Bill Virgin's Radio Beat October 23, 2008

Includes archive of Bill Virgin's columns fromJ une 2006 - March 2009

Bill Virgin's Radio Beat October 23, 2008

Postby radiofan » Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:33 pm

On Radio: Tribute set for radio's 'Madman Moskowitz'
By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER


Has it been far too long since you've heard Stan Freberg or Da Yoopers' "Second Week of Deer Camp" or "Milligan's Hill" by Dr. Badbreath?

In other words, are you ready for some Moskowitz?

Sadly, the man responsible for nearly 30 years of musical-comedy mayhem on a half-dozen local radio stations in his career -- Robert "Madman Moskowitz" Baron -- is no longer with us, having passed away in August 2006.

Now, one cast member of that show and a radio host who was inspired by it are teaming up to pay tribute to the man and his weird and wacky music at 7 a.m. this Saturday on KSER-FM/90.7.

The tribute is part of Ed Gasparini's two-hour weekly program "Academy of Comedy." Joining Gasparini this week is Nathan Judson, who as "Nathan Detroit" on the long-running Moskowitz show was sidekick, phone answerer and generally responsible for keeping the program "from running into anything large."

Gasparini, a Boeing technical writer, was inspired to get into radio as a listener and fan of Moskowitz's show. "I had always hoped one day I could do a show back-to-back with Moskowitz's," he says.

Judson says Gasparini "kept alive that comedy space on KSER for people who want to laugh."

The two programs complement one another nicely, since Gasparini tends to focus on spoken-word comedy, while the Moskowitz show emphasized music comedy and novelty songs.

Judson, who is now the curator of Baron's vast music library (and who also works at Boeing), says the invitation for a tribute show is a good way for him to ease back into radio, perhaps to do something more regular, reviving favorites from the old show (all three "artists" mentioned in the first paragraph are likely to be part of Saturday's show) as well as exploring themes the original didn't hit.

In other radio notes:


KUOW-FM/94.9 reclaimed the top spot among Seattle-Tacoma radio stations for the summer quarter, according to data from The Arbitron Co. Among listeners 12 and older, KUOW was followed by KMPS-FM/94.1, KOMO-AM/1000, KZOK-FM/102.5 and KRWM-FM/106.9.

A trend to watch in the fall quarter ratings is how well KIRO-FM/97.3 fares. The station formerly known as KBSG-FM dumped its music format for a simulcast of KIRO-AM/710 in August. Lately the stations' owner, Bonneville International, has been campaigning heavily to get listeners to move to the FM side. It's been widely speculated that will set the stage for the AM version to drop news-talk in favor of an all-sports format. During the summer quarter KBSG/KIRO-FM finished 19th, down from a tie for 11th in the spring book.


Jim Wilke's "Jazz Northwest" at 1 p.m. Sunday on KPLU-FM/88.5 features a recent performance by bassist Jon Hamar and his quartet.


The latest edition of KPLU-FM DJ and playwright Dick Stein's crime-fighter adventure series, "Jimmy Jazzoid Goes to Hell," will be performed at the Museum of History and Industry and broadcast live at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The Fabulous Fenderskirts will perform after the play as part of the broadcast.


"Voices of Diversity" at 6 p.m. Wednesday on KBCS-FM/91.3 looks at third-party political candidates.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com.

Bill Virgin's Radio Beat, Thursdays in the Seattle P-I
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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