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The History of Underground rock and Album rock radio in Nashville?

S

SwissVol2

I have been reading a thread over at the Nashville radio message group over at yahoo. There is a recent thread about Underground and album rock formats as it pertained to Nashville back in the seventies. ScottWMRO mentioned that 104.5 entertained the thought for a time about bringing an album rock format in 1974 or 75. As We all know, KDA FM was thoroughly entrenched as the big FM rocker at that time. Due to clever advertising and a first class airstaff, they had won the hearts and minds of Nashville's rockers. Someone called KDA FM a AOR hybrid. without question It was a station that sprinkled the play lists with "Horse with no name" and other top 40 songs. As Jim Eskew wrote about, there had been an earlier attempt at a full blown "underground" or AOR station back in 1970. For whatever the reason, that first attempt lacked enough support to keep it going without significant programming modifications. At first, WKDA FM became day-parted with the lighter and more familiar side of AOR. I can recall from my own memories that after 3 PM the station was back in full FM rock mode. As time went on, the station extended that lighter side approach into the evening hours. After 9 PM the station was more harder edged or more Progressive sounding. Anyway, it was a fascinating era in Nashville radio.

Also, I think it was "oleBud" who once posted that one of the earliest of KDA FM jocks, Jim Baton, went to Birmingham, Alabama and had a long career in the Birmingham area. If that was not "oleBud" who posted that, I apologize. There is an interesting article on Jim Baton on wikipedia. It mentions his 3 year stint at WKDA FM along with his days in Birmingham as some J Calhoun or Coyote character. Anyway, Rock on! I apologize if this is a tired subject, but it is a very interesting period in Nashville rock radio!
 
Whin FM,104.5 at the time did not consider progressive rock as a format..we simply wanted to do top 40, mainstream, whatever it was called back then, as we did on the AM..No stations were doing that in late 1971 on an FM in Nashville..The new owners consisted of an "over fifty" group of men and one older woman..who listened to their friends complain about the change from big band and "BEAUTIFUL MUSIC"..the devil's music IE: VERY VERY SOFT MOR..lol..I never could understnd why the AM played top40/rock and no one complained..but put that on the FM..and the owners phones would ring off the wall..we never even played it..just talked about it, trying to get the owners to understand thats where the money was at that time..but the geritol crowd would not have any of that..so the complaints began even before we could try it...eventually we did go oldies from 6 til midnight..and were in the process of going oldies full time til 92 Q..programmed at that time by Johnny Hawkins, found out and did it first..he was dating one of our secretaries...hummmm..loose lips sink formats...
 
deltas69 said:
Whin FM,104.5 at the time did not consider progressive rock as a format..we simply wanted to do top 40, mainstream, whatever it was called back then, as we did on the AM..No stations were doing that in late 1971 on an FM in Nashville..The new owners consisted of an "over fifty" group of men and one older woman..who listened to their friends complain about the change from big band and "BEAUTIFUL MUSIC"..the devil's music IE: VERY VERY SOFT MOR..lol..I never could understnd why the AM played top40/rock and no one complained..but put that on the FM..and the owners phones would ring off the wall..we never even played it..just talked about it, trying to get the owners to understand thats where the money was at that time..but the geritol crowd would not have any of that..so the complaints began even before we could try it...eventually we did go oldies from 6 til midnight..and were in the process of going oldies full time til 92 Q..programmed at that time by Johnny Hawkins, found out and did it first..he was dating one of our secretaries...hummmm..loose lips sink formats...
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Thanks for the update on what happened. 104.5 going to album rock back in the seventies just did not make sense. As I remember 104.5 did go to Kicks 104 2 or so years later didn't they?
 
after plodding along with a soft MOR type sound, oldies at night, and GREENEWAVE SPORTS, which was a BIG money maker...the owners sold the station to Ron Bledsoe, for something in the range of 800K..which i thought was odd since Mooney had offered one million on more than one occasion..at least that what we were told. Bledsoe took it and made it WWKX..kix104..Coyote and Mary Glen doing mornings..at this time the studios were still in Gallatin, as the FM had move it's control room down the hill to the AM building, which Bledsoe remodeled and enlarged. after several years of being programmed by Michael St. John, Bledose sold it for around 10 million, my self and Jack Hunter had left by the time this happened, I left in late 76, just before Bledsoe bought the AM and FM...He did not want the AM, so it was sold to St. John , Jack WIlliams, and Seth Sparkman, Jack and Seth still own it...having bought out St. John many years ago..Not quite sure about precise timelines..but I'm within a few months of the facts here, especially the time i was there, being hired at the AM, in Jan of 1971..I think we bought 104.5 in late '71..I know we were doing ball games at that time on Fri nights..In the entire time that WHIN, owned 104.5...the station lost money only one month...One former owner almost croaked when he found out bledsoe had sold it for 10 million..just a few years after buying it for 800K..hey..."we told ya so"..lol
 
