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KROQ-FM legend Gene ‘Bean’ Baxter returns to the radio airwaves

April 13, 2026

It’s been a while since you’ve heard Gene “Bean” Baxter on the local airwaves. Baxter, of course, was one-half of the tremendously popular Kevin and Bean morning show heard for almost 30 years on KROQ (106.7 FM). Baxter’s last day on the air was in November 2019, when he left to move to the United Kingdom.

Well, he’s back. Not in the United States, mind you. Broadcasting from the UK, Baxter is now heard on SiriusXM’s “Lithium” Channel 34, playing much of the same music he played on KROQ. “Bean on Lithium” airs every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time.

Lithium is essentially an alternative oldies channel, focusing on the 1990s: Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Weezer, Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins, Dave Matthews, Candlebox, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, and Everclear are among the artists heard on the channel. Not just the hits, though, as the channel also goes into deeper tracks not often played on the radio.

Kevin and Bean earned numerous awards over the course of their three decades on the air, including induction into the Radio Hall of Fame, the NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame, multiple Marconi Awards for Major Market Personality of the Year, Billboard Magazine’s Major Market Alternative Radio Personality of the Year, and of course the one I am sure Baxter treasures most, the coveted Waggy Radio Achievement Award for Best Morning Show in Los Angeles.

Recordings and trivia related to the long-running program can be found online at kevinandbeanarchove.com.

On Lithium, Baxter gets to play some of the songs he helped make famous, along with telling stories and some behind-the-scenes information on the songs and artists, many of whom graced the KROQ studios during the era. Supposedly, the programs will be available as podcasts on the SiriusXM app; at press time, they were not.

Baxter is one of my favorite radio personalities; I hope to have a full interview with him shortly, once he gets clearance from his new bosses. Or a short interview, fully. Whatever it is or becomes … Soon.

More Gold for KFI

While last week’s story on the Golden Mike awards was technically correct, as it listed all the local radio awards given by the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California for programming presented over the air. As it turns out, KFI (640 AM) earned one more award, though it was in a separate category due to it being a podcast.

Winning for Best Interview Podcast was KFI’s own Heather Brooker, host of “Entertain Me with Heather Brooker,” available on all the podcast platforms. The win came from her episode on the “Wolves of Glendale.” Interestingly, Brooker was the only Digital/Streaming winner tied to a Los Angeles radio station.

Brooker told me a little about the podcast, which I had not been aware of. “I cover entertainment stories from SoCal to the Silver Screen. Since it’s a podcast, it doesn’t air on the station but is a special show we produce for our listeners.”

Readers React

Just some of the mail I’ve gotten regarding recent radio events …

John Keys wrote all the way from Nevada regarding the decision by CBS to shut down its radio news division, leaving the medium it helped build. “I was disappointed to hear that KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM) will no longer have top of the hour national news updates by CBS and the simulcast on Sunday nights of 60 minutes. I have enjoyed this programming over the decades, even now on occasion here where I now live in Carson City. Sometimes, if I’m on the road Sunday evenings, I’ll tune in to ’60 Minutes.’

He went on to explain one of the wonderful side effects of AM broadcasts: “My son, who was visiting recently from Southern California, was astonished to hear me tune in on my car radio in the evening, crystal clear 1070! I explained that in the evening, this 50,000 watt station can be heard here — 450 miles away — because of a phenomenon known as skywave propagation. And it can even be heard as far away as Canada and Mexico! Nice to be able to tune in to the goings on in Southern California.”

John Alexiades wrote to tell of his experience with HD Radio, one of the very few responses I received regarding my question of the system’s commercial viability.

“I’ve had HD Radio in my last two cars,” he said. “I listen to “The Current in 89.3” quite a bit, and the coverage is good around the city. It’s an excellent station. I also listen to the KROQ HD2 station with the ’80s music. It’s enough to keep me off my Sirius XM, as my new car makes it difficult to navigate Sirius. I suppose I could listen to these stations on an app on Carplay but I find the radio tuner more convenient.”

His experience mirrors mine when he concluded, “The sound is great on the main stations when the HD kicks in, but the coverage is very spotty on most of the stations I listen to.”

I think that last part is a huge problem. The secondary channels have no buffering, and no analog signal to fall back on, making in-car listening especially frustrating as the station abruptly comes in and out as you drive.

Wayne Rhea of Long Beach had a simple question: “Can you still buy transistor radios?”

As it turns out, yes. You don’t see them in your local stores like in the old days, but you can still buy portable radios online, including at Amazon, and the selection includes pocket-sized radios that most who use the term “transistor radio” are referring to.

“How about Radio Shack?” he asked. Yes, even Radio Shack, online at radioshack.com, has a “transistor radio” for sale.

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

Orange County Register

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KROQ-FM legend Gene ‘Bean’ Baxter returns to the radio airwaves

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