• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Adult Standard Stations before KIXI

T

thebeach33445

Hey Guys:

Were they any adult standard, Big band stations like KIXI before 1982?

I know Bongwater told me about KBBX 98.9 being an Big Band Swing station on FM.

Thanks

T.J.
 
I can't recall any.....so I defer this one to someone else.....
 
I was gonna say that Gil Henry played a lot of big band/adult standards on KING 1090 in the '50's .. but that would be silly. Because that was before rock captured the kilocycles and obliterated what we now know as The Great American Songbook. The audience for the squarer stuff was sent to find pleasure in such limited musical 'ghettos' as KUOW on a Saturday night. 'The Swing Years and Beyond.' There was a religious FM station that had a Big Band nook-and-cranny late on a Saturday night.

It seems to me KIXI has been playing pretty much the same genre of music since about the time the term "adult standards" was introduced. I first heard Al Ham's The Music of Your Life as a format in Honolulu in 1979. And prior to that time that type of music had been almost totally absent from the airwaves. Wally Nelskog got sole control of KIXI in 1971, and sometime about 1980, got it into the nostalgia music business. Wikipedia says KIXI became Adult Standards in 1982. And it was about that time that I first became a fan.
 
Tacoma's former KTNT-AM 1400 had big-band on Sunday mornings with a great guy named Gene Buck

1400 then chanegd to KPMA in 1983 or so - not sure on the rest of this freq's total history....
 
ronrob said:
Wally Nelskog got sole control of KIXI in 1971, and sometime about 1980, got it into the nostalgia music business. Wikipedia says KIXI became Adult Standards in 1982. And it was about that time that I first became a fan.
Click to expand...

I visited Seattle for the 1962 World's Fair. In those days, KIXI was on 910 with relatively low power (1 kW?) and might even have been a dual-site operation; it certainly was squeezed onto that channel. I believe the format was beautiful music. I'm pretty sure that, even then, Nelskog owned the station. Wasn't he the person who got the KIXI calls assigned to it? Neat, because, besides sounding good, they were (kind of) the frequency in Roman numerals K--9--1. I remember it was always articulated as K..IX..I. Was the 910 version of KIXI licensed to Renton? I seem to recall that it was sited south of Seattle and had an east-west directional pattern--at least during the daytime. I don't think the signal was all that great in downtown Seattle.
 
This is somewhat interesting to me, because in essence, the adult standard format description you describe was completely foreign in the pre-1960 days of KIXI. It was, in fact, mainstream radio, or "middle of the road" at the time. I was not yet born, but my research indicates that this is what the norm was for many radio stations. So Seattle stations like KING, KIRO, KVI, KOMO, and perhaps KJR (prior to the late 50's) all presented a similar musc format, (with slight variations), but always with personality and news. Things began to change around 1960, with KAYO and KJR going more contemporary, followed by KOL. KOMO and KIRO, and to some extent KVI, stayed with their mainsteam (or even MOR) formats into the 70's, but soon it was evident that the FM's would change that. KIRO and lesser known KTW were among the first to pick up on the changes and added news and/or talk in the early 70's, although KING had a night time talk show well before its adventure into Top40 in 1971.
 
Wally Nelskog had been involved in several "KUTI-KUDY" etc stations. One was in Renton. He was a forward thinker, changed format, call letters, etc. and KIXI was born. The later move worked well for hom as well. It included a City of License change to Mercer Island, a frequency change to 880, and a huge power jump.

I never had the opportunity to hear him as a disk jockey, but if memory serves, he was on KJR.
 
DanStrassberg said:
... they were (kind of) the frequency in Roman numerals K--9--1. I remember it was always articulated as K..IX..I.
Click to expand...

That was EXACTLY the strategy. And the Mercer Island move followed a Seattle COL because Wally kept trying to get a 50KW allocation, and nothing worked. Finally found the loophole that Mercer Island IS a CITY ... and with the frequency adjust he could get the 50KW and have towers SMACK in the middle of Seattle market. As Wolf said, Nelskog always was forward thinker and could step "out of the box" very easily. And, of course, many recognize the difference between THOSE kind of leaders and the bean counters of today.
 
dialtwister said:
What were KIXI-FM's roots?...anyone know?
Click to expand...

Renton...I think it was KUDY (there were a bunch of stations that used the "Cutie" moniker, as well as a forgotten Everett station that signed on in 1957 on 1230 kHz with the calls KQTY. It became more famous as KWYZ "Radio 123" and today still has the KWYZ calls, but runs a Korean format "Radio Hankook"......)
 
No, KIXI-FM was a Seattle station, just can't remember the original calls or ownership.
 
Bill, KIXI was not a Seattle station originally. It was KQDE "Channel 91", licensed to Renton. I used to listed to it. Somewhere along the line they changed the calls to another "cutie" set of call letters. As mentioned above it could have been KUDY. Wally Nelskog did get a change of city of license to Mercer Island. One of the old dj's I remember on there was Les Williams.
 
B.O.R. ... you're talking about the AM and Wolf is talking about the FM. I vaguely remember studio horsetrading was involved...I think KYYX moved into old KIXI digs (where Benaroya is now). So that meant 95.7 studios became 96.5 studios (after remodel) ... 96.5 was moved from KYAC which was upstairs in same building. KIXI, meanwhile, had moved to the round Westin-like apartments (801 Pine) and took over penthouse of that building...it had the STL tower that connected KIXI to Cougar Mtn. KYYX beamed their STL from there too...so one hop from 3rd & University to 8th & Pine ... STL to Cougar. I can't remember if 95.7 STARTED as KIXI or had another set of calls prior, though.
 
Bill, not only is my radio burnt out, apparently my eyes are too. All I read was KIXI and assumed you were talking about the AM.
 
Bill Wolfenbarger said:
No, KIXI-FM was a Seattle station, just can't remember the original calls or ownership.
Click to expand...

That would be KGMJ, owned by IGM Inc. of Bellingham, Rogan Jones President. The format was automated classical.....
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom