When I moved to San Diego from Ohio in 1999, I noted on an oldies station (no longer on the air) a morning drive DJ by the name of Chuch Buell. I immediately took notice. Had I not been so busy getting established I would have called the station to find out about him. This was the name of a DJ on WLS, Chicago, I used to listen to at night in the 60s. 

I always enjoyed his shows. I later found out this indeed was him, here in San Diego. Also I later learned that Ken Reeth, aka Brother Love, moved to Carlsbad, CA, about 30 minutes away from me. When I found this out I went crazy! I tried every way I could to find an email address for him. Finally I reached him and he and I corresponded a few times before he died. 

He moved to Las Vegas, he said in an email, because the laws were less restrictive in Nevada. He never mentioned what laws he was talking about. He only sent a few more emails and I never knew why he quit writing. Then I learned of his demise and his long bout with leukemia. 

He never mentioned his illness to me. Yes, indeed, I was a huge fan of Brother Love and Porky Chedwick on WAMO-FM. I knew Porky as an "underground radio" DJ before I knew he was a doo wop DJ. My sister used to listen to him when he was on different stations, I think WEEP, when it first got started in the early 60s. I never realized he was the one to cause the traffic jam in downtown Pittsburgh, getting everyone to stop their cars and dance to "Dancing In the Street". She got a kick out of this when it happened and I remember her telling me, her little brother, about it when it happened. 

A few years after WAMO ended their "underground" programming and went totally soul/r&b/jazz, I heard Porky spinning doo wop music on WMCK, I am sure, in McKeesport, on or about 810 on the AM radio dial. Yes, last I checked, Porky was 89 and still a DJ, back on WAMO-AM in Butler (the AM station moved). He's in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. 

Sure wish someone would start a petition to get Ken Reeth in the Hall. He was one of the first and important underground FM DJs while at WAMO-FM, along with Sam Donahue in San Francisco and another guy who's name slips my mind right now, out of Boston's WBZ-FM. They were the first, and laid the foundation for today's album oriented rock stations. I have some WAMO FM cds from tapes I and others made of Brother Love and Porky as well as Gemini, and Raymond the Condemned. 

San Diego Radio Pioneer, 

Ken Reeth: 

1938 -- 2005 

San Diego radio pioneer, Ken Reeth, passed away on May 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada, after waging a courageous battle with leukemia. 

In 1978 he became the program director of KyXy radio, where he developed the Soft Rock format that continues to this day. Going by the name Ken Richards, he also did the highly rated midday show till 1986. Ken was born in the Bronx, N.Y., in 1938. At age 14, he moved with his family to Allentown, Pa., where he attended William Allen High School. 

He served in Okinawa during the Korean War and was honorably discharged from the Air Force. 

Upon his return, he began a career in show business as a straight man in the successful comedy team of Reeth and King. They toured the country performing on television and in nightclubs from Biloxi to Las Vegas.

 He became a member of American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) in 1962, and with his songwriting partner, Bob Hafner, wrote hundreds of rock'n' roll tunes, scoring hits with such titles as "Rockin' Billy," "Endless Love," "Turn Him Down" and "Funny Papers." 

In 1956, he began his successful radio career that spanned four decades, starting in Allentown, Pa., at WHOL. Three years later, he moved on to the powerful WDRC in Hartford, Conn. In 1962, he married Barbara Landis of Neffs, Pa. Barb and Ken moved to Pittsburgh, where at WZUM, he played R&B music as "Skinny Kenny." Moving across town to WAMO, he became program director and one of America's first underground disc jockeys as "Brother Love." 

In Miami he explored the country market at WOAH and was program director and general manager of the Cuban station, WLTO. In 1973, he moved to Pomona, where he owned and operated the country station, KKAR, appearing on the air as "Romeo Jones," and served on the board of directors of the Academy of Country Music. 

In 1988 he abandoned his successful radio career to pursue a lifelong dream of writing, completing three novels and co-authoring the award winning sci-fi novel "Dreamland." 

Ken is survived by Barbara, his wife of 43 years, as well as his daughter, Kim and grandchildren Jose, Damian, Miguel and Benjamin and his sister, Marilyn Moffitt. 

A memorial service will be held this Saturday, May 21, 2005, at 3 p.m. at the Mt. Solodad Veterans Memorial. 


In Memoriam 

Thanks Gary Pfeifer for the photo

Letters From Listeners

I remember Brother Love -- and the Mind Garage, too! 

I stumbled on to Ken Reeth's "Brother Love" show by happy accident in 1968. I was in eighth grade, and I would listen to Jim Quinn (then a "top-40" DJ) on KQV-FM (now WDVE) from 7 to 9. I would then switch to WAMO to avoid KQV's "Disc Derby." Well, one spring night in 1968, WAMO wasn't playing the hard-core soul music the "top-40" stations wouldn't play. 

Instead, I heard the hard-core "acid rock" and folk music the other stations wouldn't play. That night, and over the months to come, "Brother Love" introduced me to the Iron Butterfly, Arlo Guthrie, Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Autosalvage, The Chocolate Watchband, The Fraternity of Man, Spirit, Pearls Before Swine, The Fugs, The Velvet Underground, the MC5, and the Grateful Dead. Note that most of these artists had only released one or two albums and no singles at the time , but I think he played the single "Asphalt Mother" by the Mind Garage. The records Brother Love played fueled my desire to learn guitar, and I'm still playing and writing today. Oh, to have had one of those then-brand new cassette tape recorders that night! 

The next day I told everyone in school about "Brother Love". They all thought I'd made it up -- especially the part about a group named "Steppenwolf". 

Thanks, Kevin Bold

Hi Jim, 

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Very nice to see a Tribute site to Ken "Brother Love" Reeth! I grew up in the NYC area so I didn't have the opportunity to hear Brother Love back in the day, but I was a big fan of underground radio at that time. I first heard Brother Love in the late 90's when I obtained a copy of his airchecks. I was immediately captivated by his persona and all the great music he was playing. One day about a year later, I was very pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Ken. He was thrilled that some tape of his Brother Love shows existed. This started up a very nice email friendship between Ken and I. I sent him copies of the airchecks I had and he sent me a few original Brother Love tapes that he still had which I had converted to CD. He also sent me lots of photos and some printed material. Many other people I had sent copies of the airchecks to became Brother Love fans and Ken was very happy that he was still acquiring new fans all these years later. A couple of us were discussing with Ken about establishing a Brother Love website in which Ken would be an active participant. It would include info, pictures, sound clips and some new material from Ken. Then I didn't hear from Ken for a long time. Finally, I received an email from his wife Barbara informing me of the very sad news of his untimely passing. He had never let on that he was ill. Barbara said that receiving and reading email from fans like myself and many others comforted Ken in his final days. The realization that he was still blowing people's mind with the music he played some 35 years later made him feel good. I miss him very much but I feel honored to have been an email friend of this for the last 2 - 3 years of his life. 

Of course, I would be very interested in obtaining copies of your Brother Love shows if they are different from the ones I already have!! Can you send me some details of the shows you have and maybe we can work out a trade. 

Best regards, 

Gary Pfeifer