KRLA and the Beat history
KRLA personalities
KRLA specialties
KPAS becomes KLXA
Many things changed at the end of World War II, among them KPAS, which morphed into KXLA in early 1946. At first KXLA retained its variety format but gradually came to emphasize the first country-western format in the United States. At that time KXLA had ten thousand kilowatts of western-swing power, but time slots were open to anyone who wanted to pay for an hour or two of alternative entertainment...and alternatives existed a-plenty. Click the image at right to read about several KXLA deejays from 1948.
In and around Cliffie Stone, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and "Squeakin'" Deacon Moore, KXLA provided a home for religious shows, cooking hours, farm reports, variety shows...whatever might pique listeners' interest.
Stan Freberg actually had a brief foray on the airwaves at KXLA. Also heard: Jim Hawthorne with his "The Pritchard Thing" show, Carl Bailey with "Juke Box Matinee," and Alex Cooper with his show "The Mad Monk."
Believe it or not, one of KXLA's earliest deejays was Art Laboe, pictured at left, "the original roving disc jockey," later to become known for his classic rock-and-roll format on KRLA. Here's a nice unscoped KXLA aircheck of Art Laboe in 1951. Thanks to retroradiojoe for the aircheck and the photo!
Laboe involved listeners in on-air interviews about their daily lives at places like Scrivner's Drive In on Wilshire Blvd. and Western Avenue. KXLA 1110 fans heard songs by artists like Kay Starr, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Frank Sinatra and Dagmar, Erskine Hawkins, and other mainstream singers.
To put it mildly, Jim Hawthorne (right) was ahead of his time. Always unpredictable, he might play a song backwards, at the wrong speed, or overdubbed with his own lyrical accompaniment.
Sometimes he read the station logs aloud. He lampooned advertisers. He had a cast of imaginary characters, most of which he voiced himself, and mixed bad puns with surreal sketches, including a plan to build an underground three-lane tunnel from Pomona to Pismo Beach...and maybe back the other way, if there was enough interest in it.
The Internet Archive has some Hawthorne excerpts for the curious, and this Soundcloud site purports to have an aircheck of Hawthorne from 1947 on KXLA, which seems to be legitimate. Hawthorne actually gives a station ID! Hold on to your hats, it's wacky.
If you're sufficiently interested there's an entire Facebook page dedicated to Jim Hawthorne. Check it out here and join if you dare.
In 1959 the station made its biggest transformation yet.