Continuing our series on KTNQ given to us way back in 2004, Here’s yet another great clip of the late Jackson Armstrong… still in his prime with the Gorilla and a stack of Rock & Roll records (well, probably were carts) on a station that simply COOKED!
Compare this with KHJ recordings of the same time period and you can see why KHJ fell off the map. While 93 KHJ was turning into a less talk more music outlet, Ten-Q let the jocks be themselves, and the evidence is clear.
Charlie Tuna does the imaging voice on this one, Jack Armstrong is himself, and the music is pure Top 40 magic!
Courtesy of BigAppleAirchecks.com!
I wonder how many call letters the Pointer Sisters had to sing for the customized versions of “Fire” like the one for Ten-Q?
I’m guessing a lot, but I never eard a custom version in anything but major markets. I heard one on KFRC, I know KFI had one and I would assume KHJ as well since it came out in 79, well ahead of their switch to Country.
KHJ may have “fallen off the map”, but that had a lot more to do with KMET taking teens and young adults and KRTH (then an AC) taking females than any challenge from KTNQ. If any AM top 40 challenger caused KHJ problems, it was KFI.
About the time this was recorded, the fall ’78 ARB was coming out. KHJ was 12th with a 2.7, KFI was 13th with a 2.6 and KTNQ was 18th with a 2.1, which is exactly what it had in fall ’77. In that same year KMET went 2.8-4.9.
KTNQ had already surrendered. In September of 1978, Storer said they planned to take it country. The Real Don Steele quit, which is when they hired Armstrong. But within a month of that announcement, they began getting interest from potential buyers and ended up selling. Six months and a few days after this aircheck, KTNQ went Spanish.
On television, The Dukes Of Hazzard
premiered on CBS on this date.