KYA or KFRC

[michael hagerty]

....I'll have whatever he's drinkin', bartender.

First thing as you walk through the doors of MacArthur Park:

 

[DrAkbar]

First thing as you walk through the doors of MacArthur Park:

View attachment 4209

I think I see the reflection of the Old Gringo in that bottle of King Cobra.

 

[davideduardo]

I think I see the reflection of the Old Gringo in that bottle of King Cobra.

And what you don't drink will probably fuel the Gremlin!

 

[Weiserguy]

And what you don't drink will probably fuel the Gremlin!

Sorry, no. Whatever few gremlins that still exist now live in East P.A. behind Ikea or the Home Despot.

This must be how long threads die. Not with a bang, but with a melting green icing whimper. (And I'll never have that recipe again. Oh No!)

BTW, nice shot of MacArthur, Mike, but definitely not representative of what it looked like at 2 pm on the first sunny day in three weeks. More puddles, broken branches and wet leaves scattered around my mental photo.

 

[semoochie]

I think I see the reflection of the Old Gringo in that bottle of King Cobra.

Wasn't that David's handle for awhile?

 

[michael hagerty]

BTW, nice shot of MacArthur, Mike, but definitely not representative of what it looked like at 2 pm on the first sunny day in three weeks. More puddles, broken branches and wet leaves scattered around my mental photo.

I've found that the interiors of most restaurants are more convivial than their parking lots.

Yes, I'm a smarta**. Sorry. It also reminds me of the old Ed Debevic's burger chain, which had a dumpster painted with its logo and the words "The food's better inside."

 

[DrAkbar]

I've found that the interiors of most restaurants are more convivial than their parking lots.

Yes, I'm a smarta**. Sorry. It also reminds me of the old Ed Debevic's burger chain, which had a dumpster painted with its logo and the words "The food's better inside."

Yes, they paved Debevic's Phoenix paradise and put up a two story parking lot. But at least a**Whole Foods is next door!

Somewhere in the bowels of the Buckeye Media Hut I recall reading KYA had authorization to fire up to 5kw at 6am, even if it isn't local sunrise. The FCC must have felt sorry the Boss of the Bay was so underpowered at night with 1kw.

 

[davideduardo]

Wasn't that David's handle for awhile?

And it is more relevant than ever now!

 

[DrAkbar]

Sorry, no. Whatever few gremlins that still exist now live in East P.A. behind Ikea or the Home Despot.

East Palo Alto...so close, yet so far away from Palo Alto. It's a darned shame Barrett Jackson hasn't returned our call re: consigning the Gremlin. Bet it would bring more than a used Yaris!

This must be how long threads die. Not with a bang, but with a melting green icing whimper. (And I'll never have that recipe again. Oh No!)

And to think The Association turned this one down. And KYA let the KOIT calls slip away from 93~Three.

BTW, nice shot of MacArthur, Mike, but definitely not representative of what it looked like at 2 pm on the first sunny day in three weeks. More puddles, broken branches and wet leaves scattered around my mental photo.

Everything looks better at night...especially after knockin' down a few.

 

[davideduardo]

Everything looks better at night...especially after knockin' down a few.

That is the basic fact behind eternal truths like "The later it gets the better you look" and "nobody is ugly at closing time", all derived from "the more I drink, the better you look".

 

[DavidKaye]

Neither. It was KSFO.

KFRC did not switch to Top 40 until the year after KHJ started. So it was KYA and KEWB up till then, with KEWB, Color Channel 91, winning. Once KFRC switched under Drake and Tom Rounds, it was all over for the other two, ratings wise.

However, the champ during most of that decade was 560 KSFO. In the 70's, it was a flip-flop between KSFO, KCBS and KGO with the decade ending with the start of a 38 year #1 run for KGO

I was told that KFRC under Drake was becoming too popular, so Gene Autry, owner of KSFO cancelled KFRC's lease on the KSFO tower. This is how they ended up on KRE's tower in Berkeley. [Hi David. You may see me around here. I haven't been over here in ages, but my pw still works.]

 

[semoochie]

I was told that KFRC under Drake was becoming too popular, so Gene Autry, owner of KSFO cancelled KFRC's lease on the KSFO tower. This is how they ended up on KRE's tower in Berkeley. [Hi David. You may see me around here. I haven't been over here in ages, but my pw still works.]

I thought they were on that spectacular spot near the Bay Bridge!

 

[michael hagerty]

I thought they were on that spectacular spot near the Bay Bridge!

Semoochie, if you mean these, right next to the toll plaza..

aerial photograph radio transmission towers Oakland | Aerial Archives | Aerial and Satellite Imagery

...nope. That's KIQI (1010 AM).

The 610 site (actually the 1400 site that 610 has diplexed since 1968) is right next to I-80 just north of the Ashby Avenue on-ramp:

Google Maps

It's labelled on the map as "KBLX-AM", but 1400 is KVTO and has been for some time.

Just one tower, because neither 1400 nor 610 are directional.

