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SF Bay Area 1970's

I liked listening to 98.9 in the Late 80's

KHIT, on it was Hazy Shade of Winter by the Bangles

I didn't know about format flps at the time, I just love music
 
LKellerIII said:
Now there's some history. 103.7 is one of those Bay Area frequencies that has had probably a dozen formats since then.
...

7. Smooth Jazz KKSF - had a long run in the 90s. Ultimately bought and ruined by Clear Channel

8. iHeart's various versions of Classic Hits, starting with "Oldies 103.7, "The New 103.7," "The Bay's 103.7" (branding seemed to change monthly), finally morphing into the current "iHeart [email protected]

And I've probably left out a few formats...I know there were one or two between #7 and #8.
Click to expand...

Who can forget "The Band," the milquetoast classic rock station no one needed? Circa 2009-2010. This was right after Smooth Jazz KKSF was finally murdered when Clear Channel added the disastrous "Wake Up With Whoopi (Goldberg)" syndicated morning show.
 
LKellerIII said:
Now there's some history. 103.7 is one of those Bay Area frequencies that has had probably a dozen formats since then.Off the top of my head, here at the changes to 103.7 since those days:

1. "Love FM" I think they called it - around 69-70, that automated ABC album rock format out of New York with Brother John Rydgen, Tony Pigg, and others.

2. "Rock N Stereo" 104 KSFX - like KLOS in Los Angeles, but not successful like KLOS.

3. "Musicradio" KSFX - 1973 or so (?) a copy of the legendary Top 40 77/WABC in New York - also not successful.

4. 104 KSFX with a soul music sound that morphed in the mid-late 70s into "Disco 104" to ride out the disco era. Had a long run until disco tanked.

5. KGO-FM Talk Radio FM 104 in the early 80s - the ABC Talk radio network, with shows primarily out of New York. Later some local shows, such as Don Chamberlain's "Sex Talk" show - a very explicit version of what Bill Ballance started in LA with the "Feminine Forum." Ultimately not a ratings winner, and ABC sold the station.

6. 103.7 KLOK-FM "Yes/No Radio" (essentially light rock) late 80s. The "Clock-FM" gimmick was that you could call to up-vote or down-vote songs on the play list.

7. Smooth Jazz KKSF - had a long run in the 90s. Ultimately bought and ruined by Clear Channel

8. iHeart's various versions of Classic Hits, starting with "Oldies 103.7, "The New 103.7," "The Bay's 103.7" (branding seemed to change monthly), finally morphing into the current "iHeart [email protected]

And I've probably left out a few formats...I know there were one or two between #7 and #8.
Click to expand...

There was some kind of Rock or Top 40 format in January '70 as KGO-FM. I went down there for my uncle's funeral, so it couldn't be any other time. I remember hearing "Mama Told Me Not to Come!" on that trip.
 
semoochie said:
There was some kind of Rock or Top 40 format in January '70 as KGO-FM. I went down there for my uncle's funeral, so it couldn't be any other time. I remember hearing "Mama Told Me Not to Come!" on that trip.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that you were listening to the "Love" format that I mentioned above that ran from sometime in 1969 to mid 1970, or the live-local KSFX that started mid-70, that was sorta kinda Album Rock. I was in my first year of college in LA at the time, and the Love format ran on KABC-FM. The short article (link below) said that the format ran on 7 stations, though it doesn't list them. By mid 1970, ABC decided to dump Love, and in LA and San Francisco (probably elsewhere too) took the stations live and local to compete against other live and local album-rock stations.

So in LA, KABC-FM became "Rock N Stereo" KLOS, to compete against KMET and KPPC. I believe that ABC did the same thing here, so KGO-FM became "Rock N Stereo KSFX." After I moved here, I remember seeing KSFX decals or bumper stickers from that period, and they had the same oval rainbow logo that KLOS used for years. I say the format was 'kinda-sorta' album-rock because they integrated a lot of hit singles into their playlist - more than competitors KMET in LA, or their obvious competitor up here - KSAN. So in a three song set, they might play one album cut, and 2 hit singles. Knowing that, I would not be surprised that Mama Told Me Not to Come was on the play list. KLOS was a HUGE success in LA, beating KMET for at least the first few years, but for some reason, did not do well in SF. IIRC, by the time I got here in '73, it was the "Musicradio" (like WABC) format, which was Top 40, but that gave way quickly to the soul-leaning format that was successful for most of the rest of the 70s. I recall that the KSFX soul format was huge in the burgeoning SF gay community. You would walk down Castro Street, and hear KSFX booming out of various bars, stores, and restaurants. And needless to say, the full-on "Disco 104" format it morphed into was popular in the gay community, too

http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/2017/09/19/kabc-fm-brother-john-rydgren-1969/
 
