• 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

Anybody remember Fantasy Park?

T

TexasMusic

Guest
The following is how I remember it thirty years later. If somebody out there can fill in the gaps or correct the inaccuracies, please do.

I want to say it aired on KNUS back in the mid 70's. It was quite a production. I believe it was billed as "the concert that never happened". It was a two day long program made out to be coming from a music festival. It featured all of the most popular acts of the day. They either used Live albums, tapes of concerts, or mixed crowd noise between songs.
 
They either used Live
> albums, tapes of concerts, or mixed crowd noise between
> songs.
>
YES!
Ken Dowe brought the idea to KTFM in San Antonio in 1975. I suppose it aired earlier on KNUS, since he had come from there. It used live albums, with crowd noise mixed in between sets. The jocks did little segments pretending to be at the 'Park', telling how beautiful it was and how great the crowd was. The phones rang off the hook with people asking how to get there, how to get tickets etc. Many became abusive when told it was make-believe, and there wasn't really a concert.
KTFM hired Rod Serling to do the promos. He did a 15 minute session, and kept screwing up. Each time he made a mistake, he would utter an obscenity, the s word, the d word, the f word. one of the KTSA jocks got ahold of it and edited all the cussing together. Hilarious! Serling died just a couple of weeks later.
Wish I had a copy of that tape. It's priceless.
 
We had it here on KNUS in the summer of 1974. Same M.O. as the San Antonio event you described. Rod Serling was on hand here as well, lending a "Twilight Zone" approach to the intros and promos. A reunion of the Beatles was faked, no less! And about every other rock band "performed" that Dowe could get a live album from.

There's an aircheck of KNUS's Fantasy Park out there. Heavily edited, about 20 mins long, but enough to get the gist of what they were doing. Might check reelradio.com or Google for it.

> They either used Live
> > albums, tapes of concerts, or mixed crowd noise between
> > songs.
> >
> YES!
> Ken Dowe brought the idea to KTFM in San Antonio in 1975. I
> suppose it aired earlier on KNUS, since he had come from
> there. It used live albums, with crowd noise mixed in
> between sets. The jocks did little segments pretending to be
> at the 'Park', telling how beautiful it was and how great
> the crowd was. The phones rang off the hook with people
> asking how to get there, how to get tickets etc. Many became
> abusive when told it was make-believe, and there wasn't
> really a concert.
> KTFM hired Rod Serling to do the promos. He did a 15 minute
> session, and kept screwing up. Each time he made a mistake,
> he would utter an obscenity, the s word, the d word, the f
> word. one of the KTSA jocks got ahold of it and edited all
> the cussing together. Hilarious! Serling died just a couple
> of weeks later.
> Wish I had a copy of that tape. It's priceless.
>
 
Now I remember the Rod Serling connection and I remember the jocks mentioning that it was his "last creative project". I'd like to hear that tape as well.
I'd also like to see the "lineup" from the show.


> KTFM hired Rod Serling to do the promos. He did a 15 minute
> session, and kept screwing up. Each time he made a mistake,
> he would utter an obscenity, the s word, the d word, the f
> word. one of the KTSA jocks got ahold of it and edited all
> the cussing together. Hilarious! Serling died just a couple
> of weeks later.
> Wish I had a copy of that tape. It's priceless.
>
 
The old WCOZ-94.5 here in Boston broadcast "Fantasy Park" on Labor Day Weekend (August 30th-September 1st) 1975, a little more than two weeks after the station flipped from beautiful-music to album rock (the flip took place August 15th).

I believe the "faked Beatles concert" was at the very end.
 
> They either used Live
> > albums, tapes of concerts, or mixed crowd noise between
> > songs.
> >
> YES!
> Ken Dowe brought the idea to KTFM in San Antonio in 1975. I
> suppose it aired earlier on KNUS, since he had come from
> there. It used live albums, with crowd noise mixed in
> between sets. The jocks did little segments pretending to be
> at the 'Park', telling how beautiful it was and how great
> the crowd was. The phones rang off the hook with people
> asking how to get there, how to get tickets etc. Many became
> abusive when told it was make-believe, and there wasn't
> really a concert.
> KTFM hired Rod Serling to do the promos. He did a 15 minute
> session, and kept screwing up. Each time he made a mistake,
> he would utter an obscenity, the s word, the d word, the f
> word. one of the KTSA jocks got ahold of it and edited all
> the cussing together. Hilarious! Serling died just a couple
> of weeks later.
> Wish I had a copy of that tape. It's priceless.
>

I heard it on KTFM as well.Rod Serling intros were great plus the recorded breaks from the local announcing staff. I believe it was a McLendon creation,and a very cool one. He even had the Beatles reunite as the finale.
 
