Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand, KFI.
Speaker 2: AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. It's
Speaker 2: Saturdays with Tiffany here with you from five to seven
Speaker 2: tonight and boy, do we have a show for you today.
Speaker 2: But before I start the show, are you guys watching
Speaker 2: the news or keeping up with your social media? There's
Speaker 2: a man on top of the D of the Hollywood Sign.
Speaker 2: I know you didn't know where that was going, did you, Kayla.
Speaker 2: But there's a man on top of the D in
Speaker 2: the Hollywood Sign of the Hollywood Sign. He's been there
Speaker 2: since about three PM. And he has some sort of banner.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at news Chopper four here on Channel four
Speaker 2: and this person is on top of the D. He
Speaker 2: has scaled the letter and he is holding some sort
Speaker 2: of flag with writing on it that I can't yet
Speaker 2: make out. There police at the base of the sign
Speaker 2: trying to negotiate with him, and it does look like
Speaker 2: he has come down, so Grand opening, Grand closing. He
Speaker 2: is now in custody and I'm sure we'll find out,
Speaker 2: maybe we'll find out what he was up there for
Speaker 2: in the first place. But I'm glad he didn't get
Speaker 2: too much publicity because copycats love to do that sort
Speaker 2: of thing. All right, let's get into our big show
Speaker 2: for a little bit of the rundown at six point thirty.
Speaker 2: If the price of eggs is driving you crazy, you're
Speaker 2: going to want to tune in because farmers, yes, farmers,
Speaker 2: are hoping to ease your pain. And we're gonna talk
Speaker 2: to the founders of an organization called Rent the Chicken.
Speaker 2: You heard me right, Rent the Chicken, and they're gonna
Speaker 2: let you know just what they do all around the
Speaker 2: United States in a way that allows you, the consumer
Speaker 2: to become a junior farmer of sorts and produce your
Speaker 2: own eggs. Not you, you producing your own eggs, your chickens
Speaker 2: that you will be renting will be producing their own eggs,
Speaker 2: and will get you the details on the how, the why,
Speaker 2: and of course the big question how much this entire
Speaker 2: endeavor costs. Just after six point thirty, also have a
Speaker 2: story about what California can expect in relation to the
Speaker 2: egg crisis, because there are some predictions about what will
Speaker 2: happen in our state as the price of eggs continues
Speaker 2: to skyrocket and the demand, which is absolutely connected supply
Speaker 2: and demand as the demand continues to grow, because we
Speaker 2: love our eggs. I looked at refrigerator this morning. I
Speaker 2: had three eggs left, and I'm treasuring them. I'm kind
Speaker 2: of waiting until the right moment to actually crack them open.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be greedy, because who knows when
Speaker 2: I'll be able to find some more for a good price. Anyway, Now,
Speaker 2: if you do, in fact have too many eggs, if
Speaker 2: you're one of the fortunate few who has a surplus
Speaker 2: of eggs, and you've just been finding yourself goreing on
Speaker 2: these eggs and you've gained a little too much weight
Speaker 2: too fast, maybe Ozimpic has been on your mind, or
Speaker 2: one of those semiglue tie type of drugs that you
Speaker 2: can inject. Well, there's a new side effect. Not ozimpic face,
Speaker 2: not ozimpic, but not your hair falling out. No, this
Speaker 2: one is actually much worse. All jokes aside. This side
Speaker 2: effect is much worse. And I'll tell you what that
Speaker 2: side effect is at the top of the six o'clock hour. Now,
Speaker 2: a new list has just dropped. A new list came out.
Speaker 2: You know, we love our list. We love to know
Speaker 2: where we fall on someone's list, and This one has
Speaker 2: to do with the quote rudest cities in the United States.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you which California cities made the list and
Speaker 2: how close you are in proximity to rude people that
Speaker 2: you might not have recognized. That's coming up in the
Speaker 2: next segment. Then at five thirty, we have music industry
Speaker 2: legend Ernie Singleton and he'll be joining the show. He's
Speaker 2: who you can thank for the likes of the mass
Speaker 2: appeal of artists like Prince Madonna, the Beegs, Share and
Speaker 2: countless others. He's the man behind the magic, the man
Speaker 2: you didn't know you were a fan of. And we're
Speaker 2: going to talk to him at five thirty. But first,
Speaker 2: what crazy weather we had this week? Absolutely crazy weather,
Speaker 2: mud slides, tornadoes, torrential rain, atmospheric rivers. Can we go
Speaker 2: back to that tornado aspect for a second. A tornado
Speaker 2: touchdown in Oxnard, and of course it set its sights
Speaker 2: on a mobile home park. These mobile home parks just
Speaker 2: seem to attract these tornadoes like moths to a flame.
