Why did B100 fail as an adult contemporary station before it became adult top 40/hot AC "Star 100.7" in 1994? Tell me the date when the B became the "Star". Everyone in San Diego missed that station, but I had wished it would come back somewhere as a classic hits station. Unfortunately the station that was known as B100 for many years is now Jack FM, which played all of the same hits that B100 played back in the day. Tell me what you think of it. Thanks.
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B100 early 90's
- Thread starter dgendvil
- Start date
Good Question!
The answer: 3 words: Jeff and Jer!
The story goes like this:
IN 1987, Jeff and Jer came to San Diego from Chicago and launched as the morning show on Y-95, which was the biggest threat to B100 at the time, going after B100's Hot AC audience. At the time, Y-95 was just a slightly more AC version of B100, and had the slogan "Today's Hits, and yesterday's favorites." Up until then, the most popular morning show in San Diego was "Bobby Rich and the Rich Brothers," on B100 FM.
Circa about 1991, KFMB management decided that Jeff and Jer were the future, negotiated a better contract with Jeff and Jer that Y-95 couldn't (or refused) to match. There was also some soap opera drama behind the scenes at Y-95 because one of the morning hosts was romantically involved with an employee there.
A couple of years later (93, 94?) Q106, which had been Dance CHR decided to go in a more mainstream "KIIS FM" like direction, since Dance CHR was becomming more Hip-hopish, and Z90 was already grabbing most of that audience. Q106 hired Tracy Johson as a the PD to take them in this new direction and a lured Magic Matt Alan away from Middays at KIIS in LA. Matt and Tracy did not get along (from what I can tell, anyway) and 3 months later, Matt Alan was gone. Jeff and Jer were getting fed up that B100 refused to take on Q106 and loosen the format and began talking the to get a better deal. KFMB execs found out that Jeff and Jer were talking to another station, and released them from their contract, stating that they had violated the terms by talking to Q106.
Meanwhile Jeff and Jer had become furiously popular with San Diego listeners, and the fact that Jeff and Jer had organized the now famous "Human Flag" in support of the 91 Gulf War didn't help matters. Added to that, B100's general manager, Bob Myers went to the airwaves, announcing not only that Jeff and Jer had voided their contract, but actually stated on the air how much the contract was for. When Jeff and Jer debuted on Q106 a few months later, B100's audience left in droves.
B100 made many attempts to get the audience back, first auditioning several morning hosts, and finally hiring John Lander (now on Boston's Mix985), along with co-host Jules Brandt from Texas. This pairing lasted only 3 months (and John Lander claims it was the worst 3 months of his career) as he and management clashed over material, ending with Lander being fired after a joke about "illegal Mexican fruit flies," which gained criticism from local hispanic groups. KFMB management replaced him with former morning host Larry Himmel. By then, the audiece was gone. Last minute attempts to Tracy Johnson (who had now gone over to B100 after Par took over from Ednes at Q106 and released him), to make B100 in to a CHR would fail.
Ultimatley, the only way to get back the audience (and eventually Jeff and Jer) was to make people forget about B100, first by stunting with "the great radio experiment" by which the station tested other formats, such as Country, Altenative, Disco, All Elvis, etc, and then return to the air again as a Hot AC but as Star 100.7, a format so successful, that when Jeff and Jer left KFMB last year, they resurrected it on 94.1.
The reasons why (JACK, etc), is for another post, and another time.
The answer: 3 words: Jeff and Jer!
The story goes like this:
IN 1987, Jeff and Jer came to San Diego from Chicago and launched as the morning show on Y-95, which was the biggest threat to B100 at the time, going after B100's Hot AC audience. At the time, Y-95 was just a slightly more AC version of B100, and had the slogan "Today's Hits, and yesterday's favorites." Up until then, the most popular morning show in San Diego was "Bobby Rich and the Rich Brothers," on B100 FM.
