I am looking for a complete copy of this multi-part special. Too me, this is the definitive documentary on FM radio from the 60s until they fired the hippies and hired the consultants to do a cleaned-up version. I've got some bits and pieces of it, but not a complete copy.
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Jim Ladd's History of FM
- Thread starter Mike Stark
- Start date
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Wish you had asked when Jim was still with us. I likely could have gotten a copy from him.
Maybe his widow has a copy.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I can check, but I don't know if she is still monitoring Jim's old e-mail address.
I did actually inquire with him before he passed, and he said that he didn't have a copy. I thought that was strange, but someone else told me that he lost a lot of his old tapes in his first divorce. I dropped it after hearing that. Probably best to just let that go. Thanks, though.
That is an inaccurate description of what happened to rock radio. Folks like Lee Abrams created formats ("Superstars" in his case) that made rock work like Top 40; hits, true rotation patterns, no jock music choices, etc. That pretty much killed all but a few very special free form rockers.
The jock choices of music and deep album cuts only the jock had ever heard before only worked when there was no choice. When stations only played the biggest songs in the genre, they killed the free-form ones.
To me, Lee Abrams was the worst thing that happened to FM radio, doing exactly what you described. We'll have to agree to disagree.
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K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
You'll have to agree to disagree with me as well, then ... although Abrams is not entirely to blame, I believe creating the structure of AOR radio would have happened anyway. Lee didn't have the original concept, but he had the programming skills to take what he heard at KLOS and other stations that were creating a more consistent sound and spread it.
Remember, that was an era where AM/FM simulcasting was being eliminated in the major markets by FCC decree. The major station groups, collectively, were very wary of progressive rock (I remember, on a trip to Fresno in the 70's, seeing that KARM actually split their AM to be the prog rocker while leaving the FM as an automated Beautiful Music!) and the idea of having a less "weird" rock format was appealing ... not to mention being more saleable to advertisers.
That last point is the real reason why free-form progressive rock was doomed once FM penetration of listeners started to increase. Radio was as much a business then as it is now, and we're not in the entertainment business as much as we are in the advertising business. As noted in another thread, KMET, fondly remembered by many as the last of the free-forms, had actually adopted a structured AOR approach under Sam Bellamy, and only then achieved ratings parity with KLOS. (And you know that made then-owner Metromedia a lot happier.) Our memories gloss over that inconvenient fact.
The story is in print. R&R's "The AOR Story", published in 1978. Available to read via @DavidEduardo 's brilliant World Radio History site.
The fact is that between 1968 and 1971 the freeforms (in L.A., KPPC and KMET) could never get meaningful (salable) ratings.
In 1971, ABC took its FMs to a formatted album rock approach. Allen Shaw, the president of ABC's FM stations, was the guy with the idea, but the guy who refined the approach and had the greatest success was his L.A. PD, Tom Yates, at KLOS (his interview begins on page 33).
Lee Abrams was 18 or 19, but landed the PD gig at WRIF in Detroit. His interview starts on page 31.
As K.M. says, Lee took what he learned from about a year at 'RIF before consulting (and getting canned from ABC for doing it), refined it for another five years or so, working with Kent Burkhart, and then launched "Superstars".
The entire special edition is extremely well done and a great read.
The fact is that between 1968 and 1971 the freeforms (in L.A., KPPC and KMET) could never get meaningful (salable) ratings.
In 1971, ABC took its FMs to a formatted album rock approach. Allen Shaw, the president of ABC's FM stations, was the guy with the idea, but the guy who refined the approach and had the greatest success was his L.A. PD, Tom Yates, at KLOS (his interview begins on page 33).
Lee Abrams was 18 or 19, but landed the PD gig at WRIF in Detroit. His interview starts on page 31.
As K.M. says, Lee took what he learned from about a year at 'RIF before consulting (and getting canned from ABC for doing it), refined it for another five years or so, working with Kent Burkhart, and then launched "Superstars".
The entire special edition is extremely well done and a great read.
