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February 1978 Review of Local Radio - Cordova High School

E

Earthradio Lives

Here's an interesting PDF item I found a few minutes ago. Someone was kind enough to save an article from a local high school newspauer, critiquing local Sacramento Radio, circa Winter 1978.

http://cordovahighclassof79.com/pdf/freelancer/vol5-no7-02141978.pdf

The advertisments and other articles are equally memorable.

I am especially proud of KSFM, Earthradio 102's fine critique. I wish the author mentioned their great playlist.........Enjoy, and get a little teary-eyed nostalgic, if you are 45 or over!!
 
(KXOA seems) to be hurting for something to be aired on Sunday mornings, because from 9 to noon, they air the full three hours of Kasey Kasem's Watermark Incorporated American Top 40.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that lousy program seemed to be used as filler by a lot of stations that simply couldn't find decent programming on Sunday mornings...

There is a saving grace to this sad tale (about KRAK). Lester Holt, class of '77, is there, and he manages to save his program director from total mediocrity.
Click to expand...

Yeah, right, Nostradamus. And what has Lester done since then, huh? A whole lotta nothing, I'm guessing...
 
Earthradio Lives said:
Here's an interesting PDF item I found a few minutes ago. Someone was kind enough to save an article from a local high school newspauer, critiquing local Sacramento Radio, circa Winter 1978.

http://cordovahighclassof79.com/pdf/freelancer/vol5-no7-02141978.pdf

The advertisments and other articles are equally memorable.

I am especially proud of KSFM, Earthradio 102's fine critique. I wish the author mentioned their great playlist.........Enjoy, and get a little teary-eyed nostalgic, if you are 45 or over!!
Click to expand...
Excellent Article! i am curious, What other radio stations were part of the Earth Radio Network other than KSFM?
 
There really wasn't an Earthradio network, and KSFM did not promote itself as being on any network. However, they did run a daily block of news from 9:20 to 10:00 AM known as "Earth News." Part of the daily news included a nationally-syndicated short presentation called "Earth News," hosted by Lew Erwin.

There was an "Earth Radio 101" in Stockton/Tracy on KSRT (100.9). KSRT ran a Progressive Rock format similar to KSFM.

KSJO in San Jose was known as "Earth Rock 92," when it returned to Progressive Rock in June 1975, after a ten month disasterous experiment with Top 40 hits.

KXOA-FM ran a Progressive Rock format from August 1972 through February 1973, and was known as "Earth Rock 108." KSFM went from Easy Listening to Progressive Rock in April 1974 and was initially known as "Earth Rock 102." However, the owners of KXOA-FM attempted to sue the owners of KSFM for using the "Earth Rock" name, so KSFM became "Earthradio 102" after about three months of being a Progresive Rocker.

There was also a station in the Boston/Cambridge area in the late 1970s that went by the name Earthradio. It was a folk-rocker on AM known as WCAS.

So, there was no real Earthradio network per se. I think one has to consider the source of the article. It was part of a high school newspaper, and was an opinion piece. It was very amusing and did bring back a lot of memories of radio past.
 
Thanks Earthradiolives! By chance, are there any KSFM Earthradio airchecks around online? I checked out California airchecks but they only have KSFM airchecks when they were Top 40 in the 80's. I'd like to hear what they sound like?
 
I've been searching everyday for the past 13 years for a KSFM Earthradio 102 aircheck on the internet, and have only found one.

If you are a contributing/donating member to Reelradio ($12.00/yr), you can hear a 30 second snippet of Earthradio 102 by clicking on the link below and scrolling down to "California Radio - Summer 1977" On Greg Barman's Collection:

http://www.reelradio.com/gb/index.html

It captures the essence of a typical stop set and commercial break on KSFM. Laid-back air talent is giving a weather report (it was either a weekend shift or someone not regularly on the airstaff filling in for someone on a weekday afternoon). It was 104 degrees outside the studio and the expected high was 108 degrees.

My biggest regret was not taping any Earthradio. All I had back in the day was an eight-track recorder. If anyone knows of any airchecks that are available, by all means, let Madmansam and I know about it!!!
 
Interesting reviews, but not unexpected from a high school reviewer. Obviously not a Top 40 fan. KNDE was struggling at that point and KROY, while he may have found stale, was the number one contemporary station at the then. KRAK was a pretty highly rated station as well. But I wouldn't expect someone of that young age knowing much about how and why stations like KROY and KNDE were programmed. He obviously liked KSFM and why not? Earthradio was THE rock station for those who cared little for Top 40 and enjoyed true Rock variety. I did find his thoughts about KZAP to be strange. At that point in time KZAP had not yet been sold to Western Cities and was still a loosely programmed progressive rocker(Rock with a touch of Jazz)where jocks were still picking a lot of their own records. In early 79 they became a Superstars formatted station and the repetition increased greatly. KROI was automated, a point he doesn't seem aware of.

The only Lester Holt I know of is an NBC news anchor. Don't recall a full-timer at KRAK by that name. Perhaps he was an acquaintance of the author?
 
Bryan Simmons said:
The only Lester Holt I know of is an NBC news anchor. Don't recall a full-timer at KRAK by that name. Perhaps he was an acquaintance of the author?
Click to expand...

From Wik-O-Pedia:

Lester Holt (born March 8, 1959) is an American news journalist who anchors the weekend editions of NBC's Today and Nightly News. ... Holt graduated from Cordova High School, Rancho Cordova, California, in 1977, and holds a degree in government from California State University in Sacramento.

So now you know...
 
BossRadioDJ said:
Bryan Simmons said:
The only Lester Holt I know of is an NBC news anchor. Don't recall a full-timer at KRAK by that name. Perhaps he was an acquaintance of the author?
Click to expand...

From Wik-O-Pedia:

Lester Holt (born March 8, 1959) is an American news journalist who anchors the weekend editions of NBC's Today and Nightly News. ... Holt graduated from Cordova High School, Rancho Cordova, California, in 1977, and holds a degree in government from California State University in Sacramento.

So now you know...
Click to expand...

One in the same. At that age he had to be weekends at KRAK. Good for him, he really made it and there is a Cordova High connection. Still can't recall hearing him on 1140 though, but I was never the biggest Country Music fan. The only time I listened for any length of time was in the car with my dad or when my high school radio teacher was on the air there.
 
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