Speaker 2: And fortunately this particular tornado was an F one, But
Speaker 2: an F one. If you've ever been in any proximity
Speaker 2: to a tornado, and F one is still extremely significant.
Speaker 2: It will cause you to soil yourself if you are nearby.
Speaker 2: I have seen, quick little story, I have seen a tornado.
Speaker 2: I may have talked about this on air before. I
Speaker 2: was in a plane and I was thirty thousand feet up.
Speaker 2: We were ascending to cruising altitude, and the pilot said
Speaker 2: to everyone, Ssh, there's a tornado just out of your window.
Speaker 2: If you're on the right side of the plane. Sh
Speaker 2: So if you're on the right side of the plane,
Speaker 2: look out and see this tornado. And he was excited,
Speaker 2: he was happy about that. I'm sitting in my seat
Speaker 2: on the right side of the plane now praying every
Speaker 2: single prayer in every single language and religion that I know,
Speaker 2: because I am certain that we are going to fall
Speaker 2: victim to this tornado. But I did look out. I
Speaker 2: looked out the window and I saw the top of
Speaker 2: the tornado. I saw the eye of the tornado. Things
Speaker 2: you only see in movies or on that Doppler radar,
Speaker 2: and it was magnificent. It was also terrifying. So to
Speaker 2: see any tornado, be it an F one, which is
Speaker 2: the lowest on that Richter scale or that particular scale,
Speaker 2: all the way up to the f fives and beyond
Speaker 2: is something to behold. An Oxnard got their first tornado
Speaker 2: at least in many, many years, and it did quite
Speaker 2: a bit of damage. But aside from that tornado, there
Speaker 2: were quite a few mud slides. There were quite a
Speaker 2: few debris flows and rau wolves here in the studio
Speaker 2: with us, or at the boards on his side of
Speaker 2: the studio, and we have some audio about what happened
Speaker 2: with all of this torrential rain and the mudslides.
Speaker 3: Overnight torrentive heavy rains pounding the West coast unleash you
Speaker 3: that swarm of mudslides in Los Angeles, thunderstorms and the
Speaker 3: most powerful range system in a year slamming the burn
Speaker 3: scars from the Palisades fire, sitting cascades of mud across
Speaker 3: the Pacific Coast Highway and forcing parts of it to close,
Speaker 3: and a scary moment for a member of the LA
Speaker 3: Fire Department, mud and huge pieces of debris sweeping his
Speaker 3: car off the road, onto the beach and then out
Speaker 3: into the ocean. Are you okay? The officer was able
Speaker 3: to escape and climb to safety. He suffered minor injuries.
Speaker 2: So as you heard, there there was even an officer,
Speaker 2: a law enforcement person who was swept up in all
Speaker 2: of this, trying to make sure that residents were safe,
Speaker 2: that business owners were safe along PCH and he found
Speaker 2: himself practically swept out to sea because of this massive
Speaker 2: debris flow. And of course the mud slides were because
Speaker 2: of the fires. Evacuation orders were issued for the different
Speaker 2: burn zones from Pasadena and Altadena to Malibu, and of
Speaker 2: course four good reason, there was lots of mud and flooding.
Speaker 2: PCH got it extremely badly. As you heard there Duke's
Speaker 2: Restaurant in Malibu, that beautiful restaurant that survived the fires,
Speaker 2: is now doing a mass cleanup because so much mud
Speaker 2: ran into their parking lot right up to the restaurant.
Speaker 2: They're saying somewhere estimated between six and eight inches of
Speaker 2: mud that they're now having to dig themselves out of.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you saw on social media, but
Speaker 2: Melrose Avenue, the shopping district portion of Melrose Avenue over
Speaker 2: there by Librea, was flooded entirely in some parts because
Speaker 2: the sewers and the drainage systems were backing up because
Speaker 2: of this torrential rainfall, and there were stores that were
Speaker 2: inundated with multiple inches of rain. And when you saw
Speaker 2: these videos, as I did, you would have thought you
Speaker 2: were somewhere along a river or somewhere closer to a
Speaker 2: large body of water. No, it's just the nature of
Speaker 2: the beast, and it seems to be the new normal
Speaker 2: at least going forward, at least in certain areas. Again,
Speaker 2: Altadena got hit really hard, the San Berdino excuse me,
Speaker 2: San Bernardino area got hit extremely hard. Sierra Madre got
Speaker 2: hit extremely hard with these mud slides and these debris flows.
