Lan Roberts was a phenomenal trailblazer in Seattle’s AM radio heyday of the ’60s and ’70’s. He had the voices, humor and promotional antics that every PD was after. For many, his voice was synonymous with KJR, where he worked two gigs totaling about 10 years. But he also logged two stints at KOL (the station which actually brought him to Seattle in 1961). His on-again, off-again relationship with Pat O’Day also found him on the air at Hawaii’s KORL before his later on-air years in Taiwan and California. He returned and retired to his home state of Texas, where died at age 69 in 2005 of complications from lung cancer. But his broadcast legacy is profound, as measured by the volume of info and recycled aircheck fragments found all over the internet.
With this and other audio presented here, it’s the hope and intention of this writer/editor to provide context rather than the single, ultimate, all-encompassing sound bite — whatever that is. So, the attached clips are a composite of the body of work Roberts contributed to the airwaves.
The audio segments, in order, run about 6:50:
— The KJR years (early ’62 to mid ’69), with Phil Dirt, the Hollywood Reporter, a ’62 Name-it-and-Claim-it intro and Lan’s Old Maid Game (with a loaded question from Dick Curtis)
— Over to KOL (late ’69 through May ’71) where (following a legal battle with KJR) Lan takes an on-air poke at Pat O’Day, a Robin Mitchell Snow Bust promo of Lan’s parachuting skills, Mr. Science and Jimmy, and Lan’s famous Jimmy Stalwart grape stomp with another great voice man, Terry McManus
— Back to KJR/KISW (May ’71 to May ’74) and a ’71 50th anniversary snippet, followed by a ’77 cameo stint on O’Day’s KYYX (at the time Roberts was working at O’Day’s KORL), and finally another brief ’88 KJR encore to help the station’s 1968 class reunion promotion (when Roberts was morning man on ICRT in Taiwan)
Lan Roberts @ KJR as Clyde
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