When I began listening to radio, it was WWKX (now WGFX) partly owned by Ron Bledsoe. It operated from the WHIN building on what was SR 109 north of Gallatin. At the time I started listening, they raised the power to 100 kW to hopefully serve Nashville from a tower a little further north of the studio on what is still known to locals as Music Mountain. As I got older and my understanding of radio increased, I DX'd a lot of other FMs in neighboring markets. This was before the results of Docket 80-90 took effect. I listened to a lot of small town FMs in that day. Then came AM. The one that stood out was WOWO which I got at night. I even called in a couple times and was put on-air once. That was pretty thrilling then. It was all good radio.
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What was the first radio station you grew up listening as a kid?
- Thread starter cartman2002
- Start date
Growing up in Dayton, OH, my mom listened to WLW in Cincinnati, so I did too. I also listened to WAVI 1210 in Dayton which was Jazz/Big Band. When I finally got around to liking rock n' roll, it was WING in Dayton, WSAI in Cincinnati and WLS and WJJD (before the latter went Country) in Chicago. Occasionally 1100 KYW Cleveland, KDKA Pittsburgh and WBZ Boston when they were Top 40. Later "The Big 8" in Windsor and WCFL.
KFXM had a great signal reach with Al Anthony doing morning drive time, IIRC.
JP was fantastic for that format.
I live in LA, so it would be Power 106 and 92.3/100.3 The Beat.
I got my first transistor radio for my 9th birthday in 1967. It opened up the world to me. 1967 was the Impossible Dream Season, so WTIC 1080 was carrying the Red Sox games. For music I listened to WNHC 1340, I want to say that they had a Boss Radio or Good Guys Top 40 format at that time. Eventually I switched to WPOP 1410 and WDRC 1360, they had a wider playlist and were targeting a younger listener base. I got my first FM radio Christmas 1969, can still remember hearing Eli's Coming as I turned WDRC-FM on. Moved to South Florida a year later and several new choices, WSRF, WINZ, WQAM, WFUN, WMYQ, and eventually came WSHE and Y-100(WHYI) who completely changed how contemporary hits music was played on the FM. Before Y-100 Top 40 music on FM sounded just like it did on AM. Shortened versions of the songs, talked over by screaming DJs, followed by jingles. Y-100 would play the longer album cut versions. and eliminated most of the clutter in-between songs and sounded more like the FM of that time (1973)
KFI when it was top 40, because the only radio I owned as a kid was a hamburger -- and apparently, hamburgers only receive AM. 
KPWR immediately after being given a real radio.
KPWR immediately after being given a real radio.
I'm surprised you weren't tuning to a cheesy listening station!KFI when it was top 40, because the only radio I owned as a kid was a hamburger -- and apparently, hamburgers only receive AM.
KPWR immediately after being given a real radio.
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I didn't pay attention to call leters at age 4, but I was an avid radio listener in Nashville, Tennessee and likely spent a good deal of time listening to WKDA 1240 and 1300 WMAK (I can say I liked WKDA better by the late 1960s).
Upon moving to Richmond, Virginia I recall my favorite song of the moment was Big Bad John and I listened for it to be played where I heard it, on an AM station in Ashland, Virginia. By then I knew WSM was in Nashville and I had a cow when I heard WSM in Richmond, according to my Dad. My regular listening was to WLEE, the top 40 station in Richmond and at night I could pull in WKBW in Buffalo. There was an AM 'Soul Music' station I listened to, something like WEET.
Moving in 4th grade to Kansas City, WHB was my favorite as the sole top 40 on the dial. A night I could pull in a Paducah, Kentucky station doing a top 40 format. I think that was WDXR. My favorite jock, Jay Rabbit was on nights and made such an impression, I used the name when I started my part 15 in 6th grade. Later in Kansas City, KUDL 1380 dropped talk for top 40 as Boss Radio, the Boss Top 30 and 20-20 News taking away from WHB, including me. During this time, I became a fan of KBIL 1140 in Liberty, MO. that started with 'Town & Country' meaning top 40 without the hard edge and a country song each quarter hour. After a while they went country but then became an excellent Adult Contemporary before the term was widely used. I recall a jock named Jim Beaver on KBIL. I moved from Kansas City to Dallas in the summer of 1969.
