When Radio Was Fun: The Life of L.A. Radio Legend--DAVE HULL

By: Arthur J. Uvaas The 1960s was unabashedly hedonistic, sadistic, exhilarating and depressing all at the same time. The country convulsed through a dizzying array of events that changed the cultural landscape, forever. This nation witnessed assassinations,racial-and-civil unrest, The Vietnam War; "love-ins," "sit-ins," hippies; yippies and "Flower Children." Unlike their parents, who could knock back a few at five o'clock, (while playing Sinatra records on the old Hi-Fi, to ease their collective pain), teens turned to the radio to wile away the time. They were encouraged and cajoled by the invisible men of the air-waves. Some of these radio folk were more successful, than others. One of those who did succeed,(in a career that spanned over five-plus decades, on the Southland's air-waves was Dave Hull --The Hullabalooer). The beloved disc jockey brought happiness-and-joy to his adoring pubescent fans--when he was on AM-1110: KRLA Radio in Pasadena. His teen followers--with all of their youthful angst--needed a true radio friend, (and the Hullabalooer fit the bill, perfectly). Hull was fun, gregarious and just a little nutty. The Hullabalooer was more than just some guy spinning records, he loved those kids and they loved him. He could be as goofy as a bunch of teen-aged high schoolers cruising down Colorado Boulevard on a Friday night after a football game, with his cacophonous horns; silly sound-effects and humorous banter between records. While most of his radio brethren paid "lip-service" to these kids, Hull truly cherished his listening audience. Later in life, he would become good friends with a lot of them. The Hullabalooer is fondly remembered as one of the original 1110 Men,especially, during those heady days when KRLA Radio had an All-Star line-up of talent, including: Bob Eubanks of the Newlywed Game and Rose Parade fame, as well as Casey Kasem: host of the American Top-40 Countdown Show. Dave Hull grew up in Alhambra, California, where his enthusiasm for radio began at the tender age of seven. In 1941, (when network radio was as big as the television and cable networks are today), he, his mother(Edna), his older sister(Janann), and his younger brother(Gary) attended the live airing of the CBS Radio Network's: MEET CORLISS ARCHER program in Hollywood. The young David Hull was smitten. Not only did he enjoy the broadcast, he was fascinated by the showmanship and precise timing leading into the program. From that moment on, the Hullabalooer knew what he wanted to do, for the rest of his life. After graduating from Alhambra High in 1952, Mr. Hull began his fledgling career while serving in the Air Force. Staff Sergeant Hull's service commitment would end in the fall of 1956. His radio career began to blossom as a civilian--starting in 1957. He did the nomadic broadcaster's life thing for awhile, as he traveled to various jobs in the Mid-West (even Florida), before returning to the West Coast for good in 1963. With the help of his brother Gary, the Hullabalooer landed his first gig at the KRLA studios, (on the grounds of the Huntington Sheraton Hotel in Pasadena), working a Sunday evening air-shift from 6 o'clock--to--10 o'clock. For all of his adoring fans, that first air-shift was a harbinger of good things to come. Huge ratings would soon follow on the Crown City's radio rock-n-roller. Besides three separate stints at KRLA, the Hullabalooer also sat in the "on-air chair" at Los Angeles heritage station: KFI; as well as KGBS AM-and-FM on Western Avenue. He also worked for The Singing Cowboy and California Angels' baseball team owner--GENE AUTRY--on the inimitable KMPC Radio:AM-710, located at 5858 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. It was at KGBS, that Dave Hull became the: "Cupid-of-the-Airwaves." A lovelorn listener phoned the Hullabalooer one afternoon and told him that he wanted to go to the station's sponsored, "50s Dance" at the famous Hollywood Palladium. The guy's date had dumped him and he asked Dave to find him a replacement sweetie from his little black book. The Hullabalooer, being an up-standing family man, didn't really have a black book per se; but, he alertly knew that it would be good radio, if he could help this guy. The future matchmaker asked the usual questions: What do you look like? What kind of car do you drive? This was way before sophisticated matchmaking services, such as E-HARMONY; MATCH.COM, etc. Anyway, this was all about having fun with the callers on the air. The lovelorn gentleman-caller was in luck, as a young woman phoned Dave and said: "I don't care what he looks like; I just want to go to the show." The genesis of that call, allowed the Hullabalooer to create radio's funniest, voyeuristically loony attempt to bring the sexes together. No one has come close to duplicating what Dave did regularly on the air, throughout the swingin' seventies. This one-of-a-kind concept even brought his talent for match-making to TV. THE MATCHMAKER late-night show in the 1980s, introduced an insomnolent nation to his peculiar relationship building ways. After a very successful run on radio and television, the Alhambra native finally settled down,(along with his loving spouse, Jeanette), in the famous desert community of Palm Springs. It was there that he worked at family-owned, KWXY-FM, out of Cathedral City, playing easy-listening music for a more laid-back audience in the Coachella Valley. Ironically, there would be no more horns, no more tinkling bells, no more gong-banging sound effects at KWXY, just his relaxed baritone, announcing and back-announcing the songs that were just played. It would also be his longest stint on the air-- at any one radio station-- from 1996 to his retirement in February 2010. He has written a book about all of his exploits and it was published a year ago, in January 2013. It has garnered many rave reviews and has earned prestigious book awards. The book is appropriately titled: HULLABALOO! The Life and (Mis)Adventures of LA Radio Legend-DAVE HULL. His autobiography was co-written with Bill Hayes-and-Jennifer Thomas. It is published by: FINAL WORD PRESS of Redondo Beach, California. This autobiography is one of the best I've ever read and gives you an insider's look into those memorable radio days of the 1960s and 1970s. On that fateful Sunday evening air-shift at the KRLA studios in 1963, the Hullabalooer opened up his microphone, barely two seconds into his first record, and bellowed to what would become his ever-burgeoning legion of fans: "Well, how do you like the show so far?" We not only liked it; we loved it, (and in turn, we loved him, even more, for over half a century). The Hullabalooer's loyal, devoted and faithful fans are middle-aged, now. Yet, when they remember all the fun-and-good times, orchestrated by this man on their transistor radios, they begin to realize how fortunate they were to be a part of something very, very special, a man who touched our hearts, as well as our attentive ears...