Speaker 2: And back to this idea of the new normal. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: for the next few years, these burned, scarred areas are
Speaker 2: going to be affected by rain that we need. But
Speaker 2: because there's nothing to stop the path of the rain,
Speaker 2: these homes, these properties, these businesses, these streets are going
Speaker 2: to have to deal very quickly with what could be
Speaker 2: another type of natural disaster. Speaking of natural disasters and
Speaker 2: going back quickly to the fires, Michael Monks, kfi's own
Speaker 2: Michael Monks is doing a two hour news special two
Speaker 2: Night on the Fires, and it will air from seven
Speaker 2: pm to nine pm. There will be a replay tomorrow
Speaker 2: Sunday from two pm to four pm. And Michael is
Speaker 2: going to end this two hour special look at the
Speaker 2: devastating effects of the wildfires through the voices of the
Speaker 2: people directly impacted. Those are people who lost their homes,
Speaker 2: people who have started the recovery process, business owners, and
Speaker 2: people who are taking charge to rebuild in the aftermath.
Speaker 2: The special will also talk to reporters who were on
Speaker 2: the scene to cover all angles of this next phase.
Speaker 2: Make sure you tune in again to this two hour
Speaker 2: news special tonight with Michael Monks, kfi's own newsperson, Michael Monks,
Speaker 2: airing tonight from seven pm to nine pm, and also
Speaker 2: tomorrow from two pm to four pm on the replay.
Speaker 2: When we come back, we're going to get into the
Speaker 2: most impolite cities in the US, and we're gonna find
Speaker 2: out which California cities rank on that list right here
Speaker 2: on KFI AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Tiffany Hobbs here with you.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: I AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Tiffany Hobbs here with you until seven. Make sure you
Speaker 2: listen in from seven to nine tonight from Michael Monks.
Speaker 2: This very special broadcast about what is happening now in
Speaker 2: this next phase with the fire recovery. It will air
Speaker 2: tonight from seven to nine pm and there will be
Speaker 2: a replay tomorrow from two pm to four pm, so
Speaker 2: make sure you keep it locked right here. And at
Speaker 2: five thirty we have a very special guest coming on,
Speaker 2: mister Ernie Singleton music industry legend. Legend is not even
Speaker 2: a big enough word to describe this man, but he
Speaker 2: is the hit maker. He is the magic behind a
Speaker 2: lot of artists you are are fans of. You didn't know.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that he was always right there in
Speaker 2: the wings with these artists, promoting them, marketing them so
Speaker 2: that we then could consume their music. And we're gonna
Speaker 2: have him come on at five point thirty and answer
Speaker 2: some questions about what that was like, so stay tuned
Speaker 2: for that. Now, let's get into this list, this new
Speaker 2: list that just came out, and let's see where California
Speaker 2: cities rank. The list is called the most Rude Cities
Speaker 2: in the United States. Yes, there's a list dedicated to
Speaker 2: rude cities. And you might be asking yourself, do I
Speaker 2: live in one of the rudest cities in California. Well,
Speaker 2: you might, you very well might, and if you've been
Speaker 2: out and about in the public, you probably have a
Speaker 2: good reason to think so. Because people seem to be
Speaker 2: on edge. Rudeness seems to be the emotion du jour.
Speaker 2: And because of that, this list has some very stiff
Speaker 2: or stiff competition. And let me tell you what the
Speaker 2: social behaviors are that contribute it to this ranking. The
Speaker 2: social behaviors or the way in which cities were judged
Speaker 2: include one lack of awareness in public. Lack of awareness
Speaker 2: in public. Number two loudness in shared places, so those
Speaker 2: people who put everything on speakerphone or people who are
Speaker 2: just don't have any volume control. And rudeness to service staff,
Speaker 2: so your waiters, your other sorts of service members, service
Speaker 2: staff members, amongst other things. So the list was compiled
Speaker 2: by a site called pre Ply pre Ply and you
Speaker 2: can see the full ranking on preply dot com. P
Speaker 2: r E p l y dot com. Doesn't have anything
Speaker 2: to do with tissue paper. Don't know exactly what their
Speaker 2: objective is, but they made a list and the list
Speaker 2: has gone viral, and they ranked forty six of the
Speaker 2: largest cities in the United States. So here is the list,
Speaker 2: and then I'll tell you where California. Where California falls.
Speaker 2: Of the rude of cities in the United States the
Speaker 2: most rute. The top five rude to cities are Miami, Florida,
Speaker 2: Philadelphia super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles went back to
Speaker 2: a very rude city according to this list, Pennsylvania, Tampa, Florida, Louisville.
Speaker 2: Or excuse me, excuse me, I read that wrong. I'm Miami, Philadelphia, Tampa,
Speaker 2: and Louisville. There we go, Miami, Philadelphia, Tampa, and Louisville.