Upon moving to Richmond, Virginia I recall my favorite song of the moment was Big Bad John and I listened for it to be played where I heard it, on an AM station in Ashland, Virginia. By then I knew WSM was in Nashville and I had a cow when I heard WSM in Richmond, according to my Dad. My regular listening was to WLEE, the top 40 station in Richmond and at night I could pull in WKBW in Buffalo. There was an AM 'Soul Music' station I listened to, something like WEET.
Moving in 4th grade to Kansas City, WHB was my favorite as the sole top 40 on the dial. A night I could pull in a Paducah, Kentucky station doing a top 40 format. I think that was WDXR. My favorite jock, Jay Rabbit was on nights and made such an impression, I used the name when I started my part 15 in 6th grade. Later in Kansas City, KUDL 1380 dropped talk for top 40 as Boss Radio, the Boss Top 30 and 20-20 News taking away from WHB, including me. During this time, I became a fan of KBIL 1140 in Liberty, MO. that started with 'Town & Country' meaning top 40 without the hard edge and a country song each quarter hour. After a while they went country but then became an excellent Adult Contemporary before the term was widely used. I recall a jock named Jim Beaver on KBIL. I moved from Kansas City to Dallas in the summer of 1969.
Now, now. Lettuce not spoil the thread's mood by ruminating on cheesy udderances.
Easy listening was my great grandmother's forte. For me the fun was those old Wendy's commercials with the two biddies yelling "where's the beef!?" Hearing that coming through a hamburger just made some kind of cosmic sense to a kid.
Let's see. In late 1960s-early 1970s Los Angeles, I liked KHJ-FM and KNX-FM whenever I could hear them (they were very fuzzy around my Tujunga house). ON AM and FM, I liked KGBS (at least when Bill Ballance wasn't doing his "Femine Forums,"; and KRLA. (KHJ's signal was a bit weaker in Tujunga and I tended to think their jocks were too loud). After we moved to Phoenix, while I listened to KUPD, KRIZ, and KRUX each for a bit, I ultimately went for KOOL-FM because they played the oldies; in Tucson, it was the (then) mostly-automated KHYT on 1330 I liked the best for the same reason.
This isn't quite the same thing but I do recall hearing "Those Were the Days" by Mary Hopkin. The station may have been WABZ. When I pay my heating bill the place where I go still has one of their old clocks which says "Good Music". It had AM and FM frequencies. The AM was the station in the immediate area with Rush Limbaugh and then I dropped it from the presets in my cars. The FM is now the African-American Christian station in Charlotte.
I have a memory of that song when I was a child as well (9-10 years old).
Recall being in the car as my mother drove from Wichita, Kansas, to Manhattan, KS.
She had a Wichita AM station on that carried most of the way to Manhattan.
Remember Those Were The Days being on the radio at the time and liking it
Grew up with Top 40 WVLK-AM 590 in Lexington, Ky., and on weekends at the family farm in Gravel Switch it was the legendary WKLO-AM 1080 out of Louisville.
