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When Long Beach Radio Ruled the Country
by: Steve Propes
When fans of country music lament the recent loss of KZLA, L.A.’s only country radio station for over 25 years, they might not be aware of a tiny Long Beach station that once dominated the country market for the better part of two decades.
The title of L.A.’s King of Country belongs to AM radio KFOX, where the best country DJs of the era broadcast in the 1960s and early 1970s. KFOX Radio signed on the air in 1924. Located over a car dealership at 200 W. Anaheim St. (the building is still standing, the structure for one transmitter remains on the roof), KFOX presented popular music and a variety of programs, including productions from the Long Beach Playhouse.
In the 1950s, KFOX carried a popular rhythm and blues record spinning show with bandleader Johnny Otis, and jazz programming hosted by legendary DJs Sleepy Stein and Chuck Niles, most recently heard on KKJZ until his death.
Historically, Long Beach/Signal Hill has been a center for live country music, with clubs like George’s Roundup (now Acres of Books), the Western Corral, the Foothill, the Hilltop and Hollywood On the Pike attracting sailors and other country fans during the era of the NuPike.
When Pasadena-based country station KXLA went Top 40 as KRLA in 1959, the field was wide open for a new country operation. KFOX-AM took up the sound with several DJs from KXLA like Cliffie Stone, one of radio’s first country DJs.
In trade advertising in 1966, KFOX, still located on Anaheim St., claimed to be the #1 country station in the U.S. KFOX moved to the International Towers on Ocean Blvd. That’s when a 14-year-old Millikan High student decided to make radio his career.
Craig Breit grew up on Palo Verde Ave. near CSULB and got his first exposure to the sound via the gossip affirming hit, “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” #1 on rock music Boss Radio KHJ and KFOX in 1968. “It was kind of a rebel song,” said Breit.
“I was 14 years old; my mother used to drop me off at KFOX after school in 1970,” recalled Breit, who is now Professor/Faculty Advisor of the Mass Communications Department at Cerritos College. “I had a real love of the music. I listened to it for a long time. It seemed like a lot of fun.”
Breit recalled very few country music fans at Millikan. “There were not very many, less than the fingers on both feet, though I had a couple of friends who had a passing interest in guitar pickers like Jerry Reed,” who had a hit with “Amos Moses” and co-starred with Burt Reynolds in “Smokey & the Bandit.”
Breit recalled “Bill Patterson, who was on-air as Willie Lee Hooker,” who took an interest in this teen. At the time, KFOX played “male dominated old-fashioned country music, which would include a variety of genres, country out of Nashville, western out of Texas, which translated into Hollywood westerns, bluegrass and gospel.” Patterson allowed Breit to read listener mail over the air. “I wasn’t very good, but I was on the radio.”
In 1968, while AM radio still dominated, KGBS-AM challenged KFOX. The end of KFOX’s country days came when the station switched over to a religious format as KFRN in 1977.
Then came a resurgence of country music with the John Travolta opus “Urban Cowboy,” prompting both former Boss Radio KHJ-AM and Beautiful Music station, KPOL, now known as KZLA, to go country in 1980. After 18 months playing country music at the Long Beach City College station KLON, Breit became part of the original KZLA DJ transition team.
Breit worked as KZLA weekend overnight DJ for seven months before leaving to attend graduate school at CSULB, obtaining a masters in speech/communications. Throughout his teaching career, Breit has remained a fan of country music.
Until late August, KZLA ruled as the only reliable place for country in L.A., though country purists complained about its soft rock approach to the music. That included country music stalwart Breit, who didn’t even know KZLA had given up on country, having not regularly listened to his former radio home for several years.
Note: Many country listeners are aware that country music is alive and well in outlying areas such as KFRG in Riverside, KUZZ in Bakersfield and KHAY in Ventura.
http://www.longbeachcomber.com/index.php?CatID=4&Story=1739
by: Steve Propes
When fans of country music lament the recent loss of KZLA, L.A.’s only country radio station for over 25 years, they might not be aware of a tiny Long Beach station that once dominated the country market for the better part of two decades.
The title of L.A.’s King of Country belongs to AM radio KFOX, where the best country DJs of the era broadcast in the 1960s and early 1970s. KFOX Radio signed on the air in 1924. Located over a car dealership at 200 W. Anaheim St. (the building is still standing, the structure for one transmitter remains on the roof), KFOX presented popular music and a variety of programs, including productions from the Long Beach Playhouse.
In the 1950s, KFOX carried a popular rhythm and blues record spinning show with bandleader Johnny Otis, and jazz programming hosted by legendary DJs Sleepy Stein and Chuck Niles, most recently heard on KKJZ until his death.
Historically, Long Beach/Signal Hill has been a center for live country music, with clubs like George’s Roundup (now Acres of Books), the Western Corral, the Foothill, the Hilltop and Hollywood On the Pike attracting sailors and other country fans during the era of the NuPike.
When Pasadena-based country station KXLA went Top 40 as KRLA in 1959, the field was wide open for a new country operation. KFOX-AM took up the sound with several DJs from KXLA like Cliffie Stone, one of radio’s first country DJs.
In trade advertising in 1966, KFOX, still located on Anaheim St., claimed to be the #1 country station in the U.S. KFOX moved to the International Towers on Ocean Blvd. That’s when a 14-year-old Millikan High student decided to make radio his career.
Craig Breit grew up on Palo Verde Ave. near CSULB and got his first exposure to the sound via the gossip affirming hit, “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” #1 on rock music Boss Radio KHJ and KFOX in 1968. “It was kind of a rebel song,” said Breit.
“I was 14 years old; my mother used to drop me off at KFOX after school in 1970,” recalled Breit, who is now Professor/Faculty Advisor of the Mass Communications Department at Cerritos College. “I had a real love of the music. I listened to it for a long time. It seemed like a lot of fun.”
Breit recalled very few country music fans at Millikan. “There were not very many, less than the fingers on both feet, though I had a couple of friends who had a passing interest in guitar pickers like Jerry Reed,” who had a hit with “Amos Moses” and co-starred with Burt Reynolds in “Smokey & the Bandit.”
Breit recalled “Bill Patterson, who was on-air as Willie Lee Hooker,” who took an interest in this teen. At the time, KFOX played “male dominated old-fashioned country music, which would include a variety of genres, country out of Nashville, western out of Texas, which translated into Hollywood westerns, bluegrass and gospel.” Patterson allowed Breit to read listener mail over the air. “I wasn’t very good, but I was on the radio.”
In 1968, while AM radio still dominated, KGBS-AM challenged KFOX. The end of KFOX’s country days came when the station switched over to a religious format as KFRN in 1977.
Then came a resurgence of country music with the John Travolta opus “Urban Cowboy,” prompting both former Boss Radio KHJ-AM and Beautiful Music station, KPOL, now known as KZLA, to go country in 1980. After 18 months playing country music at the Long Beach City College station KLON, Breit became part of the original KZLA DJ transition team.
Breit worked as KZLA weekend overnight DJ for seven months before leaving to attend graduate school at CSULB, obtaining a masters in speech/communications. Throughout his teaching career, Breit has remained a fan of country music.
Until late August, KZLA ruled as the only reliable place for country in L.A., though country purists complained about its soft rock approach to the music. That included country music stalwart Breit, who didn’t even know KZLA had given up on country, having not regularly listened to his former radio home for several years.
Note: Many country listeners are aware that country music is alive and well in outlying areas such as KFRG in Riverside, KUZZ in Bakersfield and KHAY in Ventura.
http://www.longbeachcomber.com/index.php?CatID=4&Story=1739
