Old Las Vegas Radio:KRGN 102 FM

[bilco]

I have in my hot little hands a frame containing the telegram from the FCC authorizing changing the call sign for 92.3 from KENO-FM to KOMP effective 8 March 1982. It.s dated 8 mar 82. No idea about format changes as I came here in 1998! This piece of history was found by the Chief eng. over at CBS, Tracy Teagarden,in a building on Black Mt. Arden. He gave it to me several years ago and it sits on a shelf in our little history museum here at Lotus. If you are ever at our building on W. Flamingo, take a look at the shelves just off the lobby. Crystol, our receptionist can direct you. By the way ,the Nevada Broadcasters Association is still looking for a permanent location for the items in the broadcast museum they hope to have. There are several classic items. We'd also like to find someone who would be interested in restoring them, at least cosmetically. Currently they are mostly in storage at our MLK site of KWWN.
Bill Croghan, CE, Lotus Las Vegas

 

[Penrod Rightout]

Great thread guys! I wish I had something substantial to add other than the fact that i grew up in Vegas and 102 was my First FM station! I remember it was the only one that played the clash and when it flipped to country, i was devastated. I don't think I ever listened to it again. The yearbook photo is tops!

Thanks for the history lesson

Yeah, a lot of people were bummed by the flip...especially the morning guy they eventually hired after I bailed -- Big Marty! He also abandoned ship and went over to KOMP after the change. Scott Jameson was another early KOMP air talent I remember.

Bill, I remember when Tracy found that little gem in your old main site on Black Mountain Arden. I was working at KENO-FM when we first went on the air from Arden--what a change, going from 15kc equalized lines from 4660 South Decatur to the old site (which was the old K-SHOP site at MLK & Cheyenne) to an STL shot to Arden. We had constant problems with the loop from the studios to the transmitter site, I still recall when doing middays a Centel tech put a dweedler on one of our pairs! (Of course, that wasn't nearly as bad as hearing reorder on the EAS alert this morning!) Joel Saxburg helped out on the move, Dan Peluso was CE and Fred Holub would come on board later.

You've got some real great classic items and I hope the NBA finds a fitting home for them.

George Thomas - IS&T Engineer, CBS Las Vegas

 

[Whackamole47]

Just to confirm and clarify, 92.3 did change back to AOR in early '81. The KOMP calls came later, after a failed attempt to go with KMOB. I can't remember if it was public outcry, FCC resistance or both, but KMOB didn't float so KOMP it was.

When KFM 102 dropped AOR for Country (Progressive Country at first) 92.3 was CHR as "FM Keno 92," consulted by Burkhart/Abrams. The music was mainstream Top 40, as opposed to KLUC's then Rock Top 40 format. Didn't last long, though, after KFM's format "gift."

Whack

 

[Jay F]

One of my favorite memories of the short lived FM KENO 92 was Bill Bauman's nightly "Rubber Room" feature. That was so much fun to listen to. That's what I liked about that era of radio, there were entertaining features around the clock. They didn't put all their eggs in the morning drive basket

I do remember the musical differences between FM KENO and KLUC. The first time I ever heard Prince was on FM 92 when they played "I Wanna Be Your Lover" in heavy rotation, they also played all the hits from Michael Jackson's hot "Off The Wall" album, while KLUC played nothing from it at all. You can tell how rock leaning KLUC was by listening to the 1980 aircheck on the history site. Although if I remember correctly they rocked harder than normal during the "Block Party" features. For example, A song that I loved on the block parties was "Hocus Pocus" by focus, KLUC didn't play that song during regular programming.

What a difference a few years made. By the time Michael Jackson's Thriller album was out KLUC was all over it. By 1984 they were playing more rhythmic and rap than the typical CHR. I have an aircheck somewhere of Brian "Juan Dominguez" Christan playing "Jam On It" by Newcleus. That song didn't even hit the national Top 40. Jeff Colson was doing PM Drive on KLUC at that time. They were #1 with a 13.4 share in the Spring "84 book.

The KFM format change was shocking at the time. Maybe the most surprising in LV radio history. I say that because 99% of the time when a station flips formats they are losers. Or you'll have a situation like KLUL in 2005 where the station did well 12+ but had no numbers in saleable demos. But KFM switched formats when they were booming.

