Rick Dees Out At Hot 92.3

After just a year doing mornings on KHHT-FM "Hot 92.3," Rick Dees is exiting the station. Hot 92.3 seemed to be a good fit -- it was all of the songs he was known for playing the first time around, after all. But Dees didn't do the show live, and radio insiders on the message boards say the ratings weren't up to par.

"Rick has been with us for a year and we've thoroughly enjoyed every moment," Greg Ashlock, president and market manager of Clear Channel's Los Angeles stations, said in a statement. "He's a consummate professional and we wish him the best as he pursues some national opportunities. (Clear Channel L.A. programming head) John Ivey will be sharing with you our morning plans for the future later this week."

Dees was shown the door at Clear Channel's KIIS-FM -- and replaced with Ryan Seacrest -- in 2004 after he and the radio behemoth couldn't come to terms on a new deal. His more than two decades at KIIS came to a sudden close.

Later, Dees joined Emmis' new "Movin' 93.9" in 2006 after the station dumped its country format. But three years later, Movin' 93.9 signed off and flipped to country. Dees continues focus on a thri Internet and syndication businesses.

"We launched a one year marketing campaign with my friends at Clear Channel to increase the awareness and revenue of Hot 92.3," Dees said on his Twitter and Facebook pages. "The campaign has been a great success and we look forward to other new shows and marketing strategies with the talented team from Clear Channel in the near future. See you at www.rick.com, plus all over the world with the Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 and Daily Dees Radio Show."

PREVIOUSLY ON FRANKLIN AVENUE:

Breaking: Rick Dees Returns to L.A. Radio, This Time at Hot 92.3 (April 2011)

Another One Bites the Dust: Movin 93.9 Signs Off (April 2009)

Rick Dees Loses Radio Home: "Movin 93.9" To Go Spanish (April 2009)

Rick Dees to Open Street-Level Radio Studio (February 2007)

BREAKING NEWS: KZLA Dumps Country and Goes Dance/Rick Dees (August 2006)

Dees Sleaze (February 2006)

Dees-Nied (February 2004)

Retro Friday: Radio Wars

Check out this news report from 1989 on then-KHJ Channel 9. It's a sweeps piece on the local radio ratings war, focusing on KIIS' Rick Dees and KPWR's Jay Thomas.

Below, an aircheck of Thomas doing his Power 106 show; and below that, a three-part John Beard/KNBC interview with Dees in his KIIS heyday.

Commander Chuck Street Out at KIIS-FM

After 28 years, "Commander" Chuck Street is out at KIIS-FM, reports the Orange County Register. The longtime traffic reporter had been out of his helicopter and grounded since the start of the year, after Pepsi pulled its sponsorship. That led KIIS and Clear Channel to lay him off last Friday. Street tells the newspaper:

"Greg Ashlock (market manager for Clear Channel) called last Thursday afternoon to say that he could no longer afford to pay me my daily rate to continue doing the traffic reports from the ground. My current pay was not in his budget. He indicated that he was getting pressure from 'corporate' to lay me off until something could be resolved with Pepsi or some other sponsor."

Street added in his e-mail, "I have been providing traffic reports on KIIS-FM for over 28 years. Pepsi-Cola has been my sponsor for just over 20 years. It has been a 'great run!' I have worked with some incredibly talented people on a legendary radio station KIIS-FM.

"Our multitudes of listeners have allowed my voice to be a part of the sound track of their daily lives. I know that people have listened to my traffic reports from their cars, their kitchens, their bedrooms, and bathrooms. And I recognize this as a privilege and have enjoyed the appreciation from listeners for so many years."

Commander Chuck Street was a KIIS institution, going back to the early days of Rick Dees' morning show... but I guess in this era of belt-tightening, having a helicopter reporter was a luxury item.

Breaking: Rick Dees Returns to L.A. Radio, This Time at Hot 92.3

Rick Dees is taking another stab at local radio, and this time it's with Clear Channel -- the company with which he bitterly parted ways in 2004.

Dees will host mornings on Clear Channel's R&B oldies outlet KHHT-FM (Hot 92.3) beginning Wednesday, May 4. Here are the details:

n making this announcement, Clear Channel Los Angeles Market Manager/President, Greg Ashlock said, “Rick is synonymous with radio in Los Angeles and this genre of music is perfect for him as he introduced many of these artists that ultimately paralleled his career path of popularity.”

Clear Channel Los Angeles head of Programming, John Ivey commented, “We asked Hot 92.3 listeners who their favorite radio personalities were and the two most mentioned were Art Laboe and Rick Dees!” Ivey continued, “So, with Rick starting the day with his infectious humor and old school hits and Art ending the day with requests and dedications, we are going to have some very happy listeners.”

