KHJ

[carlson]

any one rembere this station it was a good top 40 radio station

 

[semoochie]

That's the best line I've ever heard!

 

[fatman]

Hmm... what is this mysterious KHJ of which you speak?

 

[Garrett]

Jingle (Sing)"Boss Radio... 93 K-H-J !"

 

[fatman]

Tina Delgado is alive, ALIVE!!

 

[dbdigital]

Here's a great site on KHJ's boss radio days:

http://www.bossradioforever.com/

There was a time when KHJ, KMPC and KRLA were all competing for young listeners with great formats and phenomenal DJs. For me, that era was the high water mark of LA radio.

db

 

[ronkaram]

Never KMPC, it was a MOR station. The others besides KRLA were KFWB and KBLA.

 

[Hunter]

Here's a great site on KHJ's boss radio days:

http://www.bossradioforever.com/

There was a time when KHJ, KMPC and KRLA were all competing for young listeners with great formats and phenomenal DJs. For me, that era was the high water mark of LA radio.

db

KHJ was awesome...Ron, Bill, etc. invented a better Top 40 product....But their SF sister, KFRC perfected it in the 70's. Top 40 radio didn't get any better, anywhere than at the Big 610.

 

[doublecashkgb]

Here's a great site on KHJ's boss radio days:

http://www.bossradioforever.com/

There was a time when KHJ, KMPC and KRLA were all competing for young listeners with great formats and phenomenal DJs. For me, that era was the high water mark of LA radio.

db

KHJ was awesome...Ron, Bill, etc. invented a better Top 40 product....But their SF sister, KFRC perfected it in the 70's. Top 40 radio didn't get any better, anywhere than at the Big 610.

I don't think so, it's revisionist thinking. KFRC was simply were around a lot longer due to San Francisco's FM reception problems, AM stations could still be competitive into the the late 70's & early 80's. Fm didn't really become dominant in the Bay Area until the mid 80's which is bizzare.

The truth is except for Doctor Don(who was the heart of KFRC in the 70's), the jocks were good but not as great as you remember them. KHJ on the other hand had superstars like Morgan, Humble Harve, Mahcine Gun Kelly & Steele, KFRC never had anything like that. Most of the KFRC jocks were waiting to work in LA. KFRC had the best processing and a great signal so it inflated the actual sound of a lot of jocks.

KFRC had it easy, KYA had a terrible signal, FM Top 40 basically was nil, no Ten-Q, KKDJ, or KFI in the 70's to come along & try to knock them off. Its really apples & oranges. Plus KHJ was the innovator, I can't think of anything KFRC started. Don't get me wrong, great station with some great talent, just not in the same league as the Big 93.

 

[michael hagerty]

The truth is except for Doctor Don(who was the heart of KFRC in the 70's), the jocks were good but not as great as you remember them. KHJ on the other hand had superstars like Morgan, Humble Harve, Mahcine Gun Kelly & Steele, KFRC never had anything like that. Most of the KFRC jocks were waiting to work in LA. KFRC had the best processing and a great signal so it inflated the actual sound of a lot of jocks.

KFRC had it easy, KYA had a terrible signal, FM Top 40 basically was nil, no Ten-Q, KKDJ, or KFI in the 70's to come along & try to knock them off. Its really apples & oranges. Plus KHJ was the innovator, I can't think of anything KFRC started. Don't get me wrong, great station with some great talent, just not in the same league as the Big 93.

My take has always been that KHJ was the better station in the 60s and early 70s, but in the post-Drake era , it was KFRC. KHJ lost Morgan, Drake and Steele just as Michael Spears was arriving at KFRC in the summer of '73. They went through three PDs (Paul Drew, Sean Conrad and Gerry Cagle) in a year and a half before settling on a fourth (Charlie Van Dyke) who finally righted the ship and...for two and a half years...put on a show as good as KFRC's, using some KFRC talent (Bobby Ocean, Shana and Beau Weaver, not to mention Bob Kanner's engineering magic).

When Van Dyke left, Spears came to L.A. but only lasted six months before John Sebastian deconstructed what was left of Boss Radio. He was there a year, followed by Chuck Martin, who gave it all he had, but it was too late. 18 months and then Country. All that turmoil occurred largely within the tenure of a single KFRC PD...Les Garland...who managed to keep KFRC on track.

