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25th Anniversary Of KFRC-The Big 610 Top 40 Demise
- Thread starter Madmansam
- Start date
Remember that Sept, 24, 2011 is the 87th birthday of the 610 radio signal in the bay area. Too bad the wrong radio company owns the signal now!
Madmansam said:
to quote a song once played on the big 610:
"...so it's the laughter
we will remember"
I remember all the great voices and the wonderful music and all the good vibrations from the big 610.
Madmansam said:
You're surprised that people aren't celebrating the demise of a radio station's format? Huh?
I remember when my dad used to talk about horses and buggies (he was quite old when I was born). He was nostalgic for the smell and the bumpy ride and the whinny of the horse. But that's nostalgia. He probably didn't remember the flies, the horse getting diarrhea, having to re-shoe the horse, buy hay and carrots, and house the horse.
We conveniently forget those things that aren't pleasant. I doubt today that most of you folks would like the old KFRC format because it had a lot of things people today find objectionable. They didn't play two or more in a row. The DJ did a spot, intro'd a song, played the song, came out of it with a liner, did clever or not so clever patter and went to a spot. It was generally music, talk, spot, talk, music, talk, spot, talk, music, etc. Today people don't want that. You probably don't want that, either. You want 3 in a row. You want the DJ to *always* be clever. But that's not the way it was.
I remember times when KFRC played ten, twelve, fifteen or more in a row! Where were you? I believe that you're not the expert on 610 KFRC that you think you are!
KFRC evolved it's clock over the years just like everyone else. True, if you go back to the 60's and 70's you would find a lot of commercial interruption, but that changed with the spot load. Even in the 60's you could get quite a few songs in a row especially at night. There were many things that today would sound "not so good" to people accustomed to what radio now provides. But KFRC, KHJ and most of the best stations of the past had something today's stations don't, creativity and personality. They weren’t wrestling with as much “over-research” and the central control over so many stations by one set of programmers thanks to companies who now possess hundreds of stations. Groups of the past were limited to 7 AM and 7 FM and in many instances they may not have controlled more than a few that had the same format.
calguy said:
During the meteoric rise in ratings of KYNO, KGB, KHJ, and KFRC, those stations were tightly controlled by Bill Drake. True, when Drake left and local PDs took over, the stations began to get their own sounds. Eventually KHJ and KFRC didn't sound much alike at all. But in the days when they zoomed to the top of the ratings, KHJ and KFRC and the others were indeed programmed tightly.
I don't need to go there because I've got thousands of hours of the big 610 recorded for myself that any serious collector would get lost listening to unscoped. Sure there were the busy hours when it was the way most any successful radio station did things. I always liked that because that was what made them the fast paced entertaining stations they were. I still believe nobody really minded that cause it was back to music in a short period of time and most of the spots were of interest to listener's. And if it did get boring we could always punch up KYA or any number of other stations to enjoy. Kind of just like today, isn't that interesting how thngs really haven't changed all that much, other than the stations that think it's cool to run eight minutes of spots together. Now that does get boring.
RadioStarOne said:
I'm not defending modern music radio - I rarely listen anymore, but I feel compelled to point out that those eight minutes of spots generally follows 20 of more minutes of uninterrupted music. I long ago learned to tune in another station during the stop-set. In fact, if I was an advertiser, I'd much prefer the old Top 40 format (song-commercial- song-commercial. Why would I want my ad buried as number 7 in a 15 commercial spot-load?
Having said all that, remember that the KFRC of the late 70s and early 80s was hardly the KFRC of the Drake era, and if KFRC were around today as a Top 40 (CHR) station, it would likely resemble Wild or Now. A good analogy is probably KIIS-FM in LA, which has been around for 30 years or more (far longer than KHJ), and has always managed to adapt to the times.
Lkeller said:
What people here are consistently failing to see is that Top 40 radio in the KFRC style continues to exist today. It's called Radio Disney and in the Bay Area it's on 1310. They have exactly the formatics KFRC used to have: personalities, contests, stingers, fast segues, and lots and lots of energy.
