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Radio by the Bay
- Thread starter Bay Radiohead
- Start date
What did you like the most about it?
I'm still processing the experience (there's a lot to take in during only one relatively brief visit!), but I think what I liked most were the 50s-60s-ish era radio studio recreation in the back room and the adjacent repair shop.
All the rest was just frosting
c
That...
...is what was left of the studio equipment at KRE in Berkeley, where the interiors of the Wolfman Jack scenes in "American Graffiti" were filmed. In fact, Stan Bunger, @BossRadioDJ and I generally just call it "The Wolfman Studio" when we're in the building.
KRE had made several changes, so it's not exact by any means, but several of the pieces do date to that time in that studio.
@michael hagerty Fascinating!
I had seen a mention of it earlier in this thread, but I didn't make the connection until you pointed it out!
You probably already know this, but I was told that it's actually functional, and heard during a guided tour that I tagged along behind (I wasn't registered to be part of it, but I was there, and they didn't mind, so why not!) that they're going to be broadcasting from that studio over the air via low power AM (Part 15) starting toward the end of the month, so for all intents and purposes, it works much like the real thing!
I can hardly wait to go back for another visit, and I'm considering signing up as a member.
c
I had seen a mention of it earlier in this thread, but I didn't make the connection until you pointed it out!
You probably already know this, but I was told that it's actually functional, and heard during a guided tour that I tagged along behind (I wasn't registered to be part of it, but I was there, and they didn't mind, so why not!) that they're going to be broadcasting from that studio over the air via low power AM (Part 15) starting toward the end of the month, so for all intents and purposes, it works much like the real thing!
I can hardly wait to go back for another visit, and I'm considering signing up as a member.
c
Yep. Everything in the studio works.
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Stan, @BossRadioDJ and I are working on a project to catalog and archive the mountain of tapes, discs and whatever else in the way of audio that has been donated to the museum over the years. There was an earlier attempt, but it got derailed by COVID. This time we're going all the way with it.
After the cataloging, the tapes (some of them exceptionally rare and very old) will be handed off to preservation pros for very careful digitization with the end result being it being available to listen.
So, in August and September, I spent most Saturdays either with Stan, David, Stan and David or on my own digging in and getting this thing off the ground. There's a lot more to go, and there are some interruptions that are unavoidable, but I'll be back in there in November.
I recommend it highly. And for anyone who's reading this who's curious:
California Historical Radio Society
CHRS is a non-profit corporation founded in 1974 to promote the restoration and preservation of early radio and broadcasting.
californiahistoricalradio.com
Also, the annual Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame luncheon is a week from tomorrow---Saturday, October 18:
bayarearadio.org
And for those that haven't seen it, whether or not you attend the lunch, the KFRC Mobile Sturgeon will be in the parking lot of Scott's Seafood in Jack London Square beginning at 10:00 a.m.
BARHOF Announces The Class of 2025
The Bay Area Radio Museum and Hall of Fame (BARHOF) welcomes its newest group of inductees. The BARHOF Class
bayarearadio.org
And for those that haven't seen it, whether or not you attend the lunch, the KFRC Mobile Sturgeon will be in the parking lot of Scott's Seafood in Jack London Square beginning at 10:00 a.m.
Darn!
I won't be available!
Oh, well. The Sturgeon seems to make fairly regular appearances, so I'm sure I'll get my chance to see it eventually.
By the way, if I haven't said it already (I know others have), I really like your avatar
That sounds... tedious (but cataloging and archiving media like this often is, it seems). I don't know if I can help any, but I'd love to check it out at some point and maybe get involved.
c
Take the next opportunity when it comes rather than thinking there'll be another. I mean, I hope the guys keep doing this, but Chris Sharpe (the Sturgeon's owner) lives in Florida. and I believe Bryan Schaeffer, who's part of the modern-day Sturgeon team, lives outside the area as well.
It's incredible that they're able to be in the Bay Area as often as they are and a miracle the Sturgeon still exists.
By the way, if I haven't said it already (I know others have), I really like your avatar
c
Thanks. I think I mentioned---around the beginning of the thread----that I felt---unworthy---to stand where guys like Dave Sholin and Jack Armstrong and Mark McKay and Bill Lee and Don Sainte-Johnn had stood, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
.
I recall seeing the Sturgeon parked over Hwy 101, driving to work (KQED) one morning, northbound on 101, right at an overpass that was not yet open, just slightly north of SFO (airport) . . . they must have received special permission to park up there.
They were broadcasting from it at the time, had to be in the 1980's.
