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570 'KKK'VI

What's conveniently omitted in the above post is "they" is a commenter on a P-I article - not the P-I themselves.

In other news, 'they" said never believe everything you read online.
 
in the oldies days we often called it that INTERNALLY ... because much of the music mix shied away from the R&B, Motown deeper cuts, etc.
 
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
in the oldies days we often called it that INTERNALLY ... because much of the music mix shied away from the R&B, Motown deeper cuts, etc.
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That's funny LBB. Although I would say that the late PD Mike Webb, originally from the SF Bay Area, was quite open to R&B cuts when he ran the show. Perhaps, even to excess. But things changed, and eventually it was the fall of music programming in general that killed the format on KVI. KVI was one of the last valid music formats on AM in Seattle, perhaps only eclipsed by KIXI.
 
Tom Leykis used to refer to KVI as "KK"KVI......

So did Norm Rice after a host tried to muck rake him....calling their "hot talk" format, "hate talk".....which ended KVI's use of that slogan....
 
KVI was one of the last valid music formats on AM in Seattle, perhaps only eclipsed by KIXI.
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I would argue for KOMO as well. They still played music until 1996, one of the last big full service AM music stations to go all talk. The last full service AM music station in a somewhat large market was KSSK 590 Honolulu...only recently did they become a full simulcast of the FM KSSK.
 
PSAIRCHECKS said:
KVI was one of the last valid music formats on AM in Seattle, perhaps only eclipsed by KIXI.
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I would argue for KOMO as well. They still played music until 1996, one of the last big full service AM music stations to go all talk. The last full service AM music station in a somewhat large market was KSSK 590 Honolulu...only recently did they become a full simulcast of the FM KSSK.
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Good point on KOMO, but they were full-service, meaning music was somewhat secondary. KONA-AM in the Tri-Cities is another one that kept music well into the 90's.
 
@PSA I worked on air at KSSK back in the 80's and also buy radio in Honolulu regularly for my Wedding Expos there. KSSK has been a simulcast for many years, they brought the FM (KDEO Waipahu) about 20 years ago and it's been a full simulcast for at least 10 of those. Perhaps, maybe, they break the AM away for sports, but not even sure about that. And yes, I was there when the AM show got like a 50 share of the market, it was pretty remarkable in the day.
 
Steenman said:
@PSA I worked on air at KSSK back in the 80's and also buy radio in Honolulu regularly for my Wedding Expos there. KSSK has been a simulcast for many years, they brought the FM (KDEO Waipahu) about 20 years ago and it's been a full simulcast for at least 10 of those. Perhaps, maybe, they break the AM away for sports, but not even sure about that. And yes, I was there when the AM show got like a 50 share of the market, it was pretty remarkable in the day.
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I think we have hijacked the original thread topic, hope the original poster doesn't mind.

Ah yes K59 in stereo, I listened to it on my little FM/AM stereo walkman in 1985/6 while stationed there in the Navy. I could be wrong, but I thought that KSSK AM was a simulcast with the FM in morning drive but had separate programming all day and rejoined the FM in the evening/overnight until just recently.
 
I suppose we should start a thread on the usually quiet Hawaii board on the KSSK topic. Perhaps the news today of the death of Cec Heftel (who owned the license of KSSK at the time) is bringing it all back.

Were any of you there in Honolulu when the legendary morning host Apu died? I had moved there a few months earlier, so I didn't quite get the adoration that listeners had for him. But felt it was really something to hear how his death affected them. It was probably similar to the way my parents felt about morning host JP McCarthy on WJR Detroit.

(By the way, announcing the death of Apu during the 8am hour did seem a bit orchestrated to me. Anyone know more about that?)

But these were hosts who really knew how to project themselves over the air, without being obnoxious, self-centered, and borderline bipolar like the stuff we get now on KVI and other 'idealistic' stations that pretend to be "patriotic" by condeming everyone and everything that doesn't serve the political or financial interests of the powers that pay them. Or the Nancy Grace and Judge Judy wannabes who turn every personal crisis into a public example.

