…”Yes, Virginia, there IS a Percy Sledge…”
Mike Phillips makes his way through a Tuesday morning on the original Top 40 610 AM, where it’s always KFRC “Parade of Hits Time” when it’s not Para Camaro, or some other sponsor-time!
Listen closely for Ed Hurst with the “News at 8” as the last element in this aircheck around the 3 minute mark. Our question for listeners who might remember: Is Ed Hurst, KFRC news any relation to Ron Hurst, WRKO Boston news a decade or so later?
I don’t think Robert W Morgan was losing any sleep over this guy coming to KHJ to take over mornings. Basically another “Larry the liner card reader”. Better PD than jock.
So this is what KFRC sounded like pre-Drake!
So this is how KFRC sounded before Drake. Interesting.
This is the transition from Drake’s place-holder “Parade of Hits” format (all oldies with the pre-Drake KFRC jingles) to Top 40, which is why Mike makes a big deal about “new” records.
Listening to the aircheck (always a good idea), I don’t hear any sponsor references.
“Pair-A-Camaro” was KFRC’s first big giveaway (his and hers Chevy Camaros), but that’s not mentioned in this aircheck either, and wouldn’t have happened until September of ’66 (Mike says it’s May), when the Camaro was introduced.
I do listen to all the airchecks. The Camero reference was having heard other airchecks where I DID hear it. Was making a point that it wasn’t here. Anyway, thanks as always for filling in the blanks. West Coast ’60s was not my era.
You can tell that this was preDrake judging by the jingles that were used and even the toh news sounder.
Mike did know how to do the Drake format and he got better as the years progressed.
Again, Larry…this is not pre-Drake…this was Drake transitioning from his “Parade of Hits” format, which he did at KHJ prior to launching “Boss Radio”. In SF as in LA, the new jingles hit when the “real” format launched.
PS: “The “Parade of Hits” ran from February until June, 1966 on KFRC.