Back around 1967-69 (in that time frame) as an elementary student, I could pick up WDXR in Paducah, Kentucky clearly at night from the Kansas City Metro. The night DJ was Jay Rabbit. I loved his energy and on air presentation. I emulated him on my little 100mw. station in the garage and actually went by Jay Rabbit on the station.
I became a fan of a new upstart in the Kansas City metro, KBIL 1140. At two points the station was Adult Contemporary before there was such a thing. No crooners and such of MOR, just Top 40 without the hard edge. As a daytimer at 500 watts, it couldn't really compete even in the late 1960s. They started in 1967 as 'Town & Country' being a country tune ever quarter hour, adult contemporary hits filled out the hourly clock. They evolved by dropping the country, then went county and back to adult contemporary before making a switch back to country about 1970 producing the greatest amount of revenue.
Mark Stevens at KFJZ in Fort Worth (later became half of Stevens & Pruett at KLOL in Houston). His character Biff Burns was where many bits were centered. Quick witted and fast moving, his show required foreground attention in the mid-1970s or you'd miss something. Hearing Jim Pruett on air solo, it was easy to see Mark was the talent of the pair.
DFW's Y-95, a short-lived CHR in the 1980s, had a weekender I was so impressed with I ran tape. Loved his energy and pacing. I had been on air about 10 years at that point and doing afternoon drive at KTAW 92.1 in Bryan/College Station, Texas at the time. I recall finding that tape about a decade ago and I wasn't so impressed. I cannot recall his name and in some box stored in the back if a walk-in closet is that tape if I ever find it again.
I was a fan of Ron Chapman's KVIL in DFW. I loved listening to Ron because he made you feel like you were part of a special club. I noted he played back callers and introduced them. For example: "We were talking about the Dallas City Council responding to the downtown parking situation and Linda; you know Linda at Smith Travel Agency on Greenville. She had an interesting take (play phoner). PSAs were about events mostly in the arts community. Targeting up and coming young suburbanites climbing the corporate ladder, It was like listening above your pay grade. He did cruises for $103.70 and trips to Hawaii at the same price, something out of the realm of possibility at regular price. It was the most interesting way of programming I'd ever come across, so as a junior high and high school kid I picked up on this and studied this. Ron's big thing was everything is about You with You being the listener. Jock always included You in all they did.
And oddest of all, About 1976 and 1977, KMMK FM in McKinney, TX has gone from Easy Listening to Top 40 under new ownership. The prior staff pretty much cleaned out the building of equipment, music library and such before the FCC okayed the sale. The facility was horribly lacking and the jocks were very green. To give an example or two, a carousel in the next room had the commercials with a remote start by the board. The problem was the commercials were like 15% modulation versus an otherwise average of 85-90% modulation. When production was done, a reel to reel played older songs that certainly leaned rock as the studio doubled as production. With only one carousel, all commercials were aired 1 at a time. It was all requests and dedications. With no music library, everything played was a current. With all this to deter listening, I loved the feel of the station. You could tell the jock was loving every minute of it and the audience was quite responsive. That was what made me listen. I was perplexed by how long the volume of the commercials was maybe a 2 when the jock and music was a 10 as far as volume goes. We are easily talking a year or more! There was no specific jock I preferred but all had that smile that came from deep inside interacting with listeners.
I was fortunate to have grown up in two cities with legendary stations: WHB 710 (then) in Kansas City, a Storz Top 40 when Richard Ward Fatherly was the PD and KLIF 1190 in Dallas when Gordon McClendon was the owner. Naturally I listened to both. Of all DFW Top 40s, my favorite was KXOL 1360 and Danny Moffat comes to mind as a jock I listened to. When KXOL's FM dropped Country for automated oldies during the day and simulcasting KXOL AM at night, I was a very regular listener.