I've only been on this board a short time and I've enjoyed my discussions thus far. Before I was in radio I was a fan. There was certain magic I heard on the air that sent me into the profession. I understand that making money and being what MOST people want is at the top of most people's agenda here. No problem with that. But just because it builds ratings and makes money doesn't necessarily make it good. Some of the things that those consultants did were, IMO, bad for radio, despite the popularity. We will have to "agree to disagree" (don't you hate that phrase? Sorry for over using it). McDonalds is popular, high revenue restaurant that is serving "billions" (is that still their moto?), but there are a lot less popular burgers that are better. That's all I'm saying and how I feel about radio in general. I'm still a fan of the "art" which seems to be an unpopular stance unless it turns a profit.
In my view, it was worse, because of the ownership limits at the time. If you owned an AM & an FM, you had to maximize the value of each. That's what John Kluge did with Metromedia. He didn't know anything about rock music, but he knew those kids had money. The minute he saw there was money to be made with rock music, he wanted to get the most from it. In a lot of markets he was competing against ABC, who saw what he saw and wanted the same thing. The consultants reigned in the music. One of them told Rosko at WNEW he couldn't play Elmore James anymore, so he quit. He wasn't the only one. Ultimately they flipped KMET to smooth jazz and KSAN went country! All this way before radio consolidation.
There's a great documentary on WHFS/DC on PBS. It tells a similar story. The owners didn't know about rock. They knew about money. They owned a station that was a bastion of rock radio for 20 years. Once station values increased to the point where they could retire off the money, they sold. That was the end.
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No, but not building ratings and money makes it gone.
Here’s the thing about broadcast revenue. If you get half the ratings of the number one station, you don’t get half the money. If you get a quarter of the ratings, you don’t get a quarter of the money.
There’s a cliff—-a steep one—-when it comes to ratings and revenue.
And without the revenue, how do you employ talented people? Sure, tech makes it possible to do it without them and make a profit from lower cash flow, but at that point, is it art?
My friend rock writer Dave Marsh pointed out to me during the Napster times, that music existed for thousands of years before anyone could actually monetize it - and they still made music.
A couple of other side notes: Why isn't this discussion group a podcast? Since we're all "audio" oriented, it seems a natural. AND, my hope is that I can find this special and share it with all of you who don't understand what the magic "free form" radio was.
Right. Because they needed an instrument…or any item that can make a musical sound. They didn’t need a transmitter, land for a transmitter, an engineer, studio facilities, disc jockeys, a program director, a receptionist, a general manager, a continuity person, a receptionist, legal counsel…
Mike, everyone you’re talking to here (except BigA, who was too young) heard it live. K.M., ChannelFlipper and I are all L.A. kids only a couple years younger than you.
We’re not taking magic. We’re talking what actually worked.
They still do now. You can hear free music if you go to any school or church. That's basically what music was before the recording business. Once you could make music into a commodity, such as a disc that could be sold and heard at home, the race for big bucks was on. John Lomax & Ralph Peer figured out how to monetize music. Lomax traveled Appalachia to record folk music. Peer went to Bristol TN where he recorded Jimmie Rodgers & The Carter Family. Those early recordings became big hits and suddenly everyone who could sing wanted to make money from music. In that way, about 100 years ago, music was being monetized thanks to technology. Napster almost destroyed the recording business. Then technology went further, and you had streaming. The DMCA monetized streaming, and that's where we are now.
Totally get and respect that. I just sense a certain disrespect for those of us that don't fully buy into the results.
It’s not disrespect. It’s clarity about what actually happened and why.
I loved it. But I’m not gonna pretend it worked.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Okay, I got this one.
That sense you get is because we who have been here for literally years have heard it all before from the fans. And we have patiently explained, over and over and over ... and over, what the realities are. And far too often our explanations are met with "but we as listeners know that if you ..." and then we have to explain ad nauseum why they are wrong and that their reactions are more emotional than practical.
After a while, we start sounding like we disrespect the naysayers. And perhaps we do, to some degree. But that attitude has developed over a long period of time trying to be realists in the face of rose-colored glasses wearers.
It depends. No one's forced to "buy into the results." But there's also the thing about biting the hand that feeds you.
The fans should recognize that even when they were enjoying what was on the radio, somebody was getting rich. Even 80 years ago.
I think about this when I see Lou Adler sitting courtside at Lakers games.
You make me wonder how I possibly made it through 50 years of broadcasting without getting fired.
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