KFRC 610 in 1966 "the First year at top 40 airchecks

[DavidKaye]

David Kaye.....you're a miracle man coming up with the Hank Levine "Image" tracks.

Wow! It WAS goose bumps galore!

Heh...I thought you'd like it. It is possible to save video and audio from Youtube and other sites that use Flash by using software such as aTube Catcher. You paste the URL to the particular video into the address bar on the program. Here's the official website: http://atube-catcher.dsnetwb.com/video/

 

[DavidKaye]

For even more Chuck Blore jingles for Crowell-Collier, I call your attention to the Bay Area Radio Museum KEWB exhibit.
http://www.bayarearadio.org/pages/jingles.shtml#KEWB

The first one has the Johnny Mann version of the Sande/Greene jingles, along with their own creations beginning about halfway through the clip. Notice that even in 1959 KEWB was positioned to a specific demographic: young women with families. There are references to hectic days, "kissing your darling's cute little nose", washing out your "hose" (stockings), etc.

This whole scenario seems odd to any kid, especially male kid, who grew up listening to stations such as KEWB, KYA, or KFRC because obviously we thought that the stations were aimed at US, not at our parents! But listening to ads on the various stations over the years, Smythe "the smoother mover" advertised heavily on KYA, not because any 10 year old kid was going to need a mover, but because their parents might. Likewise, Meader's Cleaners, Mode O'Day (a fashion store for young married women), and then in later years on KFRC and KSTN companies such as Gensler Lee Diamonds would advertise. No 10 or 12 year old boy is going to be buying diamond rings for anybody. And what kid would be going to Mel's Drive-In to eat burgers or bowl a few frames? Again, these stations were aimed toward an older generation.

Another jingle collection of note is the last in the set of 4, the a capella KEWB jingles, featuring the moniker "Boss Radio" before Bill Drake began using it on KYNO or KHJ or wherever he used it first. The KEWB Boss Radio moniker was in use at least a year earlier, in 1964.

 

[KRLA]

In 1964 KEWB was using mostly Series 26 PAMS jingles, which no one seems to have a copy of. The KEWB Boss Radio jingles and term "Boss Radio" were not used until the last week of July 1965, clearly after the start of KHJ and long after KSTN.

 

[LKellerIII]

For even more Chuck Blore jingles for Crowell-Collier, I call your attention to the Bay Area Radio Museum KEWB exhibit.
http://www.bayarearadio.org/pages/jingles.shtml#KEWB

The first one has the Johnny Mann version of the Sande/Greene jingles, along with their own creations beginning about halfway through the clip. Notice that even in 1959 KEWB was positioned to a specific demographic: young women with families. There are references to hectic days, "kissing your darling's cute little nose", washing out your "hose" (stockings), etc.

This whole scenario seems odd to any kid, especially male kid, who grew up listening to stations such as KEWB, KYA, or KFRC because obviously we thought that the stations were aimed at US, not at our parents! But listening to ads on the various stations over the years, Smythe "the smoother mover" advertised heavily on KYA, not because any 10 year old kid was going to need a mover, but because their parents might. Likewise, Meader's Cleaners, Mode O'Day (a fashion store for young married women), and then in later years on KFRC and KSTN companies such as Gensler Lee Diamonds would advertise. No 10 or 12 year old boy is going to be buying diamond rings for anybody. And what kid would be going to Mel's Drive-In to eat burgers or bowl a few frames? Again, these stations were aimed toward an older generation.

KFWB imager I remember from the early 60s:

Little girl's voice: "My mommy listens to...

Cue Jingle: "K-F-W-B, Channel 98."

Somewhere in my now closeted stacks of vinyl, I have a copy of KFWB Discoveries - a compilation of early 60s hits, with cover pics of Bill Ballance, B. Mitchell Reed, Joe Yocam, Ted Quillan, Wink Martindale, and others. In the corner on each side of the cover is a little cartoon girl, and that slogan.

I didn't buy the record when it was new, but found it about mid 1970s in a junk store that sold old LPs.

If you listen to old air checks of mid day Top 40 radio (even KHJ), the DJs tend to be a bit lower key, and the music turns almost MOR, with more gold (oldies) mixed in. I have heard that the point was to bring in housewives in their 20s and 30s primarily- at home listening - while the kids were in school. They were presumably listening well - basically alone in the house while cleaning or whatever - and they typically controlled the home's purse-strings and buying habits.

