KWFM

[Bill Drake]

Hello people,

I am from Phoenix. Was visiting Tucson recently and stumbled across KWFM on 1450 with their oldies. Didn't they used to be on FM at 92.9? I haven't been down your way in a long time so my aged memory is pretty faded. I scanned the topics on the board and couldn't find any comments on this station.

So, comments please.....

Thanks

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Didn't they used to be on FM at 92.9?

10-4 Eleanor...er, Phil.

From 92.9, KWFM was shunted off to one of Cheap Channel's weaker
local FM freqs (97.1), then later tossed into, and down the hole of,
the outhouse to graveyard AM 1450.

Their analog signal is horrible, yet they have the gall to be running
I-CRAP and foul up the adjacents, too.

Playlist? Let's just say when I was there recently I tuned them in
twice. First time--At The Hop by Danny & The Juniors. :
Second time--Tequila by The Champs. : ??? What the...?
I guess they're trying for the "hip contingent" of the Giant 580's
demos.

 

[micguy]

Indeed, it was. I was their night guy from 1992-1995 and had an absolutely great time. We seemed to be constantly out with the station and it was wonderful fun. For a while, we didn't even have a consultant.



Those days are among my fondest in the biz.

Thanks for asking.

Ya know, Alan Michaels is still there?

 

[radiowizard101]

That was the era that KOOL-FM (KWFM) did everything right. Before telcom 96. The real glory days of radio in Tucson. I remember the FM band had Oldies, Smooth Jazz, and much better selection to choose from. What's up with that redneck talk station on 104.1? YUCK!!

 

[Bill Drake]

What's up with that redneck talk station on 104.1? YUCK!!

LOL That's all we have in Feenix. The natives eat it like candy. That and psycho loony religion. So there appears to be no oldies on FM in Tucson? Everything Crud Channel touches dies a slow infection of neglect.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

So there appears to be no oldies on FM in Tucson?

Not unless you count Seventies Saturday on Cloud 95.

 

[Bill Drake]

So please humor me. The last time I was involved with radio we used things like turntables, carts, reel to reel and RECORDS. Not even CDs..... (And a seven station ownership cap ....How I long for that one!)

How does KWFM deliver their programming? Is it live or what? Sounds pretty canned. Plus I never heard of 6 or 7 hour air shifts during the day. Not that there's much actual personality invovled. More like a jukebox with a few jingles (and precious few commercials which makes me wonder).

The thing that caught my ear was their butchered use of the old Drake Chenault hourly ID. God how I long for that era....

 

[radiotimesjock]

How does KWFM deliver their programming? Is it live or what? Sounds pretty canned. Plus I never heard of 6 or 7 hour air shifts during the day. Not that there's much actual personality invovled. More like a jukebox with a few jingles (and precious few commercials which makes me wonder).

Last I heard most of the programming is mostly voice-tracked, including the morning show which is half live and half tracked. That is current from about a year ago. Since then they fired Alan Cook (PD/Afternoons) so they might have VT the entire station. If someone knows different, please chime in.

 

[bilco]

It's a sad state of affairs that KWFM has become an AM! I'm the former Cheif Engineer up until about 12 years ago (before Clear CHannel) and hearing what has happened to those call signs is almost like blasphemy.
Bill Croghan CPBE WBØKSW
Chief Engineer,
KOMP/KXPT/KENO/KBAD/KWWN
Lotus Broadcasting, Las Vegas, NV

 

[Bill Drake]

It's a sad state of affairs that KWFM has become an AM!

I share your sadness; I think we can all agree that radio is completely a sad state of affairs. Any time a great radio station is sliced, diced or destroyed, a real treasure is lost...

 

[landtuna]

I fondly remember KWFM-FM from my days in Tucson. I don't visit too often but always enjoyed their playlist. Seems like they went the route of the Phamous Phoenix golden oldies outlet 1440 (affectionately called The Lumberyard by a certain Doctor on this board).

At least KWFM-AM is not a daytimer......is it?

 

[MW_FM_DT_DXer]

KWFM 1450's signal is 1 kW, ND, 24 hours a day.

 

[landtuna]

1 kW???? My pool lights are stronger than that (but true, they are directional).

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Speaking of minimal wattage...

The 1450 freq. was--like all class IVs near the Mexican border--
originally 250 w-U, later 1 kw-D/250 w-N, now one gallon-U.

Co-owned waaaay back with channel 13, the original calls
were KOPO, then KOLD, KOPO again, KFLT, then...I'm running
out of memory after that. Where's radioguy58--he could
fill us in on the rest.

When the radio studio and XMTR was out back of the TV station
on Drachman, it was alleged that even the 250 watts caused
a bit of RF in channel 13's video. When 1450 signed off at
midnight, the RF on 13 disappeared.

