One of the true pleasures of contributing to The Daily Mirror is reading old columns by Don Page, The Times’ longtime radio critic.

I regularly check his work, these days for 1959 and ’69. Some things change—by 1969 he no longer wondered whether rock stations will survive or be the end of radio. But there are some constants, such as complaining about too many commercials, too many boring stations and too many stations that sound too similar. Seems to me Page complained a lot and I like that. A reader knew how he felt.
No matter the subject, it’s fun to read names and stations that I remember. From Vin Scully to KMET, radio was a big part of growing up in Southern California.

This column was a collection of notes as Page bounced around the dial. Some of my favorites:

–Most disc jockeys have nothing to say.

–KHJ’s disc jockeys are the best hard-rock voices in captivity but KRLA’s staff has more talent.

–KPFK-FM is becoming the Free Press of the airwaves.

–XERB sounds like a SigAlert with the blues section.

–Some of KFWB’s newsmen continue to mangle the names of California cities, although the all-news outlet is a quality operation.

For me, radio in 1969 was Scully and the Dodgers, Dick Enberg and the Angels and KRLA (I’d switch to KMET in a couple of years). How about you?

–Keith Thursby