By contast, Apu, McCarthy, Wally Phillips on WGN Chicago, and even Gay Byrne on RTE Ireland, and any of the other really class acts who knew how to communicate without trying to brainwash gullible listeners -- these guys really knew how to use their major radio platform as an artform. And their communities were much better off for it. Sure would be a pleasure to hear some of their old stuff again.

Before we hear the usual suspects at Seattle's handful of corporate radio offices retort how this is all just nostalgia in a changed radio industry that doesn't have room for individuals anymore -- why don't we ask why this kind of talent is not being sought, and nurtured, in most markets for a morning show? It really paid off well for KSSK, WJR, WGN, etc when they had a real "full service' host, with local news without opinions (well, maybe not so much at KSSK and the "Coconut Wireless").

The hosts may be dead, but listeners who want something real on the radio aren't. The station that has the smarts to put a real class act on the air in the morning, and spend a little money promoting it, besides just buying real estate and political favors, might be the station that keep the industry vital in the face of growing competition from listeners' other options.
 
Goldilocks94941 said:
Were any of you there in Honolulu when the legendary morning host Apu died? I had moved there a few months earlier, so I didn't quite get the adoration that listeners had for him. But felt it was really something to hear how his death affected them. It was probably similar to the way my parents felt about morning host JP McCarthy on WJR Detroit.

(By the way, announcing the death of Apu during the 8am hour did seem a bit orchestrated to me. Anyone know more about that?)
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I believe you're referring to Hal Lewis, or "J. Akuhead Pupule" (Aku for short), not to be confused with the guy who runs the Quickee Mart on the Simpsons :)

I wasn't there when he died, but I lived in Honolulu in the early '70s and he was HUGE.
 
Yes, of course. It's been more than a few years now, hasn't it? Back then Honolulu was a mostly-AM town (tho' many of them were pretty small outfits). I lived there when there were only 7 commercial and 2 non com signals there, with the highest FM position 97.5. Eventually a new FM from Lahaina, Maui started to come in on 101.1 when they opened up the FM dial above 99.9 for broadcast radio in Hawaii. AM had something like 17 stations on Oahu, and several neighbor island signals came in, too (I particularly liked KKON from Kona and KUAI from Elelele, Kauai for a little "small town" full service radio and some Hawaiian music with a different tone from KCCN).

Was the Seattle FM dial already mostly full in the mid 1980s? (apart from the 104.5 thing that's been dragging out on another topic).

Mahalo for your kokua,

GL
 
I believe most Seattle stations were in place by mid-1980's. Anything that has happened since has been an out-of-market move-in (KFNK, KOMO-FM, KMCQ, etc.) or just plain horse-trading among ownership groups (of pre-existing signals). Seems only expansion opportunities are the fringe -- such as KAYO (KDDS) -- even non comm band full (and, again, a couple of minor adjustments there with some horse trading such as KBTC-FM, etc.).
 
KFNK wasn't moved in from anywhere. It was just added to the table of allotments when KCMS downgraded from a C to a C1 at their Kings Garden tower site.
 
Goldilocks94941 said:
Was the Seattle FM dial already mostly full in the mid 1980s? (apart from the 104.5 thing that's been dragging out on another topic).
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It was more or less full by the mid-seventies -- although several of the stations didn't cover the full market. Up until 1980, the 3 commercial FM stations in Tacoma didn't really reach into Pierce County. The first of the three to upgrade was 103.7 KBRD, which shifted to 103.7 from their original frequency of 103.9 in 1980 and boosted power from 3 kw to 100 kw. KNBQ 97.3 and KRPM 106.1 also boosted power to cover Seattle in the early 80s, but I'm not sure exactly when (I was on the other side of the state by then).

Aside from the Tacoma stations, KWWA 106.9 from Bremerton also boosted power in the eighties, becoming Top 40 KHIT in the process.
 
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