Dees commented, “I am proud to be welcomed back into the number one radio market in the world, playing some of the best music ever recorded and especially getting the opportunity to reunite with a long list of Clear Channel friends.”

Rick will begin his mornings at Hot 92.3 on Wednesday, May 4th with a naming rights partner, Valley View Casino & Hotel, already in place. To celebrate his return, Dees will be throwing out the first pitch for the Dodgers/Cubs game at Dodger Stadium at 12:10pm after his debut show.

I guess all is forgiven between Dees and Clear Channel. Dees was shown the door at KIIS-FM -- and replaced with Ryan Seacrest -- seven years ago after he and the radio behemoth (which owns KIIS) couldn't come to terms on a new deal. His more than two decades at KIIS came to a sudden close.

Later, Dees joined Emmis' new "Movin' 93.9" in 2006 after the station dumped its country format. But three years later, Movin' 93.9 signed off and flipped to country. Since then, Dees has focused on his Internet and syndication businesses.

PREVIOUSLY ON FRANKLIN AVENUE:

Another One Bites the Dust: Movin 93.9 Signs Off (April 2009)

Rick Dees Loses Radio Home: "Movin 93.9" To Go Spanish (April 2009)

Rick Dees to Open Street-Level Radio Studio (February 2007)

BREAKING NEWS: KZLA Dumps Country and Goes Dance/Rick Dees (August 2006)

Dees Sleaze (February 2006)

Dees-Nied (February 2004)

And here's my Variety piece from 2006 on Dees, who was candid in how upset he was over what happened at KIIS in 2004. A clip:

"It was a nightmare," Dees says. "It's one thing to retire. It's another thing to have to stay off radio involuntarily."

Dees' contract at KIIS-FM was up, and although both sides were negotiating a new deal, the San Antonio-based owners at Clear Channel had other ideas. The company had been grooming "American Idol" host Ryan Seacrest to eventually fill Dees' KIIS-FM chair. And although it came sooner than expected, KIIS and Clear Channel ultimately opted to part ways with the man who helped put that station on the map.

For Dees, it was a surreal moment. Seacrest, who patterned his radio career after Dees', was not just taking over his gig; everything else about the show -- even Dees' sidekick Ellen K -- was remaining.

"I heard my show being taken over, but still with all the players who I had hired," Dees says. "To take me out, stab me in the back and stick someone else on there because he's on a TV show ... it felt horrible. But I got over it.

"I slashed their tires," he quips. "But I got over it."

Ten Things Los Angeles Lost in 2009

It was another rough year for farewells in Los Angeles, where frequently there's truth to that old cliche that nothing here is ever permanent.

A few things we lost in 2009:


(Pic by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.)
1. Much of the Angeles National Forest, sadly, to the massive Station Fire. The fire burned 160577 acres (251 square miles) and killed two firefighters. Ash from the mountains continues to rain down on Angelenos, and it will be decades before the forest starts to recover.


2. Indie 103.1 (KDLD/KDLE) and 97.1 FM Talk (KLSX) both disappeared in 2009, the victim of a weak radio economy and the rise of personal people meters -- Arbitron's new way of measuring radio listenership. Indie was never a big ratings grabber, while KLSX's replacement, KAMP "Amp Radio," has turned into a strong performer for owner CBS Radio.


(Pic by Gary Leonard.)
3. Richard Ankrom's guerilla 110 Freeway sign art installation disappeared after Caltrans replaced its signs on the 110 North. Ankrom attempted to find the signs he made and secretly installed -- but discovered that they'd already been crushed for scrap metal.


4. KNBC's Paul Moyer (above, when he decided to give his on-air farewell from the golf course, rather than show up to say goodbye in the Channel 4 studios) retired due to budget cuts, while former KTTV anchor John Beard, fed up with L.A. news operations, headed to his old stomping grounds in Buffalo, N.Y. Also, Rick Dees gave up his attempt at an L.A. radio comeback, as "Movin' 93.9" flipped to a Spanish format.


5. Former Police Chief William Bratton made major strides in decreasing crime and turning the Los Angeles Police Department around. And although the chief would be the first to tell you that (modesty isn't his strong suit), much of that conventional wisdom is true -- crime is down in the city of Los Angeles, while the LAPD's image has been greatly improved. Bratton stepped down in late fall, replaced by Charlie Beck.