Circa about 1991, KFMB management decided that Jeff and Jer were the future, negotiated a better contract with Jeff and Jer that Y-95 couldn't (or refused) to match. There was also some soap opera drama behind the scenes at Y-95 because one of the morning hosts was romantically involved with an employee there.
A couple of years later (93, 94?) Q106, which had been Dance CHR decided to go in a more mainstream "KIIS FM" like direction, since Dance CHR was becomming more Hip-hopish, and Z90 was already grabbing most of that audience. Q106 hired Tracy Johson as a the PD to take them in this new direction and a lured Magic Matt Alan away from Middays at KIIS in LA. Matt and Tracy did not get along (from what I can tell, anyway) and 3 months later, Matt Alan was gone. Jeff and Jer were getting fed up that B100 refused to take on Q106 and loosen the format and began talking the to get a better deal. KFMB execs found out that Jeff and Jer were talking to another station, and released them from their contract, stating that they had violated the terms by talking to Q106.
Meanwhile Jeff and Jer had become furiously popular with San Diego listeners, and the fact that Jeff and Jer had organized the now famous "Human Flag" in support of the 91 Gulf War didn't help matters. Added to that, B100's general manager, Bob Myers went to the airwaves, announcing not only that Jeff and Jer had voided their contract, but actually stated on the air how much the contract was for. When Jeff and Jer debuted on Q106 a few months later, B100's audience left in droves.
B100 made many attempts to get the audience back, first auditioning several morning hosts, and finally hiring John Lander (now on Boston's Mix985), along with co-host Jules Brandt from Texas. This pairing lasted only 3 months (and John Lander claims it was the worst 3 months of his career) as he and management clashed over material, ending with Lander being fired after a joke about "illegal Mexican fruit flies," which gained criticism from local hispanic groups. KFMB management replaced him with former morning host Larry Himmel. By then, the audiece was gone. Last minute attempts to Tracy Johnson (who had now gone over to B100 after Par took over from Ednes at Q106 and released him), to make B100 in to a CHR would fail.
Ultimatley, the only way to get back the audience (and eventually Jeff and Jer) was to make people forget about B100, first by stunting with "the great radio experiment" by which the station tested other formats, such as Country, Altenative, Disco, All Elvis, etc, and then return to the air again as a Hot AC but as Star 100.7, a format so successful, that when Jeff and Jer left KFMB last year, they resurrected it on 94.1.
The reasons why (JACK, etc), is for another post, and another time.
D
doublecashkgb
Guest
I forgot about Larry Himmel, the KFMB AM FM TV house hack doing mornings for awhile, oh that had to be dreadful. Lander sounded frustrated, and Jules in this case was actually spelled Jools. Don't forget that
Bobby Rich returned to the former Y-95, now the Mix with the Rich Brothers in 1991. Times had changed and the show flopped. Thus opening the gate for KBZT to return with a very successful oldies format, knocking KCBQ-Fm out of the format.
Bobby Rich returned to the former Y-95, now the Mix with the Rich Brothers in 1991. Times had changed and the show flopped. Thus opening the gate for KBZT to return with a very successful oldies format, knocking KCBQ-Fm out of the format.
Thanks Garrett for a pretty in depth look at the end of B-100. I'm a bit biased as my last day of working at Midwest Television on the AM side of KFMB was the last night of B-100 where Frank Anthony and Pat Gaffey (original B morning Zoo members) created and then aired the good bye tape. Imagine airing something from reel to reel in May of 1994 - Now hard disk.
I do have some corrections and some input of the history of that time:
1. Paul Palmer was the GM at the time that aired the famous "I'm one of those suits" promos that pretty much described why negotiations broke down between the radio station and Jeff and Jer. Let's face it, they asked for a lot of money from a company that was used to paying far less than a million dollars for an entire morning show. I wonder what the bill for them is now?
