Mark Richards rings a bell but I thought it was the Game Zone. I must've been mistaken about the actual name. It was definitely someone not familiar to the market.I'm gonna guess that it was this. Mark Richards was the evening jock at KFI in Los Angeles, which did a block of games from 6-9 p.m. beginning in August of 1985.
Apparently Mark had done similar things as early as 1982 at KOGO in San Diego, then at KGIL in San Fernando before going to KFI.
By April of 1986, it was over at KFI, but Mark was syndicating. It was not related to Walt Sabo's "Game Zone" at KFRC (in fact, in this Radio & Records article, Mark says he tried to make some suggestions to KFRC and was blown off).
The KFRC hosts were Dave Sholin, Chuck Browning and Jim Bridges. None of them worked in Portland, so it was likely a similar voice.
I can't find any mention of KKSN doing a game block, so I can't tell who it might have been. I found this interview/profile of Mark Richards, which mentions that he moved to Las Vegas in 1990 and did the game show thing on KENO-AM, but I can't find anything that suggests he was in Portland in between KFI and that.
Mark Richards: Game Show Host and Aficionado - Listen Now!
This week, Ira spoke with Mark Richards, who hosted “Starcade,” cable television’s first original game show.iraseverythingbagel.com
There really weren't. The only examples I can find in a pretty exhaustive search of the trades are Mark Richards at KOGO/KGIL and KFI and the KFRC Game Zone.
Given what happened to the two major stations to try it (KFRC with a 1.5 and in 23rd place in the summer book, KFI with a 1.6 and in 22nd place in the fall book), I'm betting there were few takers.
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Game Zone
- Thread starter Donny-KUDU
- Start date
KSFO's 1982 decline was largely due to the departure of Gene Nelson, who quit and returned to KYA(after 17 years), and, to a lesser extent, the decline of the Oakland A's, who, after their 'Billy Ball' playoff team in '81, slumped badly in '82(after which Billy Martin was fired), and weren't really a factor til Tony LaRussa showed up in '86.
KSFO's improved ratings in '83 came under unusual circumstances: several months passed between the announcement that the station was for sale(spring), the sale being announced(fall), and the actual handover from Golden West to King(December 12th/13th). The station basically had a 'going away party' atmosphere for most of the year, and a significant number of listeners tuned back in. When Don Sherwood died on the first Sunday in November, the phone lines were jammed, as the station dropped everything to let DJs reminisce with callers(including former colleagues who'd long since left the station). It was kind of an on-air 'wake' for Sherwood, and that era of KSFO(and Bay Area radio in general).
Even KHJ's "Car Radio" format (CHR music with traffic reports every 10 minutes) was a better idea than this. It lasted from June 1984 to January 1986. They claimed it would work because "many of the cars in L.A. still have AM-only radios."
And like "The Game Zone", "Car Radio" was the brainchild of Walter Sabo.
In hindsight, these seemed like terrible ideas, but keep in mind the times. Unless you were fooling yourself (and some did), it was clear that business as usual wasn't going to cut it too much longer. At least KHJ and KFRC tried something new in hopes that it would take off. I can't speak to the execution of these ideas, since I didn't hear them. It would be interesting to see an objective analysis of the failures. KFRC recovered somewhat, of course.
What resulted more generally: radio locked itself into dogmas which left it ill-prepared for what it's experiencing now.
"Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan"
What resulted more generally: radio locked itself into dogmas which left it ill-prepared for what it's experiencing now.
"Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan"
I wonder if it wasn't TOO much of an interesting idea. In the article, they expected some of the games might not take, similar to what new TV shows experience. But if a radio idea is new, wouldn't it have been better to try ONE first, and then expand as the audience reaction warranted? It might also be worthy to note that the failure happened 40 years ago, and a lot has changed in audio entertainment since then. I suspect today FM terrestrial radio needs something to keep music-with-commercials reluctant younger demos tuned in. Could this be an idea that needs to dusted off - in moderation?Man, what a terrible idea. I can't believe someone actually approved it.
KFRC was in 8th place with a 3.1 when it decided to try the Game Zone. The first "Game Zone" book was tied for 19th place with a 1.9. The second was tied for 23rd with a 1.5.
This is on a station that had Dr. Don Rose in morning drive, NOT doing the "Game Zone".
And I wouldn't call this recovery:
So, it took a complete scrapping of the radio station (originally, the call letters were supposed to change, as well) before the numbers came back up.
As for the execution, everyone generally thought The Game Zone was well-produced. As noted, Mark Richards at KFI, who tried to syndicate a different approach, had critiques, one of which was that the games needed to be short---three to five minutes each, instead of half-hours.
One aircheck I'm aware of remains and that's the finale':
610/KFRC, San Francisco - The $61,000 Challenge | Bay Area Radio
The $61,000 Challenge 610/KFRC San Francisco 1985 Jim Bridges hosts the $61,000 grand finale to KFRC's
bayarearadio.org
As for KHJ and "Car Radio", the format was mind-numbingly repetitive: Two burned-to-a-crisp recurrents (which they called "Car Tunes"), a traffic report, a spot break, and repeat (two burned-to-a-crisp recurrents, traffic report, spot break).
