93 KHJ's last day. Do you remember it like this?

[robnokshus06]

Have any of Sabo's numerous radio "innovations" ever worked, anywhere? How is it that people with such a long track record of failures continue to get hired in the first place?

While "Car Radio" and KFRC's "Game Zone" were total disasters, he did pioneer Hot Talk on FM. When KLSX worked as a talker, it was because of Walt's format, which also did well at WTKS in Orlando. And I understand he did well in his gig as VP in charge of the ABC radio networks in the early 80s.

The person who really deserves, but never gets the credit for the success of both WTKS and KLSX is Rich Boerner. Rich was the APD at both stations and instrumental in their turnaround and subsequent successes.

IIRC, Real Radio in Orlando reached #1 12+ during his tenure and the "Real Music Weekends" he pioneered dominated Saturday & Sunday listening. Lightening in a bottle for a moment there. What a station!

 

[radiorob2.0]

There really wasn't a ship to sink when it came to KHJ-AM. They failed to even get a 1.0 in the Spring '84 and Spring '85 Arbitrons (and since the back issues of Billboard on Google Books didn't report anything below a 1.0, I can't tell you if it was a 0.9, a 0.1 or asterisks (below measurable). David, if you have those numbers in your archive, it'd be interesting to know. Frankly, I viewed the call letter change as an end to the abuse of a once-great brand. Whatever they did couldn't live up to "KHJ".

If you search David's site for old Duncan books they list ratings for the top 150 or so markets.

Also, Reelradio has re-encoded KHJ's last day for better fidelity.

 

[davideduardo]

Side note: On that day when Lieberman took possession of 930 and changed to Spanish-language, a friend of mine was working AM Drive news on KRTH. She told me that when she came in that morning, a wall had magically appeared in the lobby overnight, dividing the AM from the FM side of the studio complex. She was livid, and disgusted.

I believe the wall was put in to separate the AM transmitter room from the rest of the building... the station "operation" moved to 5757 Hollywood Blvd right at the time of the transfer, although the studios may have moved a bit later.

The magic wall is not unusual. A similar thing happened in Burbank when GRC LMA'ed 93.9 from Emmis, but kept studios at the same location in a sub-lease.

 

[michael hagerty]

Side note: On that day when Lieberman took possession of 930 and changed to Spanish-language, a friend of mine was working AM Drive news on KRTH. She told me that when she came in that morning, a wall had magically appeared in the lobby overnight, dividing the AM from the FM side of the studio complex. She was livid, and disgusted.

I believe the wall was put in to separate the AM transmitter room from the rest of the building... the station "operation" moved to 5757 Hollywood Blvd right at the time of the transfer, although the studios may have moved a bit later.

The magic wall is not unusual. A similar thing happened in Burbank when GRC LMA'ed 93.9 from Emmis, but kept studios at the same location in a sub-lease.

I'm always surprised at how little cooperation there is between buyer and seller once the money changes hands. When Storer sold KTNQ and KHTZ to separate owners in 1979, the following happened:

The KTNQ sale went off smoothly, but the FM less so. Storer sold KHTZ, too...but the FCC approval was a few weeks later. And Greater Media bought a transmitter and call letters. No building and no intellectual property. The new KTNQ owners allowed KHTZ to work out of a production studio in the old mortuary on Western until they could lease space and build a new studio on Wilshire. But the new PD, Bobby Rich, found out that Storer owned the record library...they had only the carts already in existence in the studio and had to build the rest all over again. And Storer had fired everyone (a staff of 30) on the way out the door...leaving Bobby to re-hire people and call friends in to cover shifts just to keep the station on the air.