Radio Programs

With Hanukkah starting next week, KCRW-FM (89.9) will broadcast a five-part series about the history of Jews in America, from their early presence in the British colonies to their central role in the creation of the Hollywood movie studios. "Only in America" will air in five hourlong installments, Monday through Friday at 2 p.m. It includes readings of historical letters by actors such as John Lithgow and Jerry Stiller, and sound clips of Al Jolson and other Jewish entertainers.

The Los Angeles area's newest talk radio station, KGIL-AM (1260), expands to San Diego today with a full-time simulcast on XSUR-AM (540), which is owned by the same company, Mt. Wilson FM Broadcasters. The month-old station will use the occasion to introduce a new weekday lineup that features the addition of Dr. Drew Pinsky from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and syndicated host Lars Larson from 3 to 5 p.m. Veteran local host Michael Jackson will continue to be heard from 9 to 11 a.m.

Dr. Drew Pinsky, the longtime co-host of "Loveline" on KROQ-FM (106.7), is expanding his act into AM. Pinsky will join the lineup at the new talk station KGIL-AM (1260) next Tuesday, hosting a weekday show in which he'll field health-related questions from listeners. Unlike "Loveline," which is geared to young people and focuses on sex-related topics, the daytime show will entertain a broader range of issues, KGIL said, such as mental health, relationships and rehabilitation.

Food can excite the senses -- sight, smell, touch and, of course, taste. But how can a radio show about food entice, when all it has to offer is sound? "I could hold the dish up to the microphone and say, 'Breathe deeply.' But it won't get me much," said Merrill Shindler, host of "Feed Your Face" on KLSX-FM (97.1), which airs 6-7 p.m. Saturdays. "It's really just imagination. On one level it's radio theater in its traditional sense. You're creating an ambience. It's about communication.

Be careful what you wish for. In this era of media superficiality, newsroom budget cuts and celebrity worship, there's also a growing call for depth and tough reporting on the crucial issues of our time, such as the election of a president. Enter the next phase of niche media: XM Satellite Radio has launched a 24/7 channel devoted exclusively to presidential politics. So I subject myself to 24 hours of Channel 130, "POTUS '08" (the name is the acronym for president of the United States).

Raul Campos can pinpoint the moment that marked the end of his disco DJ days. It was New Year's Eve 1997, the night he learned the club where he was spinning was closing down. The Gotham Club of South Gate would soon become a Denny's, and Campos would be looking for a new line of work. He was only 25 but already sick of the DJ scene anyway.

Through the years, Bob Dylan's dealings with the public have been difficult. Hear him live and he can be a mumbling and aloof musician. Riffle through interviews with Dylan on YouTube and you discover a contentious, pretentious artist who is laconic, distant, apparently indifferent to enunciation, pleasantries and other everyday social constructs.

The National Endowment for the Arts will partner with XM Radio to bring literature to satellite radio with the launch of "The Big Read on XM," a series airing audio versions of classic novels in 30-minute installments. The series, based on the federal arts agency's national reading program of the same name, premieres Sept. 10 on Sonic Theater (XM Channel 163), the channel devoted to audio books and contemporary theater.

Saul Levine is bringing back a touch of the pop standards format to his radio station at 1260 AM. That's the format -- featuring singers such as Michael Buble, Diana Krall, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand -- that was on the station a year ago, when it was KKGO-AM. Late in the year owner Levine switched it to a country format, and then in February the station went classical as KMZT-AM.