I read an article in a January 1981 Billboard (I might still have it in storage) where the management at KFMS admitted the rock format was very successful. But their AM country station 1410 KVEG was doing extremely well and they were concerned an FM station might flip country and ruin KVEG. So they wanted to go country on FM before anyone else did.
In that same article Lotus management (I believe Nancy Alexander??) said they were considering flipping 92 back to rock but if they did they would keep consultants Burkhart/Abrams and use their "Superstars" format. That's exactly what they did a short time latter.

It worked out well for both stations. They were both powerhouses for years. I recall in the Fall '84 book 4 stations were in double digits. Amazing to think that 4 signals controlled close to 50% of the LV radio market share...those stations were

92.3 KOMP Rock
94.1 KXTZ Easy Listening
98.5 KLUC CHR
101.9 KFMS Country

 

[Whackamole47]

Nancy Reynolds.

 

[bilco]

George, thanks for the additional Info on the KOMP transmitter site switches. We now use a multiplexed Microwave STL to run both KOMP and KXPT to Mt. Potosi. The same microawave split carries both to our new Black Mt Arden site for our backup transmitters. The problem with the Wednesday morning EAS Hazmat alert was the failure of the originator to enter all of the codes needed to end the alert. For security reasons, there is an additonal complex password plus code to send the end of message, which was accidently not sent. Many stations did not catch it or insert their own. KOMP did, KXPT didn't and of course our automated stations just went ahead until they finally got the EOM code. She is aware now and there should be no repitition. All in all, I thought it went pretty well desite that minor screwup. Other than Amber alerts and weather, that's one of the few Real alerts we've had and most stations handled it well. Some were to self important to give a damn about their public and did not relay the information either automatically, manually or just by telling people without the tones. Of course I am prejudiced about the system being co-chair of the sourthern NV/Inyo County CA EAS operational area and one of the authors of the current EAS plan for the area!
Bill

 

[Penrod Rightout]

Bill, you're welcome, when I used to take care of 1400 at the old KENO-FM site at MLK & Cheyenne the insulators for the FM bays were still scattered around the base of the tower. I did 7-midnight in 1977 at "K-92" , our music director Keith Stewart would trek out to the site and tweak the audio processing. That's right, Wednesday morning was one of the few real alerts we've had for the EAS system and proved how valuable the system is...you've done a great job on the plan. We've come a long way since Conelrad!

We did a lot of cool shows on the old "K-92" which became "FM Keno 92" - we also used "All Album Keno FM 92" and KENO-FM in the three years I was there. I have a window sticker from the station on my history website http://gapfel.com/radio/kenofm.html "Earquakes" used to run every night at 6, brought to you by Wrongdaddy's. On the weekends we did block parties of three in a row by the same artist (at first I think we called them "Supersets".) Craig Hunt did afternoons for awhile, later he went to KLUC, as I did in 1980. Bill Bauman replaced me--this was his first gig in Vegas. We would work together at KUDO in the mid 80s. Other names on the roster: Garry O'Neil, Rick Diego, Randy Lundquist, R.W. Stephens, Lynn Justice, Steve O'Neil, Jerry Clary, Steve Sommers. You really had control of the flow of your show...no pre-printed music sheets, we rotated currents by positioning them in the cart racks in the control room, recurrents and gold you'd pick from the card file of John Rook cards--you had a lot of freedom...we always tried to outdo one another with the killer segues!

Toward the end of the decade the station kept leaning more pop and less AOR, more structure and tighter formatting came as well. Burkhart/Abrams brought in what they called the "Silver, Blue, and Gold" format. The prime target was KLUC, who for years had been a rocker at night. Rod Serling voiced the legal ID, "Stereo KLUC FM...Las Vegas."

 

[Penrod Rightout]

Just to confirm and clarify, 92.3 did change back to AOR in early '81. The KOMP calls came later, after a failed attempt to go with KMOB. I can't remember if it was public outcry, FCC resistance or both, but KMOB didn't float so KOMP it was.

I think it was a combination of both, the FCC didn't grant those sorts of vanity calls back then, but that changed when 107.5 was allowed to change from KUDA to KFBI. I seem to recall some public protest about "The Mob" but I do remember them using it as their slogan.

Before Lotus bought the frequency it was the sister station to AM 970 with call letters KVEG-FM, then had a short run as KTRI and a country station. I remember this because they had a billboard which said, "Get your country both ways" with two pairs of cowboy boots... KTRI with the fancy boots, KVEG with the old well-worn pair.

