A Tribute to Les Perry
The SoCal Sound Sessions
A tribute that Chief Engineer Mike Worrall produced with memories from Jim Nelson and Sky Daniels. Featuring a classic air check.
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Remembering long time Saturday with The Beatles host Les Perry.
Rest in Peace Les Perry
From Don Barrett's "LA Radio People"
PERRY, Les: KCRW, 1967-69; KPPC, 1969; KDAY, 1970; KVFM, 1971-74; KIEV, 1972-81; XPRS, 1973; KDAY, 1973; KROQ, 1973-74; KRLA, 1975; KLVE, 1975; XPRS, 1978-81; KRLA, 1983-84; KEZY, 1987-88; KWIZ, 1992-94;KMAX, 1994-95; KLAC, 1999-2000; KCSN, 2001-22. Les hosted a weekend show at KCSN, the California State University, Northridge radio station [The SoCal Sound].
Born in Los Angeles, Les grew up on the beach in Santa Monica and would sneak off campus to surf between classes at Samohi until he graduated in 1967. After school he was filing records at KFWB for Roger Christian, B.M.R. and Joe Yocam. He was influenced by the music and djs in the early rock era, especially Elliot Field, and in the quiet of his home "pretended" to be a jock of the 1950s.
In a 1995 interview over lunch, Les enthused about radio and his decades in it: "To me, radio is a disease, it gets in the blood. You just can't get rid of it." At KPPC he played the Tom Donahue tapes that were being sent from San Francisco. During his almost decade at KIEV, he made the transitions from MOR to Country to Oldies. Simultaneously he recorded jock shows at Oldies-formatted XEMO and the "soul XPRS" in Rosarita Beach. During his off-air journeys he produced "Super Trax,” the Gary Owens syndicated show, for two years and specials for Wolfman Jack at Premiere Radio Networks. Les also served as a broadcast instructor at Los Angeles City College and Santa Monica City College. He has hosted "Surf Patrol Party" on a number of Southern California radio stations. He runs a series of surf band reunion shows featuring the Chantays, Surfaris and The Living Ones.
