Remember KFWB Color Radio?

[Bob91361]

My friend in Canada sent me Elliot Field's book: Last of The Seven Swingin' Gentlemen".

Interesting if you grew up in So. California in the 50's/60's listening to KPOP and KFWB, top 40. Al Jarvis, Joe Yocum, B.Mitchell Reed and all those DJ's. Talks about how Color Radio started and his part in it and how he got to Southern California by way of Texas, etc.

Elliot is still alive and lives in Palm Springs and loves to get e-mails: [email protected]

Bob P

 

[LKellerIII]

My friend in Canada sent me Elliot Field's book: Last of The Seven Swingin' Gentlemen".

Interesting if you grew up in So. California in the 50's/60's listening to KPOP and KFWB, top 40. Al Jarvis, Joe Yocum, B.Mitchell Reed and all those DJ's. Talks about how Color Radio started and his part in it and how he got to Southern California by way of Texas, etc.

Elliot is still alive and lives in Palm Springs and loves to get e-mails: [email protected] Bob P

You have to be preeeettty old to remember the glory days of "Color Radio." I just turned 65 - got into music starting with the Beach Boys in 1963 when I was 11. I remember the DJs announcing the "KFWBeach Boys,", and a year later, the "KFWBeatles," of course. I'm not sure about the ratings, but with my friends, KRLA was the big station, though the dial was spun to "Channel 98" during commercials or newscasts. But I think "Color Radio" was already a bit past those glory days - KRLA and Bob Eubanks got the Beatles concert, and most of the attention. Then two years later, KHJ came along and everything changed - knocking KRLA to a distant second (among Top 40 stations), and KFWB to a distant third.

So even at my age, I recall B. Mitchell Reed more from KMET and KPPC, Bill Balance more from KGBS. I do remember Elliot Field - partially because my father was an animator, and worked with Field some because (IIRC) he also did voice work on cartoons. On the other hand, I can still sing the jingle for the "Channel 98 Sports Scoreboard."

 

[multiplex]

Color Radio began with the dawning of 1958. It was dominant for a few years, but KRLA, which became Top Forty in 1959, really hit its stride around 1962 and hitched its wagon to the Beatles star in 1964.
KHJ did indeed take southern California by storm in 1965, but KRLA didn't do itself any favors; in '67 it veered to album rock at times, and in '68 it was almost all automated.
(One host was live on TV and automated on KRLA at the same time!)
KFWB was the third rocker in '65 and went all-news in 1968.
But it should be remembered that KFWB owned L.A. for its first few years as a Top Forty. It was L.A.'s first 24-hour Top Forty station (KDAY rocked earlier but was daytime only; XEAK-690 was sending out Top Forty from Tijuana in 1957 with 50Kw, but also with a nightly religious block from 6 to 9--not the best accompaniment for teens out on the town or doing their homework.)
So in '58 KFWB changed it all.

 

[LKellerIII]

Color Radio began with the dawning of 1958. It was dominant for a few years, but KRLA, which became Top Forty in 1959, really hit its stride around 1962 and hitched its wagon to the Beatles star in 1964.
KHJ did indeed take southern California by storm in 1965, but KRLA didn't do itself any favors; in '67 it veered to album rock at times, and in '68 it was almost all automated.
(One host was live on TV and automated on KRLA at the same time!)
KFWB was the third rocker in '65 and went all-news in 1968.
But it should be remembered that KFWB owned L.A. for its first few years as a Top Forty. It was L.A.'s first 24-hour Top Forty station (KDAY rocked earlier but was daytime only; XEAK-690 was sending out Top Forty from Tijuana in 1957 with 50Kw, but also with a nightly religious block from 6 to 9--not the best accompaniment for teens out on the town or doing their homework.)
So in '58 KFWB changed it all.

Chuck Blore was the mastermind - an earlier Bill Drake if you will. I've read that Blore did some innovative things - such as using the same tune all the time for the call letter/dial position jingles. That seems obvious to us, but apparently wasn't done routinely before that. And it's notable that the jingle was revived for the news format some years after All News premiered on KFWB.

 

[Willits]

Color Radio 98 KFWB was a very hot sounding station for its time, in 1958. For an idea of how sleepy radio was then, on reelradio.com there is a bandscan from 1954 of a Sunday afternoon in St. Louis. This was the same year when Todd Storz set up his first 24-hour Top 40 station with a big signal in Kansas City at WHB. The St. Louis bandscan is indicative of the lack of excitement on the air across the county then.

