "clear", "regional" and "local" classifications. 640 kHz

15478-605: The western half of North America. KFI and KNX (AM 1070 and 97.1 FM ) serve as the primary entry points for the Southern California Emergency Alert System , which are responsible for activation of the EAS when hazardous weather alerts , disaster area declarations, and child abductions are issued. KFI is licensed by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to broadcast in the HD (hybrid) format; however, it

15620-478: The woman to have an abortion by promising to have children with her when they are ready in the future. Then as soon as she has the procedure, he dumps her. Leykis constantly recommends that young men pursue their career or educational goals and avoid being distracted by serious relationships or marriage at a young age as he was. Leykis describes many women as "dream killers" (i.e., he argues that, in dating or marriage, women will typically prioritize their desires above

15762-430: The world of talk radio further. Talk radio listening is enjoyed not only on radios but a wide variety of other devices and services including PCs using iTunes, station directories such as TuneIn, show directory smartphones with apps such as Stitcher, and time-shifting services like DAR.fm. SW Radio Africa was a pro-democracy station that broadcast out of London, England , from 2001 to 2014. In Australia , talk radio

15904-516: The years for his practice of identifying such individuals by name on-air . Other such individuals he has named include: For early 2008, Leykis had announced radio ratings at various angles. Among the 81 radio stations in Southern California the show was #9 overall, #6 in English stations, and #1 for time spent listening . Among men ages 18+, adults ages 18–34, and "the money demo " ages 25–54,

16046-678: Was Charles Adler Tonight , hosted by Charles Adler and heard on eleven stations across the country. After 5 years, the show ended in August 2021. Until 2006, Peter Warren's Warren on the Weekend was heard Saturdays and Sundays. Both programs are or were distributed by the Corus Radio Network and, coincidentally, both hosts had hosted different morning call-in programs in the same time slot on Winnipeg , Manitoba 's CJOB 680 before they became nationally syndicated (Adler's show originated from CJOB and retained its original title, while Warren

16188-526: Was a counter tracking the number of subscriptions above 1900, which was the minimum required for the New Normal LLC to remain profitable. In 2005, Leykis was producing a weekend show, The Tasting Room with Tom Leykis. It first aired mostly on such West Coast stations as KGIL in Los Angeles, California and KFBK in Sacramento, California. It was produced by The New Normal Network and later has morphed into

16330-487: Was a union leader at The New York Post . He graduated from Newfield High School in Selden, New York at the age of 16, then entered Fordham University to study broadcasting, but dropped out due to financial issues. Leykis began his radio career in the state of New York in 1970. At the age of 14, he was once a fill-in host for WBAB , and in 1979 was featured on Mark Simone's WPIX-FM talk show comedy The Simone Phone as

16472-456: Was an immediate success. Henry encouraged the confrontation with listeners and guests for which Pyne became famous. Pyne coined the line "Go gargle with razor blades," for guests with whom he disagreed. The Pyne show was the beginning of the confrontational talk format that later spread across the radio spectrum. At one point in the 1960s, the Joe Pyne show was syndicated on over 250 radio stations in

16614-467: Was assassinated, Leykis told listeners Neil Rogers ' real name and urged callers to harass his on-air rival. By January 1985, Leykis had the top-ranking evening talk show in the market, edging out Rogers due to his show being preempted by sports broadcasts. In September 1985, Leykis abruptly left his WNWS job without notice over concern about the pending WNWS-WGBS merger and began work at Phoenix 's KFYI . As program director at KFYI , Leykis constructed

16756-611: Was based in Victoria, British Columbia .) before Charles Adler Tonight , Corus had syndicated Rutherford , hosted by conservative Dave Rutherford and originating from its Calgary station, CHQR . Rutherford is no longer syndicated nationally but continues to air in Calgary, Edmonton , and London . Other Canadian talk radio programs which have been syndicated to different markets include: Privately owned talk radio syndication networks in Canada are generally formed to share programs across

16898-475: Was bored with playing music and put a telephone receiver up to his microphone to talk with bandleader Woody Herman . This was soon followed by listener call-ins and Gray is often billed as "the hot mama of talk radio". Herb Jepko was another pioneer. Author Bill Cherry proposed George Roy Clough as the first to invite listeners to argue politics on a call-in radio show at KLUF, his station in Galveston, Texas, as

17040-408: Was briefly heard on an irregular basis in New York City on WNEW. Leykis was moved to afternoons from nights to replace the recently fired Opie and Anthony of The Opie and Anthony Show. Leykis later reflected on his comparative lack of success in the New York market, explaining that the station never truly got behind him, "We were talking to [WNEW Show Director Mark Chernoff] about the show being on

