“Lar'-On-The-Air”

By Larry McCabe

This is the catchphrase used often when announcing who I was on the radio. For example, “Hi, this is Lar’-on-the-Air, Larry McKay, sittin’ in my chair, with all this hair. And how are you out there?” It’s an oft’ times humorous journal of my many adventures over my career, encountering a surprising number of celebrities readers will recognize. You’ll find that I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time—sort of Forrest Gump–like. There are memorable moments with luminaries too numerous to mention here. Several interesting photos will be on display too.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546267928

Larry McCabe

Larry M. McCabe aka McKay is a retired 49+ years veteran of broadcasting. (Retired at end of 2008) Grad of Indiana Univ. with a B.S. degree in Radio & Tv. Worked as a DJ at all the major radio stations in Los Angeles for 34 years, including as a national promo announcer for CBS Television and p.a. announcer for the Los Angeles Lakers (1979-’82) including two NBA Championships. “Voice-over” announcer for Tv sitcoms like: Cheers, Married/With Children, Fresh Prince, Frazier, Family Ties and several more...

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© 2018 Larry McCabe. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/09/2019

ISBN: 978-1-5462-6793-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-6791-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-6792-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018913314

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Dedicated to:

My Angel wife Margarita and five sons, Mick, Matthew,

Sean, Lucas and Christopher - My legacy. You are about

to discover why I feel like the Forrest Gump of radio…

Contents

Chapter 1     Sign-On

Chapter 2     A Good Sport

Chapter 3     Stay Tuned

Chapter 4     Train To Nowhere

Chapter 5     Fatal Crash

Chapter 6     Wedding Bells & Polio

Chapter 7     Hoosiers

Chapter 8     Rookie D.J

Chapter 9     Ella, Fella

Chapter 10   Fired

Chapter 11   Genius Of Soul

Chapter 12   I Went To WERK

Chapter 13   %#¥#In’ Dick Clark

Chapter 14   R.J.

Chapter 15   The WERK/KREW

Chapter 16   Cassidy (And, More Werk)

Chapter 17   Egos, Aside.

Chapter 18   Godfather Of Soul

Chapter 19   Jimi

Chapter 20   Two Tragic Losses

Chapter 21   Jerry Lee

Chapter 22   White-Haired Soul

Chapter 23   Police Chase

Chapter 24   1st Boy!

Chapter 25   Go West, Young Man

Chapter 26   Grrrrreat!

Chapter 27   Bye-Bye Desert

Chapter 28   Hooray For Hollywood!

Chapter 29   Hang Down Your Head, Etc.

Chapter 30   Bullitt

Chapter 31   Deja Vu, Fired (Again)

Chapter 32   1150AM

Chapter 33   Reggie Dwight

Chapter 34   I Dreamed Of Jeannie

Chapter 35   Purple & Gold

Chapter 36   Dodger Blue

Chapter 37   Fired-Again?

Chapter 38   Back In The Saddle

Chapter 39   Voice-Over Luck

Chapter 40   Margarita

Chapter 41   Put Out To Pasture

1

SIGN-ON

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First, I should clear up the fact that I was born a Trbovich, not a McCabe, in Gary, Indiana. Only my closest relatives know this, but my biological father was Michael Trbovich, a Serb. My mom Margaret Hronec, was a Slovak, and was 17-years-old when I was born (out of wedlock). My parents finally made it legal almost a year later by getting married. My real dad and mom split up after a brief marriage and he moved to San Francisco to take up carpentry as a profession. I talked with him briefly on long distance telephone from Indiana as a youngster, but never really connected. Later, I had heard he’d died in a car accident. No emotion – I’d hardly known him.

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I had my name changed legally to my stepdad’s - McCabe, when I was ten or eleven years old. Ironically, Bob McCabe (pic’ below) used the stage name McKay when he had a band and was a vocalist. When I went to work for KRIZ Radio in Phoenix (many years later) they arbitrarily changed my name to McKaye because the jingle singers couldn’t enunciate McCabe easily. I had already for some years used McCabe as my legal last name though.

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Bob’s dad, a very nice, decent man, named Archie, was with the Muncie Fire Dept. for 39 years, 21 as Fire Chief, passing away at age 64 of cancer. Here he is (below) in the mid-40s with comedians Abbott & Costello at a police & firemen’s convention.

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As a young lad growing up in the basketball state of Indiana, I dreamed of being a star roundball player. Polio, at the age of thirteen made me severely alter my dreams. My tonsils and adenoids were removed in the fall before I contracted infantile paralysis the next summer. Many people believe (although unproven) that having one’s tonsils removed invites the polio virus into your system.

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Almost 6 months of hospitalization had left me without the use of my legs from the hips down, necessitating full-length braces and Canadian-style aluminum crutches to be able to walk. Here’s a pic’ on me (far left marked by xxx) at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis as Ruth Lyons & Santa give out X-mas gifts. Ruth was that era’s Oprah in the Cincinnati/Midwest area.

It’s difficult for people who have not had Polio to understand how it feels.

2

A GOOD SPORT

I had to alter my thinking after I fully realized how a severe case of polio would limit my life’s expectations, and career destination. For one thing, my great love affair with sports would limit me to being a spectator. Or perhaps, becoming a sports commentator. I don’t believe that I was frightened by my physical condition, but I was certainly concerned. It hurt my feelings, especially when young children would look at me as if I were a freak, struggling to walk with my braces and crutches. But, after a lot of grueling hard work and determination, I felt (if not normal) at least adequate. In fact, seeing my reflection in a store window, or a mirror, would actually repulse me. Who is that gimp looking back at me? Later, when I got more confident (and even cocky) I’d notice someone looking at me derisively, and I’d condition myself to think, They may be better physically, but I have a mind… They can’t out-intelligence me. I actually felt sorry for them, in this respect. I eventually taught myself to know a little bit about a LOT of things. This training helped me immensely in my eventual chosen profession. Talking on the radio.

I was extremely fortunate to be born with a God-given set of pipes. Not the BEST, but certainly more than adequate. If I sound smug and too full of myself, I had to have a certain amount of ego to be able to perform at top efficiency. Believe me, I was aware there were many more intelligent and talented people than me in the world. I just knew I had to get the most out of my God-given ability. I often had to remind myself to remain