Alex Bennett (broadcaster)

Bennett was born on December 18, 1939, in San Francisco and attended Drake High School in San Anselmo, California. He adopted his on-air name as a tribute to his late father, Alexander Schwarzmann.

During the 1960s, Bennett worked at several radio stations around the country, including KILT in Houston, where he used the on-air moniker James Bond and did his show using an English accent, and WLOL in Minneapolis before moving on to other large markets.

In Chicago, he hosted a nightly music program on 560 WIND where his newscaster was Don Cornelius (who later hosted television's Soul Train). It was in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention riots that he became radicalized.

In 1969 he was recruited by Top 40 station AM 570 WMCA in New York City, where he worked with Murray the K, Barry Gray (who became a mentor) and where one of his engineers was comedian Jimmie Walker.{{cite book | last=Walker | first=Jimmie | date=June 26, 2012 | title=Dyn-O-Mite: Good Times, Bad Times, Our Times: A Memoir | page=186 | location=Boston | publisher=Da Capo Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3EP1S7DiU4C&pg=PA186 | isbn=978-0-306-82083-0 }} Bennett was an overnight talk show host during the station's transition from its Top 40 "Good Guys" music format to the pioneering "Dial-Log" all-talk era. Bennett brought a progressive rock radio sensibility to the teenage-oriented station, still playing album cuts of music as his talk show evolved, and openly discussing topics ranging from his love life to his participation in various countercultural events, before giving his yogic sign-off "Namaste" (sometimes rendered in English as "the God within me sees the God within you").

In 1969, Bennett flew to London to investigate the rumor of Paul McCartney's death.{{cite book|title=That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966-1970|last=Winn|first=John C.|date=16 June 2009 |publisher=Three Rivers Press|isbn=978-0-307452-39-9|location=New York|page=333|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdsMqbAQJWgC&pg=PA333 | access-date=December 22, 2017}} He later became friends with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who in 1970 heard Bennett introduce her debut album on the air by saying, "I think in 1980 music will probably sound like this."{{cite book | last=Cott | first=Jonathan | date=February 12, 2013 | title=Days That I'll Remember: Spending Time with John Lennon and Yoko Ono | location=New York | publisher=Doubleday | page=[https://archive.org/details/daysthatillremem0000cott_v3m9/page/89 89] | url=https://archive.org/details/daysthatillremem0000cott_v3m9 | url-access=registration | isbn=978-0-385-53637-0 | access-date=December 31, 2017}}{{cite magazine | last=Cott | first=Jonathan | date=March 18, 1971 | title=Yoko Ono and Her Sixteen-Track Voice | magazine=Rolling Stone | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/yoko-ono-and-her-sixteen-track-voice-19710318 | access-date=December 31, 2017}} Lennon and Ono subsequently appeared on Bennett's show.{{cite book | last=Badman | first=Keith | date=Oct 28, 2009 | title=The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After The Break-Up 1970-2001 | publisher=Omnibus Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LDLhgzA930UC | access-date=December 31, 2017 | isbn=978-0-711-98307-6 }}

In 1970, Bennett was fired when WMCA signed the New York Yankees. With baseball games running in Bennett's evening time slot, the station felt there was no place for him. The dismissal was protested by over a thousand people in front of the radio station. The story made headlines in the New York newspapers.{{cite news | last=Gould | first=Jack | date=March 14, 1971 | title=The Day the Counter-Culture Lost a Lively Voice | work=New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/14/archives/the-day-the-counterculture-lost-a-lively-voice.html | access-date=December 22, 2017}} It was featured in Variety with four articles on the same page,{{citation needed|date=October 2014}} and Bennett was described in The New Yorker as "martyr of the cultural revolution."{{cite magazine | last=Willis | first=Ellen | author-link=Ellen Willis | title=Musical Events - Rock, Etc. | magazine=The New Yorker | date=August 12, 1972 | page=57 | url=http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=1972-08-12#folio=056 | access-date=December 22, 2017}}

Bennett and his wife-producer Ronni moved their show to New York FM station 95.5 WABC-FM (which soon became WPLJ) with the station at first recruiting him for morning drive time.{{cite book | last=Keith | first=Michael C. | date=April 30, 1997 | title=Voices in the Purple Haze: Underground Radio and the Sixties | page=142 | location=Santa Barbara | publisher=Praeger | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFW4AAAAIAAJ | access-date=January 1, 2018 | isbn=0-275-95266-5}} He later switched to a free-wheeling overnight show. By late 1971 the couple had split.

