93 KHJ Radio Aircheck

[michael hagerty]

PS: Again, at the time of this aircheck as well, Paul Drew was the National Program Director for RKO (a position he held from May of 1973 until late summer of 1977).

In a speech at a trade convention in August of 1974, he announced that RKO would not consider any record longer than 3:30 for airplay. That's how that got reported in R&R at least (and unfortunately, that's one of the few issues of R&R that's not in the World Radio History library---August 23, 1974).

Drew went to Billboard to clarify his position, and re-reading it, I see that I got the story wrong over the years---Drew had always intended a carve-out for huge records by huge acts of the day, including Elton John. It's a worthwhile read---it begins on page one of this issue (center column) and I'm linking to the entire issue rather than the story, to allow you to scroll to where the story continues further into the magazine:

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1974/Billboard 1974-09-07.pdf

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Billy Joel summarized the situation brilliantly in his song "the Entertainer"

I am the entertainer
I come to do my show
You heard my latest record
It's been on the radio
Ah, it took me years to write it
They were the best years of my life
It was a beautiful song but it ran too long
If you're gonna have a hit you gotta make it fit
So they cut it down to 3:05

 

[Weiserguy]

As a New Yorker, it's funny to me how many KHJ or KFRC personalities made appearances as jocks on WOR-FM in the Drake years, only to be back on the coast after a relative handful of months. Those guys must have hated NYC. Or else scale for FM stations was highly inferior to what AM's paid in those days, even in Market #1.

There's a story on that other board from the late Al Brady Law, who started in NY on OR-FM, went to a Miami station for half a year or so, then returned to NY on WWDJ (a 5KW AM licensed to Jersey City or Hackensack, a community across the river from Manhattan). He said by doing that two-step he doubled his pay.

 

[davideduardo]

It's a worthwhile read---it begins on page one of this issue (center column) and I'm linking to the entire issue rather than the story, to allow you to scroll to where the story continues further into the magazine:

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1974/Billboard 1974-09-07.pdf

I always love 🤗 a nice plug for the site!

(I will reward with serious money scans or originals of the few missing issues of R&R)

 

[michael hagerty]

As a New Yorker, it's funny to me how many KHJ or KFRC personalities made appearances as jocks on WOR-FM in the Drake years, only to be back on the coast after a relative handful of months. Those guys must have hated NYC. Or else scale for FM stations was highly inferior to what AM's paid in those days, even in Market #1.

There's a story on that other board from the late Al Brady Law, who started in NY on OR-FM, went to a Miami station for half a year or so, then returned to NY on WWDJ (a 5KW AM licensed to Jersey City or Hackensack, a community across the river from Manhattan). He said by doing that two-step he doubled his pay.

Danny Martinez had actually been at WOR-FM before coming to KHJ.

I can't think of too many examples of California to OR-FM and back quickly, as in handful of months, apart from Scotty Brink and Bob Elliot.

New York winters can't feel too good after being in California (cue Neil Diamond's "I Am...I Said", especially the part about sunshine and rents being low), and given that OR-FM was never in position to knock off WABC, it didn't make sense for a jock trying to build a career to spend too much time there.

The Al Brady Law story---yeah. Twice I had offers to go back to markets I'd left less than a year before for considerably more money than I had made there the first time.

 

[michael hagerty]

Heres another fascinating KHJ air check from 1973. Was it a common practice to cut into longer songs back then? I noticed this on “Me and Mrs Jones” and “Photograph”?

This aircheck also has the infamous KHJ "Lt. Palumbo" contest---a Peter Falk sound-alike asking you to call in and guess the criminal and the crime he or she committed.

Ken Levine (jock name "Beaver Cleaver") was working overnights at KMEN, San Bernardino at the time and decided to have a little fun at KHJ's expense---on KHJ's air. Here's his story---and the audio:

My best radio practical joke

Ken Levine's daily column about writing, producing and watching TV sitcoms, TV dramas, film, pop culture and life.

kenlevine.blogspot.com

 

[oldies76]

This aircheck also has the infamous KHJ "Lt. Palumbo" contest---a Peter Falk sound-alike asking you to call in and guess the criminal and the crime he or she committed.

Ken Levine (jock name "Beaver Cleaver") was working overnights at KMEN, San Bernardino at the time and decided to have a little fun at KHJ's expense---on KHJ's air. Here's his story---and the audio:

Thank you. I’ll check that out. So many classic airchecks are being uploaded on YouTube recently. There’s another KHJ check on there from Jan 1967 that was uploaded yesterday. Incredible stuff and those Boss jingles!!

