Four Old-Time Stations I Miss Today

[HenryOchs]

Here are the four old-time radio stations I miss today and would love to see make
a comback:

1. KLOK-FM: I would love to see this interesting radio station comeback with the "Yes/No" format,
but this time, with more current tunes.

2. KABL: I would love to see a radio station re-emerge with the legendary KABL call letters,
only this time, as a true rock oldies station.

3. KOBY: If CHR were to return to this market, I would love to see it come back with the KOBY
call letters!!!!!


4. KFMR: Good Country Oldies format which my father would love to see make a comeback in this
market, this time with the KFMR call letters (FM 104!)

That's mine, what's yours!!!!!

 

[tripton99]

You are not much of a dreamer. Those are not exactly memorable stations in our rich broadcasting history.
Why not wish for KSAN from the '70s and KSFO from the '60s and KFRC from the '80s? Those are Hall of Fame stations.

You yearn for a set of call letters like KOBY? I grew up on that station back in the '50s, but it was all we kids had.
You yearn for Yes/No radio, a completely contrived format that was suspiciously corruptible and just a gimmick anyway.

You yearn for KABL, a mind-numbing beautiful music station with one morning show personality and the rest a lush wall-to-wall format that commanding nothing more than background listening. Besides Bill Moen, can you remember anything except the cable car sounder?

And I will show my general ignorance here. I've lived and worked in the Bay Area all my life and I've never heard of KFMR.

Good gosh. Aim high next time!!1

 

[LKellerIII]

"KFMR: Good Country Oldies format which my father would love to see make a comeback in this
market, this time with the KFMR call letters (FM 104!)"

FYI Hank: I guess it won't help your call letter nostalgia, but you and your Dad can find country oldies on The Wolf HD2 - commercial free...for now anyway. Also 50s-60s rock Oldies on KOIT HD2. The formats you yearn for are too marginal to make money on the regular FM dial, but they can afford to experiment with the HD2 channels...kind of like regular FM in the 50s and 60s before they were able to generate significant revenue.

I got my HD car radio because I had to replace the broken stereo in that car, anyway. The HD model was only about $20 more than the same brand's standard AM/FM/CD unit. Well worth it.

 

[Retro]

When I visited SF back in '93 there was KSRI?/KSRY? on 98.9 and 99.1 on the frequency. It was a Hot AC format, and I found it entertaining.

 

[Tom_KYA1260]

I forgot all about that "Yes/No" business from KLOK. Never did like that station much. I'd like KABL back just for the sake of the call letters plus ANY three-letter call, especially KYA (of course). KYA-FM was an album rock station (Y-93) and was ready to knock KSAN out of the water until King Broadcasting decided to mess with it and the AM station's formats.

 

[DavidKaye]

4. KFMR: Good Country Oldies format which my father would love to see make a comeback in this
market, this time with the KFMR call letters (FM 104!)

KFMR 104.9 in Fremont? When were they ever country?

 

[rickradio]

KFMR 104.9 in Fremont? When were they ever country?

Don't know about Fremont's KFMR (BossRadioDJ?), but I know Stockton's KFMR was after a short-lived Jazz format. After Fremont, Susan Carson got a hold of the letters for her 100.1 license there.

 

[djj]

I miss the old KLOK AM 1170 incarnation, myself...
A simple, good-sounding MOR ("chicken rock") station...

Or any other regional AM station that specialized in the
MOR-personality vein (KNBR 68, KSRO 1350) until the
mid-1980s, when FM Adult-contemp stations did 'em in...


And speaking of KLOK-AM, whatever happened to their
'70s jockette, Ronni Richards? (sp?)
--j

 

[airpab]

Does any one remember these?

97.3/The Monster

98.9/The Quake

 

[djtalker]

I would be happy just to hear KABL on AM. It pulled first book numbers on 92.1 and with restricted coverage and with folks saying that older demos don't listen on FM. Most of those listeners still favor AM over FM. All consultants say the format doesn't generate enough income for today's broadcaster. Someone is missing the boat.

 

[LKellerIII]

"Does any one remember these? 97.3/The Monster 98.9/The Quake"

I remember the Quake, but I don't think 97.3 was ever "The Monster." It was called "CBS-FM 97" (KCBS-FM), and it was a good early Oldies station with John Mack Flanagan and Steve Garland, among others. The station ran a horrible TV ad campaign with an animated monster stomping all over an animated San Francisco. It was mentioned for years as being the single worst ad campaign for a radio station ever primarily because the ad never mentioned the format of the station.

 

[RadioStarOne]

It was called "Monster FM."

 

[djj]

Does any one remember these?
97.3/The Monster
98.9/The Quake

"97-K, Monster FM" lasted about a year or two in the late-1970s,
before KCBS-FM went Disco, then Top-40/Oldies ("Where We Still Play
Their Songs"), and then KRQR just hours after the 49ers won the
Super Bowl in 1982...
97-K was actually a kewl station. Too bad it didn't last...