But it did seem odd for Top 40 stations to build entire publicity campaigns around that, doesn't it?

 

[DavidKaye]

Little girl's voice: "My mommy listens to...
Cue Jingle: "K-F-W-B, Channel 98."

Here in the Bay Area, she was called "Dianne" and she said the whole thing, "My mommy listens to KEWB", so they may have used the same cut and simply pasted KFWB over it.

Somewhere in my now closeted stacks of vinyl, I have a copy of KFWB Discoveries - a compilation of early 60s hits, with cover pics of Bill Ballance, B. Mitchell Reed, Joe Yocam, Ted Quillan, Wink Martindale, and others. In the corner on each side of the cover is a little cartoon girl, and that slogan.

Here in the Bay Area we had our own Disc/Coveries album. It started with a KEWB jingle, went to "Cathy's Clown", and I think "Primrose Lane", etc. The other side ended with "Alley Oop" and then a KEWB closer jingle.

The guys on the front of the KEWB Disc/Coveries album were...

Don McKinnon, 6 - 9 a.m.
Chris Borden, 9 a.m. - Noon
Ken Knox, Noon - 3 p.m.
Bill Enis, 3 - 6 p.m.
Buck Herring, 6 - 9 p.m.
Casey Kasem, 9 p.m. - Midnight
Michael Jackson, Midnight - 6 a.m.

McKinnon, Enis, Casem, and Jackson all went to success in LA. Chris Borden opened a very successful broadcasting school here. Knox went to Texas and was successful there in country music for a number of years. Herring, I have no idea what became of him. Enis I think was PD at KEWB at the time.

From the way I understand it they had a weekly music meeting where all the DJs participated in voting on which records should make the KEWB playlist. I'm not sure who picked the Disc/Covery.

Also, something else that's a bit unusual, but not odd for the day: the DJ shifts were shorter then, but they also worked 6 days with longer shifts on the weekend.

Thanks to the ability to modify posts. It just occurred to me that the DJs could have been voicetracked on the weekends. Voicetracking was being done at that time. Being that KEWB was a union shop at the time, they must have had board ops, so it would not be unusual to voicetrack weekends. I can't remember if they had any call-in contests on the weekends or any other reason to interact with callers.

 

[LKellerIII]

Also, something else that's a bit unusual, but not odd for the day: the DJ shifts were shorter then, but they also worked 6 days with longer shifts on the weekend.

Thanks to the ability to modify posts. It just occurred to me that the DJs could have been voicetracked on the weekends. Voicetracking was being done at that time. Being that KEWB was a union shop at the time, they must have had board ops, so it would not be unusual to voicetrack weekends. I can't remember if they had any call-in contests on the weekends or any other reason to interact with callers.

I recall that on KHJ, KRLA, and KFWB, the DJs generally worked 3 hour shifts weekdays, then a 4 or 5 hour shift on either Saturday or Sunday. Yup - 6 days a week. I don't think they voice-tracked. There were tons of live commercial reads, plus time and temperature checks, not to mention surf reports during the summer. I think it was just part of the job. When you think of it, it's still only about 20 hours a week on air.

Today's voice-tracked shows are easy given current computer technology, how much less often they open the mic, and the fact that live commercials and time and temp checks are gone. I've noticed the Clear Channel jocks don't even bother to pre-record intros for the traffic reporter, who now just introduces him/herself. If they're running a contest (free concert tickets, etc), some other voice identifies and "congratulates" the winner.

In the 60s, each station had a weekend and fill-in jock, too. On KRLA in the late 60s, it was the aforementioned Casey Kasem, who would count down the Top 30 songs of the week and tell his signature heartwarming stories - definitely a dress-rehearsal for American Top 40, which came along about 1970.

 

[JEREMIAH]

Re: Buck Herring

When I was at KXOA Sacto. in the mid 60's, Buck was PD at our competition KROY. I don't know when he left and I don't remember if he did an airshift. KXOA was hot then.

