Back about 12 years ago, there was a thread regarding the KMAKe 134/Lucky 13 radio KYNO "Battle of Fresno." The question came up as to what exactly happened to KMAKe, but then the thread was closed due to lack of new posts. I was an avid listener of KMAKe, and usually had my tape recorder ready to nab new sounds. I was shocked, to say the least, when I tuned in around Feb 1, 1966, to hear elevator music and no DJ on KMAKe. I didn't tape any of it. Of course I begrudgingly moved the tuner over to KYNO, which by that time had introduced the "Boss Radio" format, so I never did manage to catch any of the "Lucky 13" format on tape.
As I recall, KMAKe introduced the Country-Western format with a great deal success later that summer, although I can't come up with an exact date. Perhaps digging through old issues of The Bee would tell us when that happened.
BTW, I have a dub of the KMAKe jingle package as it was used on the air in May of 1962. I'd heard it was recorded in Germany. The vocalists occasionally get their pronunciations messed up a bit so they must have been singing English lyrics purely phonetically.
In fact, Ron Jacobs did confirm in a newspaper interview that he wrote the jingle lyrics along with KMEN (San Bernardino) p.d. Bill Watson and the score was created by Russell Garcia. They were recorded in Munich, possibly at the Bavaria Musik-Studios, and the singers indeed didn't speak English.
"Wake up with Ron, he'll turn you on,
Ron Jacobs."
"Ooh bop shah bee,dig Bob and see.
Ooh, what a groove you'll soon agree
that the Bob Cat is a top cat.
He's a bright cat, don't forget that.
Bob Morgan's here so take a break with Bob."
(Robert W. Morgan's first KMAKe promo jingle, 1962. The name "Robert W." was introduced in later KMAKe jingles before May of 1963.)
As I recall, KMAKe introduced the Country-Western format with a great deal success later that summer, although I can't come up with an exact date. Perhaps digging through old issues of The Bee would tell us when that happened.
BTW, I have a dub of the KMAKe jingle package as it was used on the air in May of 1962. I'd heard it was recorded in Germany. The vocalists occasionally get their pronunciations messed up a bit so they must have been singing English lyrics purely phonetically.
In fact, Ron Jacobs did confirm in a newspaper interview that he wrote the jingle lyrics along with KMEN (San Bernardino) p.d. Bill Watson and the score was created by Russell Garcia. They were recorded in Munich, possibly at the Bavaria Musik-Studios, and the singers indeed didn't speak English.
"Wake up with Ron, he'll turn you on,
Ron Jacobs."
"Ooh bop shah bee,dig Bob and see.
Ooh, what a groove you'll soon agree
that the Bob Cat is a top cat.
He's a bright cat, don't forget that.
Bob Morgan's here so take a break with Bob."
(Robert W. Morgan's first KMAKe promo jingle, 1962. The name "Robert W." was introduced in later KMAKe jingles before May of 1963.)
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