Speaker 2: And because they're rude, they probably would have turned their
Speaker 2: noses up at me. That I wasn't able to delineate
Speaker 2: between cities and states. But those are the top five.
Speaker 2: The fifth one Oakland, California, and that then ushers us
Speaker 2: in to where California falls. San Jose is number thirty
Speaker 2: nine on the list. San Francisco is number fourteen on
Speaker 2: the list of forty six rudest cities scales zero to
Speaker 2: tens zero least rude, ten most rude. Okay on that
Speaker 2: metric scale, So thirty nine San Jose, fourteen San Francisco
Speaker 2: out of forty six, Sacramento is number nineteen, Los Angeles
Speaker 2: is number twenty five, Long Beach is number nine, and
Speaker 2: again Oakland tops the list of California's rudest cities at
Speaker 2: number five, number five, So Los Angeles is number twenty five.
Speaker 2: Are kind of right there in the middle of the
Speaker 2: rudest cities, with the rudest again being Miami, Philadelphia, Tampa,
Speaker 2: and Kentucky. Let's go back to La for a quick moment.
Speaker 2: There was a very rude moment caught on camera last
Speaker 2: week in a downtown La Taco bell cantina, one of
Speaker 2: those fancy ones where they say, well alcohol, a woman
Speaker 2: was slapped by a security guard, and we have a
Speaker 2: little audio of what that sounded like. Did you hear that?
Speaker 2: We play that one more time, listen very closely. You
Speaker 2: can literally hear the slaps.
Speaker 4: The fact.
Speaker 2: Hear this again, did you hear that? Running it back
Speaker 2: one more time, But that flap right there there it
Speaker 2: is is this flap now we can stop it around Well,
Speaker 2: the slap herd round the world, at the very least
Speaker 2: around the city of Los Angeles, because it occurred last
Speaker 2: about a week and a half ago February ninth, at
Speaker 2: the location on Seventh and Flower, Taco Bell Cantina, one
Speaker 2: of those really fair ones, and this woman went in.
Speaker 2: Don't know what this woman was doing there, don't know
Speaker 2: why she was there, but she appeared to try and
Speaker 2: order from one of those digital screens. The security guard
Speaker 2: came over. They had a few words, and as she
Speaker 2: turned away from the screen, the security guard pulled back
Speaker 2: his hand and open hand slapped this woman across the face.
Speaker 2: Across the face, and people in the Taco Bell Cantino
Speaker 2: were undoubtedly stunned, but no one did anything. All only
Speaker 2: thing people did was film. That's what we do now,
Speaker 2: and that's why we're amongst the rudest in the United States.
Speaker 2: But because of this slap, this woman who then cowered
Speaker 2: in the corner and begged the security guard to leave
Speaker 2: her alone, this woman is now the subject of potential
Speaker 2: lawsuits going forward, and a group of leaders across Los
Speaker 2: Angeles who were calling for the immediate, immediate removal, the
Speaker 2: immediate firing of that security guard. Don't know if he
Speaker 2: has been fired at this time. Their mixed answers to
Speaker 2: that question all around the net. But I'm sure we
Speaker 2: will get some updates from that story as it continues
Speaker 2: to unfold. But California right there, number twenty five on
Speaker 2: the on the list of rudest cities in California, Los
Speaker 2: Angeles right there, number twenty five. We have a bunch
Speaker 2: of cities on there, and LA is amongst the rudest
Speaker 2: in the nation. Something that's not rude is this interview
Speaker 2: that's coming up. It's special. It's going to be beautiful.
Speaker 2: It's going to teach everyone something. It's going to give
Speaker 2: you something to walk away with and motivate you and
Speaker 2: inspire you, because this man's life has been nothing less
Speaker 2: than inspiring, and we're going to talk to him about
Speaker 2: the intricacies of his time in the music industry when
Speaker 2: we come back. His name is Ernie Singleton, so you
Speaker 2: make sure you stay tuned for that. Right after this
Speaker 2: five thirty break, it's KFIM six forty live everywhere on
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app. I'm Tiffany Hobbs here with you until
Speaker 2: seven o'clock.
Speaker 1: You're listening to kfi AM six forty on demand.
Speaker 2: I am six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Tiffany Hobbes here with you until seven and I am excited.
Speaker 2: I am extremely excited because when we found out we
Speaker 2: were going to have this next guest, I did my homework.
Speaker 2: I do my homework for every guest, whether there's name
Speaker 2: recognition or business recognition, and I knew I recognize this name.