 

[michael hagerty]

Thank you. I’ll check that out. So many classic airchecks are being uploaded on YouTube recently. There’s another KHJ check on there from Jan 1967 that was uploaded yesterday. Incredible stuff and those Boss jingles!!

It's misdated. Harve's first night on KHJ was February 1, 1967.

Retro Radio Joe (no idea who he is) had been, along with collector and restoration expert Rob Frankel and others, posting on MixCloud. But that site recently stopped free hosting for people who post more than ten files. Rob hasn't gone to YouTube yet, possibly because YouTube aggressively enforces copyright on the songs in the airchecks. You'll sometimes find notes on airchecks posted by Retro Radio Joe and Radiomania that songs had to be cut because of copyright claims.

Most of these airchecks have been in circulation among traders for decades.

 

[seatownmedia]

There are a number of true themes in this thread. Editing long songs was certainly one of them, but many record companies offered shortened versions as well to get credit for the airplay. I could start a whole another subject of “paper adds” but will save that for another day. Hint; it was disgraceful. We called it the lunar rotation. As it only was played overnights but the record companies called it an add. Why do I know this? Because I was guilty of it a couple of times. Btw, the only song that could never ever be edited was “Stairway to Heaven” although some amateurs tried!

 

[oldies76]

Btw, the only song that could never ever be edited was “Stairway to Heaven” although some amateurs tried!

I believe there was a promo 45 of that song issued in the 70's. Photo from Discogs...

..

 

[gr8oldies]

I believe there was a promo 45 of that song issued in the 70's. Photo from Discogs...

..

Yes, I remember that promo single.

 

[Signal Geek]

Yeah, and XTRA had to look at two markets---L.A. and San Diego. Their ratings were always better in SD, and Orange County breakouts (which I don't have or know where to find) might have shown them doing very well down there, too.

The Mighty 690's best L.A. book was a 2.4 in the fall of 1981.

And the Mighty 690 had an amazing signal northwest of San Diego. Not sure this is possible now with the increased noise floor, but in Sept. 1980 I remember picking it up while driving south on I-5 somewhere west of Fresno. That's gotta be a good 250 miles from their Rosarito Beach transmitter. And I listened to it clearly all the way to L.A. Seemed like they had the tightest playlist ever; spinning Whip It and Fame about every 15 minutes.

 

[michael hagerty]

There are a number of true themes in this thread. Editing long songs was certainly one of them, but many record companies offered shortened versions as well to get credit for the airplay. I could start a whole another subject of “paper adds” but will save that for another day. Hint; it was disgraceful. We called it the lunar rotation. As it only was played overnights but the record companies called it an add. Why do I know this? Because I was guilty of it a couple of times. Btw, the only song that could never ever be edited was “Stairway to Heaven” although some amateurs tried!

Paper adds and lunar rotation were bad for stations and record companies. Not enough play to adequately expose a record that might have hit potential, and for what? Another set of call letters for a trade ad aimed at bad PDs who said “Ooh! (Call letters) is on it!”, without asking whether it’s working for them.

And for the station, time (even if it’s just in overnights) that could have been spent playing an actual hit.

I always said no and told the reps to give me intel that would justify adding it in the same rotation as every other new record.

 

[Signal Geek]

My mistake Michael. I was thinking of "Sister Mary Elephant" which came out in 1973 and peaked in early 1974.

I heard Sister Mary Elephant a lot on San Francisco stations in late 1973/early 1974. But never once heard "Earache My Eye".

 

[ChannelFlipper]

And the Mighty 690 had an amazing signal northwest of San Diego. Not sure this is possible now with the increased noise floor, but in Sept. 1980 I remember picking it up while driving south on I-5 somewhere west of Fresno. That's gotta be a good 250 miles from their Rosarito Beach transmitter. And I listened to it clearly all the way to L.A. Seemed like they had the tightest playlist ever; spinning Whip It and Fame about every 15 minutes.

I lived on the north shore of Lake Tahoe in 1982 and 1983 and remember the Mighty 690 coming in strong as a local at night. But when the sun came up in the morning... buh bye!

