Two Cents on KRTH

[oldies76]

Returning from a trip to the L.A. area, gotta say that K-Earth 101 has improved big time over the repetitious and the burning-to-death of certain hit songs. Lots of "new" 70's and early 80's are being played, as well as some of the usual 60's, KRTH has played for years.

Sure they still play the Beatles heavily as well as some motown songs, but the addition of more recent classic hits and a good variety at that, has made this station more listenable than ever.

Will KRTH ever return to the mid 1980's format, with an endless catalog of hits and super specials, probably not. But at least KRTH these days is music to the ears and a huge improvement over the long span of frequently repetitious tunes and short playlists listeners, including myself, have endured for many years.

Amazingly, "Low Rider", "My Girl" and "Brown Eyed Girl" were mysteriously absent from the usual run of songs heard. Not one was heard! Something must have changed and it's for the better to say the least.

KRTH.....you're on the favorites list, once again.

 

[finallyescaped]

Amazingly, "Low Rider", "My Girl" and "Brown Eyed Girl" were mysteriously absent from the usual run of songs heard. Not one was heard!

Don't worry, Low Rider and Brown Eyed Girl are still top 20 songs for K-Earth.

Seriously, though, you're right. KRTH sounds great!

 

[calguy]

Actually KRTH has sounded pretty good for the last 5 years or so thanks to programmer Jhani Kaye. He knew what was needed to bring KRTH back from the brink of death. He literally saved KRTH from a format change.

 

[radio124]

I like how KRTH plays requests (real ones) at night. Some time ago someone requested "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone." I was expecting to hear The Monkee's version. But they didn't play that one. They played a version by Paul Revere and the Raiders that I never even knew existed.

 

[LKellerIII]

Actually KRTH has sounded pretty good for the last 5 years or so thanks to programmer Jhani Kaye. He knew what was needed to bring KRTH back from the brink of death. He literally saved KRTH from a format change.

Agreed. When I visit LA, the first thing I do is tune in K-Earth. LA is lucky you are to have a REAL Classic Hits station with good personalities, as opposed to the voice-tracked automated nothingness we have in the Bay Area ("the New 103.7"...even the name is dull). Obviously, there is repetition, and perhaps I'd tire of KRTH if I lived there, but if I stay a week and have the radio on a couple hours a day, I hear very few repeats. In the old Mike Phillips 300 song playlist days, I'd be hearing repeats on the second day.

 

[michael hagerty]

Actually KRTH has sounded pretty good for the last 5 years or so thanks to programmer Jhani Kaye. He knew what was needed to bring KRTH back from the brink of death. He literally saved KRTH from a format change.

Agreed. When I visit LA, the first thing I do is tune in K-Earth. LA is lucky you are to have a REAL Classic Hits station with good personalities, as opposed to the voice-tracked automated nothingness we have in the Bay Area ("the New 103.7"...even the name is dull). Obviously, there is repetition, and perhaps I'd tire of KRTH if I lived there, but if I stay a week and have the radio on a couple hours a day, I hear very few repeats. In the old Mike Phillips 300 song playlist days, I'd be hearing repeats on the second day.

Llew: A deep-voiced birdie told me back in the Phillips days that the power rotation for the key oldies (My Girl, Doo Wah Diddy Diddy, Brown-Eyed Girl) was 15 hours and 10 minutes. Play it at 6:00 AM, it comes back at 9:10PM. It's back again at 12:20 the next afternoon, then 3:30 the next morning, 6:40 that evening, 9:50 the following morning and so on.

 

[Winston here]

I was very fortunate to work for Jhani when I was starting out in the biz. I would never bet against that guy.

 

[jonbruce]

Sean Ross mentioned last week a lot of worn out "work horses" are not testing well anymore, most notably "Do Wah Ditty".

 

[DrLove]

We're very pleased with Mr. Kaye. Thank you!

 

[LKellerIII]

Sean Ross mentioned last week a lot of worn out "work horses" are not testing well anymore, most notably "Do Wah Ditty".

That's the Manfred Mann version, right? I'm not surprised it's not testing well now. Aside from being overplayed, it was released in June 1964, which makes it almost 48 years old. But I'll take it every time over Manfred Mann's song Blinded by the Light. Hate that song. I always did like The Mighty Quinn, which I don't think I've heard on the radio in decades.

Jon - last time I was in PS, I thought your station (KDES) sounded damn good, too.

 

[GeorgeJ.]

Actually KRTH has sounded pretty good for the last 5 years or so thanks to programmer Jhani Kaye. He knew what was needed to bring KRTH back from the brink of death. He literally saved KRTH from a format change.

Agreed. When I visit LA, the first thing I do is tune in K-Earth. LA is lucky you are to have a REAL Classic Hits station with good personalities, as opposed to the voice-tracked automated nothingness we have in the Bay Area ("the New 103.7"...even the name is dull). Obviously, there is repetition, and perhaps I'd tire of KRTH if I lived there, but if I stay a week and have the radio on a couple hours a day, I hear very few repeats. In the old Mike Phillips 300 song playlist days, I'd be hearing repeats on the second day.

Llew: A deep-voiced birdie told me back in the Phillips days that the power rotation for the key oldies (My Girl, Doo Wah Diddy Diddy, Brown-Eyed Girl) was 15 hours and 10 minutes. Play it at 6:00 AM, it comes back at 9:10PM. It's back again at 12:20 the next afternoon, then 3:30 the next morning, 6:40 that evening, 9:50 the following morning and so on.

My recollection is that KRTH back in the 90's was turning over the Powers closer to 8 hours...if you heard one of the Powers (like Satisfaction) in the 6:00AM hour, you'd hear it again in the 4:00PM hour..

