Q106 San Diego tribute page

[Garrett]

Over the past year I've undertaken a little project as the webmaster of a tribute page to Q106. I've tried not to plug it here (but it's http://www.Q106SanDiego.com). I am thankful to the people who have been contriubting to it over the past few weeks. There is audio, logos, and pictures. It's still a work in progress, but please take a minute to check it out if you have not yet, and get the word out if you can. Also, I am always looking for more material, so please feel free to send out an email (available on the website) if you have something to contribute.

And of course, I'm happy to hear your comments, good or bad.

 

[KMRichards]

> And of course, I'm happy to hear your comments, good or bad.

Not to burst your bubble, but I liked Q106's predecessor format "California Classics" better. (I know, no accounting for taste.)
<P ID="signature">______________


</P>

 

[Garrett]

> > And of course, I'm happy to hear your comments, good or
> bad.
>
> Not to burst your bubble, but I liked Q106's predecessor
> format "California Classics" better. (I know, no accounting
> for taste.)
>

Hey, no problem. I'm very curious to have any Pre-Q106 info/material as well! I've been curious about KLZZ and the old KPRI.

...and I still have yet to hear a KS-103 aircheck, which I will indeed post should I obtain one!

All music is good; Eagle music is Better!

 

[Crusty_Bob]

Free-form KPRI and Capricious

> Hey, no problem. I'm very curious to have any Pre-Q106
> info/material as well! I've been curious about KLZZ and the
> old KPRI.


There were three KPRI's really. The second - and most important - began in about '68 and was true "underground radio" and really one of the pioneering hippie FM stations in the country. I will forever kick myself for not holding on to the reel-to-reel tapes I made of them at the time. Even though the early days of KGB-FM where quite creative and innovative, the first years of KPRI as FM rock were truly incredible. The station was located in the basement of a medical building on the west side of Balboa Park, directly beneath a pharmacy, which allowed the DJ's to honestly say that the whole station was under drugs. The DJ's had names like Ochmod the Revolving & OB Jetty. One of them was Gabriel Wisdom who went later spent several years at KGB before striking itr rich as a stock broker and radio financial advisor: http://www.kpbs.org/Radio/DynPage.php?id=191 - San Diego radio icon Jim McInnes was at KPRI in 1973 as O.B. Fillmore.

Before that free-form era, KPRI was a middle-of-the-road music station perhaps slightly on the jazzy hip side of things. The station logo featured "Capricious" which was some sort of cartoon animal (a dog I seem to recall).

The number three incarnation came about in the latest 70's when Jesse Bullet came in as PD and Dex Allen as GM and proceeded to take the station away from the Dead and more toward the Stevie Nicks school of light rock. Soon after that, the folks who owned KPRI bought KOGO and finished killing off both the KPRI audience and KOGO audience. They did the KLZZ ("Klass FM") krapola to put the final round in the head of what had been a great FM station. Eden broadcasting came along to pick up the carcass and because of Jeff N Jer they, and later owners Par, had some success with 106.5, although neither of those companies had a clue about what to do with KOGO.

My most memorable memory from working at KPRI in 1979 would have to be the staff meeting when Jesse walked in with the the station license, which was framed behind glass. He wiped his finger across the glass and it picked up white powder. He then proceeded to remind the staff that under no circumstances should we use the license for chopping up illicit substances.

My second most memorable KPRI memory was the Saturday morning airshift when I worked with Harry Scarborough. The jock and the news person faced each other through a glass window and as I sat down to start my shift, Harry called me on the intercom to say, "You probably noticed that I'm wearing shades this morning. Well it's not because I'm trying to be hip, but it's just that I'll be weeping a lot this morning."

I knew right then and there this was going to be a fun four hours

 

[SDRadio]

Re: Free-form KPRI and Capricious

Nice read C-Bob, especially the license part. <P ID="signature">______________
+--
Chris
SDRadio.net</P>

 

[Aircheck]

> Over the past year I've undertaken a little project as the
> webmaster of a tribute page to Q106. I've tried not to plug
> it here (but it's http://www.Q106SanDiego.com). I am
> thankful to the people who have been contriubting to it over
> the past few weeks. There is audio, logos, and pictures.
> It's still a work in progress, but please take a minute to
> check it out if you have not yet, and get the word out if
> you can. Also, I am always looking for more material, so
> please feel free to send out an email (available on the
> website) if you have something to contribute.
>
> And of course, I'm happy to hear your comments, good or bad.
>

To Garrett and Crusty Bob,
Thank you for preserving and sharing your memories about Q106 and its predecessor calls. Every station has amazing stories behind their history and you have shown that Q106 has its share, if not more. I did not know that former Top 40 jocks Jesse Bullett and Dex Allen were involved in management at Q106. Bob's story about the framed station license is reminiscent of Jesse's penchant at an earlier time to encourage his colleagues to join him to watch his wife perform at a local theater. She was a stripper. Aah the memories...