@David, If you read my original post, i didn't say celebrate. I had mean't "Observering The Anniversary Of The Loss Of The Original Big 610. A person can observe a passing of a radio station without exactly celebrating. Because there was no reason to celebrate the demise of The Big 610.DavidKaye said:
I liked all the styles KFRC's programmer's used over the years because if you were into the hits of the day all the styles had there good points and of course the bad! The changing style's just reflected the likes of the audience in the bay area ( and of course the programmer's too) and what was happening in the country. One thing is for certain the Big 610 was never really boring most of the time. Dr. Don would have loved having a word or two in this thread. That's for sure!
@David, If you read my original post, i didn't say celebrate. I had mean't "Observering The Anniversary Of The Loss Of The Original Big 610. A person can observe a passing of a radio station without exactly celebrating. Because there was no reason to celebrate the demise of The Big 610.
[/quote]
I used the term correctly. To celebrate an event is to commemorate it, whether the event is positive or negative.
URL: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/celebrate
[/quote]
I used the term correctly. To celebrate an event is to commemorate it, whether the event is positive or negative.
URL: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/celebrate
DavidKaye said:
Maybe people are "failing to see" this because Radio Disney is nothing like old Top 40 radio. Perhaps there's a superficial similarity (contests, fast segues, etc), but otherwise, it's just not the same. RD is not typical CHR - it concentrates on Disney artists, and exists for one purpose only - to promote and sell Disney products (CDs, downloads, concerts, movies, tchotchkes, etc.).
My daugher outgrew Radio Disney by about age 10, and moved on to Wild 94.9. Appeallng only to pre-teens is not a recipe for commercial success. KFRC and the other old Top 40 stations appealed to pre-teens and teens, but also to young adults.
It's stations like Wild and "997 Now" that are the analogs to the old KFRC. Yes - the 'bells-and-whistles' are gone, but these stations tend to be high energy (fast segues included), and some of the DJs even stand out as personalities,at least to the extent that your average Boss Jock (or 610 man) was, sometimes more so. Check out St. John some time.
Lkeller said:
Damn 1550 AM KFRC only exist in skeletons I listened to 1550 AM and you get the picture its so automated. I saw some of the airchecks of old 99.7 KFRC and old 610 and it was better back then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYiwnyhAVnY heres the 1991 KFRC 99.7 Aircheck.
I saw Reelradio one time in 2004 and it said that KFRC also existed on 106.1 FM back in the 1970's
before KMEL took over 106.1 in the late 1970's
[/quote]
Damn 1550 AM KFRC only exist in skeletons I listened to 1550 AM and you get the picture its so automated. I saw some of the airchecks of old 99.7 KFRC and old 610 and it was better back then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYiwnyhAVnY heres the 1991 KFRC 99.7 Aircheck.
I saw Reelradio one time in 2004 and it said that KFRC also existed on 106.1 FM back in the 1970's
before KMEL took over 106.1 in the late 1970's
[/quote]
Thanks for the link to that odd little aircheck. The early 99.7/KFRC was kind of eccentric. Another DJ I remember from that period was Jym Dingler, who told very corny jokes.
Selling 106.1 was perhaps the worst mistake RKO General ever made. KMEL was AOR at first (I assume they had to agree to not compete in Top 40 for a few years as a condition of sale), but they were one of the major nails in 610's coffin when they switched to "All Hits" a few years later.
Note though that 106.1 KFRC was always automated, with the exception of Dr. Don Rose, which they simulcast in the morning for awhile.
Damn 1550 AM KFRC only exist in skeletons I listened to 1550 AM and you get the picture its so automated. I saw some of the airchecks of old 99.7 KFRC and old 610 and it was better back then.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYiwnyhAVnY heres the 1991 KFRC 99.7 Aircheck.
I saw Reelradio one time in 2004 and it said that KFRC also existed on 106.1 FM back in the 1970's
before KMEL took over 106.1 in the late 1970's
[/quote]
Thanks for the link to that odd little aircheck. The early 99.7/KFRC was kind of eccentric. Another DJ I remember from that period was Jym Dingler, who told very corny jokes.
Selling 106.1 was perhaps the worst mistake RKO General ever made. KMEL was AOR at first (I assume they had to agree to not compete in Top 40 for a few years as a condition of sale), but they were one of the major nails in 610's coffin when they switched to "All Hits" a few years later.
Note though that 106.1 KFRC was always automated, with the exception of Dr. Don Rose, which they simulcast in the morning for awhile.
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