KPWRairchecks said:
26 years old.
KPWR signs on as Power 106 on Friday night, January 11, 1986 at 6:00pm with "Say I'm Your Number One" by Princess. Only six months after signing on, Power 106 becomes the top-rated station in Los Angeles.
Actually, this makes 27.
Backstory. Starting just after New Years 1986, the production assistant at Emmis flagship WENS / Indianapolis was spending her time ripping rhythmic hits to tape cartridge in our music library in Indianapolis. Quickly talk began to spread through the radio station. Was WENS changing format? Finally about a week before the L.A. rollout, Emmis corporate programmer Rick Cummings had to admit it was for the Emmis L.A. property. I helped pack the original Power music library on cart into a couple of cardboard shipping boxes, labeling them for UPS to deliver overnight to L.A. Most of us in Indy watched those early days of the Power roll out as closely as the listeners in the Southland.
A large part of our interest in Power was the move of our Indy Production Director, Eric Edwards, to Power 106. For someone from the middle of Indiana, Eric Edwards was able to capture the vibe needed to move Power to the top of the L.A. ratings. Absolutely no discussion of the roll out of Power is complete without one big massive hats-off to "Double E." Combined with the voice of the late Chuck Riley, the imaging power Eric Edwards provided Power 106 was the foundation and framework that held that radio station together.
May the words, "72,000 watts of music power..." live forever in the great history of L.A. radio.
