Trivia Time! You may remember Ralph Story as the guy who did those cool television shows highlighting the history of Los Angeles, including "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" and "Things That Aren't Here Any More," the latter seeming to show up every pledge drive on KCET Channel 28.
He got his start in radio, working in various roles for CBS, and he brought his radio expertise and experience to television.
Here's some Ralph Story trivia, provided by David Schwartz, co-author of "The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows" series of books.
Ralph Story, whose birthday is August 19, was the morning man on KNX radio (1070 AM) in the 1950s. When he left to take over as host of the television game show "The $64,000 Challenge," he was replaced on KNX morning drive.
Who took over for him? Bob Crane, who would later become a TV star on the comedy "Hogan's Heroes."
It was 60 years ago when his legendary TV series, "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" made its debut on KNXT Channel 2 (now KCBS-TV). The show ran for 6 years, and many of the episodes are available to see at the UCLA Television Archive.
On a personal note, Ralph was genuinely one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He passed away at the age of 86 on September 26, 2006.
Lyrical Apology
Misheard lyrics can sometimes be funny, odd, or even embarrassing. One of the all-time doozies is some people thought the lyrics to Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" were "Excuse me, while I kiss this guy" instead of "the sky." Or the childhood song of "Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey," which is actually "mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy"
When I was an intern at Magic 106 (now Power 106), I fielded an angry call from a listener who misheard the lyrics to an REO Speedwagon song, totally changing the meaning of the song and turning it into a much different experience in her head.
I bring this up in order to make a public apology to Twenty-One Pilots, an alternative duo often played by Alt 98.7 and KROQ (1067 FM). In the past, I made fun of them due primarily to my own misheard lyric on one song, which in my mind made the singer a whining complainer.
On the album "Blurryface" from 2015, the song "Stressed Out" includes the lyrics - as I thought they were - "wish we could turn back time, to the good old days, when my momma sang us to sleep when I was stressed out."
Turns out, the lyrics are actually "when our momma sang us to sleep but now we're stressed out."
As with most misheard lyrics, this changes the focus of the song, and in this case makes it one that so many people can identify with -- teen angst especially, but something even older adults often deal with ... and I truly feel bad about making fun of them.
Listening even more (I figured I'd try to make it up to them by buying the albums) I am now a huge fan. To make matters worse, I am told that they are actually really nice young men.
I have been meaning to do this for a long time; I promise not to make fun of them again.
Radio Reactions
"I love reading you column; it always brings back lots of great memories. In today's column of your favorite stations from the 70s, you left out KLOS and KMET. I guess that wasn't your kind of music but they were all I listened to during that time. Great music and personalities, Paraquat Kelly, Jim Ladd, Geno Michelini, Bob Coburn. Great times!" -- Thank you, Larry Turnage
I didn't totally leave out KMET -- I mentioned Dr. Demento -- but you are right; I was slow moving to FM, and I stayed with top-40 or its variations even longer than my AM listening. But that's where you come in, and both KLOS and KMET were great stations with great personalities ... and they will all get their due, as this will be an ongoing series!