Breakfast With Jayne And Steve – Jayne Meadows And Steve Allen and guests – February 18, 1965 – KHJ AM & FM, Los Angeles – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Interesting to consider, this morning chat show was on a station that would become the flagship for a top-40 revolution only weeks later. But before the plunge into top-40, future Boss Radio airwaves were holding court during most mornings with Jayne Meadows and Steve Allen, all broadcast live from their studios in Encino on February 18, 1965.
It was only 55 minutes long, but it was jammed with personalities – mostly neighbors who happened to be notables in their own right. Guests on this episode included Rosemarie from The Dick Van Dyke show and Alan Young from Mr. Ed as well as several personalities, who popped in for the sheer gift of gab.
This was radio in L.A. at the time – if it wasn’t top-40 or middle-of-the-road, it was conversation; lots of conversation. Steve Allen was a seasoned veteran of Los Angeles radio, having been a mainstay at KNX in the late 1940s/early 1950s before moving to New York to become creator/host of the then-new Tonight Show on television.
Jayne Meadows was an American stage, film and television actress, as well as an author and lecturer. She was nominated for three Emmy Awards during her career and was the elder sister of actress and memoirist Audrey Meadows (aka: Alice Kramden on The Honeymooners).
Breakfast With Jayne and Steve ran five days a week and lasted right up to the format change and vanished without a trace. Radio was undergoing a major change at the time, much like the rest of the world in 1965. Steve Alan was a gifted personality with many facets to a long and successful career.
To get an idea of what was going on, most mornings on KHJ before the format change, here are Jayne Meadows and Steve Allen, live from their attic in Encino.