Does anyone have a playlist from K-Earth when it was Oldies concentrating on 50s-60s music? Probably late 80s/early 90s. I vaguely remember hearing songs like "Earth Angel," "Sherry," and "Charlie Brown" from those days when I was a kid. I'm curious what other kinds of Oldies they played during that time.
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KRTH Oldies-era Playlist
- Thread starter Neel
- Start date
Brian Berne, Mr. Rock and Roll, used to have a countdown show most afternoons throughout the 80s and into 1991.
The countdown shows were basically, "This week in 1961," etc., and they included rare and sometime Southern California only hits.
Some of this I am kicking around in my own memory, and I could be wrong... but (and please correct me if I am wrong),
In the mid-80s K-Earth was kind of an interesting oldies/AC hybrid; I have a few airchecks of that time and the playlist went from Donovan to Culture Club to Barry Manalow to The Beatles.
By about 1986 er 87 they dropped the AC and went into a very 1954-64 centric playlist; it wasn't until the 90s, maybe even spring 1990, that KRTH went the way of the 1954-72 style playlist.
During this time certain music countdowns, like the Firecracker 500, featured plenty of music up until the early 80s.
Mind you in the late 80s along with KRTH Southern California actually had three oldies stations. In 1988 came KODJ/KCBS-FM with their oldies format, and you had "the Heart and Soul of Rock and Roll" from Pasadena, 1110 KRLA. --I don't know (and maybe somebody here can fill in the details and drama) if the powers that be at KRTH at the time thought it would be a good idea to take on the two oldies stations.
Beginning 1991 and fully launching in 1992 was the Mike Phillips PD and Bill Drake consulted era KRTH with Robert W. Morgan and The Real Don Steele on the mic... and of course what would soon become the (in)famous tightly controlled, but highly successful, Mike Phillips 101 song playlist.
Curiously the other brain behind 93/KHJ, Ron Jacobs, has often told those longing for the past who wanted KHJ to return that they received their wish... on KRTH.
The countdown shows were basically, "This week in 1961," etc., and they included rare and sometime Southern California only hits.
Some of this I am kicking around in my own memory, and I could be wrong... but (and please correct me if I am wrong),
In the mid-80s K-Earth was kind of an interesting oldies/AC hybrid; I have a few airchecks of that time and the playlist went from Donovan to Culture Club to Barry Manalow to The Beatles.
By about 1986 er 87 they dropped the AC and went into a very 1954-64 centric playlist; it wasn't until the 90s, maybe even spring 1990, that KRTH went the way of the 1954-72 style playlist.
During this time certain music countdowns, like the Firecracker 500, featured plenty of music up until the early 80s.
Mind you in the late 80s along with KRTH Southern California actually had three oldies stations. In 1988 came KODJ/KCBS-FM with their oldies format, and you had "the Heart and Soul of Rock and Roll" from Pasadena, 1110 KRLA. --I don't know (and maybe somebody here can fill in the details and drama) if the powers that be at KRTH at the time thought it would be a good idea to take on the two oldies stations.
Beginning 1991 and fully launching in 1992 was the Mike Phillips PD and Bill Drake consulted era KRTH with Robert W. Morgan and The Real Don Steele on the mic... and of course what would soon become the (in)famous tightly controlled, but highly successful, Mike Phillips 101 song playlist.
Curiously the other brain behind 93/KHJ, Ron Jacobs, has often told those longing for the past who wanted KHJ to return that they received their wish... on KRTH.
I wish they would cover the 60's up until the end of the decade. Unless im wrong and wiki hasn't been updated, its mainly 1954 to 1964. Im already certain, they do NO testing for the HD2 channel for listeners or advertisers, the HD2 channel is just a supplement and complement to its main channel.
Way different era back then, now its opposite mainly classic Rock, a little pop on the main channel.
K
K.M. Richards
Guest
There are so few listeners to the HD2 that it doesn't show in the ratings. There are no advertisers because there are so few listeners. CBS is not going to spend good money doing any kind of research, including music testing, when there is very little chance they'd make it back.
So I think you can stop wishing for something that has less than 1% chance of happening.
Agreed
KRTH Timeline
After switching from KHJ-FM to KRTH, it's been:
Oldies from 1972 to 1976. The switch from Drake-Chenault's "Solid Gold Rock n' Roll" to KRTH's own in-house oldies (focusing on 1955-63) saw the ratings jump from 15th place with a 2.5 in the fall of 1971 to a tie (with KGFJ) for fourth place and a 4.3 in the fall of 1972 (the rating period began a month after the format launch). But the buzz didn't last, with KRTH falling to 13th with a 2.7 in 1973, improving somewhat to 11th with a 3.1 in 1974, falling again to 15th with a 2.4 in 1975 and then hitting rock bottom in the fall of 1976 at 19th with a 1.8.
