I’ve sometimes wondered if Hal Riney’s voice-over practice … of putting. periods. in the middle. of sentences. or even. just. of phrases… owed to his being a chain-smoker of Marlboros. The Ketchup Advisory Board pieces are among the best on PHC. Who is that guy, anyway?

I’m also still wondering why I didn’t catch, for more than three decades, that Jack Armstrong was actually John Larsh. Right now I’m guessing it was because my listening was mostly on FM, starting in the late ’60s, while John/Jack stayed mostly on AM. That, and not remembering that he’d changed his name. I mean, I knew that was John Larsh on WKYC. I just don’t remember, all these years later, that he used a different name. So I just guessed that, like so many other jocks, he had gone on to other work. Good to know he stayed with it. The guy was a pure Top 40 talent. So many are gone now. Among the best remaining is Norm N. Nite, who plays deep cuts from the ’50s and ’60s archives, live from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, on Sirius’ Solid Gold channel.

Hal Riney was a legend who still gets a sendup each time Prairie Home
Companion does the Ketchup Advisory Board. And I remember Jack Armstrong and the Gorilla from LA radio in the 70’s.