KGEN Country and KEAP Country

[mofocat]

Wasn't KGEN Tulare the first broadcast outlet Pappas owned? In the early 60's there weren't a lot of Country music stations in the Fresno, Visalia, Tulare, Hanford area. KJUG and KSKS (K-sucks) were late comers, even if they do rule now. Before Buck Owens became the king of Bakersfield radio there was KGEN Country in Tulare and KEAP Country in Fresno In the interest of local radio history, can someone share what they remember of either KEAP or KGEN when they were the prime country music stations in the area? What other stations were playing country before 1968 when KMAK and KCOK brought a more modern country sound to this part of the valley? Who were the jocks on KGEN and KEAP in the early 60's. If you've got stories, let us hear 'em. What choices were there here for country music on the radio in the mid-late 50's and early sixties?

 

[KBOS1965]

KGEN was the first Pappas owned station. I went to work for them as a part-time DJ and engineer in 1965. They had been there for less than a year at that time, but the station had been around for a while before they took over. Harry Pappas was Secretary Treasurer of the operation, and got involved in all phases of the operation, including DJ shifts as "Harry Holiday". "Buckshot Brown" was the sales guy, and also on-air talent. John Moline was the chief engineer, and he also did on-air shifts as "Marshal Moline". Pete's wife, Bessie Pappas, ran the office, and wrote copmmercial copy. I can't quite recall the name of the PD. He came from Las Vegas with the Pappas's. They were a great bunch to work with. Everyone was considered part of the family. When I tried to leave to go to work for KDFR (later became KJUG) they convinced me that I honestly was part of their family, and they gave me all the opportunity and more than I could have gotten at the other station.

Casey Santos, Doug Dillon, Gary D. Gilbert, Larry Polmeri, and "Lonesome George" Tschumy all did time there.

Sometime around 1967 the Pappas's decided to try out "all girl radio" on KGEN-FM, and changed the call letters to KBOS at the same time. John Moline and I rode herd on (babysat) the girls to get them trained and up to speed. The programming on KGEN continued unchanged when the FM went in the new direction.

 

[KBOS1965]

I was mulling over what stories could actually be told without potentially hurting people that I care about. Maybe, If I don't mention the actual names.

KGEN was maybe a little different than most places, in that a lot of people were given opportunities that they wouldn't have otherwise gotten. There were people that decided to try something new, without having any experience to back it up, and there were people that used up their other options in the business. We probably know about DJ's that got canned because drugs and alcohol got in the way of doing their job, and there were a few of those. As long as they did their job at KGEN, they got one more chance to prove themselves. I heard a commotion one night and looked out the back door to see one of these guys so drunk he could barely stand up. He was taking a leak against the back of the building, not being able to make it as far as the indoor toilet. He was coming in to record some spots, and it took him quite a while to get them right. He didn't show up one morning to sign the station on the air. I was finishing up a 12 hour shift having done the evening board shift on KGEN-FM, and working the rest of the night on some engineering tasks. Knowing this guy, I decided to wait until the last minute, before going home. When sign-on time came, I stepped in and started his show. When he did come in, he practically kissed my feet. It made it possible to hang onto his job a little longer.

Another one of these guys, with loads of talent, got fired from the top station in Bakersfield, and ended up at KGEN. He lasted until the day that he tried to cheat the coke machine using the center decoration from one of the console knobs as a dime substitute. As soon as the staff figured out what happened, the guy was marched out the door.

Another guy had been a successful businessman in the area. I happened to know his family, having gone to school with his kids. His wife died in an accident that seemed a little suspicious. The whole family was destroyed by the incident. None of them were the same afterwards. The guy struggled to find himself again, and found himself sitting behind the mike at KGEN. He turned out to be a popular personality, and had a good run at KGEN.

I was doing a Sunday afternoon shift, and someone called in looking for baseball scores. I ran to the teletype machine, and ripped off the scores, ran back to the console, and while I was giving him the info, I screwed up the commercial that was running on the air. I mentioned it to the guy on the phone, and it turned out that I was lucky enough to be talking to the very sponsor whose commercial I just screwed up. I was forgiven on the spot.