5 kW on 560 is quite strong.
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What was the first radio station you grew up listening as a kid?
- Thread starter cartman2002
- Start date
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Indeed, as David Gleason has repeatedly pointed out, on AM a station at the low end of the proverbial dial needs considerably less power to cover the same area as a station at the other end.
The one, the only, the legendary Groovie Q-vie, 1410 KQV in Pittsburgh. I'd hang out with my uncle who always had it on when I was in preschool.
Very long distance. FM went farther those days.
One
Listening to airchecks on Youtube, 77 WABC played one song, then numerous commercials, back to another song, then more commercials. One song per set.
Odd because radio was never that way for me (mid-70s -forward).
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I heard Alan Berg in his last days. Great host.
Didn't realize he was louder and more confrontational in his past.
When I heard him, driving and camping in Colo., he was more laid-back and on during the day.
Then, that night I tuned into KOA. It was like a funeral...
Berg went after Nazis and white nationalists, who threatened him, not only on-air, but personally, as a skinhead murdered the great host.
The Alan Berg I listened to (a month or so before his death) was nothing like what I later learned.
I grew up in Fairfield County, Connecticut, about 50 miles north of NYC. It was "radio heaven" back in the 90s growing up for me as I could get moderately clear reception of NYC, Hartford, and Long Island FMs. Z100 was my station of choice, but I also listened to KC101 out of New Haven and WBLI from Long Island.
Heard radio in the family car before in Kansas, and recall many songs in the early 70s like Horse With No Name, Indian Reservation, Joy to the Word, etc., but the stations cannot recall.
At 11 years old, the first station I can remember listening to was 1973, KFAL in Futon, MO, a local where we lived. Recall a host, after playing Crocodile Rock, saying Elton John wasn't related to Olivia Newton-John.
Recall the Jefferson City AM, 950?, which blasted at the city pool.
In 1974 at my grandparent's farm south of Hays, KS, recall hearing KAYS 1400. The deejay there for some reason loved to play Born to be Wild (68) by Steppenwolf along with the contemporary music. Loved it but didn't know much about 60s music, my favorite, until the late 80s.
Recall at night turning on the tabletop or clock radio, which had been on 1510, a local station from Larned, KS, KANS radio, now being occupied by 1520 KOMA, which blasted in Top 40.
In 1974-75, family moved to Forest City, AR, an hour west of Memphis. As teens, me and my friends listened to WHBQ-560, WMPS-790 and 99,-something "FM 100," Top 40. Great stations.
Really missed those great stations and wished I'd recorded some of them on cassette later in the 70s when the local stations in central KS weren't so great (for Top 40 music).
Can vaguely recall the local Forest City AM station and one out of Wynne, AR, which played the rocker Go All The Way by The Raspberries.
In 1976-77, KOFM was the big Top 40 FM out of Oklahoma City we teens listened to in high school in Stillwater, OK. Met some of the deejays one afternoon at Boomer Lake when the station did a remote. Recalling later, the VW Beetle they drove with the radio station's stick looked really cheap and didn't reflect well on the station.
As a sophomore in high school in central KS, was delighted to hear 103.7 KEYN out of Wichita in Great Bend in a friend's car (our cars had AM or FM converter in dad's pickup).
The station didn't come in on the clock or other radios I had. The city's NBC and ABC TV stations on nearby or same sticks (I later learned) the FM was on weren't receivable in the city.
At 11 years old, the first station I can remember listening to was 1973, KFAL in Futon, MO, a local where we lived. Recall a host, after playing Crocodile Rock, saying Elton John wasn't related to Olivia Newton-John.
Recall the Jefferson City AM, 950?, which blasted at the city pool.
In 1974 at my grandparent's farm south of Hays, KS, recall hearing KAYS 1400. The deejay there for some reason loved to play Born to be Wild (68) by Steppenwolf along with the contemporary music. Loved it but didn't know much about 60s music, my favorite, until the late 80s.
Recall at night turning on the tabletop or clock radio, which had been on 1510, a local station from Larned, KS, KANS radio, now being occupied by 1520 KOMA, which blasted in Top 40.
In 1974-75, family moved to Forest City, AR, an hour west of Memphis. As teens, me and my friends listened to WHBQ-560, WMPS-790 and 99,-something "FM 100," Top 40. Great stations.
Really missed those great stations and wished I'd recorded some of them on cassette later in the 70s when the local stations in central KS weren't so great (for Top 40 music).
Can vaguely recall the local Forest City AM station and one out of Wynne, AR, which played the rocker Go All The Way by The Raspberries.
