KABC's Al Rantel is leaving

[OCradiodude]

A very, very reliable source states that Thursday is his the last day.  No, his lymphoma has not returned.  He is leaving due to complications from the bad fall in his apartment complex.

[Big E]

read it on LARADIO.com

[Questor]

Al Rantel is one of the very FIRST talk radio hosts I ever listened to.  I remember some things he used to do, like wear combat fatigues.

However, I never saw him.  Instead, he provided me with my first theatre of the mind experiences.  I was merely a teenager in Florida going to high school and college.   It was like Al Rantel (and a competing great host Neil Rogers) provided the words and I could make up my own audio and visual interpretations (plural!)

Both my parents and roommates wondered how could I concentrate and do my homework with talk shows in the background.  Wouldn't that distract me?  No, the words Al Rantel provided sometimes actually found their ways into my term papers, or gave me additional ideas.

Al Rantel also is not Alan Parsons, I discovered.  I mixed up the 2 performers when calling an FM station in South Florida, WSHE 103.7, "She's Only Rock and Roll."  One DJ was very patient with my repeated calls.  He walked me through to sort my confusion, and got me understanding the different roles different people play in making radio possible beyond the on-air talent.

I am eternally grateful to Al Rantel.  If he is currently fatigued because of his fall, then I really hope both he and the radio industry recover.  In the words of Alan Parsons, where do we go from here now that all of the children have grown up?  Al Rantel really helped me grow up on both coasts.

Well, if there is another song to consider, I suggest "After the Fall" by Journey, a group whose name means "going places."  Maybe both Rantel and ratings all over will be up by then.  (For me, it'd be such a trip.)

[OCradiodude]

read it on LARADIO.com

I thought it would probably show up there, but that was not my source.

[Questor]

He's leaving.  I'm reminded of the Gladys Knight song that begins with,
"L.A.  proved too much for the man."

My understanding he's leaving on a northbound train, plane or automobile to Canada (Vancouver, B.C. to seek further treatment.)  He's going to have to more work done on shoulder and/or hip replacement.

I'm in the SF Bay Area / Sacramento area, and I just remembered serious grieving over one talk show host we lost after a hip replacement.  It was his 2nd.  The ironic thing was before his last broadcast, he was asking what if he didn't make it.  It's as if he forecasted it.  He almost prepared us for the possibility he might not come back.  He was otherwise very confident voice-wise and visual-wise.  (Though I'm in one of those crowds that doesn't buy newspapers any more, I really respected him for his journalistic integrity.)

I'm thinking of the late Pete Wilson who served at least 35 years in TV News and several as a talk show host too.  It was interesting how they coordinated his schedules between TV news and talk.  It was mentally entertaining to track the same person giving evening news in a just-the-facts matter after spending 2 hours prior giving opinions and dealing with callers.  That was such an interesting switch.  I still miss Pete Wilson, and he was quite a painter too.

I also remember sometimes Al Rantel did things on TV community channels when I finally saw him in Florida.  (That's always so weird, to see the talk show host for the first time, esp. when there were no Web site photos of on-air personalities.)

Oh, well, hopefully Al Rantel's recovery is smooth when he concentrates exclusively on that.

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

Gary Lycan's story on Al Rantel leaving and who the temporary new host is http://www.ocregister.com/articles/rantel-pain-air-2470982-hip-told.

As for the original story, it's been out since last night from LARadio.com

[Questor]

Oh, wow, how ironic that the 790AM of the West Coast matches the 790AM of the East Coast I first heard him on.  Talk about ending at the beginning.

[SuperRadioFan]

Hey you guys, maybe Al meant that he's going to that city across the Columbia River from Portland--- Vancouver, Washington   

[ChannelFlipper]

I wish Al well. He has been a very class act from Day one and is a very good talk show host. Very smart guy who could think on his feet and had the talk host chops to go where the show takes him instead of staying with the script when the occasion calls for it. Few can do it as seamlessly as he does.

He is Mr. Professional too. He is an openly gay man, but doesn't flaunt it in your face or even really discuss it very much. I've often thought that new listeners to his program could conceivably go a long time without even knowing his sexual persuasion. Which is the way it should be. Like I said, class act all the way.

I've always felt he was a bit underrated and the limited number of posts on this topic bears that out. But if you are a talk show listener and haven't spent some quality time listening to him, you missed out. I'll miss him. So will KABC.