Speaker 2: So I did my homework. And what I found out
Speaker 2: from my research was that not only did I recognize
Speaker 2: this name, but that my entire adolescence, my young adulthood,
Speaker 2: my childhood was crafted by this man's influence, by his
Speaker 2: musical influence, by what he did in the recording industry
Speaker 2: that I wasn't even aware of. That he was the
Speaker 2: proverbial man behind the magic or the man behind the
Speaker 2: iron curtain. And I was just so thrilled to know
Speaker 2: that he would give our little show some of his very,
Speaker 2: very very valuable time. Let me tell you a little
Speaker 2: bit about Ernie Singleton. The music industry is a challenging
Speaker 2: space to navigate for artists and staff alike. It's synonymous
Speaker 2: with here today, gone tomorrow. Sticking around is a feat
Speaker 2: afforded to few. Those who experience success narrow that list
Speaker 2: even further. But our next guest has managed to do
Speaker 2: both for more than thirty five years. And you can
Speaker 2: add another decade plus to that when you include the
Speaker 2: street level promotions work he was doing that made him
Speaker 2: a must have acquisition in the recording industry. With one
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty nine gold and platinum records to his
Speaker 2: credit and a legitimate claim to being the one to
Speaker 2: revolutionize black music in the eighties and nineties, mister Ernie
Speaker 2: Singleton had has been described as a legend by his
Speaker 2: peers and artists he has worked with. You might recognize
Speaker 2: them Patti LaBelle Share, I'll be sure, Shaka Khan, Alanis Morissette, Jodasy,
Speaker 2: The Beg's New Edition, Miles Davis, Bone Thugs and Harmony
Speaker 2: Prince and Quincy Jones to name a select few. And
Speaker 2: I want to play a little compilation of some of
Speaker 2: the music that I just listed. Names good.
Speaker 3: I'm dum.
Speaker 2: Wow. What makes mister Ernie Singleton a legend is his
Speaker 2: mightas touch ability to transform struggling labels and imprints MCA,
Speaker 2: Warner Brothers and Ruthless Records into top performers across the charts.
Speaker 2: What has kept mister Ernie Singleton in his legendary status
Speaker 2: is his ability to transcend boundaries, be them artistic, cultural,
Speaker 2: or within an industry that is moving into new and
Speaker 2: innovative ways of marketing and distributing talent. Without the marketing
Speaker 2: and promotional talents of mister Ernie Singleton, the music industry
Speaker 2: and how we consume it would be very different. Mister
Speaker 2: Singleton holds the keys to the past, press, and future
Speaker 2: of music with his own company, Singleton Music Corp. Focusing
Speaker 2: on entertainment, management, consulting, and marketing. From his personal beginnings
Speaker 2: in New Orleans, Louisiana. Shout out to Southern University Go Jags,
Speaker 2: to his promotional foundation in radio that landed him in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles and exposed him to the global reach of
Speaker 2: the music industry. We are proud and so very grateful
Speaker 2: to welcome mister Ernie Singleton to k f I. Mister Singleton, Hello.
Speaker 4: Hello, Hello, Wow. That's pretty impressive.
Speaker 2: That's you.
Speaker 4: Even for me to hear you.
Speaker 2: Almost an out of body experience, right, that's you. You
Speaker 2: did all that, mister Singleton.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, well, you know, it's thank you so much,
Speaker 4: first and foremost for having me on your show. What
Speaker 4: an honor and a privilege to be here.
Speaker 2: I feel the same way, and I know that we
Speaker 2: could spend an entire show just reading off your accolades
Speaker 2: and what you've done and the music that you've helped
Speaker 2: promote or executive produce. But I have some really introspective
Speaker 2: questions that I want to share with you, and questions
Speaker 2: that I think if people had the opportunity to sit
Speaker 2: down with you and get five minutes of your time,
Speaker 2: they might want to ask. So, mister Singleton, again, it's
Speaker 2: my privilege and my honor, and I am happy, very
Speaker 2: very happy to have this time with you. You ready
Speaker 2: to get into some.
Speaker 4: Questions, I'm ready, Yes, I am.
Speaker 2: Thank you, You're very welcome. When you took the helm
Speaker 2: at MCA Records, it had been known at that time
Speaker 2: as a legacy label for country and rock artists. You
Speaker 2: had Leonard Skinnard, and that was very different from what
Speaker 2: MCA then became. Then you come along and MCA becomes
Speaker 2: a juggernaut for urban, which is coded for music. Was
Speaker 2: the label resistant at all to that transition.
Speaker 4: No, they were not. I think it's important for people
Speaker 4: to understand that I've always been big in black culture,
Speaker 4: being a native in there of New Orleans as a
Speaker 4: kid when I was riding the bus, I have a
Speaker 4: little bit of an annoyance riding down on Bourbon Street
Speaker 4: or whatever street on the on the bus take it
Speaker 4: to my Desire Project neighborhood. And because I knew behind
Speaker 4: those buildings used to be slave quarters.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, so I didn't have a.