Guests on Bennett's WPLJ show included rock stars such as John Lennon, comedians like George Carlin and left-wing, anti-war activists such as Timothy Leary, Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman who would call him from the "Chicago Seven" trial.{{cite book | last=Sloman | first=Larry | date=August 17, 1998 | title=Steal This Dream: Abbie Hoffman and the Countercultural Revolution in America | location=New York | publisher=Doubleday | pages=312, 359 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjC7AAAAIAAJ | access-date=January 1, 2018 | isbn=0385411626}}

While at WPLJ as an early video pioneer (a lifelong hobby), Bennett created and produced Midnight Blue with Bruce David (who went on to be the editor for "Hustler Magazine"). The show was seen on a New York public-access cable TV channel.{{cite magazine | date=June 9, 1975| title=New York cables' answer to Carson: late-night sex | magazine=Broadcasting | pages=48–49 | url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1975/1975-06-09-BC.pdf | access-date=December 31, 2017}} Susan Finesilver, whom Bennett married in November 1976, was a regular contributor, interviewer, and guest on the show. The couple divorced in 1992.

Bennett was let go from WPLJ in 1974. Afterward, Bennett continued to appear on New York broadcast outlets, including WMCA.{{cite news | date=December 8, 1977 | title=Radio | work=New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/08/archives/radio.html | access-date=December 22, 2017}}

Bennett was asked to do a tryout week at a radio station in his native San Francisco. With the tryout a success, he was signed to host a morning show for album-oriented rock (AOR) station 106.1 KMEL, teaming up with newsman Joe Regelski. While at KMEL, Bennett's mother, Ruth, achieved fame as the world's oldest AOR disk jockey when she hosted a Sunday night countdown show on KMEL from 1982 to 1983.{{cite magazine | date=March 14, 1983 | title=Lookout | magazine=People | url=http://people.com/archive/lookout-vol-19-no-10/ | access-date=January 1, 2018}} After Bennett's departure, Ruth continued at KMEL for a year. Ruth died in 2005 at the age of 100.

The Alex Bennett Show left KMEL when he was offered a lucrative deal and unprecedented creative freedom at a competitor station. Bennett and Regelski signed to do the morning show on 98.9 KQAK "The Quake" (now KSOL) where they remained for two years. Bennett left KQAK for modern rock outlet 105.3 KITS ("Live 105"), where he did two stints.

As a regular staple, the shows in San Francisco featured local and national comedians in front of a live studio audience. Performers Bob Goldthwait, Whoopi Goldberg, Dana Carvey, Ray Romano, Margaret Cho and Jay Leno were among the guests on Bennett's program, which influenced the next generation of Bay Area comedians.{{cite web | last=Jones | first=Kevin L. | date=July 8, 2017 | title=From the Video Store Basement to Smog City With George Chen | work=KQED | url=https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2017/07/08/from-the-video-store-basement-to-smog-city-with-george-chen/ | access-date=December 25, 2017}} Bennett also would do road shows such as "Breakfast with Bennett" and "Supper with Schwarzmann" which featured live stand-up comedy stars, musical acts and a live house band. Bennett also produced a number of sold out live comedy shows. During the 1980s, Bennett was the original host of public television's "Comedy Tonight."{{cite news | last=Hartlaub | first=Peter | date=October 18, 2017 | title=Margaret Cho returns to Castro, ready for a comedic challenge |

work=San Francisco Chronicle | url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/performance/article/Margaret-Cho-returns-to-Castro-ready-for-a-12287977.php | access-date=January 3, 2018}} In the 1990s won a local San Francisco Emmy Award for his work on "Log On TV" on KGO-TV 7.

Bennett was fired after a few years at Live 105, but was back after nine months. During that time he moved to Miami and hosted a talk show on local AM talk station 610 WIOD. He considered that move a sour experience due to it being an AM station and with considerable restrictions on his freedom to talk.

CBS Radio then bought KITS and paid off the remainder of Bennett's contract with WIOD Miami so he could return to Live 105 to again host mornings. Bennett remained at Live 105 until July 1997.{{cite news | last=Selvin | first=Joel | date=July 11, 1997 | title=Alex Bennett to Leave the Air / Today the last day for Live 105 host | work=SFGate | url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Alex-Bennett-to-Leave-the-Air-Today-the-last-2818303.php | access-date=December 25, 2017 }} CBS Radio had a desire to put its own syndicated Howard Stern Show on the station. Until then, Stern was heard in the Bay Area on San Jose-based 98.5 KOME, but did not have a clear signal in all parts of San Francisco. Bennett was fired in the middle of a live show being broadcast from Walnut Creek, California and was subsequently replaced by Johnny Steele, who tanked the ratings of the show and was then replaced by Howard Stern the following year.{{Cite web|last=Writer|first=Jerry Carroll, Chronicle Staff|date=1998-05-29|title=Stern Is Moving To KITS / 'Live 105' shakes up staff to add 'shock jock'|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Stern-Is-Moving-To-KITS-Live-105-shakes-up-3005167.php|access-date=2021-03-19|website=SFGATE|language=en-US}} Coincidentally, both Stern and Bennett would later be co-workers at SiriusXM satellite radio.