2. One thing that many in our industry fail to remember is the the timing and economics of the industry. You can honestly say from 1990 until 1994 (when Star in LA launched what is now called Modern AC) that Hot AC at the time was dead. Kind of what AC is facing now to a certain extent. Record companies were putting out nothing to brag about, what we called rap back then was hitting 12+ numbers hard, Light AC (KYXY) was able to step back to a wider mix and not have to play currents to survive. One more thing, Country (KSON) was king and had what many thought couldn't happen - get and retain Female numbers. Being in the building from November of 1990 until May of 1994, the management at the time felt they were between a rock and a hard place with the local economy in shambles (remember General Dynamics laying off 30,000 employees a year for 3 years), cost of Padres on the AM hitting all time highs and not to mention the beginning of the end of basball on radio the Cox-Padres deal. For those of you who used to work at 7677 Engineer Road - Remember the term "Reduce Baseball Impact"?
3. Something else happened........Bob Meyers (not related to the Myers family that owns Midwest TV) passed away from cancer and a new guy named Arnie Kleiner took over in the building. He looked over the situation with TV in a mess, an AM that went back to half talk and half music and an FM that lost it's key anchor of a morning show along with a lack of leadership. TV and radio were both in-line for a house cleaning. Interestingly at the time with duopoly ownership in play in the market (BTW KFMB could have owned AM 600 and FM 106.5 but cold feet ended that deal) ---- Arnie chose to hire what he considered was the market management leaders. Tracy Johnson for programming the stations. Many managers and those who were loyal to the past left. That's where my career ended and renewed itself and flourished by learning from this experience.
4. It was an interesting time from Gulf War of 1991 and the end of B-100. Many forget the stations that briefly boycotted Arbitron. The transition of KFMB AM from complete war coverage to happy go lucky talk to half talk-half music. Hudson and Bauer sounded bored and the rest of the AM side was not doing anything.
5. Also I believe that Tracy Johnson is a good programmer (not a good people person), but his crutch was Jeff and Jer in the San Diego market. I remember when Star 100.7 was just 6 months old and a friend of mine was calling it "Star 1.7". They had an all female morning show. Later transitioned to Dave Smiley and his co-horts. Jeff and Jer was what gave that station some horsepower. I also feel that Y-95 of the past and some of the current do suffer from too strong of a morning show and the rest of the day could go to hell focus - that was Y-95s downfall and then B-100s.
I'd like to hear some other input of that time of our industry.
I do have some corrections and some input of the history of that time:
1. Paul Palmer was the GM at the time that aired the famous "I'm one of those suits" promos that pretty much described why negotiations broke down between the radio station and Jeff and Jer. Let's face it, they asked for a lot of money from a company that was used to paying far less than a million dollars for an entire morning show. I wonder what the bill for them is now?
2. One thing that many in our industry fail to remember is the the timing and economics of the industry. You can honestly say from 1990 until 1994 (when Star in LA launched what is now called Modern AC) that Hot AC at the time was dead. Kind of what AC is facing now to a certain extent. Record companies were putting out nothing to brag about, what we called rap back then was hitting 12+ numbers hard, Light AC (KYXY) was able to step back to a wider mix and not have to play currents to survive. One more thing, Country (KSON) was king and had what many thought couldn't happen - get and retain Female numbers. Being in the building from November of 1990 until May of 1994, the management at the time felt they were between a rock and a hard place with the local economy in shambles (remember General Dynamics laying off 30,000 employees a year for 3 years), cost of Padres on the AM hitting all time highs and not to mention the beginning of the end of basball on radio the Cox-Padres deal. For those of you who used to work at 7677 Engineer Road - Remember the term "Reduce Baseball Impact"?
