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Found aircheck: Steve Marshall, KNX-FM, July 26, 1974

Chad-Stevens said:
Bob Purse found it and digitized it. I had nothing to do with it. A great 85 minute aircheck. There's several tape splices but overall, a great aircheck! Album-Oriented AC is what I might call it.
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Thanks for this! KNX-FM was very popular from about this point until 1980 or so (the ratings peak came in 1976). They launched this approach in 1973 and they were very AC-leaning early on. It evolved to being more album than AC (Radio & Records considered them "mellow AOR").
 
ted chittenden said:
After KBBC-FM ditched top-40 (late 1976, I think), the Phoenix outlet at 98.7 mHz sounded much like KNX-FM's 1976 incarnation until 1982 when it became KKLT. Thanks for the find!
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Steve Marshall began syndicating the KNX-FM format to markets around the country as Windchime Productions. KFYE-FM in Fresno also ran it.

This issue of Broadcast Programming and Production does a pretty good deep dive into the format, which by 1977, TM Productions in Dallas had jumped into with its "Beautiful Rock" format (interview begins on page 6):

There is also a part two that follows immediately, with profiles of four stations doing "mellow rock", including KNX-FM.

 
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ted chittenden said:
Also, Soma FM has tried to recreate the KNX-FM sound (without the disc jockeys) on its Left Coast Channel available on the Internet.
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The true online descendant of KNX-FM is TheMellowSound.net, which was founded and still run by people involved with KNX-FM back in the day. It ran for several years as "KNX-FM" until Audacy put KNX on FM in December of 2021.

The Mellow Sound

themellowsound.net themellowsound.net
 
ted chittenden said:
Also, Soma FM has tried to recreate the KNX-FM sound (without the disc jockeys) on its Left Coast Channel available on the Internet.
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Both The Mellow Sound and Soma FM's "Left Coast 70s" are great re-creations of this format. Another is a tribute station created by Nick Archer to Nashville's WSM-FM, known as 'SM-95' from 1976-83: SM95 The Music FM - Free Internet Radio - Live365

As to the original topic, thank you for letting me know about this.
 
I spent an hour with TheMellowSound just now. Really enjoyable. Reminds me of a few attempts at mellow rock (or soft rock, whatever label a station gave it) in NYC in the 70s. WKTU pre-disco, or WTFM post-beautiful music, or WYNY post-NBC NIS. Unfortunately none of them lasted as long as Steve Marshall's KNX-FM, or seemed to have the concept and the music mix together as well.

Speaking of Steve Marshall, nowhere in here has anyone pointed out that he segued from KNX to writing and producing first-run episodes of WKRP In Cincinnati. Yup, same guy. (Side question for anyone who might know: is he still with us, or did he pass away?)
 
michael hagerty said:
Steve Marshall began syndicating the KNX-FM format to markets around the country as Windchime Productions. KFYE-FM in Fresno also ran it.

This issue of Broadcast Programming and Production does a pretty good deep dive into the format, which by 1977, TM Productions in Dallas had jumped into with its "Beautiful Rock" format (interview begins on page 6):

There is also a part two that follows immediately, with profiles of four stations doing "mellow rock", including KNX-FM.

Click to expand...
The Windchime Productions format made its way to St. Louis, when KCFM adopted that format in early 1978. By the summer, that station's programming was live and local.
 
Weiserguy said:
Speaking of Steve Marshall, nowhere in here has anyone pointed out that he segued from KNX to writing and producing first-run episodes of WKRP In Cincinnati. Yup, same guy. (Side question for anyone who might know: is he still with us, or did he pass away?)
Click to expand...

The most recent thing I can find from Steve is a comment on a Saturday Evening Post thread about soft rock from 3 1/2 years ago:

www.saturdayeveningpost.com

When Soft Rock Reigned | The Saturday Evening Post

In the time between the British Invasion and the rise of MTV, American music took a turn for the mellow.
www.saturdayeveningpost.com www.saturdayeveningpost.com

Steve says his voice is among those heard on The Mellow Sound.
 
michael hagerty said:
Brain cramp above— I meant KFIG-FM in Fresno, not KFYE-FM.
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Mike, you might be remembering that KFYE did its own quasi-mellow rock format on its own in the mid- to late-70s. I remember visiting them once during that period and they had something like six Scully machines, three carousels, and even an old Schafer Spotter (!).

IIRC, they were in the Del Webb Town Center, which also housed KFIG and KARM on other floors.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Mike, you might be remembering that KFYE did its own quasi-mellow rock format on its own in the mid- to late-70s. I remember visiting them once during that period and they had something like six Scully machines, three carousels, and even an old Schafer Spotter (!).

IIRC, they were in the Del Webb Town Center, which also housed KFIG and KARM on other floors.
Click to expand...

That's probably it.
 


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