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K-PLUS FM - Where Are They Now?

T

toughguythursday

Howdy. I'm a long time lurker and first time poster. Jeff King in the Morning on K-Plus FM was my first introduction to radio as a kid. I loved "Hot Hits K-Plus FM." I remember bits and pieces of jingles (“big money song,” “the hit election”) and other DJs like Mark “In the Dark” Allen (and his Mark’s Moment of Mush segment), Debin/Devin Duran/Durant (sp), and others. I remember being devastated when Jeff disappeared from K-Plus and was replaced by Kent and Allen--and Z 101.5. Shortly thereafter I discovered Robin and Maynard, whom I listened to until their retirement. I recently stumbled across a 15 minute aircheck of Jeff King from 1985 and it brought back so many great memories. It made me wonder what happened to Jeff King, Mark Allen, et al. At some point I knew that Jeff was on I-107.7 KMGI before it became KNDD and a google search shows he spent some time on KHON TV news in Maui but I can’t find much else about him. Did he move to another market? Is he retired now? What about Mark Allen? Anyone know? And does anyone know where to find more airchecks from this era of KPLZ? I'd love to know more about K-PLUS...
 
Jeff is in Hawaii doing TV.
Mark Allan runs Pirahna Productions and is co-mingled with the KCTS/Crosscut crew.
Lost track of Devin Durant.
Lizz Sommars is still in greater Seattle area, though out of radio.

That aircheck of 1985 would be near the end of K-Plus run as it became "Z-101.5" in 1986. Jeff was shown the door and Casey Keating was brought in to program the station, and in turn, brought in Kent & Alan, "Big" Jim Donovan, Eric Funk, Bill Meier, and others. Mark stayed with 101.5 for many years, until around 2000; though less on-air work in later years.
 
Toughguy thanks for bringing back some memories of Seattle Radio in the 80s. I'd forgotten about Mark Allan (should have added him to my All-Star DJ team; see post) KPLZ went toe to toe for listeners with KUBE (both stations seem to be at all the local festivals). KPLZ had the Hit Election and Stereo Wars (we all wanted to here our school or city mentioned) as well. In my opinion today's DJ's can't hold a candle to those back in the day.
 
Thanks LBB, DMK and speer360. I had forgotten all about Stereo Wars. After hearing those YouTube clips, it occurred to me that I might have some K-PLUS recordings on cassette tapes in my attic--mostly music but probably includes some intros and outros.

I remember that Jeff King had a parody song called Bruce, where he lamented being confused with Bruce King. I remember another one spoofing Rock Me Amadeus called Dropping Amadeus, joking that Falco's song had spent too much time at #1 on the Hit Election. Does anyone have these recordings?
 
I found Jeff King on Facebook. It looks like he retired from Maui TV earlier this year. Mark Allan is on Facebook as well, though he hasn't posted since 2016--at that was a cancer update.

Does nobody have the Jeff King/Bruce King spoof or Dropping Amadeus? Surely they must exist somewhere...
 
They are Star 101.5 now playing hits from the 90s to Now with numerous personalities. They have low ratings so they consistently tweak their music direction, especially after the radio ratings release every month.
 
Speaking parodies. I remember back in the 80s I think it was KUBE that parodies Ghostbusters into Raiderbusters and Broncobusters. This was back when the Seahawks were in the AFC West and we had big rivalries with Denver and Oakland/LA.
 
Ron Harris was on K-Plus for a while. I think he was the afternoon guy. He worked at BPI for a few years in the 1990s, and then went to Yakima, where he programmed KATS-FM, the rocker there. Not sure if he's still there, or somewhere else.
 
boombox4 said:
Ron Harris was on K-Plus for a while. I think he was the afternoon guy. He worked at BPI for a few years in the 1990s, and then went to Yakima, where he programmed KATS-FM, the rocker there. Not sure if he's still there, or somewhere else.
Click to expand...
I haven't spoken with Ron in years. Following Yakiscratch, he went to Cherry Creek in the Tri Cities. According to his Linkedin page, Ron may have moved back to the Seattle area, but shows 'open to new opportunities', with no recent updates.
 
Lisa Adams is planning on to exit in mid-July but Mediabase already states that Curt Kruise is the interim program director even though Lisa Adams is still on the station.
 
Kelly A said:
I haven't spoken with Ron in years. Following Yakiscratch, he went to Cherry Creek in the Tri Cities. According to his Linkedin page, Ron may have moved back to the Seattle area, but shows 'open to new opportunities', with no recent updates.
Click to expand...
That's a new way to say Yakima! Well, we are nearly the armpit of the state, after all. Gangs just keep growing and homelessness is rampant around downtown and the Greenway. Stores and restaurants closing all over downtown (we are losing a furniture store that's been on Yakima Ave since the 1960s, for example) because it's getting too dangerous. Much like Seattle! Meanwhile, dumb city council wants to cut at least ten police officer positions and permanently close a fire station in West Valley, which serves 10,000+ residents. At least Naches and Selah aren't as bad...

Anyways, back on topic. Yes, Ron was at KATS for several years, and I think he went to program KEGX (maybe) in Tri-Cities. KATS is now a Townsquare station with a lot of talent that comes from out-of-state. Like a quasi-satellite rock format...
 
I enjoyed my time at KPLZ in the mid to late 80's. Also doubled on KVI-AM, just a studio away. I don't remember ever reaching full-time, but I am now considered "elderly" and perhaps I was a full-time sub in the end. 8th floor in the Tower Building to begin, moving to the 2nd floor toward the end. I do recall making a pretty good living from all those shifts. Top notch station with Casey Keating as PD, and excellent upper management. Could have stayed but a smaller market PD job made me jump. That move allowed me to spend another 35 years in radio. And if another employee invited you to the ground floor bar, you knew you were headed in the right direction! Unfortunately, one of those employees died (to be more precise murdered) at a young age. RIP Mike.
 
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Right now, Star seems to be keeping the same playlist with the same songs but with Promos for the PD during certain AD breaks. Ironically, their website still states that Lisa Adams is a part of the station but I think they will fix that soon and put Curt Kruise in mid-days until they find the new PD. Would be pretty shocking if Kent becomes PD again and moves the station back in the previous direction with its music with a lot of the same personalities weekdays and more of the Star personalities on the weekends which may include Jill Taylor if she comes back to the station. I believe he would also bring back the Santa FM tradition to the market. I don’t think Kent will ever come back though since he already is working at another job.
 
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