Captain Mikey
Encyclopedia
Marion Elbridge Herrington (July 18, 1935 – November 16, 1997), (also known as Mikel Hunter Herrington), best known as Captain Mikey (and also known by the air names
Mikel Hunter, Motorcycle Mikel, Lefty, Hot Rocks Hunter, and Oil Can Harry), was an American disc jockey
; voice-over
actor, who was the national voice for Sears; and innovative radio program director
, who "pioneered album-oriented rock
formats at San Jose's KOME
and Los Angeles' KMET", and was described as "one of the very best programmers in Top 40 radio as well as what we called progressive rock
on FM." In October 2007 he was inducted into the San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame on October 1, 2008. Herrington inspired the fictional characters of program director Jeff Dugan in the 1978 movie FM
, and program director Andy Travis
on the 1980s television sitcom WKRP in Cincinatti. Herrington also managed and promoted two San Jose bands: the Syndicate of Sound
and People!
, and produced a hit record for each of them, the Syndicate of Sound's song "Little Girl
", which reached #8 on the US national charts in June 1966, and People!'s cover of the Zombies
' "I Love You
," which reached #14 on the Billboard charts
in June 1968.
, the son of Carl Elbridge Herrington (born July 27, 1900 in Carteret County, North Carolina
; died November 3, 1950 in New Bern, North Carolina
), a brakeman
for the Atlantic & East Carolina Railroad
, who was killed after being run over by a freight car in an accident at the New Bern rail yards in November 1950, and Margaret Lucile Edmondson (born April 24, 1903; died December 2, 1988 in New Bern, North Carolina
), and the younger brother of Robert Carl Herrington (born January 25, 1928 in South Carolina; died June 4, 2005 in St. Augustine, Florida
).
In 1953 Herrington married Barbara Ann Allen in Florence, South Carolina. They had three children: Jeffrey Allen Herrington (born December 27, 1954 in New Bern, North Carolina), Michael Craig Herrington (born June 27, 1958 in Dallas, Texas
), and Tracey Diane Herrington (born April 14, 1962 in Nashville, Tennessee
). His next marriage was to a Miss Haro, and they had two children: Jeremy Joseph Herrington (born October 9, 1963 in San Diego, California
) and Brooke M. Herrington Killian (born May 6, 1966 in Santa Clara, California
). On June 24, 1984, Herrington married Janet Eileen Rew (born December 2, 1954 in Whittier, California
) in Dublin, California
, with whom he had two children: Trent Elbridge Herrington, (born October 6, 1989 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
) and Kelsey Rose Herrington (born January 25, 1993 in Vallejo, California
). Captain Mikey died on November 16, 1997 of leukemia at age 62 in Fremont, California
.
Herrington was described as "a handsome guy with a very ballsy voice that women loved. Michael was about five foot ten, with brown hair, and he wore round, wireless glasses like John Lennon
. ... He was strikingly handsome, with big, warm blue eyes, and when he spoke, a rich, friendly person, took command."
; Jackson, Mississippi
; Dallas; Boston
; Tucson; San Diego; Los Angeles
; Phoenix
; Philadelphia and even an ill fated journey to Iran
. Other stations included KLIF, Dallas Texas; KELP
, El Paso, Texas
; and KSRO
, Santa Rosa, California
.
Herrington was described as one of those "people who made the station click" in Tucson, and "a walking almanac of rock and roll".
in San Jose, California
from 1966 to 1969, making "Top 40 KLIV-AM (1590) the first San Jose station to beat its San Francisco competitors". Herrington positioned the station as a "surfer station", featuring the music of such musicians as The Beach Boys
, Jan and Dean
, and The Surfaris
. Working as the nighttime DJ at KLIV
, Herrington's wild antics, promotions, pranks and in-studio guests brought the small San Jose station into leadership in the competitive San Francisco Bay Area radio market during the heyday of the late 1960s—the Summer of Love
era when San Francisco was a cultural center. Among his promotional activities was "providing listeners with hot dogs, buns, and soft drinks for weekend caravans over Highway 17 to the beach at Santa Cruz
, and the creation of the station's mascot
Norman, "a snooty surfer boy".
While working at KLIV, Herrington also managed and promoted the band People!