"The Quake, FM 99"...the one thing I 'member about that station
was the stunting it did the weekend before Alex Bennett and Joe
Regelski debuted:
from that Friday at Noon (it's last day as KMPX) til the Monday
at 6 in the anti-meridian, a non-stop voicer kept repeating,
"The Quake...FM 99, with Alex Bennett and Joe Regelski, starts
Monday Morning at 6!"

Didn't listen much to KQAK afterward, and apparantly, neither did
anyone else, as it changed shortly afterward...

To add to LKeller's comment, yes, I 'member that TV ad for Monster
FM also, which years later showed up on a commercial montage
on one of Dick Clark's TV specials in the 1980s...J. Parker Antrim,
an excellent Bay Area DJ for many years (now retired) and a
latter-day influence on me via his trivia and personality, was the
CBS-FM 97 morning-drive DJ when Flanagan and Garland were there...

Had a nice tour of KCBS-FM when John Mack was on-air July 21,
1981...the day I received my FCC 1st-class license...
--jay

 

[DavidKaye]

You yearn for KABL, a mind-numbing beautiful music station with one morning show personality and the rest a lush wall-to-wall format that commanding nothing more than background listening. Besides Bill Moen, can you remember anything except the cable car sounder?

KABL had a lush, sophisticated sound for its era. It had some full orchestra string instumentals, jazz vocals, an occasional "tropical" tune, etc. That, combined with the tongue in cheek promotions such as the St Patrick's Day Snake Race and the cable car bell ringing contests were all good fun. Their signature was a harp. They once had a "bury the harp" promotion. People complained a lot over that joke.

And I will show my general ignorance here. I've lived and worked in the Bay Area all my life and I've never heard of KFMR.

KFMR was long the callsign of the Fremont station on 104.9 before they took the KBRG callsign.

 

[DavidKaye]

I would be happy just to hear KABL on AM. It pulled first book numbers on 92.1 and with restricted coverage and with folks saying that older demos don't listen on FM. Most of those listeners still favor AM over FM. All consultants say the format doesn't generate enough income for today's broadcaster. Someone is missing the boat.

It's important to define which KABL here. The original KABL was a beautiful music station. The latter KABL was a big bands swing format station.

 

[LKellerIII]

"It's important to define which KABL here. The original KABL was a beautiful music station. The latter KABL was a big bands swing format station."

David - I would assume people miss the Big Band (standards) KABL, which played fun music. I don't think you'd find many people alive today that missed "beautiful music"...though they might miss Bill Moen. I never heard his show until around 1990 when 98.1 KABL-FM had switched to lite rock, and was trying to compete with KOIT. He's was very witty, in a dry sort of way.

 

[DavidKaye]

I don't think you'd find many people alive today that missed "beautiful music"...though they might miss Bill Moen.

With the old KABL we're not talking ancient history. I believe KABL was still doing beautiful music into the early 80s (which is ancient to everybody else but not likely to anybody here). If people are missing the big band KABL why aren't they missing the big band (John Jensen's) KMPX, which had a wider and more interesting selection than KABL ever did?

While I liked the big band KABL there were so many repeats as to get annoying. How many times can you hear "Pennsylvania 6-5000" without going batty?

 

[tripton99]

There was a time when the Beautiful Music format of 1970's KABL AM/FM had significant ratings. The Big band version was less successful in ratings and I am sure revenue as well.

 

[LKellerIII]

'There was a time when the Beautiful Music format of 1970's KABL AM/FM had significant ratings. The Big band version was less successful in ratings and I am sure revenue as well.'
I'm sure you're right...Beautiful Music stations like KABL were often very popular, though primarily with older listeners. I'm sure that version Those BM stations were cash cows because they were generally automated most of the day, though revenue was somewhat limited because they tried to limit the number and type of commercials. At least in the early years of the format, they tried to keep the tone of the advertising consistent with the low-key and quiet approach of the music.

But this thread is about stations people miss, and as I said, I doubt many people alive today were listeners of the Beautiful Music stations. I just turned 56, and people of my generation disparaged "elevator music," and considered KABL and stations like it to be for old fogeys.

On the other hand, I think a significant number of people my age and younger probably miss the Standards format. Though we weren't even born when Glenn Miller was in his heyday, it was fun upbeat music. I remember first getting into Big Band on KMPX-FM in the 70s, after they had dropped the rock format.

 

[landtuna]

And now, returning to our regularily scheduled topic......

K-Y-A "The Boss of the Bay!"

FMMMMMMMM.......103.7.....K...G...O......s-t-e-r-e-ooooo......San Franciscoooooooo!!!!