3. Something else happened........Bob Meyers (not related to the Myers family that owns Midwest TV) passed away from cancer and a new guy named Arnie Kleiner took over in the building. He looked over the situation with TV in a mess, an AM that went back to half talk and half music and an FM that lost it's key anchor of a morning show along with a lack of leadership. TV and radio were both in-line for a house cleaning. Interestingly at the time with duopoly ownership in play in the market (BTW KFMB could have owned AM 600 and FM 106.5 but cold feet ended that deal) ---- Arnie chose to hire what he considered was the market management leaders. Tracy Johnson for programming the stations. Many managers and those who were loyal to the past left. That's where my career ended and renewed itself and flourished by learning from this experience.
4. It was an interesting time from Gulf War of 1991 and the end of B-100. Many forget the stations that briefly boycotted Arbitron. The transition of KFMB AM from complete war coverage to happy go lucky talk to half talk-half music. Hudson and Bauer sounded bored and the rest of the AM side was not doing anything.
5. Also I believe that Tracy Johnson is a good programmer (not a good people person), but his crutch was Jeff and Jer in the San Diego market. I remember when Star 100.7 was just 6 months old and a friend of mine was calling it "Star 1.7". They had an all female morning show. Later transitioned to Dave Smiley and his co-horts. Jeff and Jer was what gave that station some horsepower. I also feel that Y-95 of the past and some of the current do suffer from too strong of a morning show and the rest of the day could go to hell focus - that was Y-95s downfall and then B-100s.
I'd like to hear some other input of that time of our industry.
Wow, Jeff - some great points there.
Since we seem to have drifted from the original topic, let me drift a bit further.
The "Jeff 'n Jer" effect is interesting. It seems to be so strong that, as you say, PDs get lulled into complacency by the strong AM numbers, and then let the rest of the dayparts coast. That's sure what happened with Anita at 100.7 and virtually every other jock at Y-95. (I won't lump Greg and Jen in there because I thought they actually did make an effort to entertain, although the constant reliance on celebrity gossip wore thin - and is beginning to wear thin again. Jen, are you listening?)
But Bob seems to be trying hard to avoid that trap and build a full-fledged station at 94.1. Replacing voicetracks with a live midday and evening show was smart; dumping Duncan and Mel and bringing in no less than the format originator to program and anchor PM drive, pumping up promotions and imaging, re-branding the entire damn station... Well, they certainly get my vote for "most improved."
Now, my opinions on B-100 ;D
When the original Top 40 format got dumped during the Great CHR Purge of the early 80s, I thought it was the worst thing that ever happened to the station. And it took a l-o-n-g time for them to rebuild, but they did. The Second Coming of Bobby Rich had a lot to do with it, but I've got to give Gene Knight props too - he was one of the best MD/PDs this market's seen. When I was programming against him, I got frustrated no end by the fact that I couldn't outwit him by adding a record that was an obvious smash before he did - drove me nuts!
Having said that, I think that every success KFMB AM/FM have had over the last 20 years have been in SPITE of profound management indifference. Yeah, Paul Palmer wasn't great for the radio side, but he wasn't the only one. Let's look at the facts: Over 20 years, what was once the pre-eminent combo in the market has dwindled to barely getting enough shares to get ranked halfway down the page. The AM dismantled what was once a fantastic radio news department (remember Black Friday?), went from 24/7 live, local programming to 20 hours on the bird, lost the rights to air not one, but BOTH major sports franchises, and dumped several of the most recognizable personalities in the state.
The FM went from a live, active, community oriented station with heavy numbers in prime female demos to a mostly-automated mechanical hodgepodge whose mascot is a monkey. 'Nuff said.
I think that the problem with Midwest Television is right there in their name - they're TV guys. Radio? Who cares? Fire up the Enco and let it roll. The TV guys have always seriously underestimated the popularity of the stations and their roots in the community, and ultimately their disregard has turned the stations into shells of their former selves. And they won't mean a damn thing ever again - until someone else buys 'em.
Let the flames begin.
- Doc
Since we seem to have drifted from the original topic, let me drift a bit further.
