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Some say that Lee Marshall was born to be on the radio. Lee admits that by the age of eight, he had already decided to be on radio. Of course, by this time, he had already been one of the kids on the "Kids Say The Darndest Things" segment of Art Linkletter's House Party radio and TV show. By this time, he was also a finalist to be one of the original "Mouskateers" on the Mickey Mouse Club. It's interesting to note that he wasn't made a "Mouskateer" because the people at Disney feared his voice would change. Growing up in Hollywood, Lee used to hang around the old KFWB studios and made friends with L.A.'s original Rock & Roll DJ's such as Gene Weed and Gary Owens. By the time he was thirteen, there was no doubt that Lee wanted to be on the radio, but no Los Angeles radio station was going to hire a thirteen year old kid…even a thirteen year old with a prematurely deep voice. Lee's family had relocated to Phoenix and in 1964 when he was a fourteen-year-old high school sophomore, he convinced a local radio station that he was actually eighteen and had on-air experience in Hawaii. He chose Hawaii because he didn't think the station would pay the long distance charges to verify his story. The station Program Director hired Lee to do the Monday-Friday 7pm-Midnight show. The Program Director thought he had hired an 18-year old with a car, not a 14-year old riding a Schwinn. By 1968, Lee was doing the morning show at legendary Phoenix radio station KRIZ. Although only eighteen at the time, Lee already had four years of on-air Rock & Roll radio experience. Industry big shots started paying attention to "The Kid In the Morning" in 1968 when KRIZ was honored as "Billboard Magazine's Major Market Radio Station of the Year". In the late 60's, things started happening quickly in Lee's career. He was hired at KCBQ in San Diego to do evenings on a station that revolutionized Top-40 Radio. It wasn't long after that when Lee was hired at the radio industry's most legendary Top-40 station. Lee returned home to Los Angeles to join Robert W. Morgan, The Real Don Steele, and the staff of "Boss Radio", 93/KHJ. In the early 70's his bosses at RKO-General sent Lee back east to WOR-FM in New York and CKLW in Detroit. He returned to L.A. in the Mid-70's, where he worked with his radio hero, the one and only Wolfman Jack at "The World's Most Dangerous Radio Station", 1580-KDAY. Lee returned to 93/KHJ in the late 70's to team with a new DJ from Memphis named Rick Dees. Lee also became a national programmer for RKO and the RKO Radio Network. By 1980, Lee didn't like the lack of creative freedom that had infiltrated music radio. He essentially re-invented himself and joined the industry's leading Talk Radio station, KABC Radio in Los Angeles. For more than a decade, Lee teamed with "The Steamer", Bud Furillo to host the afternoon "Sports Talk" Show, as well as the pre-game and post-game "Dodger Talk" shows on the Dodgers Radio Network. Lee was also involved in the creation and programming of the ABC-Talk Radio Network. In the early 90's, Lee accepted the position of Executive Vice-President of Programming for Shadow Broadcast Services. At Shadow, Lee created, oversaw and even hosted a number of nationally syndicated radio shows. As many people know, Lee has always had an involvement with professional wrestling. Lee's grandfather was a professional wrestler, so Lee grew up knowing some of the legends of the early ring wars. Because of his knowledge of wrestling and his broadcast experience, Lee has been doing play-by-play for various professional organizations since 1968. He hosted the first ever nationally broadcast network professional wrestling shows on ESPN. For five years, Lee was on the road with Turner Broadcasting as he co-hosted wrestling shows on the TNT and TBS networks, as well as four nationally and internationally syndicated shows. Lee is one of the most respected Voice-Over actors in the industry. His voice is heard on hundreds of national TV and radio commercials, as well as dozens of TV shows and movies. Six years ago, Lee started doing the voice of one of advertising's true icon characters. Although he's not allowed to do "the voice" on anything other than commercials and special projects, all you have to do is listen closely to Lee to know that he is "the voice" of the world's most famous "tiger". Let's just say that he's Gr-r-reat. Lee is one of the most honored broadcasters in the history of radio, having received awards and accolades from virtually every radio related publication and organization, and in 1997, he was inducted into the Radio Division of The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Despite his success as a programmer and on-air personality, Lee had actually retired from radio, saying that it had lost its heart and soul. However, he had created a format in 1975 that he always wanted to put on the air. Cumulus Broadcasting asked Lee to implement his ideas and take over an under-performing AM radio station in Ventura, California. In 2000, Lee turned KVEN into "1450, THE BOOMER" as he launched a music format reflecting the good old Rock & Roll of the 50's and 60's. Unlike a traditional "Oldies" station, which plays the same 300-songs over and over and over again, THE BOOMER play list consists of almost 17-hundred songs, and each one of them is a hit. You won't hear the same song played on the same day on THE BOOMER. The radio industry took notice of the success being enjoyed by THE BOOMER. In fact, The National Association of Broadcasters named THE BOOMER as "America's AM Oldies Station of the Year for 2004-2005.
As Lee often tells his staff and colleagues, "If you're not having fun on the radio then, you're not doing it right."
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