D/FW September 1985 Audio

[txchipk]

Since someone posted playlists from 1985 for the top 40s around here, "let's go all the way" and go for the full experience.

I have a tape of scoped airchecks from a number of D/FW stations from around that time (24 years ago this week). Links below.

Somethings change -- no more KVIL-icopter, KVIL-ellow van, "People Choice Total," KEGL Black Thunder, Q cards, or "Triple Shot Thursdays." Sound Warehouse and The Dallas Times-Herald are long gone as well. Somethings remain the same -- the morning news updates feature a Dallas Cowboy was battling the law in September 1985. KEGL, KVIL, KLUV, and KKDA-FM still have the same calls they had back then.

I forgot KTXQ used to have a Sunday morning jazz show (which Redbeard teases here). KDLZ hadn't been KDLZ very long at this point; it changed calls from KNOK not too long before this. Z107 was urban, but played top 40 crossovers (Huey Lewis and Phil Collins here). KLUV was close to going all-oldies at this point; it was a gold-based AC still here. It's interesting to hear what was contemporary R&B before hip-hop on KKDA-FM.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/wrml8t
KTKS 106.1 Denton-Dallas-Ft Worth: top 40 "Kiss 106" 9/12/1985 Jim Zippo (approx 12 mins)
KAFM 92.5 Dallas-Ft Worth: top 40 "92 1/2 FM" 9/12/1985 Ryan West & Nancy Jay (7 mins)
KVIL 1150/103.7 Highland Park/Highland Park-Dallas-Ft Worth: AC 9/13/1985 Ron Chapman (16 mins)
KEGL 97.1 Ft Worth-Dallas: top 40-rock "All Hit 97.1 KEGL, the Eagle" 9/13/1985 Stevens & Pruett (16 mins)


http://www.sendspace.com/file/zi7z0j
KTXQ 102.1 Ft Worth-Dallas: AOR "Q102, Texas Best Rock" 9/12/1985 Redbeard (6 mins)
KZEW 97.9 Dallas-Ft Worth: AOR "the Zoo 98 KZEW" 9/12/1985 Morning Zoo (Rody & Labella) (13 mins)
KRQX 570 Dallas-Ft Worth: classic rock "K-Rocks" 9/12/1985 Randy Coffey (4 mins)
KKDA-FM 104.5 Dallas-Ft Worth: R&B "K104" 9/12/1985 Michael Hernandez (4 mins)
KDLZ 107.5 Ft Worth-Dallas: R&B/top 40 "Z107 KDLZ" 9/12/1985 Quinn Echols (?) (5 mins)
KAAM 1310 Dallad-Ft Worth: oldies "Rock & Roll Oldies 1310 K-Double A-M" 9/13/1985 Jim Thomas (6 mins)
KLUV 98.7 Dallas-Ft Worth: AC-oldies "K-Love" 9/12/1985 (5 mins) Paula Street

 

[CHRles]

Great stuff! Much appreciated.

 

[MikeShannon914]

VERY COOL!!! Thanks for doing that. Ya know, there's lots of treasures on the "California Aircheck" website (not sure if that's where these are from, but still) BUT they cost $$$. Nice snapshots of the good ol' days here and across the country, during nearly any given era back to the 80s.

So, was KVIL-AM already calling itself "KVIX"?

Randy Coffey...what a wonderful set of pipes and a great delivery. Coincidence that he's on this...he died FIVE years ago this week at 50 of a heart attack. Paula Street's been in Boston for years...seems like she departed KLUV along with Dave Van Dyke and Al Forguson and they all went to Boston radio (Eberhart knows the story; might have some of that mixed up.) Jim Thomas is still in the area, doing voicework. Just heard from him last week.

Jazz on Q-102...that would be the "Q-102 Jazz Brunch." Curiously, KDLZ was doing a "Sunday Jazz Brunch" and a "Jazz Brunch Plus" at the same time.

Any Delta 191 jokes on there? Five weeks' waiting period should have been WAY long enough for Stevens and Pruitt. What else from that month...Mexico City earthquake, the demise of "New Coke," KIKM-FM pops up at 96.7, and our buddy Josh Holstead started working at KDNT-AM in Denton.

