Aircheck: KQLZ "Pirate Radio" 100.3 MHz Los Angeles 27 August 1990-A/B

[spiritof67]

In 1990, I worked at a radio station as a producer, voiceover/production assistant, and board operator. When we ran programs off of the satellite, I would dial around some of the transponders to see what kind of programming was available. Several programs we carried were distributed through Westwood One. Westwood One distributed the show "Pirate Radio USA" which was based on "Pirate Radio" Los Angeles (KQLZ). In many instances the local feed of KQLZ/Pirate Radio would remain on after the show, giving board ops like me a chance to listen to the station (note--this was several years away from internet streaming, and hearing out of market stations like this was a rarity).

There were some nights I had time to roll tape and catch the station. Recently I found my shoebox of these cassettes and have begun to digitize them. These cassettes did not have the best sound quality, and the tape deck that recorded these saw lots of action. Nevertheless, the audio was cleaned up, and the pitch was adjusted, and they should sound good.

I wonder if there are any on this board who worked in radio dialed around the satellite and listened to audio feeds where they worked?

Here is a recording of KQLZ/Pirate Radio from the overnight hours of the 27'th of August 1990. Each file is 47 minutes, and is 192/44.1 and can be found at these links:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GeVHMaQc6LC7FVT34u0ZdXp6SZh45w5v/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ub0oU7ZkBtXSxfsTVkYpNoL9IseW__p8/view?usp=sharing

I have additional Pirate Radio airchecks, and will post them here if anyone is interested.

 

[Hot Hits]

I've been trying to post my Frazer Smith Late A$$ Radio Show from the FM Talk Station 97.1 KLSX, no one cares. But I do remember my first Internet streamed Radio station and that was 95.5 WPLJ out of New York when abc wasn't airing a Newscast

 

[mofocat]

YES! I want the Pirate Radio tapes! Please n thank you

 

[johndavis]

Yeah, being able to listen to KQLZ in cue off the bird made overnights easier to get through in college.

I loved how they used to bury the legal ID in a PSA at :58. "...for more information, call KQLZ Los Angeles."

 

[erwin33]

Great! You hear the loud, wide stereo Optimod famous back in the day sound despite the quality of the tape recordings.

KQLZ was an internet station after their FM days but stopped a few years ago.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Yeah, being able to listen to KQLZ in cue off the bird made overnights easier to get through in college.

I loved how they used to bury the legal ID in a PSA at :58. "...for more information, call KQLZ Los Angeles."

I'll never forget the day I first heard Pirate Radio. It was in March of '89. They signed on at 5:00 am, but it was about 7:00 am when I was going to work and tuned in to K-Lite (KIQQ, a very worthy competitor to KOST, but featured a much broader playlist and we know what happens to commercial stations with broad playlists...) and instead of getting Neil Diamond, I got Guns 'n' Roses and Def Leppard. I looked down at my car radio to make sure I had punched up the right frequency, and indeed the FM radio said 100.3. Talk about a jolt in the morning!

And then Scott Shannon came on saying the Pirates had taken over the studio off the 10 freeway. It was obvious to this long-time radio observer that it was definitely NOT a pirate - it is on a major FM frequency for God's sake. The FCC would have taken them down in hours and someone would have a huge lawsuit on their hands, even if it was technically feasible, which I doubt. That and, like you said, they buried the calls, but they were there at the top of each hour as they are supposed to be. But what a fun time and for about a year, they gave LA radio a good swift kick in the ass, mostly playing hair bands like Warrant, Beasitie Boys rap, and bands like Yaz and New Order, which Scott called "disco". I don't think they ever played a real disco record. Played a lot of cool music on Friday afternoons highlighted by the Kings "Switch into Glide" - good drivin' home on a Friday music.

After awhile, the novelty wore off and the ratings began to tank. The station that was going to go from "worst to first" never did get to #1 and it was headed back down to whence it came. Scott was out after three years and the station changed format to include some of the grunge acts that were coming onto the scene. Grunge could very well be the most overrated genre ever, and the songs were downers on a station that was presumably all about having fun. Soon after, the station was a memory. I still have a sticker with their pig logo saying "Bite me", which could well have been the station's unspoken motto. Good times, but like all the other good stations in this town, the good times eventually come to an end.

 

[Robnoxious]

And their "mailing address" was a PO Box on Catalina Island just to keep the mystique up.
After Shannon was dropped, Pirate Radio really delved into the glam hair bands or metal lite as I'll call it (Poison, Slaughter, Bon Jovi, White Lion).
But since 100.3 had a better torch than say 105.5 KNAC it was the goto choice to those with a tendency toward that genre of music outside of KNAC's very small reach.

I do remember one April Fool's stunt they pulled in tandum with KROQ... they both swapped respected formats, with Pirate going all new-wave and KROQ going glam rock which of course lit up the switchboards with hilarious drops of confused listeners pondering what the hell was going on as DJ's like KROQ's Sluggo played it off like "it's a format switch, it's just radio! Here's Cherry Pie by Warrant on KROQ! **drops the needle**"

I miss the silly stuff like that when radio could and would crackwise and not be so business suit stuffy and full of itself.
It is a business I know, but something got lost in translation with all of these mergers and megaconglomerations... the "fun" got swept under the rug and I don't foresee that changing anytime soon. =(

 

[Bigaor]

thanks for sharing. I think Kqlz represent the ultimate AOR radio, love it since i was living in LA in 1990 and in 1992. I collect many airchecks from this station. My web radio is mainly inspired to the Pirate! If you have other files please share, thanks!

