KRLA and the Beat history
KRLA personalities
KRLA specialties
What's that sound?
In the meantime, what were Los Angeles radio listeners hearing? Two Top Forty radio stations, each with their own style and a variety of on-the-air personalities. Remarkably, KRLA's lineup of disc jockeys seemed to be hitting a stride with Los Angeles listeners and by 1961 ratings for KRLA were increasing.
According to Don Beem, KRLA's ARB (Audience Research Bureau) ratings caught up with and surpassed KFWB in Fall 1960. By 1961 KRLA had invested in a good lineup of on-air talent, including (not listed in this handout) one of the first female disc jockeys in American radio, Sie Holliday, who had her own show in the early sixties and did frequent promotional voice-overs for the station.
The best place to read about KRLA's early talent lineup is in Bill Earl's definitive history of the station Dream House which can be read online here. There were inevitable fluctuations in personnel and personalities. Perry Allen found that he had a distaste for Top Forty music and departed for more mainstream opportunities, but before doing so he was likely the source for one of the best hiring decisions in KRLA's brief history. Allen had worked with John R. Barrett at WKBW in Buffalo. In October 1961 Barrett joined the KRLA staff as general manager.
Thanks to David M. Colvey for this flyer.