The "Jeff 'n Jer" effect is interesting. It seems to be so strong that, as you say, PDs get lulled into complacency by the strong AM numbers, and then let the rest of the dayparts coast. That's sure what happened with Anita at 100.7 and virtually every other jock at Y-95. (I won't lump Greg and Jen in there because I thought they actually did make an effort to entertain, although the constant reliance on celebrity gossip wore thin - and is beginning to wear thin again. Jen, are you listening?)
But Bob seems to be trying hard to avoid that trap and build a full-fledged station at 94.1. Replacing voicetracks with a live midday and evening show was smart; dumping Duncan and Mel and bringing in no less than the format originator to program and anchor PM drive, pumping up promotions and imaging, re-branding the entire damn station... Well, they certainly get my vote for "most improved."
Now, my opinions on B-100 ;D
When the original Top 40 format got dumped during the Great CHR Purge of the early 80s, I thought it was the worst thing that ever happened to the station. And it took a l-o-n-g time for them to rebuild, but they did. The Second Coming of Bobby Rich had a lot to do with it, but I've got to give Gene Knight props too - he was one of the best MD/PDs this market's seen. When I was programming against him, I got frustrated no end by the fact that I couldn't outwit him by adding a record that was an obvious smash before he did - drove me nuts!
Having said that, I think that every success KFMB AM/FM have had over the last 20 years have been in SPITE of profound management indifference. Yeah, Paul Palmer wasn't great for the radio side, but he wasn't the only one. Let's look at the facts: Over 20 years, what was once the pre-eminent combo in the market has dwindled to barely getting enough shares to get ranked halfway down the page. The AM dismantled what was once a fantastic radio news department (remember Black Friday?), went from 24/7 live, local programming to 20 hours on the bird, lost the rights to air not one, but BOTH major sports franchises, and dumped several of the most recognizable personalities in the state.
The FM went from a live, active, community oriented station with heavy numbers in prime female demos to a mostly-automated mechanical hodgepodge whose mascot is a monkey. 'Nuff said.
I think that the problem with Midwest Television is right there in their name - they're TV guys. Radio? Who cares? Fire up the Enco and let it roll. The TV guys have always seriously underestimated the popularity of the stations and their roots in the community, and ultimately their disregard has turned the stations into shells of their former selves. And they won't mean a damn thing ever again - until someone else buys 'em.
Let the flames begin.
- Doc
B-100, whose net billing is more now than when it was a live, active, community oriented station with heavy numbers in prime female demos and an over-priced air-staff. ;D
Dr Wu- Again you looked at another angle of the history of that facility.
I remember one morning calling KFMB-FMs front desk in 1980 and asking "where's Shotgun Tom?" That was the end of its top 40 years. Soon after I started listening to 13K (KGB AM 1360) and Lander in the morning with Jeff Prescott doing news with his famous "Wha'haat" sound effect going along with it. I'm a bit too young for the KCBQ era, but old enough for B-100 Top 40.
But let's face it too, Top 40 goes through its cycles and that's why some stations change complete staffs and image and some hold on to heritage and transition with the times. Remember post B-100 as "Light Rock, Less Talk"? Just think in 2000 I helped with a Pop CHR launch in a small market and let's face it you had to play Britney, Christina, Boy Bands and at the time country acts like Faith Hill with Breath and Lonestart with Amazed were Pop CHR hits. Now Pop CHR is out.
The engergy of the time when Bobby Rich arrived and Gene taking over the music was really great timing of music and listeners aching for something. Top 40 of the time was really an easy cross over to a better than Light AC sound and related to the core 25-54 audience. Just think that was late 1983 into 1984ish? Madonna, Phil Collins and the like was relatable across a broad spectrum of a lot of women listeners. Now those listeners are 45+ and you find them at KYXY. Also the B Morning Zoo was really an active morning show. The whole station fit together through the dayparts.
Ahhh the good old days. However I'm an optimist, good managers and talent always will shine when the want to.
