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Last year that KHJ was #1?
- Thread starter Wimmmex
- Start date
KHJ's last #1 book was January/February 1974. KHJ had a 5.9 over KABC's 5.5. KABC took the lead in the spring book and with the exception of five books was #1 for the remainder of the 70s and through 1982.
Where were KHJ's listeners going?
What was KHJ doing to attract or repel audiences from 1974 onward?
When did they finally flip format (was it first to Country or "CarRadio"?)
Thanks Huff!
Keep in mind that the mid-70's was the period when Top 40 (or what the new magazine, R&R, would call "CHR") was moving rapidly to FM. In LA it appears that total FM listening tied and then exceeded AM listening in the 1976-1977 period (although different for the various age groups). And compared to the big FM signals, KHJ was not the best signal in the market, particularly in growing areas in the OC, the San Fernando Valley and the eastern part of LA County.
Slogans: We All Grew Up To Be Cowboys...err, We All Grew Up To Be Smokin' Oldies...err, We All Grew Up To Be Stuck In Traffic
....Todos Hemos Crecido a Hablar Espanol....and now (ladies and gentlemen, to coin a phrase) We All Grew Up To Be Catholic!
Mostly true. I only have access to Pulse numbers from 1966-1974, then Arbitron, but KHJ's peak were fall '68 (a 13.0) and fall '69 (a 12.8). By fall '70, it was a 9.0, and a 9.3 in 1971. KDAY's shift to Top 40 (under Bob Wilson) appears to have played a part, as did KEZY, Anaheim showing up in the L.A. book...but those were AM.
The FM shift began in '72, where KHJ fell to a 5.8, with KRTH going oldies (and probably siphoning off some of KHJ's adult numbers) and KLOS making the top ten for the first time with its very hit-oriented album rock format. It accelerated in '73 with KHJ dropping to a 5.4, KLOS getting to 4th with a 4.1 and KKDJ very nearly making the top ten (#12 with a 2.9).
From there on, it was just a question of how long KHJ could hang on with ratings between the mid-3s and the low 5s, and a ranking somewhere in the top 5. The collapse was in 1978, when KMET shot to 4th and KHJ fell out of the top ten.
Nurse Jeff and I've wondered if anyone (with ample time on their hands) has produced a list of "Then & Now" formats for some of these legendary Top 40 stations on Ancient Modulation? KHJ - religious, KRLA - Disney, KFRC - religious, KYA - religious, KCBQ - Talk, KGB - Sports, WLS - talk, WCFL - sports, WFIL - religious, WIBG - talk, etc.
But back to topic - 90~Three KHJ is one of a few powerhouse Top 40 stations still passionately talked about today. And it's interesting that a lot of the former RKO stations that used Bill Drake are in the same league.
But back to topic - 90~Three KHJ is one of a few powerhouse Top 40 stations still passionately talked about today. And it's interesting that a lot of the former RKO stations that used Bill Drake are in the same league.
CKLW-Windsor-focused News Talk
I heard a spot for NextRadio (or one of the other apps that let you pick up radio on chip-enabled smartphones) talking about 93 KHJ's emergency coverage. I thought that had to be 40 years ago, until I realized they meant the American Samoa version of 93 KHJ (KKHJ) which continues to this day....they suffered a tsunami as I recall.
I heard a spot for NextRadio (or one of the other apps that let you pick up radio on chip-enabled smartphones) talking about 93 KHJ's emergency coverage. I thought that had to be 40 years ago, until I realized they meant the American Samoa version of 93 KHJ (KKHJ) which continues to this day....they suffered a tsunami as I recall.
Thanks Michael for that very detailed time-line. ;-) What was the Top 40/CHR station on FM that (like most markets) was growing at that time?
In the ARB books (which began in LA in 1965), KHJ peaked with a 10.6 in the fall of 1967. There were 3 more double-digit books and a total of 19 #1 books before that final #1 in 1974 for KHJ.
KKDJ. In the fall '73 Pulse, Charlie Tuna's morning show was #10, with about half Charlie Van Dyke's number at KHJ, but that was a major accomplishment given that KKDJ was a no-show in mornings the year before. Middays were within 2 rating points of KHJ, they were 2nd only to KHJ in afternoon drive (albeit with only half the rating, but still...this was HUGE...the rest of L.A. radio was getting lower ratings than they were), and they actually beat KHJ from 7 p.m. to midnight (5.1 to 4.7).
The trajectory was such that KKDJ would probably have been essentially tied with KHJ a year later, if Bill Drake hadn't launched K-100 and split the available audience for Top 40 on FM. Both KKDJ and K-100 bumped around #20 for a couple of years and KKDJ flipped to adult contemporary with the call letters they have now....KIIS-FM.
Hi Michael,
I hope things are going well for you up north. I seem to recall that around 1977 / 78 or so that a Billy Pearl/Tom Greenleigh programmed and Art Laboe consulted KRLA was doing fairly well. How high did they ever get overall?
Yeah. The spot you mention is for NextRadio and calls out "The staff at 93 KHJ" but elsewhere in the copy mentions a tsunami and American Samoa.
Year by year trending is at http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Duncan-Market-by-Market-History.htm where you can pick the LA market.
Thanks for the link! Do you (or anyone else for that matter) happen to know when that was when Pearl and Greenleigh were involved with KRLA?
KHJ American Samoa is Hot AC as of 2016 and some CHR.
Willits: I LOVE Northern California, thanks! Things are going extremely well professionally and personally.
Billy Pearl and Tom Greenleigh took over KRLA on April 1, 1976. They peaked in the January/February Arbitron with a 4.1 to KHJ's 4.0, which stunned just about everyone.
Here's what Claude Hall wrote in Billboard when the book came out in early April:
https://books.google.com/books?id=x...TAA#v=onepage&q=pearl greenleigh krla&f=false
That 4.1 was good enough for 6th place (Beautiful Music KBIG was #1 with a 6.9, Beautiful KJOI second with a 6.2, Talk KABC third with a 5.7, News KNX with a 4.8 and News KFWB with a 4.7), which put KHJ in an uncomfortable 7th. They were 3rd the book before (Oct/Nov 1976).
Billy Pearl almost immediately parlayed the KRLA success into a gig as PD at KIQQ, replacing Bill Drake and Bill Chenault, whose consulting contract had expired. But Billy couldn't make lightning strike twice.
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