 

[CTListener]

Color Radio 98 KFWB was a very hot sounding station for its time, in 1958. For an idea of how sleepy radio was then, on reelradio.com there is a bandscan from 1954 of a Sunday afternoon in St. Louis. This was the same year when Todd Storz set up his first 24-hour Top 40 station with a big signal in Kansas City at WHB. The St. Louis bandscan is indicative of the lack of excitement on the air across the county then.

In 1954, rock 'n' roll had not gone mainstream, and the music that would be the prime mover in its genesis -- rhythm and blues -- was still classified as "race music" and would never be heard on radio in a place like St. Louis unless there was a station catering to the black community on the dial back then. Even the liveliest of big band and '50s pop was presented in a sedate manner on radio back then. By 1958, radio was ready for a more high-energy presentation to go along with the high-energy music that was now OK to play to a mixed audience.

 

[Willits]

In 1954, rock 'n' roll had not gone mainstream, and the music that would be the prime mover in its genesis -- rhythm and blues -- was still classified as "race music" and would never be heard on radio in a place like St. Louis unless there was a station catering to the black community on the dial back then. Even the liveliest of big band and '50s pop was presented in a sedate manner on radio back then. By 1958, radio was ready for a more high-energy presentation to go along with the high-energy music that was now OK to play to a mixed audience.

I have an Al Benson aircheck from WGES in Chicago in 1955. Except for the livelier music, the presentation is similar to the 1954 St. Louis bandscan, lots of dead air. I think a major problem was the broadcast technology of the time and the idea that people didn't feel the need yet to reduce the dead air times and increase the energy level, since the networks were still presenting national shows on some radio stations. The "standard" was still the network's way of doing things. Alan Freed and Dewey Phillips were about the first high energy presenters that I was aware of, along with Hunter Hancock, Al Sears, and the 2nd Poppa Stoppa, about 1956 or so, then the Storz and McLendon stations. Storz bought at least one RCA turnkey operation, and at one station they worked it out with the engineer's union that the jocks could run the turntables for the music and the engineer would do the rest. In 1954 they purchased the small 12" platter RCA quick-start turntables so the jocks wouldn't have to slip-cue and still stay tight, so they were starting to think about uptempo presentations then, as they wanted things exciting as they could be....with contests, also. Blore got his basic training from McLendon's El Paso station, IIRC, and he was ready to up the LA radio tempo game when he came to town.

 

[davideduardo]

I have an Al Benson aircheck from WGES in Chicago in 1955. Except for the livelier music, the presentation is similar to the 1954 St. Louis bandscan, lots of dead air. I think a major problem was the broadcast technology of the time and the idea that people didn't feel the need yet to reduce the dead air times and increase the energy level, since the networks were still presenting national shows on some radio stations. The "standard" was still the network's way of doing things. Alan Freed and Dewey Phillips were about the first high energy presenters that I was aware of, along with Hunter Hancock, Al Sears, and the 2nd Poppa Stoppa, about 1956 or so, then the Storz and McLendon stations. Storz bought at least one RCA turnkey operation, and at one station they worked it out with the engineer's union that the jocks could run the turntables for the music and the engineer would do the rest. In 1954 they purchased the small 12" platter RCA quick-start turntables so the jocks wouldn't have to slip-cue and still stay tight, so they were starting to think about uptempo presentations then, as they wanted things exciting as they could be....with contests, also. Blore got his basic training from McLendon's El Paso station, IIRC, and he was ready to up the LA radio tempo game when he came to town.

Remember that Top 40 radio preceded rock and roll by three to four years.

The original Storz station was KOWH in Omaha in 1952. It played the hits of the day in a fast-pased DJ style. Storz soon expanded and was emulated and even improved upon by McLendon. When rock and roll came on the scene, those stations started playing the songs that were hits.

 

[DrAkbar]

The original Storz station was KOWH in Omaha in 1952. It played the hits of the day in a fast-pased DJ style.

A daytimer, no less! And while a lot of early Top 40 stations had marginal coverage, they were so unique on the AM dial they had large followings.

 

[Willits]

A daytimer, no less! And while a lot of early Top 40 stations had marginal coverage, they were so unique on the AM dial they had large followings.

That's a great point. The second Storz station from 1953 was a Class IV in New Orleans that signed off at midnight. They changed power and frequency later on, but they were very successful on the puny signal. In those days class IV was 250-watts all the time. It was about then they realized they were really on to something, so Daddy Storz pedaled a few extra cases of beer, and they picked up a big signal in Kansas City.