I remember one morning calling KFMB-FMs front desk in 1980 and asking "where's Shotgun Tom?" That was the end of its top 40 years. Soon after I started listening to 13K (KGB AM 1360) and Lander in the morning with Jeff Prescott doing news with his famous "Wha'haat" sound effect going along with it. I'm a bit too young for the KCBQ era, but old enough for B-100 Top 40.
But let's face it too, Top 40 goes through its cycles and that's why some stations change complete staffs and image and some hold on to heritage and transition with the times. Remember post B-100 as "Light Rock, Less Talk"? Just think in 2000 I helped with a Pop CHR launch in a small market and let's face it you had to play Britney, Christina, Boy Bands and at the time country acts like Faith Hill with Breath and Lonestart with Amazed were Pop CHR hits. Now Pop CHR is out.
The engergy of the time when Bobby Rich arrived and Gene taking over the music was really great timing of music and listeners aching for something. Top 40 of the time was really an easy cross over to a better than Light AC sound and related to the core 25-54 audience. Just think that was late 1983 into 1984ish? Madonna, Phil Collins and the like was relatable across a broad spectrum of a lot of women listeners. Now those listeners are 45+ and you find them at KYXY. Also the B Morning Zoo was really an active morning show. The whole station fit together through the dayparts.
Ahhh the good old days. However I'm an optimist, good managers and talent always will shine when the want to.
Snarkin USA said:
Of course the net billing is more. There's no staff to pay!
But I think all of us here know very well that sales people sell only if they want to. I worked at one station where qualitatives were through the roof - great listener base with upper incomes, passionate about the station, supported the advertisers... the salespeople didn't like the format so they just took orders for the talker AM, which was easier.
OTOH, I've known other stations with no numbers at all that billed majestically because the sales staff was talented and motivated. So I really don't think billing is the ultimate yardstick of success or failure.
- Doc
D
doublecashkgb
Guest
I know this thread is about B100, however I would like to address the KFMB-AM equation.
I find it hilarious that "Paul Palmer wasn't good for the radio side". Paul Palmer is the one individual that was directly responsible for the creation of B100, and re-made KFMB into the "Tiffany of San Diego radio". They out-billed everyone in the market due to Palmer's work going all the way back to the early 1970's. He mentored sales superstar John Lynch, who went on to start Noble Broadcasting.
Now I have never been a big fan of Midwest TV, or their strong anti-union tactics, but Palmer had the magic for several decades. He probably kept Mark Larsen as PD for too long at KFMB-AM, and Larsen was not even close to the reason for KFMB-AM's success. Hudson & Bauer, Padres, Bill Ballance and a great news and community image made KFMB unique. Larsen wasn't funny, and had become more of a conservative commentator not an afternoon entertainer. A little guy named Stairs was Operations Manager for a short time, then whatever happened after that was quite forgettable. The station still bills well, but its a shadow of it's former self. Some great people went throught KFMB, Jack Woods, Paul Menard (Charlie & Harrigan), Danny Davis, Clark Anthony, Bill Ballance, Perry Allen, Bobby Rich, Don Berns, Hudson & Bauer and others.
I find it hilarious that "Paul Palmer wasn't good for the radio side". Paul Palmer is the one individual that was directly responsible for the creation of B100, and re-made KFMB into the "Tiffany of San Diego radio". They out-billed everyone in the market due to Palmer's work going all the way back to the early 1970's. He mentored sales superstar John Lynch, who went on to start Noble Broadcasting.
Now I have never been a big fan of Midwest TV, or their strong anti-union tactics, but Palmer had the magic for several decades. He probably kept Mark Larsen as PD for too long at KFMB-AM, and Larsen was not even close to the reason for KFMB-AM's success. Hudson & Bauer, Padres, Bill Ballance and a great news and community image made KFMB unique. Larsen wasn't funny, and had become more of a conservative commentator not an afternoon entertainer. A little guy named Stairs was Operations Manager for a short time, then whatever happened after that was quite forgettable. The station still bills well, but its a shadow of it's former self. Some great people went throught KFMB, Jack Woods, Paul Menard (Charlie & Harrigan), Danny Davis, Clark Anthony, Bill Ballance, Perry Allen, Bobby Rich, Don Berns, Hudson & Bauer and others.
