Of all places, Facebook has become the meeting spot for radio fans.
Between the open posts and special groups dedicated to particular aspects of the industry (including “I love AM Radio” and “I Loved AM Radio” – yes, both actually exist – and more), I can connect with many others to read, learn and discuss one of my favorite topics.
And, of course, I can plan to fulfill one of my life’s two major goals – programming an AM music station to prove it can still be done successfully. The other is taking over Sears to make it the top retailer again. But I digress.
It’s through Facebook that I discovered a book about San Diego radio that I had somehow missed. Called “Aircheck: The Story of Top-40 Radio in San Diego,” the book tells the story of San Diego’s major top-40 powerhouses: KCBQ, KGB, KDEO, and XEAK/XETRA, best known as The Mighty 690. Focusing on the early days of the format, it does not cover the rise of FM.
Written by David Leonard and published more than 20 years ago, it just arrived in the mail, so I have not had a chance to fully evaluate it, but look for that in a week or two. My initial impression, however, is very positive as it conjures up memories I have from listening to San Diego radio in my youth.
I just can’t figure out how I missed it all these years!
Radio Memories
Give me a moment to reminisce; I promise this will relate to Leonard’s book.
I got my first radio — a 10-transistor Realtone pocket radio with a cool “slide-rule” dial — from my Aunt Ina when I was young. I cannot remember the year, but I can place it somewhat by what I was listening to. I was looking for KHJ (930 AM), as everyone somehow knew of the station in the late 1960s or early 1970s.
But being new to radio listening, I accidentally tuned in KGBS (now KTNQ, 1020 AM) thinking it was KHJ. One of the songs I recall them playing a lot was “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. That, and the fact that KGBS was playing contemporary music rather than talk or country, places it about 1970. I would have been about seven years old.
One of the oddities of KGBS was that it was a daytimer – it had to power off at sunset to protect the signal of a station in another state. If you wanted to continue listening at night you had to go to that mysterious band called FM, but it was a fun station with good personalities including the popular morning team of Hudson and Landry, Bill Balance, and Dave Hull.
Over time, family and friends handed down better radios, most of which ran on tubes. I discovered, of course, the actual KHJ and recorded some of my favorite songs onto a little reel-to-reel tape recorder. Please don’t tell the authorities.
KHJ was the king of local radio in that era, but there were others that intrigued me as well. KEZY (now KGBN, 1190 AM) in Anaheim was one that I loved, and that was where I first heard “Beach Baby” by First Class. My sister Jackie listened to KIIS (now KEIB, 1150 AM) because they played a bit more of the singer-songwriters of the time that she really liked.
Soon, I discovered San Diego radio stations, most of which came in almost like locals via my hometown San Pedro’s location near the water. San Diego radio signals basically shot straight up the Pacific Ocean coastline, and thus my spiritual connection with Leonard’s book.
I absolutely loved KCBQ (1170 AM) … DJs Christopher Cane, Dave Conley, Bill Moffitt, Gene Knight, and Shotgun Tom Kelly were almost gods in my mind. Kelly had perhaps the most memorable “name jingle,” in which the sound of shotguns was placed between his name being sung and the KCBQ call letters. It was high energy and fun. I didn’t listen much to KGB (now KLSD, 1360 AM) at the time, but I do recall them running American Top 40 on Sundays, so I always tuned in for that. I did listen to KGB enough to remember when they were kind of a laid-back more open format in the second half of the 1970s.
Then in 1979 came KGB’s new “13K.” Similar to our own Ten-Q (KTNQ), the format was a high-energy personality-driven format that rivaled the approach of Ten-Q (KTNQ) and the re-emergence of our own KHJ the same year. I actually split my time between all of these stations along with KEZY’s album rock, the powerful KFI (640 AM) Hit Parade, and the later-coming Mighty 690. Yes, I stayed with AM far longer than almost anyone else I know.
Not that I shunned FM — I’ll cover some of my early FM discoveries in another column — but I always appreciated good radio and frankly, this was some of the most entertaining radio ever produced. The type of radio that I still believe can succeed — even on AM — today. Regardless, this will hopefully finally launch my plan to cover stations that aren’t here any more and what made them so special. If you’d like to chime in, please let me know.
Mailbag
“As an AM radio fan, I’m surprised that in your column of July 12, regarding Evan Lovett’s ‘In a Minute’ podcasts, you neglected to point out that he can be every Tuesday and Thursday on KNX (1070 AM) with a short version of these topics, thus, ‘in a minute.’ They are repeated on the following weekend. (I know KNX news is also simulcast on FM but I never listen on FM because of the degraded signal prone to interference.) Best regards” — John Tellez, Long Beach
I had spoken with Lovett and he hadn’t mentioned it! So I went straight to him and asked. Here is what he said: “I do indeed have a great partnership with KNX, specifically Alex Silverman the do-it-all news director. They feature two truncated versions of my ‘In a Minute’ segments per week and we also have a live interview every Friday with Mike & Vicki at 8:47 a.m.!
“Mostly, the KNX segments are based on my TikToks, but there is fresh content sprinkled in as well. I like to pull from my early material for these since it does seem fresh and doesn’t mimic what I’m posting on social media.”
The TikToks are excellent, so this is great for both Lovett and KNX.
Richard Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in Southern California. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com
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