A technology aficionado, Bennett took advantage of the early growth of the World Wide Web. After leaving FM rock radio in the late 1990s, Bennett created an Internet Television show for Play TV. The show ended when the company went out of business. Bennett also developed an early website, The Surfing Monkey, along with Chuck Farnham, David Biedny and Jesse Montrose. It featured, among other things, a series of articles written by an inmate on Death Row at San Quentin State Prison. Bennett is personally opposed to the death penalty. The prisoner, identified by the pseudonym Dean, reported on daily prison life in a series called "Dead Man Talking."{{cite news | last=Bailey | first=Brandon | date=July 18, 1996 | title=Two Web pages with a link to Death Row | page=58 | work=The Philadelphia Inquirer | url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/179225626 | access-date=January 3, 2018}} Bennett also voiced the Starbase Commander character in the 1994 release of Star Control 2 by 3DO.{{cite web | title=Star Control II Credits (3DO) | work=MobyGames | url=http://www.mobygames.com/game/3do/star-control-ii/credits | access-date=January 3, 2018}}

Bennett briefly returned to radio in 2001 to host a technology-oriented midday talk show for CNET Radio at its San Francisco flagship station, 960 KNEW.{{cite news | last=Fost | first=Dan | date=January 23, 2003 | title=Cnet's quitting radio could be good for Alex Bennett | work=SFGate | url=http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Cnet-s-quitting-radio-could-be-good-for-Alex-2677592.php | access-date=January 1, 2017}} Bennett's attempt to return to general AM talk radio was hampered by his outspoken left-leaning political views{{cite web | url=https://vimeo.com/user12706185/videos | title=Alex Bennett's Videos on Vimeo }} (though he temporarily hosted a morning show on KNEW when it changed its format to talk in 2003). Station managers mostly wanted to hire right-wing talk show hosts.

In 2003, Bennett returned to New York. On April 19, 2004, he began hosting a show from 7am to 10am ET on Sirius Left (now known as "SiriusXM Progress"). On his weekday show, he talked about politics, entertainment, and personal interests. He has also served as a substitute host for syndicated talk show host Lionel on several occasions.

In 2008 Bennett was inducted into the San Francisco Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.{{cite web | title=Celebrating the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame Class of 2008! | publisher=Bay Area Radio Museum | url=https://bayarearadio.org/site/hof/2008-hof/ | access-date=December 22, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223042550/https://bayarearadio.org/site/hof/2008-hof/ | archive-date=December 23, 2017 | url-status=dead }}

On March 27, 2012, Alex married his longtime girlfriend Marjorie Miller (known as "Girlfriend" on his program). They currently reside in the Harlem district of New York City.

Bennett was told in late June 2013 that his last show on SiriusXM would be Friday, June 28, 2013.

In January 2014 Bennett started "GABNet" at gabnet.net which he calls "the first real innovation in phone-in talk radio since the format's invention,"{{cite web | last=Kinosian | first=Mike | date=February 5, 2014 | title=Alex Bennett: Still Pioneering After All These Years | work=Talkers | url=http://www.talkers.com/2014/02/05/alex-bennett-still-pioneering-after-all-these-years/ | access-date=December 21, 2017 | archive-date=July 4, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704193935/http://www.talkers.com/2014/02/05/alex-bennett-still-pioneering-after-all-these-years/ | url-status=dead }} featuring group discussions with the listeners called "Citizen Panels."{{cite web|url=http://gabnet.net/page1.html|title=Life In The Passing Lane|date=August 17, 2016|access-date=17 August 2016}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://gabnet.net/page1.html Alex Bennett's life story "Life In The Passing Lane: An audiobiography]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070806063545/http://www.bayarearadio.org/audio/kqak/kqak_alex-bennett_aug-23-1982.shtml Alex Bennett on KQAK FM 99 (The Quake), 1982]
• {{YouTube|CNC_6yz0PyU|A video from a "Breakfast with Bennett" live broadcast on KQAK}}
• [http://www.kmelforever.com/alex-bennett.html An Interview With Alex Bennett]
• [http://www.talkers.com/?s=alex+bennett&x=0&y=0Alex Talkers Magazine]

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Category:1939 births

Category:Living people

Category:American alternative journalists

Category:American radio journalists

Category:American talk radio hosts

Category:Radio personalities from San Francisco

Category:Archie Williams High School alumni