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Antiques Collector Left Acting for Radio World

When KHJ-AM’s “Boss Radio” top 30 rock format ruled the Southern California airwaves back in the 1960s and ’70s, disc jockeys the Real Don Steele, Robert W. Morgan and Humble Harv Miller were making names for themselves.

So was Art Astor, a sales manager at KHJ-AM during its heyday.

In 1978, Astor bought a 20% stake in country radio station KIK-FM, originally in Garden Grove. In 1983, he bought out his partners for $2 million. In 2003, he sold it for $35 million.

Radio has been good to Astor.

Look no further than his Anaheim-based Astor Classics Event Center and Living Automotive and Communication Museum, a 100,000-square-foot museum filled with an array of antiques: autos, record players, Victrolas made by the Victrola Talking Machine Co., portable radios from the 1930s, sheet music, slot machines, TVs, watches, gas tanks, gumball machines, bikes, electric trains, celebrity memorabilia and soon a cell phone display,remember when they were bulky and brick-like?

Astor, now 82, has been at it for 50 years.

At one point, his Astor Broadcast Group owned five radio stations. He’s had seven altogether.

“It got to be too much,” he said.

Today, from his Anaheim headquarters, he runs three stations: the Inland Empire’s KSPA-AM 1510 and North San Diego’s KFSD-AM 1450 and KCEO-AM 1000. He employs about 20 people at the three stations.

“He’s a character,” Mary Beth Garber, president of the Southern California Broadcasters Association in Los Angeles, said of Astor. “He is someone who was willing to take chances on different formats.”

Astor’s KSPA plays standards performed by old-time singers such as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, along with newer artists singing standards, such as Norah Jones, Carly Simon and Diana Krall.

“People who have worked for him have been with him for a very long time,” Garber said.

Southern California has about 60 commercial radio stations. About 35 of those generate 90% of the revenue in the market, Garber said. There are about 40 “buyable” stations, meaning they generate $10 million or more, she said.

“Art is a small player in the market but over the years, he has made a lot of money,” she said.

Astor has applied with the Federal Communications Commission to increase the power of his Ontario station so that it can blast into Los Angeles. That means the station’s value could jump from $10 million to $40 million, he said.

“In newspapers it’s circulation, in radio it’s the geography that you cover,” he said.

The process will take a few years, according to Astor.

Astor Broadcast Group competes with big names such as Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc. and other smaller groups.

Satellite radio has emerged as a rival. Astor predicts that will change.

“I’m not sure how long it’s going to last,” he said.

XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., the only two satellite radio companies, have agreed to combine. But the FCC could block a deal, Astor said. The National Association of Broadcasters is a powerful lobby, he said.

Astor said he’ll eventually sell his stations. For now, he meets weekly with his station managers, sales managers and program directors. His primary focus is ad sales, radio’s only revenue. He’s also got quite a big job running his Astor Classics Event Center.

Astor, who grew up in Los Angeles, started out in movies and TV.

“I got an early taste of show biz,” he said.

A poster of Astor on the wall of one of his offices,he has several,proves he had movie-star good looks that surely helped him land roles in TV and film.

You still can see it in a spry Astor today, charming with a deep radio voice. Astor plays tennis regularly and has a knack for math and a memory.

When Astor was in high school and young guys were going off to war, Hollywood needed extras for their films. Astor scored some minor parts.

He did a two-year stint as a tail gunner in the military and then went on to the University of Southern California, where Astor’s dad and son also went.

While there, Astor did some film work and scored his Screen Actors Guild card. Astor landed a starring role on “Club El Teen,” a variety show for kids on Channel 9 in Los Angeles.

He almost cinched a movie role in a war drama called “The North Star,” but lost out to Farley Granger.

The part called for a young man who looked Russian. Astor’s father was an immigrant from Armenia.

Granger left Hollywood and went on to theater. Astor went into broadcast sales.

“I decided to kiss off waiting for the phone to ring and having my agent say there is nothing going on,” he said.

Later, he got into radio management.

A life of hard work has made Astor a wealthy man.

On any given day, he has seven or so “drivers”,newer model cars he drives to and fro. There’s an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage, one of his favorites, a white Rolls-Royce, a green Thunderbird, a Jaguar.

“It’s probably a blatant misuse of my money,” he said. “But I like it anyway.”

He drives each one on different days.

“Why not?” he said.

He’s got several offices at the museum headquarters to suit his mood.

He alternates among homes, one in Lake Arrowhead, an art deco loft in Los Angeles, a home in Tustin. He prefers real estate as an investment over stocks.

“I’ve always enjoyed the control of buying something myself,” he said. “I have control of selling it.”

Astor has several retail, office and medical buildings, all in Orange County, including a stake in Villa Park Town Center, he said. He bought them in the late 1960s and 1970s.

His latest buy is going to be his father’s former ranch house in Indio.

His father bought the house in 1951. Astor visited his parents there for 20 years. Gen. George Patton once used the home as his headquarters. The city restored it and didn’t allow commercial development there.

“It’s been for sale for a couple of months,” Astor said. “I said, ‘Why not?'”

Astor, though fond of his father, said his dad, a lawyer, was disappointed he didn’t get into law.

“He wanted Astor, Astor & Astor,” he said.

Astor’s brother also is a lawyer.

Even after Astor bought his first station, his dad still wanted him to be a lawyer, he said. Astor’s boastful of all three of his grown children, two daughters and one son. His son worked with Astor at the event center for a few months. When it came time for his son, Kevin Astor, to venture out, Astor asked him: “What’s your passion?”

He said education. He now is principal of Orangeview Junior High School in Anaheim.

“If you’re unhappy at what you’re doing, it’s useless,” Astor said.

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