Custom post meta line

I want to add a custom post meta line under each of my post titles to replace the theme post meta. It will say:

By ‘author’ on ‘date’ from ‘location’

Here’s the code I have so far:

function add_custom_meta () {
$customField = get_post_custom_values("location");
$postauthor = the_author();
$postdate = the_time('l, F jS, Y');

   if (isset($customField[0])) {
    echo "By ".$postauthor."on ".$postdate."from ".$customField[0];
	}
	else
	{
    echo "By ".$postauthor."on ".$postdate;
    }
}
add_action('headway_below_post_title', 'add_custom_meta', 1);

Here’s what that code produces. I tried playing with it, but I didn’t make any progress. Can you spot what’s wrong?:

Hello world!
adminThursday, October 21st, 2010By admin on from Paris, France

Hello World with no location
adminThursday, October 21st, 2010By admin on