Claude Hooten - "Brad Edwards" Biography
Employment Dates(KFXM/KDUO): |
October 1966 - January 1969 |
|---|---|
Time Slots while at Station: |
Afternoons. |
Stations prior to KFXM/KDUO: |
KREO, Indio, CA |
Stations right after KFXM/KDUO: |
KGBS/Los Angeles |
All other Stations after KFXM: |
KGFG, KUTE, KDAY, KMPC, XPress, KLIV, K/102/El Paso, Tx, "Magic 108", "93 Q Morning Zoo"/Houston and KFI/L.A., I-95/Hot 105 FM, Miami, FL. |
Current Employment: |
Clear Channel for the Central California Coast doing personality driven morning news and entertainment. |
Born: |
Los Angeles, California |
Birthday: |
October 11th |
Education: |
Graduated Montebello High School 1960, U.C.L.A. |
Military: |
U.S. Air Force - Air Force Diving Team |
Favorite song(s) of all time? |
"Good Vibrations", "Mellow Yellow", Lady Godiva",Winchester Cathedral", "I'm your Puppet" and "Devil with the Blue Dress On." |
Favorite artists of all time? |
Beach Boys |
A little Bit About Me and KFXM
Al Anthony hired me from KREO, Indio and I went on the air at KFXM October of 1966 in afternoon drive. Very cool because my birthday is October 11th. The Beach Boys "Good Vibrations" was just hitting number 1. "Mellow Yellow," "Lady Godiva" were all moving up the "Tiger Survey," while "Winchester Cathedral," "I'm Your Puppet," and "Devil with The Blue Dress On," 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-K/Earth). 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 - KFI/KOST now K/Earth PD).
In January of 1969 Dick Lyons was able to get me on at KGBS in L.A. 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, KGFG, KUTE, KDAY, weekends at the famous KMPC and ops director at 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! Another mistake. We had to escape the country because they renigged 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... A short stint in St. Louis to do mornings on "Magic 108," for Amaturo, staying with the company and taking over mornings in Houston, Texas. 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 (I hated that name) 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. (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 Neslon 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 tallking. Meanwhile, of course his song was still playing on the air. Man was he 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.
Brad Edwards
Click on the graphic (Below) to see a larger View