 

[davideduardo]

That's a great point. The second Storz station from 1953 was a Class IV in New Orleans that signed off at midnight. They changed power and frequency later on, but they were very successful on the puny signal. In those days class IV was 250-watts all the time. It was about then they realized they were really on to something, so Daddy Storz pedaled a few extra cases of beer, and they picked up a big signal in Kansas City.

The Class IV stations were very successful because the Hooper methodology at the time consisted of calling numbers that were toll free from the central zone of the market. So suburban calls that were subject to toll charges were not called. In other words, the survey zone was about what a 250 watt signal covered.

 

[davideduardo]

A daytimer, no less!

But that did not matter. Hooper only measured through 6 PM.

 

[Willits]

But that did not matter. Hooper only measured through 6 PM.

When did they change? The only old Hooper I've seen is one from 1961. They must have added Mon-Sat 6P-10P some time between 1951 and then. When was it?

http://houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com/2011/05/hooper-ratings-december-1961-january.html

 

[davideduardo]

When did they change? The only old Hooper I've seen is one from 1961. They must have added Mon-Sat 6P-10P some time between 1951 and then. When was it?

http://houstonradiohistory.blogspot.com/2011/05/hooper-ratings-december-1961-january.html

That is an interesting one. All the Hoopers I have or have seen have only had Morning and Afternoon.

What is interesting is that there is no table for just weekday evenings, but a total week one is presented. As the beneficiary is KNUZ, I suspect Dave Morris or Gordon McLendon may have gotten Hooper to do something special just for Houston.

 

[Huff]

That is an interesting one. All the Hoopers I have or have seen have only had Morning and Afternoon.

What is interesting is that there is no table for just weekday evenings, but a total week one is presented. As the beneficiary is KNUZ, I suspect Dave Morris or Gordon McLendon may have gotten Hooper to do something special just for Houston.

In my years of researching Hooper data and collecting it from a variety of markets, I have found there seems to be no rhyme nor reason as to the dayparts presented in each report. Some just listed two basic dayparts (M-F 7a-Noon and M-F Noon-6p), while others include weekend dayparts, or 6p-10p (Mon-Fri and/or Sun-Sat). Some include total week averages, others do not. The dayparts shown may well have been determined by the specific demands of the subscribers in each market.

 

[davideduardo]

In my years of researching Hooper data and collecting it from a variety of markets, I have found there seems to be no rhyme nor reason as to the dayparts presented in each report. Some just listed two basic dayparts (M-F 7a-Noon and M-F Noon-6p), while others include weekend dayparts, or 6p-10p (Mon-Fri and/or Sun-Sat). Some include total week averages, others do not. The dayparts shown may well have been determined by the specific demands of the subscribers in each market.

That seems to be the impression I am getting. I recall seeing Birmingham Hoopers from the last years of WBRC that had weekends, but no nights. I thought that weekends were added because WBRC was the flagship of Alablama football, and had sports content all year on weekends. Roll Tide!

 

[cyberdad]

OF COURSE I remember "Color Radio KFWB"!

That'ss because I have several vintage KFWB Pams jingles in regular rotation on my computer, smart phone, and spotify playlists. Although they're all Series 18, and by that time (1961), I presume the "color radio" branding had been dropped. However, I've heard some of the "color radio" artifacts on various website. I also have an old vinyl album somewhere with photos of the KFWB jocks and a few jingles between the tracks.

 

[LKellerIII]

OF COURSE I remember "Color Radio KFWB"!

That'ss because I have several vintage KFWB Pams jingles in regular rotation on my computer, smart phone, and spotify playlists. Although they're all Series 18, and by that time (1961), I presume the "color radio" branding had been dropped. However, I've heard some of the "color radio" artifacts on various website. I also have an old vinyl album somewhere with photos of the KFWB jocks and a few jingles between the tracks.

The Beach Boys...er...the KFWBeach Boys sang a jingle for KFWB. My daughter has it on her iPod playlist. Not sure why, given that she was born a decade and a half after KFWB went all news, and has never lived in LA.

 

[davideduardo]

The Beach Boys...er...the KFWBeach Boys sang a jingle for KFWB. My daughter has it on her iPod playlist. Not sure why, given that she was born a decade and a half after KFWB went all news, and has never lived in LA.

The Color Radio jingles were syndicated. One of the users was Metromedia's WHK, Color Channel 14, in Cleveland.