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Which Radio Stations Shaped your Taste in Music?
- Thread starter fordranger797
- Start date
Mystery solved! Thanks!
Ah, yes, I remember KJR and KING. But since I was in Tacoma, not only switched between those two stations, but also KTAC. Then when FM Top 40 stations appeared ("The FM KVI", later KPLZ, along with KNBQ in Tacoma), I switched over to those because I could get decent recordings of songs I liked when I taped from FM, whereas recordings from AM stations sounded pretty lousy.
There were three call changes for 1250 after KTW. KYAC was first. It wasn't KKDZ until 1993. I used to pick up KTW every night after 10:15. They had a share time arrangement with the Pullman station and had to leave the air at sunset to protect them. A directional antenna was installed later to cover the remainder of the time which was later adjusted to midnight.
I’m not old enough to remember KTAC, but my parents both grew up with it and loved it! I’m glad that the original 850 signal is still on the air, even if its former glory is long gone.
K was used east of the Mississippi to begin with and then switched to W. KYW and KQV, also in Pennsylvania, were examples.
The first radio stations I actually remember listening to were WFRC and WREV north of Greensboro NC where I was living. There was also WDVA, a major station across the Virginia border, but I don't remember what it played. I only remember I wanted to see what all those red lights were and it was quite impressive to pass by all those towers at night. WFRC was adult contemporary before there was such a thing. The only song I remember hearing was "Knock Three Times" by Dawn. But I remember it wasn't a loud rock station and I didn't even know what stations in the area played that. Someone, but I don't remember who, played "High Hopes" by Frank Sinatra and the kids. WREV was country but I listened to country music mainly watching "Hee Haw" and Porter Wagoner's show, and The Wilburn Brothers.
After we moved to the Charlotte area I remember listening to WSOC. The music was pretty soft but not like adult standards radio a few years later, although in 1981 WSOC became the first standards station in the Charlotte area since WBT switched about a decade earlier. WBT, as I found out later, had upset a lot of people by switching to Top 40. I haven't found a lot of evidence WBT was anything other than "adult contemporary", but that was quite different from what I was hearing on WSOC, which I guess would have been called "soft adult contemporary" if there was such a thing. WSOC went all news and I ended up listening to WBT, which by that time was actually quite tame. For example, "Baker Street" cut off before the guitar solo. A newspaper article about radio mentioned "Jack and Diane" as something WBT wouldn't play but that was because of the lyrics. Back then, someone complained about the profanity in "Bad Bad Leroy Brown". By this time I was enjoying beautiful music stations in medical and dental offices.
While I was in college, I decided WBT was too loud and I tried the country station. "Modern country" was something very different from what I had been hearing, but I liked it. A lot of the songs were very pop-sounding, but it was the kind of pop I liked, so at that time that was fine. And of course WSOC introduced me to big band, a style that had been all over TV variety shows and sitcoms. But it was a mix of big band and some of what was on AC radio, and older songs that would have been called "oldies" if there were such a thing. And one song I remembered from "Captain Kangaroo". A new easy listening station "Love 97" had just made its debut and I decided that's what I would listen to. Only it wasn't. By this time it was soft adult contemporary. But I liked it. "EZ 104" came along a few years later doing the same thing but with an outrageous morning DJ. Beautiful music was being replaced with Format 41, even softer adult contemporary music but with Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and Johnny Mathis. And new beautiful music stations came along. I later listened to EZ 102.9 which was similar to that but without as many of the standards artists. I discovered Nat King Cole, though. Several area stations played either AM Only, now called America's Best Music, or Stardust, which had more of a big band sound. Both of these were so much better than contemporary music. WSAT, which did a little of everything including sports talk, had a big band show, and then switched to soft AC/oldies when a new owner came in. That satellite format was cancelled and the best format to replace what had been played was ... America's Best Music. Around this time one station that was Stardust changed to classic country. And when that was gone, there was WBRF in Galax VA.
KTAC was the poor man’s Seattle Tacoma top 40 station. Based in Tacoma it obviously dominated in the south sound. But the Seattle am’s were still strong in Tacoma, with exception of 1090 KING, which was directional north and on occasion could be heard in Norway. Look at a globe and you can see why. One of my favorite stories is driving on I-5 near Federal Way (suburb between Seattle and Tacoma). It was winter and dark at 6pm and KING was fighting with XPRS out of Tijuana Mexico. And though I was 18 miles out of Seattle, the Tijuana station boomed over KING 1090.
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No. "K" was used at a few stations in the East, such as KYW and KQV and KDKA and a couple of others, and "W" was used up to the Rockies because the Mississippi River K and W boundary had not been set in stone as yet.
But all the western W's and the handful of eastern K's were exceptions.
There was no switch in the East to "W"... just lack of a system at the beginning. In fact, early licensing was so bizarre that in '27 the government had to create the Federal Radio Commission; they did a better job but still had to be replace with the FCC in the early 30's.
A lot of early regulation was "let's kick it and hope it does not break a window!"
"High Hopes" was a JFK campaign song.
This was during the Nixon administration.
Don't know where I heard that, but it was true for ships.
No, this was during the 1960 campaign. I recall the Kennedy HQ on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland had a version that played on street speakers all day long.
