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Nifty 95

M

Musicradio

Guest
Who remembers (other than me)when KNIF signed on in Gilmer?
They called it "Nifty 95".

I remember them playing an Elton John song with a pop on the record.
Must have been around 1980, I think.
 
> Who remembers (other than me)when KNIF signed on in Gilmer?
> They called it "Nifty 95".
>
> I remember them playing an Elton John song with a pop on the
> record.
> Must have been around 1980, I think.

Shortly after that it became Star 95. One owner along the way was Jack Daniels (true name). He was once told by another broadcaster, "You should take a course in remembering others' names because everyone is surely going to remember yours.

The studios were in a geodesic dome east of downtown Gilmer and the air studio had a beautiful view of a muddy trail that circled the building..
>
 
> Who remembers (other than me)when KNIF signed on in Gilmer?
> They called it "Nifty 95".
>
> I remember them playing an Elton John song with a pop on the
> record.
> Must have been around 1980, I think.
>

Yep, 1980 sounds about right. It seems like they played a little bit of everything, from pop to country to r&b. Longview Cable TV at the time had KVIL on cable FM at 95.1. When KNIF signed on 95.3, it made KVIL unlistenable, especially on the NW side of town. Longview Cable never did move KVIL from 95.1. IIRC, KNIF's studios were in a geodesic dome on US271 south of Gilmer.

If you remember Nifty 95, do you also remember FM100 KGRI from Henderson? Their jingle was the synthesizer sounds from the beginning of Steve Miller's "Jungle Love."
 
> Yep, 1980 sounds about right. It seems like they played a
> little bit of everything, from pop to country to r&b.
> Longview Cable TV at the time had KVIL on cable FM at 95.1.
> When KNIF signed on 95.3, it made KVIL unlistenable,
> especially on the NW side of town. Longview Cable never did
> move KVIL from 95.1. IIRC, KNIF's studios were in a geodesic
> dome on US271 south of Gilmer.

I barely remember the sign-on, but I do recall that they'd play almost anything. When did 95.3 shift to Oldies?

> If you remember Nifty 95, do you also remember FM100 KGRI
> from Henderson? Their jingle was the synthesizer sounds from
> the beginning of Steve Miller's "Jungle Love."

Roll your own jingles, eh? Only caught the station a couple of times but it occurred to me that East Texas was easily amused. Oh wait, they still are.
 
> I barely remember the sign-on, but I do recall that they'd
> play almost anything. When did 95.3 shift to Oldies?

fuzzy memory mode on

After Nifty 95, they were Star 95 for awhile, then switched to easy listening KLSQ sometime in the mid/late 80's, then went light rock for awhile. I guess they switched to oldies KFRO-FM (KFROldies then later The Frog) sometime around 1993 or 1994.

/fuzzy memory mode off

And of course we all remember Waller's ill-fated attempt at spanish on 95.3 a few years ago.
 
> After Nifty 95, they were Star 95 for awhile, then switched
> to easy listening KLSQ sometime in the mid/late 80's, then
> went light rock for awhile. I guess they switched to oldies
> KFRO-FM (KFROldies then later The Frog) sometime around 1993
> or 1994.

Okay, that sounds about right. I remember that I got a call from a guy at the station when they were doing oldies. He was looking for advice on imaging, etc.

I think I told him the "Frog" nickname sucked. If not, I probably should have.
 
> > Yep, 1980 sounds about right. It seems like they played a
> > little bit of everything, from pop to country to r&b.
> > Longview Cable TV at the time had KVIL on cable FM at
> 95.1.
> > When KNIF signed on 95.3, it made KVIL unlistenable,
> > especially on the NW side of town. Longview Cable never
> did
> > move KVIL from 95.1. IIRC, KNIF's studios were in a
> geodesic
> > dome on US271 south of Gilmer.
>
> I barely remember the sign-on, but I do recall that they'd
> play almost anything. When did 95.3 shift to Oldies?


Seems like there was a series of format changes after J.R. Curtis bought it and finally harrangued the FCC into allowing the studios to be moved to the Loop in Longview. Curtis had the station for a year or so before vacating the Gilmer facility. He hired a live air staff then a few months later let everyone go and went to satellite. A couple of changes in the call letters and the ongoing format shifts had area listeners wondering what the station was all about. KFRO-AM at the time was also caught up in format changes. The period 1983-1992 was a period of gross instability for both the AM AND FM.

