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The Old KPOP and a Format Gone Forever

H

Hoxie

The thread about the vanishing oldies format got me thinking about a format that's really dead and gone. I'm talking about Adult Standards, or what I used to call Old People's Music--- the pop songs of the 1945-1955 era, basically--- Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Perez Prado, Peggy Lee, etc.

I hope I don't sound dismissive. I actually liked it, even if its target demo was about fifty years older than me. In the very early '80s there was one in L.A., KMPC if I'm not mistaken, and San Francisco's KABL lasted into the late 1990s (and an incarnation of it is online even now). San Diego had KPOP at 1360AM for 15 or 20 years, beginning about 1986.

Do any of you radio buffs and insiders have any information about that incarnation of KPOP? I don't remember any of the on-air talent, and I don't know whether it was a profitable programming niche or just somebody's vanity project. I just know I miss it!

Thanks in advance!
 
Actually, there are a few. For example:
Seattle has a 50 KW adult standards station - kixi.com - AM 880
Palm Springs has two: KWXY (kwxy.com at AM 1340 and FM 92.3) and MOD FM (1073modfm.com) at 107.3 FM and also heard on KDES-HD2 (98.5 FM)
SiriusXM has The 50s on 5, Siriusly Sinatra on Channel 71, and 40s Junction on Channel 73
 
As David mentions, there are quite a few - here are some of the other most notable that are still around:

CFZM - AM 740 in Toronto - probably the largest signal at 50 kW AM - The Zoomer - this has moved to newer music but still has some older titles - http://zoomerradio.ca/
KCEA-FM Atherton - a HIGH SCHOOL radio station that goes WAY back - perhaps before it was really known as Standards - http://www.kcea.org/ (this, along with the online KABL, is probably the more "standard" form of Standards)
The Standard - iHeartRadio - even has custom jingles for the format - https://www.iheart.com/live/the-standard-radio-6784/ - this also remains pretty true to the format

Finally, a handful of terrestrial radio stations are using The Music of Your Life (the original satellite network is still in business) or "America's Best Music" which I think is Dial Global or Jones or Westwood One or whomever runs it now that can be found online. These networks program about 50/50 or maybe 40/60 Adult Standards to Soft AC Oldies.
 
Hoxie said:
The thread about the vanishing oldies format got me thinking about a format that's really dead and gone. I'm talking about Adult Standards, or what I used to call Old People's Music--- the pop songs of the 1945-1955 era, basically--- Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Perez Prado, Peggy Lee, etc.

I hope I don't sound dismissive. I actually liked it, even if its target demo was about fifty years older than me. In the very early '80s there was one in L.A., KMPC if I'm not mistaken, and San Francisco's KABL lasted into the late 1990s (and an incarnation of it is online even now). San Diego had KPOP at 1360AM for 15 or 20 years, beginning about 1986.

Do any of you radio buffs and insiders have any information about that incarnation of KPOP? I don't remember any of the on-air talent, and I don't know whether it was a profitable programming niche or just somebody's vanity project. I just know I miss it!

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Hoxie, you're right about KMPC, which played much of that music when new, drifted into Adult Contemporary in the 70s, watched its lunch get eaten by FM, went talk for two years, and then came back with Standards in 1982---and stuck with it for ten years, until 1992.

As for KPOP, that was the old KGB-AM, which went news as KCNN, carrying CNN audio, in 1982. In 1983, with the calls KPQP, they began Standards as K-POP. They eventually got the KPOP calls (which were in use in Sacramento in the 80s, in 1997. And K-POP lived until 2004, when it flipped to Air America as KLSD.

Talent? Longtime San Diego personality Don Howard in mornings, Jerry G. Bishop in either middays or afternoons. Those are the ones I remember and I can''t find much else online.

For a few years, these stations did very well---it was about the only viable music format on AM---and it picked up still more listeners as Beautiful Music FMs morphed into Adult Contemporary.

But they were older listeners, and by the late 80s/early 90s, it was getting increasingly difficult to sell advertising. Most of the stations, at least in some dayparts, dumped local DJs and picked up satellite services like "Music of Your Life", "AM Only" or "America's Best Music". I have an aircheck of KPOP from 1996, and it's the AM Only service with Dan Armstrong.
 
powers said:
Finally, a handful of terrestrial radio stations are using The Music of Your Life (the original satellite network is still in business) or "America's Best Music" which I think is Dial Global or Jones or Westwood One or whomever runs it now that can be found online. These networks program about 50/50 or maybe 40/60 Adult Standards to Soft AC Oldies.
Click to expand...

What I've heard on those services the past couple of years has been more like 75 percent Soft AC oldies and 25 percent standards. They're now playing a lot of stuff that people accused me of being "reckless" playing as an AC programmer in the 70s.
 
Found a few more names who worked at KPOP over the years, including Joe Bauer (I guess after Mac Hudson retired), Ken Copper (ex-KOGO, KCBQ and KBZT) Bryan Main (ex KSON, KYXY and KOGO) and Happy Hare (Harry Martin, ex-KCBQ).
 
david said:
Actually, there are a few. For example:
Seattle has a 50 KW adult standards station - kixi.com - AM 880
Palm Springs has two: KWXY (kwxy.com at AM 1340 and FM 92.3) and MOD FM (1073modfm.com) at 107.3 FM and also heard on KDES-HD2 (98.5 FM)
SiriusXM has The 50s on 5, Siriusly Sinatra on Channel 71, and 40s Junction on Channel 73
Click to expand...


There's also Unforgettable L.A., which runs on KKJZ HD-2 in Long Beach and covers the L.A. metro. Here's the link: http://unforgettablela.com/home/

Saul Levine of Mt. Wilson Broadcasters, which owns KKGO and KSUR, manages KKJZ for Cal State Long Beach. He ran Unforgettable (a home-brewed standards format) on 1260 AM in Los Angeles a time or two, and also on 1240 AM in Monterey. About five years ago, he moved it to the HD-2 of KKGO, then the HD-3, and has now put it on the HD-2 of the non-comm.

FYI: KKJZ itself mixes a decent amount of standards into its jazz, and KMPC veteran Johnny Magnus (on air in L.A. since 1957) hosts a Saturday and Sunday morning show from 7:00 to 10:00 a.m. called Swing Time that's a great listen. http://jazzandblues.org
 
CaliRadioFan said:
"Unforgettable LA" is sadly no more. All that remains is the pictures on the web page. KKJZ-HD2 is now "Cool Jazz"
Click to expand...

Thanks, CaliRadioFan. I didn't notice the lack of a "Listen Live" link.

That was one of Saul's favorite formats. He went to the well time and again to keep it on the air in L.A. If he can't even find a reason to keep it on the HD-2 of a non-commercial, that's a sign that it's really game over.

That said, I'm not surprised. I just turned 64 over the weekend and this was my parents' music. And that was because my parents were in their 30s when they had me. My friends' parents were listening to KFWB (the top 40 years). My parents, KMPC.

For now, though, a lot of the best of that music is part of the day-to-day format at K-Jazz, and if you haven't heard Magnus on Saturday and Sunday mornings, you should.
 
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