Country stations in the bay area past and present

Hey Guys:

I thought I would share my list of the country stations the bay are has had over the years:

1. KOIT 93.3 (Auto) Oct 17, 1970 to Sept 18, 1972

2. KSAN 94.9 Nov 15, 1980 to July 3, 1997 17 years!!!

3. KRTY 95.3 Nov 28, 1989 till now (First had KYAY calls)

4. KZBR 95.7 Aug 29, 2003 to May 11, 2005

5. KBWF 95.7 March 1, 2007 till now

6. KVSM 1050 Jan 1952 to March 1960 (New Owner and changed calls)

7. KOFY 1050 March 1960 to 1962 (Became Spanish)

8. KPER 1290 Sept 1957 to 1962 (Became MOR/STDS)

9. KFMR 104.9 Feb 1967 to 1974 (Became Religous)

10. KVYN 99.3 1982 TO 1988

11. KNEW 910 July 1, 1974 to Aug 25, 1998 (Became classic country Jan 1, 1996)

12. KSAY 1010 Feb 13, 1961 to March 27, 1974

13. KNBA 1190 1987 to Jan 1, 1994 (Became Oldies KXBT)

Now here is the one station I have a blank on

14. KEEN 1370 ___________ to Dec 31, 1992

Would anybody know what date KEEN started there country format?

I am really happy to share this list with you guys. I hope it brings up good memories for you all.
If there is anything I left out or any input please go right ahead and do that.

Thanks

T.J.

You forgot
93.3 KYCY 04/22/1994 to 01/02/2002

t.j. said:

Hey Guys:

I thought I would share my list of the country stations the bay are has had over the years:

Click to expand...

There is "country" and there is "Western". KEEN, KSAY, KVSM, and KTRB were all Western stations. KTVU also had a Western TV show on Saturday evenings. Many of us who listen(ed) to Western wouldn't be caught dead listening to country. They're totally different animals. Western is more closely related to bebop and swing.

Here's a link to Black Jack Wayne, longtime Western music performer on KEEN, KVSM, KTVU, etc:
http://www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=12275

Somewhere I have a copy of an ad from KVSM stating that it was the #1 Western music station in the U.S. or words to that effect. Dang if I can find it...

sfradio:

Thank you for that. I can't believe I forgot about 93.3 KYCY!!

I want to make a correction on 1050

6. KVSM 1050 Jan 1952 to Sept 1956 (New Owner and changed calls)

7. KOFY 1050 Sept 1956 to 1962 (Became Spanish)

Went and did more research today and found out KOFY started in 1956 with new owners.

Davidkaye you said
"Somewhere I have a copy of an ad from KVSM stating that it was the #1 Western music station in the U.S. or words to that effect."
I would love to see that. Hope you can find it!!

Would you know when KEEN started there Western Format?

Thanks

T.J.

I know that KEEN-1370 was Country as far back as the 1970's. I have heard that KEEN switched to AC in the 1970's briefly but switched back to Country.

t.j. said:

Would you know when KEEN started there Western Format?

Click to expand...

No idea, but Cottonseed Clark, Red Murrell, and Cactus Jack, along with such programs as "Western Serenade" and "Best in the West" were on KEEN in 1964. http://www.bayarearadio.org/schedules/schedule_mercury_1964.shtml

The highpoint of Western music in the Bay Area was during the World War II years and to about 1960, so I'd assume that KEEN may have gotten into Western quite early. If you can picture that there once were as many Western music clubs then as there are rock clubs today, you'd get the picture as to how big the music was here. The "King of Western Swing", Bob Wills, had a show on KGO, produced at the Fairmont Hotel and announced by none other than Jack Webb. Webb also announced a couple other Western shows as well. This was about 1948 or so I think.

Let's see if I can find any more info on the debut of Western on KEEN...

Okay, under Red Murrell's bio on Wikipedia, it says he started working as a DJ at KEEN in 1954. It might be safe to assume that the format was underway there at that time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Murrell

Here's a little more showing that KEEN played Western music in the postwar period:

http://hillbilly-researcher.blogspot.com/2010/03/shorty-joe-by-steve-hathaway-shorty-joe.html

"After an interruption from World War II, the trio got back on track opening the Club Metro on Alum Rock Avenue. The success there led to an offer to Shorty Joe to become the first western disk jockey on KEEN radio in San Jose. The group also would do a live broadcast from Club Metro." -- First Western DJ on KEEN. Postwar but doesn't say when.

Also, "Until 1953, Shorty Joe and the band would hold forth at this fabled dancehall (the Valley Fair Macy’s is built on the Tracy Gardens site). Now at powerful KLOK, the band’s live broadcasts reached a bigger audience. This enabled Shorty Joe to not only draw big crowds but to also book name acts, like Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, and Roy Acuff. "

So, there you have it, KLOK, too.