As for competition, KFRC did have the signal advantage over KYA (and only one attempt at FM Top 40 from KSFX...using KFRC refugees Bob Foster, Kevin McCarthy and Jack Friday), but let's not overestimate the effect of competition on KHJ. KKDJ got as high as 12th, but KHJ stayed #1. K-100's arrival simply split the FM Top 40 audience and both they and KKDJ settled in at #26. KHJ...still #1. TenQ only got within a point of KHJ once before Sebastian's arrival. Same with KFI...it only became a horse race after Sebastian's radical format adjustment.

And the jocks (post-Drake)? Well, lessee....

Dr. Don Rose vs. Charlie Van Dyke: A tie...both tremendous...but very different.
Dr. Don Rose vs. Charlie Tuna: I'd vote for DDR, but it's close. (KFRC)
Dr. Don Rose vs. The True Don Bleu: DDR. (KFRC)
Dr. Don Rose vs. Rick Dees: DDR. Especially then. (KFRC)

Larry McKay vs. Bobby Ocean: Osh. (KFRC)
Mark Elliott vs. John Mack Flanagan: Elliott's damn near perfect. John Mack has heart. A tie.
Mark Elliott vs. Rick Shaw: Mark. (KHJ)
Dr. John Leader vs. Big Tom Parker: Parker. (KFRC)

Danny Martinez vs. Bobby Ocean: Ocean. (KFRC)
Danny Martinez vs. John Mack Flanagan: Flanagan. (KFRC)
Danny Martinez vs. Rick Shaw: Rick. (KFRC)
Bobby Ocean vs. Rick Shaw: Ocean. (KHJ)

Barry Kaye vs. Eric Chase: Chase. (KFRC)
Brother Tom Dooley vs. Chuck Buell: Chuck. (KFRC)
Machine Gun Kelly vs. Chuck Buell: A tie.
Machine Gun Kelly vs. John Mack Flanagan: A tie.
The Unknown Disc Jockey vs. John Mack Flanagan: Flanagan (KFRC)

Brother Tom Dooley vs. Tom Kennedy: Kennedy. (KFRC)
Machine Gun Kelly vs. Marvelous Mark McKay: Gunner. (KHJ)
Billy Pearl vs. Marvelous Mark: Pearl. (KHJ)
Dr. John Leader vs. Marvelous Mark: Leader. (KHJ)
Mason Dixon vs. Marvelous Mark: Mark. (KFRC)
Dave Conley vs. Marvelous Mark: Conley. (KHJ)

Bobby Rich vs. Kevin McCarthy: Bobby. (KHJ)
Tony Mann vs. Ed O'Brien: Ed. (KFRC)
J.B. Stone vs. Don Sainte-Johnn: Sainte-Johnn. (KFRC)
Dave Sebastian vs. Don Sainte-Johnn: Sainte-Johnn. (KFRC)
Shana vs. Don Sainte-Johnn: Sainte-Johnn. (KFRC)

Johnny Williams vs. Mike Novak: I love Novak, but Johnny was the best. (KHJ)
Paul Freeman vs. Shana: Paul. (KHJ)
Shana vs. Sally Adams: Shana. (KHJ)



---Michael Hagerty

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

My take has always been that KHJ was the better station in the 60s and early 70s, but in the post-Drake era , it was KFRC.

Perhaps you can clear up something for me in terms of KHJ's engineering during its heydey. I've heard that the audio chain was very plain vanilla -- just a traditional Audimax/Volumax pair and nothing more. But then again, other sources claim that all kinds of sophisticated multi-band processing was used to give 930 a distinct sound.

 

[davideduardo]

Perhaps you can clear up something for me in terms of KHJ's engineering during its heydey. I've heard that the audio chain was very plain vanilla -- just a traditional Audimax/Volumax pair and nothing more. But then again, other sources claim that all kinds of sophisticated multi-band processing was used to give 930 a distinct sound.

A lot of the old processing was still there when I was PD at KHJ... while there was probably not much else available in 1965, by the time the technology evolved in the early 70's the engineers did a lot of modifications and were very early on the multiband processors.

 

[wgliradio]

KHJ was awesome...Ron, Bill, etc. invented a better Top 40 product....But their SF sister, KFRC perfected it in the 70's. Top 40 radio didn't get any better, anywhere than at the Big 610.