Don Mckinnion...Great talent. I had the pleasure of spending a sunday at his house in Walnut Creek. Wonderful guy and very funny. He was at KEWB, doing mornings at the time. (early 60's)

Jerry Gordon

 

[DavidKaye]

Also, something else that's a bit unusual, but not odd for the day: the DJ shifts were shorter then, but they also worked 6 days with longer shifts on the weekend.

That's initially what I would think, but given how heavily unions were involved in radio during the 60s I'd think that DJs might have had 5-day work weeks, not 6, even with the short schedules. I thought of voicetracking because one of the very first stations I ever visited as a kid, KEEN in San Jose, probably in 1963, had a board op playing Cottonseed Clark's voicetracks. That was KEEN, which was big in the Southbay with its Western music format. However, Cottonseed did go on tours with his band, so maybe that was a reason for voicetracking.

 

[recto101]

Lets not forget the other "Big 610" KILT in Texas they borrowed it once they got rights by Bill Drake and RKO around this time. Remember Rick Shaw (San Francisco DJ) worked at KILT in the 1960's and Charlie Van Dyke was featured on some promos around this time when the KFRC clips were recorded.

 

[DavidKaye]

Lets not forget the other "Big 610" KILT in Texas they borrowed it once they got rights by Bill Drake and RKO around this time. Remember Rick Shaw (San Francisco DJ) worked at KILT in the 1960's and Charlie Van Dyke was featured on some promos around this time when the KFRC clips were recorded.

Beau Weaver was also on the "Big 610" KILT and gives the impression that he'd grown up there given his local references, etc.

 

[recto101]

Lets not forget the other "Big 610" KILT in Texas they borrowed it once they got rights by Bill Drake and RKO around this time. Remember Rick Shaw (San Francisco DJ) worked at KILT in the 1960's and Charlie Van Dyke was featured on some promos around this time when the KFRC clips were recorded.

Beau Weaver was also on the "Big 610" KILT and gives the impression that he'd grown up there given his local references, etc.

Yes Beau Weaver was on KFRC and KHJ before going to KILT Big 610 in the 1970's

 

[skyrocker]

I was in the building from an early enough time in the 70s to see the arrival of a few of the names mentioned here in association with The Big Six-Ten," KFRC. I can answer a question or two.

There was no tracking. It wasn't called tracking then, it was called "taping one's show" ahead of time and it was though of as ingenuous. "Pros don't tape their shows; they're really there," was the axiom.

One was hired to do a daily three (later four) hour show, with the weekend shift five or six hours long. That's just the way it was in those days and rare was the individual (with the exception of the morning man) who could escape the long weekend shift.

Beau Weaver arrived soon after the PD from Texas was brought in. Michael Spears (changed his name back from Hal Martin) did what so many Programmers of the time did and still do today. He hired those he knew and trusted to carry out his edicts. He brought his friends in. News people Jo Interrante and Dave Cooke arrived in San Francisco that way.

Chuck Blore's "Color Radio" format, also extremely successful in L.A. where Blore was whisked after such a great showing in the Bay Area, reacted here to what what was erupting in Southern California, predicting it would happen here too, thus the KEWB Boss Jingles. It's not at all unlike the time KOIT added the word "fresh" to its Liners anticipating competition and thus, at once owning the word, rendering it unusable to other stations in the marketplace. KFRC thus did not become Boss Radio for San Francisco because of those Boss jingles - <http://www.bayarearadio.org/pages/jingles.shtml#KEWB> - referred to earlier in this thread, but rather "The Big Six-Ten," driven by a crew called the "KFRC Space Team."

KEWB's Don McKinnon had some huge fans in Don Imus and KHJ's Robert W. Morgan, both of which imitated his east coast authoritative, arrogant delivery. They pulled it off and sounded great. but listen to the old McKinnon recordings and you WILL hear early Morgan and Imus.

Casey left KEWB and went to L.A., too, but did not confine himself to radio, starring in a B horror flick, "The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant," a few other movies with DJs in them and voicing the cartoon character, Scooby Doo for decades, as well as being the international voice of American Top-40.