 

[Aircheck]

> > Over the past year I've undertaken a little project as the
>
> > webmaster of a tribute page to Q106. I've tried not to
> plug
> > it here (but it's http://www.Q106SanDiego.com). I am
> > thankful to the people who have been contriubting to it
> over
> > the past few weeks. There is audio, logos, and pictures.
> > It's still a work in progress, but please take a minute to
>
> > check it out if you have not yet, and get the word out if
> > you can. Also, I am always looking for more material, so
> > please feel free to send out an email (available on the
> > website) if you have something to contribute.
> >
> > And of course, I'm happy to hear your comments, good or
> bad.
> >
>
> To Garrett and Crusty Bob,
> Thank you for preserving and sharing your memories about
> Q106 and its predecessor calls. Every station has amazing
> stories behind their history and you have shown that Q106
> has its share, if not more. I did not know that former Top
> 40 jocks Jesse Bullett and Dex Allen were involved in
> management at Q106. Bob's story about the framed station
> license is reminiscent of Jesse's penchant at an earlier
> time to encourage his colleagues to join him to watch his
> wife perform at a local theater. She was a stripper. Aah the
> memories...
>

YES, I MEANT KPRI...

 

[Garrett]

I think you might be a bit confused. Q106 was a Dance Top 40 radio station, but the station that preceeded it (that Bob was talking about) was actually a rock station, and had nothing to do with Q106, other than it was on the same frequency (and maybe used the same control board).


> To Garrett and Crusty Bob,
> Thank you for preserving and sharing your memories about
> Q106 and its predecessor calls. Every station has amazing
> stories behind their history and you have shown that Q106
> has its share, if not more. I did not know that former Top
> 40 jocks Jesse Bullett and Dex Allen were involved in
> management at Q106. Bob's story about the framed station
> license is reminiscent of Jesse's penchant at an earlier
> time to encourage his colleagues to join him to watch his
> wife perform at a local theater. She was a stripper. Aah the
> memories...
>

 

[DoctorWu]

Re: Free-form KPRI and Capricious

> Even though the early days of KGB-FM where quite creative
> and innovative, the first years of KPRI as FM rock were
> truly incredible.

During those days there were two radio factions in town - the KGB listeners and the KPRI listeners. And man, did they get it on...

> The number three incarnation came about in the latest 70's
> when Jesse Bullet came in as PD and Dex Allen as GM and
> proceeded to take the station away from the Dead and more
> toward the Stevie Nicks school of light rock. Soon after
> that, the folks who owned KPRI bought KOGO and finished
> killing off both the KPRI audience and KOGO audience. They
> did the KLZZ ("Klass FM") krapola to put the final round in
> the head of what had been a great FM station.

Those were awful days. I believe it was Jack Silver who was responsible for that mess; I recall his involvement in KLZZ.

I've got a favorite KOGO moment from this time. They hired Cat Simon to do PM drive, and the music cart machines were set up to fire sequentially; when a TER tone fired, the next song would start; kind of a poor-man's automation.

Well, one day, Cat decides to take a little "pause that refreshes" outside the studio and gets so involved that he forgets to go check his carts. They're all loaded with short songs - 3 minutes or so. And when the third song finished, the first started all over again. And the second. And the third. And halfway through the third, here's Cat breaking in with some lame excuse about "technical difficulties." I laughed so hard I almost busted a lung.

- Doc

 

[collinsradio]

San Diego Radio is terrible

I think we are close to the end of radio
as a dominant entertainment medium. Sadly
in a market that invented the Drake Format
(KGB), Personality Top 40 in the 50's (KCBQ),
Progressive AM Top 40 (KCBQ 1968-1970), The
Buzz Bennett and Jack McCoy eras (KCBQ), Ron
Jacobs recycling and reinvention of Progressive
Rock (KGB AM FM 1972) and too many others too
count, what we have left now is a pile of dung.
There is a reason radio-tv writers don't write
about radio any longer, and why teens increasingly
don't listen, it isn't relevant. So let the Gene
Knights and Mark Larsens (B players) have at it.

 

[upperleftcorner]

The BEST KKLQ Lineup...

I think you're doing a great job, Garrett!