Speaker 4: Good vibe about my town from that perspective. And I
Speaker 4: knew that New Orleans was the birthplace of gospel and jazz.
Speaker 4: But not because New y Armstrong and AO J. Jackson
Speaker 4: and all those people just kind of got got diggy
Speaker 4: with it. That was because black the indentures servants in
Speaker 4: the late eighteen hundreds were allowed to play music in
Speaker 4: a place called Congo Square. It just existing more. Congo
Speaker 4: Square is where the slaves could play music only on
Speaker 4: Sundays when the master was off. It's interesting we're having
Speaker 4: this conversation considering the dynamics that's going on in our
Speaker 4: country right now government wise. But so when I finally
Speaker 4: transition from radio into the record company, and I'm a
Speaker 4: degree thecounter but I never did the accounting work. But
Speaker 4: when I started MCA, fortunately I was working with a
Speaker 4: buddy of mine, guy named Gerald Busby, whom I had
Speaker 4: worked with during my class Casablanca days when I was
Speaker 4: a street when I was a street soldier with George
Speaker 4: Clinton cameo. And long story.
Speaker 2: Oh you see George Clinton cameo, mister Singleton.
Speaker 4: George Clinton cameo down the summer. This ain't funkytown. That was.
Speaker 4: That was my Casta Blanca days as a as A
Speaker 4: at what we called the Regional Marketing Rep. So I
Speaker 4: you know, I was in and out of the radio stations.
Speaker 4: So long story chart Uh. When I joined the ranks
Speaker 4: with Busby, Busby and I had worked together at Casablanca,
Speaker 4: so we were friends already. And hats off to Ergan Azof,
Speaker 4: who was the mastermind, by the way, behind the recent
Speaker 4: fire Aid Convent concerts that just happened in Los Angeles.
Speaker 4: But Ergin brought Je, bought Busby in, and a month
Speaker 4: later he brought me in. And you know, we used
Speaker 4: to refer to m c A, which stands for the
Speaker 4: Music Corporation of America. On the street we refer to
Speaker 4: m c A as the Music Cemetery of America. Well,
Speaker 4: because MCA didn't have any real hits. I had great
Speaker 4: art at BB King, who was one of my best
Speaker 4: of friends until till the day he died. But they
Speaker 4: had bb Bodybland one way, but they never had real major,
Speaker 4: major hits, So I wasn't happy come into mc A
Speaker 4: unless and unless they were there. Would leave us alone
Speaker 4: and let us do what we did, what we could do.
Speaker 4: And that's what Irving did. He gave Gerald and high
Speaker 4: free rings and in any time anything happened, the petty
Speaker 4: level we took from c from Sony from CBS, Uh,
Speaker 4: come you're broadcast. They're now called Sony.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 4: We when Jeryl and I were getting ready to we're
Speaker 4: trying to swing Patty into coming to mc A. We
Speaker 4: had the conversation, man, what do we do with pedd Levell?
Speaker 4: How do you get a Patty label to come to
Speaker 4: the label?
Speaker 2: And you were and you were able to, mister Singleton,
Speaker 2: you and your kind of infancy in the music industry
Speaker 2: were able to pull this huge artist. You know, we're
Speaker 2: up against the clock, Singleton, and I want to I
Speaker 2: want you to continue in this line of thinking. We're
Speaker 2: gonna talk more about that free reign that you were given,
Speaker 2: as well as some other questions I have for you.
Speaker 2: We're gonna take a break and then we'll come back
Speaker 2: and we'll get back into those questions. Okay. Is that okay?
Speaker 2: Can you hang out for a little bit longer.
Speaker 4: I'm with you, oh man.
Speaker 2: We are talking to mister Ernie Singleton, music industry executive,
Speaker 2: legendary executive behind the hits that you didn't even know
Speaker 2: were his. He has a long repertoire in the music
Speaker 2: industry and he is giving us a bit of his
Speaker 2: time here on KFI to talk about his time at
Speaker 2: these different record labels, and we'll get back into questions
Speaker 2: on the other side of the break. It's KFI AM
Speaker 2: six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 1: You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand kf.