I'm going to strongly agree with the Paul Palmer sentiments here. Paul was a great radio GM that understood the programming and promotions were just as important as sales.
I do disagree with with thee sentiment about Mark Larson. I'm very biased because he is my first PD in my now long radio career. He's a smart broadcaster, he gets it, and in retrospect you can only do with what resources your owner gives you.
However I do need to remind everybody here that success in radio is like a very large onion and long term-strong stations really benefit from the right decisions at the right time. At the time of both B-100 and KFMB-AM drifting away in the early 90s, you can clearly blame the ownership. The studios were a dump, FM transmitter was elderly, promotions cut down to just sales events, and competition finally getting more strategic.
Again at the time, the San Diego's economy was really in the pits. Owners of homes were turning their keys in for their homes when their value drifted below their mortgage.
When a long term or short term radio leader make one misstep and the comptetition gang up on you, the whole game changes. There's a great quote from a respected GM I've worked with in the past that says "you cannot save your way to prosperity".
I do disagree with with thee sentiment about Mark Larson. I'm very biased because he is my first PD in my now long radio career. He's a smart broadcaster, he gets it, and in retrospect you can only do with what resources your owner gives you.
However I do need to remind everybody here that success in radio is like a very large onion and long term-strong stations really benefit from the right decisions at the right time. At the time of both B-100 and KFMB-AM drifting away in the early 90s, you can clearly blame the ownership. The studios were a dump, FM transmitter was elderly, promotions cut down to just sales events, and competition finally getting more strategic.
Again at the time, the San Diego's economy was really in the pits. Owners of homes were turning their keys in for their homes when their value drifted below their mortgage.
When a long term or short term radio leader make one misstep and the comptetition gang up on you, the whole game changes. There's a great quote from a respected GM I've worked with in the past that says "you cannot save your way to prosperity".
What was wrong with B100's transmitter?
On that note, I will also add that as I recall, B100 would miss out promotionally on many things that other stations in the market would do. I remember when MTV came to Pacific Beach for Spring break, every station was there exept B100. At the same time, there was Kyxy and Sunny 103-7, and you couldn't say that B100 was competition for either one of those either.
On that note, I will also add that as I recall, B100 would miss out promotionally on many things that other stations in the market would do. I remember when MTV came to Pacific Beach for Spring break, every station was there exept B100. At the same time, there was Kyxy and Sunny 103-7, and you couldn't say that B100 was competition for either one of those either.
From my memory of working there until 1994, the station rotated two RCA transmitters - one dating to the early 70s and the other early 80s of the same model. They were on a mid 80s exciter. Controlling modulation with the sub carriers through this older equipment was tough. That's why the station never really had a compeititve sound. In fact while there we were always comparing ourselves to KSON and Q-106 - they were louder.
I believe in 1998 or so, they purchased a new transmitter with a very modern exciter. Plus I believe the subcarriers went away. I'm an outsider with this so it may not be accurate.
To be completely blunt, it was really a disappointment when they rebuilt the studios after many of us left and during our tenure frequently said that much of the equipment needed to be replaced for many years.
On the AM side they built a new transmitter site in 1990, thanks to Highway 52 being punched through to Santee. That was also the same time they started receiving the higher power at night, 50kW.
I believe in 1998 or so, they purchased a new transmitter with a very modern exciter. Plus I believe the subcarriers went away. I'm an outsider with this so it may not be accurate.
To be completely blunt, it was really a disappointment when they rebuilt the studios after many of us left and during our tenure frequently said that much of the equipment needed to be replaced for many years.
