FM Radio-How did it rise?

[LKellerIII]

"This is pretty much the format Lund put on WGAR in Cleveland. It was later called chicken rock, due to its lack of continuity with MOR, because it was definitely not Top 40."

I've heard the term "chicken rock, but being a non-radio pro, was never sure what it referred to. Sounds like the 69 KGBS, though. "Modern MOR" is another term that's new to me, though it seems like some of the traditional MOR stations - like KMPC - went this direction in the mid 70s.

"It was Top 40 when it went fulltime as KTNQ, a station I am proud to have programmed for several years."

I'm proud for you - Ten Q was a great station. What was the line? "Ten Q"...."You're welcome"

 

[davideduardo]

"It was Top 40 when it went fulltime as KTNQ, a station I am proud to have programmed for several years."

I'm proud for you - Ten Q was a great station. What was the line? "Ten Q"...."You're welcome"

I was PD in its later talk era, mid-90's, which was a period when the station was Top 10 in LA most of the time. Previously, I had programmed KHJ.

 

[LKellerIII]

"I was PD in its later talk era, mid-90's, which was a period when the station was Top 10 in LA most of the time. Previously, I had programmed KHJ."

Well, I'm sure you should STILL be proud. I had left LA way before that time...and I don't speak Spanish in any case...something I am not proud of.

 

[ruger22com]

In short, in the late 60's and early 70's, FM started becoming the home for classical and beautifull music startions because of the QUALITY of the signal, and these formats sounded like crap on AM. also around 1968 a few brave souls let there FM's be programmed as progressive or "underground" rock stations. (which REALLY kicked off the popularity of FM and demise of "music" AM) Not just because of the superior quality of the signals, but because of the new wave of music that featured longer music cuts, where the AM radio mindset of programming made it impossible to play songs more than 3 minutes long.

In my hometown of Detroit, WABX-FM and WRIF-FM (Riff was an ABC Owned and Operated sister to WXZY-AM, and was started by format pioneer Dick Kernen who later left to help run the Spec's Howard School in Detroit) were the first two to run a progressive rock format,.

 

[flashback]

In short, in the late 60's and early 70's, FM started becoming the home for classical and beautifull music startions because of the QUALITY of the signal, and these formats sounded like crap on AM. also around 1968 a few brave souls let there FM's be programmed as progressive or "underground" rock stations. (which REALLY kicked off the popularity of FM and demise of "music" AM) Not just because of the superior quality of the signals, but because of the new wave of music that featured longer music cuts, where the AM radio mindset of programming made it impossible to play songs more than 3 minutes long.

In my hometown of Detroit, WABX-FM and WRIF-FM (Riff was an ABC Owned and Operated sister to WXZY-AM, and was started by format pioneer Dick Kernen who later left to help run the Spec's Howard School in Detroit) were the first two to run a progressive rock format,.

here in indianapolis it was WNAP that started playing progressive music in 1968 or 1969.

 

[DouglasB]

FM started to become the medium of choice by way of a number of factors. In no particular order:
1. The metro areas of cities began to out grow the limited night patterns of existing AM stations. FM could cover the whole metro and then some.
2. Stereo. FM had it, AM tried, it failed for a number of reasons.
3. Sonic Clarity, FM had it, AM didn’t. The AM loudness wars also hastened the change.
4. Development of better FM audio processing equipment. The Orban Optimod solved the challenge of efficient peak limiting and less than desirable audio artifacts created by previous stereo generators.
5. More and more new cars were equipped with AM/FM radios.
6. FM was seen by the audience and new, AM was not.
7. The emergence of album oriented programming on FM was seen as “cutting edge” while AM Top was seen by younger audiences as stale and un-hip.
I may have missed a few……but that should cover it….for now……

 

[davideduardo]