 

[Steve Eberhart]

Paula and Al did not go to Boston until after DVD went there which was Summer-ish 1987. In 1985, KLUV was still AC with a heavy lean to Oldies...then a few months later we took it pure Oldies.
This tape would have been when our lineup was:
Kirk (something ? can't remember his last name - funny since he was PD too...yikes..)
Paula Street middays
Steve Eberhart afternoons
Al Forguson nites
Jason Walker late nite
Paul Medina overnites

After Kirk, the one and only Art Roberts of WLS fame was PD....then Chuck Brinkman.

 

[thunderradio]

Al Forguson: What a great guy. Former Air Force sgt, and cut his chops at KNTU at "NTSU" in the late 70's. Man could that guy drink and party. His downfall was a 2-3 pack a day cigarette habit. His heart attack took him away all too soon.

 

[Rock Chalk]

Steve....our PD in late 1985 and early '86 was Kirk Patrick Williams, but he dropped the "Williams" on-the-air. Kind of a strange dude, but a nice guy. Dave Van Dyke arrived in June 1986. He left KLUV in November 1987 and Al followed shortly after. Paula departed in February of 1988.
Al was such a great guy and goofy as hell. Once he got to Beantown, he constantly bombarded me with Red Sox calendars, programs, etc, knowing full well that I was (and still am) a huge NY Yankee fan. He even went out and bought me a Tee-shirt that said, "YANKEES SUCK." I promptly went out to old Arlington Stadium to the gift shop and bought a Red Sox shirt. Then I went up to KLUV and had someone take a picture as I cleaned the toilet with that shirt. Naturally, I mailed the photo to him. He loved it, calling me a few days later laughing his ass off. We were always trying to crack each other up! Al was just a great guy. Talented and funny. And of course, so was Hubcap. Paula was such a great talent in that mid-day slot. Steve, I don't think I ever heard you step on an intro when you bridged a record. If you did, it was rare. The late Paul Medina was also a great jock. Can't believe he's been gone now 15 years. I firmly believe that Dave made us all better jocks. God, his air-check sessions were great.

Jason Walker

 

[Nik]

I love this stuff! Keep it up! I was nowhere near this part of the country back then, but it's still great to hear the way it was.

Except for Zippo. Egads. I think I heard him syndicated on a Massachusetts station that carried D&M in the mid-nineties and was horrified then, too.

 

[Huff]

Ya know, there's lots of treasures on the "California Aircheck" website (not sure if that's where these are from, but still) BUT they cost $$$. Nice snapshots of the good ol' days here and across the country, during nearly any given era back to the 80s.

This audio actually originated as California Aircheck's Dallas Profile #S-66, which on the CD is listed as the "October 1985" issue. They sell CD copies for only $15, cassettes are $12.

There are at least half a dozen other profiles of the market available at their website dating back to January 1984:
http://www.californiaaircheck.com/market.htm#Market Profiles

 

[MikeShannon914]

Steve and Jason...who was the PD in early 1985? I was only there briefly but had a run-in almost immediately with the PD. The lineup then was Johnny Michaels mornings, Paula middays, Steve afternoons (with Paula Rice on news,) and Al evenings (taking over for Rob Rice/Wrinkle just days after I got there.) I don't remember who was doing overnights. I still have some of the ads and little promo pieces from there, along with the old "K-L-V-U" letterhead!

 

[Steve Eberhart]

Wow Jason, very impressive.... I only have a marginal memory of those dates...

Al was one of my all time favorite people, a good friend from our days together at KIKM in Sherman. I did afternoons, he did afternoon news and jocked at nite, and really did clean up at nite too. You wanna talk about budgets?! Al and I had a ton of fun in those afternoons...he'd bring in a slushy drink from Sonic every day for the both of us, spiked with somethin'-er-other....(allegedly)..Al went to Elkins and was taught by the one and only Mike Selden while there. He didn't get into radio until he was 28. I remember one day at KIKM the PD and I shared an office. I was MD. A package from Al came in with a tape and resume. The PD (Larry Richardson - Charlie Dumas) tossed the letter to me and said, "Steve, this is how you get a job.". It was this letter talking specifics about the station and what he liked and how much he wanted to work there etc...plus he grew up in Denison and was local.... They hired him that day. I still remember his wife calling me about his death when I was in Austin. I also remember telling him the smokes would kill him, sure enough, they did.