, producing their 1968 hit I Love You
and the Syndicate of Sound
with their hit Little Girl
. Both bands and Herrington himself are members of the San Jose Rocks! Hall of Fame.
, 1969; KLAC, 1970; KRLA
, 1971–72; KMET, 1972–74; and KGBS, 1975-76.
By January 1969 Herrington was recruited to radio KFI
in Los Angeles by Dave Moorhead, where he was on air from 6-9.00pm. However, Moorhead accepted a position at rival KLAC by March 1969.
Herrington was at KLAC in 1970 during the ultraconservative "chicken rock" format, which was the antithesis of "hard rock
" and a forerunner of the Mellow and Soft Rock stations of the 1970s.
After being recruited by program director Shadoe Stevens
, Herrington moved to KRLA
by January 1971, for the progressive rock
"underground
" format, where he called himself "Hot Rocks Hunter", (and later "Motorcycle Mikel"), and worked the 9.00pm to midnight shift.
In late 1972 Herrington (as Mikel Hunter) became the director of operations and programming at KMET-FM in Los Angeles, and as a disc jockey (as "Motorcycle Mikel") from 7am to 11am, positions he held until at least September 1974. Herrington carried, what one might consider "the lunatics in charge of the asylum,", attitude to Los Angeles radio station KMET. During his stint as program director of KMET, "the Mighty Met," the environment was as irreverent as the music. The KMET jocks
had a wall full of "nude" pictures of listeners, and the ceiling of the studio was a mural with the moon and stars on it. The 1978 film FM
, written by Ezra Sacks who had worked at KMET. about Jeff Dugan, who led the resistance to corporate takover at a fictitious radio station, was based on Herrington and his times at KMET, as was the character of program director Andy Travis
on the popular 1978 sitcom WKRP in Cincinatti.
Among the on air talent Herrington recruited while program director at KMET was Dr. Demento
, who moved from Pasadena station KPPC at the end of 1971, and from 1972–83 he performed a four hour live radio show, which was syndicated nationally from 1974; and freeform
format pioneering disc jockey Jim Ladd
, whom Herrington recruited in 1974 from rival KLOS
. In 1991 Ladd released a semi-autobiographical book Radio Waves: Life and Revolution on the FM Dial, which featured his colleagues at KMET (disguised as KAOS), including Herrington. By September 1974 Herrington had been replaced by Cathy Kenyon.
, a radio station based in Oakland, California
which had switched to a country music
format in July 1974.
, then a country music radio station in Los Angeles. After the station changed its name to KTNQ in September 1976, and subsequently format, about Christmas 1976 Herrington left KGBS to accept a lucrative position in Iran.
radio and television editor Claude Hall to work for NIRT, the "American radio station" in Tehran, Iran, during the reign of the last shah, Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi. Recruited by Kamron Mashayekhi, the head of NIRT, who was also Washington bureau chief for Savak
, Herrington served as both program director, and also as disc jockey who played heavy rock and roll from 5.00pm to 10.00pm each night for a month from March 1977. Despite the promise of six-figure salaries and generous housing and travel allowances, "all they were promised didn't happen (their phones were bugged, etc., etc.) and they ended up having to literally escape the country". Upon his return to the USA, Herrington was forced to hide out in a motel in the San Fernando Valley
until Hall threatened to expose the situation in Iran in Billboard.
