A Star for Shotgun

Bottom line: does Shotgun Tom Kelly deserve a star on the Hollywood walk of fame? Of course he does. He earned it. He lobbied for three years. And he paid for it. Or at least he says he is going to. This has become a cesspool of ego. Turning a very sweet, lovable, decent man into someone who is driven for fame. March on Shotgun! You got what you wanted!
— July 10, 2012 9:34 p.m.

A Star for Shotgun

Will someone who knows Ken Levine get him to comment on this please.
— July 10, 2012 12:27 p.m.

A Star for Shotgun

Hey Birdman! Did you forget you wrote this Don Steele had gone to KEARTH management and told them the only guy who he could imagine sitting in his chair besides him would be Shotgun Tom Kelly. The programmer was Mike Phillips and he contacted Tom specifically with respect to Don's wishes. That is not true. Beaver Cleaver/Ken Levine who worked at B-100 with Shotgun is the one who took the Shotgun idea to Phillips. We're not going round and round about anything. This is the fact and what you said was made up. You were busted in a lie. There's not any "going round and round" about anything. Hey look, Shotgun successfully lobbied after three years to get a star, he promises he'll come up with the money to pay for it, and he's a got a great radio job when so many talented people are out of work or out of the business. That's all. Let's not make stuff up. He is a nice man. I'm just not sure where Tom Kelly ends and Tom Erwin begins. At any rate, let's leave Don Steele out of it please. Sure would like to hear from some of Shotgun's longtime friends on this blog about how Phillips channeled the ghost of Steele in 1997.
— July 10, 2012 11:40 a.m.

A Star for Shotgun

Well what do you know? A little research turned up the truth about how Mike Phillips came about hiring Shotgun. It seems when he died in 2006, the KRTH production director who was hired by Phillips held a memorial for Phillips. One of those people who attended was Ken Levine, a former DJ (who went by the name Beaver Cleaver) and a huge fan of legendary jocks like Morgan and Steele. Levine now is one of the announcers for the Seattle Mariners and he used to do the same for the Padres in 1995-96. Levine also has written scripts for MASH, Cheers, Frasier, The Simposns and many other TV shows. Anyway, there was a website put up after the Phillips memorial where everyone who attended gave their two-cents http://www.cfmm.com/sites/MikeP/Content.asp?ID=455 Here is what ran next to a photo of Levine: Ken Levine represented all the listening fans of K-EARTH. “I was like a radio geek in L.A. growing up hearing the people on KHJ and hearing Mike Phillips on KFRC-San Francisco. Mike would refer to me as a peer. He would solicit my advice. He even took my advice when I said stupid things like, ‘hire Shotgun Tom Kelly.’ He was always willing to listen to ideas from other people. I wished I had worked with him.” You can view that Mike Phillips website and Ken Levine also has own site called kenlevine.blogspot.com. I say we all ask him to comment on how he lobbied Phillips to hire shotgun and ask him about this crap about how how the Real Don Steele got Phillips to hire Shotgun from the grave. Look, Shotgun makes lots of money, he just got a contract extension last year I think, and I'll bet he'll be around KRTH as long as he wants. And even though this Hollywood Star thing gags me a little, I think it is a downright crime of against nature for Shotgun to compare himself to Steele. And to say that Steele gave him a good reference from the grave is downright creepy. Talk about slugs!
— July 9, 2012 11:55 a.m.