I went to KVIL and Al went to Magic. We played a trick one night when I was on KVIL late nite, he was on KMGC 102.9, and a mutual friend Mike Roberts was on KNUS 99. We all had the song "Betty Davis Eyes" on the playlist so we were all on the phone together talking and had this great idea...we all backtimed exactly and counted down to the mark and started that song at the same time on all three stations and then stood there and watched the phones light up..... "...hey did you know you guys and Magic AND K-News are ALL playing the exact same song at the exact same time??!". .... Really?! I had no idea!! It was beautiful.

Paula was and is such a sweetheart. I still talk to her every so often. Dave was my all time fav PD at KLUV....and interestingly Jason, he and I never had an aircheck session!
Art Roberts was fun to chat old WLS times with but while a great on air talent, I don't think Programming wasn't his biggest asset. One man's opinion. He was a great guy though.

As far as who was PD in early '85...It had to be that Kirk guy. Tom Bigby was PD and hired me in September 84...He had tried to get me to do mornings 6 months earlier but I didn't want to do mornings...He called back in the summer and asked about afternoons which I accepted. He was only there for a few months after I arrived and we have remained good friends...Rick Peters was the National PD for Tenaglia and that may be who you are talking about....He really was the one who was running the place then...I really liked Rick...he knew the gig and was respectful of talent. We still chat occasionally.

KLUV was one of my fav places to work, probably right after KVIL...but it was never the same for me after Dave left..............................

 

[Rock Chalk]

Steve and Mike....

PD at KLUV in early 85 was Johnny Michaels, tho Rick Peters pretty much called the shots. They hired me in February of '85. Line up then was...
AM Drive....Johnny
Middays.....Paula
PM Drive....Steve
Evenings....Al
Late nights...J.J. Stone
All-nights....Me

Gary Daniels was production director.

Later that year (1st of November) we dumped the AC and went Gold. Gary left and Al became full time production director and Hubcap moved from News to evenings. I moved to late nights and Paul Medina was hired for the overnight gig.
That lineup stayed the same until Kirk came in, but he stayed only briefly. As mentioned earlier, DVD arrived in June of 1986 and forever changed my way of thinking about radio. Steve??!!! How come you never had an air-check session with Dave?? I mean, I know you were good, but DVD was super. He had (has) this incredible ability to bring out the best in jocks. He never, ever brought me people down. If you were less than stellar in an air-check, his response was something like, "Well, that was ok, but here's how we're gonna make it much better." Then he would proceed to explain how to do it.

Ditto your thoughts on Art Roberts. As a kid in Kansas in the 1960's, I listened to Art at night on 'LS. And it is true, his programming abilities were not up to par with DVD. But then, who is? Still, I loved Art and enjoyed our bull sessions. I was in awe, listening to this legend talk about 'LS. He was a great jock.

Jason Walker

 

[Steve Eberhart]

Gary Hamilton...was the Morning Man at KLUV when I started, then he became Production Director. He was a former KLIF guy and longtime KIMN jock from Denver.
I remember listening one morning and hearing him do a talkover on Phil Collins "One More Night"............

 

[MikeShannon914]

Thanks for all the insight, guys! I'm betting Rick Peters was the guy. At Merchants Bank, if you're standing outside the control room in the corner, looking in the general direction of the Executive Club across the hall, you're in a fairly large room full of desks for traffic and continuity. Proceeding away from the control room, there was a copy room and the rack was in there, plus a window with an awesome view of Downtown. The next office was where this guy was located. At 6-6:30PM, he'd still be there most days, with some new jingle package cranked up to 100 db, containing gregarious-sounding "year shouts"---"NINEteen SIXty-FIVE!!!" etc, and similar spirited shouts of "Number 10!!" "Number 9!!", etc. Beyond his office, you had to turn left into a hallway where the albums and carts were stored. I asked Johnny Michaels about this once, and we figured out it probably wasn't Johnny. Not of great importance here, just think it'd be funny if the person I butted heads with is someone I call a friend today.

I still have those couple of "TK Communications" paystubs! I never saw Tenaglia but saw his nameplate on the door...couldn't help but think, WOW, that sure sounds like a mobster name!!