 

[davideduardo]

But since 100.3 had a better torch than say 105.5 KNAC it was the goto choice to those with a tendency toward that genre of music outside of KNAC's very small reach.

That 105.5 signal has 6.3 million in its 60 dbu. Hardly a small reach.

 

[Robnoxious]

That 105.5 signal has 6.3 million in its 60 dbu. Hardly a small reach.

Be that as it may, as I'm not an engineer to dispute or debate your stat, the 105.5 signal as it was in the KNAC days could not get over the Sepulveda Pass into the Valley let alone the Antelope Valley while 100.3 in the KIQQ/KQLZ days reached as far as the aforementioned as well as into Bakersfield.

 

[Bigaor]

Be that as it may, as I'm not an engineer to dispute or debate your stat, the 105.5 signal as it was in the KNAC days could not get over the Sepulveda Pass into the Valley let alone the Antelope Valley while 100.3 in the KIQQ/KQLZ days reached as far as the aforementioned as well as into Bakersfield.

I confirm!

 

[davideduardo]

Be that as it may, as I'm not an engineer to dispute or debate your stat, the 105.5 signal as it was in the KNAC days could not get over the Sepulveda Pass into the Valley let alone the Antelope Valley while 100.3 in the KIQQ/KQLZ days reached as far as the aforementioned as well as into Bakersfield.

As part of the team that did due diligence on KNAC when LBI bought it, I can confirm that there was a shadow from Ventura Blvd to about Burbank Blvd, but there was usable if not great coverage in the central valley areas where the Hispanic population was located.

Since, at that time, less than 1/3 of the LA radio listening was in cars, the critical thing to us was work and home listening. And the signal was considered adequate as a start, and enough to be competitive with the major "opposition" which was KLAX, which had even worse shadowing in The Valley at the time.

I am told by KM Richards, who was at KMYX at that general time, that:

In 1988 I was Chief Operator of record at KMYX in Ojai (also at 105.5, now KFYV) when we moved the transmitter site from its originally licensed location on Sulphur Mountain to a shared tower on Red Mountain. Even though I had cautioned the owner that the signal from the new location would not extend as far east in Ventura County as the original, he went forward anyway.

The very first day transmitting from Red, we were inundated with calls from listeners in Santa Paula (the format was Urban, so high Hispanic listening) who were now receiving KNAC instead. If that Long Beach signal was robust enough to replace KMYX just past the edge of the protected contour -- which, as I recall, was at Wells Rd. in Saticoy -- then it was receivable in the Valley. In fact, I personally remember being able to receive KNAC on a car radio in the Valley in the mid-1990s, right before Liberman acquired it.

Obviously, the signal was not truly competitive or the two additional Valley and OC stations would not have been added to form the trimulcast. But there was a signal in much of the Valley, and that was considered when Liberman bought KNAC in late 1994. This should be a reminder that the sort of circular coverage maps are really approximate and don't reflect reality. A Longley-Rice is the way to go. Go to Nautel and create a simple log-in and you can see real coverage: https://support.nautel.com/rf-toolkit/radio-coverage-tool/

 

[ChannelFlipper]

As part of the team that did due diligence on KNAC when LBI bought it, I can confirm that there was a shadow from Ventura Blvd to about Burbank Blvd, but there was usable if not great coverage in the central valley areas where the Hispanic population was located.

Since, at that time, less than 1/3 of the LA radio listening was in cars, the critical thing to us was work and home listening. And the signal was considered adequate as a start, and enough to be competitive with the major "opposition" which was KLAX, which had even worse shadowing in The Valley at the time.

I am told by KM Richards, who was at KMYX at that general time, that:

In 1988 I was Chief Operator of record at KMYX in Ojai (also at 105.5, now KFYV) when we moved the transmitter site from its originally licensed location on Sulphur Mountain to a shared tower on Red Mountain. Even though I had cautioned the owner that the signal from the new location would not extend as far east in Ventura County as the original, he went forward anyway.

The very first day transmitting from Red, we were inundated with calls from listeners in Santa Paula (the format was Urban, so high Hispanic listening) who were now receiving KNAC instead. If that Long Beach signal was robust enough to replace KMYX just past the edge of the protected contour -- which, as I recall, was at Wells Rd. in Saticoy -- then it was receivable in the Valley. In fact, I personally remember being able to receive KNAC on a car radio in the Valley in the mid-1990s, right before Liberman acquired it.

Obviously, the signal was not truly competitive or the two additional Valley and OC stations would not have been added to form the trimulcast. But there was a signal in much of the Valley, and that was considered when Liberman bought KNAC in late 1994. This should be a reminder that the sort of circular coverage maps are really approximate and don't reflect reality. A Longley-Rice is the way to go. Go to Nautel and create a simple log-in and you can see real coverage: https://support.nautel.com/rf-toolkit/radio-coverage-tool/

Regardless of all of this, the original proposition was 105.5 vs. 100.3. The 100.3 signal was far superior for your late 80's rocker to get his head-banging on. But having your black and white 105.5 KNAC bumper sticker got you much more heavy metal street cred, and you can actually listen to Iron Maiden songs with KNAC instead of just wearing the t-shirt.

 

[Bigaor]

Regardless of all of this, the original proposition was 105.5 vs. 100.3. The 100.3 signal was far superior for your late 80's rocker to get his head-banging on. But having your black and white 105.5 KNAC bumper sticker got you much more heavy metal street cred, and you can actually listen to Iron Maiden songs with KNAC instead of just wearing the t-shirt.

I remember a Kqlz commercial in 1992 where it compared to other LA radios, Klos, Kiis and Knac was described with just a noisy and disturbed sound reception!