OFF THE CHART If you thought icicles couldn’t grow on a telephone, start calling around to find out what local radio stars get paid for touting products. Most golden throats are pretty leery of the topic.
RADIO CELEB: David Gold. KLIF. Right-wing scourge of commies and abortionists; oenophile; and dog lover.
TOUTS: Cool Collars for joggers; Preston Trail Audio; Ginger House Restaurant; Viking Vacuums (great for dog hair); Justin boots.
RATES: A die-hard capitalist, he was unwilling to discuss money; referred us to management. They were unwilling, too.
NOTES: Willing to admit he’s well-fed, well-shod, cool-collared, and has a great selection of tunes.
RADIO CELEB: Kevin McCarthy, gabfest jester at KLIF; former anchor-sinker at Channel 4.
TOUTS: Hair-Price Books; anonymous voice-overs for Pepsi, Tracy-Locke, Employers Insurance of Texas; he is also one of the top-ranked earners for The Norton Agency.
Rates: For the named spots, gets KLIF’s standard $5 a plug; once got free use of a car for efforts on behalf of local car dealer. Also plugs Louie’s, a local bar, but only in exchange for supply of bad jokes and the courage to use them. Makes much more for nameless spots, but will not discuss.
NOTES: Friends say he must do the Half Price spots out of a belated love for books. He plans to read one any day now.
RADIO CELEB: Neil Sperry. KRLD friend of flora.
TOUTS: Keeps thumbs green in more ways than one by scattering kudos to Axon Plumbing, Dal-Worth Carpets, various sprinklatoriums, his own magazine, and almost anything with “ortho” in the name.
RATES: unknown.
NOTES: Last year, in one of Sperry’s advertising supplements to the Morning News, a private memo somehow crept into the body of a story titled “Solve Lawn Problems”: “Sydney: let’s use this in April 1 issue with Dexol… there arc only so many ways 1 can write these stories. This, at least, is in the ballpark.” Right beside it was a big ad for Dexol Weed and Feed.
RADIO CELEB: Alex Burton. KRLD. Gravel-truck-voiced reporter and opinionmeister.
TOUTS: Farmer’s Market; Viking Vacuums; Sears; Ruby’s at the Brewery; CEO Network; now-defunct Let’s Sell By Owner.
RATES: “I’ll charge you $250 just to read the spot on the air. It’s $300 for an actual endorsement. And I’ll charge you another $150 to write it. And that’s cheap.”
NOTES: Still haunted by Let’s Sell By Owner, a computerized real estate listing service that charged folks $299 for the listing and promptly folded, keeping the money. He feels pretty had about that one.
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