About K.M. Richards
K.M. Richards has been in the broadcast industry for over a half century, beginning in local television in 1968, local access cable in 1970, and radio since 1973 (yes, that means 2023 marked 50 years in radio alone!).
With experience that includes on-air work in a variety of formats ranging from MOR and Classical to CHR and AC (including an unheard-of 23 share in 12+ at Y97 in Santa Barbara CA in 1988) and programming AC, Talk, and Country stations, K.M. has the know-how to create a more focused approach to Classic Hits.
K.M. has been a consultant to gold-based formats since 1989 and was semi-retired until 2014, when a format originally developed for a friend's station acquisition that fell though (The Eighties Channel™) was resurrected due to interest from a station owner in another market. The success of that revival led to the reactivation of K.M. Richards Programming Services to make the format available in other markets.
About Gene Knight
Gene Knight is the voice of The Eighties Channel™'s hourly "Forgotten 45s" feature, and also voices the imaging liners leading into commercial stopsets.
Gene has been a prominent air personality and programmer in the San Diego market for over five decades, most recently at KyXy and Sunny 98.1. His resumé also includes stints at Magic 92.5, B100, K-Joy, 91X, KSEA, and (in the mid-70s) the legendary KCBQ.
When at Sunny 98.1, Gene noticed that -- in his words -- "all the time we got winners and other listener responses at KXSN, from people who were born in the 80s. Like, they were just two years old when a lot of the songs that we played were currents. This happened so frequently, that I started asking, in a nice and curious way, why they liked our music. This response came back over and over again ... The 80s, that's when all the good music came out!"
So it's no small wonder he's here at The Eighties Channel™ now.
About Freddy Snakeskin
Freddy Snakeskin is the ersatz host of The Eighties Channel™'s Friday and Saturday night "Flashback Weekend" program, which features classic New Wave songs from the decade which are heard less frequently on Classic Hits radio.
After starting his career in the 1970s at Phoenix top-40 stations KRUX and KRIZ and Los Angeles' memorable TenQ and K-West, Freddy became a fixture at the World Famous KROQ for the entire 80s decade, and then was the PD at Mars FM at the beginning of the 90s, returning briefly to KROQ before moving on to Alternative stations in Las Vegas and Phoenix. At the beginning of the century he was prominent on SiriusXM's "First Wave" and "Planet Dance" channels and then programmed the KROQ-HD2 "Roq of the 80s" format for several years until 2015, returning as morning personality for two years beginning in 2018.
Not content to just be one of the The Eighties Channel™'s voices, Freddy continues to be instrumental in the process of choosing the library for "Flashback Weekend".
About Don Elliot
Don Elliot is the voice for the produced imaging on The Eighties Channel™, notably the intro and sweepers for the hourly "Eighties Music Marathon".
Sometimes it feels like Don has been doing production in the Los Angeles market forever. Among the stations on the extensive roster of stations he has worked at during a career in L.A. that stretches back to 1965 are KBBQ, KIIS (the original AM station, where he introduced a groundbreaking top-40 "triple play" format concept in 1971), K-100, KKDJ (which he remained with as it became KIIS-FM) and KFI/KOST. And that all came after stints in Washington DC, Kansas City, Portland and Omaha! He also has taught radio at Fullerton and Saddleback Colleges.
He owns the Don Elliot Creative Services production facility, has freelanced for nearly all the major radio production companies, and is also ham radio operator W6IFR.
About Randy Turner
Randy Turner produces and voices our commercials for EightiesChannelMusic.com, as well as various promotional spots on The Eighties Channel™ itself (and, when requested, for our client stations themselves).
Randy has been in radio for close to 40 years, more than half of that time in the Hudson Valley region of New York State. He has been the host of the afternoon drive "Rolling Home Show" on that market's Classic Hits station WBPM for somewhere around three decades and doubles as manager of his station group's creative services and commercial production department for all seven stations in the cluster. He is also the current PD/MD and image/promotions director for WBPM and sister station "Magic 92.5" WGHQ.
Randy says that to succeed in this business, it’s got to be “in your blood” and we wholeheartedly agree with him.
About Amy Hiatt
Amy Hiatt writes most of the imaging liners voiced by Gene Knight on The Eighties Channel™.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Amy grew up listening to the "Boss Jocks" on KHJ, where she interned while attending UCLA. After graduating, her on-air career began at KDES in Palm Springs in 1979; she then spent a year at KUPD in Phoenix and pulled a second stint in Palm Springs before arriving at KEZY in Orange County in 1983. Her love for the desert returned her to KDES a third time before beginning her best known work at Smooth Jazz KTWV "The Wave" in Los Angeles from 1988 to 2000. Amy has continued to do voiceover work since leaving The Wave.
She says "I always knew I wanted to be on the radio" and we're thrilled to have her creative writing talents as part of The Eighties Channel™.