Deltas69 said
Bledsoe took it and made it WWKX..kix104..Coyote and Mary Glen doing mornings..at this time the studios were still in Gallatin, as the FM had move it's control room down the hill to the AM building, which Bledsoe remodeled and enlarged. after several years of being programmed by Michael St. John, Bledose sold it for around 10 million, my self and Jack Hunter had left by the time this happened, I left in late 76, just before Bledsoe bought the AM and FM...He did not want the AM, so it was sold to St. John , Jack WIlliams, and Seth Sparkman,
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You're not too far off delta. Don't know who was with Coyote first, but Bledsoe (I'd know him for several years) had bought it with Lon Varnell, a local promoter for about $700,000. Ron and Bunton came to Nashville where I was doing news for KQB, took me to lunch and offered me the news directors job and side kick to Coyote. This was in May of 79 and I was there for more than a year. St John then took away my furnished gas, then the furnished car then the furnished job. Ron and I remained friends and my understanding was he got about 7-mil for it. I was later told Mr. Varnell just wanted out of the deal when he and Ron split up and Ron got the stations.
IT does tickle me to see Delta69 talking about the over 55 crowd and Geratol, since he's now in the age group. Don't think beer took the place of Geratol. (
 
glad OLDBUD could fill in the blanks on this..after I left..i was not privey to the inner workings...I had forgotten about Varnel being one of Bledsoe's partners..My basic point was..When I was there, along with Jack Hunter, Buntin, De'vita, etc..we tried to talk the owners into doing exactly what Bledsoe did...make the station a big time player..they could not see the big picture..very frustrating...and as for the Geritol crowd OLDBUD.. :eek:..yea..the bones may be approaching 60 ::)..but the heart and mind is still "18..with a bullet".. ;)
 
ShadowB said:
Wasnt Darryl Dougless the first morning man at kx-104?
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I was working weekends at the AM during the additions to the 'little stucco' studio that RB made to the station in '78. I helped the new Chief Engineer run all of the wiring and set up the microwave link. When the new studio was ready, Darryl Douglas made his debut 'in your cereal bowl' from 6-10A as Kicks 104 went on the air. St. John was in from 10-12, Jeff Baker from 12-3P, Jon 'Rock 'n Roll' Anthony from 3-7P and the Unknown DiscJockey(Steve Denton) from 7P-12A. I think that Andy (Drew) Pearson was handling overnights. When Andy left for SM 95, B. J. Harris took over. Other Kicks alumni were Brian Sargent, Beau Richards, Jim Driver, Tony 'Magic' Jackson and Lee Masters.
 
Yeah KX started in what 1977-1978*? Pat - who was the rocket scientist behind the flip to Rock Hits? I think he did mornings (and was pretty decent, IRRC - had a great character Javad - etc.) Gettin' to old to not be able to not remember his name.

(Wasn't KX kicked off a few months before the eventual power increase?)
 
Sorry, missed a few posts before this that answered a few querstions. MGL was with McCoy at 92Q in the late 70's thru early 1980's before they went to ATL. Right. Romer and Buddy - argh! I cant remember. Thats what I get for giving up the gin six months ago.
 
who was the rocket scientist behind the flip to Rock Hits? I think he did mornings. clueless on this..i had recently departed..i would remember his name if i heard it..i do remember the other jocks that are listed..went down to 92Q once to see Jacki Hunter when he worked there..same time frame as MGL..I remember a room with huge carousels of carts for the "wayback machine"..lol...wqsn't the statin in the lower level of anothe building? seems like i went down a drive and in a basement door..??
 
Tibbs2 said:
Yeah KX started in what 1977-1978*? Pat - who was the rocket scientist behind the flip to Rock Hits? I think he did mornings (and was pretty decent, IRRC - had a great character Javad - etc.) Gettin' to old to not be able to not remember his name.

(Wasn't KX kicked off a few months before the eventual power increase?)
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It was several months after the flip to 'Kicks" when the increase happened....
 
if i remember correctly, 104.5 was running at 50K when we bought it although licensed for 100K..and 24 hours..we signed off at midnight..for a while..seems like we hired Bruce Clark to do overnights in 75 or so..i know he would tape shows on the old sony reel to reels that ran at 1 7/8 IPS..by doing drops on time (early vt there) and inserting spots..a reel would last several hours before running out...then he would leave and go to nashville to club...thinking all is well..and everyone is asleep that matters..so who knows ??...imagine his surprise when somehow, about three hours into the show..the tape breaks ;D...and dead air big time :eek:..maybe break isn't the right word..perhaps someone cut the tape three hours into the show ::)...rewound it..and put it back in his secret hiding place.... ;)....
 
deltas69 said:
wqsn't the statin in the lower level of anothe building? seems like i went down a drive and in a basement door..??
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we preferred to call it "The Garden Level of The Newman Building"...but yes, it was
the basement of the Newman Building @ 361 West Main Street...the largest collection of
orange shag carpet in the free world at the time. I need to write a book...could do the first
three chapters on t-shirt giveaway van stops...one chapter alone on the halter tops.
 
LOL i do remember the orange shag,,but it all fairness..back then..everything was done in shag carpet..even had carpet rakes to keep it "shagging"..hey did the van have shag in it too ?? :D and by all means do the book..
 
deltas69 said:
LOL i do remember the orange shag,,but it all fairness..back then..everything was done in shag carpet..even had carpet rakes to keep it "shagging"..hey did the van have shag in it too ?? :D and by all means do the book..
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Both the 'Kicks Cruiser' and the 'WHIN-mobile' were shagged out..........
 
well they must have "shagged out" the WHIN NER mobile after i left..it was pretty sparse in the old days..had a small heater for the winter and an even smaller fan for summer ..but no shag..rubber mat on the floor...at that time i was working for American Custom Vans..we did the Kixx mobile as I recall..or maybe it was WLAC'S van..been a long time..I know we did one of them..
 
KDF received competition in the late 70's from WKQB (Rock 106); Rock 106 was much more of a straight ahead rocker and put a pretty good dent into KDF's ratings. I read where Rock 106 was winning when the station was sold (along with WLAC -AM). Rock 106 became WJYN (Soft AC as "The Joy of Nashville") and KDF maintained a Top 40/AOR mix. KDF had strong ratings with that format, but I'm curious why someone didn't push forward with straight AOR at that time?
KDF finally ditched the Top 40 by 1989 and from 1989 to 1996, KDF was a pretty good AOR/Active Rock station.

In 1997, they flipped to Modern AC and they were heading out of the rock business pretty quickly after that.
 
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