 

[Jay Ford]

Every once in a while I see my name mentioned in some of these posts with references to the old KFM-102. It never fails to amaze me how accurate your remembrances are. You guys have incredible memories! To you G.T., I had completely forgotten that I was the one who hired you. When I read your post, it all came back to me. As I recall, we met late at night at the Dispensary Lounge when it still faced Eastern Ave. It was raining like hell that night and you came walking into the bar wearing a trench-coat and smoking a pipe. You looked like Sherlock Holmes! I also remember why your tenure at KFM was so short lived. There was an individual there, who shall remain nameless, who seemed to thrive on making people's lives as difficult as possible. I don't blame you for bailing. I was also happy to see that you referenced Rick Diego and Steve Pirosh in your post, I hired them, too. Does anyone know where the two of them ended up? I know Rick worked in the L.A. market for a few years after leaving Las Vegas.

Does anyone remember the KFM sponsored riot...err concert at the old Craig Road Speedway? I think that event had alot to do with the owners of the station opting to flip the format. That concert was one of the most out-of-control, bizarre events that I have ever been involved with. Naked girls on stage, police in riot gear, fires being set in the bleachers, beer bottles flying through the air, fights, it had it all!! I've got pictures to prove it.

The day the station flipped to a Country format was one of the darkest days of my life. What a drag it was showing up to work with protesters in the parking, on the roof with banners, tv crews, eggs thrown on the windows, disturbing calls to the switchboard. It was unbelievable! Those protesters were led by an anarchist punk by the name of Mike Culotta. What memories! Some good, some not so good but it sure was a great time to be on the air in Las Vegas.

Jay Ford (the other Jay F)

 

[Whackamole47]

Acutally, Mr. Bauman's first LV gig was at 1-2-3 KLAV. Short-lived for sure. Craig Hunt did middays at FM Keno 92. He wasn't there long before jumping to afternoon drive at KLUC. He's currently the afternoon jock on country KYGO in Denver. Steve O'Neil was Steve Parker on the station to avoid confusion with Garry O'Neal in afternoons. Last I heard Steve was working for Bonneville in DC. Garry O'Neal slunk out of town only to return and start the O Brothers in the mid 80s.

Whack

 

[Penrod Rightout]

Jay Ford! Great to hear from you, and I do remember that night we met at the Dispensery, saw Warren Brown a few weeks ago and he still gets together with Doug James for lunch (they call it "the old geezers lunch") and they reminisce, kinda like what we're doing on this board. My memories sometimes leave out bits and pieces, like "The Swiller" Bill Bauman's first Vegas radio gig, a very short one at KLAV 1-2-3, I forgot all about that.

I don't know what became of Steve "Cheese Louise" Pirosh, and it was a few years ago I exchanged a couple of emails with Rick Diego when he was still in L.A. --don't know what his current status is. The infamous Craig Road concert was after I bailed, I missed out on that event. I do remember the "Skylab Survival Kits" we handed out, though-- pack of Zags and a roach clip! It was a great time to do radio (and those aircheck sessions with Mr. Nameless were not-so-great times!)

It seems like a lot of us followed similar paths... like Swiller, I went from KLAV to KLUC. We would end up working together at two different stations after that: KUDO in the 80s and in the late 90s KMZQ. Craig Hunt and I both went from FM Keno 92 to KLUC, as did Randy Lundquist. And how about the former KLUC jocks who ended up at Klassy 100? Charlie "Charlie's in Charge!" McGraw and Scot Campbell. Garry O'Neal...he was a trip, That boy loved to party!

GT

 

[Whackamole47]

Jay F: Do you remember that Bauman's Rubber Room was originally called Boogie Check? It was a "tribute" to the original Boogie Check done by John "Records" Landecker at WLS in Chicago. When Nancy Reynolds took over for CMA Jerry Roy (Creepiest Man Alive), she decided she thought "Boogie Check" sounded dated, so she made Bill come up with something else. Rubber Room it was.

Jay Ford: When was the last time you talked to KFM alumnus Randy Hood? We last spoke in '93 and I haven't heard from or of him since.

Whack

 

[Penrod Rightout]

Whack, now that's some serious Swill Bill trivia, I had long forgotten about "Boogie Check" and now dimly recall Bauman mentioning that to me once. I just remembered he went by Greg Powers when he returned to Lite 100.5 in the late 90s.

There could be an entire thread dedicated to "colorful" GMs, Jerry Roy would have to be included with his "Mickey Mouse" fascination. Keith Gerst from KLUC along with Cindy Weiner Schloss of KMZQ/KMXB also deserve placement there. Going back a bit further those who experienced Disco 1-2-3 and KLAV would place Alvan Korngold in the GM Hall of Fame.

