KFRC IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[yourmom]

Oldies stations from surrounding counties were always superior. They were:


KMGG-FM Somona County

KMGG is now the river, I know, I worked with Johnny Mack in the mornings at KMGG in 97-98

 

[paulsecic]

"I have always been perplexed as to why so many people liked KFRC. I thought it was a weak oldies outlet. The playlist was too small and the DJ's were decent at best."

That really depends on when you heard KFRC. It was around as an oldies outlet for a long time...somebody else will remember exactly, but I'm guessing 12 years. I can't recall who the original owner was, but Infinity was the second, then Viacom/CBS after they sucked up Infinity. Toward the end...maybe 2003 and onward, the playlist was cut to K-Earth size, and even the better DJs sounded like they were phoning it in. It really was pretty pathetic. But in the mid and late 90s in particular, they had a larger playlist, and some good DJs...though granted, Cammy and (fill in name here) were always hard to listen to. Some of the good DJs- Ocean, of course, JD (without Cammy), Candi Chamberlin, Tom Benner, Jim Dyngler (early on), and I will think of others later.

RKO was the original owner.

 

[LKellerIII]

"RKO was the original owner."

Yes - RKO General was the owner of 610/KFRC in its Top 40 days - I believe they had owned the station since the 1940s, possibly earlier, along with Bill Drake "flagship" station KHJ AM, KHJ-FM (later KRTH), and KHJ-TV9 in Los Angeles. RKO also owned KFRC-FM 106.1 before the brainiacs sold it in the late 70s to the company that started KMEL. But they never owned 99.7. As I remember it (and I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong), 610AM was running standards as "Magic 61" in the late 80s and into 1990 or 1991. The company that bought X-100 (99.7) - I guess it's either Evergreen or Bedford - also bought 610AM from RKO, dumped the standards and ran Oldies as a simulcast from the get-go.

David (Boss Radio DJ). Look - we're thrilled that you have a new baby, but we need your expertise, and you're going to have to stop using that baby as an excuse to avoid commitment to the radionerds. Where are your priorities, man?

 

[bcradiodj]

Here's the order so pay attention, 99.7 was owned by NBC prior to September 1988, then Emmis 9/88-1/91, Peter Bedford-Bedford Broadcasting 1/91-92, then John Hayes-Alliance Broadcasting and finally Infinity Broadcasting which morfed into CBS Radio.
Also, if memory serves me, Brian Thomas was PD 1994-2003 (now PD at JACK-FM NYC) when it sounded best in my opinion, then Tim Maranville 2003 -2004, Bob Harlow 2004-05, and finally Mike Preston when it became more of a Classic Hits until Moovin' 9/22/06.
Any questions?

 

[DougR]

Any questions?

Yes, when will we all understand this is a garbage, made up, lie of a thread?

Nice history of a station, but is not going to happen. Now let me get back to my weekend club that is spinning 70's songs like was promised in the original post. Where is that again? Since there is not one in the Bay Area.

 

[Anonymous Deejay]

of course he'd want to come back - i still think that parker (or??), to ocean to chase and then i would let someone else take on the night / overnight suggestion .... the ones i can think of are no longer with us and the others, well .... i'll stick solid with the ocean to chase thing, parker and cammie (or) cammie & .... but how fun ... cosmic ocean into the chase ... real good old radio as we knew it!​

Paul Christy (Eric Chase) is at KHTZ in Houston. Do you think he'd want to come back to KFRC?

 

[Anonymous Deejay]

i dunno ... something IS definitely up. the suits are already meeting (today i know of a meeting with 3 cbs biggies for lunch with some deejay talent) with top names, some mentioned in earlier posts, some not mentioned at all. don't know what's up, but when i hear or someone else hears, then we'll all know ....

Any questions?

Yes, when will we all understand this is a garbage, made up, lie of a thread?

Nice history of a station, but is not going to happen. Now let me get back to my weekend club that is spinning 70's songs like was promised in the original post. Where is that again? Since there is not one in the Bay Area.

 

[LKellerIII]

"Yes, when will we all understand this is a garbage, made up, lie of a thread? Nice history of a station, but is not going to happen."

Yes - threads like this are hard to believe. You know, just 3 or 4 months ago, people were speculating that Entercomm would flip Max-FM to country. Country music back in the Bay Area? For the second time on the same frequency, yet! Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous?

Seriously though - I think most of us are taking the original post with a grain of salt, but the speculation itself is interesting.

 

[radio dx]

"So Now You Know"!

 

[its time w (your name)]

Paul Christy (Eric Chase) is at KHTZ in Houston. Do you think he'd want to come back to KFRC?

For the right money? .... mmm hmmm... fyi, its "KHTC." I think I'd go just to do nights. Wonder how old you have to be? Wouldnt be the 1st time I was the young guy on an "oldies" station.

 

[paulsecic]

"RKO was the original owner."

Yes - RKO General was the owner of 610/KFRC in its Top 40 days - I believe they had owned the station since the 1940s, possibly earlier, along with Bill Drake "flagship" station KHJ AM, KHJ-FM (later KRTH), and KHJ-TV9 in Los Angeles. RKO also owned KFRC-FM 106.1 before the brainiacs sold it in the late 70s to the company that started KMEL. But they never owned 99.7. As I remember it (and I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong), 610AM was running standards as "Magic 61" in the late 80s and into 1990 or 1991. The company that bought X-100 (99.7) - I guess it's either Evergreen or Bedford - also bought 610AM from RKO, dumped the standards and ran Oldies as a simulcast from the get-go.