On the AM side they built a new transmitter site in 1990, thanks to Highway 52 being punched through to Santee. That was also the same time they started receiving the higher power at night, 50kW.
syvjeff said:
Wow! This is very revealing!
I always thought that B100's sound was dryer and lower unpurpose, since it was an AC and not CHR.
Also, I know the sub carrer noise you are talking about, and I always figured it had somehting to do with their cart equipment. (There was always a mortized sound that was noticeable on certain songs).
That noise you were hearing was from the two subcarriers on the signal. If I remember correctly one was a Bonneville text service and the other was Cue Paging.
I was dating somebody who lived in North Park and remember hitting a certain spot on the drive to her house where the multipath would kick-in and and you would hear some of the digital noise from the subcarriers. That was even after the station upgraded to a new 8200 which improved the sound of the station somewhat.
Garrett - your remark about the cart machines is close. The machines ran Scotchcarts for music and Audiopaks for spots.
I was dating somebody who lived in North Park and remember hitting a certain spot on the drive to her house where the multipath would kick-in and and you would hear some of the digital noise from the subcarriers. That was even after the station upgraded to a new 8200 which improved the sound of the station somewhat.
Garrett - your remark about the cart machines is close. The machines ran Scotchcarts for music and Audiopaks for spots.
D
doublecashkgb
Guest
SYVJEFF: Without giving away your identity, can you mention what your position was?.
Did you work with Bill Stairs?
Did you work with Bill Stairs?
I don't use boards like this to hide my identity. I was known under a couple names: BWG, Boy With Glasses, Sherman, Sherm, and of course my real name Jeff Williams. I have not lived in San Diego now for over 7 years, but my time at KFMB and B-100 were very fun, painful, educational, emotional, etc. A great place to learn the radio business and it's a shame there are few places like that left.
I worked there from July 1986-July 1987, Summer of 1988, helped out New Years 1990 (the hangover, ugh) and came back in November of 1990 leaving in May of 1994. While I was gone between stints I went to college in Boston and worked at WRKO as a board op/producer.
I count myself lucky in working with great people like Paul Palmer, Mark Larson, Bobby Rich, Dave Sniff, Gene Knight, Tony Pepper, Shotgun Tom Kelly, Stacy Taylor and many many more who's names would fill pages. I did work with Bill Stairs too as his administraative assistant. He was a complex individual who was too smart for his own good and thus the reason his tenure was not very long. He's the one that gave me the philosophy that stations fail from within and not from competition. He was very right, but at the time one of the many from within. Ironically I recently caught up with him via e-mail and he's a drug rehab counselor.
My time with Tracy Johnson was short and because of my own youth and the timing in the building, I just couldn't stay there any longer. I don't know if we would have had any chemistry working together. But that's the business and I'm now doing what I love in radio - Director of Operations for Knight Broadcasting based in Santa Maria, CA.
I worked there from July 1986-July 1987, Summer of 1988, helped out New Years 1990 (the hangover, ugh) and came back in November of 1990 leaving in May of 1994. While I was gone between stints I went to college in Boston and worked at WRKO as a board op/producer.
I count myself lucky in working with great people like Paul Palmer, Mark Larson, Bobby Rich, Dave Sniff, Gene Knight, Tony Pepper, Shotgun Tom Kelly, Stacy Taylor and many many more who's names would fill pages. I did work with Bill Stairs too as his administraative assistant. He was a complex individual who was too smart for his own good and thus the reason his tenure was not very long. He's the one that gave me the philosophy that stations fail from within and not from competition. He was very right, but at the time one of the many from within. Ironically I recently caught up with him via e-mail and he's a drug rehab counselor.
My time with Tracy Johnson was short and because of my own youth and the timing in the building, I just couldn't stay there any longer. I don't know if we would have had any chemistry working together. But that's the business and I'm now doing what I love in radio - Director of Operations for Knight Broadcasting based in Santa Maria, CA.
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