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103.7 THE BAND

SFStatic said:
I would say classic hits. The tag line originally was "the biggest hits of the 70's all the time." This later became "the biggest hits of the 70s & 80's."
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Big 98 was indeed one of those rock-leaning hits stations that were all the rage in the mid-'90s, after some CBS station invented the format (which they called "Arrow"). It always seemed odd to me that you would do a '70s-based format in SF of all places and ignore cheezy pop hits and soul, and ghettoize disco on Saturday nights. I had a phone conversation with Big 98's first PD, Gerry McCracken, and one of the things I told him was "you need to play more soul crossover stuff, like Spinners, Aretha, Stevie, Earth Wind & Fire, James Brown" -- all these acts had dozens of Top 40 hits in the '70s -- and he said "Aretha and James Brown don't test well".
 
That actually happened after Gerry left. Steve Garland did the music before Bob Hamilton got there, and the ratings jumped with more soul. the corporate overlords did a study, and found that the rock folks and the soul folks didn't like the same music, so it went from pop-rock-soul to just pop-rock. What no one knew at the time was that they had Project David in the works, named after Jimmy DeCastro's deceased brother. It was the Jammin' Oldies format. they blew up Big 98, and rolled out Kiss 98. Kiss has morphed over the years, but as you can hear, is still around.
 
SFStatic said:
That actually happened after Gerry left. Steve Garland did the music before Bob Hamilton got there, and the ratings jumped with more soul. the corporate overlords did a study, and found that the rock folks and the soul folks didn't like the same music, so it went from pop-rock-soul to just pop-rock. What no one knew at the time was that they had Project David in the works, named after Jimmy DeCastro's deceased brother. It was the Jammin' Oldies format. they blew up Big 98, and rolled out Kiss 98. Kiss has morphed over the years, but as you can hear, is still around.
Click to expand...

Kiss-FM wasn't the first with "Classic Soul" (the format was never branded as "Jammin' Oldies in the Bay Area). KISQ filled the void that was left when 98.9 KSOL ended up with a Spanish format during all that late 90s consolidation and frequency swapping.

As I remember it, KBGG struggled a lot - first they branded as the 70s station - then added in 60s and 80s - never seemed to hold onto one focus for very long. I don't think the ratings were ever spectacular either - with the possible exception of Darian O'Toole in the morning, who seemed to have a bit of a female cult following.
 
Mornings with DOT and weekends...Big 98 was #1 25-54 in several dayparts on the weekends. It was a lifestyle station. You are correct about the changes. The pure 70's were later augmented...that's why they changed the slogan. Later, a GM changed it to K-Big 98.1, complete with a jingle re-sing. The point about KISS wasn't that they were first...but they were jammin' oldies, they just never used that nomenclature. It was a corporate pet project, as described earlier in this thread. Watching Jimmy DeCastro pull a KISS t-shirt over his shirt and tie, and walking around the building, and the GM with the unlit cigar, walking around like Groucho was a hoot!
 
SFStatic said:
That actually happened after Gerry left. Steve Garland did the music before Bob Hamilton got there, and the ratings jumped with more soul. the corporate overlords did a study, and found that the rock folks and the soul folks didn't like the same music, so it went from pop-rock-soul to just pop-rock. What no one knew at the time was that they had Project David in the works, named after Jimmy DeCastro's deceased brother. It was the Jammin' Oldies format. they blew up Big 98, and rolled out Kiss 98. Kiss has morphed over the years, but as you can hear, is still around.
Click to expand...
I vividly remember "Saturday Night Groove Thang". It had several differents hosts but I do remember them playing of all things, DISCO DUCK!
 
ANOTHER MEMBER WROTE:"Kiss-FM wasn't the first with "Classic Soul" (the format was never branded as "Jammin' Oldies in the Bay Area). KISQ filled the void that was left when 98.9 KSOL ended up with a Spanish format during all that late 90s consolidation and frequency swapping."

Don't forget about KXBT 1630 (later on 1640) which played "Classic Soul" circa 1994. This station was out of Vallejo.

Mike
 
Mady McKoewn and Brett Larson were two of the hosts during the tenure of the Big Saturday Night Groove Thang. The show had giant ratings.
 
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