Speaker 2: I AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: Tifney Hobbs here with you until yes seven o'clock. I
Speaker 2: was gonna say until no, no, no. We still have
Speaker 2: a lot more show to go, and we're talking to
Speaker 2: music industry executive mister Ernie Singleton. He is the executive
Speaker 2: behind the mass appeal of artists like Prince Share, the Beg's,
Speaker 2: Alanis Morissett, Bone Thugs and Harmony, and mister Singleton, we
Speaker 2: were just talking about the free reign that you were
Speaker 2: given while you were with MCA in its infancy when
Speaker 2: you came on. It was a new birth of MCA
Speaker 2: at the time, and you were able to turn it
Speaker 2: into something that became ground breaking. And speaking about being groundbreaking,
Speaker 2: music seems to be embracing fewer boundaries in regards to
Speaker 2: race and culture. There are still some holdouts, of course,
Speaker 2: evidenced by many currently in the country genre who've been
Speaker 2: reluctant to accept Beyonce's latest album. But your work has
Speaker 2: transcended racial boundaries, bringing white artists into black spaces and
Speaker 2: vice versa. Do you think that racial boundaries should at
Speaker 2: this point be removed altogether from the conversation when it
Speaker 2: comes to music, Are or are there benefits to keeping
Speaker 2: some aspects of those boundaries.
Speaker 4: I think that it's important that the boundaries remain in
Speaker 4: place because our music is not their music. And I'm
Speaker 4: not talking about white I'm talking whether you want to
Speaker 4: go to classical, you want to talk about Latin music
Speaker 4: before we integrated the Latin music into the Grammys. Our
Speaker 4: music is the foundation of music that comes from North America,
Speaker 4: and the music that comes from North America is the
Speaker 4: foundation of music of globally in terms of popular music.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, so you know so you can't.
Speaker 4: One of the dilemmas that has happened in the music businesses.
Speaker 4: We and this is not to knock anybody. We have
Speaker 4: white executives now and driver's seat of the of the
Speaker 4: black departments. And they're not they don't function from the heart.
Speaker 4: I keep hearing in the back of my head. I
Speaker 4: keep hearing Kendrick Lamars, they're not like us.
Speaker 2: All right, all right, we're not.
Speaker 4: It's not. It's not racist. The rhythm, the African rhythms,
Speaker 4: and the and the and the harmonies that comes from
Speaker 4: our music that separates and redefines Black gospel versus white
Speaker 4: Christian music. It's it's not going to change.
Speaker 2: No, No, it's not. And and and it shouldn't.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 4: But but we now have algorithms and AI and a
Speaker 4: few other technological marvels that are really good. And I
Speaker 4: only hope and pray that more parents open the door
Speaker 4: for their kids, educate their kids on the past, and
Speaker 4: opening door for their kids to figure out how to
Speaker 4: manipulate the computer or the technology or AI, so that
Speaker 4: the creative the creative force that we bring the table
Speaker 4: continues to be brought to the table.
Speaker 2: In speaking about AI and digital technology, social media the
Speaker 2: streaming age that we're in. I myself spent a few
Speaker 2: years working under a regional marketing executive in Los Angeles
Speaker 2: at Universal Music and did that for a couple of years,
Speaker 2: moved on through a few different labels, and one of
Speaker 2: my favorite things was actually getting out there physically and
Speaker 2: setting up promotional materials in records stores, whether it was
Speaker 2: Tower Records on Sunset or the VIP Records in Long
Speaker 2: Beach or a warehouse music stores, setting up those in
Speaker 2: caps and introducing artists to meet and greets with their fans.
Speaker 2: Kind of the personalization of the relationship between artists and fans.
Speaker 2: People actually got to see them up close and personal.
Speaker 2: You've spoken a lot about what that was like, whether
Speaker 2: it was the Sony Walkman that you loaded with music
Speaker 2: and took to the radio programmers to have them listen
Speaker 2: to the music and get it on air, or going
Speaker 2: out and setting up those incaps in records stores. All
Speaker 2: of that created that connection. It helped foster and strengthen
Speaker 2: that connection between artists and fan. Today, digital media, streaming, AI,
Speaker 2: social media, that seems to promote a bit more of
Speaker 2: a disconnect. Yes, we have access to these people, but
Speaker 2: it is still a bit removed from that person to
Speaker 2: person interaction. Do you think that that disconnect, if there
Speaker 2: is one, in fact, can translate to a fan experience
Speaker 2: that is ultimately lacking.
