K-Earth 101 Firecracker 300, 1983 edition

[oldies76]

Here's a great sample of a holiday weekend special that once aired on 101.1 back in the 1980's. It was known as the Firecracker 300, a listener-voted countdown that aired every 4th of July weekend from around 1977 through the 80's decade. This is the 1983 airing, with some segments missing but still worth listening to. Wanna hear what radio sounded like in the LA area, nearly 40 years ago? Check this out, found it on archive.....enjoy!!

1983-07-04 KRTH-FM Los Angeles K-Earth Firecracker "not quite" 300 unscoped : KRTH Aircheck : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

K-Earth 101, KRTH-FM Los Angeles has always been a top-rated station over the years. This aircheck was recorded on July 4th, 1983, when K-Earth featured...

archive.org

You may have to go into archive.org and do a KRTH search as this link may not open properly, but it's definitely there.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Not to burst your bubble too much, oldies, but the Firecracker 300s were not 100% listener-voted. Yes, they published "ballots" in the newspaper and they did tabulate the responses, but any "special countdown" that consists entirely of songs already in a station's regular rotation is not going to be swayed much by that kind of input. (The ballots, IIRC, already pre-printed all of the song titles that were in the library, and listeners could "vote" for their favorites among the pre-determined list of what songs were going to be included.)

All the listener voting did was tweak the order in which the songs played, and likely not by more than a few positions up or down from where the programmers had already ranked them when putting the list together. In 1983, I believe Mike Phillips was still the PD and Jay Coffey was APD, so I'm reasonably sure that was what was happening there.

Still, the Firecracker 300 was a great way to showcase the best-testing hits in a still-broad Oldies library for the time.

 

[davideduardo]

Still, the Firecracker 300 was a great way to showcase the best-testing hits in a still-broad Oldies library for the time.

And this is no different than an AOR station doing an "A to Z" weekend, playing the library artists in alphabetical order. When they got to Z.Z. Topp, you had simply heard the whole library they played every day but just sorted differently.

The tactic of that type of different shuffle is to convince listeners that you had a good variety of all the songs they liked and all the artists they preferred.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

And this is no different than an AOR station doing an "A to Z" weekend, playing the library artists in alphabetical order. When they got to Z.Z. Topp, you had simply heard the whole library they played every day but just sorted differently.

The tactic of that type of different shuffle is to convince listeners that you had a good variety of all the songs they liked and all the artists they preferred.

When SiriusXM does one of these countdowns, it is the exact opposite of what you and KMR describe (which is very accurate for most terrestrial radio stations).

When SXM does one of these countdowns, probably a third of the songs are specifically not on the every day playlist. Makes for great holiday listening. I think I had several posts on the 4th of July weekend last year of the 70s on 7 going DEEP into the library, especially with a lot of R&B and Soul tracks. Similar for Memorial Day this year (a lot of deep tracks, but not nearly as much soul as the previous 4th of July).

A little disappointing this year for the 4th though, not very many deep cuts, in fact no countdown at all. I think they mailed it in this year after doing such a great job last year.

With regard to the AOR A to Z, this would offend Jim Ladd's sensibilties so much when KLSX did it that he would specifically request that week off for his vacation.

 

[oldies76]

Not to burst your bubble too much, oldies, but the Firecracker 300s were not 100% listener-voted. Yes, they published "ballots" in the newspaper and they did tabulate the responses, but any "special countdown" that consists entirely of songs already in a station's regular rotation is not going to be swayed much by that kind of input. (The ballots, IIRC, already pre-printed all of the song titles that were in the library, and listeners could "vote" for their favorites among the pre-determined list of what songs were going to be included.)

All the listener voting did was tweak the order in which the songs played, and likely not by more than a few positions up or down from where the programmers had already ranked them when putting the list together. In 1983, I believe Mike Phillips was still the PD and Jay Coffey was APD, so I'm reasonably sure that was what was happening there.

Still, the Firecracker 300 was a great way to showcase the best-testing hits in a still-broad Oldies library for the time.

Bob Hamilton was PD from spring 1977 though sometime in 1985 I understood. Phil Hall took over in 1985, thus the elimination of currents on that station. I thought Phillips took over around 1988 with the Beasley sale. If you reference the link above to that specific special on archive, you'll be able to hear most of the songs played over the 4th, 1983, which in that time, they were leaning AC and playing some currents along with classic hits. I know "Billie Jean" is on there, a special extended version of it too.

Hmmm, I thought it was an open ballot, meaning any song "in format" could be considered with the original Firecracker 300 rankings. I know they did other smaller infrequent specials in the 90's and early 00's that required a pre-determined list and in a time when the playlist was much tighter.

"Stairway to Heaven", "Hey Jude" or "Light My Fire" usually made up the top three over the years.

Appreciate your insight, K.M.

 

[K.M. Richards]

When SiriusXM does one of these countdowns, it is the exact opposite of what you and KMR describe (which is very accurate for most terrestrial radio stations).

When SXM does one of these countdowns, probably a third of the songs are specifically not on the every day playlist. Makes for great holiday listening. I think I had several posts on the 4th of July weekend last year of the 70s on 7 going DEEP into the library, especially with a lot of R&B and Soul tracks. Similar for Memorial Day this year (a lot of deep tracks, but not nearly as much soul as the previous 4th of July).

I would suggest that SXM subscribers, because they pay for the service, will tolerate such specials with songs not usually played far more than those who listen to radio free of charge and therefore are more likely to hit the "off" button when something less familiar or popular with them plays.

 

[TheBigA]

I would suggest that SXM subscribers, because they pay for the service, will tolerate such specials

And even if they didn't tolerate the specials, they've already paid the subscription, so the money is already in the bank.

As I've always said, broadcast radio would be very different if the listers paid for it instead of advertisers.

Most of the complaints listeners have about broadcast radio are caused by advertisers.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Bob Hamilton was PD from spring 1977 though sometime in 1985 I understood. Phil Hall took over in 1985, thus the elimination of currents on that station. I thought Phillips took over around 1988 with the Beasley sale. If you reference the link above to that specific special on archive, you'll be able to hear most of the songs played over the 4th, 1983, which in that time, they were leaning AC and playing some currents along with classic hits.

I stand corrected. If I had taken the time to research before posting instead of relying on my sometimes-erratic memory, I likely would have gotten it right.

In fact, you sparked me to do so, and just spent several minutes in the R&R archives at WorldRadioHistory to verify the timeline and you were very close to correct with the above. Hamilton arrived in February 1977 from WIFI in Philadelphia and resigned in January 1986 when KHJ took the KRTH calls as "Smokin' Oldies 930" ... and Hall was indeed his successor. Phillips actually came to KRTH near the end of 1990 and Coffey was promoted from APD in 2001 when Phillips left. And, of course, we know that Jhani Kaye was Coffey's successor, at the end of 2005.

Appreciate your insight, K.M.

You're welcome!