 

[SimiRadioListener26]

Nope, sorry, the station still sounds like a non-stop advertisement for the state of Hawaii. How long has this promo been going, five years? I'm so sick of it. Just play some damn music, or at least get a different prize package. It's been nothing but Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii on that station for years now.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

The K-EARTH of the early to mid 80's was the gold standard in the oldies format. Not a lot of repetition, cool imaging, themed weekends that went deeper into the playlist and great DJs. The K-EARTH of the 90s up until Jhanni got there was painful to listen to. Jhanni has moved the station back in the right direction, but it is still a far cry from its glory days.

 

[oldies76]

Nope, sorry, the station still sounds like a non-stop advertisement for the state of Hawaii. How long has this promo been going, five years? I'm so sick of it. Just play some damn music, or at least get a different prize package. It's been nothing but Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii on that station for years now.

KRTH has been promoting Hawaii for it's contests since the late 80's I believe.

 

[FresnoDave]

Sean Ross mentioned last week a lot of worn out "work horses" are not testing well anymore, most notably "Do Wah Ditty".

That's the Manfred Mann version, right? I'm not surprised it's not testing well now. Aside from being overplayed, it was released in June 1964, which makes it almost 48 years old. But I'll take it every time over Manfred Mann's song Blinded by the Light. Hate that song. I always did like The Mighty Quinn, which I don't think I've heard on the radio in decades.

Jon - last time I was in PS, I thought your station (KDES) sounded damn good, too.

I agree with the comments on Manfred Mann. I never could understand the lyrics in Blinded by the Light and it still drives me crazy! I have Do Wah Diddy[ and The Mighty Quinn[on my iTunes, that is all the Manfred Mann I ever need!/i]/i]

 

[Neel]

I still think WCBS sounds better than K-Earth when I stream and compare the two at work (..but just my opinion). WCBS seems to have a wider playlist with songs I haven't heard in ages. Also, K-Earth plays a lot of those "lowrider" oldies type hits.

I remember when K-Earth used to play "Earth Angel" all the time..haha. But that was in the 80s when they played oldies all the way back to the 50s.

 

[FresnoDave]

I still think WCBS sounds better than K-Earth when I stream and compare the two at work (..but just my opinion). WCBS seems to have a wider playlist with songs I haven't heard in ages. Also, K-Earth plays a lot of those "lowrider" oldies type hits.

I remember when K-Earth used to play "Earth Angel" all the time..haha. But that was in the 80s when they played oldies all the way back to the 50s.

Well, now I would think that the "Lowrider Oldies" would be a bid to get more hispanic lsteners and up the ratings in a hispanic heavy market. I remember KRLA 1110 would even lean toward lowrider type songs and did decently in among hispanics, or at least that is what I have read. I know that the "Huggy Boy Show" on KRLA was extremely popular right up until the station dropped music in favor of talk, a move I can see why, but still yet another blow to heritage radio in Southern CA, which KRTH is the only station left with any link to that heritage by starting out as KHJ-FM. Ok, rant over ;D

 

[LKellerIII]

I still think WCBS sounds better than K-Earth when I stream and compare the two at work (..but just my opinion). WCBS seems to have a wider playlist with songs I haven't heard in ages. Also, K-Earth plays a lot of those "lowrider" oldies type hits.

I remember when K-Earth used to play "Earth Angel" all the time..haha. But that was in the 80s when they played oldies all the way back to the 50s.

Well, now I would think that the "Lowrider Oldies" would be a bid to get more hispanic lsteners and up the ratings in a hispanic heavy market. I remember KRLA 1110 would even lean toward lowrider type songs and did decently in among hispanics, or at least that is what I have read. I know that the "Huggy Boy Show" on KRLA was extremely popular right up until the station dropped music in favor of talk, a move I can see why, but still yet another blow to heritage radio in Southern CA, which KRTH is the only station left with any link to that heritage by starting out as KHJ-FM. Ok, rant over ;D

Not to mention Art Laboe, who was doing his "Oldies But Goodies Show" at the El Monte Legion Stadium when I was growing up in the late 60s and early 70s. I was a bit too young to attend them,and didn't really appreciate Oldies in those days anyway (50s hits). but I've heard that the shows leaned toward a Latino audience.

When I was growing up, Art wasn't so much a radio DJ anymore, as an entrepreneur, though he brokered time on some stations (KTYM and XERB, as I recall) to sell his Oldies collections.

According to the Hot 92.3 website, Laboe is their 7 - Midnight DJ at age 86 or so. Not too shabby, voice-tracked or otherwise.

 

[radio124]

Regarding the rotations during the Phillips era from a Billboard article 1991:

"Rather than the 30-hour rotations heard on power gold at other oldies FMs, songs like "Satisfaction" have been heard as little as six hours apart."

 

[SimiRadioListener26]

Nope, sorry, the station still sounds like a non-stop advertisement for the state of Hawaii. How long has this promo been going, five years? I'm so sick of it. Just play some damn music, or at least get a different prize package. It's been nothing but Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii on that station for years now.

KRTH has been promoting Hawaii for it's contests since the late 80's I believe.

Right, but how long have they been giving away the same prize every weekday, and branding themselves "Your Hawaiian Vacation Station"? Every weekday night Christina Kelley picks a caller to be entered in a drawing (maybe the morning show does that too, I can't remember), and every weekday afternoon Shotgun Tom picks someone from the drawing to go to Hawaii. And in between, of course, they remind you to tune in to Shotgun Tom's show "to see if you're the winner!", and afterwards they remind you to tune in to Christina's show for a chance to call in and be entered in the next day's drawing. It's the endless repetition over years that annoys me. Come up with something different is all I'm saying.