David (Boss Radio DJ). Look - we're thrilled that you have a new baby, but we need your expertise, and you're going to have to stop using that baby as an excuse to avoid commitment to the radionerds. Where are your priorities, man?

I remember my mom listening to a man on KFRC in the car, in the mid 50's. George Ruggy sp? Does anyone remember him? I think he worked at KYA before Rock n Roll took over.

 

[mikecroaro]

When 1470 was KQPT the oldies played were horrible!

KQPT "Cruisin 1470" was an excellent radio station. Their playlist was very similiar to the former KOFY 1050, San Francisco. Sorry to hear you didn't like their list. It was made up very heavily of late 50's and early 60's.

Mike

 

[LKellerIII]

"I remember my mom listening to a man on KFRC in the car, in the mid 50's. George Ruggy sp? Does anyone remember him? I think he worked at KYA before Rock n Roll took over."

I don't know that name...it was before my time in the Bay Area. It seems like I've heard about some pre-Top 40 KFRC airchecks out there on the internet. I just checked the Bay Area Radio Museum, which doesn't seem to have anything pre-Drake, other than a couple of Seals games. The historical item I hear mentioned most is that Merv Griffin got his professional show-biz start on KFRC in the 1940s as the house singer. Merv grew up in San Mateo. This was back in the day when many radio stations had live in-house bands.

Before the change to Top 40, KFRC and KHJ were both MOR format, but getting buried in the ratings by more popular MOR stations, primarily KMPC in Los Angeles and probably KSFO up here. My parents loved KHJ, and their favorite morning show was Steve Allen. They were very upset when it went Top 40.

 

[LKellerIII]

"I remember my mom listening to a man on KFRC in the car, in the mid 50's. George Ruggy sp? Does anyone remember him? I think he worked at KYA before Rock n Roll took over."

paulsecic: Call me weird, but I had some time to kill - The Bay Area Radio Museum has jpegs of old newspaper radio program listings, and I found George Ruge (one "g") in a 1958 listing for KYA. I googled that name, and a few matches came back - he's in a group called Bay Area Radio Legends, though no biographical info was provided. He worked at KYA, KFRC, and was apparently News Director at KGO - according to a blog by a reporter working at KGO. This reporter was outed as gay after being arrested in a 1966 police raid, and was subsequently fired by Ruge, according to his account. Wikipedia lists Ruge as a prominent resident of Marin County, along with many others, living and dead.

There is also an imdb listing for George Marshall Ruge - a Hollywood stunt coordinator born in San Francisco in 1952. His son, perhaps.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

I remember my mom listening to a man on KFRC in the car, in the mid 50's. George Ruggy sp? Does anyone remember him? I think he worked at KYA before Rock n Roll took over.

That would be George Ruge (pronounced "Rooggy"). He can be heard doing the news during Van Amburg's show on KFRC, streamable on the museum website:

http://tinyurl.com/hsvp4

DJ

 

[LKellerIII]

"That would be George Ruge (pronounced "Rooggy"). He can be heard doing the news during Van Amburg's show on KFRC, streamable on the museum website."

Wow - thanks David. I don't know how I missed it when I was looking for pre-"Big 610" airchecks earlier. What a trip back to the world of MOR radio. It's hard to believe it's the same Van "if it bleeds, it leads" Amburg from the Channel 7 "NewsScene" of just a few years later. KFRC in those days didn't yet include all of the formatting conventions we've gotten so used to over the past 4 decades. I think Van only mentioned the call-letters twice - once in the top of the hour ID. The pace is glacial. The best MOR DJs (Gary Owens, Don Sherwood, etc.) talked a lot, but they kept you laughing and kept the pace moving. Many of the others, like Van here, just blathered on.

Loved the commercial for Barry Goldwater's presidential campaign. And the dry cleaning business with the "TEmplebar" phone number, pre all-digit dialing. Quite a mouthful.

 

[DavidSC]

Somebody mentioned KABX Merced as being better than KFRC : : :. I haven't heard it in the last few years but in the 1990s I found it hard to listen to. I found myself listening to poor reception from KFRC AM or Fresno's 92.9 KFSO which was a great oldies station until Clear Channel put their stamp of bland on it, lost ratings, and switched to Spanish Oldies.

Maybe Mapelton has done something to make KABX better.

 

[paulsecic]

I remember my mom listening to a man on KFRC in the car, in the mid 50's. George Ruggy sp? Does anyone remember him? I think he worked at KYA before Rock n Roll took over.

That would be George Ruge (pronounced "Rooggy"). He can be heard doing the news during Van Amburg's show on KFRC, streamable on the museum website:

http://tinyurl.com/hsvp4

DJ

Yup that's him.. Rooooggy. That's how he prounced his name, back in the day... I'm 59. Oldie!

 

[mikecroaro]

Somebody mentioned KABX Merced as being better than KFRC : : :. I haven't heard it in the last few years but in the 1990s I found it hard to listen to. I found myself listening to poor reception from KFRC AM or Fresno's 92.9 KFSO which was a great oldies station until Clear Channel put their stamp of bland on it, lost ratings, and switched to Spanish Oldies.

Maybe Mapelton has done something to make KABX better.

I listened to KABX-FM back around 1998-2001. The plaulist was strictly 50's & 60's and was fairly large. Heard many hit songs the KFRC had long refused to play. They had a great mid-day DJ named Tanya Grant. I admit I haven't heard the station for a couple of years now.

Mike

 

[philjock]

whatever happened to the old kfrc mobile studio? when i was a kid, that thing was the ****!