KLIF Last Top 40 Days

[llih222]

How did KLIF do as a Top 40 station in the 70s? Also who was the last jock to play a Top 40 song. Anyone remember the last song played before going country. Did they do a big farwell or just switch over. Or were the ratings so low at that time no one noticed. How did they do as a country station? Did the numbers go up or down after the switch. I remember Bill Mack did mornings for a while. Also remember the billboards and bumper stickers from the country days.One sticker I still have says If today was a fish I'd throw it back in Country songs tell a story on KLIF.

 

[abcdj]

> How did KLIF do as a Top 40 station in the 70s? Also who was
> the last jock to play a Top 40 song. Anyone remember the
> last song played before going country. Did they do a big
> farwell or just switch over. Or were the ratings so low at
> that time no one noticed. How did they do as a country
> station? Did the numbers go up or down after the switch. I
> remember Bill Mack did mornings for a while. Also remember
> the billboards and bumper stickers from the country days.One
> sticker I still have says If today was a fish I'd throw it
> back in Country songs tell a story on KLIF.
>
In the early 70's KLIF was still number one for a while, but the dramatic moves began when McLendon sold KLIF in early 72. They lost the Cowboys that year too. KNUS impacted the market in the Spring of '72 as well specifically targetting KLIF. Until that time KLIF had basically all of the Top 40 market cornered. It began to erode and then shortly thereafter KVIL sold and a serious effort promotionally was put on by them beginning their climb. This, coupled with Fairchild's ownership of KLIF was disastrous. They were an aerospace company with no prior broadcast intrests and it showed rather dramatically. They just didn't know what they were doing or how to run a radio station. Despite FM penetration in the market, they should have competed more agressively at a time when they began competing less aggresively.
In 76 they were in agreement to buy 102.9 FM to create a KLIF AM/FM. The deal was signed but somehow it didn't go through. That truly would have been the only saving grace for KLIF at the time - moving KLIF programming to FM like several legendary top 40's did at the time.
By late 76 the station was losing listeners in droves. Despite a reincarnation of KLIF effort in 1977 with RKO consulting and Charlie Van Dyke and other high profile jocks onboard, management just did not have to foresight to understand at the time that AM music radio at the time was dead in the water. Despite a slight recovery, all serious efforts were abandoned in early 78 and by 79 there was basically nothing left of its former glory.

 

[edwardrmurrow]

In 1977 Ed Routt was the GM of KLIF, and Jim Davis(not the actor on "Dallas")was the PD. Ed believed in promotions very heavily, andstarted the " Ilove you Dallas" Parties with Randy Robbins as the host. They were highly successful.KLIF had the energy, and was still going strong, and Charlie van Dyke was brought aboard, Bob Schuman was the News Director,Dallas Police Officer Charlie Deaton did traffic,Harry Nelson was afternoons. The air team was solid. The monday after Thanksgiving 1977 Ed Routt was fired, Jim Davis and Charlie Van Dyke were in Nashville, and John Tyler(the one who later would create Satellite MusicRadio later ABC satellite)was the new GM.He called a staff meeting of everyone including Joe Price the custodian.He said changes would be made and he will not accept any "BS" Jim and Charlie caught the next plane from Nashville. The following day Jim was fired, Charlie was made PD. London and Engleman were hired to do mornings,along with Allen Farmer and Jake Roberts(?) from KFWD(Which became KTXQ-Q102)doing middays and afternoons in the ensuing months. On that monday after Thanksgivng meeting Randy Robbins spoke up and asked John Tyler"is the format going to change and are we losing our jobs?" John said no immediate changes and everyone's jobs were secured. He then took everyone to the Adolphus for lunch. In a few months in addition to above hirings,Randy Robbins was fired. Bob Schuman was fired.Cat Simon was hired away from KNUS. Charlie Deaton was fired and replaced by Dick Siegel. Mike Snyder(ch.5) was promoted to News Director.Promotions were cut and a storeroom of giveaways were locked up. The KLIF "Headliner" van was rarely used and fell into a state of disrepair. There were four news vehicles (Chev. blazers I believe)only one was kept. In 1978 disco was the hot format. KVIL promoted itself as "Studio 103" a take off on the famed NYC disco "Studio 54" KLIF in a "Brilliant stroke of genius <sarcasm>; decided to have a program orignate from a club at the European Crossroads complex called the Number 3 lift.The show was a line to the Club dj's mixing board with little commercial interuption. The person running the show was none other than Dick Siegel who didn't have a kind thing to say about it. The show was short lived. The station then changed formatsin'79 to a Middle of the road format(soft AC)Cat Simon was not happy and upset that callers told him he sucked His ego didn't allow for that,a year or so soon after he left to go to KVIL.I was there and saw it. The format failed after a year. Charlie Van Dyke left around '79 and headed back to L.A.then Country started. <P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by edwardrmurrow on 06/02/05 07:45 PM.</FONT></P>

