Comment on Historic 92.3 The Beat in LA: A Great Station with a Dark History by Diana Steele

Unfortunate that you feel that way. I remember when the station went urban and I was the only white person on the air with Cliff Winston (RIP) our amazing morning guy John monds afternoon Frankie Ross Lisa canning at night! Mike Stratford was our PD And had a heart of gold – still does! Harold Austin was our music director another amazing talent.
Kevin slow jammin James and Dominique DiPrima were brought on. I was blessed to be there from 89 to 98 and saw my way through many genre changes from Rock with a Beat (We called it the rainbow coalition because we had a racial mix of on air talent – Black white Latino) The ratings did not support the format which is sadly often the case – ratings equal revenue dollars and if the money ain’t coming in they change the format! We then became FM 92 and we’re an awesome urban station. But again the ratings did not support the format and we moved in the direction of hip-hop and from the best program director in the country Keith Naftaly. I was blessed to work with him twice first when he hired me into the hip-hop world in the late 80s and KMEL in San Francisco another incredible hip-hop station on the west coast. Keith’s knowledge of the music and his acceptance of all races was never in question. The powerhouse that became 92.3 the Beat – the number one station in Southern California – was for a reason a group of extremely talented people focused on the same goals working with the community and creating great summer jam concerts! The beauty of radio is that so many people would listen enjoy the music and enjoy the talent and not even know what they look like. Unfortunately for some, when they found out that that person didn’t “look” how they assumed or wanted them to look they were disappointed. Most of the time I did not experience that to be the case people were able to look past the color lines which is really what we were all about in the 90s accepting people based on their talent and not the color of their skin. Learning to except “the other side” whatever that may be as part of our process involving as humans the other lesson learned is you can’t demand respect rather command it by your actions/behavior. Speaking of behavior, I remember the LA EQ very well – I went to the studio and found the building open and empty – music log on the floor and you had rolled out!