AM car radio

[flashman1]

Current car presets:

550 KFYI
620 KT'R
910 KGME
1060 KDUS
1230 KOY
1480 KPHX (I know, worthless at night and anywhere ten miles outside downtown

Home presets (on my DX radio)
550 KFYI
640 KFI Los Angeles
770 KKOB Albuquerque
810 KGO San Francisco
850 KOA Denver
1200 WOAI San Antonio

My family moved to Tucson when I was 10 (1967)....When I could wrest control of the car radio from my dad, it was (of course) KTKT, Channel 99. I remember KCUB (pre country, I think), KTUC (can't remember the freq) and whatever 1490 was in the 60s....

 

[oldiesfan6479]

My family moved to Tucson when I was 10 (1967)....When I could wrest control of the car radio
from my dad, it was (of course) KTKT, Channel 99.

What about KIKX 580? (KFIF 1550 prior to 06/10/67.) And KOLD 1450 with Top 40
at night for at least some time into '67.

I remember KCUB (pre country, I think)...KTUC (can't remember the freq)...and whatever 1490
was in the 60s....

KCUB 1290 was MOR...with Mutual News! KTUC 1400...held together with duct tape
and bailing wire. 1490 was "beautiful music" KAIR which morphed into MOR after
Frank Kalil bought the station.

 

[kruxman]

I had a friend who worked at KIKX, in 1976. He would drive from Phoenix to Tucson, to work a weekend shift. I thought KIKX sounded pretty good then, much better than they sounded in previous years. I've never been able to find any airchecks of KIKX from the mid 70's though, just a few from the late 60's. Does anyone know if KIKX ever got close to KTKT, in the ratings?

 

[flashman1]

Thanks for stirring up the cobwebs in my brain, oldiesfan. I remember KIKX now. And didn't they have a DJ dubbed the "Crazy Man" who became a local celebrity for a time until getting into some sort of trouble? Ah, the pre FM days....

 

[landtuna]

I had a friend who worked at KIKX, in 1976. He would drive from Phoenix to Tucson, to work a weekend shift. I thought KIKX sounded pretty good then, much better than they sounded in previous years. I've never been able to find any airchecks of KIKX from the mid 70's though, just a few from the late 60's. Does anyone know if KIKX ever got close to KTKT, in the ratings?

I remember KIKX as Country so I doubt they'd have been close to KTKT.

 

[landtuna]

1490 was "beautiful music" KAIR which morphed into MOR after Frank Kalil bought the station.

I remember KAIR being T-40 in the late 50's. Don't think it was in '68 when I returned to Tucson.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

I remember KIKX as Country so I doubt they'd have been close to KTKT.

KIKX was Top 40 from '67-'69, then came back to various forms of it (oldies, "heavy
music," T40) circa '71. In between it was MOR ("music for groovy grownups" along
with Mutual news). The flip to country was later in the '70s, after the Gary Craig
kidnapping stunt which eventually cost KIKX its license.

I remember KAIR being T-40 in the late 50's. Don't think it was in '68 when I returned to Tucson.

KAIR's exit from Top 40 happened with KTKT's entrance into it, or at least by when KTKT
achieved full-time status.

 

[radioguy39nj]

Long Island, NY 1969. Classic '67 Mustang, Lime Gold, black vinyl interior. Those seats got hot in the summer! It didn't have A/C! That was for Lincoln and Cadillac owners!

My AM presets in the summer of 1969:

1 - WMCA (570) - Most of the Good Guys were gone, but they still played a bigger playlist than 'ABC. Frankie Crocker at night, Murray the K on weekends.

2 - WABC (770) - The 50 kW blaster to 39 states! Great personalities (Harrison, Lundy, Ingram, Cousin Brucie), great signal, too short a playlist.

3 - WJRZ (970) - Actually a country station then, but were Mets' flagship, so they got a preset.

4 - WGBB (1240) - Long Island's own, covered the South Shore of Nassau County. MOR music by day, rock 'n' roll oldies at night.

5 - WKBW (1520) - Only used this preset at night as the station was in Buffalo. Covered entire Eastern SB at night. No coverage west of Buffalo, since they had to protect KOMA. By day it was WTHE Mineola, country station.

At home, I listened to the Drake-formatted WOR-FM (98.7) which sounded a lot like KHJ and KFRC. When WMCA flipped to talk a year later, I attached an FM converter to my Mustang's AM radio and listened to OR-FM on 1400.

 

[DrAkbar]

Long Island, NY 1969. Classic '67 Mustang, Lime Gold, black vinyl interior. Those seats got hot in the summer! It didn't have A/C! That was for Lincoln and Cadillac owners!

My AM presets in the summer of 1969:

3 - WJRZ (970) - Actually a country station then, but were Mets' flagship, so they got a preset.

..and just two years later it became WW-DJ with screamin' jocks from Hackensack! Here's one of 'em: http://www.97wwdj.com/card.jpg Today Salem owns it along with former Top 40 WMCA.

 

[landtuna]

KAIR's exit from Top 40 happened with KTKT's entrance into it, or at least by when KTKT
achieved full-time status.

My memory isn't what it used to be but I remember KAIR being pretty much the same as KTKT in format until I left Tucson in the summer of 1960. According to the KTKT tribute page Kalil brought the color radio T40 format in during 1957 and that jives with what I remember. Sometime later KAIR began playing similar music (my sister preferred KAIR and I KTKT so there was always a friendly rivalry in our house).

KTKT went 24 hours in late spring 1960 so there are a few years there where both stations competed in the same format.

