? about KFVD/KPOP/KGBS/KTNQ history

[Ultimajock]

...something a little perplexing here. Jim Hilliker's item at http://www.radioheritage.net/Story28.asp mentions KFVD moving to 1020 kHz in the 1941 frequency shift, and there's an ad -- http://www.radioheritage.net/Images/KFVD_Blanchard_promo_100.jpg -- for The Red Blanchard Show at 10:00 P.M. on whatever date the thing ran in the original newspaper. But Jim also states that after the station flipped calls to KPOP and was eventually bought in 1960 by Storer and the call sign changed again to KGBS, 1020 "was still licensed to broadcast only from 6 a.m. to sunset." He also mentions that KGBS' unusual Sunday night schedule, when it signed back on the air during the hours that KDKA Pittsburgh was silent for their transmitter maintenance, was only during the '60s and '70s as KGBS. So, my question is, how did The Red Blanchard Show get onto KFVD at an hour when the station was supposedly off the air?...

 

[michael hagerty]

...something a little perplexing here. Jim Hilliker's item at http://www.radioheritage.net/Story28.asp mentions KFVD moving to 1020 kHz in the 1941 frequency shift, and there's an ad -- http://www.radioheritage.net/Images/KFVD_Blanchard_promo_100.jpg -- for The Red Blanchard Show at 10:00 P.M. on whatever date the thing ran in the original newspaper. But Jim also states that after the station flipped calls to KPOP and was eventually bought in 1960 by Storer and the call sign changed again to KGBS, 1020 "was still licensed to broadcast only from 6 a.m. to sunset." He also mentions that KGBS' unusual Sunday night schedule, when it signed back on the air during the hours that KDKA Pittsburgh was silent for their transmitter maintenance, was only during the '60s and '70s as KGBS. So, my question is, how did The Red Blanchard Show get onto KFVD at an hour when the station was supposedly off the air?...

'
Jim's article doesn't say the Sunday night broadcasts (9PM-2AM) were only during the 60s and 70s, so it's possible this was a Sunday night broadcast. Old radio logs from December, 1942 show KVFD (after the move to 1020 on the dial) broadcasting late at night.

 

[Lopaka]

Was there a rule that if the dominant clear channel happened to be off the air, and many stations did sign off late at night in previous decades, secondary might go on the air?

 

[davideduardo]

Was there a rule that if the dominant clear channel happened to be off the air, and many stations did sign off late at night in previous decades, secondary might go on the air?

There was, as far as I can see in the rules published in each year's Broadcasting Yearbook, no specific rule.

However, there were a number of secondary stations licensed to operate in a manner that fit the primary operation on the channel.

One that pops to mind was WJJD 1160 in Chicago, allowed to sign off at sunselt in Salt Lake Citiy, not local sunset, every day. Similarly, WHLO 640 in Akron was a daytimer that signed off at KFI's local sunset.

KFVD/KPOP/KGBS, when they were a daytimer, could sign on at sunrise in Pittsburgh every day. Since KDKA signed off for maintenance at midnight Sunday (as did 99% of all US stations) KPOP et. al. could sign on as soon as KDKA was off that one day a week. For the DXer, that made 1020 one of the easiest CA stations to hear on the east coast.

 

[michael hagerty]

More:

The September 19, 1953 issue of Billboard has KFVD asking for country records for "Saturday night shows". The May 9 issue says the Saturday night country show aired for four hours.

If KDKA signed off at 1 AM Eastern back in the 50s, that would allow KFVD to sign on at 10 PM Pacific. Assuming KDKA signed back on at 5 AM Sunday morning, KFVD would have to sign off by 2 AM Pacific.

By the early 60s, when KFVD was KGBS, I'm sure KDKA was 24 hours, so their weekly transmitter maintenance was KGBS' only window to air late night.

 

[davideduardo]

...something a little perplexing here. Jim Hilliker's item at http://www.radioheritage.net/Story28.asp mentions KFVD moving to 1020 kHz in the 1941 frequency shift, and there's an ad -- http://www.radioheritage.net/Images/KFVD_Blanchard_promo_100.jpg -- for The Red Blanchard Show at 10:00 P.M. on whatever date the thing ran in the original newspaper. But Jim also states that after the station flipped calls to KPOP and was eventually bought in 1960 by Storer and the call sign changed again to KGBS, 1020 "was still licensed to broadcast only from 6 a.m. to sunset." He also mentions that KGBS' unusual Sunday night schedule, when it signed back on the air during the hours that KDKA Pittsburgh was silent for their transmitter maintenance, was only during the '60s and '70s as KGBS. So, my question is, how did The Red Blanchard Show get onto KFVD at an hour when the station was supposedly off the air?...