. As program director at KOME
, Herrngton, described at that time as "a decidedly non-corporate type who is, in fact, something of a throwback to the early days of FM gurus, returned the station to its free-form roots. Herrington "discarded the card catalog playlist in favor of an eclectic library including art-rock, jazz, punk, new wave, and soul within a rock format framework". Herrington was responsible for making that station number one in the Bay Area market and one of the most important stations in the country. According to Don West, former KOME program director, "Mikel was the one who put this station on the map. ... Mikel was into energy. ... There were no ballsy, deep voices. Mikel would toss aside someone with a great voice for someone with a great personality." Herrington is credited with coining KOME's notorious slogan: "The KOME (cum
) spot on on your dial". Soon after his appointment, Herrington was responsible for recruiting Dennis Erectus out of college and to KOME. By September 1981 Herrington had increased KOME's ratings from 5 to 7.6 in the previous year with a hard-rocking AOR
format. Herrington described the approach as "a sound based on 'hooks
and boogie
'", and promotions that appealed to listeners who "like rock'n'roll but also like craziness and a little bit of humor. So we offer them humor - a somewhat sarcastic and caustic view". At KOME Herrington "had chicken flying contests, with birds pushed out of mailboxes with a toilet plunger. On April Fool’s Day he told listeners to cover up their telephone receivers because the phone company was cleaning out the lines and would be blowing dust through them. And he led his whole staff to the homes of listeners to crash their parties". Herrington promised listeners "62 minutes of commercial-free music every hour". Under Herrington, the format was free-form. According to West, "There were walls of albums in the station color-coded by genre, and each had a sheet of paper attached that indicated which cuts were permitted for airplay. On classic albums like the Who
's "Who's Next
," every song was on the list. "Roughly there were 5,000 songs at your fingertips at any time," West says. "Now you have stations with 300."
While at KOME, Herrington was also known on air in the mornings as "Lefty", and was responsible for creating their "Hey Lefty! What time is it?" segment, where prominent musicians (including Van Halen
, Grace Slick
, Hall & Oates
, Ian Hunter
, the Greg Kihn Band, Kip Addotta
, and Chevy Chase
) would ask the question that prompted the announcement of the time.
By August 1981 Herrington was promoted to operations manager at KOME. In 1982 Herrington was still working as a disc jockey (as Mikel Hunter) at KLIV-AM, and program director at KOME-FM, however after station owners Infinity Broadcasting Corporation
tried to bring in broadcasting consultants in 1982, Herrington left KOME by November 1982 in protest. According to West, "KOME's heyday came to an end in 1982".
His voiceover
career included being the national voice for Sears.
, which was then an Adult Contemporary station, with declining ratings. During his tenure, WIP transitioned initially toward light talk and music in the evening to become primarily a sports talk station.
.
, Herrington moved to the wine country, and hosted talk shows at KVON
and KVYN
in Napa, California
. At KVYN Herrington was program director until his resignation in September 1992.
at KSRO
in Santa Rosa, California
.
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Mikel Hunter, Motorcycle Mikel, Lefty, Hot Rocks Hunter, and Oil Can Harry), was an American disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
; voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
actor, who was the national voice for Sears; and innovative radio program director
Program director
In service industries, such as education, a program director or programme director researches, plans, develops and implements one or more of the firm's professional services...
, who "pioneered album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
formats at San Jose's KOME
KOME
KOME was a radio station in San Jose, California, heard at 98.5 FM from 1971 thru 1998. Currently, the 98.5 FM frequency is home to KUFX .-Beginnings:...
and Los Angeles' KMET", and was described as "one of the very best programmers in Top 40 radio as well as what we called progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
on FM." In October 2007 he was inducted into the San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame on October 1, 2008. Herrington inspired the fictional characters of program director Jeff Dugan in the 1978 movie FM
FM (film)
FM is a 1978 directed by John A. Alonzo, and starring Michael Brandon, Eileen Brennan, Alex Karras and Cleavon Little. The screenplay was written by Ezra Sacks.This film was produced by Universal Pictures, and originally released to movie theaters in 1978....
, and program director Andy Travis
Andy Travis
Andy Travis is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . He was played by Gary Sandy.Travis was originally intended to be the lead character, the more-or-less normal person who would anchor the series and provide the focus for most of the stories...
on the 1980s television sitcom WKRP in Cincinatti. Herrington also managed and promoted two San Jose bands: the Syndicate of Sound
Syndicate of Sound
The Syndicate of Sound was an American garage band that existed between 1965 and 1970. Originally from San Jose, California, the band had an edgy style that some critics have considered to be a forerunner of psychedelic rock.- History :...
and People!
People!
People! was a one-hit wonder rock band that was formed in San Jose, California in 1965. They started out playing "Top 40" music like most artists but ended up releasing three albums of mostly original material. Their greatest chart success came with their summer hit single "I Love You", a song...
, and produced a hit record for each of them, the Syndicate of Sound's song "Little Girl
Little Girl (Syndicate of Sound song)
"Little Girl" is a popular song recorded by the California group Syndicate of Sound, and written by Don Baskin and Bob Gonzalez of the band. It reached the US national pop charts in June 1966, peaking at # 8....