My first memories of Tucson radio (early 50's) was KCNA who had a country/folk singer on named Nita Lynn. Her sponsor was Eddy Trabeau Motors. She called me on the phone on my 8th birthday ('52). I think I peed my pants!

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Her sponsor was Eddy Trabeau Motors.

Jim Click he wasn't. Was this a used lot or a new car dealer?

She called me on the phone on my 8th birthday ('52).

I was going to ask if Tucson still had a "Mayberry phone system" in '52, but a check of
the Old Gringo's yearbook stash reveals five-digit numbers so you probably could dial
out (local) yourself.

In fact, KCNA 580 had 2-4664 which was the base of, and remained as, the biz office
number for 580 successors KTAN and KIKX (later as MAin 2-4664, then 622-4664).

 

[landtuna]

Jim Click he wasn't. Was this a used lot or a new car dealer?

I doubt I ever saw his lot but I assume it was used cars. Tucson didn't have a lot of new car lots in those days. I remember only three.

I was going to ask if Tucson still had a "Mayberry phone system" in '52, but a check of
the Old Gringo's yearbook stash reveals five-digit numbers so you probably could dial
out (local) yourself.

Yeah - five digit direct dialing. I still remember my first phone number (5-0983). Later on in the 50's they went to three exchanges: MA (main) EA (east) and AX (axtell) then later they dropped the exchange names for 7-digit.

I remember my parents dialing "0" for long distance when I was very young but don't know when it changed to direct dialing for long distance. I think I remember the last "Mayberry" telephone exchange in the western US was in the Bay Area in the late 60's. I know we were stepping high to the rhythm of the old coffee-can step switches by then.

 

[klutch00]

You asked for the late 60's AM pushbuttons...

990 KTKT Frank Kalil, Joe Bailey
1010 KCAC Toad Hall, William Edward Compton
1060 KUPD Bill Heywood
1230 KRIZ Joe Light, Phil Motta,
1360 KRUX Bobby Pooh Shannon, Rhett Hamilton Walker I

manually: tuned to 1320 KCPX, 1520 KOMA and 950 KIMN and night for DX
:

You could get KIMN in southern AZ at night? I'm impressed. I wonder if that's because the propagation is so good out west.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

You could get KIMN in southern AZ at night? I'm impressed. I wonder if that's because the propagation is so good out west.

IIRC, KBTR 710 was an easier catch (in Tucson) than KIMN 950.

 

[kruxman]

I had a friend who worked at KIKX, in 1976. He would drive from Phoenix to Tucson, to work a weekend shift. I thought KIKX sounded pretty good then, much better than they sounded in previous years. I've never been able to find any airchecks of KIKX from the mid 70's though, just a few from the late 60's. Does anyone know if KIKX ever got close to KTKT, in the ratings?

I remember KIKX as Country so I doubt they'd have been close to KTKT.

KIKX was full-blown Top-40 in 1976 and had a great signal.

 

[DrAkbar]

You could get KIMN in southern AZ at night? I'm impressed. I wonder if that's because the propagation is so good out west.

IIRC, KBTR 710 was an easier catch (in Tucson) than KIMN 950.

Nurse Jeff and I've been able to pull in KOA 8~Fifty, KRWZ 9~Fifty and KCKK 15~Ten at night from Denver. Of the three, KOA and KCKK come in the best. We've never been able to pull in 7~Ten as KALL 7~Hundred Salt Lake and KDWN 7~Twenty Lost Wages on either side make it darned close to impossible.

 

[radioguy39nj]

Long Island, NY 1969. Classic '67 Mustang, Lime Gold, black vinyl interior. Those seats got hot in the summer! It didn't have A/C! That was for Lincoln and Cadillac owners!

My AM presets in the summer of 1969:

3 - WJRZ (970) - Actually a country station then, but were Mets' flagship, so they got a preset.

..and just two years later it became WW-DJ with screamin' jocks from Hackensack! Here's one of 'em: http://www.97wwdj.com/card.jpg Today Salem owns it along with former Top 40 WMCA.

In 1974, unable to compete against 50 kW blasters WNBC and WABC and numerous FM upstarts (99X & WPIX), WWDJ flipped to religioius. In 2008, Salem moved the Christian programming to WMCA and flipped WWDJ to conservative talk. The calls are now WNYM and the handle is "AM 970 The Apple". 970 now has a 50 kW directional signal which has to cut to 5 kW at night.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

We've never been able to pull in 7~Ten as KALL 7~Hundred Salt Lake and KDWN 7~Twenty Lost Wages on either side
make it darned close to impossible.

Likely true today, but this was back when Bud Ballou did 7-midnight on KBTR 710
and these western class IIs on I-A freqs had yet to become reality.

 

[markchub]

Your car radio is now crystal controlled you only get ONE station (AM) any time or place. Mine is KRUX 1966 (The Monkees and the Bomp Cllub). I think that was the year you know what they say "if you remember the sixties then you were not there!"

 

[DrAkbar]

We've never been able to pull in 7~Ten as KALL 7~Hundred Salt Lake and KDWN 7~Twenty Lost Wages on either side
make it darned close to impossible.

Likely true today, but this was back when Bud Ballou did 7-midnight on KBTR 710
and these western class IIs on I-A freqs had yet to become reality.

Right you are, Fan of Worn Out Oldies! Back in the Sixties, AM was a lot easier to listen to at night. Now the FCC operates under the theory that more operators are better and skywave interference is nothing to get all wee-wee-ed up about. Is it any wonder that Los Buckeye Boyz call it Ancient Modulation?!