The Zoo ...............

Anyboby listening...sounds pretty good......https://vokalnow.com/stations/the-zoo

this thread belongs in the internet radio, don't care if the stream is based off of a famous radio station of DFW radio history

Will_H_69_9 said:

this thread belongs in the internet radio, don't care if the stream is based off of a famous radio station of DFW radio history

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No one said you had to read it right?

Theodore said:

Anyboby listening...sounds pretty good......https://vokalnow.com/stations/the-zoo

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Thanks! New to me! I am listening now.

On Carpenter Freeway.. is it coming from the old KRLD KAFM etc building?

I think so. Next to ch33 (if that's still there). Same building Jagger and Russ Martin used to broadcast from
on LIVE105.3

From the article in Dallas Observer about The Zoo..

“ 'Right now radio stations are really compressed … because the consistency of the sound level is so ridged,' Gimarc says. “This is going to have a lot of breathing room, it’s going to sound more like vinyl. The station is going to end up sounding different and people might not be able to put their finger on it.' ”

I noticed right away the sound was far better, clear, no volume up-down compression. I was looking around to find the bit rate they are sending out. Anyway, George it sounds GREAT! Don't change it!

"The Zoo" is starting to get a little repetitious to me now. Beginning to hear several songs repeat, mostly ones that were tiring 30 years ago. And though they tout playing the long album cuts have heard several short single versions, Rare Earth's "I Know I'm Losing You" for one, they play the short single version. They're in a big hurry I guess to play another ELO or McCartney tune.

KZEW was a special time in Dallas radio history - a time before corporate radio, a time before lawyers scanning every word for legality. A time that can never and will never be repeated. I remember waiting until the pathetic mono country station on 97.9 in Odessa would sign off, leaving the frequency clear for KZEW in Midland. I had friends over who wondered why I bothered with FM at all in Midland - one listen to the variety of stations from Dallas and they got hooked. Straight to their rich daddys begging for good equipment to get the stations. The local cable eventually met the ever increasing demand and started carrying KZEW and a host of other Dallas FMs. Probably much to the chagrin of local stations whose audience was eroding with each person hooking up an antenna or cable. At its peak, you could drive in the more affluent suburbs and see deep fringe FM antennas all over the place - all aimed at Dallas. Some classical fans for WRR, some kids wanting rock, etc. KZEW had quite a following, and new music from KZEW was announced in the underground high school newspaper. I remember seeing kids at a high school football game in Abilene sneak out to their cars to smoke a joint and tune in KZEW. I remember going to the University of Texas, hanging a yagi from the ceiling in my apartment, and hearing KZEW. And when I turned my system off for the night, the faint refrains of the station from other listeners in other apartments doing the same thing. I remember when KFMK shut down for a week in Houston, and driving to work listening to KZEW virtually static free along the Southwest Freeway. It takes a special station to garner that type of loyalty - not just me, but the other nameless people who all had the same idea - listen to KZEW under difficult conditions. I can't even imagine how large the Dallas audience must have been at the time.

If somebody is going to bring KZEW to the internet - it better not be a half a$$ed effort, because those of us who loved the cutting edge station that was KZEW will know the difference and we won't listen. It better not only play the same local and obscure artists that KZEW did, but it needs to go out and find today's local and obscure artists creating music today. If its not cutting edge, if its not creative, if it IS repetitive and stale - it won't be KZEW.

These days about the only game on the internet is KLBJ, and its play list is limited. But it is better than anything on the dial here.

rbrucecarter5 said:

KZEW was a special time in Dallas radio history... . I can't even imagine how large the Dallas audience must have been at the time.

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You don't have to. Here are the numbers:
KZEW's biggest ratings books was Fall 1981, its eighth year on the air. KZEW pulled a 6.5 share (Persons 12+) in that survey, placing it in fourth place behind KVIL, KSCS and WBAP. By this time, KZEW was much more structured than in its first several years on the air. To be fair, a look at the younger 18-34 cell gives a better idea of KZEW's popularity among its target demographic, and by that measure, KZEW was #1 in the market on two occasions: Spring 1974 and Fall 1981. It did pull big 18-34 numbers, but outside of those two surveys, it was never enough to beat KVIL in the overall 18-34 race. Make no mistake, KZEW was a huge station among young men in the mid to late 70s and early 80s, but if there was any station that dominated the overall DFW ratings, with both men and women, during that time, it was KVIL.

Huff said:

You don't have to. Here are the numbers:
KZEW's biggest ratings books was Fall 1981, its eighth year on the air. KZEW pulled a 6.5 share (Persons 12+) in that survey, placing it in fourth place behind KVIL, KSCS and WBAP. By this time, KZEW was much more structured than in its first several years on the air. To be fair, a look at the younger 18-34 cell gives a better idea of KZEW's popularity among its target demographic, and by that measure, KZEW was #1 in the market on two occasions: Spring 1974 and Fall 1981. It did pull big 18-34 numbers, but outside of those two surveys, it was never enough to beat KVIL in the overall 18-34 race. Make no mistake, KZEW was a huge station among young men in the mid to late 70s and early 80s, but if there was any station that dominated the overall DFW ratings, with both men and women, during that time, it was KVIL.

