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K-earth and those 90's. When are they coming more regularly?

LKellerIII said:
I met Clancy Imislund (not to be didactic, but note spelling) last year. He's run the Midnight Mission in downtown LA since the latter Boss Radio days. He's 86, appears to be healthy as a horse, and has an incredible life story.

What I never understood was why Drake let the "Boss" sloganeering go on as long as it did. '65 thru '67 maybe..already outdated sounding...but IIRC, "boss" continued until about 1970, way past it's sell by date. "Groovy" had already been used and discarded by that time. Hella lame, dude.

I suspect KYA meant "Boss of the Bay," more like we're the best, we're number one- which I guess they were until KFRC came along. In the early 70s, KYA was 'the Rock of the Bay"....rhymed with "Dock of the Bay."
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Llew: Thanks for the correction on the spelling. Clancy has lived an amazing life and deserves to at least have his name spelled right.

As for "Boss", it was probably viewed as a tricky thing to walk away from, since they had so much tied into it..."Boss Angeles", "The Boss 30", the Bossline, Boss Jocks and, on KHJ-TV, "Boss City". The TV show was the first to change, becoming The Real Don Steele Show in 1969, jock references to "Boss Angeles" stopped that year, too...and jocks stopped referring to each other as "Boss Jocks" around that time.

But the "Boss 30" and "Bossline" survived until May first of 1971, when they became simply the "Thirty" and solicitations for requests were down to "Got a song you want to hear? Call me from L.A. and the Valley at 520-1971."
 
michael hagerty said:
Call me from L.A. and the Valley at 520-1971."
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And that brings back memories of the 520 exchange in LA, set up by the phone company to prevent radio station contests from bringing down "regular" exchanges due to overload. The exchange was toll free for stations that bought the service, and most stations got vanity numbers, like 520-1020 or 520-1075 and so on.

Stations that did not have 520 lines could be in serious trouble if they ran heavy volume contests on normal business lines, per the terms of service of Ma Bell.
 
DavidEduardo said:


And that brings back memories of the 520 exchange in LA, set up by the phone company to prevent radio station contests from bringing down "regular" exchanges due to overload. The exchange was toll free for stations that bought the service, and most stations got vanity numbers, like 520-1020 or 520-1075 and so on.

Stations that did not have 520 lines could be in serious trouble if they ran heavy volume contests on normal business lines, per the terms of service of Ma Bell.
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What I remember of the 520 lines:

KFI was 520-1-KFI (1534), which I believe they still use today.

KTNQ was 520-WINS (9467).

KHJ bought a block of numbers in 1969 and launched 520-1970 a few months early. Then, each January 1, they'd promote that year's number 520-1971, 520-1972, etc. It was probably a trunk line and you could have called 520-1979 in 1969 and still gotten through.

And, getting back on topic (sorta) KRTH was 520-KRTH (5784).
 
Another 520 memory:

On April 15, 1969 (according to the Boss 30 list for the week of April 9 at Ray Randolph's fabulous KHJ tribute site), KHJ launched the new 520-1970 phone number. I once had an aircheck (sadly eaten by a voracious cassette deck) of Robert W. Morgan on April 16. The Bossline wasn't working. He could call out, but no calls were coming in. Morgan (renowned for his temper) had some fun with it for awhile, reading the live promos for the new Bossline number and then tagging it with lines like "But I wouldn't risk a dime in a pay phone."

Eventually he got frustrated, took the handset and whacked the panel with the buttons for the phone lines---hard. Now, they wouldn't stay down, which meant that Morgan couldn't call out, either.

So Morgan went on the air, explained the situation and said "Would one...just one...of you out there, please call the telephone company and tell them the Bossline is broken?" And promptly blew out the phones at Pacific Telephone.

Within 20 minutes, Morgan was back on the air, thanking the listeners and informing them that "Pacific Telephone and Delgado Company is sending over a Vice President----you know HE has to have been to college."
 
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michael hagerty said:
Llew: Thanks for the correction on the spelling. Clancy has lived an amazing life and deserves to at least have his name spelled right.

As for "Boss", it was probably viewed as a tricky thing to walk away from, since they had so much tied into it..."Boss Angeles", "The Boss 30", the Bossline, Boss Jocks and, on KHJ-TV, "Boss City". The TV show was the first to change, becoming The Real Don Steele Show in 1969, jock references to "Boss Angeles" stopped that year, too...and jocks stopped referring to each other as "Boss Jocks" around that time.
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Thanks, Michael. FWIW, unlike the rest of the "boss" talk, I always thought "Boss Angeles" was kind of cute. Better than KGBS with those obnoxioux "shouts" they'd play over the song intros. My least favorite - "Kay-Gee-Bee-Ess in LOVE Angeles." Makes me cringe to this day.
 
ChannelFlipper said:
Lead singer Micky Thomas didn't even join the band until '79, well after the glory days were over. Well, *snicker, snicker*, uhhhh, ok. \.
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When they released "Jane" in 1979, that song blew me out of the water. Powerful vocals and, to me, one of their signature songs to this day. After "Find Your Way Back" in 1981, they instead got lost musically with 3 long forgotten songs, "Be My Lady", "Winds Of Change" and "No Way Out." say what you will about "We Built This City," it put them back on the map for a couple more years.
 
eriedj said:
When they released "Jane" in 1979, that song blew me out of the water. Powerful vocals and, to me, one of their signature songs to this day. After "Find Your Way Back" in 1981, they instead got lost musically with 3 long forgotten songs, "Be My Lady", "Winds Of Change" and "No Way Out." say what you will about "We Built This City," it put them back on the map for a couple more years.
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I actually enjoyed "No Way Out" a very haunting ballad about a love triangle/affair sung from a unique point of view with a very good (unusually haunting) Micky Thomas vocal. A good example of the quality writing and execution the band was still capable of (when they put their minds to it) even in this last 80s incarnation. It may be forgotten by most, but I remember it well. Song deserves more spins than it gets.

I also still love "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now", probably Grace Slick's last good vocal performance and a song about a couple that views their relationship strong enough to pass the test of time and revel in the happiness that such a knowledge can bring. I like super positive songs like this one, even if it is more corporate schlock.
 
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