In Genesee County in the late 1950s, my parents listened to WFDF 910 and WBBC 1330 on the old Zenith console. WBBC became WTRX in 1960 and went Top 40. I listened to WTAC 600 Top 40 sometimes, where JP McCarthy started after being in the Army in 1956, and soon left for WJR 760. When WTRX went AC in 1968, I started listening to WAMM 1420 and CKLW 800 a lot more. Casey Kasem's first DJ job was at WAMM in 1957, and was an R&B leaning Top 40, and Top 40 leaning R&B until it went all Soul in around 1967. John Landecker worked at WTRX as "Dow Jones" in 1966, his first Top 40 DJ gig. He had done News with then Weekend DJ Art Vuolo on WOIA 102.9 about the same time. In around 1961, I got into DX, after hearing WGN 720 on the car radio in the DAYTIME. By the mid 1960s, I had a long wire antenna, and Super Sensitive TRF Sony Portable. The Sony could receive Chicago AM stations in the DAYTIME, even WAIT 820 by turning it to null out WOSU! WCFL 1000 was easier to tune than WLS 890. WFDF 910 sidebands interfered with WLS on 890. Also Taft's WGR 550 and WKRC 550 the same way. When I got a Sony Super Sensitive AM-FM Cassette Reorder in 1971, I started serious FM DXing. I could get nearly all the Detroit, Saginaw Bay City Midland, and Lansing East Lansing FMs, also higher power Chicago Area FMs like WMBI-FM 90.1, WYCA 92.3, WYEN 106.7, and WNUS-FM 107.5, faded in and out, on the TELESCOPING WHIP ANTENNA! All the new drop ins resulting from Docket 80-90, IBOC Sidebands, Translators, and LPFMs have made FM DXing more difficult, and noise on AM.
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WFLZ 93.3 in Tampa! I was maybe 5 years old and it was right at the tail end of Power 93 before they dropped the Power Pig moniker and just went with 933FLZ. These guys made it sound fun. It sparked my love for the biz. Now I’m a broadcast network engineer in Wisconsin helping keep stations on the air.
On my move to Dallas in the summer of '69 before 8th grade, my favorite top 40 was KXOL (not KFJZ or KLIF), noting Danny Moffat as a jock and on the FM side I liked KFAD in Arlington. KFAD was top 40 from 6am to noon and album rock noon to 6. They were to jazz 6pm to 6am. Sometimes they were and sometimes they were album rock. The top 40 shift was done in album rock style. With the jock reading the news on the hour he'd frequently say 'let's get these out of the way' and play and/or read any ads, maybe 2 or 3 and then the rest of the hour was commercial free. I was a huge fan of KVIL.
Dallas/Fort Worth Radio and surrounding towns would occupy my listening from mid 1969 through early July 1978 when I got my first full-time radio gig. Among favorites was KKAJ from Ardmore with "the new music mix". Essentially a dayparted top 40 that played 2 songs in a row, back announced and repeated. 90 seconds of UPI on the hour and the weather forecast on the half hour.
I had a love of KMMK in McKinney. Really green 'just outta Elkins Insitute' jocks doing requests and dedications on this top 40. Spots were a maximum 6 an hour and single spot. Spots were maybe 10% modulation compared to the jock and music. It was this way for many months. Then again they had a 4 channel board and two turntables at what appeared to be the reception desk. In the next room was a carousel from an Autogram, I think, that played the commercials. I didn't ask how they did commercials but I know when they had to record something, it was using audition on that board. I'm guessing they had a record/play cart machine in the automation or what was left of it. There was nothing to record on at the little studio. While recording they would play a reel of homemade rock oriented hits of the past few years off the only surviving 10 inch reef to reel deck. I loved KMMK because when I listened I felt like I lived there.
Although my mom liked the music, not me, I really enjoyed the Music for Groovey Grownups that was KXXK FM. Maybe Joe McChesney was the PD. As a kid I really appreciated a station that had only 4 five minute newscasts a day and weather forecast on the hour.
I remember the daytimer Grand Prairie that was either MOR or Country. Then one day it was a beauifully executed Soul Sockin' 73, KKDA with great high energy presentation and 20/20 news.
I listened to "Stereo Fort Worth Dallas, KFWD Music. In the past few minutes we've heard (list the past 3 songs). Randy Coffey became a friend. He and his wife would stop by Sound Town Records in Valley View Mall, where I was working at the time. He was a really nice guy that loved radio but as he put it, with a wife and the uncertainty of employment in Dallas/Fort Worth radio, he said he had to get a big boy job so he opted for a dispatcher at the Dallas Police department. I was a fan of KFWD but I had a real issue with the oldies on the hour and half hour. You played the list in order. One list, for example, meant "Those Were The Days" by Mary Hopkin at 6:30pm and the album version of "Nights In White Satin" by the Moody Blues at 8:30pm about 1 in 5 days.
