A
airwaver
Guest
the big 26 today (March 17th) -
Good goin' 93.3!
Good goin' 93.3!
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
I
IndigoCoyote
Guest
Well, happy birthday to the Calls and Frequency, I guess. Format, talent, ownership, studios, management, transmitter site...those have shifted repeatedly. But they kept the letters at least. 
IndigoCoyote said:Well, happy birthday to the Calls and Frequency, I guess. Format, talent, ownership, studios, management, transmitter site...those have shifted repeatedly. But they kept the letters at least.
Well, not quite.
While 93.3 launched as a top 40 station 26 years ago, it was still operating under an old set of call letters (KBLE) for its first months of existence. It's been some variant of top 40 for the past 26 years, but they won't celebrate the 26th anniversary of the the KUBE call letters for several more months. I remember that when I listened to the station in the summer of 1981, they were calling themselves "The New 93" on-air, and using the KBLE call letters for legal IDs only -- but they were definitely still under those old call letters during that summer.
Calls were contested....among other reasons because popular department at the "bon marche" (now Macy's) was "THE CUBE", which advertised heavily on many youth stations.
I
IndigoCoyote
Guest
Y'all are far too young...let the old guy 'splain! The calls that they requested were KLFM. But a station in Glasgow, MT beat them to it. So they "settled" for KUBE, which turned out AOK it seems. They ran six months or so jockless and sans commercials. And the format was a real trip...I heard Lou Rawls into AC/DC. Pretty much a stunting kitchen sink pre-format. They didn't make it into stereo for a few weeks as well...still using KBLE's mono plant. LBB was right about one of the other stations in town contesting the calls, but I cannot remember which one. Also, I wonder if there was concern from the sales team about trying to close on the Gap or Brass Plum or Mr. Rags if your station was the same name as another retailer?
A
airwaver
Guest
KUBE-FM
Right-ee-o!
The calls 'KUBE' under Michael O'Shea were BORN on March 17th, 1981.
Right-ee-o!
The calls 'KUBE' under Michael O'Shea were BORN on March 17th, 1981.
IndigoCoyote said:
Given today's technology, I have often thought about KBLE/KUBE's start-up and how it could be a no-brainer today vs. challenges then. As I recall (and I'm old so that's VERY "iffy") they initially had 10" music-only (and some promo 'we're building YOUR station') reels Charlie had put together and were jamming those into the x-mitter while putting together trivial things like control room, etc. Now, of course, they could run an entire station out of some bathroom in a dorm room in Mt. Vernon if they want to ... including production!!
It's mind-boggling to think of some of the key stations today were just "hobby investments" in those days. 93.3 as KBLE-FM, 101.5 as KETO, 96.5 as a schizophrenic variety (ok some things don't change), 97.3 as KTNT-FM. Others will know better but I think 92.5 was KFKF-FM until it morphed into KZAM-FM. Nelskog had 95.7 as KIXI and was one of the main players using it for foreground. 94.1 was KOL-FM -- and almost everything else was regional/community (Tacoma, Bremerton, etc.).
- Status