Radio One has not owned a station in Los Angeles since 2008, when it sold KRBV (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) to Bonneville Broadcasting. In fact, the closest station to Southern California Radio One owns is in Dallas, Texas.
But the company still has some ties to the area through its partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Children from all over the country — including Southern California — benefit from the research and treatments originating from the hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, that was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962.
As part of Black Philanthropy Month in August, Urban One, through its Radio One station group and Reach Media syndication divisions, announced that it had raised $1.7 million in a series of radiothons dating back to March 2026 and held across Radio One’s 13 markets.
I asked Brianna Clyburn, who helps with Urban One’s publicity, how it all came about. “The partnership began in 2008 when Radio One partnered with St. Jude to launch a fundraising radiothon across its Gospel-format stations and The Yolanda Adams Morning Show,” she explained. “What started as a broadcast fundraising effort evolved into a long-term collaboration, expanding nationally, rebranding as ‘Urban Cares for St. Jude Kids’ in 2013, and ultimately growing into a nationwide initiative that engages audiences across radio, digital, events, and community outreach.”
How do they work? Clyburn says that “the radiothons leverage Radio One’s local stations, nationally syndicated programs, on-air talent, and special guests to raise awareness and support for St. Jude.”
She says that the programming typically includes patient and family stories, educational information about the St. Jude mission, and opportunities for listeners to become Partners in Hope through monthly giving.
Since 2008, the company has raised over $24 million for St. Jude, highlighting the power of local radio’s power of community engagement. And while not officially local, you can hear the programming of Radio One stations and Reach Media programs via various apps, including iHeartRadio and TuneIn, as well as the Urban One Podcast Network at urban1podcasts.com.
Air Traffic Problems
The recent tragedy that took the lives of television journalist Eliana Moreno (“Eli in the Heli”), pilot George Marciniw, and a pedestrian on the ground, Edy Fernando Gutiérrez Mejía, when the KNBC Newschopper4 helicopter crashed in Chatsworth, is not the first time something like that has happened.
3 dead after NBC4 helicopter crashes in Chatsworth; video may offer clues to crash’s cause
I remember it like yesterday, but it was back in June of 1986 when Bruce Wayne took off from Fullerton Airport in his single-engine Cessna in preparation for his airborne reports for KFI (640 AM) and KOST (103.5 FM). He had actually done two reports from the ground during the KFI morning show that day, at 6 a.m. and again at 6:15 a.m. But he missed the report at 6:30 a.m., and when he missed again at 6:45 a.m., station employees got concerned and contacted authorities; Fullerton police notified the station of the crash soon after.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “A Fullerton city employee told police he was about half a mile east of the runway when he heard a plane taking off. The aircraft’s engine sputtered and backfired, and then the plane veered left and plummeted to the ground from an altitude estimated at 500 feet, the witness said.”
The Cessna hit a semi-tractor trailer rig parked at the back of a wholesale food warehouse near the airport soon after takeoff. Wayne died in the crash; in two more weeks he would have celebrated 25 years of in-air traffic reporting.
The death devastated the staff, and KFI actually dropped all normal programming for a time, talking about Wayne with callers. He had been every much a part of KFI as any other personality, with his infectious positivity and the tagline, “KF Eye in the Sky.”
In perhaps one of the most haunting tragedies, Jane Dornacker, crashed in her traffic helicopter on October 22, 1986, while giving a live traffic report for WNBC/New York. In the midst of her live report, listeners heard odd sounds from the copter’s engine. Then Dornacker yelled to “Hit the water! Hit the water! Hit the water!” … followed by static and silence. DJ Joey Reynolds at first had no clue as to what happened; Reynolds first went back to playing music in the hopes that it was just a minor issue.
According to investigators, the sprag clutch in the leased helicopter had not been adequately lubricated, leading to a seizure of the main rotor blades. Dornacker died on the way to the hospital; the pilot was seriously injured but survived.
This was actually the second time Dornacker was involved in a helicopter crash, the first just six months earlier in April when the copter’s runners struck water after takeoff.
Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com.