I also use to see it parked in front of a house occasionally in Fremont, I am guessing one of KFRC's engineers lived in that area.
I mentioned this one time here, one night after leaving work (KQED) I decided to take The Nimitz (Hwy 17) home to the Fremont area, coming off the Bay Bridge into Oakland I had 610 on the car radio, it was like 2 AM.
610 sounded great but suddenly heading south on 17 around the Oakland Coliseum they got weaker & weaker???
I called them the next day and asked what was going on???
They said they were working on the tower and were down to 100 watts!!!!
I am sure a number of you have seen this on YOUTUBE when the Sturgeon was parked at Union Square in SF one day.
ENJOY BOTH!!!
then there is this too . . .
They were broadcasting from it at the time, had to be in the 1980's.
I also use to see it parked in front of a house occasionally in Fremont, I am guessing one of KFRC's engineers lived in that area.
I mentioned this one time here, one night after leaving work (KQED) I decided to take The Nimitz (Hwy 17) home to the Fremont area, coming off the Bay Bridge into Oakland I had 610 on the car radio, it was like 2 AM.
610 sounded great but suddenly heading south on 17 around the Oakland Coliseum they got weaker & weaker???
I called them the next day and asked what was going on???
They said they were working on the tower and were down to 100 watts!!!!
I am sure a number of you have seen this on YOUTUBE when the Sturgeon was parked at Union Square in SF one day.
ENJOY BOTH!!!
then there is this too . . .
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Ooo, I remember Tower Records!
But I missed out on their heyday; I was only there to witness its final death throes before streaming services began taking over in the late 2000s/early 2010s (the recession was the final nail in the coffin for them, I think).
Anyone know Rasputin Records in Berkeley and Pleasant Hill? They were still going strong, last I checked.
c
But I missed out on their heyday; I was only there to witness its final death throes before streaming services began taking over in the late 2000s/early 2010s (the recession was the final nail in the coffin for them, I think).
Anyone know Rasputin Records in Berkeley and Pleasant Hill? They were still going strong, last I checked.
c
It seemed normal at the time, but in the 70s, there were a ridiculous number of record chains inspired by the success of Tower (which teenaged Russ Solomon started as a counter inside his dad's drugstore in Sacramento in the 1950s).
The original neon sign is still over the door of what is now the Tower Cafe:
Russ moved Tower out on its own in 1965:
And by 1968, was ready to spread beyond Sacramento into San Francisco (at Columbus and Bay)...
And to Hollywood (Sunset at Horn) in 1970:
Before Tower, most record stores sold at either full list price or a buck off. Tower sold at two bucks below list. Most stores didn't stock the back catalog of artists unless they were consistent sellers even as the albums aged---so Beatles, TJB, etc. Tower stocked EVERYTHING and usually a minimum of five copies, to avoid ever being out of stock.
Tower's success started a boom in discount record chains---The Wherehouse, Eucalyptus Records, Peaches Records, Banana Records, Licorice Pizza---and those are just the six with significant presences in California that come to mind. There were more.
Endless price wars---"list price $5.98, our price $2.49!" Constant promotion. It couldn't last and it didn't.
Amoeba and Rasputin are great, but if you weren't around for the 70s record store wars, you missed out.
The original neon sign is still over the door of what is now the Tower Cafe:
Russ moved Tower out on its own in 1965:
And by 1968, was ready to spread beyond Sacramento into San Francisco (at Columbus and Bay)...
And to Hollywood (Sunset at Horn) in 1970:
Before Tower, most record stores sold at either full list price or a buck off. Tower sold at two bucks below list. Most stores didn't stock the back catalog of artists unless they were consistent sellers even as the albums aged---so Beatles, TJB, etc. Tower stocked EVERYTHING and usually a minimum of five copies, to avoid ever being out of stock.
Tower's success started a boom in discount record chains---The Wherehouse, Eucalyptus Records, Peaches Records, Banana Records, Licorice Pizza---and those are just the six with significant presences in California that come to mind. There were more.
Endless price wars---"list price $5.98, our price $2.49!" Constant promotion. It couldn't last and it didn't.
Amoeba and Rasputin are great, but if you weren't around for the 70s record store wars, you missed out.
I know, and it's one of the numerous reasons why I feel like I was born at least 30 years too late.
I really appreciate your attention to detail regarding history, by the way! If we ever met, I'm sure we could go on for hours, because history really fascinates me (my main beat is computers and related technologies, but I am strongly interested in all sorts of history... anything from politics to places, roads, cars, radio, etc. because on some level, it's all intertwined and you can't fully understand one subject without having at least a decent working knowledge of all these others to put things in the proper context).
