Man, I hate being first with bad news. A&M promotion legend Jan Basham, the first female promotion executive in the business, died yesterday in Central California after a three-week bout of cancer. She was thought to be in her early 70s(Jan would never tell).
Jan got the spins that made A&M what it was. She also brought talent to the label...she was the one who discovered the Captain & Tenille at the Smoke House.
One of Jan's frequent sayings was "Just bury me with a cigarette in one hand and a Dr. Pepper in the other." Jan's family says that the mortician has agreed to do just that at tomorrow(11/19)'s funeral.
It was early 1972. I was one year into my first job at KIBS in Bishop, California. I’d just turned 16, just been made music director and just been informed that the station’s source of music (a $30 per month trade-out with the local record store) had dried up.
I knew that “real” radio stations (the ones in L.A. and San Francisco) got their records from the record companies, so I grabbed the phone, called Los Angeles directory assistance and asked for the number of the first label that popped into my mind…A&M Records. Whether it was because it was a subliminal favorite, the top of the alphabet, or because I figured the operator couldn’t screw it up, I don’t know. But 30 seconds later, after stammering what it was I wanted to the A&M receptionist, I was on the phone with Jan Basham.
I made the best pitch I could…that we were the only station within 120 miles, that despite the fact that the town was only 3,500 people, six million a year traveled through on their way to Mammoth and Yosemite….I was on a Pepsi and adrenaline roll, a good 10 seconds into what I figured had to be a hard sell when Jan said “Relax, honey. You’ve got service as of five seconds ago. What’s your address?” By the end of that phone call, Jan (knowing she was my first call) had also given me the name, phone number and mailing address of every AC/Top 40 promotion person in Southern California.
A year later, during spring break, I went to L.A. to see some friends and to (maybe…if they had time) spend five minutes or so with some of the promo people. Jan told me to block out the whole day. When this 17 year old kid from Bishop pulled up to the A&M gates in his 1973 Pinto, the guard was expecting me, and directed me to Richard Carpenter’s parking space (belated thanks, Richard). Before lunch, I met Cheech and Chong and Paul Williams. During lunch (at Martoni’s), I met just about everybody else in the industry. And after lunch, walking down the hallway in the studios at A&M, a guy in sweats and a floppy beach hat came walking toward us. Jan said “Herbie, say hello to my friend Michael Hagerty.”
Yep. Herb Alpert.
I’m convinced that Jan (along with Sandy Horn at ABC Records) had way more to do with my getting the music director’s job at KSLY, San Luis Obispo in February, 1974 than my resume’ tape did. And in the 7 years that I spent in programming before moving on to television, Jan (along with Sandy and later, Carol Archer) was always there.
Enjoy that cigarette and Dr. Pepper, Jan. I’ll never forget you.
---Michael Hagerty
Jan got the spins that made A&M what it was. She also brought talent to the label...she was the one who discovered the Captain & Tenille at the Smoke House.
One of Jan's frequent sayings was "Just bury me with a cigarette in one hand and a Dr. Pepper in the other." Jan's family says that the mortician has agreed to do just that at tomorrow(11/19)'s funeral.
It was early 1972. I was one year into my first job at KIBS in Bishop, California. I’d just turned 16, just been made music director and just been informed that the station’s source of music (a $30 per month trade-out with the local record store) had dried up.
I knew that “real” radio stations (the ones in L.A. and San Francisco) got their records from the record companies, so I grabbed the phone, called Los Angeles directory assistance and asked for the number of the first label that popped into my mind…A&M Records. Whether it was because it was a subliminal favorite, the top of the alphabet, or because I figured the operator couldn’t screw it up, I don’t know. But 30 seconds later, after stammering what it was I wanted to the A&M receptionist, I was on the phone with Jan Basham.
I made the best pitch I could…that we were the only station within 120 miles, that despite the fact that the town was only 3,500 people, six million a year traveled through on their way to Mammoth and Yosemite….I was on a Pepsi and adrenaline roll, a good 10 seconds into what I figured had to be a hard sell when Jan said “Relax, honey. You’ve got service as of five seconds ago. What’s your address?” By the end of that phone call, Jan (knowing she was my first call) had also given me the name, phone number and mailing address of every AC/Top 40 promotion person in Southern California.
A year later, during spring break, I went to L.A. to see some friends and to (maybe…if they had time) spend five minutes or so with some of the promo people. Jan told me to block out the whole day. When this 17 year old kid from Bishop pulled up to the A&M gates in his 1973 Pinto, the guard was expecting me, and directed me to Richard Carpenter’s parking space (belated thanks, Richard). Before lunch, I met Cheech and Chong and Paul Williams. During lunch (at Martoni’s), I met just about everybody else in the industry. And after lunch, walking down the hallway in the studios at A&M, a guy in sweats and a floppy beach hat came walking toward us. Jan said “Herbie, say hello to my friend Michael Hagerty.”
Yep. Herb Alpert.
I’m convinced that Jan (along with Sandy Horn at ABC Records) had way more to do with my getting the music director’s job at KSLY, San Luis Obispo in February, 1974 than my resume’ tape did. And in the 7 years that I spent in programming before moving on to television, Jan (along with Sandy and later, Carol Archer) was always there.
Enjoy that cigarette and Dr. Pepper, Jan. I’ll never forget you.
---Michael Hagerty
Thanks for sharing!
