Corrections— Les Beigel

There were two Les Beigels. Senior and our Seattle radio DJ.
Steven Smith set the record straight on the accomplishments of each of them…
Beigel senior was born near Chicago in 1908. He moved to Seattle area and died there in 2004. Claim to fame, he played in Glenn Miller’s band. In Seattle he played jazz, big band and led Les Beigle and the Dixie Dandies. He was never a top 40 jock…too old to be a hot 60s rock jock like Jr.

Les Jr was also born near Chicago (1942), but the family including senior and junior moved to Seattle area when JR was a young kid. His first radio job was at KENY in summer 1960 at 17 or 18 years, then KUDY… Nelskog’s top 40 station in Feb 1961, then KREN in Renton circa 1964, Kol in 1966 and very soon on to KFWB in LA in 1967. Far as I know, JR did not have a band. He ended up after radio supporting himself for a lifetime as an LA narrator and voice over guy…movies, spots, etc. He died young of lung cancer, heavy smoker for life, in 2012. There is quite a bit about him in my old KENY article, including a younger photo. And in Road to top 40 part 2 there is a pretty good aircheck that includes Les Jr.

Anyway, dad was the musician for life, Les jr was the radio guy but it was confusing because senior was doing his band gigs in Seattle into the 70s and early 80s. However, fact is, JR was in LA by then and his dad still had the bands.

The Road to Top 40: Bellingham – PT. 2