Most know Jay Thomas as an accomplished actor, with roles on such shows as “Mork and Mindy,” “Cheers,” “Murphy Brown” and more. But I know him as the second morning man on Power 106 (KPWR 105.9 FM), replacing Tommy Jaxson and Deborah Rath in October 1986, nine months after the initial dance/Top 40 format made its debut on the station.

Born Jon Thomas Terrell, he died at 69 of cancer on Aug. 24, and is survived by his wife and three sons.

He began his radio career as a sports announcer for high school football and college basketball in Charlotte, North Carolina. His career goal was to be a stand-up comic, which he accomplished while he stayed on the radio in addition to his appearances on television.

By the time he arrived at Power 106, he had a solid resume. The combination of acting, DJing and comedy made him a perfect choice for Power, as the station looked for someone to take on perennial morning leader Rick Dees, who seemed unstoppable at competitor KIIS (102.7 FM).

Through a combination of missteps by KIIS and momentum of the new format at Power, it worked. Thomas was the first person to knock Dees out of first place since Dees started dominating in 1983.

Thomas left the station in 1993 when management took Power into a different direction, replacing dance with hip-hop.

Thomas continued with acting, but until his death still was connected with radio, most recently through an uncensored talk program on SiriusXM.

Celebrating 50

Andy Barber — that is his real name — grew up with such radio heroes as The Real Don Steele and Robert W. Morgan and such stations as the original KRLA (now KRDC 1110 AM), KHJ (930 AM), KFWB (980 AM), listening from his home in the Los Angeles area as he studied to become an actor.

Acting never really happened, but he got hooked on radio, working his way to Los Angeles in the mid-1970s on the AM Top 40 version of KROQ (1500 AM, now off the air), where he worked with one of his boyhood heroes, Charlie Tuna, and later at high-energy Ten-Q (KTNQ, 1020 AM) where he worked with Steele, another hero.

Steele in fact brought him his biggest thrill on the air when introducing him for the first time on Ten-Q. As Barber recalled: “He said, ‘And now on the air from Glendale, California, Little Andy Barber … a-ha Andy, I have a connection … he’s on Ten-Q!’

“I about peed my pants. He called my dad to find out any idiosyncrasies and my dad said, ‘Yeah he used to be called Little Andy.’ He used that and I was more shocked that he knew that than he was actually introducing me next.”

Interestingly, while he grew up locally, outside of KROQ, Ten-Q and later K-WEST (now KPWR), Barbar has spent most of his career outside of Los Angeles.

“I always wanted to make it to L.A.; when I finally did, it just wasn’t like the other cities,” he explained. “It’s a different vibe.”

He’s been in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the past 24 years and loving it.

Barber began his 50th anniversary on the airwaves last month in Tulsa, still sounding great. You can hear him via his current station stream at 929thedrive.com; if you want to hear the interview Mike Stark and I did with Barber, head over to LARadioWaves.com and look for podcast No. 185.

More Woody

Our own Woody Show, heard mornings locally on Alt 98.7 FM (KYSR), has expanded to Portland, Oregon, via Alt 102.3 (KKRZ-HD2), a secondary HD channel receivable on digital HD radios.

I’m not sure which is the bigger news, Woody syndicating in Portland or a major station using the secondary channel to run a viable format. Are the major broadcasters finally taking note of the success broadcasters such as Saul Levine have had with HD streams? Could more interesting formats be moving to HD? Or is this just a blip? Time will tell.

Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@cox.net.