LKellerIII said:
I'm guessing that you were listening to the "Love" format that I mentioned above that ran from sometime in 1969 to mid 1970, or the live-local KSFX that started mid-70, that was sorta kinda Album Rock. I was in my first year of college in LA at the time, and the Love format ran on KABC-FM. The short article (link below) said that the format ran on 7 stations, though it doesn't list them. By mid 1970, ABC decided to dump Love, and in LA and San Francisco (probably elsewhere too) took the stations live and local to compete against other live and local album-rock stations.

So in LA, KABC-FM became "Rock N Stereo" KLOS, to compete against KMET and KPPC. I believe that ABC did the same thing here, so KGO-FM became "Rock N Stereo KSFX." After I moved here, I remember seeing KSFX decals or bumper stickers from that period, and they had the same oval rainbow logo that KLOS used for years. I say the format was 'kinda-sorta' album-rock because they integrated a lot of hit singles into their playlist - more than competitors KMET in LA, or their obvious competitor up here - KSAN. So in a three song set, they might play one album cut, and 2 hit singles. Knowing that, I would not be surprised that Mama Told Me Not to Come was on the play list. KLOS was a HUGE success in LA, beating KMET for at least the first few years, but for some reason, did not do well in SF. IIRC, by the time I got here in '73, it was the "Musicradio" (like WABC) format, which was Top 40, but that gave way quickly to the soul-leaning format that was successful for most of the rest of the 70s. I recall that the KSFX soul format was huge in the burgeoning SF gay community. You would walk down Castro Street, and hear KSFX booming out of various bars, stores, and restaurants. And needless to say, the full-on "Disco 104" format it morphed into was popular in the gay community, too

http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/2017/09/19/kabc-fm-brother-john-rydgren-1969/
Click to expand...

I didn't mean to imply that I heard that particular song on KGO-FM, only that I heard it on that trip. I believe it was on KFRC on the way down.
 
semoochie said:
I didn't mean to imply that I heard that particular song on KGO-FM, only that I heard it on that trip. I believe it was on KFRC on the way down.
Click to expand...

I first heard KFRC on a trip up from LA in 1967 with my parents...Summer of Love, and all that. Up to that time, I had no idea that KHJ's formatting - those famous a capella jingles, etc. - existed anywhere but in LA at KHJ. Later, I got into DXing AM radio late at night from the San Fernando Valley, and would hear KFRC, but other Drake stations, including KGB, KYNO, etc.
 
LKellerIII said:
7. Smooth Jazz KKSF - had a long run in the 90s. Ultimately bought and ruined by Clear Channel
Click to expand...

Fake Jazz.

For REAL jazz, there was KJAZ. As I recall that was home to Joel Dorn, the Masked Announcer, who reinvented himself as Roberta Flack's producer.
 
TheBigA said:
Fake Jazz.

For REAL jazz, there was KJAZ. As I recall that was home to Joel Dorn, the Masked Announcer, who reinvented himself as Roberta Flack's producer.
Click to expand...

KJAZ was great. The owner for many years - Pat Henry, IIRC, was infamous for being a jazz lover and a lousy businessperson - but the station stayed true to it's "real" jazz mission for close to 40 years, going off the air in 1994.

Some of the K-Jazz DJs moved over to KCSM-FM (non-commercial) which maintains the real jazz format, but has had financial cut-backs recently.
 
Yeah, I remember the old KLOK-FM format from the mid 1980's. I was in my teens at that time and they played a classical song called "Pachelbel Canon In D" by The Paillard Chamber Orchestra! I strongly disliked that song and wish KLOK-FM programmed the music KLOK-AM did in the early to mid 1970's! I miss that old KLOK-AM format from the 1970's and wish it would make a comeback today.
 
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Around 1973-74 in Detroit, the cool kids listened to Century Broadcasting’s WABX 99. The ultra cool kids listened to 88.7 CJOM because “they were Canadian and could swear on the air”. But the top rated rock station was ABC owned “Rock-N-Stereo, 101 WRIF” with the sorta-kinda album rock format with lots of hit material, like Elton John and Bee Gees songs. They even sometimes talked over song intros. Same oval rainbow logo as the other ABC FMs, like KSFX.
 
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