Speaker 4: I think yes. The answer is yes. We've got to
Speaker 4: stop living in the past. When I was a kid,
Speaker 4: that was the grappanola, and later on the A trax
Speaker 4: came along, and later on the cassette came along, and
Speaker 4: the vinyl with the seven inch and twelve inch all
Speaker 4: this was the normal music industry. No one today that's
Speaker 4: under forty has a music collection at home. I would
Speaker 4: be stunned to find that person. So we're in a
Speaker 4: different era. Ladies and gentlemen, and a lot of us
Speaker 4: are fighting the transition of what's going on musically. I
Speaker 4: remember when music was a standard thing in school, and
Speaker 4: all of a sudden it was taken out of schools. Yes,
Speaker 4: and the computers became very, very prominent. I was stunned
Speaker 4: when I looked at people like Teddy Raleigh and see
Speaker 4: how he made music the way he did. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 4: But the that whole generation, they began to find ways
Speaker 4: to make the music. In the early days of cassio
Speaker 4: and all these little technological music pieces we had.
Speaker 2: Yes, so.
Speaker 4: I'm not the one, you know, is this would be
Speaker 4: a conversation for me, for you to have with Jimmy
Speaker 4: jam and Terry Lewis or my buddy John Nettlesby and
Speaker 4: people like that who who really speak music creativity from
Speaker 4: a different experience than mine.
Speaker 2: Well, they are more than welcome to come on the show.
Speaker 2: I would love to talk to them.
Speaker 4: But I only say that because I'm sure some of
Speaker 4: those kind of people are in your audience, whether they're
Speaker 4: accomplished jam and Lewis, l A and face kind of people,
Speaker 4: or nettles Bee, or whether they're just young people who
Speaker 4: have a passion for music and trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2: And go ahead, go ahead, mister Singlesten, I'm sorry.
Speaker 4: So don't knock it. Let's open the door wider for
Speaker 4: the young people. Uh, the average kid now that's ten, eleven,
Speaker 4: twelve years old. They you know, they got they got
Speaker 4: to access herself on it. Now they're gonna have one
Speaker 4: real soon. And they got some kind of device. Yes,
Speaker 4: and it's probably not the device that my kids had
Speaker 4: in the seventies when they were ten eleven years.
Speaker 2: Old, right, it might be a little different.
Speaker 4: So I only wouldh I had had encouraged my kids
Speaker 4: and put them in some other schools to learn how
Speaker 4: to create pac Man and some of the games that
Speaker 4: they were playing.
Speaker 2: Mister Singleton, and five may because as much as I
Speaker 2: would love to spend two hours, three hours, five hours,
Speaker 2: two days with you, asking questions and just absorbing, I
Speaker 2: just want to sit at your knee and just listen
Speaker 2: to you talk. I could do that, and I would
Speaker 2: love to do that. Sometime I have time for one
Speaker 2: more question. And in a few words, you are far
Speaker 2: from finished. People might expect you to just kind of
Speaker 2: put your feet up and just bask in your success.
Speaker 2: But again, you are far from finished. So what's the
Speaker 2: next chapter for Ernie Singleton?
Speaker 4: That's a good question. I am. I'm actually a partner
Speaker 4: right now in a private equity firm. We have alternative
Speaker 4: ways to fund projects. But you know, I mean that's
Speaker 4: and there's a lot involved in that. But that for
Speaker 4: me because we don't do little projects, Okay, We're we're
Speaker 4: focused on making big deals that are worth ten to
Speaker 4: twenty million dollars. If it's not those kind of deals,
Speaker 4: typically it's not something that we would have an interest in.
Speaker 4: That's one I am also launching a new company. That
Speaker 4: premature to talk about it, but I'll mention it. We're
Speaker 4: going to be acquiring catalogs. Oh my god, catalogs under
Speaker 4: ten million dollars. But we want to repurpose those catalogs.
Speaker 2: You've just just given us an exclusive, mister Singleton, thank
Speaker 2: you for that. Yeah, oh my goodness, breaking news.
Speaker 3: That.
Speaker 4: So that's a shod version because we're not we're not
Speaker 4: doing a two hour show. Gres Well, we're going to
Speaker 4: have you back.
Speaker 2: We are going to have you back, and we are
Speaker 2: going to continue this conversation and ask more of the
Speaker 2: questions that we have that our listeners will submit, and
Speaker 2: your knowledge is boundless. Timing, unfortunately is not, so we
Speaker 2: do have to let you go. But mister Singleton, thank
Speaker 2: you so very much for giving us your time. I
Speaker 2: appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. This was
Speaker 2: amazing to talk to you, a dream come true, and
Speaker 2: I thank you for everything you have done. And I
Speaker 2: take you up on that lunch. I'm taking you to
Speaker 2: lunch when I come out your way.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Tiffany, thanks for your time, and thanks for
Speaker 4: the ahead of me.
Speaker 2: You are so welcome. He is mister Ernie Singleton, man
Speaker 2: behind the biggest musical acts in history, in history transcended,
Speaker 2: the man with the Midas touch. This is kf I
Speaker 2: AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app
Speaker 1: KFI AM six forty on demand