KFXM and the Golden Years

The “Golden Years” would best be described as the period from when Howard Tullis bought KFXM back in 1956 to the time when the station became “Tiger Radio” in late 1962. This “Golden Years era was when KFXM enjoyed unrivaled success and was the number one radio station in the market, hands down.

KFXM has a long history in Southern California radio dating back to 1928. If you are interested in KFXM’s early radio history, check out the early days page on this website. The primary purpose of this page is to familiarize you with the legendary history of KFXM after the station was bought by Howard Tullis in 1956. Tullis, was the owner of an advertising agency based in Hollywood, California. Through the success of his advertising agency, Tullis was in a position financially to expand into radio station ownership. Having booked air time on stations for his clients, Marc C. Bloome Tire Company and the Kelley Car Company in Los Angeles, Tullis saw where the radio stations were making a great deal of money with little capitol investment. When he bought existing radio stations, he was buying the infrastructure of broadcasting equipment, the studios and the offices. Also, typically the radio station had a client list that would be considered an on-going revenue stream that could be exploited. The cost to generate additional revenue was minimal because you had a staff of sales people who worked on straight-commission and your on-air talent was also your production staff who produced the spots or commercials. The disc jockeys typically made very modest salaries or were being paid a low hourly wage. Eventually Howard Tullis partnered with John Hearne, who was a brilliant Stanford graduate lawyer who had worked as a communications lawyer in licensing matters for radio stations with the Federal Communications Commission  (F.C.C.). Tullis was a very shrewd businessman and he realized that by having Hearne he was getting a leg up on his competitors because he had a partner who knew how to navigate the complex F.C.C. laws and rules.

The acquisitions grew and Tullis and Hearn Broadcasating Company eventually owned KAFY in Bakersfield, California, KSDO in San Diego, California, KFXM and KDUO in San Bernardino, California.

Howard Tullis was based out of Hollywood, California and he frequented several famous restaurants that were frequented by various celebrities from film, the recording industry, radio and the burgeoning television industry. Tullis somehow met Roy Cordell, a famous singer with the big band of Jan Garber. Cordell had also recorded several of his own songs as a soloist and his recording were played on the radio throughout the country. Cordell was intimately aware of radio stations and their operations. As usual, Tullis was always looking for that “Ace in the Hole” type person who could give him the most bang for his buck. Roy Cordell, like John Hearne, was a person who had the contacts with recording companies, top recording artists, movie stars and others that would give Tullis and Hearne broadcasting and edge. Roy Cordell was, to say the least, a very talented individual who was extremely creative and resourceful. Those skills would be applied to propel KAFY, KFXM and KSDO to the top of the audience ratings in all three markets. Having the understanding of the complex formulas for success of a song or album, Roy Cordell applied that knowledge to the radio stations. The result was that with his skills, Cordell thrust the stations to the top and they stayed there. There are several examples of people hired to work at KFXM as on-air talent who had minimal talent or skills. Roy Cordell had the personality and the ability to groom and motivate these people and bring the best out of them. The result was that many of these people continued to climb the ladders of success in the radio business. Roy called the people he trained and groomed his “projects.”

Tommy Dee (Donaldson)

One of the best examples of transforming an individual was Tommy Donaldson. (Excerpt from an Internet posting) Thomas Donaldson was born in Vicker, Virginia in 1936. In early 1959 he found himself working as a disc jockey at KFXM in San Bernardino, California. Within days after he started his job there at age 22, an airplane crashed in a cornfield in northern Iowa taking the lives of recording artists Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. Richardson, a.k.a. the Big Bopper, along with pilot Roger Peterson. The date was February 3, 1959. That very same day Donaldson had the idea to make a tribute song to commemorate the tragedy. He wrote the song immediately, and took it to Crest Records in Los Angeles. On February 5, Eddie Cochran became the first person to record "Three Stars." Cochran had had a huge top ten hit the previous Fall with "Summertime Blues." Cochran had been close friends with Ritchie Valens and was distraught at the time he made the recording. It was not issued immediately and did not chart, although Cochran's version of the song was released later, in the early 70's.

Another recording was made with the words spoken by Donaldson, and the supporting vocals performed by Carol Kay and the Teen-Aires. It was released as Three Stars, by Tommy Dee. The record entered the charts on April 13, 1959 and became an immediate hit. It remained on the national charts for eight weeks, peaking on May 4 at number 11. It was to be Tommy Donaldson's only hit as a recording artist. He went on to a career as a record producer, promoter and record company executive in Nashville. Carol Kay continued making records and made an appearance as a singer in the 1964 movie The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (voters in one poll claimed that this movie had "the funniest title of all time"). Eddie Cochran would suffer his own tragic death in an automobile accident in Chippenham, Wiltshire, England on April 17, 1960.

Today Three Stars is still the definitive tribute to the 1959 tragedy, which Don McLean would later call The Day The Music Died.