1550am simulcasted KYCY 93.3 from the end of KPIX in 1997 until the end of the FM in 2002.I think KYCY 1550 remained country until 2005 when it became the All-podcast KYOU Radio(Its still online at KYOUradio.com) and on January 1,2009 it became the current Syncicated Oldies Format as KFRC

DavidKaye:

Thanks for all of that resaerch. I read the article and saw the picture. Looks like to me Western started on KEEN in 1947 when they first went on the air.

T.J.

Somewhere I remember KYA-FM 93.3 using that call and playing Country in the early 80's.

Hey Guys:

During more research I found another country station:

KEGL 1430 "The Eagle" from 1970 to 1972. (was KGBB from Dec 15, 1963 to 64 and KGNU from Dec 18, 1964 to 1970: Would anybody know the formats of these stations?)

I found this on a country music blog. A guy had a country survey from this station in 1970.

T.J.

t.j. said:

I found this on a country music blog. A guy had a country survey from this station in 1970.

T.J.

Click to expand...

I do remember KEGL (Eagle) as a country station. I also remember that I hated the music. I don't recall what they did as KGNU.

DavidKaye said:

t.j. said:

Hey Guys:

I thought I would share my list of the country stations the bay are has had over the years:

Click to expand...

There is "country" and there is "Western".

Click to expand...

There was also a popular format from the '60s and '70s called Country AND Western more commonly refered to as C&W.

Let us not forget that wonderful line from Blues Brothers (and hardly original to that movie), "We have BOTH kinds of music here, Country AND Western!"

Didn't Roy Rogers do a song about who took the Western out of Country & Western?

I worked at the KGNU from 66-70..It was "good music." It mixed Sinatra, with lite rock (in KOIT terms) with boring instrumentals. We carried Mutual newscasts, Santa Clara football and basketball and Seals hockey. Great group of DJ's..Tom Barberi (Tom Barry on KLIV), Jack Castello (later at KRAK), Bill Dodd, Tom Leland, Skip Conover and weekends with KFAX/KJBS veteran Sam Martin.
KEGL was lead by ex KYA DJ Chris Lane and KEEN DJ Bill Craig. I have a couple of surveys from the period and will check other DJ's.

lenhockey:

Thanks for your post!! I needed that info. YOU ROCK.

Would you know when in 1970 KGNU changed to Country KEGL?

I still can't figure out what "Good Music" really means.

Thanks

T.J.

Hello Radio People:

Just a few additions/modifications to the list:

KVYN 99.3 Napa Valley dropped Country and went AC on July 4, 1984.

KTRB 860 (still in Modesto) dropped Country October 31, 1993 and went to "Radio Labio",
a satellite delivered Spanish Talk from LA the next day. KTRB stayed Spanish for roughly four
and a half years. "Radio Labio" was dropped in Spring 1995 and a locally done Regional Mexican
format took its place. KTRB 860 also was the origination station for the Spanish version of
the SF 49ers play by play working under the direction of KGO. The Spanish version of
49ers play by play broadcasting happened for the 1995 and 1996 seasons. It did not continue
into the 1997 season.


KEEN 1370 San Jose signed on as a new radio station in 1947. It was one of the many
fulltime AMs to sign on after World War 2 using a directional antenna array to get "fulltime" status.

weav said:

Let us not forget that wonderful line from Blues Brothers (and hardly original to that movie), "We have BOTH kinds of music here, Country AND Western!"

Click to expand...

I remember that line... Hilarious!!!

jmtillery said:

I remember that line... Hilarious!!!

Click to expand...

Hilarious if you don't know the roots, I guess. Country was basically Irish folk music relocated to the hills of Appalachia. It's true "hillbilly" music. Songs often sang sadly about family, love, dead parents, lost farms, and train wrecks.

Here are some country examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTlWCHXMc3s&feature=related -- Gospel-style country
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZsMQK2Z-So&feature=related -- Beverly Hillbillies -- Wreck of the Old 97
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV3GOr_AMRY -- Wayfaring Stranger, Appalachian folk tune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIAEyA7yw44 -- Crooked Jades (SF country band)

Western, on the other hand, was the music of cattle drivers of the wide open spaces of the South and West. Western songs often talked of needing to live free, wide open spaces, riding horses, etc. Western and its cousin Western swing, was a very frisky genre that often poked fun at life. Among the more in/famous hits: Cow Cow Boogie, Big Balls in Cowtown, and the Milk Cow Blues (which has been covered by Elvis Presley, Rick Nelson, and tons of others).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWXbVsMkz1U&NR=1 -- Tex Williams -- note how much the music swings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBCuGyZUWoQ&feature=related -- Asleep at the Wheel -- note the keyboard & drums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sS5jSbV0Vg -- Bob Wills, "Sittin On Top of the World"

And this by Waylon Jennings singing about Bob Wills, the King of Western swing, including photos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxHu_71sU1E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbTJ8gDAvn8 -- Merle Haggard (as you've never seen him!) leading the members of the Bob Wills band, introduced by Dolly Parton. Note all the instruments -- piano, sax, drums, trumpet, pedal steel, etc.