30 years ago this month I signed on KZZP with "Beginnings" by Chicago. There are lots of stories to tell about getting it on the air, like the reason the call letters KZZP were picked. (it was originally going to be called Zip-104 before cooler heads like Don Benson prevailed) One piece of informations eludes me. I don't have the exact date we signed on. It was a Saturday morning in March 1980 at 10am. I have a tape of the first hour in a box in my garage marked with the date, but there are hundreds and hundreds of reels to go thorough. I'm digitizing everything but it's a very slow process. Can anyone help me out? Thanks - appreciate it.
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KZZP 1980 sign on
- Thread starter sgoddard
- Start date
Stevemeister, ya think Johnny B would remember?
Or Paul Talbot, Randy Lane...? (Were all three there on day one?)
Or Paul Talbot, Randy Lane...? (Were all three there on day one?)
They were later. Dave Otto did mornings, Don Benson was Western Cities group consultant, Rick and Bill Phalen were primary owners, Dave Van Stone was involved, and I hate to admit it, but I can't remember who else was there at the time. Somewhere among the boxes of tapes in the garage, I have all the memos from KZZP (and other stations I worked for). I suppose it could make for an interesting read but it's worthless until I lay my hands on them. I even called Bud Wilkinson who wrote for the Republic at the time, but his columns are in a box in his Connecticut basement and he can't lay his hands on it. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Believe it or not, I recorded the day K-104 transitioned to KZZP on a cassette tape
on the only car stereo cassette recorder I've ever known of, which was a Sanyo. As I recall, there was virtually non-stop great rock and roll playing for long stretches on that tape. Unfortunately, it was in the cassette player stolen from my truck about two years later.
And a P.S. to Steve. I still remember that chartered greyhound bus KZZP used to take contest winners up to Camp Verde (or somewhere in that area)on a Sunday in about 1981. You played guitar and we sang all the way up there and part of the way back, since we all captured a buzz from all the booze on the bus.
I was working at another station at the time, but my radio dial was on 104.7 virtually all the time until Nationwide bought it.
on the only car stereo cassette recorder I've ever known of, which was a Sanyo. As I recall, there was virtually non-stop great rock and roll playing for long stretches on that tape. Unfortunately, it was in the cassette player stolen from my truck about two years later.
And a P.S. to Steve. I still remember that chartered greyhound bus KZZP used to take contest winners up to Camp Verde (or somewhere in that area)on a Sunday in about 1981. You played guitar and we sang all the way up there and part of the way back, since we all captured a buzz from all the booze on the bus.
I was working at another station at the time, but my radio dial was on 104.7 virtually all the time until Nationwide bought it.
KZZP was a very smart choice of call letters to use because it all still fits them today!
I find it funny that everything I think of but don't know how to sensibly start a new thread on it, someone always finds a way to open up a new topic where I can conveniently slip those thoughts in! I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now actually..
Could you imagine me trying to open up a thread of my own talking about "I think he letters KZZP were a good idea because..."? (..Well ok yes, it would've probably eventually lead to the topic that's present now, but I would've never guessed that before hand!)
I find it funny that everything I think of but don't know how to sensibly start a new thread on it, someone always finds a way to open up a new topic where I can conveniently slip those thoughts in! I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now actually..
Could you imagine me trying to open up a thread of my own talking about "I think he letters KZZP were a good idea because..."? (..Well ok yes, it would've probably eventually lead to the topic that's present now, but I would've never guessed that before hand!)
Believe it or not, I recorded the day K-104 transitioned to KZZP on a cassette tape
on the only car stereo cassette recorder I've ever known of, which was a Sanyo
I think in the 70's Blaupunkt (or some German radio manufacturer) offered one. At the time I thought it was a neat idea, but when would you ever use it. I knew a salesman who had one in his car.
on the only car stereo cassette recorder I've ever known of, which was a Sanyo
I think in the 70's Blaupunkt (or some German radio manufacturer) offered one. At the time I thought it was a neat idea, but when would you ever use it. I knew a salesman who had one in his car.
Try asking the KZZP group on Facebook. Theres also TONS of great photos and stuff!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53491990788
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53491990788
sgoddard said:
While there's lots of KZZP trivia I know (Thomas Mall, calls picked in a Western Cities employee contest and someone at KZAP in Sacramento thought it would be cool to have K-Zip to go with K-Zap, Beginnings was the first tune) I can't say with authority the sign-on date either. The FCC shows that the calls were assigned on 2/19/80, but the station was pretty much dark at that point.
