Michael Stark, owner of L.A. Radio Studio located at Ports O’ Call in San Pedro, broke the sad news: Legendary broadcaster and newsman Lee Marshall died Sunday at age 67.

Most Americans know Marshall’s voice as that of Tony the Tiger, the cartoon spokesman for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes cereal; Marshall had been the voice of Tony since 1995 when the previous voice of Tony, Thurl Ravenscroft, passed away.

But fans know him as one of the best voices ever to grace the radio airwaves. Some call his the “voice of God,” with an amazing bass depth that would make a subwoofer rumble. He hit the Los Angeles airwaves in 1970 on KHJ (930 AM) and, over the years, covered news for the original KDAY (now KBLA, 1580 AM), KABC (790 AM), and during the station’s short time of running financial news, KBLA. In San Diego he was with KCBQ (1070 AM); more recently he was with The Boomer, KVEN/Ventura.

He came to Southern California a seasoned veteran, having worked at top stations such as KRIZ/Phoenix and CKLW/Windsor, Ontario.

In addition to his radio and commercial work, Marshall was part of professional wrestling as the play-by-play voice of the American Wrestling Association, along with other wrestling organizations.

Just a short time ago, Stark and I met Marshall for an interesting career-spanning interview for a weekly podcast called L.A. Radio Sessions at the L.A. Radio Studios. You can hear it at http://tinyurl.com/LARSMarshall. In it, Marshall gives not only his own history (and recordings of his work), he gives his opinion of modern radio, including a very positive outlook on the medium that others — like myself — have a tendency to put down due to corporate bloodletting.

It has been joked that if God needed someone to do a speech, he’d call on Marshall. It appears he did. Marshall’s talent and voice, along with his positive attitude, will be missed.

Quick picks

Wonder how Rush Limbaugh is doing over at KEIB (1150 AM)? Good and bad, depending on how you look.

In listeners age 6 and older Limbaugh earned a 1.4 share of the audience during his 9 a.m. to noon shift. Sounds bad, but overall the station has a 0.5 share. And the station had a 0.2 share during his shift back when it was a liberal talker. In the more marketable age demographic of 25-54, Limbaugh’s shift is 0.5, compared with 0.3 for the station as a whole and 0.1 back under liberal talk.

Commercial breaks on your favorite station seem too long? I’ve thought so for years, and I feel long breaks not only drive away listeners, they also make each commercial worth less to an advertiser.

It appears I am not alone. According to Edison Research, Pandora listeners are more likely to prefer short breaks more often rather than fewer but longer breaks. Like early KHJ circa 1965, Pandora has short breaks as often as every three songs. Is it time for the elements of Boss Radio to make a comeback?

Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance writer covering radio in Southern California. Send him email at rwagoner@cox.net.