Some years after the TV station was sold, the then-KOPO 1450
moved to La Placenta Village downtown. By then I believe the
XMTR site had already been relocated to Cherrybell near the
USPS GMF. And I'm sure the 13-ers were greatly relieved. ;D

 

[landtuna]

I'm old enough to remember the old KOPO studio's on Drachman. I think they were the first broadcasting studio's I have ever visited (as a very young boy). I remember that we arrived and were told that the owner, Gene Autry, had left just 10 minutes earlier. Big disappointment as I was a huge Autry fan.

Also remember KGUN-TV's studio's north of downtown along Grant Road I think. Was on the old "Marshall KGUN" kids show a time or two.

Years later, as a teenager, I used to hang out every so often at the studio's of KTKT which was downtown in the Phoenix Title building (a constant irritant to Tucson's town fathers).

I'm gonna have to play with the ham set and see if I can relocate the long wire to DX 1450 up here in Tempe (since Doktor Akubar hasn't yet been able to convince The Lumberyard to go 24/7).

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Also remember KGUN-TV's studio's north of downtown along Grant Road I think. Was on the old "Marshall KGUN" kids show a time or two.

The original "Big 9" plant was just below Grant on North 6th Avenue.

Was that the Stan Norman or Bob Love (there may have a third
guy early on) era of Marshal KGUN? Did you take home any
lovely parting gifts from Rainbo and Shamrock?

I'm gonna have to play with the ham set and see if I can relocate the long wire to DX 1450 up here in Tempe (since Doktor Akubar hasn't yet been able to convince The Lumberyard to go 24/7).

In the 6:00 hour this morning, while checking out Dancin' Dan on
the Giant 580, I remembered your post above and dialed over to
1450--since Lumberyard 1440 was in a P.A. show (talk splatter
being less obtrusive than music splatter and fortunately KAZG
has so far dispensed with I-CRAP) I did get a weak signal from
KWFM 1450.

BTW, their website (http://www.cool1450am.com) has a link
to "listen live." I tried it recently but am not sure whether
it's air or some alternate music feed. I say "not sure" since I
heard a mid-'70s song (How Long by Ace) and KWFM seems
to still be playing a Lumberyard-like genre, as opposed to a
heavier '70s slant a la KOOL-FM PHX.

 

[docsitto]

KW-FM is on AM and they call it KOOL. Honestly they sound pretty darn good musically. Yes they play a few 70's but they seem to fit. The tempo is generally up.

However, I can't believe they use the same imaging promos that have been on for at least 5 years: they rotate about 5 listener drops (the same ones mostly a woman who sounds like a man named "Frankie") and there are exactly two jock promos from Alan Michaels running for 5 years and one from Joan Lee about the 9am workday kickoff. Seriously have not been freshened for FIVE YEARS.

Nobody over there cares. The big promotion is paying to ride a bus with Alan to go shopping in Mexico. And you "park in Nogales and walk across the border"

 

[landtuna]

The original "Big 9" plant was just below Grant on North 6th Avenue.

Yup. That was it.

Was that the Stan Norman or Bob Love (there may have a third guy early on) era of Marshal KGUN? Did you take home any lovely parting gifts from Rainbo and Shamrock?

It's been way too long and I honestly don't know if I ever knew the marshall's real name. I do remember walking into the studio with my cousin and seeing the marshall with a very white powder all over his face and wondering why he looked so different from his TV shots. I later learned it was to keep the shine from the lights off his face.

I also don't remember if they were giving away goodies ala Wallace & Ladmo up here in Phoenix. I am guessing we got a little bag of something but have no idea what it might have been. I think I was around 9 or 10 at the time so it must have been close to when they went on the air.

In the 6:00 hour this morning, while checking out Dancin' Dan on the Giant 580, I remembered your post above and dialed over to 1450--since Lumberyard 1440 was in a P.A. show (talk splatter being less obtrusive than music splatter and fortunately KAZG has so far dispensed with I-CRAP) I did get a weak signal from
KWFM 1450.

My Icon R75 can pick up 1450 at night but the signal is really not listenable.

BTW, their website (http://www.cool1450am.com) has a link to "listen live." I tried it recently but am not sure whether it's air or some alternate music feed. I say "not sure" since I heard a mid-'70s song (How Long by Ace) and KWFM seems to still be playing a Lumberyard-like genre, as opposed to a heavier '70s slant a la KOOL-FM PHX.

Yup. Also found that. There was a Tucson Sidewinder baseball game on at the time so I didn't get to hear any music but when they were on FM they played a rotation of some 50's, 60's and 70's IIRC. I liked their playlist about as much as yesterday's KOOL and today's KAZG. I'll have to fire up the old Internet link and see how they sound now. According to my Winamp they netcast at 128kBps so the fidelity is pretty good....probably better than they sound on AM.

 

[therad]

When the Sidewinders aren't on, they run Mike Harvey's show at night. His playlist is very heavy on the 70s, and he even plays some 80s songs. Makes no sense, since the rest of the day they are playing the typical 50s-60s-early 70s oldies fare.

 

[caveman-97]

Does the minor league baseball help or hurt KWFM? Does anyone care about a team that's fixin' to leave town?

Why can't the play by play be on a sports station? There are two to choose from.