John Lennon sits in as Guest DJ: 93/KHJ Los Angeles | September 27, 1974

930 Los Angeles KHJ KKHJ KRTH RKO General

Date of Recording: 09.27.1974
Station: 930 KHJ (KRTH/KKHJ) Los Angeles, California, USA
Format: Top 40
Featured Air Personality: John Lennon (The Beatles)
Contributor: Daniel Coulombe
Airchexx Entry: 1,494

Comments:

Given the intense popularity of John Lennon, both as a major recording artist and his status as an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, this appearance on the might 93 KHJ should be well documented. At the time, this was included in on-air promos of what was known as “Superstar” week at KHJ. And yes, obviously, recordings were made of the event. Yet, all these decades later, there’s not much historical information written online about this one time appearance in Los Angeles. There are a few references on Wikipedia (Curator’s note: Not everything printed there is 100% reliable, so beware.) including one sentence under the topic “LennoNYC” which makes mention of ‘the week Lennon went to Los Angeles during his Lost Weekend period’.

The date of September 24, 1974 is not arbitrary. It is hinted at in the PBS Documentary “Lennon NYC” . There is also an (unauthorized) YouTube video of Lennon’s appearance which includes some of the audio in this aircheck. That video bears this date as well.

As for the actual audio… This is loosely telescoped, with full songs edited but the commercial breaks and ‘jock chatter’ from Lennon are all included, including telephone calls from adoring fans. Lennon also plays his latest album on the air, allegedly just one hour before it goes on sale at a local Los Angeles record store! And yes, where there are segues (very few here), you do get to hear KHJ jingles and formatics.

Some of you in our audience were there, or were at RKO general – or just listening at the time. Your comments and corrections to this are most welcome.