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KZLA in its AC days.

R

radio124

Does anyone remember when KZLA was FM94 and played soft rock? If they hadn't thrown in the towel and gone country they might have been doing today what KOST is doing and maybe we would have had country on 103.5. I remember FM94 being played in the quiet study room at Cal State Fullerton. I believe Neil Ross(Natural Neil) did PM drive. Mike Sakellarides was also there. Who were the other personalities? I think the format was similar to what KOST is now: limited talk, back announcing, light rock. Were they live in all dayparts or was any part of the day automated?

Thanks,

Scott
 
> Does anyone remember when KZLA was FM94 and played soft
> rock? If they hadn't thrown in the towel and gone country
> they might have been doing today what KOST is doing and
> maybe we would have had country on 103.5. I remember FM94
> being played in the quiet study room at Cal State Fullerton.
> I believe Neil Ross(Natural Neil) did PM drive. Mike
> Sakellarides was also there. Who were the other
> personalities? I think the format was similar to what KOST
> is now: limited talk, back announcing, light rock. Were they
> live in all dayparts or was any part of the day automated?

Believe it or not, it was 100% automated. The syndicator even used their airchecks as demos (I may even still have a demo buried somewhere in my archives, but it would take me weeks to find it).

It actually sounded more like the original KNX-FM than today's KOST; one reel had "flow-matched" sets of gold and album cuts, a second reel had front-announced currents, and a third reel was unannounced recurrents.

There would be a jingle out of the stop sets (and it was "94FM", not "FM94"), then the gold reel would play, followed by the current reel (so the song title announcing would be all in mid-set), and the recurrent reel would play if the automation needed it to get to the stop set on time. The liners from the set into the stop set were <u>very</u> generic.

The call letters were still KPOL-FM when they segued from beautiful music (the first major player in that format to switch in this market) to soft rock. The KZLA calls came later; for a while they called themselves "Z94".

By the time they switched to country, they were doing the format live, but it was definitely automated in the "94FM" days.<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> > Does anyone remember when KZLA was FM94 and played soft
> > rock? If they hadn't thrown in the towel and gone country
> > they might have been doing today what KOST is doing and
> > maybe we would have had country on 103.5. I remember FM94
> > being played in the quiet study room at Cal State
> > Fullerton.
> > I believe Neil Ross(Natural Neil) did PM drive. Mike
> > Sakellarides was also there. Who were the other
> > personalities? I think the format was similar to what KOST
> > is now: limited talk, back announcing, light rock. Were
> > they live in all dayparts or was any part of the day automated?
>
>
> Believe it or not, it was 100% automated. The syndicator
> even used their airchecks as demos (I may even still have a
> demo buried somewhere in my archives, but it would take me
> weeks to find it).
>
> It actually sounded more like the original KNX-FM than
> today's KOST; one reel had "flow-matched" sets of gold and
> album cuts, a second reel had front-announced currents, and
> a third reel was unannounced recurrents.
>
> There would be a jingle out of the stop sets (and it was
> "94FM", not "FM94"), then the gold reel would play, followed
> by the current reel (so the song title announcing would be
> all in mid-set), and the recurrent reel would play if the
> automation needed it to get to the stop set on time. The
> liners from the set into the stop set were very generic.
>
> The call letters were still KPOL-FM when they segued from
> beautiful music (the first major player in that format to
> switch in this market) to soft rock. The KZLA calls came
> later; for a while they called themselves "Z94".
>
> By the time they switched to country, they were doing the
> format live, but it was definitely automated in the "94FM"
> days.
>
One of that station's more well known program director's was
Jim La Fawn who sadly passed away right there in the station.

If I can remember what Mike Sakellarides has told me about his
time there, he did evenings and said that people confused them
with KNX-FM all the time. He also had the you know what scared
out of him when he returned from vacation and found that the station
had switched to Country while he was out of town. If memory serves
Ken Gallagher was also on the air there.
 
Wouldn't KWST have been the first "major player" in the beautiful music format to switch?


>
> The call letters were still KPOL-FM when they segued from
> beautiful music (the first major player in that format to
> switch in this market)
 
> Wouldn't KWST have been the first "major player" in the
> beautiful music format to switch?

I believe KPOL-FM switched to soft rock a year or two before KWST went AOR. (It might have been the other way around, of course: My mind gets fuzzy when I try to go back 30 years.)

The format change at KWST was New Year's Eve, 1974, IIRC.

Come to think of it, Brian, haven't we had this discussion before?
<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> I believe KPOL-FM switched to soft rock a year or two before
> KWST went AOR. (It might have been the other way around, of
> course: My mind gets fuzzy when I try to go back 30 years.)

KM, you should try a Bottle of Focus Factor, it's free, all you pay is $4.95 for Shipping & Handling. Around 1972 our Neighbor sold Time at KPOL, and my Family wound up with about 100 Standards Albums. If I remember correctly they all said KPOL AM?.

> The format change at KWST was New Year's Eve, 1974, IIRC.
>
> Come to think of it, Brian, haven't we had this discussion
> before?
>
 
> > I believe KPOL-FM switched to soft rock a year or two
> before
> > KWST went AOR. (It might have been the other way around,
> of
> > course: My mind gets fuzzy when I try to go back 30
> years.)
>
> KM, you should try a Bottle of Focus Factor, it's free, all
> you pay is $4.95 for Shipping & Handling.


Wait, slow down ... Focus What?

I wouldn't miss a day within it ... out it. Something.

Hold on. Let me get a pen.

Wait, where's the paper?

OK got the paper.

Do you have my pen?

Oh $&*@!



>Around 1972 our
> Neighbor sold Time at KPOL, and my Family wound up with
> about 100 Standards Albums. If I remember correctly they all
> said KPOL AM?.
>
> > The format change at KWST was New Year's Eve, 1974, IIRC.
> >
> > Come to think of it, Brian, haven't we had this discussion
>
> > before?
> >
>
 
>
> Come to think of it, Brian, haven't we had this discussion
> before?
>

Yes, I think we had this discussion a couple of years ago.

KWST switched from beautiful to AOR on Dec. 31, 1974
KPOL-FM switched from beautiful to Soft Rock on Nov. 22, 1976

So KWST was the first to bail.
 
> KWST switched from beautiful to AOR on Dec. 31, 1974
> KPOL-FM switched from beautiful to Soft Rock on Nov. 22,
> 1976

Remind me again what your source was for the KPOL date. The KWST one, everyone knows by now, I think.
<P ID="signature">______________


</P>
 
> Remind me again what your source was for the KPOL date. The
> KWST one, everyone knows by now, I think.


Article in the January 23, 1977 Los Angeles Times by James Brown about KPOL's switch.
 
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