"The new K-SEA 101"

[SeattleObserver]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rxF6_OOTjE
Audio here.

Can anyone flesh out the history of KIRO-7/KIRO 710/KIRO-FM 100.7 for us newcomers. K-SEA sounds like it was "beautiful music" yet I do see it on-screen on several vintage youtube videos of KIRO-TV. Did they have a KSEA-TV as well?

 

[DJ Alan]

Twas B.M. as you guessed. As I recall (and others do have more knowledge) KSEA came into being in the early 70's after they dropped the KIRO FM name. After B.M. they tried adult contemporary for awhile using the same calls.... The TV station has always been KIRO.

Was it called 'The Buzz' after that??? I seem to remember hearing former MTV host 'Kennedy' on 'The Buzz' (after a brief stint at KVI???- blurry on that too- not my cup of mushroom tea anyway), along with Tom Leykis and other talkers. Legendary Seattle DJ 'Jim Dai' (love ya Jim, we worked together at KJR...) was at one time the voice of KSEA. I seem to recall him on air as the voice of KIRO FM as well, previous to the switch to KSEA.

Have a GREAT DAY!!!
DJ Alan

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

Think you may be cloudy on the Jim Dai thing. He was probably in Moses Lake at that point. I recall he came to SEA from Moses Lake around the time 101.5 hit the air (believe he was part of original roster on "the fm/KVI").

KSEA had HUGE numbers ... by far #1 station in the market. Their advertising was simple: They bought the back end busboards on transit busses and put big "KSEA" Washington license plates on them. The automation system was home-grown, using 12 or 14 inch reels ... and the traffic system to control that automation was basically understood by ONE person (talk about job security). One morning announcer to do news/production, one afternoon and one weekend -- so light staff.

I think I have told this story on the board before...but my dismissal from there is still my fave moment in radio management interaction. G/M called two of the aforementioned three announcers in and told us the consultants advised him "we had to go". The other guy was a legend in this market so I felt I was in great company in that setting. "We're making a change"....(yadda yadda yadda), ending with "and my number one priority, gentlemen, is to help you find another job". I piped up "I think that's bull%%%% because 15 seconds ago your number one priority was to make sure we didn't HAVE a job". Awkward silence in the offce broken when the market legend couldn't contain his laughter any more.

 

[pbf1]

Prior to the calls appearing in Seattle, KSEA was a pretty good FM Top 40 station in San Diego (97.3; became KSON-FM).

 

[Bongwater]

Match the B/EZ slogan with the station that used it:

1. "As beautiful.....as a bird in flight...."
2. "Just beautiful music....."
3. "Oceans of beautiful music......"

A. KEZX
B. KBRD
C. KSEA

Hard to believe but I actually MISS that format. It's cheaper and FAR more effective than Ambien......

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

1=B; 2=C; 3=A

In return ... name the station that said
"When we have something to say we SAY it. When we don't ... we JAM'

 

[searadiofreak]

In conclusion, KSEA had ample opportunities to become signifcant. There were some format moves that deserve to be re-evaluated, for sure. It would be total speculatory to decide what did or didn't go wrong. Fact is, today's reality is an am sports station, and a heritage AM now on FM. Make it work, or die. With Bonneville, death sees unlikely.

 

[AQH]

KSEA had HUGE numbers ... by far #1 station in the market. Their advertising was simple: They bought the back end busboards on transit busses and put big "KSEA" Washington license plates on them. The automation system was home-grown, using 12 or 14 inch reels ... and the traffic system to control that automation was basically understood by ONE person (talk about job security).

You mean a station was number one using automation more than 20 years ago? Wow, people keep telling me on this board that in order to be successful, you need live jocks 24/7.

 

[bonusbob]

good posts on ksea. but when they became the new k-sea 101 it was late 80s or early 90s, they were ac the original djs i beleave were greg cook dave young tom hutler and frank shirers, this was a short stint befour becoming the new mix 101 seattles best mix of music from 60s 70s 80s and 90s

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

You mean a station was number one using automation more than 20 years ago? Wow, people keep telling me on this board that in order to be successful, you need live jocks 24/7.