FM started to become the medium of choice by way of a number of factors. In no particular order:
1. The metro areas of cities began to out grow the limited night patterns of existing AM stations. FM could cover the whole metro and then some.
2. Stereo. FM had it, AM tried, it failed for a number of reasons.
3. Sonic Clarity, FM had it, AM didn’t. The AM loudness wars also hastened the change.
4. Development of better FM audio processing equipment. The Orban Optimod solved the challenge of efficient peak limiting and less than desirable audio artifacts created by previous stereo generators.
5. More and more new cars were equipped with AM/FM radios.
6. FM was seen by the audience and new, AM was not.
7. The emergence of album oriented programming on FM was seen as “cutting edge” while AM Top was seen by younger audiences as stale and un-hip.
I may have missed a few……but that should cover it….for now……

Good list and quite complete. Add the fact that FM in the very late 60's and 70's tended to have a lot less commercials, and those are compelling reasons for the abandonment of AM:

 

[LKellerIII]

"2. Stereo. FM had it, AM tried, it failed for a number of reasons.
3. Sonic Clarity, FM had it, AM didn’t. The AM loudness wars also hastened the change."

Not to encourage an AM stereo tangent to this thread, but I've read a lot of posts over the years regarding the failure of AM Stereo, usually accompanied by a lot of emotional hand-wringing, with supporters of this or that failed AM stereo technology blaming the other.

But it seems to me that Reason 2 was ultimately caused by Reason 3. That is, FM sound was clearly superior, stereo or not - so music on AM was destined to fade away as FM processing and signals improved, and more people purchased FM radios for their cars and homes. Low fidelity is still low fidelity, separate channels or not.

Growing up, my parents had a "state of the art" 50s era monaural "hi-fi"...banks of vacuum tubes and one HUGE speaker. But when my parents tuned into classical music on KFAC-FM, my 8 year old ears could clearly tell how superior the FM sound was.

 

[rickradio]

From David Eduardo:

Previously, I had programmed KHJ.

When did you program KHJ, David? Wasn't it actually "KKHJ?" I remember "KHJ" as a Spanish language-formatted station in the 90s (after "KRTH AM 930" crashed and burned as an oldies station), and its call letters were "KKHJ," but called itself "93 KHJ" because the owners had an appreciation for the heritage the station had. Thanks.

 

[amfmsw]

ruger22: not completely true. Hey Jude & MacArthur Park both went to #1 in 1968, both stretched over 7 minutes. With that said, the thinking of the time for AM Top 40 caused Phil Spector to purposely lie on the Righteous Brothers record label by printing the time of 2:59 (I believe). The ACTUAL length was 3:45...too long for airplay. By the time PD's and jocks (who had to backtime to hit Network News at the top of the hour) figured it out, the song "You've Lost That Lovin Feelin" was already a hit. I still have my DJ copy with the printed time crossed out and hand written in. Phil Spector may be screwy, but he's a genius.

 

[davideduardo]

From David Eduardo:

Previously, I had programmed KHJ.

When did you program KHJ, David? Wasn't it actually "KKHJ?" I remember "KHJ" as a Spanish language-formatted station in the 90s (after "KRTH AM 930" crashed and burned as an oldies station), and its call letters were "KKHJ," but called itself "93 KHJ" because the owners had an appreciation for the heritage the station had. Thanks.

Beasley bought the KRTH and KHJ pair in '88 from RKO, and sold the AM in October, 1989 (closing in early 1990) to Lenard Liberman. Beasley had changed the calls to KRTH (AM) and, thus, lost the heritage calles. When Liberman bought the station, he changed the calls to KKHJ for one reason only: so advertisers would identify the fact that there was Spanish language programming on a decent, full coverage signal advertisers and buyers knew.

A number of years later, the chief engineer suggested to Lenard that they make and end run at the FCC, which would not give three letter calls back except if the same licensee who had renounced them wanted them back. Using the ruse that the "KK" in KKHJ would be pronounced as "caca2 (excrement) in Spanish, they got the FCC to relicense KHJ. In fact, the station never used the calls in Spanish, and only once an hour in English in the legal ID. Nonetheless, it is now KHJ... but the sales value of the calls is pretty limited, and I really doubt the owner cares much for the heritage value since none of the listeners has the foggiest idea of what KHJ was.