Adult Contemporary 1977 to 1986. This was the way Adult Contemporary was in the late 60s and through the 70s and what it's returned to now...all but the hardest songs from the current charts, mixed with gold that goes further back in time than the Top 40 stations. A massive improvement...10th place with a 3.4. Fall '78 saw 11th place with a 3.0, Fall '79 8th place with a 3.8, Fall '80 9th place with a 3.4, 1981 9th place with a 3.1, 1982 12th place with a 3.2, 1983 12th with a 2.8, 1984 12 with a 2.6 and 1985 tied for 11th with a 2.9.
Oldies from 1986 to 2005. KRTH added Beatles, Beach Boys, Motown and other 60s music to its mix for its second attempt at Oldies. It started strong in 1986 with a 3.8, which it held in 1987, but erosion began after that, with a 3.5 in 1988, a 2.9 in 1989, and a 1.9 in 1990. KRTH then hired Mike Phillips as PD and Bill Drake as its consultant and it rebounded with a 3.8 in 1991. Robert W. Morgan and The Real Don Steele joined in 1992, which saw a jump to a 4.0. The numbers stayed within half a point of that until Morgan and Steele left the air due to illness in 1997 and died in 1998, at which point the numbers floated down to about a 3. When it slipped below that in '04/'05 is when the writing was on the wall.
Classic Hits from 2005-Present.
Its most sustained success is in its current incarnation. Second place would probably be the six years under Mike Phillips and Bill Drake before Morgan and Steele died. Then would be the first five years as an adult contemporary, followed by its original oldies format.
After switching from KHJ-FM to KRTH, it's been:
Oldies from 1972 to 1976. The switch from Drake-Chenault's "Solid Gold Rock n' Roll" to KRTH's own in-house oldies (focusing on 1955-63) saw the ratings jump from 15th place with a 2.5 in the fall of 1971 to a tie (with KGFJ) for fourth place and a 4.3 in the fall of 1972 (the rating period began a month after the format launch). But the buzz didn't last, with KRTH falling to 13th with a 2.7 in 1973, improving somewhat to 11th with a 3.1 in 1974, falling again to 15th with a 2.4 in 1975 and then hitting rock bottom in the fall of 1976 at 19th with a 1.8.
Adult Contemporary 1977 to 1986. This was the way Adult Contemporary was in the late 60s and through the 70s and what it's returned to now...all but the hardest songs from the current charts, mixed with gold that goes further back in time than the Top 40 stations. A massive improvement...10th place with a 3.4. Fall '78 saw 11th place with a 3.0, Fall '79 8th place with a 3.8, Fall '80 9th place with a 3.4, 1981 9th place with a 3.1, 1982 12th place with a 3.2, 1983 12th with a 2.8, 1984 12 with a 2.6 and 1985 tied for 11th with a 2.9.
Oldies from 1986 to 2005. KRTH added Beatles, Beach Boys, Motown and other 60s music to its mix for its second attempt at Oldies. It started strong in 1986 with a 3.8, which it held in 1987, but erosion began after that, with a 3.5 in 1988, a 2.9 in 1989, and a 1.9 in 1990. KRTH then hired Mike Phillips as PD and Bill Drake as its consultant and it rebounded with a 3.8 in 1991. Robert W. Morgan and The Real Don Steele joined in 1992, which saw a jump to a 4.0. The numbers stayed within half a point of that until Morgan and Steele left the air due to illness in 1997 and died in 1998, at which point the numbers floated down to about a 3. When it slipped below that in '04/'05 is when the writing was on the wall.
Classic Hits from 2005-Present.
Its most sustained success is in its current incarnation. Second place would probably be the six years under Mike Phillips and Bill Drake before Morgan and Steele died. Then would be the first five years as an adult contemporary, followed by its original oldies format.
The most shocking thing about this post is that KGFJ 1230 was #4 with 4.3! With all the interference now, aren't they roughly equivalent in signal to an LPFM?
The thing about KGFJ is that its old transmitter, located on a rooftop near downtown, was perfectly located for an r&b station.
Since then, they moved the transmitter and the African American population has spread out more... and AM has become irrelevant for mass appeal music formats.
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