 

[LKellerIII]

Chuck Blore's "Color Radio" format, also extremely successful in L.A. where Blore was whisked after such a great showing in the Bay Area, reacted here to what what was erupting in Southern California, predicting it would happen here too, thus the KEWB Boss Jingles. It's not at all unlike the time KOIT added the word "fresh" to its Liners anticipating competition and thus, at once owning the word, rendering it unusable to other stations in the marketplace. KFRC thus did not become Boss Radio for San Francisco because of those Boss jingles - <http://www.bayarearadio.org/pages/jingles.shtml#KEWB> - referred to earlier in this thread, but rather "The Big Six-Ten," driven by a crew called the "KFRC Space Team."

KEWB's Don McKinnon had some huge fans in Don Imus and KHJ's Robert W. Morgan, both of which imitated his east coast authoritative, arrogant delivery. They pulled it off and sounded great. but listen to the old McKinnon recordings and you WILL hear early Morgan and Imus.

Casey left KEWB and went to L.A., too, but did not confine himself to radio, starring in a B horror flick, "The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant," a few other movies with DJs in them and voicing the cartoon character, Scooby Doo for decades, as well as being the international voice of American Top-40.

Hope I don't get in trouble for correcting a legend, but a couple of comments:

I had heard that another problem with KFRC being "Boss" is that KYA had used the slogan "Boss of the Bay" for a number of years, though possibly not as late as 1966. In fact, some have commented that the Boss of the Bay slogan might have originated in the early 60s when Bill Drake was KYA's PD.

This I do know for sure (and sorry to be nit-picky), Casey Kasem provided the voice of Shaggy (a vaguely hippie-ish looking cartoon-human, not the cartoon-dog Scooby Doo. Casey was also the VO guy who did all the NBC network trailers and promos for a few years in the 80s.

 

[LKellerIII]

Here's a link from the Bay Area Radio Museusm to a Johnny Holiday rememberance about his time at KYA. He may have been taking literacy license, but it indicates that KYA may have still been "The Boss of the Bay" in 1966

http://www.bayarearadio.org/pages/johnny-holliday_jock-to-rock_1.shtml

 

[DavidKaye]

There was no tracking. It wasn't called tracking then, it was called "taping one's show" ahead of time and it was though of as ingenuous. "Pros don't tape their shows; they're really there," was the axiom.

Maybe the folks at KFRC thought it was ingenious, but it had been in use at KEEN 5 years earlier and had been in use before that at many stations. In fact, there were program syndicators that provided better-known announcers for "record party" shows to small stations that couldn't afford top-notch announcers, where the voice track was on ET (record) and the DJ played the songs locally from records. This was a reason why many stations had 3 turntables in those days. Prior to the 1960s stations usually said that the show was "transcribed".

Chuck Blore's "Color Radio" format, also extremely successful in L.A. where Blore was whisked after such a great showing in the Bay Area, reacted here to what what was erupting in Southern California, predicting it would happen here too, thus the KEWB Boss Jingles.

Chuck Blore tells it the other way around, that he introduced Color Radio at KFWB first. As for "Boss Radio", KYA had "Boss of the Bay" and KEWB did "Boss Radio" for a time as well. They may have actually overlapped, so the term "boss radio" might have been thought of as generic as "music radio".

I'd go with Ron Jacobs' assertion that the term "boss" was outdated by the time KHJ went to Drake. It could well be that they tried the word in LA but figured it would sound even more corny in SF.

Casey left KEWB and went to L.A., too, but did not confine himself to radio, starring in a B horror flick, "The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant," a few other movies with DJs in them and voicing the cartoon character, Scooby Doo for decades, as well as being the international voice of American Top-40.

Casey Kasem first did character voices on KEWB and the PD told him to stop. Looking for a gimmick, he pulled old Billboards and Varieties out of the trash and began reading stories about the stars. So, Casey has been doing character voices all his life.

 

[KBOS1965]

David, he said ingenuous, which I took to mean simple-minded and unsophisticated. It seems to fit the context better than ingenious.

Boss radio seemed ingenuous to me back when KBOS went on the air (not to step on anybody's toes). It seemed like the older crowd telling the in crowd what was "hip". That must have been around 1967 and I was about 20 years old and the Pappas twins must have been ancient ~27 year olds (Harry was my age). Forgive my digression here, control is returned to the forum.

 

[DavidKaye]

David, he said ingenuous, which I took to mean simple-minded and unsophisticated. It seems to fit the context better than ingenious.