Ships on the Atlantic and Carribbean were originally assigned KDAA-KZZZ, while ships on the Pacific were assigned WAAA-WZZZ. Coastal stations in the east were WAA-WZZ, and in the west were KDA-KZZ. The KA-KC block was assigned to Germany until 1929, and the US after that. Having "opposite" calls between ships and coastal stations must have been intended to avoid confusion. Not sure if it helped.
EDIT: Apparently, ships originally used 3-letter calls as well. Here is a list of those assigned (including self-assigned ones prior to 1912) between 1911 and 1913: Comparison of 1911-1913 U.S. Ship Radio Calls
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I’m one of those weird people who actually likes listening to music on the AM dial. From my perspective, larger AM signals can sound great. Not every signal is great though. A few years ago I was sitting in a parking lot somewhere near maple valley, and heard XRPS loud and clear on the radio.
And that would have been during the Eisenhower/Nixon Administration! Kennedy, like all elected presidents, did not take office until the following year. Chimp was oh so close to being right!
Oh my, you completely skipped over the K-FOX years on 1250 (KKFX) Urban A/C.
As a kid in Los Angeles, my parents really only had three stations on in the house or the car. Mostly KMPC, but KNX when Bob Crane was on (Crane was interrupted enough by CBS network programming that they'd end up listening to some of both him and Dick Whittinghill on KMPC on any given morning) and KFI for Dodger games, but there'd be some time before and after the games.
Anyway, all that (1956-65) gave me a pretty good grounding in MOR/Great American Songbook stuff. From 1963 on, Johnny Magnus was doing 9-midnight on KMPC and he played a lot of jazz, and that absolutely gave me a love for that music that lives with me to this day (enhanced and amplified after I discovered KBCA around '68).
When my dad died in '65, we moved to Bishop, California, in the Eastern High Sierra, where at night, we could hear San Francisco and L.A. stations really well, and during the day, Los Angeles FM stations (the ones that had their sticks on Mt. Wilson) would come up on the cable system.
So, it was probably '67 (age 11) that I started dialing in KFRC and KHJ and getting interested in the hit music of the time (which in the case of both KFRC and KHJ involved a pretty healthy helping of R&B, enhanced by Wolfman Jack on XERB before he went largely pop---and probably 1969 when I started listening more to KMET and KABC-FM (which became KLOS in 1971). And around 1973-74, KNX-FM, which was sort of a laid-back album rock.
After that, it was probably KROQ in the late 70s for the then-burgeoning New Wave, and KFRC again during Gerry Peterson's run as PD gave me a solid appreciation for the early 80s funk.
Anyway, all that (1956-65) gave me a pretty good grounding in MOR/Great American Songbook stuff. From 1963 on, Johnny Magnus was doing 9-midnight on KMPC and he played a lot of jazz, and that absolutely gave me a love for that music that lives with me to this day (enhanced and amplified after I discovered KBCA around '68).
When my dad died in '65, we moved to Bishop, California, in the Eastern High Sierra, where at night, we could hear San Francisco and L.A. stations really well, and during the day, Los Angeles FM stations (the ones that had their sticks on Mt. Wilson) would come up on the cable system.
So, it was probably '67 (age 11) that I started dialing in KFRC and KHJ and getting interested in the hit music of the time (which in the case of both KFRC and KHJ involved a pretty healthy helping of R&B, enhanced by Wolfman Jack on XERB before he went largely pop---and probably 1969 when I started listening more to KMET and KABC-FM (which became KLOS in 1971). And around 1973-74, KNX-FM, which was sort of a laid-back album rock.
After that, it was probably KROQ in the late 70s for the then-burgeoning New Wave, and KFRC again during Gerry Peterson's run as PD gave me a solid appreciation for the early 80s funk.
It wasn’t my intention to give the entire history of 1250 in Seattle. But even if it was, my 1975 note came from a wiki link. If it was incorrect that certainty wouldn’t be a first for wiki!
From about June of 1982 until January of 1984, WMYK billed itself as "The New Wave of Modern Rock." K-94 played many of the groups featured on MTV like Duran Duran, Gang of Four, Heaven 17 and Spandau Ballet. I guess a station that featured new-fangled music and catered to penniless teenagers wasn't sustainable, so it was gone after 18 months or so. (WMYK was in Moyock, North Carolina, but with 100,000 watts and a 1000-foot stick, easily served the Norfolk, Virginia market and beyond.)
After K-94 bit the dust in '84, I found Carol "Hell Yeah" Taylor on WNOR. FM 99 was straight AOR most of the day, but between 7:00 p.m. and midnight, Taylor featured artists with strange names like R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers and Big Country. I guess it was like college radio on a commercial station. Miss Taylor sadly passed away years ago, but I'll always remember her clear voice and articulate speech as she presented the music and shared stories about the artists.
After K-94 bit the dust in '84, I found Carol "Hell Yeah" Taylor on WNOR. FM 99 was straight AOR most of the day, but between 7:00 p.m. and midnight, Taylor featured artists with strange names like R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers and Big Country. I guess it was like college radio on a commercial station. Miss Taylor sadly passed away years ago, but I'll always remember her clear voice and articulate speech as she presented the music and shared stories about the artists.
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