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Call letter changes

And prior to KLEF it was KARO from 1960 to 1964, although I'm not sure it was on the air continuously for that whole time. The owners were absentee I think.
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Did KARO ever exist on the air? I've seen it listed in old White's Radio Logs from the early 60's, but a gotcha with WRL was that it would often list stations that were still in the construction permit stage and not yet on the air. Many such facilities never actually made it on the air, or were born under different call signs.

I recall other sources such as 100000watts.com listing the 94.5 license going back to November 1964 (KLEF>KJYY>KLDE>KTBZ) so either KARO never made it on the air, or was a completely different license that went out of business, opening up the frequency to a different applicant that would become KLEF.

Anyone know for sure? The history of FM often becomes rather murky once you go back more than 40 years.
 
With regard to KODA perhaps the owners didn't want to alienate all their loyal listeners by saying 'hey look, we're something completely different now so get lost :). I think the transition in terms of music was actually gradual, not an overnight thing
Click to expand...

Although KODA is today completely different compared to the elevator music it ran 20 years ago, there was never an outright format change. Soft vocals were slowly added, then more upbeat stuff, the instrumentals were slowly phased out, the music and presentation became more contemporary, and eventually was energized up to the current version of the Sunny format--all an evolutionary process over many years...and it appears to have worked, the latest book not withstanding.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
And prior to KLEF it was KARO from 1960 to 1964, although I'm not sure it was on the air continuously for that whole time. The owners were absentee I think.
Click to expand...

Did KARO ever exist on the air? I've seen it listed in old White's Radio Logs from the early 60's, but a gotcha with WRL was that it would often list stations that were still in the construction permit stage and not yet on the air. Many such facilities never actually made it on the air, or were born under different call signs.

I recall other sources such as 100000watts.com listing the 94.5 license going back to November 1964 (KLEF>KJYY>KLDE>KTBZ) so either KARO never made it on the air, or was a completely different license that went out of business, opening up the frequency to a different applicant that would become KLEF.

Anyone know for sure? The history of FM often becomes rather murky once you go back more than 40 years.
Click to expand...
Yes, it made it on the air. I heard it, stumbling across it by accident while tuning the dial. A hallmark in the early days was a very noisy studio; there was a fan or air conditioner somewhere near the mike and anytime the mike was keyed, you could hear the roar. Sometimes the jock would key the mike before a song ended and you knew a break was coming up.

Studios were in the American Investors Building at 600 Fannin and the transmitter was atop the building. A business directory from that era gave a San Diego address for the owner/manager. If you look at old radio listings in the Houston papers from that era, KARO was missing many times, including for some time leading up to the launch of KLEF, but that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't on the air any more than being listed meant the station was on the air.

Maybe somebody knows --- I think those listings were the responsibility of the stations to turn in to the papers. If none were submitted, there was nothing to print, but something might appear in the paper anyway, based on previous listings, if the paper had space to fill.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
With regard to KODA perhaps the owners didn't want to alienate all their loyal listeners by saying 'hey look, we're something completely different now so get lost :). I think the transition in terms of music was actually gradual, not an overnight thing
Click to expand...

Although KODA is today completely different compared to the elevator music it ran 20 years ago, there was never an outright format change. Soft vocals were slowly added, then more upbeat stuff, the instrumentals were slowly phased out, the music and presentation became more contemporary, and eventually was energized up to the current version of the Sunny format--all an evolutionary process over many years...and it appears to have worked, the latest book not withstanding.
Click to expand...
That's the way I remember it but I didn't listen very much. The transition took a decade or more and was pretty much necessary. Not only was the audience dying but most of the artists who produced the music for the older format were also 6 feet under and not releasing many new recordings.

Remember when KODA picked up the Oilers?
 
Does anyoen know what the reson for KLTE becomming K-HITS
 
Jeff Rivers said:
Does anyoen know what the reson for KLTE becomming K-HITS
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It was KLDE, and there was never a callsign change. So... I don't see how this post has anything to do with this thread. But... the baby boomers that are listening to the station don't like to be called old. And the music really is timeless HITS..... K-Hits.
 
Chuck Tiller said:
How young are you?
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I'm not saying you're "old". I'm just saying, exactly my point... the generation does not like being called "old",a and the music is infact Timeless "Hits". I'm not quite old enough to remember Elvis' death, but old enough to remember the end of Z107.5. ;D
 
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