", which reached #8 on the US national charts in June 1966, and People!'s cover of the Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
' "I Love You
I Love You (The Zombies song)
-People! :The cover version by People!, released in February 1968 was a #14 hit in the USA and went to #1 in Japan...
," which reached #14 on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
in June 1968.
Personal
Captain Mikey was born on July 18, 1935 as Marion Elbridge Herrington in Florence, South CarolinaFlorence, South Carolina
-Municipal government and politics:The City of Florence has a council-manager form of government. The mayor and city council are elected every four years, with no term limits...
, the son of Carl Elbridge Herrington (born July 27, 1900 in Carteret County, North Carolina
Carteret County, North Carolina
Carteret County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2010, the population was 66,469. Its county seat is Beaufort. Most of the county is part of the Crystal Coast....
; died November 3, 1950 in New Bern, North Carolina
New Bern, North Carolina
New Bern is a city in Craven County, North Carolina with a population of 29,524 as of the 2010 census.. It is located at the confluence of the Trent and the Neuse rivers...
), a brakeman
Brakeman
A brakeman is a rail transport worker whose original job it was to assist the braking of a train by applying brakes on individual wagons. The advent of through brakes on trains made this role redundant, although the name lives on in the United States where brakemen carry out a variety of functions...
for the Atlantic & East Carolina Railroad
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad
The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad was an American railroad that existed between 1900 and 1967, when it merged with the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, its long-time rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad...
, who was killed after being run over by a freight car in an accident at the New Bern rail yards in November 1950, and Margaret Lucile Edmondson (born April 24, 1903; died December 2, 1988 in New Bern, North Carolina
New Bern, North Carolina
New Bern is a city in Craven County, North Carolina with a population of 29,524 as of the 2010 census.. It is located at the confluence of the Trent and the Neuse rivers...
), and the younger brother of Robert Carl Herrington (born January 25, 1928 in South Carolina; died June 4, 2005 in St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
).
In 1953 Herrington married Barbara Ann Allen in Florence, South Carolina. They had three children: Jeffrey Allen Herrington (born December 27, 1954 in New Bern, North Carolina), Michael Craig Herrington (born June 27, 1958 in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
), and Tracey Diane Herrington (born April 14, 1962 in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
). His next marriage was to a Miss Haro, and they had two children: Jeremy Joseph Herrington (born October 9, 1963 in San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
) and Brooke M. Herrington Killian (born May 6, 1966 in Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
). On June 24, 1984, Herrington married Janet Eileen Rew (born December 2, 1954 in Whittier, California
Whittier, California
Whittier is a city in Los Angeles County, California about southeast of Los Angeles. The city had a population of 85,331 at the 2010 census, up from 83,680 as of the 2000 census, and encompasses 14.7 square miles . Like nearby Montebello, the city constitutes part of the Gateway Cities...
) in Dublin, California
Dublin, California
Dublin is a suburban city of the East Bay region of Alameda County, California, United States. Located along the north side of Interstate 580 at the intersection with Interstate 680, roughly east of Hayward, west of Livermore and north of San Jose, it was named after the city of Dublin in...
, with whom he had two children: Trent Elbridge Herrington, (born October 6, 1989 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
) and Kelsey Rose Herrington (born January 25, 1993 in Vallejo, California
Vallejo, California
Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...
). Captain Mikey died on November 16, 1997 of leukemia at age 62 in Fremont, California
Fremont, California
Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...
.
Herrington was described as "a handsome guy with a very ballsy voice that women loved. Michael was about five foot ten, with brown hair, and he wore round, wireless glasses like John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. ... He was strikingly handsome, with big, warm blue eyes, and when he spoke, a rich, friendly person, took command."
Disc Jockey and Program Director
Under various names, Herrington worked as a disc jockey and later as a program director at radio stations in New Bern, North CarolinaNew Bern, North Carolina
New Bern is a city in Craven County, North Carolina with a population of 29,524 as of the 2010 census.. It is located at the confluence of the Trent and the Neuse rivers...
; Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
; Dallas; Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
; Tucson; San Diego; Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
; Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
; Philadelphia and even an ill fated journey to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. Other stations included KLIF, Dallas Texas; KELP
KELP (AM)
KELP is an American radio station licensed to serve the community of El Paso, Texas, USA. The station broadcasts a Christian radio format to the greater El Paso metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by McClatchey Broadcasting. KELP airs a mix of local and syndicated programming,...
, El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
; and KSRO
KSRO
KSRO is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Santa Rosa, California, USA, the station serves the Santa Rosa area. The station is currently owned by Maverick Media of Santa Rosa License LLC and features programing from CNN Radio, Premiere Radio Networks and...
, Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
.
Herrington was described as one of those "people who made the station click" in Tucson, and "a walking almanac of rock and roll".
San Jose (1966–1969)
Herrington was both program director and a disc jockey (as Captain Mikey) at radio station KLIVKLIV
KLIV is an AM radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area based in San Jose, California. The station operates at 1590 kHz on the AM band. It is owned by Empire Broadcasting, and is headed by News and Program Director George Sampson.-Programming:...
in San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
from 1966 to 1969, making "Top 40 KLIV-AM (1590) the first San Jose station to beat its San Francisco competitors". Herrington positioned the station as a "surfer station", featuring the music of such musicians as The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
, Jan and Dean
Jan and Dean
Jan and Dean were a rock and roll duo, popular from the late 1950s through the mid 1960s, consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence...
, and The Surfaris
The Surfaris
The Surfaris were an American surf rock band formed in Glendora, California in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the charts in the Los Angeles, California area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" on the A-side and "Wipe Out" on the B-side of a 45 RPM single.-Career:The original...
. Working as the nighttime DJ at KLIV
KLIV
KLIV is an AM radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area based in San Jose, California. The station operates at 1590 kHz on the AM band. It is owned by Empire Broadcasting, and is headed by News and Program Director George Sampson.-Programming:...
, Herrington's wild antics, promotions, pranks and in-studio guests brought the small San Jose station into leadership in the competitive San Francisco Bay Area radio market during the heyday of the late 1960s—the Summer of Love
Summer of Love
The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion...
era when San Francisco was a cultural center. Among his promotional activities was "providing listeners with hot dogs, buns, and soft drinks for weekend caravans over Highway 17 to the beach at Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
, and the creation of the station's mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
Norman, "a snooty surfer boy".
While working at KLIV, Herrington also managed and promoted the band People!
People!
People! was a one-hit wonder rock band that was formed in San Jose, California in 1965. They started out playing "Top 40" music like most artists but ended up releasing three albums of mostly original material. Their greatest chart success came with their summer hit single "I Love You", a song...
, producing their 1968 hit I Love You
I Love You (The Zombies song)
-People! :The cover version by People!, released in February 1968 was a #14 hit in the USA and went to #1 in Japan...
and the Syndicate of Sound
Syndicate of Sound
The Syndicate of Sound was an American garage band that existed between 1965 and 1970. Originally from San Jose, California, the band had an edgy style that some critics have considered to be a forerunner of psychedelic rock.- History :...
with their hit Little Girl
Little Girl (Syndicate of Sound song)
"Little Girl" is a popular song recorded by the California group Syndicate of Sound, and written by Don Baskin and Bob Gonzalez of the band. It reached the US national pop charts in June 1966, peaking at # 8....
. Both bands and Herrington himself are members of the San Jose Rocks! Hall of Fame.
Los Angeles (1969–1976)
Herrington was a disc jockey on the following Los Angeles radio stations: KFIKFI
KFI is an AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It received its license to operate on March 31, 1922 and began operating on April 16, 1922 as one of the United States' first high-powered, "clear-channel" stations...
, 1969; KLAC, 1970; KRLA
KRLA
KRLA is a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk format. Licensed to Glendale, California, USA, it serves the Southern California area. The station is currently owned by Salem Communications.- KIEV :...
, 1971–72; KMET, 1972–74; and KGBS, 1975-76.
KFI (1969)
By January 1969 Herrington was recruited to radio KFI
KFI
KFI is an AM radio station in Los Angeles, California. It received its license to operate on March 31, 1922 and began operating on April 16, 1922 as one of the United States' first high-powered, "clear-channel" stations...
in Los Angeles by Dave Moorhead, where he was on air from 6-9.00pm. However, Moorhead accepted a position at rival KLAC by March 1969.
