KFAC (defunct) - Early Years and Later Developments

Early Years and Later Developments

Like most radio stations in the 1940s, KFAC did not fill one niche, but rather broadcast a wide variety of programming, including baseball games from the Pacific Coast League and afternoon children's programs such as "Uncle Whoa-Bill" sponsored by the Bullocks Department Stores. Its evolution into the all classical-music format was a slow process over many years. Its first classical music show began in December 1943, when Thomas Cassidy began hosting a two-hour nightly program sponsored by the Southern California Gas Company. Eventually the station added a second show, "Musical Masterpieces". It was Cassidy's responsibility to build the musical library for these shows.

In 1945, the station's owner, E.L. Cord (the F.A.C. in the station's call letters stood for "Franklin Auburn Cord". Mr. Cord was the owner of the Franklin, Auburn, Cord & Duesenberg company (the transmitter was located on the roof of their dealership in downtown Los Angeles). Mr. Cord was touring the station when he saw for the first time the huge collection of discs (a full symphony might take up twelve 78 rpm discs) KFAC owned. Cord decided to make better use of this investment by switching to all-classical music. Management tested the waters on this idea by asking the audience if they wanted another nighttime program, "Lucky Lager Dance Time" (which played pop and swing tunes) to continue or if they would prefer more classical. Classical won by a slim margin.

Tom Dixon hosted the afternoon shift. His frequent errors (from mispronouncing the names of conductors and performers to playing movements of concertos and symphonies in the wrong order), prompted listener Sarah Lee Halpern to write to Dixon suggesting he name his show "Music and Mistakes With Tom Dixon." For a long time afterwards, every time Dixon made an error, he would say, "I'm sorry, Sarah Lee…" Dixon's less-formal atmosphere and willingness to admit his errors on the air endeared him to audiences. (Another listener once asked Dixon, "Who writes your mistakes?") For years Dixon signed off with the phrase "TTFN" (ta ta for now). Dick Crawford on the weekends was famous for playing opera records out of order and once played Bach's Brandenburg Concerto at the wrong speed.

From 1952 – 1973 KFAC broadcast performances from the Hollywood Bowl. The station pioneered an early form of stereo broadcast by having two microphones on different sides of the Bowl. Listeners at home who had two radios were instructed to place them seven to twelve feet apart and tune one to the 92.3 FM band and the other to KFAC's AM frequency, 1330. This method of producing stereo came to an end with the advent of FM multiplexing.

Bowl broadcasts featured an intermission program and interview hosted by Thomas Cassidy. On non-broadcast nights, Cassidy appeared onstage at intermission to welcome the audience to the venue. Ultimately he was christened "The Voice of the Hollywood Bowl." However, Ernest Fleishmann, who had been hired as executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, upon assuming management of the Hollywood Bowl, terminated Cassidy's appearances.

From 1953 to 1986 Carl Princi hosted "The World of Opera." Heard weekdays at 3 p.m., this hour-long program played selections from a wide variety of operas, both famous and obscure. Another well-known program was "Continental Varieties" which played every weekday afternoon at 3 PM with distinctive theme music by the English light music composer Eric Coates.

The Los Angeles Music Center, a three-theatre complex, opened in 1964. "Luncheon at the Music Center" was created in the early 1960s by Thomas Cassidy, who also hosted the program for its first eleven years. The program was considered by many the pre-eminent talk show on which to plug theatrical and musical events in the Southern California area. Broadcast weekdays live from the then Pavilion Restaurant of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center (with recorded shows only on holidays), the show interviewed not only musicians but also actors and directors who were either involved in local productions or just visiting the area. The guests actually did eat lunch during the show – during musical interludes – though the host did not. Nonetheless, the presence of other diners at the restaurant gave the show one of its hallmark elements: the sounds of plates and cutlery clacking in the background. Originally the program was broadcast using one microphone in the middle of the table. Eventually that was increased to three, which decreased the need for everyone talking to lean so far forward. Martin Workman succeeded Thomas Cassidy and hosted the show for 14 years.

During the latter years of the station, KFAC made various attempts to appeal to a younger audience. Most of these attempts were brought about by some of the youngest staff members Dennis Parnell and Doug Ordunio. (One interesting project was the "classical music nightclub" that they operated in conjunction with the El Cid restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in the late 50s/early 60s. Various chamber music groups would perform there, and I'm not sure whether these performances were broadcast or not. But it was great while it lasted!)

One of the most unusual programs of all was the institution of “Global Village” which was heard from 1974 until 1986. It was conceived by then FM Programmer Dennis Parnell, who was also a professional singer and voice teacher in the Los Angeles area. The basic idea of the show was to extend the concept of style so that ALL types of music would be considered appropriate. One of the most unusual juxtapositions attempted by Parnell during these early stages was to combine an obscure wordless choral composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff with Janis Joplin’s recording of the song Mercedes Benz. This was considered rather shocking to some of the station’s dyed-in-the-wool listeners, however, it did serve to attract a number of younger listeners as well as older listeners with open minds who were interested in hearing new ideas. The station had often been criticized as a dinosaur and the announcing style was viewed as stodgy. Its opening tagline, spoken each week by host Carl Princi was “Welcome to Global Village, a meeting place for the I and the ear.”

After several months on the air, Parnell decided that he should receive additional monies in order to continue the production of the show, since the show was rather time-consuming to prepare. He proceeded to tell program director Carl Princi that he would stop production of the show if his demands were not met. Princi then had a meeting with then library employee Doug Ordunio. Princi asked Ordunio if it would be possible for him to continue production of “Global Village” if Parnell made good on his threat to end the program. He agreed to continue since he also possessed a vast musical knowledge, regardless of style. This move effectively ended the friendship between Parnell and Ordunio. Parnell left the station around April 1974. Ordunio was installed as the new FM Programmer, a job he continued until Dec. 31, 1986.

Under Ordunio’s direction, “Global Village” ascended to greater heights and created more unusual sounds and experiments of music, such as the night a slow movement from a Mahler symphony and a Bruckner symphony were heard simultaneously.

Ordunio was responsible for creating other provocative classical music programs, such as “At Home With” which featured interviews recorded at the homes of classical musical celebrities who lived in Southern California. He also produced five 4-hour specials collectively known as “The Circular Path”, which expounded the idea that all music was bounded by a series of concepts and forms which would eventually repeat themselves. The program began with the sound of the aortic pulse recorded within a mother’s uterus (the first sound ostensibly heard by a fetus), and then took listeners through the history of music with compositions as well as interviews with prominent musical figures. The final show was four hours of conjectures about the future of classical music. The most unusual idea set forth was stated by composer Henry Brant who said that we would someday find ourselves in a world of “music pollution.” The entire program ended with a live recording of singer Peter Allen performing “Everything Old Is New Again,” which was basically the philosophy behind the entire 20-hour program.

The last show created by Ordunio before the station’s decline was “Making Waves,” a program of new age music, airing during a period before the creation of such stations as “The Wave.” At the time the program was instituted on Friday nights at 11:00 pm, the only broadcast vehicle for this music was a show known as “Midnight Café” on KNX-FM.

This program and “Global Village” were abandoned by Robert Goldfarb (program director under Louise Heifetz) because they were deemed inappropriate for the station’s image.