Case in point.
It's late 1985 and I'm helming the airwaves at KSHE 95.
I met Kitty in late 1983 in Kansas City. She really wanted to get into the business and somewhere down the line, I passed along an opening at the Source network in NYC and allowed her to use the station's facilities in KC for her audition.
The Source was the NBC network for "young people" back about that time. By the next round of auditions, Kitty had just enough experience to make it to the next level.
Right before I left for KSHE in 1985, Kitty got the gig in NYC for next to no money. She rose quickly through the ranks and became a full fledged network anchor very quickly. I knew she had the goods and so did they.
One night, as my shift at KSHE is winding down, I get a call on the hot line. The "hot line" is the direct number into the studio and only a few people have it. When it rings, you answer it.
Only a certain amount of people had access.
"Hey Randy, it's Kitty."
"Hello Miss Kitty, how are you?"
"Have you heard the latest with Van Halen?"
"What, did Eddie fall of the stage again?"
"I just witnessed a conversation in the hall here. Are you ready for this?"
"What?"
"It looks like David Lee Roth has been dismissed from Van Halen and replaced by Sammy Hagar."
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"No, I'm serious, I just heard this and I know what a big deal Sammy Hagar is in St. Louis."
"Do you know what this could mean to me good or bad?"
"I owe you," she said. "I would never be anything but real with you, go with this..."
So I did.
I announced that night that Sammy had replaced DLR as the singer.
On the air.
At KSHE.
Sammy central.
I woke up the next morning and heard MY morning show completely tear me shreds over this.
How dare I announce this without confirmation.
"We're looking into this, and I don't think we can confirm this..."
He took calls from people ..."he's from Kansas City, that's how they do it there, no sources, he's just running with this without checking them out."
This was on MY station.. "How can we let someone on the air who says stuff like this..."
This was on MY station.
In morning drive....MY morning guy was ripping me to shreds instead of at least calling me and checking this out.
It wasn't long before I got the phone call at home..."what the fuck is this about?"
It was Rick Balis, the program director, my boss.
I said that I had full faith in my source.
He wanted to know my source.
Ain't gonna happen.
If this was untrue, I was done at KSHE. Over.
The next 8 hours were filled with finding Sammy's people and Sammy's manager Ed Leffler particularly.
If this was not confirmed, I was done, laughed out of St. Louis and back to teaching American History in high school.
I had faith.
I was on the air about 4:45 when Al Hofer came into the studio and said that Sammy was on the line. At that time at the KSHE studios, you could lose a call for no reason.
Jeessus, not now.
As Al left the studio, he said, "I hope you are right."
"Me, too." I replied.
It was Sammy. His first words to me were..."how did you know? Who do you know?"
He then said yes, it's true and referred to that fact it was poetic justice that KSHE broke the news.
"I owe my record company one more album and when that commitment is satisfied, I will be a member of Van Halen for as long as the eye could see. I am so looking forward to working with these dudes. Eddie and I see eye to eye on a lot of stuff."
"You guys in the studio?"
"Not yet but Eddie and I are writing stuff. I am so happy, dude, tell my fans I'll see them soon."
I lost track of Kitty not long after The Source closed up.
Thank you love.
At no time did I get an apology from the morning man, Rick or anyone in the chain of command. I knew then, I was on my own. And that was OK.