Can't open my yap for anyone else...but I know if I were making a claim you need jocks it would be related to a claim a station is a "personality" format. Lite in NY has had huge numbers for years ... WARM is the closest we have here. Neither claims to be a personality station...the positioning is on the music. I can't imagine the hard-core "personality" stations over the years without SOME talent to carry it (KVI with Hardwick & rest, KOMO with Nelson, KJR/KOL/KING thru the years) ... but even many of those would be strong in AM drive and back off rest of the day. These days it seems a TALK station is the only real "personality" station left because the show is built around the point of view of the host.

Unfortunately the music stations, to their OWN detriment, abandoned the "personality" aspect of the station and tried to let the format carry the station in all cases. With oldies (not that it matters any more) that doesn't work because we've heard those songs for thirty years by the time they appear on that station. It's the personality that makes the station different day-to-day even though the songs are the same.

I think that's why I am so surprised at the enigma that is KJR-FM. Songs we've heard ad nauseum, but the station doesn't seem to position much beyond a reliable jukebox; yet it's very successful. Maybe the formula that drives WARM also works in that case??

In any case I just miss the days when "shushing" the wife and/or girlfriend when the "jock" came on ... OK to talk all you want thru a song. Of course non-radio people are trained to do just the opposite. These days I don't feel I'd miss much more depth than "coming up....." or the 80th rotation of a station promo.

 

[searadiofreak]

Slight correction to my earlier post...of course KSEA has nothing to do with KIRO-FM. Different frequencies. But my brain will always associate KIRO-AM with KSEA!

 

[TexasTom]

KSEA had HUGE numbers ... by far #1 station in the market. Their advertising was simple: They bought the back end busboards on transit busses and put big "KSEA" Washington license plates on them. The automation system was home-grown, using 12 or 14 inch reels ... and the traffic system to control that automation was basically understood by ONE person (talk about job security).

You mean a station was number one using automation more than 20 years ago? Wow, people keep telling me on this board that in order to be successful, you need live jocks 24/7.

Beautiful Music was the exception that sort of proved the rule. When listeners to more contemporary music formats were given a choice between live and automated versions of the same format, the live version pretty much always won out unless the execution was really botched.

 

[TVradioguru]

Perhaps that trend was from research back in the 1970's through mid 1990's. If you looked at focus group research today from major markets, over 62% of respondents 12-35 now claim they prefer more music over "personality" in a music radio station.

Beautiful music was targeted and drove very high AQH numbers but with lackluster Cume. Eventually agencies preferred to run with either stations with well balanced TSL, or higher cume averages with younger demos than BM stations could deliver.

 

[Bongwater]

1=B; 2=C; 3=A

In return ... name the station that said
"When we have something to say we SAY it. When we don't ... we JAM'

Now that's a headscratcher......KUBE (circa '92-'93?)

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

1=B; 2=C; 3=A

In return ... name the station that said
"When we have something to say we SAY it. When we don't ... we JAM'

Now that's a headscratcher......KUBE (circa '92-'93?)

The promo starts with "at 11 KING ......"
circa 1978. The 20-minute music jam's were the beginning of the end.
Oh wait...the End was a decade later.

 

[searadiofreak]

Yes, LBB, I indeed remember the 20-minute music jams on KING. Totally boring, and not what radio should be about. When I climbed on board in '79 at the ripe age of 19, the jams were gone (thankgawd), but your description of "the beginning of the end" was so true. KING tried to hold on, but the writing was on the wall (you know, the wall facing Aurora). KING tried to do an AC presentation for a couple of years, but even in "FM-slow" Seattle, they couldn't make it. Was truely an interesting time to be at a station that was clearly suffering a music death.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

One of my fave lines on KJR was Chet Rogers telling Lockwood "if it wasn't for us ... you'd still be across town playing 20 minute music sets interrupted by you grunting the call letters before you start the next one".

Do you, by chance, remember who played last song on KING & what it was?
(another trivia challenge....)

 

[mightymoose]

It makes me sooo homesick....I just wanna go on iTines and buy some Montovani or the Living Strings.

 

[HowardMBurgers]

One of my fave lines on KJR was Chet Rogers telling Lockwood "if it wasn't for us ... you'd still be across town playing 20 minute music sets interrupted by you grunting the call letters before you start the next one".

Do you, by chance, remember who played last song on KING & what it was?
(another trivia challenge....)

Joe Cooper was the last one to play music on KING 1090. The final song was "Moments To Remember" by the Four Lads (1955) directly from a 78 RPM record. He had to play it out of the production room with a turntable which was the only one in house left that would spin a 78.