Dr. Drew Pinsky on Why He's Saying Goodbye to "Loveline" After 32 Years

Dr. Drew Pinsky wasn't ready to give up the nationally syndicated radio show "Loveline," even though he hasn't been paid a salary in over a year.

But when co-host Mike Catherwood departed at the end of March, Pinsky knew it was time to finally pull the plug. After 32 years of dispensing relationship and health advice five nights a week, Pinsky will host the final episode of the call-in advice show on Thursday night.

"It's been strictly pro bono for a year, and virtually pro bono for two years," Pinsky said. The host agreed to eliminate his salary in order to keep the show alive. "I took a profit share, whatever was left over. And there was nothing. My feeling was that it was something I enjoyed, something I was deeply committed to."

Pinsky said he also valued, as he aged, the ability to keep his "hand on the pulse, hearing in real time what's going on with young people in this country. I would hear everything first. I'm going to really miss that, knowing what's going on in young people's lives today."

Still, after Catherwood exited last month, "it wasn’t clear that [Los Angeles flagship radio station] KROQ was terribly interested in continuing the program five days a week," he said. "I thought, rather than drive this thing into the ground, it was time."

Continue reading at Indiewire here!

MIKE ON KCRW: Hosting "The Business" with Guest Adam Carolla

On this week's episode of KCRW's The Business, I fill in for host Kim Masters and interview Adam Carolla, whose new semi-autobiographical movie "Road Hard" is now in theaters and on VOD:

Comedian Adam Carolla has weathered career highs and lows, but he's been determined to follow his gut and always keep working. Now he's co-directed a movie in which he's also the star. Road Hard is a comedy with an autobiographical slant about a comedian's dark days on the road. He tells Michael Schneider how he got the money to make the film and why he was adamant about working outside the Hollywood studio system.

Matt Belloni of the Hollywood Reporter and I also discuss top entertainment news stories of the week:

- After poor TV ratings for the Oscars, the Academy considers a move back to five best picture nominees, instead of the current system, which allows for up to ten.
- Former NBC executive Andy Lack returns to the network as chairman of NBC News and MSNBC. Could this mean good news for Brian Williams?
- No one said the transition would be easy -- Amy Pascal encountered a potent problem when she tried to move into her new office on the Sony lot.

Listen by clicking below!

Italian Fest of San Gennaro Returns This Weekend

Jimmy Kimmel's and Adam Carolla's annual Italian Feast of San Gennaro, inspired by the long-running New York event, is back this weekend to once again celebrate Italian culture and food, and benefit various local charities.

The event begins on Thursday, Sept. 27 with the opening night fundraiser "Prima Notte 2012." The event, hosted by Kimmel and Carolla (with Mark DeCarlo as master of ceremonies), will feature big band music by Louis Prima Jr. and various comedians. The night will also pay tribute to "Italian Americans in sports," including former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda and former NFL player Lou Cordileone.

Other events include a Procession of St. Gennaro on Hollywood Blvd. (beginning at noon on Saturday, September 29th and concluding with a Mass on the Main Stage presided by Monsignor Antonio Cacciapuoti) and other fund raisers like a "Gravy – Sauce" competition hosted by "The Meatballs of Comedy."

The Feast of San Gennaro takes place Sept. 28 to 30 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. behind the Jimmy Kimmel Live Theater at 1651 N. Highland Ave. General admission is $5; kids under 12 are free.

New Co-Host and New (Not So Good) Timeslot for KROQ's "Loveline"

(New "Loveline" co-host "Psycho Mike" Catherwood, along with former "Loveline" co-host Adam Carolla and the show's 26-year veteran, Dr. Drew Pinsky)

As KROQ looks to beat down the surging competition -- rival 98.7 KYSR, which beat KROQ in the last Arbitron ratings survey -- the station has now bumped nighttime staple "Loveline" deep into the night.

"Loveline," now nationally syndicated by Westwood One, began as a weekly show on KROQ in 1983 (then hosted by Jim "Poorman" Trenton, who was joined a year later by Dr. Drew Pinsky). KROQ expanded the show to five nights a week -- Sunday through Thursday -- in 1992, and it's run from 10 p.m. to midnight ever since then.

