Forum Chatter March 25, 2004

Subject: Top 40 Radio in SD in the 80s
Posted by: Gregg

In a separate post, Garrett asks about the top 40 days of KSDO-FM (KS103). I remember them being much like KIIS in those days. A very straightforward top 40, leaning a bit AC by day and a bit more teen-oriented at night. And like KIIS, the phrase Hot Hits was used but the Mike Joseph Hot Hits format wasn't. I suppose it was block against another station hiring Mike Joseph to be a competitor.

I also remember when XETRA was a top 40 station with that great signal covering all of Southern California. In fact, so it wasn't identified to any specific region, when contests required the listeners to send in a postcard, the station didn't give an address or even a city. You were supposed to address the postcard as "The Mighty 690, Southern California, 9----." The zip code was one for SD but no one said this on the air so LA and Orange County listeners wouldn't know the station was based in SD and licensed to Tijuana. The post office would figure out where to deliver the card when it saw "Mighty 690" at the top.

Because it was a Mexican licensed station, it also had NO NEWS, not even in morning drive. Each daypart was pretty much the same. Hits, spots and a quick weather forcast every half hour.

The station tried to hide the legal I.D. in Spanish quickly between spots so maybe you weren't paying attention. And when it had to broadcast La Hora Nacional on Sunday nights, it would do it with the worst audio fidelity possible, so maybe you'd think The Mighty 690 was off the air and you were receiving some distant Mexican station.

Posted by: johndavis

Isn't that the case for everyone who runs the National Hour? Isn't it taped off of shortwave or something like that?

Posted by: sweetbabylee

When I was at 92.5, the Mexican board op would tune in the broadcast on one of the local AM signals on a portable radio and put the microphone down to the radio to broadcast La Hora Nacional. If you listened to the local AM signal, it was horrible, so you can imagine how bad it came out when broadcast over 92.5

Subject: KS103 history-a rather long post [ Reply ]

Posted by: Garrett

I would like to point out that Crazy Dave Otto also worked at a Top 40 radio station in Boston in the 80s that I grew up listening to. Hitradio-Power 103, WHTT. In fact, I have an unscoped aircheck from 85 or 86. Funny he was on two seperate 80s stations both at 103, two similar markets, with similar stations, both of which didn't last past 1987.

I did not realize the role that KS 103 played in San Diego CHR. In fact, nobody ever talked about KS 103. Not even a bumper sticker. In contrast, the bubble shaped, bright Yellow Q106 bumper stickers were EVERYWHERE in San Diego, in 1988. I moved to San Diego with my family in Augest 1988, I was still in high school. By then, 102.9 was called "The Wave," and was locked into a soft music battle with KiFM, KJoy 104 (which had the Group W in all the advertising), and Kyxy 96.5. B100 was a cross between Top 40 and Hot AC, but not nearly as Hot as all the CHR's I'd previously heard, as they seemed to play alot of artists that were no longer current (like Bruce Springsteen, etc).

Z90 was some kind of weird sounding Rock station. I guess they may have been Rock 40, calling themselves "Southern Califronia's Rock and Roll Hits," but it seemed to play alot of music that was abstract to me. Then they became "Adut Rock," whatever that meant.

Q106 was the only station that even sounded close to what I had heard in Boston, which in the late 80s still had two mainstream top 40s. Q106 was a great radio station at that point, although I felt that their format leaned too much towards urban music, and limited them when it came mainstream.

The rest, as they say, is history.

I think Channel933 has become a disappointment since taking over from KKLQ. They have good people working there, but the format seemed so tight to me last time I was in San Diego. It seemed like they had only a few top songs, and then played the same ones every two hours, with very little recurrents thrown in for variety. No jingles, and a very dry sound, and a whole lot of Urban music with very little in the way of dance songs. IMHO.

Posted by: SDRadio

Umm, lets see here. In the bidness world, KHTS has tripled billing, higher numbers ... more profit. Not to rain on the parade, Q106 didn't work after 10 a.m. in the mornings. KHTS has a quality morning show, and numbers that roll.

Yo dawg street, the par-tay is at 933 or Z90. Peace word out.

Posted by: peetah

In case you are wondering, Dave is still in the biz. He is doing mornings at Jammin 92-5 here in Denver. I worked with Dave for the first time at Y108, again here in Denver, from 1987 - 1990. He did mornings, I did afternoons. The website is www.jammin925.com.