Too bad nobody visited Chicago, Detroit, Philly & New York. I'd think you'd rephrase your comment.

 

[michael hagerty]

My take has always been that KHJ was the better station in the 60s and early 70s, but in the post-Drake era , it was KFRC.

Perhaps you can clear up something for me in terms of KHJ's engineering during its heydey. I've heard that the audio chain was very plain vanilla -- just a traditional Audimax/Volumax pair and nothing more. But then again, other sources claim that all kinds of sophisticated multi-band processing was used to give 930 a distinct sound.

True until 1976. PD Charlie Van Dyke had RKO send Bob Kanner down from KFRC. In '75, Kanner built a multi-band processor...I believe it was nine bands plus the mic channel...all processed separately. KFRC's audio was incredible, and he built a second box for KHJ, and spent some time taking out anything that could add noise or distortion. For example, Kanner set up the production turntables so that when they carted the music, the signal went straight from the tonearm.

Kanner's homemade box was radical at the time, but quickly became the model for the Orban Optimod and as such, an industry standard.

---Michael Hagerty

 

[michael hagerty]

KHJ was awesome...Ron, Bill, etc. invented a better Top 40 product....But their SF sister, KFRC perfected it in the 70's. Top 40 radio didn't get any better, anywhere than at the Big 610.

Too bad nobody visited Chicago, Detroit, Philly & New York. I'd think you'd rephrase your comment.

Never been to any of those four cities, but through the magic of airchecks, have heard WLS, WCFL, WKNR, CKLW, WFIL, WIBG, WINS, WMCA, WABC, WOR-FM (and later 99X). All great radio stations. And while I'm a huge KFRC fan, I will grant you (and DoublecashKGB) this: KFRC's peak was accentuated by the fact that it occurred during the decline of AM Top 40 elsewhere. When KFRC was at its best (1973-1983), none of the above stations were at theirs.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

PD Charlie Van dyke had RKO send Bob Kanner down from KFRC. In '75, Kanner built a multi-band processor...I believe it was nine bands plus the mic channel...all processed separately. KFRC's audio was incredible, and he built a second box for KHJ, and spent some time taking out anything that could add noise or distortion. For example, Kanner set up the production turntables so that when they carted the music, the signal went straight from the tonearm.

Michael (and or David) --

Thanks for the info. Forgive me if I take too much of your time, but that turntable configuration piqued my interest. Was it set up so that the preamp went directly to the cart machine?

 

[LKellerIII]

I have to agree with Michael Hagarty. During the Drake era, KHJ was the flagship, and naturally the innovator. But from 73 on, KFRC was the better station, in my opinion. In the late 70s (I think, Michael would remember the year) they morphed into a top 40-soul-funk format that was terrific, and somewhat imitated by KMEL a few years later. As a listener in those days, I would often think that they would have been unbeatable if they had an FM stereo signal. So it wasn't just the delayed dominance of FM in the Bay Area that made KFRC great

 

[partyshark]

Early to mid 80's...Chuck Geiger was GREAT!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u__h5Q7Dc2Y&mode=related&search

 

[Hunter]

I have to agree with Michael Hagarty. During the Drake era, KHJ was the flagship, and naturally the innovator. But from 73 on, KFRC was the better station, in my opinion.

Lkeller & Michael Hagarty, thanks for your input. Right after I hit the "post" button I realized, that being on the LA board, I was tredding on sacred ground suggesting KFRC perfected what KHJ started. Doublecash may not agree, but any station that wins Billboard Mag Major Market Station of the year 7 years in a row, and that had loads of talent as Michael pointed out in a previous post, must be doing something right. To his list, I'd also like to add Bill Lee and Jackson Armstrong (on KFRC in the early 80's), as some of the best talent ever to blast out over a Top 40 station.

Having grown up listening to KHJ in the late 60's (including airchecks of mid 60's) and KFRC from '73 to the early 80's, it is my humble little opinion that 610 clearly edged out KHJ in their respective heydays.

 

[michael hagerty]

Michael (and or David) --

Thanks for the info. Forgive me if I take too much of your time, but that turntable configuration piqued my interest. Was it set up so that the preamp went directly to the cart machine?

Bob: I called Van Dyke to ask for clarification and found I got it wrong...it was KLIF, Dallas that did that. Charlie tells me KHJ's music was carted through the production board.

Oops.

---Michael Hagerty