Until now. Under pressure to improve its audience numbers, KROQ has pushed "Loveline" to a much tougher midnight-to-2 a.m. slot. The station now runs music at 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, "Loveline" has also tapped a new co-host to fill the void left by Ted Stryker, who left the show last year (but who recently returned to KROQ as the station's afternoon drive DJ). Longtime KROQ/"Kevin & Bean" staffer "Psycho Mike" Catherwood, who has regularly filled in as Pinsky's co-host on the show, has now been officially given the gig.

"I'm so honored and excited," Catherwood wrote on the KROQ site. "Hopefully my time working with the best morning radio show in the world (The Kevin & Bean Show) and as a recovering addict will have prepared me to take on this job. I grew up here in L.A. so it's down right surreal for me to be a part of two great Southern California institutions."

Besides "Loveline" originator the Poorman, Pinsky's other past co-hosts include Riki Rachtman, and Adam Carolla (who hosted for 10 years).

UPDATED: It's Official, FM Talk Dies This Friday, To Be Replaced By Amp Radio

Here's the press release from CBS Radio:

"97.1 AMP RADIO," A COMPLETELY INTEGRATED ON-AIR, ONLINE, ON-SITE AND MOBILE AUDIO DESTINATION, LAUNCHES ON FRIDAY, FEB. 20

CBS RADIO Diversifies Programming Offerings In Los Angeles With Debut Of Top 40 Radio Station Targeting Young Adults

Amp Radio Experience To Feature Most Popular Current Artists, Interactive Website, Ability to Create Artist Specific Online Radio Stations, Mobile Applications And More

On Friday, Feb. 20 at 5:00PM, PT, Los Angeles listeners, and hundreds of thousands more across the country, will be introduced to CBS RADIO's newest radio station, 97.1 AMP RADIO. Playing "All the Hits," AMP RADIO will combine the power of its on-air position with myriad online and digital applications creating a full 360 degree audio and visual experience for young adults.

Available on-air at 97.1 FM in Los Angeles and online at www.ampradio.com, AMP RADIO will debut with the broadcast of 10,000 songs in a row with limited commercial interruption from artists such as Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Rihanna, T.I., Kanye West, Usher, Britney, Pink, Kelly Clarkson, and Katy Perry, among others.

Complementing the station will be an array of events and concerts, an extensive online destination with blogs, music videos, widgets, photo galleries, celebrity gossip reports, in-depth artist pages, an embeddable and multi-functional streaming player, and a platform to create artist centric radio stations. Fans of the station can also stay connected through instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites, as well as wirelessly via texting, and applications for the iPhone, and select Blackberry devices.

AMP RADIO originally debuted in February 2008 as an online entity and HD 2 station on CBS RADIO’s KCBS-FM in Los Angeles.

"Creating a successful radio station not only means focusing on what you hear over the air – it's that, yet it's so much more and as evidenced by what we're announcing today the possibilities are endless," said Kevin Weatherly, Senior Vice President, Programming, CBS RADIO and architect of the AMP RADIO format. The award-winning program director of KROQ-FM and KCBS-FM (Jack FM) will handle all on-air and creative aspects of the station.

"Incubating AMP RADIO online and on HD 2 allowed us to experiment with different ideas, build brand loyalty, and analyze listener feedback. We saw immediately the impact of the evolution of the station and watched the online audience steadily increase each month. In addition to that, PPM has shown us there are a significant number of younger listeners who are seeking out this type of programming and incorporating radio into their daily lives more than we ever thought."

Added Dan Weiner, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, CBS RADIO Los Angeles, "Launching this format, and the way in which we execute it across several different platforms, expands dramatically what we can offer advertisers. And just as important, we're providing an alternative listening option for a dynamic sector of the Los Angeles population. Collectively, our portfolio of stations will now boast a significant share of the male and female audience of listeners ranging in age from 12+."

No word yet on the fate of KLSX hosts such as Adam Carolla or Tom Leykis. Could Carolla end up as the first live DJ on Jack FM? Would Leykis make the move to KFWB, should CBS Radio fully dump that station's news format (it's already moving to a more entertainment-centric news format)? Or will they wind up on non-CBS stations? A lot more to come...