 

[michael hagerty]

And the Mighty 690 had an amazing signal northwest of San Diego. Not sure this is possible now with the increased noise floor, but in Sept. 1980 I remember picking it up while driving south on I-5 somewhere west of Fresno. That's gotta be a good 250 miles from their Rosarito Beach transmitter. And I listened to it clearly all the way to L.A. Seemed like they had the tightest playlist ever; spinning Whip It and Fame about every 15 minutes.

That's actually more like 375 miles. You didn't mention---was this day or night?

The playlist was tight, but not that tight---25 to 35 records, varying week by week.

But you have to remember that was it. Being based on Mike Joseph's "Hot Hits" format, there was no Gold, there were no recurrents. So, where even a "tight" Top 40 of that era would have 25 currents, 50 recurrents and maybe 200 Golds, all the Mighty 690 had was those 25 to 35 currents.

The hottest ones (probably five to seven songs) got played every hour and ten minutes. Secondaries were probably an hour and forty and the tertiaries were probably every two hours and ten minutes.

The impression of repetition was heightened during their noon top ten countdown because that was by definition going to involve playing all the powers at once, and the format didn't allow for an hour to recover back into normal rotations. It was possible to hear a power in 15 or 20 minutes in a normal hour that followed a countdown.

 

[michael hagerty]

I heard Sister Mary Elephant a lot on San Francisco stations in late 1973/early 1974. But never once heard "Earache My Eye".

A quick look at the surveys for both KYA and KFRC that summer suggest neither played it.

 

[michael hagerty]

I believe there was a promo 45 of that song issued in the 70's. Photo from Discogs...

..

Story behind that---around 1973 or so "Stairway" started to get a second wind in Top 40 radio. Even the stations that hadn't played it as an LP cut when LED ZEPPELIN IV came out were starting to get requests they couldn't ignore, so they added it to their recrurrents---a category that usually was songs that were freshly off the chart but still had some audience appeal.

Most recurrents were no more than a year old---after that you moved them into the Gold library. But some smart PDs realized they could put anything they wanted into recurrents. Rich Brother Robbin did it at KCBQ with "Monster Mash"---which is what started it back up the charts in 1973. So PDs put "Stairway" in there, guaranteeing it a spin or two a day.

Anyway, eventually copies of the LP started to wear out. Not everyone carted their music at this point, and Atlantic decided it was cheaper to press promo-only 45s and ship extra copies to stations than to break into stock copies of the still-selling LED ZEPPELIN IV album and send those to stations. I want to say this single shipped in either '75 or '76.

 

[michael hagerty]

Btw, the only song that could never ever be edited was “Stairway to Heaven” although some amateurs tried!

"Stairway to Heaven" is actually not that hard to edit. The trouble is that, unlike most long songs with radio edits, EVERYONE heard the whole song before anyone thought to edit it. You'd get killed trying to play an edit of it.

But it's doable. Shorten the intro, tighten the "it makes me wonder" section and once the drums hit, leave it alone. The edits get it down from 7:55 to 5:40 and if you bump up the speed 3% (which Top 40 radio wouldn't have complained about at the time and is less than "Baker Street" got juiced), it comes in at 5:30.

That said, I'm opposed to most radio edits. Let's hear what the artist wanted us to hear. There are exceptions, of course, and they depend on the song. 9:55 is too long for George Benson's "On Broadway" (unless it's a jazz station), but 9:41 is fine for Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".

 

[oldies76]

"Stairway to Heaven" is actually not that hard to edit. The trouble is that, unlike most long songs with radio edits, EVERYONE heard the whole song before anyone thought to edit it. You'd get killed trying to play an edit of it.

But it's doable. Shorten the intro, tighten the "it makes me wonder" section and once the drums hit, leave it alone. The edits get it down from 7:55 to 5:40 and if you bump up the speed 3% (which Top 40 radio wouldn't have complained about at the time and is less than "Baker Street" got juiced), it comes in at 5:30.

That said, I'm opposed to most radio edits. Let's hear what the artist wanted us to hear. There are exceptions, of course, and they depend on the song. 9:55 is too long for George Benson's "On Broadway" (unless it's a jazz station), but 9:41 is fine for Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".

I prefer the longer album versions on many songs as well, “Baker Street” and “Beginnings” included. If you listen to the latest KHJ upload by Retro Radio Joe from early 1970 with The Real Don Steele, you can actually hear an edited “Whole Lotta Love”. First time ever hearing that version, just 3 minutes I believe.