In 1976-77, KOFM was the big Top 40 FM out of Oklahoma City we teens listened to in high school in Stillwater, OK. Met some of the deejays one afternoon at Boomer Lake when the station did a remote. Recalling later, the VW Beetle they drove with the radio station's stick looked really cheap and didn't reflect well on the station.
As a sophomore in high school in central KS, was delighted to hear 103.7 KEYN out of Wichita in Great Bend in a friend's car (our cars had AM or FM converter in dad's pickup).
The station didn't come in on the clock or other radios I had. The city's NBC and ABC TV stations on nearby or same sticks (I later learned) the FM was on weren't receivable in the city.
I think you meant “Fulton”. I don’t recall that KFAL played anything other than country music, but I wasn’t a country-music fan, so I didn’t listen to it very much. My uncle was a *big* fan of KFAL’s country music, and I would hear it when riding with him in his pickup truck around Columbia or when going to his farm north of Columbia.
The Jefferson City station you’re thinking of was KLIK, then at 950, which was Top 40 afternoons and evenings.
My L key doesn't always work. Good catch. Fulton.
KFAL (maybe FM) wasn't country then. It was about the only station I could get on a clock radio.
I recall the station's "Wal Mart record ripoff" contest. They would play a song. The first to call and ID it would win a free 45.
One Sunday a.m., one of my brothers' radios came on with the alarm. KFAL ran the contest. No one called. I scrambled to the phone (would not have made an expensive long distance call then) and guessed the contemporary song
KFAL (maybe FM) wasn't country then. It was about the only station I could get on a clock radio.
I recall the station's "Wal Mart record ripoff" contest. They would play a song. The first to call and ID it would win a free 45.
One Sunday a.m., one of my brothers' radios came on with the alarm. KFAL ran the contest. No one called. I scrambled to the phone (would not have made an expensive long distance call then) and guessed the contemporary song
I think you may be remembering the FM station in Fulton, KKCA, then at 97.7, later moving to 100.5. It was operated in conjunction with KFAL but had a slightly different ownership structure. KKCA played contemporary music, never any country music, and tried very hard to maintain a separate identity from KFAL. The two stations could have simulcasted since KFAL was a daytimer, but never did. The air staffs were entirely separate from what I recall.
I was in college at OSU in Stillwater at that time. I remember KOFM was very popular as they had the best signal of any of the OKC or Tulsa stations. I was more of an album rock guy, so listened mostly to KATT in OKC or the OSU station KVRO "Stillwater Stereo".
Yes, and KOMA 1520 was big, before it went country in 1980
KOMA was one of Todd Storz’ original Top 40 stations after he “invented” the format in Omaha. It made huge money at night as the only Top 40 listenable in much of the far Midwest and eastern Rocky Mountain west states before Top 40 became more widespread.
At night! You’d hear ads for movies “opening Thursday at the Riverside in Jamestown, SD, the Tivoli on Guyman, OK, the Broadway in Ruidoso, NM, and the Mountain in Lamar, CO and others…”.
I recall those ads in the early 70s.
Was amazed where we could receive that station.
It didn't go farther, there were just fewer stations on the air and a lot of smaller stations signed off at 10pm or midnight.
When I was doing mid-days at KIUL my "regular" weekend shift was to sign on Saturday morning at 5 am which meant getting there at 4:30am. 1520 was on my radio on the way into work. It could stop the scan function or my radio any time it was dark in Western Kanas. I guess it was after the country days when they were an oldies station. I never did get a "KOMA Diploma". Wish I had of.
I recall WKAC 1080 and WJMW 730 being the most frequently listened to stations in my home and my grandparent's home when I was growing up in the late 1960's and early 1970's.
WKAC was and is still a locally owned station. I still listen to the station and, I attended church for many years with one of their longtime DJs, Mr Jay Hudson RIP. At one time they had a DJ that went by the name of "Cousin Josh". He was a real character and was a lot of fun to listen to.
WJMW 730 was variously a country and pop station over the years and they had "Pappy" Dunnavant who was also the station owner as one of their morning hosts. WJMW 730 later became WVNN 770/92.5 which is primarily a news/talk station now.
WKAC was and is still a locally owned station. I still listen to the station and, I attended church for many years with one of their longtime DJs, Mr Jay Hudson RIP. At one time they had a DJ that went by the name of "Cousin Josh". He was a real character and was a lot of fun to listen to.
WJMW 730 was variously a country and pop station over the years and they had "Pappy" Dunnavant who was also the station owner as one of their morning hosts. WJMW 730 later became WVNN 770/92.5 which is primarily a news/talk station now.