KOOL FM Sat night Disco show

[Billkex]

What the heck is up with that gawd awful Sat. night Disco Dance party on KOOL FM?

Don't they get it? People listen to this station for the rock & roll oldies, not nonstop disco music.
What they are doing doesn't even fit their format. It's like playing nonstop polkas or country music for 5 hrs.

Bring back Dick Bartley & the oldies.
If I want to hear KC & Donna Summer, I'll flip over to 99.9

Anyone have an explanation for why they are doing this?

 

[DrAkbar]

As Nurse Jeff has said on numerous occasions, there's no future in the past! Dick Bartley had a long run on COO-FM (remember BJ Hunter?) but the music was stale and the format completely predictable. We dig the Saturday night dance party with Liz Torres and think it makes KOOL more relevant than just a Sixties oldies station

 

[zumahans]

But disco is to rock oldies as salt is to ice cream.

 

[Billkex]

I tend to disagree with Dr. Akbar, If the oldies are stale, why is Kool one of the highest rated stations in the valley? The people that tune into this station tune in to hear the classic rock & roll, not back to back non-stop (repetative) disco. (same STALE disco songs every show)

It doesn't matter if it's Liz or Joe Torres, the show stinks.

I personally know several dozen other dedicated KOOL listeners that tune off 94.5 when this garbage comes on. Disco music didn't make Kool FM the success that it is today. Maybe they should play Punk music on Sunday nights? Same thing, it doesn't fit the format.

 

[Gusto]

this is the only time i listen to Kool. Keep it up guys!

 

[zumahans]

I can remember seeing "Airplane!" for the first time, in a movie theater at Thomas Mall, in 1979.

There was damn near a standing ovation at the scene where the airplane took out the radio antenna, which had a neon sign that said "W---, Where Disco Lives" and took it off the air.

In the late 70s, rock and roll music fans HATED disco, particularly in non-urban markets. "Disco Sucks: bumperstickers were everywhere. Steve Dahl in Chicago started a freaking riot when he asked WLS listeners to burn and smash their disco albums.

Classic disco and classic rock do not mix, at all.

Playing disco on a rock oldies station tells your core audience "adios".

 

[Gusto]

it's not like KSLX playing disco....KOOL represents Top 40 from that era....that's why you hear motown, nobody talking trash about that. Motown experimented with disco after they moved to LA. It was part of pop music, which is what Kool plays.

 

[zumahans]

Motown appealed to white, top 40 stations.

Disco did not, not in Phoenix and other "nonurban" markets and formats.

Let me tell you something: in Phoenix Arizona in 1977-80, KUPD, KRIZ, KRUX, KDKB and the others most assuredly did not play disco.

"Disco sucks, country rocks" bumper stickers were everywhere.

Yeah, Phoenix has changed, and disco is probably more acceptable now than it was in the 70s. But for a sizeable portion of the audience, disco on an oldies station is fingernails on a chalkboard.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

which had a neon sign that said "W---, Where Disco Lives" and took it off the air.

WZAZ. Fake calls of a fake FM in Chi-town.

Of course Hans, you'll remember the real calls KZAZ. Wonder if any others
also used to refer to it as "K-ZAP"?

Steve Dahl in Chicago started a freaking riot when he asked WLS listeners to burn and smash their disco albums.

WLUP. At least that was the station he was on when he and Meier did the
Disco Demolition Derby at Comiskey. Didn't it cause the White Sox to
forfeit a doubleheader that night?

 

[zumahans]

They forfeited the second game of a doubleheader against the Tigers.

Remember the all-female news crews at KZAZ "Eleven Alive?" We called them the Krazy-A-Z Amazons.

 

[KeithE4]

WLUP. At least that was the station he was on when he and Meier did the
Disco Demolition Derby at Comiskey. Didn't it cause the White Sox to
forfeit a doubleheader that night?

