Both of these questions are (loosely) based on remarks made by @davideduardo on another thread I can't find now. He should be able to answer the first one though I don't know if he was still in the Phoenix market when the second question occurred.
Anyway, @davideduardo discussed in the other thread his involvement in making top-40 KRUX' format a little more acoustic. According to what he said (and I'm paraphraising here), KUPD was cleaning up both KRUX and KRIZ in the ratings and that he and another had been hired by Lotus (then KRUX' owner) to try to right the situation for KRUX.
My question has to do with the fact that Phoenix had three other stations playing, at least some, current hits at the time and I'm curious about why one of the upstarts was not included. I can understand why KSTM wasn't included (its very weak Apache Junction-based signal barely covered Mesa, let alone the rest of the valley), and I think he hinted at KOOL-FM (which while playing mostly oldies was also playing acoustic current hits at the time) which the new softer format at KRUX tried to emulate. The one that I'm really curious about, however, is KBBC-FM at 98.7 mHz. As the surveys on the ARSA site show, KBBC-FM was, by 1975, running a full top-40 playlist, so much so that by the fall of that year, it had become American Top 40's Phoenix outlet. What set KBBC-FM apart from its top-40 competitors was that it focused more on new music than KUPD, KRIZ, or KRUX. My question: Was what KBBC-FM was doing at the time taken into consideration when looking at how to improve KRUX's standing, and if not, why not.
My second question has to do with a specific top-40 song in 1976's airplay on Phoenix radio, and since by the summer of that year, KRUX was doing the ill-fated NBC All News network, you might have been gone by that point--yet still I'll ask.
Thequestion has to do with The Manhattans' massive hit, "Kiss and Say Goodbye." Per the available ARSA surveys, that song was never played on either KRIZ or KBBC-FM (outside of "American Top 40,") which is consistent with my memory of the situation. There are no KUPD surveys from the timeperiod but my memory says that it played that song, and the long version of that song to death, at least once an hour throughout the months of July and August of 1976. According to my memory (and again, there are no ARSA surveys for KOOL-FM during this period to back me up), the only other Phoenix radio station to play "Kiss and Say Goodbye," while it was a national hit was KOOL-FM and that station played only the shorter version available on the 45 single. My question: Why did KRIZ and KBBC-FM pass up playing this national hit when KUPD was playing the song repeatedly. It really seems odd to me that a big national hit could be played so prominently on one of Phoenix's top 40 outlets and be completely ignored by the other radio stations in that genre.
Anyway, @davideduardo discussed in the other thread his involvement in making top-40 KRUX' format a little more acoustic. According to what he said (and I'm paraphraising here), KUPD was cleaning up both KRUX and KRIZ in the ratings and that he and another had been hired by Lotus (then KRUX' owner) to try to right the situation for KRUX.
My question has to do with the fact that Phoenix had three other stations playing, at least some, current hits at the time and I'm curious about why one of the upstarts was not included. I can understand why KSTM wasn't included (its very weak Apache Junction-based signal barely covered Mesa, let alone the rest of the valley), and I think he hinted at KOOL-FM (which while playing mostly oldies was also playing acoustic current hits at the time) which the new softer format at KRUX tried to emulate. The one that I'm really curious about, however, is KBBC-FM at 98.7 mHz. As the surveys on the ARSA site show, KBBC-FM was, by 1975, running a full top-40 playlist, so much so that by the fall of that year, it had become American Top 40's Phoenix outlet. What set KBBC-FM apart from its top-40 competitors was that it focused more on new music than KUPD, KRIZ, or KRUX. My question: Was what KBBC-FM was doing at the time taken into consideration when looking at how to improve KRUX's standing, and if not, why not.
My second question has to do with a specific top-40 song in 1976's airplay on Phoenix radio, and since by the summer of that year, KRUX was doing the ill-fated NBC All News network, you might have been gone by that point--yet still I'll ask.
Thequestion has to do with The Manhattans' massive hit, "Kiss and Say Goodbye." Per the available ARSA surveys, that song was never played on either KRIZ or KBBC-FM (outside of "American Top 40,") which is consistent with my memory of the situation. There are no KUPD surveys from the timeperiod but my memory says that it played that song, and the long version of that song to death, at least once an hour throughout the months of July and August of 1976. According to my memory (and again, there are no ARSA surveys for KOOL-FM during this period to back me up), the only other Phoenix radio station to play "Kiss and Say Goodbye," while it was a national hit was KOOL-FM and that station played only the shorter version available on the 45 single. My question: Why did KRIZ and KBBC-FM pass up playing this national hit when KUPD was playing the song repeatedly. It really seems odd to me that a big national hit could be played so prominently on one of Phoenix's top 40 outlets and be completely ignored by the other radio stations in that genre.
