Fw: [BC] What happened to fun radio?

[Ronald J. Dot'o Sr.]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ronald J. Dot'o Sr." <ron.doto at comcast.net>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2006 2:24 PM
Subject: Re: [BC] What happened to fun radio?


I'm in Salem Oregon.

During the '80's we had KSLM AM (MOR) with a lot of community activities
like Saturday in the Park with all jocks doing a massive remote and free
tethered free air balloon rides for the listeners in attendance.  Then there
was the Great Willamette River Raft Race as a fund raiser for Jerry's Kids.

Most of these activities were shared with our sister station KSKD FM
(Cascade 105) which was top 40.  Both stations had a lot of remotes, and
we'd broadcast from the State Fair for its duration every year.

The combo was bought about '86 by bean counters from Fla. who traded the AM
for a mere AM CP in Portland and moved the FM to Portland for a quick sale
at an inflated price.

Both stations have had several ownership changes since then.

KSLM went dark for a while and is now just a simulcast relay of KISN AM in
Vancouver, WA.  How sad for Salem's pioneer station which went on the air in
'34.  Wish I could win the lottery and buy it and make it a radio station
again.

KGAY AM was Country.  They had a WW II carbon arc spotlight mounted on a
flatbed truck and would do special event remotes in the evening from car
dealerships etc. where people would drive around town to the spotlight and
get the free hot dogs and stuff.  One jock, zany Eddie Edwards moved on to
Memphis, Nashville and then LA and MC'd a national country music affair on
TV.  Wonder where he is now, he was truly a nice guy!

KGAY had an Information Booth at the State Fair and also broadcast from
there for the duration.

Those days are gone!

In Oregon the #1 market is Portland, #2 is Eugene and everything else,
including Salem, is just plain small market.  Most of the stations were
independently owned but most everything has been swallowed up by CC,
Entercom and other group owners.

KGAY became KYKN (Kick'n Country) and went newstalk  in '91.  It is still an
independent.

Ron D


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Newman" <shnewman at alaweb.com>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 10:22 PM
Subject: Re: [BC] What happened to fun radio?


What market was that Ron? I'm interested because of my sudden move 5 years
ago from the top 5 markets (Dallas most recently) to VERY small community.
You can still get away with "old" stuff in these markets because they're
stuck in the 50's and 60's which is fine by me. I sometimes get the urge to
move back to San Fran (cost prohibitive now) but when I listen to the radio
and read about the traffic and how long it takes to get from place A to
place B (and I remember how long it used to take) I sit right back down in
my chair or go outside and listen to the crickets and frogs. :)

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ronald J. Dot'o Sr." <ron.doto at comcast.net>
To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 11:18 PM
Subject: Re: [BC] What happened to fun radio?


> Oh I agree Steve, the '50's & "60's were GREAT!  I was just lucky to be in
> a market that hadn't caught up with the bigger markets and engineering was
> still a little respected too.
>
> Ron D.

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