I have seen the figure "37% of all radios" in a couple different places re: KJR in the early-mid 60s, but legitimate numbers that can be corroborated are tough to find.
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Early Rating Report & A Mystery!
- Thread starter davideduardo
- Start date
The real reason KJR was successful in the 60’s was three fold. First, nobody was doing top 40 at the time. Those who tried were not noticed. KOL tried to compete. Then KING AM tried but came up short. Because KING tried to be the “more music” station with less talk. KJR continued to dominate with their personalities but by the late 70’s KING had problems. But by the early 80’s the gig was over. KING went to news talk and KJR went to oldies.
Theoretically you could have a directional scanning antenna.
However, I imagine a scanning antenna that would work at Mediumwave would not fit in a mobile system.
A metered radio showing signal strength, dial position and a little box loop are all you need. Just stop every few homes, aim to the upper and lower left and upper and lower right and you have homes. Move on.
A tiny loop on a rotating base is adequate. Instead of going door to door with a questionnaire, you find the IF derived frequency with no time wasted convincing the person-behind-the-door to respond.
But you left out one major turning point: Music listeners were migrating to FM in large numbers in the 70's. By the time the 80's rolled around, hits and rock departing made AM a musical ghost town. The last music listeners standing on AM were oldsters, which even back then, advertisers weren't particularly interested in reaching.
Besides actual stereo and superior audio quality, FM stations generally had less talk around the music. That listener trend continues today..
This is an interesting thread. As for it drifting off topic, compared to some this thread has stayed relatively on topic. If it say veers off into I don't know, how the modern era of streaming compares to the transition from AM to FM, then we're talking a thread that has drifted off topic.
Back to the ratings discussion, I saw somewhere that KISN in Portland at one point held 86% of the audience. Were they really that dominant, or is this a similar situation, where that 86% actually translates to a 15 or 20 share? I would find that more believeable, as a 20 share isn't out of the realm of possibilities even now around Christmas time.
Back to the ratings discussion, I saw somewhere that KISN in Portland at one point held 86% of the audience. Were they really that dominant, or is this a similar situation, where that 86% actually translates to a 15 or 20 share? I would find that more believeable, as a 20 share isn't out of the realm of possibilities even now around Christmas time.
Yes, you and I were right in the middle of it in circa 1980. KING was on its last legs around 1979, still trying to run a top40 format. I remember playing Foreigner “Double Vision” in late ‘79. The new year brought “soft rock and more” whatever that meant. Lasted a couple of years but eventually became a news talk station.
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Today it is conservative talk. Very much tuned in to the tiny audience in liberal Seattle. Good luck!
Your timeline is a bit off for the arrival of FM Top 40's arrival in Seattle, which came to Seattle on "The FM KVI" in late 1976. This is the station that became KPLZ ("K-Plus 101") a couple years later. KYYX came on with it's automated format just a few months later, in early 1977. KUBE came on (originally as "The New 93" before they were able to get the KUBE call letters) in early 1981.
In Tacoma, KNBQ evolved from an automated adult contemporary format into an automated Top 40 format around the same time as KYYX came on, but the signal did not reach past Pierce County at the time.
Yes, I stand corrected on the timeline. The decades tend to blend together as one gets older!
What station is Sky Walker on? How about Dan Foley? Where is Andy Barber? Where is my Metamucil?
For years he was middays on Jones Radio Networks, later became Westwood One.
When Dan left KING, he opened his own accounting business.
Last I heard, Andy was working AM drive at WBEZ-FM Tulsa.
Medicine Cabinet right next to your Polident tablets.
KNBQ was very audible in South King County in the early 1980s. In stereo, too.
It better have. The transmitter site was right at the border of King and Pierce County.
When I was at UW 1963-65, there was a talk show with host "Fenwick" and I believe it was on KOL. Six years later I was hired as Chief Engineer of KOL, which by that time had solidified as a KJR competitor, with Lan Roberts, Robert O. Smith, Bobby Simon, and others, and the FM was underground rock with Chambliss, Maxanne Sartori, etc.
Does anyone remember or know when the Fenwick talk show ended?
Does anyone remember or know when the Fenwick talk show ended?
You are apparently older than me, so I can’t answer your question. With every passing year these questions are harder to solve, but I will say talk radio was definitely in existence in Seattle in the 60’s and 70’s.
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Might also have been Irving Clark on KING 1090.
Anyone remember KTW? One of the early talk stations in the 70’s. Aaron Brown started there later landing anchor jobs for KING TV, KIRO TV. and CNN.
There's an engineer in Bullhead City, AZ that has something VERY similar. He gave me a quick glance of it once.
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