One of the earliest Spanish language programs on the air in LA ran 4 AM to 6 AM with two guys who did it in both English and Spanish on 1020 going back to the 40's... and it's pretty well documented (and was, in fact, made part of some City of LA award to KTNQ . The 4 AM sign on allowed me to hear KPOP in Cleveland, OH, in the late 50's and then as KGBS in the early 60's.

The 4 AM sign-on was authorized as 4 AM PST or local sunrise, Los Angeles, whichever occured earlier.

 

[Lopaka]

KPOP, I remember it as the first rock station I was aware of. I think KFOX 1280 was rock back in the early-mid '50's, too. Was KPOP connected in any way with Pacific Ocean Park? I remember them doing joint promotions and as a kid I always assumed they were jointly owned.

 

[michael hagerty]

KPOP, I remember it as the first rock station I was aware of. I think KFOX 1280 was rock back in the early-mid '50's, too. Was KPOP connected in any way with Pacific Ocean Park? I remember them doing joint promotions and as a kid I always assumed they were jointly owned.

Nope. The "pop" in K-POP was a reference to the music they played. That's all.

 

[Lopaka]

Thank you. Kids do get incorrect assumptions sometimes.

 

[Ultimajock]

The September 19, 1953 issue of Billboard has KFVD asking for country records for "Saturday night shows". The May 9 issue says the Saturday night country show aired for four hours.

...I have some airchecks of Cliffie Stone broadcasts over KFVD in 1949 -- one Thursday afternoon remote from Stone's Record Corral record shop on Sunset Boulevard from March, and two in-studio transcribed Sunday afternoon disc jockey shows from May and July. On these, Stone mentions he also did a Western Swing Monday-through-Friday morning show from 7:00 to 8:30 over KFVD. Almost amazingly, during the same period he did a Noon hour live performance show, The Hometown Jamboree, on KXLA (I have the July 3 KFVD and July 4 KXLA programs) and another Saturday morning transcribed disc jockey and studio performance show, The Rhythm Ranch, that ran on KFI. He also had live Saturday night concert remotes that he used the Hometown Jamboree title for over KXLA and KFWB; Stone eventually moved that show to television on KLAC-TV/13 later in '49 and KTLA/5 in '53. And all this while Cliffie acted as a recording star and A&R executive for Capitol Records and personal manager for Tennessee Ernie Ford and Merle Travis, who started out as performers on Stone's stage shows. I mention all this in relation to the Billboard ad Michael brings up above; I have to assume that Stone had moved on from KFVD by '53, otherwise the station wouldn't need to advertise to ask for all those country records!...

 

[LKellerIII]

I seem to recall some postings by Bob Morgan (probably at this website) regarding the sign off of 1020 in the late 60s. If I remember correctly, Morgan worked that shift for awhile. I recall that the station tried to get listeners at sunset to switch over to KGBS-FM "97" which ran the identical chicken-rock format. This was before they ramped up the personality format with Hudson, Landry, and Ballance.

I had just gotten a stereo AM/FM receiver that Christmas (67 or 68?) and recall that KGBS-FM was one of the few stations that still broadcast in monaural.

 

[jonbruce]

In the mid 1950's I recall KPOP going off at local sunset but comng back on at night every night of the week as KDKA would go off after midnight thier time daily. I used to have an ad from Radio Tv Life mag that listeed the jocks hours including the nightly ones too. I also recall the 4am sign on time back in those days too.

 

[Lopaka]

Just out of curiosity, was KPOP in fact the first rock station in So Cal? Or could it have been KFOX? I hope this doesn't merit a new thread, I've always just assumed it was KPOP but maybe not...

 

[michael hagerty]

Just out of curiosity, was KPOP in fact the first rock station in So Cal? Or could it have been KFOX? I hope this doesn't merit a new thread, I've always just assumed it was KPOP but maybe not...

KFVD (before the call letter change to KPOP) was the first pure Top 40 in early '55.

From what I can piece together from back issues of Billboard, XEAK (The Mighty 690) in Tijuana would have been second (in 1957), and then KFWB on January 1, 1958 and KRLA in 1959.

KDAY flipped sometime after that in 1958, as did KFOX, but they all (except KRLA) got hammered by KFWB, with KFOX going back to MOR in 1959, KPOP flipping to MOR as KGBS in 1960, XEAK going all-news in 1961 as XETRA and KDAY going R&B in 1962.

KGBS tried Top 40 again (1968-1970) before going to a personality A/C format (Hudson & Landry, Bill Ballance, Dave Hull)...and was the second to the last AM Top 40 to launch in Los Angeles as KTNQ (December 26, 1976).

 

[Huff]

Just out of curiosity, was KPOP in fact the first rock station in So Cal? Or could it have been KFOX? I hope this doesn't merit a new thread, I've always just assumed it was KPOP but maybe not...

KFVD (before the call letter change to KPOP) was the first pure Top 40 in early '55.

