Ken & Bob to Float Another Radio Stunt

When it comes to hustling a radio program, few can match the publicity stunts of KABC-AM (790)’s venerable morning team of Ken Minyard and Bob Arthur.

Who else in Los Angeles radio attempt live broadcasts from Ireland in the spring and from Mammoth in a blizzard? Who else would annually dedicate a starfish in the name of some obscure Southern Californian on the Redondo Beach Pier’s version of the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame?

And who else would attempt to stage the first live radio talk show aboard a float in today’s 99th Tournament of Roses parade?

The Ken & Bob Co. will be aboard the Greater Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce float, sandwiched between the 175-member Tulare Union High School Redskin Marching Band and an all-women equestrian group called the Galloping Gossips.

“We’ll be following about 100 horses’ rear ends,” Minyard said.

That won’t be the unusual aspect of this particular ride down Colorado Boulevard, however. The fact that the float is a two-story affair isn’t even unique. What is remarkable is that the pair will broadcast live, via a cellular telephone linkup, over KABC radio.

“Whenever you make a statement like this, you find out that it’s been done in Bavaria before or something. But actually, we think, this is the first time that a broadcast has ever been done from a float in the parade,” Minyard said.

“We’ll be waving and working,” said Arthur.

The system will involve five cellular phone linkups, allowing the pair to speak with program director Wally Sherwin in the KABC studios in Los Angeles and with several prearranged callers from all over the world, as well as KABC listeners who want to try calling in during the program. Fellow KABC talk-show host Michael Jackson, on a skiing vacation in Switzerland, is one of those scheduled to call in during the program.

“In October we went out on the road and did something we called the Freeway Safari where we broadcast from the freeway,” Minyard said. “It was kind of a trial run for this. During half the show we were in transit.”

“Actually, the Rose Parade should be easier,” Arthur said. “We’ll just be moving in a straight line from cell to cell.”

Unlike the mobile phone systems of a decade ago, cellular telephones operate by having the phone signal beamed from a telephone switching office to a location or “cell” in much the same way as a radio signal is broadcast. As an automobile or, in this case, a float moves from one location to another, the telephone switching office simply switches the signal from cell to cell.

“What this means is, if one wanted to, one wouldn’t be bound to a studio to do a radio show ever again,” Minyard said.

But stationary studios have their advantages, Arthur said.

“It could be a little on the chilly side when we start down the parade route at 7:30 in the morning,” he said. “It’s not a heated float, and we’ll be right out in front too.”

Nor will they be afforded the comfort of a hot coffee pot as they would back in the studio.

“It’s a long time before you get to stand in line for one of those portable chemical toilets,” Minyard said. “But seriously, they tell you to cut down on your intake of coffee and not to have much to eat the night before.”