Back to 101.9, we had a real "who's who" of Las Vegas on board when I worked there in the summer of '79. GM was Steve Gold, OM Doug Shane, PD Jay Ford, SM Len Howard, traffic director state senator Val Weiner, sales secretary Linda Bonnici (Tony was still working construction back then.) AE's included Jack Abell, James Russell, and Hank Thornley. Gordie Alsum was the CE. Sister station KVEG 1410-AM had Walt Reno on mornings and Doug James afternoons.

There was an interesting clash of personalities when Broadcast Associates Inc. (BAI) took over KEYV 93.1 in the early 90s. They never actually owned the former "Key" but operated it under an Sales Marketing Agreement (SMA.) Molasky-owned Unicom remained licensee, and GM Tom Humm of The Key and Doug Shane of BAI worked as co-General Managers. They shoe-horned KEYV into their facility on Convention Center Drive and I did middays and Selector logs for Hit Kickin' Country Y-93. They hired an Industrial Psychologist to work with us and try to make for a big happy family... yeah.

93.1 FM would continue to be owned by Unicom until Jacor purchased Regent Braodcasting in the mid 90s.

 

[Jay Ford]

GT: Skylab Survival Kits! I had completley forgotten about that promotion. The things we used to get away with! Something else I remembered over the weekend is the fact that Steve Pirosh's dad was one of the main writers for the Marx Brothers way back when. I was always sort of fascinated by that. Here's another memory flogger. Remember the Rubber Heads? They would have been STARS on the Howard Stern show!

Whack: The last time I remember hearing from Randy Hood was around 1987 when I joined Lotus. I believe that he ended up in a small market somewhere in So Cal. I could be wrong about that, but I think someone told me years ago that he was the pd of a small market station in Ca.

Thanks for the memories guys!

Jay Ford

 

[gerggg]

Hi Penrod

There could be an entire thread dedicated to "colorful" GMs /../ Going back a bit further those who experienced Disco 1-2-3 and KLAV would place Alvan Korngold in the GM Hall of Fame.

>> Alvin wins the colorful Owner. Bill Berkey was packing his 45 RPM Bag (as the GM) to head off to K*RAM around July of 1980, if I recall.

Sister station KVEG 1410-AM had Walt Reno on mornings and Doug James afternoons.

>> Trying to recall this one too. In 1979 wasn't KVEG still on the single stick out on Boulder Hwy (near the UNLV stadium) and 1400. I'm trying to remember when they went directional and 1410 south of Vegas on (was it?) Las Vegas Blvd. South.

93.1 FM would continue to be owned by Unicom until Jacor purchased Regent Braodcasting in the mid 90s.

 

[Penrod Rightout]

Hi Penrod

There could be an entire thread dedicated to "colorful" GMs /../ Going back a bit further those who experienced Disco 1-2-3 and KLAV would place Alvan Korngold in the GM Hall of Fame.

>> Alvin wins the colorful Owner. Bill Berkey was packing his 45 RPM Bag (as the GM) to head off to K*RAM around July of 1980, if I recall.

>>Trying to recall this one too. In 1979 wasn't KVEG still on the single stick out on Boulder Hwy (near the UNLV stadium) and 1400. I'm trying to remember when they went directional and 1410 south of Vegas on (was it?) Las Vegas Blvd. South.

gerggg, Alvin gets the award, hands down. And he can compete for the honor in two categories, as owner and GM of KLAV. When I started at KITT/KRAM in 1984 they were still talking about the Bill and Roseanne Berkey. Bob Hannah would take over the GM post at the combo until Phil Sertall (sp?) bought the station in 1985. Working at KITT was like a big party, Ken Copper was the most laid-back PD I've ever had.

That single stick out near the stadium more recently belonged to KDOX-1280. We used it for a Marti receive site at CBS until they vacated it. In 1979 it probably was used by 1280 whose calls then were KVOV. I think the five-tower array on Gomer Road just off LV Blvd. South was lit up between 1975 and 1979 on 1410. We vacated that site and returned to 1400 in the mid 90s, taking over the former KNUU site on MLK & Cheyenne. It was used once more for an AM HD demo for the NAB show in 1995.

