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Michael Spears of K-104 (Dallas) & KFRC-AM (San Fran)

S

SPRINGFIELDRAD

Is Mike still in the biz? Nice man. Also, he worked on the air in Detroit back in the day under a different name. He's known for wearing his London Fog raincoats.
 
DeltaDon said:
Michael Spears a/k/a Hal Martin died in Dallas Oct 25, 2005 at the age of 58 after a five-year battle with cancer.
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Sorry to hear he passed away. I had many dealings with him. Great guy. Thanks for your post.
 
Spears also was a pioneer in talk radio, bringing the format to the Tampa/St. Pete market by building WPLP-AM 570 from the ground up in the 70s. Before that, while he was in western NY (during a stay at the old WYSL 1400) he also did a TV startup in Jamestown, NY about 65 miles south of Buffalo, in 1967. He launched WNYP-TV channel 26 as a full service station and hosted a daily local talk show--he did something really unusual by affiliating the station with the Canadian CTV network, running all their programming except CTV news. That got the station in trouble with the FCC when the Buffalo major network affiliates caught wind of the fact that CTV ran some U.S. programs a day sooner than domestic affiliates did...dug up an obscure World War II vintage rule about broadcasters affiliating with foreign networks...and blew the whistle on WNYP. They couldn't get a deal with a US network, so without a net they couldn't afford to run as a full indie and threw in the towel.
 
I worked for Michael Spears, Bill Bungeroth and Paul Bilzerian at WPLP in 1979. As their Chief Engineer, I re-tuned the directional array for the station's ower increase from 500 watts to 981 watts. Don't laugh. At 570kHz (and with their towers in a salt water flat), the 981 watts put out quite a signal.
I liked Michael and am saddened to know of his death.
 
Bob1370 said:
...while he was in western NY (during a stay at the old WYSL 1400) he also did a TV startup in Jamestown, NY about 65 miles south of Buffalo, in 1967. He launched WNYP-TV channel 26 as a full service station and hosted a daily local talk show--he did something really unusual by affiliating the station with the Canadian CTV network, running all their programming except CTV news. That got the station in trouble with the FCC when the Buffalo major network affiliates caught wind of the fact that CTV ran some U.S. programs a day sooner than domestic affiliates did...dug up an obscure World War II vintage rule about broadcasters affiliating with foreign networks...and blew the whistle on WNYP. They couldn't get a deal with a US network, so without a net they couldn't afford to run as a full indie and threw in the towel.
Click to expand...

I think we may be talking about a different Michael Spears in Jamestown. Michael was 20 years old and working at KLIF in Dallas under the name "Hal Martin" in 1967, having worked up from KAND in Corsicana, Texas and KDOK in Tyler, Texas over the previous two years. His next stop after KLIF was CKLW, Windsor/Detroit.
 
"I think we may be talking about a different Michael Spears in Jamestown."

Don't think so, it's the same guy. He used the Hal Martin air name and was running that station at the same time he was working at WYSL/1400 in Buffalo, for Gordon McLendon (same guy who owned KLIF).
 
Bob1370 said:
"I think we may be talking about a different Michael Spears in Jamestown."

Don't think so, it's the same guy. He used the Hal Martin air name and was running that station at the same time he was working at WYSL/1400 in Buffalo, for Gordon McLendon (same guy who owned KLIF).
Click to expand...

Bob:
That was the key I needed. Turns out the time frame was a bit off. Would have been more like 1970 or 1971 instead of '67. He went from jocking at CKLW to PD at WYSL. McLendon then brought him back to Dallas to program KNUS-FM.
 
"Bob:
That was the key I needed. Turns out the time frame was a bit off. Would have been more like 1970 or 1971 instead of '67. He went from jocking at CKLW to PD at WYSL. McLendon then brought him back to Dallas to program KNUS-FM."

Sounds right. his adventure in combining large market radio and small market TV must have been a little later than I'd remembered. I now recall Jim McLaughlin of WKBW (and later WBEN) telling me that their paths briefly crossed as he was leaving WYSL for KB and Martin/Spears was arriving--he thought Martin was a bright guy who'd be a major player in the business. That must have been 1970...and Jim was right about him. Sad he's gone--the business is poorer for his loss.
 
I can't get anything to play from this KYA site. I have real player, but it asks to add additional software, then says software is not available. Frustrating.
 
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