The last time KABC had any relevancy was Ken-And-Bob-Co, and of course Michael Jackson. That was KABC's Golden Age.
I think the station was lead by Jim Simon, Wally Sherwyn, and George Greene at various times.
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Drew hayes out from KABC.
- Thread starter 34james
- Start date
I think the station was lead by Jim Simon, Wally Sherwyn, and George Greene at various times.
He's right about this:
Forcing radio to follow 20th century regulations is archaic. No other audio platform lives under such rules. The language rules, the ownership rules, and the payola rules are all archaic and are holding radio back from what it can be if it was unleashed. They should all either be abolished or at least loosened. There have been no real substantive changes in radio regulations in this century.
Forcing radio to follow 20th century regulations is archaic. No other audio platform lives under such rules. The language rules, the ownership rules, and the payola rules are all archaic and are holding radio back from what it can be if it was unleashed. They should all either be abolished or at least loosened. There have been no real substantive changes in radio regulations in this century.
This guy spends an entire career in AM radio, destroying at least one station completely, and now that he has been shown the door again, he regales us with his great insight and it is...that we allow rampant cussing on AM to make it relevant with the kids?
I am pretty sure the same language standards apply to FM as they do to AM and I am regularly informed on this site that FM radio is doing just fine thank you, so forgive me if I don't quite buy what he is selling.
It takes a lot to prove Cumulus and KABC management correct, but Drew just did it. I have seen better consulting advice on this very board (and that is not easy to pull off either!).
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They don't seem to be enforced when the language appears in recorded music.
Really? Radio stations have stopped playing "clean" versions?
It depends. They still do in country music. But I still hear Steve Miller sing about that funky s--- every time that song comes on.
Back in the hey-day of Top 40 in this town, every station played "The Ballad of John and Yoko" unedited except one: KGBS. They removed the word "Christ" from the lyric "Christ, you know it ain't easy" Not sure who owned (Storer?) or ran KGBS at that time.
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Although some Country stations are still afraid of a female singer, singing: "I kissed a girl".
Amazing. I am almost 100% certain that "Christ" is not one of George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV".
It certainly is not. I'm sure that they apparently thought some listeners would find it is somehow "sacriligious" therefore offensive.
Selective memory, Tomas. KHJ never played "The Ballad of John and Yoko" at all. KRLA did---unedited. The only remaining Top 40 of the time would have been KDAY, and I can't verify if they did or not.
The question beyond that is about the vastly reduced coverage areas of all AM stations in the world due to man-made noise created by new electronic and power devices. Using the ITU evaluation, AM stations need 15 mV/m of signal to overcome most interference.
By that standard, there are less than 200 AM stations in the top 100 markets that even cover 80% of their MSA with that signal strength, day and night. Some markets have no full coverage AMs, others have one or two. Only a couple. like NYC, Chicago, LA and San Francisco have two or more.
Add in the more recent restriction of AM bandwidth to 10 kHz at t he top end, and terrible radios, and you have bad sound and bad signals.
It does not matter how much the baker modifies the recipe if the oven is broken.
It was Storer.
The rules are not specific about which words would attract a fine.
However, the Bible has a line about taking the Lord's name in vain.
"Sexual and excretory" are in there somewhere, so "Christ" wouldn't qualify. But many people did find it offensive, and a lot of stations (again, including KHJ) didn't play "Ballad of John and Yoko", making it the lowest-peaking Beatles single (#8 in Billboard) since "Matchbox".
Michael, I meant to say "every station that played the song", not that every Top 40 station played it. I know for certain it was KGBS. because me and my schoolmates talked about it wondering why they were the only one doing it.
I do not recall KGBS being Top 40. Storer bought KPOP as a 5 kw limited daytimer around 1959 and then started the upgrades to 50 kw. For a while they were Beautiful Music, then country. They made the deal with Roswell and built them a 50 kw facility in exchange for allowing KGBS to go fulltime, at which point they became KTNQ.
Was there a period when KGBS was Top 40?
Yes. They ditched Country in March, 1969, telling Billboard that they intended to put themselves "in between" KHJ and KMPC. We didn't have the term "adult contemporary" yet.
A few airchecks survive, and while the jocks (Bob Hudson in mornings, Bill Ballance in middays, Dick Lyons afternoons, Roger Christian and Bobby Dale late nights) were looser than KHJ and KRLA, the music was all stuff you'd hear on Top 40, up to and including Led Zeppelin.
This was the format that they had when Ballance started doing "Feminine Forum" in '71. Somewhere in '70, Ron Landry took afternoons and then in '71, they paired him with Hudson in mornings. They never really softened the music much, and so, I'd agree with Tomas that they were actually a Top 40. That lasted until '74, when they tried talk for a year, and then went back to Country until the December 26, 1976 launch of KTNQ.
Adam Carolla isn't going back to broadcast - he just renewed his contract with PodcastOne or whatever it's called now. Though having a producer who could actually wrangle him would be better than having a bunch of lackey producers who work for him and thus will never tell him to move on or come up with new bits. I stopped listening to his podcast years ago, because he told the same stories and bits on it that I'd heard on Loveline and his morning show years ago. Loveline was the best format for him, because the callers and guests were a jumping off point for a funny joke or advice, versus him complaining about red left turn arrows, his dad not going to his Pop Warner football games, etc. The morning show was hamstrung by Jack Silver and having too many people as a part of it, including Danny Bonaduce.
Drew also neglects to mention that the safe harbor rule takes the wind out of his sails regarding expanding language on AM, and that if "the 7 dirty words" are ever allowed on AM, they'd be allowed on FM too, so it wouldn't really help AM.
Drew also neglects to mention that the safe harbor rule takes the wind out of his sails regarding expanding language on AM, and that if "the 7 dirty words" are ever allowed on AM, they'd be allowed on FM too, so it wouldn't really help AM.
At that point, their imaging statement was "Gentle Country".
Funny how at one point certain "feminist" groups found Bill Ballance's "Feminine Forum" show offensive. So the name was dropped but the content as I remember it was still the same. Presumably first amendment rights.
David, I believe they were still KGBS when they went went full time. But I could be wrong as I remember at about this time they had been simulcasting for some time on their FM (97.1)
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