KLAC (1970)
Herrington was at KLAC in 1970 during the ultraconservative "chicken rock" format, which was the antithesis of "hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
" and a forerunner of the Mellow and Soft Rock stations of the 1970s.
KRLA (1971–1972)
After being recruited by program director Shadoe Stevens
Shadoe Stevens
Shadoe Stevens is an American radio host, voiceover actor, and television personality. He was the host of American Top 40 from 1988 to 1995...
, Herrington moved to KRLA
KRLA
KRLA is a radio station broadcasting a News/Talk format. Licensed to Glendale, California, USA, it serves the Southern California area. The station is currently owned by Salem Communications.- KIEV :...
by January 1971, for the progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
"underground
Underground music
Underground music comprises a range of different musical genres that operate outside of mainstream culture. Such music can typically share common values, such as the valuing of sincerity and intimacy; an emphasis on freedom of creative expression; an appreciation of artistic creativity...
" format, where he called himself "Hot Rocks Hunter", (and later "Motorcycle Mikel"), and worked the 9.00pm to midnight shift.
KMET (1972–1974)
In late 1972 Herrington (as Mikel Hunter) became the director of operations and programming at KMET-FM in Los Angeles, and as a disc jockey (as "Motorcycle Mikel") from 7am to 11am, positions he held until at least September 1974. Herrington carried, what one might consider "the lunatics in charge of the asylum,", attitude to Los Angeles radio station KMET. During his stint as program director of KMET, "the Mighty Met," the environment was as irreverent as the music. The KMET jocks
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
had a wall full of "nude" pictures of listeners, and the ceiling of the studio was a mural with the moon and stars on it. The 1978 film FM
FM (film)
FM is a 1978 directed by John A. Alonzo, and starring Michael Brandon, Eileen Brennan, Alex Karras and Cleavon Little. The screenplay was written by Ezra Sacks.This film was produced by Universal Pictures, and originally released to movie theaters in 1978....
, written by Ezra Sacks who had worked at KMET. about Jeff Dugan, who led the resistance to corporate takover at a fictitious radio station, was based on Herrington and his times at KMET, as was the character of program director Andy Travis
Andy Travis
Andy Travis is a fictional character on the television situation comedy WKRP in Cincinnati . He was played by Gary Sandy.Travis was originally intended to be the lead character, the more-or-less normal person who would anchor the series and provide the focus for most of the stories...
on the popular 1978 sitcom WKRP in Cincinatti.
Among the on air talent Herrington recruited while program director at KMET was Dr. Demento
Dr. Demento
Barret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....
, who moved from Pasadena station KPPC at the end of 1971, and from 1972–83 he performed a four hour live radio show, which was syndicated nationally from 1974; and freeform
Freeform (radio format)
Freeform, or freeform radio, is a radio station programming format in which the disc jockey is given total control over what music to play, regardless of music genre or commercial interests. Freeform radio stands in contrast to most commercial radio stations, in which DJs have little or no...
format pioneering disc jockey Jim Ladd
Jim Ladd
Jim Ladd , an American disc jockey, radio producer and writer, is one of the few notable remaining freeform rock DJs in United States commercial radio.- Radio show style :...
, whom Herrington recruited in 1974 from rival KLOS
KLOS
KLOS is an FM rock music radio station based in Los Angeles, California, that debuted in 1969. The station is owned by Cumulus Media. It is home to the nationally broadcast Mark & Brian radio show, and Off The Record host Uncle Joe Benson.-History:...
. In 1991 Ladd released a semi-autobiographical book Radio Waves: Life and Revolution on the FM Dial, which featured his colleagues at KMET (disguised as KAOS), including Herrington. By September 1974 Herrington had been replaced by Cathy Kenyon.
Oakland, California
By September 1974 Herrington (as Mikel Hunter) was the operations director at KNEW-AMKNEW (AM)
KNEW is a radio station in San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, CA, USA. The station is owned by Clear Channel. Prior to the format change, the station operated as CNET Radio, offering business and technology news 24 hours a day...