17182-622: Was charged with filing a false police report for claiming that her cell phone was stolen. In 2003, Leykis raised controversy by revealing the name of Katelyn Faber , the accuser in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case . Other media outlets elected to reveal details of the alleged victim such as race and masked photographs while excluding her name, as was the standard practice at that time, raising privacy questions. Major media outlets generally and voluntarily withhold names like these due to their adherence to journalism ethics and standards . However,

17324-469: Was considered the force behind the success of WLS in Chicago . One of his first hires was Dave Sebastian (Williams), formerly of KHJ , as music director and air personality. Rook's first air staff included "The Lohman and Barkley Show" with Al Lohman and Roger Barkley (top-rated in the morning), Mark Taylor (midday), Bob Shannon (afternoon drive time ) and music director Dave Sebastian (evenings). Within

17466-628: Was designated for entertainment broadcasts, while 485 meters (619 kHz) was reserved for broadcasting official weather and other government reports. KFI was first licensed on March 31, 1922. It was owned by Earle C. Anthony , Inc. It operated on the 360-meter entertainment wavelength. The KFI call letters were randomly assigned from a roster of available call signs. The station made its debut broadcast on April 16, 1922 ; 102 years ago  ( April 16, 1922 ) . It featured vaudeville performers Eugene and Willie Howard . Earle Anthony had trained as an electrical engineer and in 1903, founded

17608-416: Was dropped in 1988 as KFI evolved to an issues-oriented talk format. The first hosts were psychologist Dr. Toni Grant , TV game show host Geoff Edwards and Tom Leykis hosted a politically oriented "combat radio" program. Competitor KABC, which had been doing talk radio for some time, sued KFI in U.S. District Court to have KFI cease and desist using the term "Talk Radio" with the call letters. Therefore,

17750-459: Was fired by KABC in Los Angeles. The speculation was that Pyne was too controversial and confrontational for the ABC corporate culture. Henry hired Pyne on the spot and paid him $ 25,000 a year, which was then a huge salary for a radio personality. Pyne was given the night show on KLAC. Part of the agreement with Pyne was that Henry and Lightfoot would give him broad control of his program content. The show

17892-404: Was going to end the show. Saying "Let's tell the truth", Leykis commented that he knew since the previous summer that it was possible the flagship station ( KLSX , which originated the broadcast of the show) would switch format . Saying he "tossed and turned", he thought about it and asked himself: "What could I say that would wrap this all up? And then one day I heard this song … and I realized –

18034-511: Was granted. Talk radio Talk shows on commercial stations are organized into segments, each separated by a pause for advertisements; however, in public or non-commercial radio, music is sometimes played in place of commercials to separate the program segments. Variations of talk radio include conservative talk, hot talk , liberal talk (increasingly known as progressive talk), and sports talk . Talk radio has historically been associated with broadcast radio; however, starting around 2005,

18176-492: Was heard on KFI from July 4, 1988, to January 20, 2014, when it moved to sister station KEIB . On August 10, 2015, KFI began a simulcast on KOST's HD 2 signal. KFI served as the flagship station of the Los Angeles Chargers, carrying all of the team's game day broadcasts from the team's return to the Los Angeles market in 2017 until 2020, when games were moved to co-owned 98.7 KYSR . In recent years, especially since

18318-512: Was located in the Merrick Radio Store at 12 New York Boulevard in Jamaica, Long Island. After some marital troubles, refusing to pay alimony and child support, he sought professional help and began his radio series where listeners would call in with their problems in 1930. Radio historians consider this the first instance of talk radio. While working for New York's WMCA in 1945, Barry Gray

18460-399: Was much older than the typical caller to Leykis's show, was subjected to some rude remarks by the call screener who said that he was too old and should not be on the air. But Ingels was placed on the air, and Leykis also disparaged Ingels, stating "you're not just older than my demographic, you're the grandfather of my demographic". Leykis explained that he didn't want older callers because he

18602-566: Was now classified as a "clear channel", and KFI remained on this frequency, now designated as its dominant station. KFI was allowed to operate with a non- directional antenna at the highest allowable power of 50,000 watts, while other stations on the frequency were required to protect KFI's signal from interference. NBC operated two radio networks, the Red Network and the Blue Network . The Red Network carried sponsored commercial programs, while