 

[stretcharmstrong]

> In 1977 Ed Routt was the GM of KLIF, and Jim Davis(not the
> actor on "Dallas")was the PD. Ed believed in promotions very
> heavily, andstarted the " Ilove you Dallas" Parties with
> Randy Robbins as the host. They were highly successful.KLIF
> had the energy, and was still going strong, and Charlie van
> Dyke was brought aboard, Bob Schuman was the News
> Director,Dallas Police Officer Charlie Deaton did
> traffic,Harry Nelson was afternoons. The air team was solid.
> The monday after Thanksgiving 1977 Ed Routt was fired, Jim
> Davis and Charlie Van Dyke were in Nashville, and John
> Tyler(the one who later would create Satellite MusicRadio
> later ABC satellite)was the new GM.He called a staff meeting
> of everyone including Joe Price the custodian.He said
> changes would be made and he will not accept any "BS" Jim
> and Charlie caught the next plane from Nashville. The
> following day Jim was fired, Charlie was made PD. London and
> Engleman were hired to do mornings,along with Randy Farmer
> and another talent from KFWD(Which became KTXQ-Q102)doing
> middays and afternoons in the ensuing months. On that monday
> after Thanksgivng meeting Randy Robbins spoke up and asked
> John Tyler"is the format going to change and are we losing
> our jobs?" John said no immediate changes and everyone's
> jobs were secured. He then took everyone to the Adolphus for
> lunch. In a few months in addition to above hirings,Randy
> Robbins was fired. Bob Schuman was fired.Cat Simon was hired
> away from KNUS. Charlie Deaton was fired and replaced by
> Dick Siegel. Mike Snyder(ch.5) was promoted to News
> Director.Promotions were cut and a storeroom of giveaways
> were locked up. The KLIF "Headliner" van was rarely used and
> fell into a state of disrepair. There were four news
> vehicles (Chev. blazers I believe)only one was kept. In 1978
> disco was the hot format. KVIL promoted itself as "Studio
> 103" a take off on the famed NYC disco "Studio 54" KLIF in a
> "Brilliant stroke of genius

Wow, I feel depressed just reading that.

 

[jd]

There are some gliches in the post, mainly dealing with the chronology, but basically it's a good description. I hesitate to call them errors because it was quite a few years ago and the timelime can become a little blurred. Ed's post captures the mood of the staff and management's desparation that characterized the Mighty 1190's final days. If you feel depressed just by reading it, you should have been there. You would have been bordering on suicidal. It was sad for all involved.

 

[twidget]

> How did KLIF do as a Top 40 station in the 70s? Also who was
> the last jock to play a Top 40 song. Anyone remember the
> last song played before going country. Did they do a big
> farwell or just switch over. Or were the ratings so low at
> that time no one noticed. How did they do as a country
> station? Did the numbers go up or down after the switch. I
> remember Bill Mack did mornings for a while. Also remember
> the billboards and bumper stickers from the country days.One
> sticker I still have says If today was a fish I'd throw it
> back in Country songs tell a story on KLIF.
>

Dick Seigel did the last R&R show on the Mighty 1190 KLIF. Mike Seldon handed him the reigns at 6 p.m. He did the show until 3:30 a.m. when the country switch was made. It was Don Harris who did mornings on country, not Unca Bill Mack.

 

[dakaree]

> There are some gliches in the post, mainly dealing with the
> chronology, but basically it's a good description. I
> hesitate to call them errors because it was quite a few
> years ago and the timelime can become a little blurred. Ed's
> post captures the mood of the staff and management's
> desparation that characterized the Mighty 1190's final days.
> If you feel depressed just by reading it, you should have
> been there. You would have been bordering on suicidal. It
> was sad for all involved.
>
I remember in '78 or '79 sitting in with the Cuz. He asked me to go back to the cart racks and pick him out a "million seller". I went through row after row of carts until I finally found one. At one time, just a couple years earlier, it would have been impossible to go through just one row in a rack without finding half a dozen million sellers. That was the shape their music was in at the end of KLIF days.