Adam Carolla to Depart; KLSX 97.1 to Flip to Top 40?

More big changes coming to the L.A. radio landscape: The industry is buzzing with rumors that CBS Radio is itching to go after KIIS-FM, the Clear Channel top 40 station that has dominated L.A. radio waves for years. KIIS has gone unchallenged in the Contemporary Hit Radio format for decades.

But now, CBS -- which last attempted top 40 in L.A. with KKHR 93.1 -- is poised to flip its long-running FM Talk station, 97.1 KLSX, to go after KIIS. Speculation is centering on the youth-oriented AMP Radio format, which already runs on the HD-2 signal for KCBS/93.1 "Jack FM."



According to Radio Insight, someone recently, quietly registered the web domains AmpRadioLA.com, Amp971.com, and Amp971fm.com on February 9.

"AMP Radio" artists include Lady Gaga, T.I., Rihanna, Britney Spears, Katy Perry and Beyonce.



Meanwhile, All Access is reporting that radio affiliates for the Adam Carolla Show have been told that the show's final day is Friday. Rumors are afloat that Friday is also the last day for fellow 97.1 hosts Tom Leykis and Frosty, Heidi and Frank. Where all of these hosts might end up is uncertain.

Carolla took over the 97.1 morning shift in January 2006, after Howard Stern migrated to satellite radio. His numbers have continued to improve, but the station has never quite recovered from Stern's decision to leave terrestrial radio. Meanwhile, 97.1 has been all-talk since 1995; before that, it aired a classic rock format (along with Stern in the morning).

UPDATE: It's official. Read the CBS Radio press release here. There you go, L.A. -- just what you wanted, more Beyonce and Justin Timberlake.

Big Festival Weekend

'Tis the weekend for festivals across the city; most are cheap or even free. You hitting any of them? Here are some of the bigger ones:


The brand-new Swerve Festival celebrates "West Coast creative culture and its community inspired by art, film, music and action sports."

Events take place at the Barnsdall Art Park, the Vista Theatre and the Echoplex; highlights include free music performances by DeVotchKa, The Black Angels and Bonde Do Role, Foreign Born, Oh No! Oh My!, Snowden, Illinois, Thee More Shallows and more; the U.S. premiere of the doc "Surfwise" and the West Coast premiere of the Joy Division-themed biopic "Control"; and a closing night party featuring We Are Scientists ($5).

Swerve Festival
September 28-30 (various times)
Barnsdall Art Park, Vista Theatre and Echoplex
www.swervefest.com


Launched six years ago by Jimmy Kimmel and others (it even takes place behind Kimmel's Hollywood talk show studio), the Feast of San Gennaro (based on the New York tradition) has turned into a rather large L.A. celebration of all things Italian.

Hosted this year by Kimmel and Adam Carolla, the event will celebrate Italian culture, food and entertainment, featuring live music, street performers, strolling musicians, a kid’s corner, rides and games."

Feast of San Gennaro
September 28-30, 2007 (11am-10pm)
1651 N. Highland Ave. (South of Hollywood Blvd.)
$5 Admission - kids under 12 free, student discounts.
www.feastofla.org


Thrown by Steve Aoki's Dim Mak label and Stake Productions, the Neighborhood Music Festival -- held Saturday in Exposition Park -- features Mickey Avalon, Spank Rock, DJ AM, Chromeo, Aoki and others.

Neighborhood Music Festival
September 29 (3pm-2am)
Exposition Park in Downtown Los Angeles
3911 S. Figueroa St.
www.neighborhoodmusicfest.com


The fourth annual one-day Grand Avenue Festival features musical performances inside Walt Disney Concert Hall, dance at the Colburn School, free admission, guided tours and art-making at The Museum of Contemporary Art, art-making on the Music Center Plaza, family musical programs at the Los Angeles Public Library, a drum circle and flute choir along Grand Avenue, "A Taste of Downtown" (featuring food from downtown eateries) and more. The Cathedral, L.A. Phil, and other orgs are also participating.

Grand Avenue Festival
Sunday, September 30, 2007 (11am-5pm)
Grand Avenue (between Temple and 5th Street)
www.grandavenuefestival.org