Widely known for his roles in “Mork and Mindy,” “Cheers,” “Murphy Brown” and others, Jay Thomas was also a very successful radio personality. In fact, at Power 106 in Los Angeles, his ratings eclipsed those of top ranked Rick Dees at crosstown KIIS-FM.
In this clip from 1989, we hear Jay with Monica Brooks and Tammy Trujillo on traffic, as he attempts to contact Jim Bakker’s former church secretary, Jessica Hahn.
Sadly, we lost Jay in 2017 at age 69. The photo of Jay at the 44th Primetime Emmy Awards is credited to Alan Light.
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Student engineer at pioneer Nathan Hale radio station KNH 1210 in 1970 (prior to KNHC). Also attended North Seattle Community College and L.H. Bates in Tacoma (KTOY-FM). Sam’s career began as a KJR request line operator in 1970, with his first on-air job at KRKO in 1972. In 1976 he segued to overnights at KTAC as Cory Landon, then weekends at KING. In 1978 he moved to Lewiston, Idaho for afternoons on KOZE and KRLC. Throughout the ‘80s he was an announcer and/or engineer at “the best mix and biggest variety” of Spokane radio stations; including 97KREM, KZUN, KGA, KKER (The Sam & Pam Show), KZZU, PD of KJRB, 98 KISS-FM, and the voice of KAYU-TV. In 1989 he moved to Los Angeles as Assistant Chief Engineer and weekends at KZLA/KLAC. Also engineered for KBIG, KFI, Premiere Radio Networks, CBS Radio, and others. After avoiding any actual work for nearly 45 years, now happily retired and very appreciatively back in the great Pacific Northwest!
That was a great call, and unrehearsed. I want to know what became of Tish. Nothing about her on the Interweb. California Airchecks has a video of Jay Thomas and Monica Brooks at KPWR on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVVyt8ZvK-4 I always enjoyed Jay’s appearances on Letterman.