The station never "called itself" KHJ when the calls were KKHJ nor does it use the calls of KHJ today outside of the English legal ID.

 

[LKellerIII]

"When did you program KHJ, David? Wasn't it actually "KKHJ?" I remember "KHJ" as a Spanish language-formatted station in the 90s (after "KRTH AM 930" crashed and burned as an oldies station), and its call letters were "KKHJ," but called itself "93 KHJ" because the owners had an appreciation for the heritage the station had."

While we baby boomers (and younger) associate the "heritage" KHJ call letters with the 60s and early 70s Boss Radio - there's an interesting story I've read...on Ron Jacobs website I believe. Jacobs was the first Boss Radio PD working under Bill Drake, and he seriously wanted to CHANGE the calls to something more modern and hip sounding. He associated "KHJ" with the sclerotic and low rated 'old-fogey' MOR format that Boss Radio was about to replace, not to mentioned RKO's low rated TV station - KHJ-TV9. Remember that this was a few years before radio stations started using clever call letter/frequency combos (i.e: K-101 or 10Q), and imaging names ("Wolf," "Eagle," etc.). Stations always used their call letters, unless the call letters formed a pronounceable word (i.e: "K-Day," and KRLA in the early 60s briefly and stupidly flirted with "Carla").

Apparently, the RKO suits DID have a sense of call letter heritage and turned Jacobs down flat. I suspect that Drake, for his part - didn't really want to change the calls - I don't think he ever did in other cities. He specialized in bringing "Boss" to formerly low rated AM stations, including those with existing 3 letter calls - KGW in Portland, and of course, one that sounded like the American name for the Soviet spy agency - KGB.

 

[billyg]

I was in high school in 1977-80 and car stereos really came of age during that time. It became very popular in my school to pull out the stock AM radio and install a good aftermarket stereo. I did a lot of installing Pioneer Supertuner decks and Jensen Tri-Axels during auto shop.

Better car stereos, better FM signals and don't forget Disco. I think that really killed Top 40. I was really sick of the Bee Gees by 1980. Teenagers and adults who wanted to rock had to go to FM by default.

And then around 1979-80 I remember lot of AM Top 40 stations started "mellowing out" to attract or keep more adults, a really big mistake in retrospect..

 

[jonbruce]

KLFM 105.5 Long Beach is generally regarded as the first stand alone FM Top 40 station in the united states. It was owned by Harriscope at the time which also owned UHF Ch.22 in L.A. and KKAR 1220 Pomona, along with "FM and Fine Arts Magazine". The facility signed on in 1961. I was there in 1965. A couple of music surveys from the station have been posted recently. The Top 40 format was dropped in 1966 and the call letters changed to KNAC (now KBUE). Briefly in 1965 KFSV 106.3 in San Fernando was also top 40. That station went broke and the allocation was deleted. Also of note was KYMS 106.3 Santa Ana which was top 40 for a time in 1968-69 before going AOR.

 

[RicoGregg]

KLFM 105.5 Long Beach is generally regarded as the first stand alone FM Top 40 station in the united states. It was owned by Harriscope at the time which also owned UHF Ch.22 in L.A. and KKAR 1220 Pomona, along with "FM and Fine Arts Magazine". The facility signed on in 1961. I was there in 1965. A couple of music surveys from the station have been posted recently. The Top 40 format was dropped in 1966 and the call letters changed to KNAC (now KBUE). Briefly in 1965 KFSV 106.3 in San Fernando was also top 40. That station went broke and the allocation was deleted. Also of note was KYMS 106.3 Santa Ana which was top 40 for a time in 1968-69 before going AOR.

I remember KYMS during its' AOR era. A few guys from KPRI in San Diego went to work there.

I loved the title of the printed survey that they had distributed throughout OC:

KYMShitlist.

I hope the software filters let that one through. :-\