92.3 The Beat LA Flashback (pics) Early 90s

KKBT 92.3 the Beat was all the rage in the late 80s and early 90s. Nationally, it was THE station and a place where black announcers wanted to work so bad, they would have screwed their own grandmothers if it was a condition to gaining employment. Outside of pure talent and extreme good looks, I have no idea how I got in (laugh). Perhaps it was timing. Mike Stradford REFUSED to hire me but as soon as he was out, John Monds hired me when I sent in my first tape (remember those).  He hired Lisa Canning and I around the same time. It was Heaven and hell but the money was EXCELLENT and after working for so many mom and pop urban stations (…remember those? They are about to make a comeback) and having my self esteem stolen (you should be glad to have a job, remember that) I was elated to FINALLY be at a station where I was treated with respect and like an announcer instead of a damn slave (we do a job on EACH OTHER… don’t we?). Then came the racism. KKBT was the most racist company I have EVER worked for to date and that was almost 20 years ago. (I’ve also been working for myself for 15 years -laugh) I was in awe at how they decided to fire all the black announcers and bring in white, Asian and Latin talent who could emulate black culture. No disrespect for the announcers, most, if  not all were good and I have no issue with them but DAMN!  They fired all the black men after they hired Keith Naftly as the PD, included in those firings were me and Tavis Smiley.  The late Michael Mixin More remained but he was eventually fired too… and he went ballistic (laugh). Jesus and the Disciples… Mike hired a helicopter and flew it over The Beat’s Summer Jam (laugh)… he disbursed thousands of leaflets saying that the station was racist and had homosexual management (laugh)… It was CLASSIC. He told me he was going to do it and I told him I didn’t believe him. Dominique Duprima who now does the Front Page at kjlh immediately took the stage to defend the station as not being racist (that was a pure lie the station WAS racist…I never got her)… I was surprised to find that my old station 92.3 KKBT has a facebook page. An alumnus told me about it today on Facebook. I immediately took a walk down memory lane from 20 years ago. KKBT was a GREAT station to work for.. the money was great and most of the people were cool and I still talk to John Monds, The Poetess, PJ Butta, P Funk, Corndog and a few others from the station. Hard to believe this was 20 years ago. To be honest, If I had to chose between working for KKBT back then and the black stations in LA (excusing my people at KJLH) I would have chosen the racism and the great pay over the crazy ass black people I worked for any day (laugh)…  Here are some pics. By the way, I never liked the GM Craig Wilbraham and John London was very distant.   No pics of the late Captain G or the late Mike Moore. Also no pics of Lisa Canning or shit… ME… Do they know who I am? (here is the Facebook page)