Hi ! I love to chat about the old days.....

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

...of Los Angeles radio ! KRLA 1110 Pasadena is my first love, followed by KFWB, KMPC, KGIL, KLAC, KFI, KIQQ, KGBS, KMET, KLOS, etc.
For musical genres, my favorite is classic rock Top 40 oldies, then folk music, then country-western ( KFOX, KBBQ)
Old school is cool !! -- Daryl Lynn L.A.

 

[frankberry]

Glad that you've joined us, Daryl!

 

[JoeLouis]

When in California in the 80s and 90s, the first thing I did was put K-Earth 101 on the rental car radio, and was very happy when streaming started, but unfortunately KRTH is no longer the great oldies station they once were, I tried K-Surf but they don't hold a candle to what K-Earth 101 once was.

 

[rparky54]

When in California in the 80s and 90s, the first thing I did was put K-Earth 101 on the rental car radio, and was very happy when streaming started, but unfortunately KRTH is no longer the great oldies station they once were, I tried K-Surf but they don't hold a candle to what K-Earth 101 once was.

San Diego isn't much better. Jukeboxes had more songs than the playlist on our "Classic Hits" station today, and almost all of the great songs from the 60's, and everything early 60's and earlier is no longer heard on the local airwaves. Many great songs since then also don't get any love on the dial. What's really irritating is that the same few songs from the 70's & 80's can be heard every day on several classic stations in rotation as if they were currents. "Take on Me" and "Don't You Want Me Baby" are two of them.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

San Diego isn't much better. Jukeboxes had more songs than the playlist on our "Classic Hits" station today, and almost all of the great songs from the 60's, and everything early 60's and earlier is no longer heard on the local airwaves. Many great songs since then also don't get any love on the dial. What's really irritating is that the same few songs from the 70's & 80's can be heard every day on several classic stations in rotation as if they were currents. "Take on Me" and "Don't You Want Me Baby" are two of them.

I forgot to list KRTH 101 in my list of favorite stations back in the day ! I loved their cute station I.D. jingle and their music selection ! I agree that the classic hits stations need a greater selection of music so that they don't play the same songs all the time. The classic hits stations seem to have dropped a lot of 60's music, jumped over the 70's, and moved to 80's music as oldies. I have to remind myself that people who graduated from high school in 1985, (which was 37 years ago !) are now about 55 years old and considered to be in late middle age. The music from the 60's, a momentous time, when the entire culture changed, is almost seen now as too ancient to play anymore - except for the Beatles. -- Daryl

 

[rparky54]

I forgot to list KRTH 101 in my list of favorite stations back in the day ! I loved their cute station I.D. jingle and their music selection ! I agree that the classic hits stations need a greater selection of music so that they don't play the same songs all the time. The classic hits stations seem to have dropped a lot of 60's music, jumped over the 70's, and moved to 80's music as oldies. I have to remind myself that people who graduated from high school in 1985, (which was 37 years ago !) are now about 55 years old and considered to be in late middle age. The music from the 60's, a momentous time, when the entire culture changed, is almost seen now as too ancient to play anymore - except for the Beatles. -- Daryl

I lived in the LA area in the early 80's. My favs back then were KMET, KROQ & KRTH. KRTH played some currents back then on weekdays, and on weekends had special programming that I enjoyed such as 60's weekends. There was a much bigger playlist back then even though there have been decades of new hit records since.

 

[JoeLouis]

San Diego had an oldies station back then and had the similar jingles to K-Earth 101, now the only one I stream here in Connecticut is KXKY and they're not really an "oldies station"

 

[rparky54]

San Diego had an oldies station back then and had the similar jingles to K-Earth 101, now the only one I stream here in Connecticut is KXKY and they're not really an "oldies station"

I usually listen to stations on TuneIn to get my oldies fix. Other than that, for newer music Public Radio, College Radio, and Internet only stations on TuneIn are preferable to the local stations.

 

[JoeLouis]

I have a few internet radios and if you like 70s the best is 70s Time Machine, no ads, no djs, just a little vocal I.D. on the hour. TuneIn offers tons of oldies and every other kind of music around, my internet radio separates TuneIn, i-Heart-Audacy and Live 365 has some good oldies stations.

 

[JJSPC]

A bit of history is this short Drake-Chenault clip going back to 1968.

