Back in the day I had the opportunity to visit the KLOK studios in San Jose on Tully Road (if I remember correctly). I had been laid off from my job at KWIZ/Santa Ana, but Davis Broadcasting, owners of both stations along with two in Fresno and one in Seattle, offered to fly me up to KLOK to interview for a job there. Very nice of them. When I walked into the KLOK studios I thought they were palatial compared to the KWIZ studios. There were, yes, four GIANT clocks in the lobby above the reception desk, set to the times of (again, if I remember correctly) Chicago, New York, London and San Jose. So, yes, it was the GIANT KLOK with four giant clocks! I didn't take the job offer but it was fun to visit KLOK. Fun memories!
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1170 The Giant KLOK
- Thread starter lvradioguy
- Start date
Here is one on how KLOK was in the 1980's.
When was this visit? Was this when KLOK was also on 103.7 FM too.
ABC sold KGO-FM to Bill Weaver's Davis Broadcasting soon after the failure of Talkradio, which launched in May 1982. (By coincidence, that's just before I landed in Silicon Valley, so the timing's pinned in some random brain cell in my head.) KGO-FM was Talkradio's initial west coast affiliate (not counting KABC of course), but that lasted only a year or two. So late '83, early '84, somewhere around there is when 103.7 became KLOK-FM, with their weird "Yes/No Radio" concept. They too were defunct in a handful of years.
Talkradio itself hadn't failed at that point (it lasted until at least 1992). It just wasn't getting a lot of traction in San Francisco. Its trend fall '82 to fall '83 was 0.8-0.9-1.0-1.0-1.3.
The sale to KLOK was announced in June of 1983, which was only 11 months after the format launch. KLOK took over on January 1 of 1984, but couldn't get a call letter change approved until later that month.
They sold to Brown Broadcasting in April of 1987, which had some success with 103.7 as KKSF.
Correction to the above---the sale to KLOK was announced in June of 1983, which was only 13 months after the format launch, not 11.
Early morning caffeine deficiency.
Early morning caffeine deficiency.
My visit was 1975, fresh out of college, (yikes, I'm getting old!) At the time KLOK was just 1170, no FM. And I can still hear the KLOK jingle in my head--Tick tock tick tock (sound of a clock), KLOK!
Yup....that damned clock!
Was this about the time that your company apparently attempted to simulcast KWIZ/KLOK during morning drive? Or did that actually happen? I remember reading about this in one of the trades, way back when...
What 2 stations in Fresno were owned by Davis? Year?
IIRC they owned a station or two in Sacramento, not Fresno, but I could be misremembering.
I don't know about Sacramento, but my recollection is when I was working at KWIZ Davis Broadcasting (the owners of KLOK and KWIZ) bought KARM and KFIG in Fresno. I am certain about KARM, KFIG is to my best memory, but definitely two stations. They also bought KUUU/Seattle.
The Buddy and Fran morning show originated at KWIZ and was hugely popular, so Davis decided to simulcast it on KLOK. I defer to the engineers on this board as to how it was done, but there was a system wherein when KWIZ originated a stop set and pressed "go" on the cart machine for the Orange County commercials, it would only go to the OC and trigger the cart machine in San Jose so each station had local spots. It was very inventive for its time!
The Buddy and Fran morning show originated at KWIZ and was hugely popular, so Davis decided to simulcast it on KLOK. I defer to the engineers on this board as to how it was done, but there was a system wherein when KWIZ originated a stop set and pressed "go" on the cart machine for the Orange County commercials, it would only go to the OC and trigger the cart machine in San Jose so each station had local spots. It was very inventive for its time!
Essentially the same system ABC used for TalkRadio. The host would introduce himself, set up the show, say "the number to call", and the board op pressed a button that set off several dozen cart machines around the country with the host giving the local phone number or the toll-free.
Here's Michael Jackson doing that in 1988 (and for some reason, able to hear the phone number tape playing at an affiliate while he's at KABC):
The Michael Jackson Radio Show
A simulcast of KABC Radio's [The Micheal Jackson Show]. Micheal Jackson interviewed guests over the phone and commented on listeners' questions. During program breaks, He talked about his career in talk radio.
OK, I think you're right. Then the KFIG calls were moved to the KARM freq. of 1430. And then it seems the whole Fresno radio market went 'musical chairs'. 1300 / 940 / 1340.
I’d love to hear those
What radiofan2023 said. Any chance of digitizing and sharing?
The Quake was great, especially when Jed the Fish came up from LA to be on it because Rick Carroll was consulting for it.
It would be interesting what format KLOK programmed before the Yes/No radio days! Also, do you by any chance have tapes of KLOK-FM from May 1985?
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