On December 17 of this year, Breakfast With The Beatles will broadcast its 2080th weekly episode during its 40th consecutive year on the air in Los Angeles. This extraordinary milestone is concurrent with the 60th anniversary of the birth of Beatlemania in the US, when “I Want To Hold Your Hand” started receiving regular airplay a few months in advance of the band’s first stateside tour. Breakfast With The Beatles, now on KLOS and hosted by Chris Carter, is the longest continually running Beatles-themed radio program in the world.
https://www.955klos.com/breakfast-with-the-beatles/
Original host Deirdre O’Donoghue created Breakfast with the Beatles (BWTB) in mid-December 1983 on KMET in Los Angeles, eventually moving to KLSX. After O’Donoghue’s untimely passing in 2001, the show was hosted “audition-style” by several guest hosts including Chris Carter who was then overwhelmingly voted-in by show listeners. In 2006, BWTB moved to its current home at KLOS-FM and is heard every Sunday from 9:00 AM to Noon. Shortly after the move, Carter made his SiriusXM radio debut in 2008, bringing BWTB first to Little Steven’s Underground Garage channel and then, in 2017, being chosen by The Beatles Channel to host the show weekday mornings at 8:00 AM ET. This is not simply a re-broadcast of the KLOS show, but a completely separate entity with unique playlists. Add to that Carter’s British Invasion show on SiriusXM (Saturdays at Noon ET, rebroadcast Sundays at 4:00 PM ET on Little Steven’s Underground Garage channel) and he is playing The Beatles almost literally eight days a week. Chris Carter conservatively estimates he has played The Beatles and Beatles-related songs more than a quarter million times on terrestrial and satellite radio combined, making him an unofficial record holder of sorts.
“It has been an honor to serve as steward of Breakfast With The Beatles all these years,” said Carter, who also co-founded New Jersey-based alternative rock band Dramarama and served as the band’s bassist for thirteen years starting in 1981. “The music of The Beatles is eternal, and thus, it enables the radio show to endure and thrive. John, Paul, George and Ringo, in a sense, gave me the best job in the world. I have no doubt BWTB will last at least another 40 years, and most likely much longer.”
Over the last four decades, Breakfast With The Beatles has had on its fair share of guests who are integral to The Beatles story and legacy, including Ringo Starr, Sir George Martin, Julian Lennon, Pete Best, Billy Preston, Olivia Harrison, Dhani Harrison, Pattie Boyd, Brian Wilson, Peter Asher, May Pang, Yoko Ono, Klaus Voormann, Eric Idle and Sir Paul McCartney, who described Breakfast With The Beatles as “the Rolls Royce of radio shows.”
“40 years.. crazy! I want to thank you for putting all that work in for us,” commented Ringo Starr before jokingly quipping, “Time you moved on. Just having fun at your expense. Thanks a lot, Chris, and have a great 40-year party on the show. Peace and love.”
Robert Kinsler
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