Meet Brad Edwards

      Brad in 1966                                   Brad in 2003

Brad Edwards joined the KFXM-Squad in late 1966 and spent a little over two years spinning hits for the Inland Empire.  Brad joined KFXM from KREO in Indio.  He was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Montebello.

Brad became a typical “radio gypsy” joining his fellow KF ex-M’er, Dick Lyons at KGBS in Los Angeles.  (KGBS went on to become KTNQ, or, Ten-Q).

He then worked at Los Angeles urban station KGFJ-AM, KUTE-FM (with Bill Stevens), KDAY-AM, KMPC, XPRS (1090, Soul Express).

He left Los Angeles for opportunities at KLIV & K/102 in El Paso, Magic 108, 93 Q Morning Zoo in Houston and back to Los Angeles to KFI-AM.  His next stop was Miami, for I-95/Hot 105 FM.

Brad is currently with Clear Channel doing personality driven morning news and entertainment for the Central California Coast.

His favorite songs include Good Vibrations, Mellow Yellow, Lady Godiva, Winchester Cathedral, I'm your Puppetand Devil with the Blue Dress.

Brad Talks About Brad

In his own words:  Al Anthony hired me from KREO in Indio and I went on the air at KFXM October of 1966 in afternoon drive. That was very cool because my birthday is October 11th. The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations was just hitting number 1. Mellow Yellow and Lady Godiva were all moving up the Tiger Survey, while Winchester Cathedral, I'm Your Puppet and Devil with The Blue Dress were headed south.  It's that era of music that is still my favorite today.

Gary Marshall was our morning man, then Al Anthony, followed by Bill Surrey (Bill Stevens). I had a great time at Tiger Radio, leaving at one point to work for K/men.  That was a big mistake.  I was never welcome so Al hired me back. 

By that time, Chris Roberts was on board, (Chris is the voice of the UCLA Bruins) and we were able to get Jhani Kaye hired on the all night show. (Jhani later became a great programmer for KOST the K/Earth in Los Angeles).

In January of 1969 Dick Lyons was able to get me on at KGBS in LA.  I remember I went from $800 a month to $24,000 a year.  I was in tall cotton.  After screwing around on the bench at KGBS, KGFJ, KUTE, KDAY, weekends at the famous KMPC and ops director at XPRS, Soul XPress with Wolfman Jack, I returned to KGBS. 

Jhani Kaye was on board at KUTE and KGBS as well, but took a management job as PD in El Paso, Texas.  Ironically, a short time later I would head for El Paso as well, totally unrelated to Jhani's gig.  First though, Michael Hunter and I would head for Tehran, Iran, to program the National Iranian Radio Network for the 100,000 English speaking people working there. Whew, that was another mistake!  We had to escape the country because they went back on so many promises.

When we returned Michael got a job with KOME in San Jose and I got on with a bunch of great folks at KLIV. 

Then it was off to El Paso, Texas to PD K/102. After that, I took a short stint in St. Louis to do mornings on "Magic 108," for the Amaturo Group, staying with the company and taking over mornings in Houston, Texas.  I had great success for a couple of years at number one, joining as John Lander's partner on the 93 Q Morning Zoo.  We hit number one in two books. After two years Lander and I separated, I worked for Jhani at KFI for a short while, then back to El Paso to shore up my morning show direction.

My claim to fame was when Keith Isley hired me to join up with Mindy Frumkes to become Mindy & Malo in Miami, Florida.  We held down the top spot in mornings for quite a few years.

With that success I bought a radio station in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1993 along with a communication site high up in the Sangre de Christo Mountains in the Santa Fe Ski Basin.  Fortunately, I was able to get my ducks in a row and take the radio station from worst to first, both in the radio and communication site side of the business.

During my radio time in Los Angeles, which is where I was born and raised, I squeezed in some classes at UCLA and got close to 3 years of college in.

My partner and I sold the operation in 1998 and I moved back home to California where I've been working for Clear Channel on the Central Coast.  My partner is Doug Nelson and we do a personality driven morning news and entertainment show.

My real name is Claude Hooten, and I've had a great time the past several years researching the Hooten family tree. Some discoveries: The famous Sam Houston is my 2nd cousin (I wish I had known that while I was on the air there, I would have worn it out).  Also, my cousin Timothy Matlack was not only a Continental Congressman and Colonel in the Contental Army, but he was the man who scribed the Declaration of Independence.

The only time I saw blood in Al Anthony's eyes, was the time he went down the hall for coffee and I threw his board into audition, cueing up a record to the end and jacking up the monitor.  Al came back in and spilled his coffee all over the place hustling to get back on the air and before I could warn him off, he had his head phones on and was talking.  Meanwhile, of course his song was still playing on the air.  A great trick on Al but he was pissed!

We had a great time on the air at KFXM.  It was constant fun.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the fat bald guys that show up for the reunion.  I'm still in touch and friends with Jhani, Bill Stevens, Bruce Chandler and Chris Roberts.  Top guys in our crazy biz.