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KTAR etc moves to new digs

5

50kguy

The Phoenix Buisness Journal reports Bonneville has leased 30,000 square feet at 7720 N 16 St. It's a 15-year deal, no financial arrangements released.

I don't remember when KTAR moved from its old location at 3 Avenue and Osborn to Central Avenue north of Camelback.

The move is supposed to take place next summer.
 
50kguy said:
The Phoenix Buisness Journal reports Bonneville has leased 30,000 square feet at 7720 N 16 St. It's a 15-year deal, no financial arrangements released.
Click to expand...

A lot of square footage for just three stations. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Nurse Jeff and I know the Master Blogger will enjoy the views of Squaw Piestewa Peak from his new programming cave!
 
I can't help but think the move is in part due to the need for some real parking space! They are really tight on Central Avenue, and the neighborhood to the west really isn't keen on all the spill-over traffic. The proposed location looks like it will have great line-of-site to all the transmitter sites. Have punch tool..will travel.
 
Does Bonneville leasing (vs buying a building) signify that they don't intend on staying in the market, or just that they think commercial real state prices will go down in the future? It's nice to hear they're upgrading... that building is too small for three and a half stations.

Will anyone else in the market be buying 5300 N Central?
 
Also, don't forget the "ghost town" old KNIX facility sitting in mothballs in Tempe that Clear Channel vacated for their move to Van Buren. I am surprised no one has moved into all that square footage that Buck built back in 89 ???
 
I drove by the old KNIX palace not too long ago. The old Clear Channel sign that had been up for years (even after CC left the premises) is gone and replaced with a sign for an electronics or electrical firm (can't remember which). It appears someone is going to make use of that facility, though not for broadcasting. It's a shame, because it was a great building for radio. Sadly, it was too fancy for CC and couldn't hold eight stations.

By the way, I'm basing my "too fancy" comment on a remark made to me by then-CC market manager JD Freeman who said he would do everything he could to meet with Lowry Mays anyplace BUT the KNIX complex because the Mays crew would freak out at the sight of such opulence. Presumably, JD and Lowry kept their business meetings at the old KFYI complex on Missouri Street (which had once been KMLE, but I digress).
 
buster2 said:
Presumably, JD and Lowry kept their business meetings at the old KFYI complex
on Missouri Street (which had once been KMLE, but I digress).
Click to expand...

Was KFYI temporarily housed at 645 East Missouri? I think KZZP moved there when
they vacated 727 South Extension in Mesa. When one mentions "old KFYI complex,"
the aged dive at 631 North 1st Avenue immediately comes to mind.

Come to think of it, that's just a stone's throw away from 840 North Central, now
home of KOOL/KMLE (with the Saturn Of Sleigh Ride illegally parked out front ;)).
Has the KOY Building held up better than the former KPHO radio/TV site?
 
OPULENCE on Gilbert Rd, by the Sushi joint???!!! Clearly you were never in the Traffic Hovel, with the overwhelming stench of the sewer & roaches consistently in the bathroom. DISGUSTING. And let's not forget about the consistent stream of disease-ridden feral cats. Oh!!! And the bullet holes in the windows were a treat, too.

Real fancy.
 
Well at one time the KNIX building (the 2 story addition) was a pretty fancy place. Buck had the Bucks and built a palace. The studios were state of the art when they went in back in 89. The "traffic hovel" as someone mentioned was a former conference room right off the KNIX gym that was built about 1985 that was in the old front original studio and biz office that was built about 1968 shortly after Buck bought KNIX-FM. At one time CC was using the old gym as a catch-all storage room full of boxes, etc....

The old KOY building is showing its age......plumbing in the bathrooms is bad.....it just looks run down.....although the KOOL studios are remodeled and new.....The KMLE studio could use a facelift. I dont think the place has been remodeled since Gary Edens had it done back bout 1976...when Bill Heywood slaved over a couple of HOT turntables !!!!????
 
thirdtickket said:
The old KOY building is showing its age......plumbing in the bathrooms is bad.....it just looks run down.....although the KOOL studios are remodeled and new.....The KMLE studio could use a facelift. I dont think the place has been remodeled since Gary Edens had it done back bout 1976...when Bill Heywood slaved over a couple of HOT turntables !!!!????
Click to expand...