Oops, you did say "ingenuous". Point taken.

Boss radio seemed ingenuous to me back when KBOS went on the air (not to step on anybody's toes). It seemed like the older crowd telling the in crowd what was "hip".

I remember when some white friends of mine about 10 years ago began using the term "phat" among themselves. It sounded really really stupid. On the other hand, some words endure, such as "cool" and "neat", and even the overused "awesome."

But, oh my, "boss" was tired about 6 months after it came into fashion. I remember when KEWB and KYA used the word and it made me shiver. They may as well have said, "23 skidoo".

 

[1954]

KFWB Switched to the Chuck Blore Color Radio format on Jan 1st or 2nd 1958. KEWB went to that format on June 8, 1959.

 

[LKellerIII]

Boss radio seemed ingenuous to me back when KBOS went on the air (not to step on anybody's toes). It seemed like the older crowd telling the in crowd what was "hip".

I remember when some white friends of mine about 10 years ago began using the term "phat" among themselves. It sounded really really stupid. On the other hand, some words endure, such as "cool" and "neat", and even the overused "awesome."

But, oh my, "boss" was tired about 6 months after it came into fashion. I remember when KEWB and KYA used the word and it made me shiver. They may as well have said, "23 skidoo".

Agreed. As clever as Drake was, it was odd that "Boss Radio," The "Boss 30," and "Boss Jocks" stayed in use at KHJ and other Drake stations until 1970 - about 4 years after the word went out of fashion. Remember how cringe-worthy "Far out!" became in the 70s - especially after John Denver made it his catch-phrase? Same with "Boss." It gave credence to the detractors who claimed KHJ was the station for for "teeny boppers" and the clueless. Though it was pretty cool when The Real Don Steele yelled "Three Oh-Clock in Boss Angeles..."

An interesting piece of trivia. Legend has it that the KHJ staffer credited with advocating the slogan "Boss Radio" to Drake and Ron Jacobs was Clancy Imusland, an RKO employee on the KHJ sales staff. Imusland had been a homeless alcoholic, and had become clean and sober a bit before his time at KHJ. Later, he dedicated his life to helping others, and was a founder of the Midnight Mission, where he remains as Director to this day.

http://www.midnightmission.org/media-stories.asp?story=imislundinterview&front=1

 

[recto101]

I did see some airchecks that Charlie Van Dyke bounced between RKO/Boss Drake Stations like WRKO, KHJ and CKLW in the 1970's before he became the Local TV News Voiceover artist and the VO for KRTH in the 1980's- Present. But also I noticed that KYNO Fresno in 1966 had the "Real Pete McNeil Show" At first I thought it was rip-off of Real Don Steele of 93KHJ and K-Earth 101 but they were real. But the Jingle that KYNO had was "The Big 13" based off the "Big 610" theme from KFRC and "KY-NO Number one" that was later used on the "K-Earth 101" jingle.

http://airchexx.com/2011/05/01/johnny-hall-1300-kyno-fresno-sometime-1968/

http://airchexx.com/2009/08/02/the-real-paul-mcneil-on-kyno-fresno-1967/

I also do know that Bobby Ocean, Beau Weaver, and Rick Shaw (KIOI DJ) bounced between RKO/Boss/ Drake stations like KFRC, KHJ, KGB, KILT, WOR. in the 1970's to make the Top 40 Boss/Drake brand consistant a but I noticed when I heard Ocean on KHJ
he Sounded boring but when I hear the KFRC airchecks and KOIT on Bobby Ocean he was way more exciting. I know Ocean was exciting on KGB and KCBQ too! Rick Shaw was exciting on KILT The Big 610 but calmed down once he went to KYUU and KIOI in the 1980's and 1990's
http://airchexx.com/2011/01/26/quickcheck-position-93-sampler-khj-los-angeles-early-1978/




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv5KwAwtRxg
And heres the the aircheck of Shotgun Tom Kelly on 1360 KGB in 1972 He is very exciting in the 1970's like he is today on KRTH 101.

I noticed that WOR-FM 98.7 Boss Radio in 1967 was on FM back then while most RKO/Boss Top 40 stations was on AM. With exceptions of KRTH 101.1 (Oldies/ AC) and KFRC-FM 106.1 (Automated).