, a radio station based in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
which had switched to a country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
format in July 1974.
Los Angeles (1975–1976)
In 1975, Herrington moved to KGBSKTNQ
KTNQ is a radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, with a Spanish News/Talk format. It is owned by Univision. on June 13, 1925 until 1955 it was called . From August 1, 1955 until 1960 it was called KPOP. From June 29, 1960 until 1976, it was called KGBS...
, then a country music radio station in Los Angeles. After the station changed its name to KTNQ in September 1976, and subsequently format, about Christmas 1976 Herrington left KGBS to accept a lucrative position in Iran.
Iran (1977)
Herrington, along with two other American radio personalities, Ted Anthony and Claude "Hoot" Hooten (known on air as Brad Edwards), was recommended by BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
radio and television editor Claude Hall to work for NIRT, the "American radio station" in Tehran, Iran, during the reign of the last shah, Mohammad-Rezā Shāh Pahlavi. Recruited by Kamron Mashayekhi, the head of NIRT, who was also Washington bureau chief for Savak
SAVAK
SAVAK was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service established by Iran's Mohammad Reza Shah on the recommendation of the British Government and with the help of the United States' Central Intelligence Agency SAVAK (Persian: ساواک, short for سازمان اطلاعات و امنیت کشور...
, Herrington served as both program director, and also as disc jockey who played heavy rock and roll from 5.00pm to 10.00pm each night for a month from March 1977. Despite the promise of six-figure salaries and generous housing and travel allowances, "all they were promised didn't happen (their phones were bugged, etc., etc.) and they ended up having to literally escape the country". Upon his return to the USA, Herrington was forced to hide out in a motel in the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
until Hall threatened to expose the situation in Iran in Billboard.
San Jose (1977–1982)
After his return from Iran Herrington was unemployed and advertised for work. In August 1977 Herrington returned to the San Jose area "bringing his programming sensibilities" into the emerging FM market at KOMEKOME
KOME was a radio station in San Jose, California, heard at 98.5 FM from 1971 thru 1998. Currently, the 98.5 FM frequency is home to KUFX .-Beginnings:...
. As program director at KOME
KOME
KOME was a radio station in San Jose, California, heard at 98.5 FM from 1971 thru 1998. Currently, the 98.5 FM frequency is home to KUFX .-Beginnings:...
, Herrngton, described at that time as "a decidedly non-corporate type who is, in fact, something of a throwback to the early days of FM gurus, returned the station to its free-form roots. Herrington "discarded the card catalog playlist in favor of an eclectic library including art-rock, jazz, punk, new wave, and soul within a rock format framework". Herrington was responsible for making that station number one in the Bay Area market and one of the most important stations in the country. According to Don West, former KOME program director, "Mikel was the one who put this station on the map. ... Mikel was into energy. ... There were no ballsy, deep voices. Mikel would toss aside someone with a great voice for someone with a great personality." Herrington is credited with coining KOME's notorious slogan: "The KOME (cum
Orgasm
Orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...
) spot on on your dial". Soon after his appointment, Herrington was responsible for recruiting Dennis Erectus out of college and to KOME. By September 1981 Herrington had increased KOME's ratings from 5 to 7.6 in the previous year with a hard-rocking AOR
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
format. Herrington described the approach as "a sound based on 'hooks
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
and boogie
Boogie
Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm, "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music. The characteristic rhythm and feel of the boogie was then adapted to guitar, double bass, and other instruments. The earliest recorded...
'", and promotions that appealed to listeners who "like rock'n'roll but also like craziness and a little bit of humor. So we offer them humor - a somewhat sarcastic and caustic view". At KOME Herrington "had chicken flying contests, with birds pushed out of mailboxes with a toilet plunger. On April Fool’s Day he told listeners to cover up their telephone receivers because the phone company was cleaning out the lines and would be blowing dust through them. And he led his whole staff to the homes of listeners to crash their parties". Herrington promised listeners "62 minutes of commercial-free music every hour". Under Herrington, the format was free-form. According to West, "There were walls of albums in the station color-coded by genre, and each had a sheet of paper attached that indicated which cuts were permitted for airplay. On classic albums like the Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
's "Who's Next
Who's Next
Who's Next is the fifth studio album by English rock band The Who, released in August 1971. The album has origins in a rock opera conceived by Pete Townshend called Lifehouse. The ambitious, complex project did not come to fruition at the time and instead, many of the songs written for the project...
