KLOS-FM 95.5 hosts Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps inducted into Radio Hall of Fame
Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps, who for 25 years were ringleaders of the KLOS-FM 95.5 radio circus known as The Mark & Brian Show, were inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame on Thursday.
In their acceptance speeches, Thompson and Phelps were alternately funny and sweet as they spoke remotely from North Carolina and Los Angeles respectively. The ceremony, normally held at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, was held this year like an old-school radio show due to the coronavirus.
They thanked the listeners who made The Mark & Brian Show the No. 1 morning show in Los Angeles for some of their quarter-century on the air; the radio DJs and executives who inspired them as kids and helped them along the career path; and most sincerely, each other.
“I’ve never seen — I’ve never heard — anybody do what he is capable of doing,” Thompson of Phelps’ ability to write and improvise comedic characters and sketches on the air. “I wouldn’t be here without him … a man who I truly love respect and honor.”
Phelps, who had no radio experience when he was hired to join Thompson on WAPI-FM in Birmingham, Alabama, their radio home for 18 months before pulling up stakes for Los Angeles in 1987, was equally effusive.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind that whether I’m in the equation or not, you’d make it to the Radio Hall of Fame,” Phelps said. “Well deserved, partner.”
New York City radio personality Elvis Duran, himself a member of the Radio Hall of Fame, emceed the ceremonies and introduced Thompson and Phelps with a handful of clips from their KLOS run. These included the duo pranking Tom Cruise on the air with a Gene Wilder impressionist and Phelps announcing the results of a pregnancy test taken by Thompson’s wife Linda on live radio. (She was pregnant; they had a girl.)
Then singer Donny Osmond, a longtime friend and frequent guest on The Mark & Brian Show, delivered the official induction speech for the pair.
“I always look at Mark and Brian as the Donny and Marie of radio,” he said. “I think of Mark as Donny and, well, you know where that leaves Brian.”
Osmond, who credited the duo for raising his popularity again after a fallow period in the ’80s, said that the show — for listeners and for him as a guest — was always such good fun, be it his first-ever appearance where the duo convinced him to sing his boyhood hit “Puppy Love” live to a classic rock audience or any of the other hijinks they got up to over the years.
“I love these guys like my brothers,” he said in closing. “It’s just amazing how much they remind me of Tito and Jermaine.”
Both Thompson, who got choked up and had to pause at times, and Phelps gave their most heartfelt thanks to the listeners who tuned in to the show weekday mornings for 25 years in Los Angeles and nearly two years in Birmingham.
“You gave Brian and I a reason to do the stupid crap we did, without you there was nothing,” Thompson said.
“To the listeners, we simply wouldn’t be here tonight if not for you,” Phelps said. “Thank you for your love, for your dedication, for allowing us to be a small part of your lives and being such a huge part of ours.
“This is for you.”
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