 

[Jay F]

When I met Alvin Korngold he asked me if I knew what the KLAV call letters stood for. I guessed Las Vegas. He said no, KLAV was backwards for the Voice of Alvin L Korngold. I believed that for the longest time until I learned that KLAV was around long before Alvin bought the station.

A real character was KLAV GM Morgan Skinner. When I worked there he made the station pull the song "Maneater" by Hall&Oates. He said "This is a family station we don't play songs about oral sex". Everyone told him that subject had nothing to do with the song but he insisted on banning it.

 

[gerggg]

Jay... yes, I worked at KORK when Morgan S. was GM there. I remember when he went to KLAV and (they?) took out a small ad in the RJ that said "Congratulation!" (the rest is paraphrased but basically was a welcome of him to KLAV) The point here is that "Congratulation!" was either a typo (missing the trailing "s") or it was meant to be singular, basically congratulating himself on the new position. LOL. By the way the "Family Radio" stuff might have been due to the fact that (especially that era) the LDS church was taking a stand against those "suggestive" songs, including "Physical" by ONJ. I had a (non LDS) friend that was music director for Bonnieville in Dallas, and he had to edit half of the charted songs to past muster. Finally... I love the "Voice of AK" story... hehehe. I had not heard that one before. Hilarious!

GT... hmmm I was sure when I arrived here in '80 it was the single stick on 1400 (I seem to remember attending a UNLV football game and picking up spurious 1400 stuff all over my quality VW Bug am radio??), and then later they made a big promotion on moving to 1410 (which would have been what I thought was the new site south of town, which I drove out to see... it was soooo far back in those days... now we have the new M casino..hahaha) ? I was just going from what I remember, but if i'm wrong on that one I stand corrected! Curious... when did CBS use the old Bldr Hwy tower for the marti hop?? I didn't remember we had that when I left there in 99?? I loved those days. I remember you hooking up a computer for me on a temporary desk they gave me in that big room across from the mix studio. It was a 640 x 480 well burned in screen with about 1/10th dialup speed to access the net.. LOL

Peace out... gerggg

 

[gerggg]

Sorry for this extra post. Just found out about the link and I'm catching up with you all.

Penrod... do you remember anything of a story, of a jock hoisting a Grolsch with the PD during the last hour of that DJ's show? I think I heard it was the old KUDO/93.1 studio, the one with pretty weak (if any) air conditioning in the summer. I also heard that the PD/Chief had a trigger that tripped a "beep beep" sound 10 seconds before every carted song ended. At first we hated it, but after a while I seem to remember that we got used to it... and saved our butts when we were out in the hallway (where there was some air flow) chatting with whoever. LOL. Ahhh yes, the good ol' days on the second floor of the Tropicanna Country Club (pre-fire).

 

[Penrod Rightout]

Jay... yes, I worked at KORK when Morgan S. was GM there. I remember when he went to KLAV and (they?) took out a small ad in the RJ that said "Congratulation!" (the rest is paraphrased but basically was a welcome of him to KLAV) The point here is that "Congratulation!" was either a typo (missing the trailing "s") or it was meant to be singular, basically congratulating himself on the new position. LOL.

GT... hmmm I was sure when I arrived here in '80 it was the single stick on 1400 (I seem to remember attending a UNLV football game and picking up spurious 1400 stuff all over my quality VW Bug am radio??), and then later they made a big promotion on moving to 1410 (which would have been what I thought was the new site south of town, which I drove out to see... it was soooo far back in those days... now we have the new M casino..hahaha) ? I was just going from what I remember, but if i'm wrong on that one I stand corrected! Curious... when did CBS use the old Bldr Hwy tower for the marti hop?? I didn't remember we had that when I left there in 99?? I loved those days. I remember you hooking up a computer for me on a temporary desk they gave me in that big room across from the mix studio. It was a 640 x 480 well burned in screen with about 1/10th dialup speed to access the net.. LOL

Peace out... gerggg

Gawd! I remember that ad, didn't it have Morgan's smiling face in it?

That stick off of Boulder Highway could very well have been used by 1400, your VW bug catching spurs by the stadium indicates that's the case. CBS didn't use it for a Marti receive site until 2002 or 2003. The one I'm more familiar with is the 1410 site on Gomer Road, I took apart the Continental Phaser and had a moving company haul it and a parted out Power Rock off to storage.

Hey, I remember that fine piece of computer gear I hooked up for you with a 14" screen-burned monitor and a 14.4 modem, that beast was still in use when Melanie came over in 2004. The case was the same one I used when I was music director of KMZQ back in 1990.