I caught a typo in your history section...it was 1987 instead of 1997 when Edens flipped it to CHR.

I suggest using the Edens "balloon" logo for your header as well. While 106.5 was a legend with the KPRI calls, the Edens years were just as amazing. The logo you're displaying is the first Par logo.

The best lineup for KKLQ was; Murphy & McKeever, Anita Rush, JoJo "Cookin'" Kincaid, Chuck "Boom Boom" Cannon, Elvis Medina, Frankie Blue, Gail Hunter, and another PT'er or two who aren't coming to mind right away. The Garry Wall/Kevin Weatherly team was phenominal during this incarnation as well. No knock on Tracy Johnson, the man is brilliant, but this was the greatest lineup in the 80s from just about anywhere in the U.S. I put it up against some of the huge L.A. airstaffs at the time. We were so lucky to have a station like this, but yet it was a real thrill watching it fall from across the street.

I miss those days...

>
> And of course, I'm happy to hear your comments, good or bad.
>

 

[TradingSpaces]

Re: San Diego Radio is terrible

> I think we are close to the end of radio
> as a dominant entertainment medium. Sadly
> in a market that invented the Drake Format
> (KGB), Personality Top 40 in the 50's (KCBQ),
> Progressive AM Top 40 (KCBQ 1968-1970), The
> Buzz Bennett and Jack McCoy eras (KCBQ), Ron
> Jacobs recycling and reinvention of Progressive
> Rock (KGB AM FM 1972) and too many others too
> count, what we have left now is a pile of dung.
> There is a reason radio-tv writers don't write
> about radio any longer, and why teens increasingly
> don't listen, it isn't relevant. So let the Gene
> Knights and Mark Larsens (B players) have at it.
>


Ouch! That'll leave a mark.

 

[Garrett]

Re: The BEST KKLQ Lineup...

> I think you're doing a great job, Garrett!
THANKS!


>
> I caught a typo in your history section...it was 1987
> instead of 1997 when Edens flipped it to CHR.

Ok, I'll have to go fix that...
>
> I suggest using the Edens "balloon" logo for your header as
> well. While 106.5 was a legend with the KPRI calls, the
> Edens years were just as amazing. The logo you're
> displaying is the first Par logo.

Agreed!
I'd like to use the balloon sytle logo. Anyone got one?
(if you look on the pictures page, theres one that has the old logo)
>
> The best lineup for KKLQ was; Murphy & McKeever, Anita Rush,
> JoJo "Cookin'" Kincaid, Chuck "Boom Boom" Cannon, Elvis
> Medina, Frankie Blue, Gail Hunter, and another PT'er or two
> who aren't coming to mind right away. The Garry Wall/Kevin
> Weatherly team was phenominal during this incarnation as
> well. No knock on Tracy Johnson, the man is brilliant, but
> this was the greatest lineup in the 80s from just about
> anywhere in the U.S. I put it up against some of the huge
> L.A. airstaffs at the time. We were so lucky to have a
> station like this, but yet it was a real thrill watching it
> fall from across the street.
>
> I miss those days...
>

Yup, me too! They had something like 16 consecutive number 1 books!

Thanks for the comments!

 

[Garrett]

Re: Free-form KPRI and Capricious

> I've got a favorite KOGO moment from this time. They hired
> Cat Simon to do PM drive, and the music cart machines were
> set up to fire sequentially; when a TER tone fired, the next
> song would start; kind of a poor-man's automation.
>
> Well, one day, Cat decides to take a little "pause that
> refreshes" outside the studio and gets so involved that he
> forgets to go check his carts. They're all loaded with short
> songs - 3 minutes or so. And when the third song finished,
> the first started all over again. And the second. And the
> third. And halfway through the third, here's Cat breaking in
> with some lame excuse about "technical difficulties." I
> laughed so hard I almost busted a lung.
>

Perhaps the same board I used at Q106! The carts were not only set up to work sequentially, but they were set up to loop, via a set of white toggle switches on the right of the board. Don't know if it's the same board that was on KPRI but Bree Walker said that she thought it was, one day, when she was a guest on Dave Smiley's show.

 

[Crusty_Bob]

KPRI and Cat Simon

> > I've got a favorite KOGO moment from this time. They hired
>
> > Cat Simon to do PM drive, and the music cart machines were
>
> > set up to fire sequentially; when a TER tone fired, the
> next
> > song would start; kind of a poor-man's automation.