I remember Montage on KRLD AM 1080 with Jon Dillon who sold it to Coke. Within a short time, KRLD was top 40 until 7pm and then Album rock all night.
I recall KWXI FM becoming Z-97 with a high energy top 40 approach and no commercials (I think for 90 days). It was such a big deal the competitors even addressed the fact they would have commercials very soon. Jocks started with Z-97 Commercial Free Day number...
Last, I'll touch on Lone Star 92-5. When they launched their new format the commercial load was one spot per hour that was to be incorportated in the programming. Regardless of your opinion of the music, the 'branding' sponsorship was a very unique idea the ad agencies didn't buy into but was a great idea and beautifully executed on air. In a nutshell, if Coors advertised, they were the only beer on the air and the official beer of Lone Star 92-5
Dallas/Fort Worth Radio and surrounding towns would occupy my listening from mid 1969 through early July 1978 when I got my first full-time radio gig. Among favorites was KKAJ from Ardmore with "the new music mix". Essentially a dayparted top 40 that played 2 songs in a row, back announced and repeated. 90 seconds of UPI on the hour and the weather forecast on the half hour.
I had a love of KMMK in McKinney. Really green 'just outta Elkins Insitute' jocks doing requests and dedications on this top 40. Spots were a maximum 6 an hour and single spot. Spots were maybe 10% modulation compared to the jock and music. It was this way for many months. Then again they had a 4 channel board and two turntables at what appeared to be the reception desk. In the next room was a carousel from an Autogram, I think, that played the commercials. I didn't ask how they did commercials but I know when they had to record something, it was using audition on that board. I'm guessing they had a record/play cart machine in the automation or what was left of it. There was nothing to record on at the little studio. While recording they would play a reel of homemade rock oriented hits of the past few years off the only surviving 10 inch reef to reel deck. I loved KMMK because when I listened I felt like I lived there.
Although my mom liked the music, not me, I really enjoyed the Music for Groovey Grownups that was KXXK FM. Maybe Joe McChesney was the PD. As a kid I really appreciated a station that had only 4 five minute newscasts a day and weather forecast on the hour.
I remember the daytimer Grand Prairie that was either MOR or Country. Then one day it was a beauifully executed Soul Sockin' 73, KKDA with great high energy presentation and 20/20 news.
I listened to "Stereo Fort Worth Dallas, KFWD Music. In the past few minutes we've heard (list the past 3 songs). Randy Coffey became a friend. He and his wife would stop by Sound Town Records in Valley View Mall, where I was working at the time. He was a really nice guy that loved radio but as he put it, with a wife and the uncertainty of employment in Dallas/Fort Worth radio, he said he had to get a big boy job so he opted for a dispatcher at the Dallas Police department. I was a fan of KFWD but I had a real issue with the oldies on the hour and half hour. You played the list in order. One list, for example, meant "Those Were The Days" by Mary Hopkin at 6:30pm and the album version of "Nights In White Satin" by the Moody Blues at 8:30pm about 1 in 5 days.
I remember Montage on KRLD AM 1080 with Jon Dillon who sold it to Coke. Within a short time, KRLD was top 40 until 7pm and then Album rock all night.
I recall KWXI FM becoming Z-97 with a high energy top 40 approach and no commercials (I think for 90 days). It was such a big deal the competitors even addressed the fact they would have commercials very soon. Jocks started with Z-97 Commercial Free Day number...
Last, I'll touch on Lone Star 92-5. When they launched their new format the commercial load was one spot per hour that was to be incorportated in the programming. Regardless of your opinion of the music, the 'branding' sponsorship was a very unique idea the ad agencies didn't buy into but was a great idea and beautifully executed on air. In a nutshell, if Coors advertised, they were the only beer on the air and the official beer of Lone Star 92-5
My first station: In its day, the nation's highest rated radio station: KFWB Color Channel 98 Hollywood, CA (Which, for some who may not know, is within the City of LA)