Talbot's intro for the relaunch of KZZP said "16 years ago this weekend" and that launched March 8 1996 if memory serves. But I'm not sure if Paul was taking poetic license with that or if we blew up KVRY almost exactly 16 years after KZZP was founded.
However, when you find the reel, I hope to get a chance to hear it!
Speaking of KZZP from back in the day... does anyone remember a programmer of KZZP named Randy? I think he went on the air as Randy Stewart or Randy Stevens. His real name name have been Randy Woodland. I can't think of it...
IreneCaraFan said:
Why did I think of him as "Randy Lane" in my earlier post in this thread?
Lane must have been at 93.7 KRQ...Q Tucson in the late 1970s.
The KZZP guy was Randy Stewart--middays and maybe even PD, early on
at KZZP Mesa, KZZP-FM Mesa/Phoenix, but probably not from day one, per
the Stevemeister's reply.
We discussed the same guy in a KOOL-FM thread some months back here.
Was metro Phoenix in the middle of one of its big floods
on Saturday, March 8, 1980?
I recall (vaguely) going to Tucson on KZZP's first day,
but because of massive flooding, the only bridges open
across the Salt were on Central Ave. and Mill Ave. Even
the I-10 bridge was closed. So I flew--Hughes Air West.
By car out of the Tucson airport that morning I was trying
to pick up KZZP and had some success, however I remember
little about what was on, except the Stevemeister's mention
of Chicago's Beginnings sort of rings a bell.
on Saturday, March 8, 1980?
I recall (vaguely) going to Tucson on KZZP's first day,
but because of massive flooding, the only bridges open
across the Salt were on Central Ave. and Mill Ave. Even
the I-10 bridge was closed. So I flew--Hughes Air West.
By car out of the Tucson airport that morning I was trying
to pick up KZZP and had some success, however I remember
little about what was on, except the Stevemeister's mention
of Chicago's Beginnings sort of rings a bell.
oldiesfan6479 said:
Sounds like it was raining where you were on that date! Should have taken the Hattie B across the swollen Salt River. But at least with Hughes Air West, you flew the Top Banana In The West. What all this has to do with KZZP 104~Seven and 13~Ten is beyond Nurse Jeff and my pay scale!
I can actually shed some light on the KZZP call letter selection. I was working for Western Cities in 1979 at KLUC and KMJJ-AM in Las Vegas. Rick Phalen, the owner had an employee contest to name the new Phoenix stations. I pulled out my trusty R&R and went over all the Top 40 stations that started with a W and put a K in front to see how they flowed. I came upon WZZP in Cleveland, added a K and KZZP was born. The ZIP 104 idea must have come after I left the company and before KZZP signed on -- they had K-ZAP in Sacramento also. Oh, and one last fun fact --- I got a check for $100 for winning the call letter derby.
And that's my place in Phoenix radio history. Steve Goddard was an amazing talent and he pulled off the impossible with his shows he did for KMJJ Majic 11 in Vegas --
And that's my place in Phoenix radio history. Steve Goddard was an amazing talent and he pulled off the impossible with his shows he did for KMJJ Majic 11 in Vegas --
DavidG said:
Didn't KMJJ use an early form of voicetracking? Seems to me it was where
the jock recorded various drops for multiple uses which were used by the
board op in between songs. Or was it entire shows on reel-to-reel tape?
Similar setup at KMGX 940 Tucson* ("Magic 94") around that time also, with
air talent such as Charlie & Harrigan from Sandy Eggo and...Steve Goddard!
*: KMGX and "93.7 KRQ...Q Tucson" also part of Western Cities Broadcasting.
Yes, off topic but KMJJ-AM Las Vegas utilized a concept developed by Todd Wallace called re-constructed syndication - first launched for KMGX Magic 94 in Tucson then imported to Vegas. Charlie & Harrigan did mornings too, Rick Shaw middays, Steve Goddard PM Drive and I believe Randy Lane nights -- a nightmare to put together but pretty ahead of its time -- 1978 --- imagine if we had had the Prophet system back then??
DavidG said:
KMJJ sounded terrific. Bobby Ocean was part of that, too.
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