 

[michael hagerty]

I was told that KFRC under Drake was becoming too popular, so Gene Autry, owner of KSFO cancelled KFRC's lease on the KSFO tower. This is how they ended up on KRE's tower in Berkeley. [Hi David. You may see me around here. I haven't been over here in ages, but my pw still works.]

I'd never heard that story, but if true, that was a pretty spectacular backfire. KFRC's signal and popularity only improved with the move.

 

[semoochie]

Semoochie, if you mean these, right next to the toll plaza..

aerial photograph radio transmission towers Oakland | Aerial Archives | Aerial and Satellite Imagery

...nope. That's KIQI (1010 AM).

The 610 site (actually the 1400 site that 610 has diplexed since 1968) is right next to I-80 just north of the Ashby Avenue on-ramp:

Google Maps

It's labelled on the map as "KBLX-AM", but 1400 is KVTO and has been for some time.

Just one tower, because neither 1400 nor 610 are directional.

I thought there was a single giant tower on the east end of the Bay Bridge! Are they getting that incredible signal from a tower designed for 1400? They used to blanket Sacramento!

Wait a minute and back up the turnip truck! They moved 610 off of the 560 antenna? I thought a diplex had to be at least 150KHz apart!

 

[michael hagerty]

I thought there was a single giant tower on the east end of the Bay Bridge! Are they getting that incredible signal from a tower designed for 1400? They used to blanket Sacramento!

Wait a minute and back up the turnip truck! They moved 610 off of the 560 antenna? I thought a diplex had to be at least 150KHz apart!

I am the wrong guy to talk tech with, but I found this:

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archi...ineering Report Diplexing AM Transmitters.pdf

Also, looking at a better aerial from Google Earth, there are SIX towers at the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza, with two separate transmitter buildings. Three of the towers are for 1010 AM, three for 1310 AM.

 

[Huff]

David's right about KSFO's dominance of the market, but there was a legitimate Top 40 battle between KYA and KFRC.

KFRC switched to Top 40 in the spring of 1966. KYA was dominant and KEWB, about to change ownership and call letters, was in decline. On the surface, that seems similar to KRLA's dominance and KFWB's decline when KHJ flipped in the spring of 1965.

But unlike Los Angeles, where KHJ was number one within six months, KFRC had a battle on its hands. One year in (the May, 1967 Hooper ratings) KYA had a 9.5 to KFRC's 8.1. That summer (June-July 1967 Hooper), KFRC scored its first win---a huge surge to 11.9 with KYA dropping to a 7.4.

By May-June of 1968, it was neck and neck...KFRC with an 8.6, KYA at an 8.4. And that fall (in the October 1968 Pulse---sorry for all the changes, but it's hard to put together a complete set of SF ratings for the 60s), KYA beat KFRC 7.0 to 6.1.

By the August-September 1969 Pulse, KYA was not just beating KFRC, it was number one in the market overall---a 12.0 to KSFO's 11.0 and KFRC's 10.0.

The battle continued into the 70s, with KFRC beating KYA by only a tenth of a point---8.0 to 7.9---in the October/November 1970 Arbitron.

A year later, the October-November 1971 Pulse shows KFRC pulling ahead with a 9.3 to KYA's 8.3, and that was the last time KYA got within a point of KFRC.

You can see the impact of KFRC's flip in the ARB numbers, as well as how KYA fought back to make it a years long battle, though unlike in Pulse, KYA was never able to achieve a #1 finish in the ARBs.
Jan/Feb 1966: KFRC 2.0, KYA 11.1
Oct/Nov 1966: KFRC 12.3, KYA 5.7
Yearly Averages:
1967: KFRC 11.6, KYA 5.3
1968: KFRC 8.0, KYA 6.2
1969: KFRC 8.1, KYA 7.5
1970: KFRC 8.0, KYA 7.1
1971: KFRC 7.9, KYA 5.9
1972: KFRC 6.1, KYA 5.3
1973: KFRC 6.5, KYA 3.4

 

[michael hagerty]

KYA fought back to make it a years long battle, though unlike in Pulse, KYA was never able to achieve a #1 finish in the ARBs.

As @DavidEduardo noted earlier in the thread:

the larger issue was that the Pulse and Hooper ratings service area was much smaller than the Arbitron one.

 

[michael hagerty]

Yearly Averages:
1967: KFRC 11.6, KYA 5.3
1968: KFRC 8.0, KYA 6.2
1969: KFRC 8.1, KYA 7.5
1970: KFRC 8.0, KYA 7.1
1971: KFRC 7.9, KYA 5.9
1972: KFRC 6.1, KYA 5.3
1973: KFRC 6.5, KYA 3.4

True as far as it goes, but nobody sold yearly averages. Winners and losers were declared based on the quarterly books.

 

[Huff]

True as far as it goes, but nobody sold yearly averages. Winners and losers were declared based on the quarterly books.

Correct, just illustrating overall trends to eliminate the quarterly wobbles.