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KNX-FM Mellow Sound - Two On-Line Recreations

G

Gregg.

If you enjoyed the Mellow Rock sound of 93.1 KNX-FM, there are two great on-line recreations of the station.


KNXFM93.com

KNXFM.com


Soft Rock was heard on 93.1 KNX-FM from 1971 to 1983. In '83, nearly all CBS FM stations switched to Top 40. Some, such as WCAU-FM Philadelphia, used the Mike Joseph Hot Hits format. But Los Angeles did an in-house format of its own as HitRadio93 KKHR. The format didn't do well against LA's other Top 40 stations, so Mellow 93.1 KNX-FM returned for a few more years from 1986 to 1989. Later it tried Oldies, then Arrow (All Rock 'n' Roll Oldies) and has been Jack-FM since 2005, more than 14 years.

Both of these on-line formats try to echo that era. KNXFM93.com had a head start. It is run and financially supported by a group of people who had a hand in the original KNX-FM. Los Angeles Daily News reporter Richard Wagoner was invited to a recent celebratory barbeque and discusses it in this article.

https://www.dailynews.com/2019/06/25/radio-there-are-two-online-knx-fm-recreations/

He also discusses the OTHER recreation of KNX-FM, set up by 1971-79 KNX-FM Music Director, and 1979-83 Program Director Michael Sheehy.

It seems the main difference is the group project, KNXFM93.com, has a few more jingles and brief features, which I like. The Sheehy project, without the "93" in the web address, is also great. It doesn't do quite as many jingles or I.D.s and has no other features. But it's only a slight difference. I'm listening to that one right now and have heard "Gemini Dream" from the Moody Blues, "Your Love Is Real" from Sade, "Lowdown" from Boz Scaggs and "Trouble Man" from Marvin Gaye. (I can't remember the last time I heard that great Marvin Gaye hit.) I've also heard Peter Paul & Mary, Jose Feliciano, the Beach Boys and the Tower of Power.

I would say fans of the old KNX-FM would find either recreation enjoyable and nearly identical. The website with the 93 in its name has an opportunity for fans to make a donation through Pay Pal. That webpage has more info on it about KNX-FM and has a list of recent songs played. The site without the 93 is just an audio stream, with only the current song displayed. I assume the Sheehy project will eventually add more info and seek financial support too.
 
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Richard Wagoner gets one thing wrong in his piece---he seems to believe KNX-FM's Rick Shaw is the same Rick Shaw that was at KFRC in San Francisco. He's not. The KFRC Rick Shaw has been dead since 1998.

As for the two KNX-FMs online---Sheehy's got the music down better than the other streaming service (which is close---but Sheehy's always had an ear and KNX-FM was really an extension of the radio playing in his brain from 1976-83. But the other service has the production pieces and the Odyssey File, and without those, it's not the same.

Ideally, both sides would work together---the framework of KNXFM93 and Sheehy's music.
 
michael hagerty said:
Richard Wagoner gets one thing wrong in his piece---he seems to believe KNX-FM's Rick Shaw is the same Rick Shaw that was at KFRC in San Francisco. He's not. The KFRC Rick Shaw has been dead since 1998.
Click to expand...

Yes - I think "Rick Shaw" was one of those clever DJ names that got used frequently - like Mark Elliot or Joe Yocum. Kidding about Joe...
 
I've been listening to the earlier one (with the Odyssey File, etc.) and it really captures the feel of the old KNX-FM.

I haven't listened to the Sheehy station yet.

I also have a bunch of KNX-FM airchecks from 1981-1983. They're scattered among a bunch of old cassettes, so I suppose my next project is to find them all, extract the KNX stuff, and share them somewhere...

I discovered KNX-FM while "working" at a Radio Shack in early 1981. (Back then I normally listened to KFI, or KIQQ for pop music). KNX-FM sounded good, so I started listening to that as well. I was disappointed when it became KKHR (which didn't play anything that the other LA Top 40 stations were playing), but I was moving out of LA for awhile, to Santa Barbara for UCSB, and there were plenty of radio discoveries to be made there.
 
Around 1982-83, KNX-FM was live and more than just mellow music. I've heard the knxfm93.com stream but haven't heard the other one. Music seems all over the board on knxfm93, but great to hear the Odyssey File again.
I liked KKHR when it replaced KNX-FM. A shame it didn't happen a couple of years earlier and that they didn't pour more money into it. By 1983 KIIS-FM was the dominant CHR. KKHR had excellent talent, but KIIs already had the listeners.
 
multiplex said:
Around 1982-83, KNX-FM was live and more than just mellow music. I've heard the knxfm93.com stream but haven't heard the other one. Music seems all over the board on knxfm93, but great to hear the Odyssey File again.
I liked KKHR when it replaced KNX-FM. A shame it didn't happen a couple of years earlier and that they didn't pour more money into it. By 1983 KIIS-FM was the dominant CHR. KKHR had excellent talent, but KIIs already had the listeners.
Click to expand...

KIIS got an 8.1 in the fall '83 book, and KNX-FM switched to KKHR in September of that year. If they could have split KIIS' number, they'd both have been top five stations. To KNX-FM, tied for 26th with a 1.6, that probably looked tempting. And it had been a long slide for KNX-FM, which peaked in 1976.

But---they went after a big-name morning show and massive promotion budget with neither of those things. Rick Dees' face on every RTD bus in Southern California and Porsche 944s with $25,000 in the glovebox was tough to beat.

KKHR actually appears to have created its own audience rather than taking from KIIS-FM. KKHR's peak was a 3.0 in the Summer 1984 book---good enough for 10th place and a major improvement from where they started. But in that same nine months, KIIS went from an 8.1 to a 10.0.
 
michael hagerty said:
...and there was a very well-known one in Florida.
Click to expand...

Yep, On Air and PD at Storz' WQAM and then WAXY until retirement. Hugely successful, one of what I think are the four superstars of Miami radio: Rick, Bill Tanner, Neil Rogers and Betty Pino.
 
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