18744-675: Was offered a full-time radio hosting job in Staunton, Virginia . Leykis credits his defining moment to seriously pursue a career in radio to an incident that occurred in the early 1980s, in which his then-girlfriend locked him out of their residence because she believed he didn't earn enough money; he has since stated that this was one of the most important events of his life. A few years later, Leykis appeared on an episode of 20/20 where she contacted his show in an attempt to resume their relationship and he declined. On Monday, February 27, 1984, The Tom Leykis Show aired on WNWS in Miami to replace

18886-626: Was owned by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), which also owned the Keith–Albee–Orpheum vaudeville circuit, later renamed Radio–Keith–Orpheum (RKO). RKO handled many vaudeville comedians and singers, including Jack Benny , Burns and Allen , Fred Allen , Eddie Cantor , and Rudy Vallee , whose programs were highly rated. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, many people could not afford movie tickets, but they could purchase

19028-471: Was part of a hoax set up by the show, and producers turned over all information they had about the caller to police who began an investigation. Leykis discussed the confession on subsequent episodes of his show, urging listeners to phone a toll-free number if they had possibly relevant information, and offering a cash reward for information leading to conviction of the woman for murder. About a month later, former talk show host Geraldo Rivera asked Leykis about

19170-521: Was possible, and people were warned to turn off lights and drape black cloths over windows, so that enemy bombers would not see identifying landmarks. Periodically, KFI and the other Los Angeles radio stations signed off so that any hostile aircraft could not use their signals as a guide for bombing attacks, which had been the case in the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor . On November 29, 1944, KFI officials broke ground on Mount Wilson for construction of

19312-436: Was reported that KFI turned off its HD signal as of August 12, 2015. Like other stations owned by iHeartMedia, KFI uses iHeartRadio to stream its webcast. KFI is one of two iHeartMedia stations in Los Angeles that carry a talk radio format . KFI features mostly local hosts while KEIB (1150 AM) has a schedule of nationally syndicated talk shows. Morning drive time on KFI has been hosted by Bill Handel since 1993. He

19454-478: Was retained as an emergency transmitter for many years, but powered by a 5,000 watt transmitter.) In 1948, the "T" antenna was replaced by a 722-foot (220 m) vertical tower and a 200-foot (61 m) emergency vertical tower, as long before vertical antennas had been determined to be superior to "T" antennas for high-powered stations, although 195 degrees (which would be 828 feet (252 m) on 640 kHz) would have been optimum. Competitor KNX employs just such

19596-548: Was selling advertising aimed at younger listeners. Ingels sued the show for age discrimination . It was noted that Ingels could not really complain he was discriminated against because his call was in fact put on the air. As for Ingels, the actor was ordered to pay $ 25,000 in attorney's fees to Leykis. Another widely publicized event took place in November 2006, when Leykis invited callers to make confessions about their wrongdoing or escapades which were never discovered. A listener from

19738-405: Was serious, and the woman explained how she "got away with it" because police believed "a blubbering, crying woman" and that she was never arrested or charged. Leykis informed her that she had made a murder confession live on the air, that the call-screener had her phone number, and that they would turn her information over to police. The woman ended her call. Leykis denied allegations that the call

19880-474: Was sold to the General Tire and Rubber Company . This station is now KCAL-TV . In the 1950s, sponsors began a gradual migration from radio to television, reducing radio advertising revenue, and less money became available for quality radio network entertainment programming. NBC and the other radio networks began dropping large-budget entertainment shows in favor of news and information programming. "NBC News on

20022-837: Was the first U.S. station west of Chicago to broadcast at 50,000 watts . Studios and offices are in Burbank , between the Warner Bros. Studios and The Burbank Studios . The transmitter site is in La Mirada near the Artesia Boulevard exit of Interstate 5, the Santa Ana Freeway . By day, its signal can be heard throughout Southern California , with city-grade coverage as far as San Diego , Santa Barbara and Tijuana , and secondary coverage as far as Bakersfield and northwestern Mexico, and at times can be heard some distance into Nevada and Arizona. At night, it can be heard across much of

20164-549: Was to television reporter Christina Gonzalez . Leykis alleges that he discovered that she was cheating on him after he investigated some hotel receipts he found. Another marriage, which lasted one year, was with a Seattle woman in 1989, who was a listener of his show. His fourth wife, Susan Drew Leykis, who first met Leykis at a Los Angeles Kings game, filed a police report against him while they were married and living in Boston in 1993. On December 22 of that year, she alleged that Leykis assaulted and threatened to kill her during

#93906