KOLA 99.9 Question Oldies from Back then to Today

[Radiofan111]

When did KOLA evolve to its present classic hits formats with more 80's music? BTW... I hear this station EVERYWHERE in the I.E. these days.
and does anyone remember its Satellite format called "Goodtime Oldies" (I Think that was the name??) when its first debuted?

Also alittle KOLA trivia..

Did you know KOLA at one time was a DANCE CHR before its went to Oldies. Yes they were Top 40 back in the day but its last stop before Oldies was Dance. Just a fun alittle fact for you dance fans out there.

 

[RadioFanBoy]

Did you know KOLA at one time was a DANCE CHR before its went to Oldies. Yes they were Top 40 back in the day but its last stop before Oldies was Dance

This is true. 1987-88 kola went head to head with KGGI, and went nowhere fast. Either in late 1988, or early 89 the switch was made to "Oldies Radio" via ABC Satellite Networks. Most times, it sounded horrid. Gaps and gaps of dead air, local spots running on top of each other, D.J's id'ing the station in the middle of songs....several times! Of course, we found out later that the station's main board op was too busy trying to muder the lover of the (then) station owner's estranged wife! Anyhoo, KOLA-FM as we know it today began in the fall of 1993 when the station was sold to Anaheim Broadcasting, the satelitte was cut loose and local talent, and a new music library was brought in. It's gone from "Good Time Rock n Roll" to "Good Time Oldies" to "The Greatest Hits of the 60's and 70's" to "The Greatest Hits of all time" to the current "All Classics All The Time" (the early 80's tracks have been part of the station since the beginning of 07).

 

[Bianco500]

This is true. 1987-88 kola went head to head with KGGI, and went nowhere fast. Either in late 1988, or early 89 the switch was made to "Oldies Radio" via ABC Satellite Networks. Most times, it sounded horrid. Gaps and gaps of dead air, local spots running on top of each other, D.J's id'ing the station in the middle of songs....several times! Of course, we found out later that the station's main board op was too busy trying to muder the lover of the (then) station owner's estranged wife! Anyhoo, KOLA-FM as we know it today began in the fall of 1993 when the station was sold to Anaheim Broadcasting, the satelitte was cut loose and local talent, and a new music library was brought in. It's gone from "Good Time Rock n Roll" to "Good Time Oldies" to "The Greatest Hits of the 60's and 70's" to "The Greatest Hits of all time" to the current "All Classics All The Time" (the early 80's tracks have been part of the station since the beginning of 07).
[/quote]

Really? WOW

So, was the station owner like "paying" the board op for the "hit" or something?

 

[Radiofan111]

Did you know KOLA at one time was a DANCE CHR before its went to Oldies. Yes they were Top 40 back in the day but its last stop before Oldies was Dance

This is true. 1987-88 kola went head to head with KGGI, and went nowhere fast. Either in late 1988, or early 89 the switch was made to "Oldies Radio" via ABC Satellite Networks. Most times, it sounded horrid. Gaps and gaps of dead air, local spots running on top of each other, D.J's id'ing the station in the middle of songs....several times! Of course, we found out later that the station's main board op was too busy trying to muder the lover of the (then) station owner's estranged wife! Anyhoo, KOLA-FM as we know it today began in the fall of 1993 when the station was sold to Anaheim Broadcasting, the satelitte was cut loose and local talent, and a new music library was brought in. It's gone from "Good Time Rock n Roll" to "Good Time Oldies" to "The Greatest Hits of the 60's and 70's" to "The Greatest Hits of all time" to the current "All Classics All The Time" (the early 80's tracks have been part of the station since the beginning of 07).

I know the story on this.
They actually switched to Adult Contempory from Dance Hits in August 1989 for 4 months. Yes there was even a brief format change in between this time period with the oldies format. So They made a big mistake with that format and switch to "COOL GOLD" (OLDIES) using the Satellite network in December 1989. Oh yea the Dance format was kinda like a Power 106 for the I.E. competing against KGGI. They even aired one of Power 106's old shows called "American Dance tracks" on KOLA. The station was poorly ran, mostly automated, sometimes live. I think the Dance format began in Late 1988 from their Top 40 format which they ran for years. I always remember hearing "Batdance" by Prince for the 1st time on KOLA heheh The COOL GOLD format was HORRIBLE. Ran sorta like their Top40 & Dance format but this time you can tell its automated. Cut & Paste commericals. Back to the satellite format. Big Gaps in between the commericals/ID's etc.. Oh yea and Fred Cote was the owner and it was his idea to do Oldies with the satellite format because it was cheap. And you know the rest of the story after 93... KOLA never was the same again

 

[RadioStarOne]

Anyone remember the KOLA "The Pop Sound" days from the middle 70's? When 93 KHJ, KKDJ 102.7 and K100 were alive and well and let's not forget KUTE 102, 102....

 

[RadioFanBoy]

I sure do! In the 70's and early 80's KOLA was "Jack" before anyone even thought of the concept. A single "voice" all day long, they played what they wanted and never took requests! ;D

 

[emailfailed]

I have a question about their signal.

In their survey sheets printed in the 70s KOLA claims to be broadcasting at 33,000 watts (or something like that). Yet I remember in the late 80s during the dance days KOLA was operating at 900 watts.

I know in 1991-er-92 KOLA upgraded to their present signal of 29,500 watts. I recall the big deal being made when that happened.

So... what's the deal? Was the transmitter ever at a different location; was it the scorn of the FCC? Or was this part of the owner's "ways" of broadcasting?

Speaking of their format, there was a time Anaheim Broadcasting wanting to swamp KOLA and KCAL-FM (Anaheims' other owned station) frequencies; KOLA on 96.7 and KCAL on 99.9. This, of course, was going to be done for format purposes to expand KCAL's coverage throughout Southern California. I'd be willing to bet this was going to be a death blow to KCAL assuming they kept with their present format. That said, I'm not too sure why Anaheim never went ahead with it.

 

[Hunter]

Anyone remember the KOLA "The Pop Sound" days from the middle 70's? When 93 KHJ, KKDJ 102.7 and K100 were alive and well and let's not forget KUTE 102, 102....

I remember when I went to Chemawa Jr. High listening to Jhani Kaye on KFXM, but always thought it was cooler to listen to KOLA because FM sounded better. It was 1972 and for over a day KOLA played "Me & Mrs Jones" by Billy Paul over and over 50 jillion times in a row. Although I didn't know what automation was at the time, I could tell that since they didn't have DJ's I thought their automatic music player was stuck. The format didn't change, so I never understood what the stunting was all about.