Ignorance and Prevarications Obscure a KLIF Wheels Theme Song
2024 August 10
Why KLIF Wheels Host Don Grantham Cannot Call a Spade a Spade
The Wheels radio show on KLIF has two songs that can be considered its theme song. The show’s start plays the Late Show with David Letterman Theme by the CBS Orchestra. Each of the show’s subsequent hours leads off by playing the song Run Runaway by Slade. With the show’s current duration of four hours, the Run Runaway bumper airs three times a show. When the show ran five hours as recently as 2022, that bumper played four times a show.
So, one would think that the guy who was the producer of Wheels since from at least 2008 until 2022 would know the identity of the bumper that pays three to four times on his show. Well, think again. Because Wheels’ then producer, now host Don Grantham knows not the contents of the show that he hosts with John Ingram. When asked by a caller to identify this most played bumper music on his show, the exchange went as follows:
|
Wheels with Don Grantham and
John Ingram
Don Grantham Caller “Tony” in Fort Worth Don Grantham Caller “Tony” in Fort Worth Don Grantham Caller “Tony” in Fort Worth Don Grantham Caller “Tony” in Fort Worth Don Grantham Caller “Tony” in Fort Worth Don Grantham Caller “Tony” in Fort Worth John Ingram Don Grantham Caller “Tony” in Fort Worth Don Grantham Caller “Tony” in Fort Worth [Some extraneous interjections omitted for readability.] |
So Don Grantham:
· Was unable to identify the most played bumper on the show to which he has been attached for decades.
· Must ask prior host Ed Wallace for the answer.
· Then fails correctly communicate that answer to the caller by never providing the song’s title and by mangling the name of the performer that plays it.
Ed Wallace never kept the identity of Wheels’ co-theme song secret. He discussed it on air as recently as 2022.
|
Wheels with Ed Wallace
Brad Roblyer Ed Wallace Brad Roblyer Ed Wallace [Some extraneous interjections omitted for readability.] |
There is no excuse for Grantham’s ignorance of his own show. It just further exposes that Wheels is something that has not been made his own, even after 9 months with Grantham’s name in its title. Embarrassed by this failing, Grantham now overcompensates by stating the bumper’s identity on most every Saturday since.
But is more than ignorance. Grantham is merely a “bot” that acts as Ed Wallace mouthpiece. He says what he is told. And part of that dynamic is to maintain a fiction that Wheels is the product of Grantham and Ingram. Consider the Grantham’s following commentary upon exiting a bumper:
|
Wheels with Don Grantham and
John Ingram
Don Grantham Other than that good job. ”And good job to you for being with us today on Wheels for a Saturday morning here on 570 KLIF.” |
When coming back from a commercial break, Grantham implies that sound engineer Tim Kimsey curated that day’s bumpers. This, of course, is fiction as that day’s bumper playlist had already been utilized for three shows prior (November 18, 2023; June 24, 2023; February 4, 2023). But to maintain a fiction that Wheels is the product of Grantham and Ingram, Grantham (this instance and several others) attributes the bumper curation to Tim.
However, only a couple of months prior to the above, guest Platinum Ford Dealer Operator Stephen Gilchrist forced Grantham onto the record as to the true origin the Wheels’ bumper playlists.
|
Wheels with Don Grantham and John
Ingram
Don Grantham Stephen Gilchrist Don Grantham Stephen Gilchrist Don Grantham [Some extraneous interjections omitted for readability.] |
As to why Grantham must prevaricate about various aspects of Wheels, one might consider such a holdover from his car shilling days. He must “ABC” (Always Be Closing), even if doing so means shading the truth. And these days, Don has a radio show to sell. Not to mention a master who wants to micromanage everything but also wants to not be seen doing so. That is why Grantham cannot call a spade a spade. The truth is at odds with the message that Wallace directs him to send.
On The Juxtaposition of Theme Songs
Since finding oneself on the topic of a song used for entry into each new hour of the Wheels radio show, one might recall a snippet from the Second Hand News (SHN) segment where Ed Wallace mocks Arizona Republican Kari Lake for the song used to underscore her rally stage entry.
|
Wheels with David El Attrache and
John Ingram
‘Yeah. Nothing funny about her. Now, seven months old refusal to accept the fact she flat out loss. But it was her entrance music to her last rally that made it so hysterical. That's right. Kari Lake came out on stage while Lenny Kravitz’s version of the Guess Who's American Woman was blazing out of the speakers. And as she entered the spotlight, this exact line was playing.” MUSIC: American Woman Don't come hangin'
round my door Now, woman Ed Wallace As for Kari… My dear, you can't judge a song by its title. However, the lines do seem kind of appropriate at this point." |
As per this SHN snark, Wallace implies that the song’s lyrics reveal a truth about Kari Lake that is less flattering than the song’s title.
Well, Ed Wallace
once again throws stones from his glass house. Because the title of the music used
to enter each of the latter hours of his radio show is “Run Runaway”. As in, TURN THE DIAL TO RUN, RUN AWAY from Wheels’
self-serving car purchase advice and dishonest Democrat propaganda. So, yeah,
that title for a Wheels’ theme song does seem kind of appropriate at this
point.
As for the many that have neither listened to Slade’s Run Runaway in its entirety nor seen its video, the following is
submitted for your approval:
-- Related Stories --
2023 September 30 / August 10, 2024 - Guide to the Bumpers of Wheels on 570 KLIF (NOV, 2022 to MAY, 2024)
2023 September 30 / August 10, 2024 - Analysis of the Bumpers of Wheels on 570 KLIF (NOV, 2022 to MAY, 2024)
