Radio Column October 20, 2006

Listening In

October 20, 2006

By Sandy Wells


Award-winning KNX reporter Luis Torres looks to new life in theatre, public radio


Luis Torres, award-winning radio journalist, filmmaker, record producer and aspiring playwright, is a man of two contracts.

Thanks to one good contract, Torres has been to take early retirement from his nearly quarter-century career at KNX-AM 1070, allowing him ample time to pursue a new life as a writer and playwright. He also has a contract with the prestigious Mark Taper Forum to complete a musical based on the songs of the brilliant 1990s album by the East LA band Los Lobos, “Kiko.”

“It’s a love story basically. I extracted characters from some of the songs on the album,” says Torres of his collaboration with songwriter and longtime friend Louie Perez. “They are really extraordinary songs.”

Torres, who plays guitar – “well enough to know how poorly I play” –produced an album for the band ‘a million years ago.’

“It’s an exciting process working on a play. I’ve written non-fiction most of my life. We’re in the final stages of the last draft.”

The show is “in development” with an eye towards a major production in 2008 at the Taper.

Torres is also in discussion with KPCC-FM 89.3, the non-commercial public radio station based in Torres’ hometown of Pasadena to work as a radio journalist. While he has a few reservations about moving into the world of public radio where he finds the “slightly elitist tone a little off-putting” he is nonetheless interested in reconnecting with his passion for news and the stories that continuously bubble up in what he calls the “cauldron that is our city.” He has worked there in the past as a substitute host on “Talk of the City.”

Torres’ career at KNX came to an end after he was called into a meeting with the new News Director Julie Chin about a month and a half ago. He was told he wouldn’t be doing any more reports on Latino affairs in Los Angeles.

“I had been doing three to four minute pieces on Latinos in LA about writers and musicians. The idea was to get people ‘in the tent’ in this city that is 50 percent Latino. I asked her, ‘Is this for the time being? Is it permanent?’ I was told, ‘I don’t have to justify myself to you.’ It was clear to me what the atmosphere there would be.”

After a brief period of reflection, Torres, a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, winner of a George Foster Peabody Award, five Golden Mike Awards, a duPont-Columbia award, an Edward R, Morrow Award and four Greater Los Angeles Press Club Awards, decided to “look for other things to do.”

“I was there for over twenty-five years – I took three years off to teach – and much of my time there was terrific. I think I’m a good reporter and this is a great city. The last couple of years hadn’t been all that much fun for me anyway – and I don’t mean that in a frivolous way, but it was not fun.”

For one thing, he found it frustrating that reporters were being asked to cut the time of their reports in half, doing in 30 to 40 seconds what they used to do 60 to 90 seconds.

Torres says he finds the change of direction at KNX puzzling, likening it to the ‘kids in the sandbox’ approach to journalism he sees on the KTLA-TV channel 5 morning show. Whatever the ultimate goal is, he thinks KNX should make up its mind.

“If you’re going to be a news organization, do news. If you’re going to do something else – call it something else.”

In the meantime, Torres says he having the time of his life, catching up on reading, working on his new musical and helping his wife complete her book, “Teatro Chicana” about Latino activist theatre in the 1970s.

“I’m very happy,” says Torres.



Howard Stern for free online


Sirius Satellite radio is offering some prime content for free over the Internet for a two day period next week to launch its Sirius Internet Radio (SIR).

To publicize the availability of SIR, listeners on Sirius.com will be able to hear The Howard Stern Show and Stern’s two 24/7 channels without having to pay the subscription fee on Oct. 25 and 26th, as well as commercial-free music, talk, entertainment, and sports programs. Listeners can go to www.sirius.com/howard to register for a free trial of Sirius.

“Howard being available live for the first time ever to a worldwide audience is an unprecedented event in the history of radio,” said Scott Greenstein, Sirius President, Entertainment and Sports. “Listeners can now get what they have been missing: Howard at the top of his game and more than 75 channels of the best radio on radio.”