A Star for Shotgun

Oh so Mr. Phillips is dead. Hmmmm. Isn't that convenient. All I know is that that this story that Don Steele selected his successor from the grave or on his deathbed or whatever has never been talked about among his close friends or radio industry people. This story appeared for the first time in this blog. Mr. Phillips may be dead but all his long time associates are still around. Ask them. I would like one of these radio people who have known shotgun for 20-30-plus years, to step up here and using your real name, please tell us if you have ever heard this Steele-picked-shotgun-from-the-grave story. There is, of course, nothing wrong with paying $30,000 for your own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And there may be nothing wrong with lobbying for it for three years. But good grief. Really? Misanthropic slug...hmmm. Don't think I ever heard those two words used together before. Do you know what misanthropic means? Whether or not Mr. Kelly/Erwin is a nice person (and he is) I find it galling that he would compare himself to the Real Don Steele. Give me a god damn break! King of L.A. airwaves? Please. Like I said, Steel is to Shotgun as "Light My Fire" is to "Hey Baby (Drop it to the Flo)"
— July 9, 2012 10:54 a.m.

A Star for Shotgun

OK so it was Phillips and not Hamilton. Let's track him down and ask him.
— July 8, 2012 6:03 p.m.

A Star for Shotgun

And by the way, Johnny Downs was way cool. When he danced on top of the milk bottle in those Golden Arrow Dairy commercials, it was as close as a kid could get to eating LSD. That, the Addams Family and Man From UNCLE blew my eight year old mind. Howdy howdy howdy.
— July 7, 2012 7:39 p.m.

A Star for Shotgun

Don Steele personally selected Tom Kelly? That is completely made up. No one has ever said that line before. Luckily the KRTH PD who hired him, I think his name is Hamilton, can debunk that Steele endorsement crap. Steele had been dead for a while when Kelly was completely surprised when that call came from KRTH. And call it what you will, if you badger friends and associates for years to get them to lobby for you to get a star, maybe it's not begging. Maybe it is. But he didn't just apply. He lobbied hard for years. Interesting line... "If there is no check for $30,000, there is no star."If that is true and if Kelly can't raise the cash, then I guess this story and all others that say he is getting a star are worthless. Don't think CBS Radio/KRTH will be forking out that kind of vanity cash.
— July 7, 2012 7:14 p.m.

A Star for Shotgun

The writer did mention that Kelly had to pay for his star. But what he failed mention is that Kelly (nee Erwin) spent the last three years shamelessly begging his friends and others in the industry to ask the Hollywood chamber people to give him a star. And if you saw the Channel 8 story on this you saw Shotgun Tom comparing himself to legendary L.A. DJ, the late Real Don Steele. Let me try to explain that one. Don Steele is to Shotgun Tom, as 60s Top 40 hits are to modern hip hop crap. If there was a San Diego radio Hall of Fame, Tom would pale in comparison to such greats as Bobby Ocean, Rich Brother Robbin, Lee Baby Simms, Happy Hare and even Gabriel Wisdom. Maybe the meek will one day inherit the earth. But for now, it's blowhard hacks like Shotgun who aren't afraid to pay for their fame. Caricatures are fine, but I like them when they are fictional. Like Archie Bunker or Ted Baxter. But when they take themselves seriously, like George Putnam, Morton Downey Jr., or our own oozing, unctuous cartoon Shotgun Tom Kelly....uh....not so much.
— July 6, 2012 1:27 p.m.

Embrace the Suck

Not so fast. Those are good points but IF (and that is a big if) the station can do a big mea culpa and say out loud and on the air that "we made a mistake with Mikey" etc., and they really do play cool new music, then there is hope. This station has a ten year history here and those listeners are still out there, waiting to be brought back into the fold. I mean you got Halloran playing Red Hot Chili Peppers over and over. He's a local brand but now hes a local brand playing very safe hits. There is nothing special about 91X right now. On the other hand, if this is all talk from 94.9 and no real change, they are just tooling us again. What I wonder is is there anyone left at 94.9 who even knows what good music is. Did you know that new KSON program director worked at CLEAR CHANNEL for 5 years? google him. This doesn't look too promising. But you have to let them see if they are genuine or frauds. Plus, what the hell is with the Mikey show leftover yawn fest 94.9 has in the mornings? That has to be fixed as well. They don't mater to core 94.9 fans and Mikey fans don't care either.
— June 27, 2012 4:06 p.m.