Los Angeles Golden Radio Days - KHJ - FM Hit Parade 68

Great radio automation on KHJ-FM...This is "Hit Parade '68"... Produced by Drake-Chenault and syndicated across the US...

soundcloud.com

 

[oldies76]

I lived in the LA area in the early 80's. My favs back then were KMET, KROQ & KRTH. KRTH played some currents back then on weekdays, and on weekends had special programming that I enjoyed such as 60's weekends. There was a much bigger playlist back then even though there have been decades of new hit records since.

Yes they were!! KRTH was fabulous back then!! Today, zero comparison.

 

[davideduardo]

Yes they were!! KRTH was fabulous back then!! Today, zero comparison.

Correct. Today it has a vastly greater cume rating, greater AQH share and ranks much higher in revenue rank than ever before. No comparison at all.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

Correct. Today it has a vastly greater cume rating, greater AQH share and ranks much higher in revenue rank than ever before. No comparison at all.

Translation: KRTH sold its soul to the corporate suits at Audacy and now sounds as if it is robotically programmed by ChatGBT. However, the loss in quality makes no difference, because the quantitative statistics look good. 😁
😁 😁

 

[davideduardo]

Translation: KRTH sold its soul to the corporate suits at Audacy and now sounds as if it is robotically programmed by ChatGBT. However, the loss in quality makes no difference, because the quantitative statistics look good. 😁
😁 😁

Actually, the playlist, tight rotations and overall stationality of KRTH is unique among the Audacy's stations in classic hits formats, and even unique among all such formats in the US.

You can tell the spend hours massaging the log for flow and feel and variety for each set and each hour, and the presentation matches the market quite nicely.

Obviously, it is well researched, but at many stations the interpretation and implementation of research is the week link in the programming chain. The KRTH team has obviously done a wonderful job of understanding how to make what listeners told them in a perceptual project into a station that satisfied a wide range of listener needs.

 

[oldies76]

Translation: KRTH sold its soul to the corporate suits at Audacy and now sounds as if it is robotically programmed by ChatGBT. However, the loss in quality makes no difference, because the quantitative statistics look good. 😁
😁 😁

There are some wonderful KRTH airchecks on archive.org, many from the 1980's and unscoped. You might just like those, if you want to relive 1980's K-Earth. Several countdowns and weekends are on there too. I really miss that time, but yes, things have changed. Thankfully there are sites like archive to hear how it ONCE sounded...

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

Actually, the playlist, tight rotations and overall stationality of KRTH is unique among the Audacy's stations in classic hits formats, and even unique among all such formats in the US.

You can tell the spend hours massaging the log for flow and feel and variety for each set and each hour, and the presentation matches the market quite nicely.

Obviously, it is well researched, but at many stations the interpretation and implementation of research is the week link in the programming chain. The KRTH team has obviously done a wonderful job of understanding how to make what listeners told them in a perceptual project into a station that satisfied a wide range of listener needs.

Radio is a business, of course; and it is the job of station management and owners to ensure that the business is successful, that the employees are paid, and that the shareholders are happy. That's understandable. But radio is also a performing art, where creative and aesthetics need to be taken into account. So a mediocre performance may earn money, and some audience members may appreciate it, while it is still mediocre in terms of aesthetics.

 

[Daryl Lynn L.A.]

There are some wonderful KRTH airchecks on archive.org, many from the 1980's and unscoped. You might just like those, if you want to relive 1980's K-Earth. Several countdowns and weekends are on there too. I really miss that time, but yes, things have changed. Thankfully there are sites like archive to hear how it ONCE sounded...

Thank you ! I love old airchecks like this, and I will go find them at archive.org. I'm so grateful that someone took the time to record them and save them all these years. Thanks again, from Daryl

 

[oldies76]

Radio is a business, of course; and it is the job of station management and owners to ensure that the business is successful, that the employees are paid, and that the shareholders are happy. That's understandable. But radio is also a performing art, where creative and aesthetics need to be taken into account. So a mediocre performance may earn money, and some audience members may appreciate it, while it is still mediocre in terms of aesthetics.

I totally agree about creativity and aesthetics and the lack thereof. Back then, you had the creativity on KRTH (as you will soon find out on those timeless airchecks) but ratings were lower and so was the population of L.A. four decades ago. But yeah, a business is a business and you have to be successful to keep it going, despite some ups and downs. Every business encounters that. K-Earth, while successful today, needs the creativity for the icing on the cake. They could do a Firecracker 300 this 4th of July 2023 with the songs they play today, but will they, no.

There is a good portion of the 1983 Firecracker 300 on that site I mentioned, 40 years ago!!