While 93 KHJ was desperately trying to hold on as a Top 40 stations, other AM stations sounded incredible. Not included on this composite – which is really mostly KMPC – is the other competitor that for a short while gave everyone a run for their money, KTNQ Ten-Q.
You’ll hear two breaks from Tim Kelly on the “Super 64”, and the rest is all personality driven Geoff Edwards on KMPC. This is mid-day, just before lunchtime and listen to how sold out KMPC is! Also listen to how Edwards weaves the Mickey Mouse contest in and out of records, then airs ALL the contestants who call till the one gives the right answer!
No, radio isn’t done this way anymore, that requires a personality who can communicate, and a live body on the air to do it. Expensive for the station bean counters? Sure. But, as I said, KMPC was absolutely sold out, you couldn’t fit more commercials in an hour if you wanted to. And yet the show flows smoothly and the listener doesn’t get bored.
Corporate managers, take note. I’m done preaching. Just listen.
Where to begin? I’ve never been to Los Angeles, and as of this posting< I have about 15 minutes left on this 'check. KFI, KLAC, and KIIS are all owned by iHeartMedia. Sometime in the early '80s KHJ went country with the slogan "We all grew up to be cowboys". They were in competition with KLAC for awhile, as both were country at the same time. I was into country at the time this aircheck was made, so had I been in LA then, my dial would have been set on 570 (KLAC). Geoff Edwards had a game show titled "Shoot for the Stars" back in '77, which I watched. In closing, I'd like to pass along my condolences to all who loved Gary Owens, who died February 13 at 80. The cause of death I did know, but at the moment, escapes me.
“A full log is a healthy log” was the motto of a P.D. I used to work for in the days of the 18-minute hours; and before “more music, less commercials” became the staple. KMPC sounded pretty healthy!
I believe the voice on the Zackie Farms spot was Rex Allen, famed cowboy actor/singer and voice of many Disney nature films. Wink Martindale does Montgomery Ward.
Edwards was a go-to guy for several TV network game shows. There was one (can’t remember the name) where he would often shout loudly “TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS”!
WOW! That music at the start of the spot for Accelerated Real Estate Schools really sparked a memory. Anyone else remember L.A. Air Force CHEAP RADIO THRILLS? I remember that particular cut as a weather intro.
Another thing. Back then KLAC was co-owned with KTTV (Channel 11). Both were owned by Metromedia, and I think KMET-FM was part of the cluster, too. Metromedia was bought by Fox around 1986, so KTTV is now Fox-affiliated, and, as far as I know Fox-owned.
How ironic that Edwards calls KMPC “your Mickey Mouse station” when plugging the Disney contest… who’d have ever imagined that 20 years later, 710 in Los Angeles really would be taken over by the mouse.
I think the great full-service personality stations, especially KMPC, were the pinnacle of the evolution of commercial radio. It’s a shame there are so few airchecks of them. They informed, entertained, and sold… and often had an audience dominance rivaled only by the metro newspaper.