I remember the hype that preceeded Cat's arrival and then actually hearing him and thinking "this is lame." Really his whole act consisted of spitting out, "Cat Simon, KPRI!" as fast as he could. That was it. One online source shows him as being at KPRI in 1979, but it seems like it was actually later than that. I was at KPRI for six months in 78 and then went to KCBQ for six months and then to KHJ through the end of 1980. It seems like I went back to KPRI/KOGO (actually on KOGO this time) in 81 and that Cat Simon (real name Bill Todd) was on the air around that time.

The KPRI and KOGO management of the late 70's and early 80's was some of the worst I have ever encountered. Ironically, the only thing possibly worse was when Par Broadcasting later owned the stations and you had all these little Hitlers strutting around making lots of money, intimidating employees and delivering no results for the owners (the earlier bad management was about the same except they weren't litte Hitlers, they were more like semi-hip Herb Tarleks). I spent two weeks working for Par and quit, but not before coining the phrase, "From Par, stay far."

 

[ibezdechi]

Re: San Diego Radio is terrible

> I think we are close to the end of radio
> as a dominant entertainment medium. Sadly
> in a market that invented the Drake Format
> (KGB), Personality Top 40 in the 50's (KCBQ),
> Progressive AM Top 40 (KCBQ 1968-1970), The
> Buzz Bennett and Jack McCoy eras (KCBQ), Ron
> Jacobs recycling and reinvention of Progressive
> Rock (KGB AM FM 1972) and too many others too
> count, what we have left now is a pile of dung.
> There is a reason radio-tv writers don't write
> about radio any longer, and why teens increasingly
> don't listen, it isn't relevant. So let the Gene
> Knights and Mark Larsens (B players) have at it.

I couldn't say it any better. While CC and Infinity and all the "consultants" complain and whine about the growing presence of satellite radio (they are so penny assed that they would rather have the government outlaw any moves satellite radio to strengthen their position), they muck it up.

Without KFMB radio, there would be no real local radio news. KOGO 600 is a crock of crap...while Cliff Albert gleefully mucks it up. The other night I was listening to KOGO news at 1 a.m...rather than real news...probably that fool's design...there was one short blurb about the ongoing city council corruption trial followed by a story about the correct SPF one should use for sunblock...then it was some four-five minutes of KOGO promos before Coast-To-Coast came back on.

Yes....you're right collinsradio...the B and C players (Cliff Albert, Mark Larson, Steve Yuhas) are in control and we can't do a darn about it.

 

[DavidEduardo]

Re: San Diego Radio is terrible

> I think we are close to the end of radio
> as a dominant entertainment medium. Sadly
> in a market that invented the Drake Format
> (KGB),

Bill Drake invented the Drake format, and h did it at KYNO in Fresno with Gene Chennault, not at KGB.

 

[DoctorWu]

Why news service sucks

You can thank the deterioration in news service across all media directly to ABC-TV local "Eyewitness News" of the 1970's. They were the first to realize that the illiterate masses would rather see babies cuddling fluffy puppies at the park than intelligent reporting on Watergate, foreign policy and local politics (which used to be the order of the day). "Happy News" quickly took over and drove hard news to extinction. It's a sad, sad thing.

Personally, I think the best news reporting in the Southland is on KFI. Too bad they have to squeeze it into 2 minutes between Rush and Laura.

- Doc

> Without KFMB radio, there would be no real local radio news.
> KOGO 600 is a crock of crap...while Cliff Albert gleefully
> mucks it up. The other night I was listening to KOGO news
> at 1 a.m...rather than real news...probably that fool's
> design...there was one short blurb about the ongoing city
> council corruption trial followed by a story about the
> correct SPF one should use for sunblock...then it was some
> four-five minutes of KOGO promos before Coast-To-Coast came
> back on.
>
> Yes....you're right collinsradio...the B and C players
> (Cliff Albert, Mark Larson, Steve Yuhas) are in control and
> we can't do a darn about it.
>

 

[PSAIRCHECKS]

> > And of course, I'm happy to hear your comments, good or
> bad.
>
> Not to burst your bubble, but I liked Q106's predecessor
> format "California Classics" better. (I know, no accounting
> for taste.)
>
I just happened to be listening to California classics during the format change to Q106. There was no stunting or warning. I'm not real sure about the details such as last song on California Classics or Q106's first song, other than I seem to remember it was about 6pm. It was like listening to a classic rock song end quietly then all of a sudden "your listening to the new Q106... There might have been a legal Id in there but I don't think so, it just changed. It was the first actual format change I ever heard. It was so fast that I remember saying to my friend, what happened to this station after the reality of the second or third song on the new Q106 played.