6. A preservation group managed to "Save the Derby" -- at least, the Los Feliz building (the last surviving one-time Brown Derby restaurant) where the Derby nightclub was housed. But The Derby itself -- the club known best for its cameo in the movie "Swingers" and as ground zero for the 1990s swing dance revival --shut down in early 2009. Other clubs closing in 2009 included the Knitting Factory and the Key Club.


7. Chili My Soul, the Encino eatery known for its adventurous chili selections (my fave was the Habanero/Mango Chicken), shut down in late summer after the death of owner Randy Hoffman. Other eateries closing in 2009 included Fritelli's Doughnuts and Twin Palms; also shut down were popular book store Cook's Library, as well as Little Tokyo grocer Mitsuwa Marketplace.


8. The first big event I ever took Evan to, the Echo Park Lotus Festival, didn't take place this year -- a victim of budget cuts, and even sadder, the death of the once-vibrant lotus blooms in Echo Park. Also nowhere to be found this year: Another favorite event, Little Tokyo's Tofu Festival.


9. A year after the Lou Ehlers Cadillac showroom was torn down, a similar fate was in the cards just down Wilshire for the mid-century Columbia Savings Bank building. Demolition has already begun on the 1965 Miracle Mile building, which the L.A. Conservancy notes is "an important example of postwar bank design as well as the innovative integration of art and architecture." The building had most recently served as a Korean church.


10. Army Archerd passed away in September at the age of 87. Army spent more than 50 years at Variety (where I saw him on a nearly daily basis for 10 years), spanning several generations of Hollywood. A lot of us cover Hollywood -- but none of us will ever have the career that Army had at Variety. The stars changed, the pictures changed, the whole industry evolved -- yet there, until nearly the end, was Army, chronicling it all daily in his "Just for Variety" column.

Share your thoughts on L.A.'s great 2009 losses below.

Rick Dees Loses Radio Home: "Movin 93.9" To Go Spanish

Rick Dees is once again out of a job.

KMVN-FM -- known as the rhythmic AC "Movin' 93.9" -- is expected to flip to a Spanish format later this month. Dees hosts the morning show there.

Format flip means the one-time Los Angeles morning drive champ, who left KIIS-FM in 2004 but returned to the airwaves with great fanfare in 2006, will lose his radio gig later this month.

Move to Spanish comes as Mexico's Grupo Radio Centro has struck a deal with KMVN owner Emmis to operate the radio station under a lease management agreement. (Because it's a Mexican company, it can't own a U.S. station outright.)

Here's the press release:

Emmis Enters Into Long-Term LMA with Grupo Radio Centro for Los Angeles' KMVN

Indianapolis -- Emmis Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: EMMS) today announced it has entered into a long-term Local Marketing Agreement (LMA) for KMVN-FM (93.9) with one of Mexico's leading broadcasting companies, Grupo Radio Centro, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: RC).

The LMA for the Los Angeles radio station will start on April 15, 2009 and continue for up to seven years, for $7 million a year. At any time during the LMA, Grupo Radio Centro (GRC) has the right to purchase the station for $110 million. At the end of the term, Emmis has the right to require GRC to purchase the station for the same amount.

"I couldn't be prouder of our KMVN team," Emmis Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan said. "It is always difficult to part with a station and our people, but in these challenging times, it is the right decision for Emmis."

Under the LMA, Emmis will continue to own and operate the radio station, with GRC providing Emmis with programming to be broadcast. Under the arrangement announced today, GRC will find a purchaser who meets all applicable FCC ownership requirements if it is not qualified to own the station at the time of purchase.

Emmis purchased the station in 2000 and flipped format from country to rhythmic pop contemporary in August 2006.

Indeed, Emmis caused quite a stir in 2006 when it dumped the country format on the station (then known as KZLA) to target young women with a new rhythmic format.

The switch, however, was a big bust. Listeners rejected the station -- which eventually dropped current songs and focused on more of an adult contemporary approach. Dees, meanwhile, never posed any competitive threat in the morning slot.

Movin' had recently seen its numbers tick up, but it wasn't enough. Emmis had attempted to sell the station to Bonneville, but had asked for too much money; Bonneville came in and bought 100.3 instead (where its "The Sound" format is now struggling).

The KMVN switch reps yet another major format change in what has become a tumultuous time in L.A. radio -- following the KDLD switch from "Indie 103.1" to Spanish and KLSX's switch from FM Talk to top 40.

Retro Friday: Wally George vs. Rick Dees

Goofy "fight" between the late Wally George and a younger Rick Dees, on George's old late night KDOC talk show. From the look of the audience, this must have been taped in the late 1980s.