As a footnote to this article on Tommy Donaldson, Roy met Tommy and he was, to say it politely, a country bumpkin. Tommy was motivated but lacked the polished skills of a veteran Disc Jockey or on-air personality. Roy liked Tommie’s attitude and decided to take him on as a new “project.” When Tommy wrote the song, “Three Stars” he presented the lyrics to Roy Cordell. Roy was impressed and told Tommy that he like the song and he was going to make it a hit. Roy contacted several of his friends in the recording business to find someone to sign Tommy D to a record contract. Apparently, it was Crest Records who signed Tommy “D”, The contracts that talented artists signed back in the day were, to say the least, somewhat illegal or very unfavorable to the artist. The record companies, and there were literally hundreds, wrote contracts that ensured if a song was successful at all, that they would get the lions share of all profits before the artist received anything. According to Lyle Kilgore, Tommy was sent on a promotional tour across the country to promote his song. Personal appearances, radio station interviews and the like. When Tommy returned to Los Angeles he approached the record company executives in search of some money (profits) from his record and song. The record company bosses politely informed Tommy that there was no money. They explained that as part of his contract, Tommy was responsible for any and all fees necessary to promote the record and song. The money had been spent on the promotional tour and Tommy wouldn’t be getting a check.

The cast of characters that performed daily out at the transmitter and broadcasting studio was very diverse. From the sublime and serious Adam J. Demarais who worked as a along with San Bernardino city councilman and later California State Assemblyman, John P. Quimby  as newsmen. The cast also included Lyle Kilgore in news along with J. Paul Huddleston, Chuck Daugherty, Gary Price, Tommy Donaldson, Bill Tanner, Ed “the Batman” Thomas, Dale “the Blob” Ware, Roger Christian, Jack Fleming, Cliff "Dimples" Cox, Ron Garner, Tom Goodwin, Bob Griffin and many others. Roy Cordell along with his stable of jocks made several personal appearances throughout the Inland Empire. Remote broadcasts were the usual way of promoting both KFXM and the sponsor. Many times Roy Cordell would arrange for personal appearances by top recording artists through their record labels. Pictured (below) is an appearance by Henry Mancini at Lyle’s Music City in San Bernardino. This was another reason KFXM was so popular. People were very excited to actually see and sometimes meet these celebrities. Listeners were constanly monitoring KFXM to find out when and where the next promotional event was taking place.

Pictured is Barbara Cordell (Roy's wife), Henery Mancini, Roy Cordell, Gary Price, Lyle's Music City Owner's Daughter, Ed "the Batman" Thomas and Helen Weigand (RCA Promotions Director).

Some of the humorous moments that took placeout at the old transmitter building were chronicled by Bob Griffin by email. Bob wrote, “Coupla thangs!...as some of us remember, broadcasting from the transmitter site in the field near the towers,  water was scarce owing to the vagaries of the natural well that supposedly was to supply us..drought conditions (not unlike those of the "30's dust bowl)  rendered the well non productive..as a consequence , most of our Sparkletts trade was consumed or employed on site  in a variety of ways Everything water dependent was Sparkletts assisted.. On a hot summer day (the wood fired A/C going full blast )the door opened..in came a stomach and a 12$ cigar followed a second later by the rest of Howard Tullis. He slurred a perfunctory and insincere greeting or two and announced   his need for the bathroom facilities ...ever quick on mental feet ,Jack Fleming, dehydrated and disillusioned , snapped waspishly......'SURE HOWARD...GRAB A WATER BOTTLE !  Maybe Bob here ,will help ya tote it to the toilet""(afterward I actually became quite adept at liquid transport ..fashioning a water bottle sling   (which I later employed to keep my wine stash at capacity)and joining the Teamsters/Hod carriers union until  such time the situation was rectified.”
Bob also wrote in yet another email, “Batman Ed Thomas had a visitor count that would rival the Getty Museum nitely on his 12mid-6a show ..we had partial nudes of both (or three )sexes ..most notably, animal lovers with an array of dogs,birds,   Ocelots(really)  and a strange sylph-like creature with Vampira make-up that dragged some flea-bitten Capuchin monkey around ...things came to a head when the monkey let fly with the previous evenings nutrition all over turn table #2..Phil Cross ,our ass't engineer  was also on the premises at the time ...needless to say  science and simian failed to bond after that..

Oh yeah...Chuck Daugherty, disrobed, flattened out stomach first on a movable table that was about the height of the newsroom window ..I dragged him past the window as he feigned swimming while Adam J. DeMarais (very straight guy) was doing the news... this was primarily to distract Adam from that which was to come...we set a whole bunch of newsprint on fire shoved  it under the door, then wedged the door  closed ....result??? well, suffice it to say, we got (euphemistically) mixed reviews  from Adam.

Here's a KFXM Tune Sheet from April 1959 during this era:

Click on the graphic to see a larger version.

Note: There will be more stories and pictures as they become available in the near future!