KMLE's studios didn't seem so bad. KOOL's are the BEST (except no more nice 2nd floor view of 7th St. and the downtown Phoenix skyline-- the best you can get now is the tip of the Westward Ho).

Now how about that haunted third floor... how was your experience of that? Did you find one of those hot turntables Heywood slaved over? It was probably up there somewhere. ;D
 
I''ve worked at KMLE full time (in the 7th St & Missouri Studios) and downtown part time on Central. Yeah, I've heard about the haunted 3rd Floor......never saw any ghosts but it is a bit spooky to go up to the break room on the 2nd floor AT NIGHT, just around the corner from that upper level when you are the only person in the building.....Your imagination can play tricks on ya....!!!

Maybe the ghosts are of Gene Autry and Steve Allen, former KOY alumni from 70 years ago....??
 
thirdtickket said:
Well at one time the KNIX building (the 2 story addition) was a pretty fancy place. Buck had the Bucks and built a palace. The studios were state of the art when they went in back in 89. The "traffic hovel" as someone mentioned was a former conference room right off the KNIX gym that was built about 1985 that was in the old front original studio and biz office that was built about 1968 shortly after Buck bought KNIX-FM. At one time CC was using the old gym as a catch-all storage room full of boxes, etc....

The old KOY building is showing its age......plumbing in the bathrooms is bad.....it just looks run down.....although the KOOL studios are remodeled and new.....The KMLE studio could use a facelift. I dont think the place has been remodeled since Gary Edens had it done back bout 1976...when Bill Heywood slaved over a couple of HOT turntables !!!!????
Click to expand...

Jorgy gave the place a cosmetic facelift in the early 90's, but kept a lot of the old equipment. One of those BMX consoles had a single-digit serial number. Yes, that building has history, but its past time to raze that place.

I knew the third floor well - we sold a bunch of the surplus equipment upstairs to Dave Chamberlin at Skyview. I didn't find any turntables, but there sure were a bunch of old mono Rockwell-Collins rotary pot boards and ancient ITC decks.
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
buster2 said:
Presumably, JD and Lowry kept their business meetings at the old KFYI complex
on Missouri Street (which had once been KMLE, but I digress).
Click to expand...

Was KFYI temporarily housed at 645 East Missouri? I think KZZP moved there when
they vacated 727 South Extension in Mesa. When one mentions "old KFYI complex,"
the aged dive at 631 North 1st Avenue immediately comes to mind.

Come to think of it, that's just a stone's throw away from 840 North Central, now
home of KOOL/KMLE (with the Saturn Of Sleigh Ride illegally parked out front ;)).
Has the KOY Building held up better than the former KPHO radio/TV site?
Click to expand...

KZZP moved in with 96.9 after Nationwide bought them. KFYI moved into the old KMLE studios when KMLE went downtown.

Having worked at both 631 N. 1st Ave. and 840 N. Central, the KOY building was in better shape, but that's not saying much.
 
johndavis said:
I didn't find any turntables, but there sure were a bunch of old mono Rockwell-Collins
rotary pot boards and ancient ITC decks.
Click to expand...

Ancient ITC decks? As in ITC triple-decks? Heck, if those are "old" then
Gates Criterions and Spotmasters must be from the Paleozoic Era. ;D

Should I add a "you younger posters might want to have cart machines explained
to you" disclaimer? ;)

BTW, what type of turntables did Bill Heywood use at 55/KOY in the '70s--QRKs?
Gates (with the red rocker switch)? Or, heaven forbid, 1940s-era RCAs in the
cabinet that went all the way down to the floor?
 
I'll bet Heywood used Gates turntables, weren't they the most reliable ? There still is an old BMX board in the KMLE newsroom where H.G. Listiak ....(God rest his soul)..... spouted his colorful illiterations doing his traffic reports.....before he left us in 2004 !! The board sure looks aged !!!

I remember my first station in a small town in the midwest had these hideous old Huge Gates Transcription turntables......they were crap always breaking down or the motor would overheat....! Then there was the ancient spotmaster "lock and load" cart deck that would NEVER recognize a cue tone.....Ahhh what memories of radio when dinosaurs roamed the earth !!! :) .....and maybe it was a bit more fun ?????
 
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