>
> > If you remember Nifty 95, do you also remember FM100 KGRI
> > from Henderson? Their jingle was the synthesizer sounds
> from
> > the beginning of Steve Miller's "Jungle Love."
>
> Roll your own jingles, eh? Only caught the station a couple
> of times but it occurred to me that East Texas was easily
> amused. Oh wait, they still are.
>
 
> > After Nifty 95, they were Star 95 for awhile, then
> switched
> > to easy listening KLSQ sometime in the mid/late 80's, then
>
> > went light rock for awhile. I guess they switched to
> oldies
> > KFRO-FM (KFROldies then later The Frog) sometime around
> 1993
> > or 1994.
>
> Okay, that sounds about right. I remember that I got a call
> from a guy at the station when they were doing oldies. He
> was looking for advice on imaging, etc.
>
> I think I told him the "Frog" nickname sucked. If not, I
> probably should have.

A lot of people thoroughly agreed with you.
>
 
KNIF's studios were in a geodesic
> dome on US271 south of Gilmer.
>
> If you remember Nifty 95, do you also remember FM100 KGRI
> from Henderson? Their jingle was the synthesizer sounds from
> the beginning of Steve Miller's "Jungle Love."
>

I remember the studios in Gilmer...and yes, I once did ONE
shift at KGRI back in the mid 80s.
 
The cobwebs are clearing...

When they switched from Star 95 to easy listening sometime in the mid 80's, they changed their calls to KAEZ. It seems that the KLSQ calls were shorted lived. In the early 90's, they changed from KAEZ to KLSQ, then back to KAEZ within a few weeks or months, then eventually to KFRO-FM when Waller bought it.
 
> The cobwebs are clearing...
>
> When they switched from Star 95 to easy listening sometime
> in the mid 80's, they changed their calls to KAEZ. It seems
> that the KLSQ calls were shorted lived. In the early 90's,
> they changed from KAEZ to KLSQ, then back to KAEZ within a
> few weeks or months, then eventually to KFRO-FM when Waller
> bought it.

Looks like they only used the KAEZ call letters for one stretch. I vaguely remember KLSQ, and KCGL went smooth by me. FCCInfo.com and RECnet.com seem to agree on the call letter progression, which went like this:

KNIF - license to cover granted Sep 9 1980

Call letter changes with effective date:

KAEZ - Dec 5 1986
KLSQ - Sep 17 1990
KFRO-FM - Mar 1 1993
KCGL - Dec 7 1998
KFRO-FM - Feb 15 1999

Once again it's worth noting that since they teamed up with 102.3 KLJT as "The Breeze," 95.3 is ID'ed illegally every hour as "KFRO Gilmer-Longview," without the "-FM" suffix.
 
> > The cobwebs are clearing...
> >
> > When they switched from Star 95 to easy listening sometime
>
> > in the mid 80's, they changed their calls to KAEZ. It
> seems
> > that the KLSQ calls were shorted lived. In the early 90's,
>
> > they changed from KAEZ to KLSQ, then back to KAEZ within a
>
> > few weeks or months, then eventually to KFRO-FM when
> Waller
> > bought it.
>
> Looks like they only used the KAEZ call letters for one
> stretch. I vaguely remember KLSQ, and KCGL went smooth by
> me. FCCInfo.com and RECnet.com seem to agree on the call
> letter progression, which went like this:
>
> KNIF - license to cover granted Sep 9 1980
>
> Call letter changes with effective date:
>
> KAEZ - Dec 5 1986
> KLSQ - Sep 17 1990
> KFRO-FM - Mar 1 1993
> KCGL - Dec 7 1998
> KFRO-FM - Feb 15 1999
>
> Once again it's worth noting that since they teamed up with
> 102.3 KLJT as "The Breeze," 95.3 is ID'ed illegally every
> hour as "KFRO Gilmer-Longview," without the "-FM" suffix.
>
Completely forgot about the stint as KCGL--a promotional kick that revolved arounf the imaging as "Cool 95.3" or somesuch. The station's first format stabil;ity was when the it went on Transtar, then Sunburst began fragnenting dayparts between local origination and the satellite. Then when Waller bought the AM and FM there was more skittering among formats--Transtar oldies, then salsa, finally back to oldies but with Jones Radio. Now the Breeze. For 23 years the station was caught up in a format conundrum that totally confused its listeners.
 
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