," every song was on the list. "Roughly there were 5,000 songs at your fingertips at any time," West says. "Now you have stations with 300."
While at KOME, Herrington was also known on air in the mornings as "Lefty", and was responsible for creating their "Hey Lefty! What time is it?" segment, where prominent musicians (including Van Halen
Van Halen
Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
, Grace Slick
Grace Slick
Grace Slick is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups The Great Society, Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, and Starship, and was a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s...
, Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates
Hall & Oates are an American musical duo composed of Daryl Hall and John Oates. They achieved their greatest fame in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s. Both sing and play instruments. They specialized in a fusion of rock and roll and rhythm and blues styles, which they dubbed "rock and soul."...
, Ian Hunter
Ian Hunter (singer)
Ian Hunter Patterson is an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead singer of the English rock band Mott the Hoople from its inception in 1969 to its dissolution in 1974, and he again fronted them at the time of their 2009 reunion. Hunter was a musician and songwriter before Mott The Hoople, and...
, the Greg Kihn Band, Kip Addotta
Kip Addotta
Kip Addotta is an American comedian notable for often being featured on The Tonight Show and the syndicated show Make Me Laugh. He was also featured on "The Dr. Demento Show" for his novelty music, the biggest hits of which are "Wet Dream" and "Life in the Slaw Lane", a series of fish puns and...
, and Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
) would ask the question that prompted the announcement of the time.
By August 1981 Herrington was promoted to operations manager at KOME. In 1982 Herrington was still working as a disc jockey (as Mikel Hunter) at KLIV-AM, and program director at KOME-FM, however after station owners Infinity Broadcasting Corporation
Infinity Broadcasting Corporation
Infinity Broadcasting Corporation was a radio company that existed from 1972 until 2005. It was founded by Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus. It became associated with popular radio personalities like Howard Stern, Don Imus and Mike Francesa. Infinity merged with CBS Corporation in 1997 and later...
tried to bring in broadcasting consultants in 1982, Herrington left KOME by November 1982 in protest. According to West, "KOME's heyday came to an end in 1982".
His voiceover
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
career included being the national voice for Sears.
Philadelphia (1984–1989)
By November 1984 Herrington became program director at Metromedia's WIP (610 AM) in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, which was then an Adult Contemporary station, with declining ratings. During his tenure, WIP transitioned initially toward light talk and music in the evening to become primarily a sports talk station.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Herrington operated Mikel Hunter Broadcast Services, a radio programming consulting company from Las VegasLas Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
.
Napa, California
A wine connoisseurConnoisseur
A connoisseur is a person who has a great deal of knowledge about the fine arts, cuisines, or an expert judge in matters of taste.Modern connoisseurship must be seen along with museums, art galleries and "the cult of originality"...
, Herrington moved to the wine country, and hosted talk shows at KVON
KVON
KVON is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Napa, California, USA, it serves the Santa Rosa area. The station is currently owned by Wine Country Broadcasting Company and features programing provided by ABC Radio and Westwood One....
and KVYN
Wine Country Broadcasting
Wine Country Broadcasting Company is a small San Francisco, California, United States, based radio broadcasting company that owns radio stations in Napa and Saint Helena, a broadcast translator in Calistoga, and repeater in Cordelia, California....
in Napa, California
Napa, California
-History:The name Napa was probably derived from the name given to a southern Nappan village whose people shared the area with elk, deer, grizzlies and cougars for many centuries, according to Napa historian Kami Santiago. At the time of the first recorded exploration into Napa Valley in 1823, the...
. At KVYN Herrington was program director until his resignation in September 1992.
Santa Rosa, California
Herrington's last position in radio was as host of a talk showTalk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
at KSRO
KSRO
KSRO is a radio station broadcasting a News Talk Information format. Licensed to Santa Rosa, California, USA, the station serves the Santa Rosa area. The station is currently owned by Maverick Media of Santa Rosa License LLC and features programing from CNN Radio, Premiere Radio Networks and...
in Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...
.