It certainly did. They were playing a twi-night doubleheader (remember them?) against Detroit that night and between the rioting idiots and the damaged field (which remained that way for the rest of the season), the Sox forfeited that game.

Even Harry Caray (yes, he did Sox games then) was disgusted. He even tried to go down to the field with Bill Veeck to calm the crowd down. Didn't work. It was the beginning of the end for old Comiskey Park and Veeck's ownership of the Sox.

 

[Billkex]

I was one of those wild teens up there at Comisky Park in the summer of '79.
98FM WLUP ran a promotion where if you brought a disco record & paid .98 cents you could get in. Steve Dahl ruled the Chicago airwaves.

A bunch of us "barrowed" a buddy's sisters car & went there. After all hell broke loose, we split.
Upon arriving back to the lot, 2 of the windows in the car got smashed out. We caught big trouble for that.

But to get back to the topic, Someone mentioned Motown. This was was part of the 1960s rock & roll era, which is what KOOL is known for, not LATE 1970s.

We are talking about eras. The Disco era is not part of the KOOL era, ...or is this a sign of where KOOL is going? How long before they are playing Madonna, Prince, Etc.

Phoenix needs a REAL Oldies station that plays 50s & 60s rock & roll. Like I said before, if I want to hear Peaches & Herb and Kool & the Gang, I'll tune into 99.9 for the "Beth & Bill approved" crap.

 

[DrAkbar]

The Disco era is not part of the KOOL era, ...or is this a sign of where KOOL is going? How long before they are playing Madonna, Prince, Etc.

Hmmmm...ya know it's just a Saturday night dance party, not the return of Ecstacy 92~Three! Operative word here is Dance ... and that's kinda hard to do Herman's Hermits! Madonna & Prince? Before the end of this decade.

Phoenix needs a REAL Oldies station that plays 50s & 60s rock & roll. Like I said before, if I want to hear Peaches & Herb and Kool & the Gang, I'll tune into 99.9 for the "Beth & Bill approved" crap.

Instead of watching the umpeenth rerun of Seinfeld on FOXy Ten, try the 11pm hour of golden oldies hosted by Dave Shannon on Coo FM (a tip of the fez to BJ Hunter). Or offer Salem $325 for The Patriot and bring 50s & 60s oldies back to KOOL Gold 9~Sixty AM. Or get XM.

Wonder if we're on the Beth & Bill approved list of Media Consultants? ???

 

[Gusto]

How come you guys always get off topic? We're talking about KOOL FM and their Saturday programming. If you buy any "Hits of the 70's CD", you will see ELO, Blondie, Pointer Sisters, and Eric Clapton all together. It was Top 40...not rock n roll. KSLX is rock n roll...there is a difference. KSLX does not play Motown or Wild Cherry during the day...KOOL does. Disco does not sound out of place. And i didn't realize KEZ plays 70's dance...don't they stay on the soft side? Not a good comparison. And to say disco did not apeal to white people? So you're saying Blacks bought all those Village People and Bee Gees records?! You're nuts. I realize "real" disco goes deeper than this, but after 1978, Saturday Night Fever turned all kinds of sheep into disco ducks.

 

[zumahans]

Good points, but the Saturday Night Fever craze lasted 18 months, and then the disco stations started dropping like flies.

And more importantly, a lot of listeners really deeply disliked that stuff.

I would argue that disco marked the end of broad-appeal Top 40 radio, as its negatives outweighed its positives for many listeners.

 

[K7VOR]

Does the Disco Party Sat. nites on KOOL-FM have unique sponsorship unlike any during other airtime? Polka music Sunday's on KSAZ (AM580 - always a tuneout here) has unique sponsorship. Is alternate revenue driving a show that can be hidden out of KOOL's regular lineup?

OAM: With dozens of stations using the KOOL moniker around the country, only Phoenix has the real thing -- for 60 years. Akin to the only licensed KISS-FM residing in San Antonio.