Monkees legend helps LA radio icon celebrate 25 years of Beatles – with wild John Lennon tale

It was 25 years ago today when Chris Carter took the reins of one of LA radio’s most beloved institutions, “Breakfast With the Beatles.”

And helping celebrate a quarter-century on the airwaves Sunday was a man whose own storied career was kickstarted by a TV show about a band trying to be just like Liverpool’s Fab Four – Monkees legend Micky Dolenz.

Dolenz, 81, sporting a black hat and signature yellow-hued glasses, joined the party at 95.5 KLOS’ eighth-floor studios in Burbank as he prepared to hit the road for his “Micky Dolenz: 60 Years of The Monkees” tour.

He’s the last surviving original member of the four-piece that took TV – and then the pop charts – by storm in the 1960s.

“It was a television show about a band. They lived in a Malibu beach house and wanted to be The Beatles. On the television show we never made it,” Dolenz said.

Dolenz revealed he first saw the Beatles on a stolen TV at iconic LA hamburger joint Bob’s Big Boy.

“There was a guy who had a TV in the parking lot with rabbit ears.”

Just three years later, Dolenz would find himself hanging out with John Lennon at Abbey Road during recording sessions for the Beatles’ landmark “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” album.

“It’s bizarre, I feel blessed,” Dolenz said.

The Monkees went on to score three No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 — “Last Train to Clarksville,” “I’m a Believer” and “Daydream Believer.”

Their hit NBC television show turned Dolenz and bandmates Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork into pop-culture icons and helped unleash Monkeemania across America.

“Micky Dolenz: 60 Years of The Monkees” kicks off in Phoenix before arriving in Los Angeles on Sept. 12.

For a quarter of a century, Angelenos have woken up on Sunday mornings to Carter spinning an eclectic mix of Beatles classics, rarities and deep cuts.

“It’s like going to church,” said Alex Macias, better known to listeners as “Oxnard Alex,” who was in the studio for Sunday’s anniversary celebration.

Macias has painstakingly kept a spiral-notebook diary documenting every song played on the show.

“That’s 894 shows. I started writing down the songs when I was going through a hard time, and it helped me get out of it,” Macias said.

“Breakfast With the Beatles” was created by pioneering LA radio personality Deirdre O’Donoghue, who hosted the program until her death in 2001. Carter took over later that year.

And his tenure began during one of the darkest moments in American history — just days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“I remember the executives gave me a list of songs not to play because of the tragedy, and one was ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon. I immediately rebelled and played it every hour, my first week could have been my last,” Carter said.

“If it weren’t for Deirdre, we wouldn’t be here,” Carter added.

The program is billed by KLOS as “America’s longest running Beatles show” and remains a Sunday morning fixture in Southern California.

Carter has interviewed Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr numerous times, along with George Harrison, whose interview with Carter for Capitol Records became Harrison’s last.

Loyal listeners are treated each week to famous guests with connections to the Fab Four, Beatles trivia and a playlist stretching from monster hits to rarities, outtakes and solo material.

On Sunday, after filling the Los Angeles airwaves with three hours of John, Paul, George and Ringo — plus a little Dolenz — Carter closed his 25th-anniversary show with his signature sign-off.

“It’s been a pleasure playing the Beatles for ya.”

Then came the Beatles themselves, singing the immortal closing line from “The End”:

“And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

“Another one down,” Carter said as he took off his headphones and left the studio smiling.

“Thank you for having me for 25 years,” he added.

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