From what I can piece together from back issues of Billboard, XEAK (The Mighty 690) in Tijuana would have been second (in 1957), and then KFWB on January 1, 1958 and KRLA in 1959.

KDAY flipped sometime after that in 1958, as did KFOX, but they all (except KRLA) got hammered by KFWB, with KFOX going back to MOR in 1959, KPOP flipping to MOR as KGBS in 1960, XEAK going all-news in 1961 as XETRA and KDAY going R&B in 1962.

KGBS tried Top 40 again (1968-1970) before going to a personality A/C format (Hudson & Landry, Bill Ballance, Dave Hull)...and was the second to the last AM Top 40 to launch in Los Angeles as KTNQ (December 26, 1976).

It would be interesting to see how KPOP fared in the Hoopers prior to KFWB’s flip. The earliest Hooper I have is from January ’59, which shows KFWB leading the market with a 31.4 share – KPOP had a 2.2.

 

[jonbruce]

As I recall the numbers for KPOP pror to WB were very high. I know Art Laboe cites some biggies on his shift that were legendary. A foot note to all of this is the 6 month "jump" 79 KABC had as top 40 "Color Radio" prior to the KFWB switch. Someone at WB leaked info to ABC. Of course the KABC thing didn't last long after WB hit. Also, 690 as "XEAC" was top 40 50 percent of the time in 1956 with the balance of the broadcast day in Spanish.

 

[ronkaram]

I remember my first trip to California from Ohio to visit my uncle in Aug 1957. At that time there was KPOP and KFOX as my cousin used to listen to both of them. They were both top 40.

 

[Lopaka]

This has been a surprisingly interesting thread, its covered a lot of ground. In the history of rock as I have heard it, Alan Freed on WJW in Cleveland coined the term in 1952. Rock had what you might call a chicken and egg problem, it needed to be on radio to become popular but it needed to be popular to get on radio. If the WJW timing is correct, there were obviously a few years when there was rock but evidently not what you could call rock stations, yet somehow it got on the air and it definitely did become popular. How did this happen?

Can we name some of the KPOP air personalities and a little about them?

 

[cd637299]

Was there a rule that if the dominant clear channel happened to be off the air, and many stations did sign off late at night in previous decades, secondary might go on the air?

There was, as far as I can see in the rules published in each year's Broadcasting Yearbook, no specific rule.

However, there were a number of secondary stations licensed to operate in a manner that fit the primary operation on the channel.

One that pops to mind was WJJD 1160 in Chicago, allowed to sign off at sunselt in Salt Lake Citiy, not local sunset, every day. Similarly, WHLO 640 in Akron was a daytimer that signed off at KFI's local sunset.

KFVD/KPOP/KGBS, when they were a daytimer, could sign on at sunrise in Pittsburgh every day. Since KDKA signed off for maintenance at midnight Sunday (as did 99% of all US stations) KPOP et. al. could sign on as soon as KDKA was off that one day a week. For the DXer, that made 1020 one of the easiest CA stations to hear on the east coast.

Not for me.....I remember the World Radio TV Handbook showing KGBS being on while KDKA was off, and I tried from south FL, but no dice. (So they were ND pattern?) The only CA stations I ever heard back then were KFI & KFBK Sacramento; I may have heard KCBS in SF (even getting a QSL card) but I still doubt myself!

cd

 

[radioman148]

...something a little perplexing here. Jim Hilliker's item at http://www.radioheritage.net/Story28.asp mentions KFVD moving to 1020 kHz in the 1941 frequency shift, and there's an ad -- http://www.radioheritage.net/Images/KFVD_Blanchard_promo_100.jpg -- for The Red Blanchard Show at 10:00 P.M. on whatever date the thing ran in the original newspaper. But Jim also states that after the station flipped calls to KPOP and was eventually bought in 1960 by Storer and the call sign changed again to KGBS, 1020 "was still licensed to broadcast only from 6 a.m. to sunset." He also mentions that KGBS' unusual Sunday night schedule, when it signed back on the air during the hours that KDKA Pittsburgh was silent for their transmitter maintenance, was only during the '60s and '70s as KGBS. So, my question is, how did The Red Blanchard Show get onto KFVD at an hour when the station was supposedly off the air?...

One of the earliest Spanish language programs on the air in LA ran 4 AM to 6 AM with two guys who did it in both English and Spanish on 1020 going back to the 40's... and it's pretty well documented (and was, in fact, made part of some City of LA award to KTNQ . The 4 AM sign on allowed me to hear KPOP in Cleveland, OH, in the late 50's and then as KGBS in the early 60's.

The 4 AM sign-on was authorized as 4 AM PST or local sunrise, Los Angeles, whichever occured earlier.

Very true as I remember KGBS being on the air Sunday nights in the 60s. At the time I didn't know why that was the only night they remained on.