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I remember KVIL was quite popular with the girls at the time. It didn't have a jamming signal in Midland, so it was accessible 24/7 - unlike KZEW which was jammed until the 97.9 went off the air in Odessa. It was also the strongest of the DFW signals to get to Midland if you don't count KAFM. KAFM was first adjacent to a local, however, so it took a tuner with extraordinary selectivity to separate it out. Not to make a sexist comment, but the girls were not the DX'ers that boys were. For the most part, they started discovering Dallas FM once it was on cable.

DavidEduardo said:

With due credit to Mr Chapman.

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A humble gentleman. I always enjoyed my correspondence with him.

rbrucecarter5 said:

These days about the only game on the internet is KLBJ, and its play list is limited. But it is better than anything on the dial here.

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Ah, KLBJ. Back in 1980 I found KLBJ 93.7 coming in weak but there in NW Dallas At the time there was a local station at 94.1 and another at 93.3, with enough space between to hear KLBJ between them. Put up a Winegard 10 element FM beam on a rotator, and could consistently receive KLBJ about 1/2 to 3/4 scale on my tuner, about 200 miles. I have several old cassettes recorded of KLBJ with that setup. A few years later the FCC moved 94.1 down to 93.9 and killed that reception off. I remember very early on hearing Steve Morse and the Dixie Dregs playing on KLBJ. Something I have never heard on the Zoo. Started my Dregs collection from the DXing of KLBJ.

That beam antenna also allowed me to receive KTCU 88.7 full quieting for the jazz show they used to have nightly back then. Have several cassettes of that too.

Megapsycle said:

Ah, KLBJ. Back in 1980 I found KLBJ 93.7 coming in weak but there in NW Dallas At the time there was a local station at 94.1 and another at 93.3, with enough space between to hear KLBJ between them. Put up a Winegard 10 element FM beam on a rotator, and could consistently receive KLBJ about 1/2 to 3/4 scale on my tuner, about 200 miles. I have several old cassettes recorded of KLBJ with that setup. A few years later the FCC moved 94.1 down to 93.9 and killed that reception off. I remember very early on hearing Steve Morse and the Dixie Dregs playing on KLBJ. Something I have never heard on the Zoo. Started my Dregs collection from the DXing of KLBJ.

That beam antenna also allowed me to receive KTCU 88.7 full quieting for the jazz show they used to have nightly back then. Have several cassettes of that too.

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KLBJ was just below the threshold of receivability on my car radio in Plano, TX NW of Dallas in the early 00's. I could listen, but the dropouts were terrible. At home it came in extremely well. Then somebody put a local station on 93.7 and that was the end of that. It is jammed by a local 93.7 in Houston as well. All we can do now is stream.

Fannin County had what they called "Zoo Hill" just outside of Bonham where you could park your car and catch KZEW. Interestingly Fannin County is considered part of the Dallas DMA despite having absolutely miserable to non-existent reception of nearly every Dallas station on FM and TV. (This has always been the case, especially in Bonham. Drive a few miles south to Leonard and there are no reception issues. Bonham and the surrounding towns had a central antenna cable system very early on as a result. A friend of mine used to own the system at one time, I believe it was operational until the 80s or 90s.)

LibertyNT said:

Fannin County had what they called "Zoo Hill" just outside of Bonham where you could park your car and catch KZEW. Interestingly Fannin County is considered part of the Dallas DMA despite having absolutely miserable to non-existent reception of nearly every Dallas station on FM and TV. (This has always been the case, especially in Bonham. Drive a few miles south to Leonard and there are no reception issues. Bonham and the surrounding towns had a central antenna cable system very early on as a result. A friend of mine used to own the system at one time, I believe it was operational until the 80s or 90s.)

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The kids in Abilene loved it when the football games were at (now) Shotwell Stadium on the far East side of town, because KZEW came in well in the parking lot. I think I saw as many kids in the parking lot as in the game. Miserable West Texas radio choices turned a lot of kids into DX'ers.

rbrucecarter5 said:

The kids in Abilene loved it when the football games were at (now) Shotwell Stadium on the far East side of town, because KZEW came in well in the parking lot. I think I saw as many kids in the parking lot as in the game. Miserable West Texas radio choices turned a lot of kids into DX'ers.

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I seem to remember KMKI having a sizeable fan base up in that region as well.

LibertyNT said:

I seem to remember KMKI having a sizeable fan base up in that region as well.

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Yeah, I heard that, too. I think I remember them doing two remotes in Abilene.