> The phones at KNUS rang off the wall all weekend with people
> wanting directions to the concert.

I remember listening to it, too...had gotten buried in my memory banks, thanks for the brain cell jog! Pretty decent audio mixing job for the live concert effects, but anyone with a sharp ear could tell it was all manufactured. I seem to recall one of the liners being "The Greatest Concert that Never Was" so those who called in simply weren't paying close attention.
 
KVIL brought the same promotion back in 1990 or so as "Fantasy Stadium", but it never achieved the charm or originality of its predecessor.

Jody

> > The phones at KNUS rang off the wall all weekend with
> people
> > wanting directions to the concert.
>
> I remember listening to it, too...had gotten buried in my
> memory banks, thanks for the brain cell jog! Pretty decent
> audio mixing job for the live concert effects, but anyone
> with a sharp ear could tell it was all manufactured. I seem
> to recall one of the liners being "The Greatest Concert that
> Never Was" so those who called in simply weren't paying
> close attention.
>
 
Fantasy Park was originally produced on some pretty primitive production facilities at KNUS and later syndicated out nationwide. The second installment wasn't anywhere near as popular as the first.
The theatre of the mind in that first one was amazing!
 
> Fantasy Park was originally produced on some pretty
> primitive production facilities at KNUS and later syndicated
> out nationwide. The second installment wasn't anywhere near
> as popular as the first.
> The theatre of the mind in that first one was amazing!
>
1974 was the year of the first one and indeed the production was awesome , and something you don't hear today.
 
> 1974 was the year of the first one and indeed the production
> was awesome , and something you don't hear today.

With all the geezer...errr...heritage rock groups doing tours these days, the impact of such a production wouldn't be the same.
 
> > 1974 was the year of the first one and indeed the
> production
> > was awesome , and something you don't hear today.
>
> With all the geezer...errr...heritage rock groups doing
> tours these days, the impact of such a production wouldn't
> be the same.
>
True,but compared to todays homogonized formats,it would have been done better with the same production crew in place. Why? They cared about programming content and quality first,making a quick dollar was the very last thing considered. I love it when there are those who are quick to criticize the way it was done having never truly done "radio" for the most part. Just the assembly line of what passses for radio today,banked calls,liners the same shortened playlist,short tracks,and no room for adlibing. Yeah it's certainly creative,original and local.*sarcasm*.
 
> The following is how I remember it thirty years later. If
> somebody out there can fill in the gaps or correct the
> inaccuracies, please do.
>
> I want to say it aired on KNUS back in the mid 70's. It was
> quite a production. I believe it was billed as "the concert
> that never happened". It was a two day long program made
> out to be coming from a music festival. It featured all of
> the most popular acts of the day. They either used Live
> albums, tapes of concerts, or mixed crowd noise between
> songs.

I remember something like it airing on WJDX in Jackson, MS in the 70's, It had "live announcers" and applause making it sound like a world wide concert event from stages all over the world. It was mostly cuts from various live albums. cool show, I remember it well. I remember the tagline "Its all in your mind" The one I remeber wasn't called "fantasy park, it was something else i think.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Pat2 on 11/22/05 03:33 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Fantasy Park was a syndicated radio program which aired on various radio stations during the weekend of July 4th, 1975. it was voiced by Rod Serling just prior to his death and I believe it was one to a market.
I arrived in San Diego just a few days before it aired on B-100FM.

That is all I know of it. Except, I seem to recall it re-airing later in the year. I do not know who produced or distributed it.

It inspired a few other on-air radio station promotions such as "mini-concerts" and "block parties", some of which were sponsored, throughout the country.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom