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Broadcasters Yearbooks

M

Media Mogul

There was an engineer in the Russellville area that recently had an estate sale.... My friend Tom Kamerling bought out his entire collection of Broadcasting and Cable Yearbooks. I already had 1957, 1968-70 and 1993. I now have 1975-1984, and reading who was where and who owned what and what the formats and frequency changes are is really interesting!

So if you ever had a radio history question... I bet we can now find the answer! Just e-mail me at [email protected] and I'll look up anything you were wondering about. Pretty cool stuff for junkies like me!
 
I have a question about Arkansas broadcasting history...

What year did the stars align and bring one Media Mogul into the world of broadcasting and how did he get his start...

On a more serious note, we lost another great broadcaster this week. Former ABA President and long time KELD broadcaster Jermoe Orr passed away this week. Jerome managed stations in Longview, Texas; Hobbs, NM; Midland/Odessa; as well as El Dorado for Noalmark.

Jerome is survived by his wife Margie, his daughter Dr. Kimberly Orr of Washington, D.C.; and Paul Jerome Orr of Tyler, Texas.

My question is what year was Jerome the President of the ABA? If that's in your book I would love to have a copy...
 
In 1977, Jerome Orr is listed as Vice President/General Manager of KELD 1400 AM and KEZU 103.1 FM in El Dorado. It does list associations by state, but for some reason Arkansas' listing only lists Pat Wilcox as executive director. I can't find Jerome in the '84 edition, but you'll be interested to know that Bob Parks is listed as ABA President in that one. (So Sandy... it is somewhat wierd to actually see in print that KIX 103 was a 3kw FM pumping out of all things, beautiful music!)

By the 1987 edition, Jerome is at Noalmark's KOCA in Kilgore/Longview.

From a historical perspective, you can really see how Noalmark was able to take some mediocre stations and make them into some big-time powerhouses... at the times these yearbooks were printed, the company FMs looked like this (minus the Hobbs, NM cluster)...

El Dorado - KEZU 103.1 FM @ 3kw
Hot Springs - KLAZ 106.3 FM @ 310 watts
Longview - KKTX 95.9 FM @ 3kw
Fayetteville - KKIX 103.9 FM @ 3kw

Now you've got...

El Dorado - KIXB 103.3 FM @ 100kw
Hot Springs - KLAZ 105.9 FM @ 100kw
Longview - KKTX 96.1 FM @ 100kw (Now w/ Clear Channel)
Fayetteville - KKIX 103.9 FM @ 100kw (Now w/ Clear Channel)

I don't know who their consulting engineer was, but he was pretty good!!! And that doesn't even cover the business side of the success the company has seen over the years. By hiring people like Jerome Orr, the company was able to bring unmeasured success that is still seen today. Just look at KIX 104 in Fayetteville... when they got it, it was playing elevator music out of the back side of a gas station somewhere.

These yearbooks may not seem like much... but they tell some great stories when you read between the lines and connect the dots on some things. Just today I was able to help a guy in Kansas City who saw this post get answers to a question about his station that not even FCC records could reveal. The history of this business is fascinating when you talk to people about where they've been and who they've crossed paths with. And the stories of the decisions that were made on a whim twenty years ago like changing some little FM station down the street from the U of A to country and today it continues to get 12 and 15 shares....

And this post has stated that I am clearly one step away from wearing a pocket protector. I am resigned to the fact that I have no life outside of the radio business and sports play-by-play!! :)
 
You know, Mogul, it's funny how many powerhouse country stations, especially in small and medium markets, started out doing beautiful music. KIXB and KKIX started out doing beautiful music. I seem to remember KKYR 102.5 in Texarkana was beautiful music as KOSY-FM until 1989. WGKX in Memphis was beautiful music as WEZI for quite some time, too.
 
Grant.. don't feel bad, I don't feel like I have much of a lif eoutside raido(and probably don't really).. you're at least 1 step further away from wearing a pocket protector as me, since you have one other interest/talent... sports pbp, and I don't.. lol
 
Kent said:
You know, Mogul, it's funny how many powerhouse country stations, especially in small and medium markets, started out doing beautiful music. KIXB and KKIX started out doing beautiful music. I seem to remember KKYR 102.5 in Texarkana was beautiful music as KOSY-FM until 1989. WGKX in Memphis was beautiful music as WEZI for quite some time, too.
Click to expand...


Ahh, yes..."W-E-Z-I...Queasy...FM 106"

How anyone ever listened to that stuff I'll never know..

/ still waiting for the Muzak version of "Cat Scratch Fever"
 
radiosaur said:
Kent said:
You know, Mogul, it's funny how many powerhouse country stations, especially in small and medium markets, started out doing beautiful music. KIXB and KKIX started out doing beautiful music. I seem to remember KKYR 102.5 in Texarkana was beautiful music as KOSY-FM until 1989. WGKX in Memphis was beautiful music as WEZI for quite some time, too.
Click to expand...


Ahh, yes..."W-E-Z-I...Queasy...FM 106"

How anyone ever listened to that stuff I'll never know..

/ still waiting for the Muzak version of "Cat Scratch Fever"
Click to expand...


Man you aren't kidding about the number of stations that did Beautiful Music on FM before they figured out country was the way to go.... You can add KMAG in Fort Smith... KTEX in Brownsville... a couple of others to the list.

If you ever want to hear something pretty funny... go to Reelradio and find the aircheck of Larry Lujack doing Beautiful Music the day after they flipped the format on WCFL. It's actully pretty funny...

I actually heard a Musak version of "My Sharona" at Fulin Restaurant.
 
Media Mogul said:
Man you aren't kidding about the number of stations that did Beautiful Music on FM before they figured out country was the way to go.... You can add KMAG in Fort Smith... KTEX in Brownsville... a couple of others to the list.
Click to expand...

You know, I was thinking I heard beautiful music on KMAG at one time. However, I wasn't entirely sure. Of course, the station where I first got started as an intern, KWEN Tulsa, was beautiful music when I moved to Tulsa in 1977 but was country by the time I interned there in 1992!
 
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