The first 70s KFI Top 40 Chart on ARSA is from 8-1-77.
The Charts taper off in late 1983, and there is a Year End Chart for 1984.
The Charts taper off in late 1983, and there is a Year End Chart for 1984.
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Los Angeles Ratings Spring 1976
- Thread starter davideduardo
- Start date
It was. What I meant was that it really was, at least in its original form under Jimi Fox, the last Q Format station. And, had Buzz Bennett gone to KRLA with it when he left KCBQ in 1971, I think he could have turned the market upside down. By 1977 (KTNQ launched December 26, 1976), the approach, even though it hadn't been done in L.A., was a little passe', and was beaten by both KHJ and KFI for most of its run.
It didn't tie KHJ until January/February 1979, and it still trailed KFI. By that point, Mike McVay was PD and the station was fairly mainstream, playing only the hits at the correct speed, with Charlie Tuna in morning drive. It beat both KHJ and KFI in April/May '79 (by 3/10th of a point), by which time the station had announced it was going Spanish. And in its last book, July/August, only half of which was before the format/language switch, it beat KHJ, but KFI beat KTNQ by almost a full point.
By summer of '78, Storer, still thinking it was going to keep the station, talked about going Country with it, and moving to an automated contemporary station on 97.1. The Real Don Steele resigned within a week of reading that in R&R. The attention opened talks of a sale, and, while it took a year, Lieberman ended up with KTNQ.
Again, I think a Q Format on KRLA instead of the album rock approach it took in 1972 could have re-written history. And I think Storer (which prior too announcing Top 40, had discussed wanting a big 24-7 country signal on 1020 in L.A.) would have been happier---and might have kept the station---if it had gone with Country instead of Top 40.
Rook was very gradual in morphing KFI from AC to Top 40 (which again, in those days, was really just a matter of playing five or six records that you didn't normally play. Looking at R&R, key points were replacing talk host Hilly Rose in late evenings with Dave Diamond (April 1) and making Eric Chase and Mark Thomas music coordinators (July 1).
Harder Rock had generally moved to FM by the late 1970s. AM Top 40s usually did become more AC. It's listeners were then older. Some people regarded what the KFI Survey contained as "Chicken Rock". Those AMs did well until AC formats moved to FM and became competition.
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