Speaking of, does the SF Tower Records building still exist in some form? It looks vaguely familiar for some reason.
c
It’s the Walgreens at Columbus and Bay:
I’ve heard of Peaches Records and Licorice Pizza but not the other ones, so thanks for mentioning them.
The Wherehouse started with four stores in 1970.
By Christmas 1974, when this print ad ran, there were six in San Diego alone.
There were 125 in California and Nevada by the early 80s.
Eucalyptus started in Fairfield in 1971 and became a cautionary tale in its 15-ish year run:
Back in the Day: Eucalyptus Records and Tapes Part 2 – Paul Pennington
Fairfield-based Eucalyptus Records and Tapes, founded by Suisun Valley brothers Orville and Lewis Lambert, grew in 1971 from a small store next to a bar to the huge old Pinkerton
And then there was Banana Records, which never got quite as big outside the Bay Area...
...but they were big enough to afford ads on KFRC ("One banana, two banana, three banana four---the latest and the greatest at the Banana Records store!")
The store with appeal (get it?....yeah, we do.)
Attachments
Reading this thread dredges up memories from my tender yewt (youth) in New York City. My first job was as a paper boy, but my first employment was with Sam Goody's, the records/tapes/audio/musical instruments/sheet music chain. They took a measured approach to growth. It was never balls-to-the-wall, spend-whatever-it-takes growth. Maybe that's why Goody lasted as long as it did. Also because Sam continued to run the place himself, and it was largely a family-and-trusted-friends operation, with his two sons having significant roles in the business. There was loyalty that worked in both directions. Until they got an offer they couldn't refuse from Musicland, which itself was a subsidiary of American Can Company and had access to whatever capital it took to expand into a nationwide footprint. That's when the explosive growth started, and the seeds of its destruction took root.
But what you're describing, Mike, sounds more like the Crazy Eddie and The Wiz chains back in the greater Metropolitan Area. Expand, expand, expand, advertise like mad, spend whatever it takes, and treat the corporate till as your own piggy bank until the Feds catch on. I have a special "appreciation" for these kinds of operations, because I inadvertently ended up being involved with one. (Though not that industry. That's a r-e-a-l-l-y long story.)
But what you're describing, Mike, sounds more like the Crazy Eddie and The Wiz chains back in the greater Metropolitan Area. Expand, expand, expand, advertise like mad, spend whatever it takes, and treat the corporate till as your own piggy bank until the Feds catch on. I have a special "appreciation" for these kinds of operations, because I inadvertently ended up being involved with one. (Though not that industry. That's a r-e-a-l-l-y long story.)
Y'know, I think Russ Solomon had it under control with Tower for most of the run---he actually outlasted 'em all.
The Eucalyptus story is pretty grim, Peaches was in Chapter 11 by 1981, and the Wherehouse absolutely overextended themselves by getting into video rentals and software sales. Musicland swallowed Licorice Pizza in '85 and the stores they didn't close were re-branded as Sam Goody.
But then, just as those guys died off, Virgin Megastores came along and I think Russ and Richard Branson got into a bit of a manhood-measuring contest.
If Russ had stayed in California, Nevada and Arizona, or even just in the U.S., I think he'd have been okay. But Tower started globe-trotting---Argentina, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the UK.
All this at a time when margins were getting slimmer and the music business was changing.
Branson was built for that kind of stuff. Russ, who was a lovely guy, was a kid from Sacramento who really wasn't.
Living in Boston in the 1990s, we got to experience the end point of all that expansion. In addition to local places like Newbury Comics and Strawberries, we had a huge Tower Records hovering over the Mass Pike at Massachusetts Avenue and one of (maybe the first?) HMVs in the US when they tried to grow across the Atlantic.
And that was just the new record stores - there were so many great used music places, too.
Very little of any of that is left now. The huge Tower turned into a Virgin Megastore for a while. It and HMV are long gone, and the old Strawberries main location in Cambridge is now a Micro Center. Only Newbury Comics remains, and it's as much about t-shirts and Funko Pops and games as it is about records.
And that was just the new record stores - there were so many great used music places, too.
Very little of any of that is left now. The huge Tower turned into a Virgin Megastore for a while. It and HMV are long gone, and the old Strawberries main location in Cambridge is now a Micro Center. Only Newbury Comics remains, and it's as much about t-shirts and Funko Pops and games as it is about records.