This is one of two surviving airchecks online---scoped. The jock tried to spice it up with a little humor:
That would have been smart.
I'm straining to picture anyone who wants to listen to a game show. Especially enough anyones to make this commercially viable.
I have often thought that a game series "Are You Smarter Than a 10th Grader" might be worth trying. Get local high schools competing against each other. Get the morning crew doing remotes at select schools to pump the idea. Maybe get the school board or Principals behind it. Properly done, the younger set might get off their internet music sources to tune in via their phones. Parents might tune in. Get advertisers of all sizes involved. Maybe create some kind of interactive thing with the smartphone listeners? Get creative, and again, try small first and see if it takes off before expanding to other listener-involved ideas.
Here's the problem: There is no advertiser demand for a demo below 18-34. Teens aren't salable.
You can't fight a tidal wave.
I listened to this just yesterday. THIS is how old radio as a form of entertainment is---more than 100 years. It's been supplanted by other more convenient and varied media:
The Story of KQW Radio (November 10, 1945)
KQW Radio, San Jose "The Story Of KQW" Saturday, November 10, 1945 Featuring Ken Ackerman, Clarence
bayarearadio.org
If Doc Herrold, who put what is now KCBS, San Francisco on the air in 1909, were still alive, he'd be working on what comes next.
This web page has airchecks of the flip of KFRC to "Magic 61", as well as KHJ as "Car Radio". But KFRC was playing "The Legends of Rock & Roll Weekend" before the flip to Standards, so it doesn't include anything from "The Game Zone":
The Game Zone ended on November 8, 1985. The flip to Magic 61 was August 11, 1986.
But how was the station trending? If they made a decision based on one point-in-time reading, then that truly would be stupid...on the same order of the people here who look at one book for a station and then ask "can this station be saved?"
Sorry I wasn't clear: by recovery, I meant the Magic 61 format.
That, I recognize.
I'll have to check out the aircheck; I never actually have heard it.
Spring '84: 3.4
Summer '84: 2.6
Fall '84: 2.7
Winter '85: 3.1
Sabo probably sold them on The Game Zone after the fall book came out (near the end of '84). The winter book was out a few weeks before the launch and it may have been too late to turn around.
But that fall '84 book---they were still #3 in cume (behind KGO and KCBS). They were still top ten (#8) in 18-34 and 18-49 share.
Maintaining the cume and juicing the TSL would have been a logical move. Instead they blew out the cume (9th in the Spring book) and destroyed their 18-34 (#15) and 18-49 (#18) share rankings.
I get the argument that AM music stations were trying something new---but only KFRC tried the Game Zone. Blowing up half of your daytime (6a-6p) schedule was extremely high risk.
Street Novelist
Banned
My thoughts exactly
Ben Maller does sports trivia games on his show, but he's been doing them for awhile (at least 25 years). The winning contestant callers win a big batch of nothing, except for Sports Jeopardy, where they can win a "golden ticket" to not have to stay on hold the next time they call in. The only other Fox Sports Radio host I know of that had games as part of their show is Jonas Knox, he used to do "Pro Wrestler or Porn Star". I don't listen to him in mornings so I have no idea if he still does it.
The teens might just be the cheap performers on the show. The older saleable demos would still maybe listen. We'll never know unless we try. And/or there might be plenty of college students who might be up for the challenge (Are You Smarter Than a Sophomore?)
But I am guessing that the big money is still with Terrestrial Broadcast, as least as far as advertiser supported audio entertainment is concerned.
Are we looking at the last generation (Millennials) who will form a sizable audience that advertisers will be able to get and be interested in.? In my view, unless something changes or is at least tried to attract younger demos, in 20 years current broadcasters will largely be left with expensive infrastructure spinning what will have become oldies to those Millennials.
A gentle reminder that "we'll never know unless we try" is the story of this thread---The Game Zone, which took KFRC from 3rd in cume and 9th in shares, with 18-34 and 18-49 demos ranking in the top ten, to 9th in cume and 21st in shares, with those demos ranking 15th or below.
In 25 years on this board, there have been several discussions of the Game Zone. This is the first thread in which I've seen anyone suggesting trying anything like it ever again.
After listening to part of it, I retract my "at least they tried something different" argument. There's more cheese on that thing than in a Wisconsin dairy.
Why anyone listened to Walter Sabo's advice after that, it's a wonder.
Stuart (the "S" in @SCMcKinney) keeps making the same suggestion, in one form or another, over and over again. He's now been doing this for years here and on the Dentist's board. I admire his perseverance, but he just can't bring himself to acknowledge that people who work in the business day-in and day-out probably have a reason why they won't try ideas like his again. I could type out a treatise on why I don't think they won't work, but I'm not in the industry and lack any currency. However, you could sum it up in one sentence, originally written by Jorge Santayana: "Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
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