The 1990's Radio in Review

The 1990's in Review: AAA Format

There was already a AAA station running on the low-powered KKOS 95.9 out of Carlsbad playing a mix of AAA (Adult Album Alternative), classic rock, blues, mellow rock, reggae, acoustic, and a local flavor that literally forced people living in the Southern half of San Diego to drive to North County just to hear the mix. Back then, KKOS was broadcasting on a mere 3kW of power, not enough to reach down to Pt. Loma, but I did pick it up in the coast of Laguna Nigel behind the Laguna Hills. KKOS 95.9 was broadcasting 60 miles South of another low-powered station on the same frequency, KEZY 95.9 (now KXMX) so when you drove up I-5 between San Diego and Los Angeles, you hear the two battle it out around Dana Point until one is on top.

While the late old 95.9 was playing blues, local music, and Dr. Demento, up in Los Angeles, a lite music format on 101.9 gave way to KSCA (was KLIT for a few months until they finally changed the call letters) and on July 1, 1994, a month after the fX network was launched, they signed on at 5pm with Sheryl Crow's single "All I Want To Do", which got more airplay on Star 98.7 and others and eventually became one of the big hits of the year.

Shortly after, 95.9 just started playing the then-unknown Jewel and she literally blossomed into a big star, singing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl XXXII in the Qualcomm Stadium (formerly Jack Murphy Stadium), as well as appearring on late-night talk shows and recently via satellite for Star 100.7's Jingle Ball '99.

AAA music was also being featured, aside of Leno and Letterman, on the fX network's Breakfast Time, which for a short while, was an alternative to the still-comatose morning shows on the three big networks. The fX network looked more like an overgrown public access channel than a corporate-run network airing shows covering topics like exercising, pets, collectables, music videos, and, believe it or not, Backchat, where for 30 minutes, Jeff Probst read letters from people who sent in letters via snail mail and the emerging e-mail to the studio. Some people were on more often than others, because fX was probably on only 300 cable systems back then, but one name kept popping up for a few months, and even won a 6 cent pencil...I'll let you guess who that person was, and in a sense, seemed to make a career out of it. ;-)

KSCA played AAA music from July 1994 through Feb 1997 while fX went from June 1994 through March 1997, then became more polished as FX (with a capital 'f'), and by then dropped the Breakfast Time morning show, which moved to Fox, which tinkered with it, it bombed, and was gone!

The KSCA AAA music mix that I was listening to sounded more impressive than the AAA format run by Channel 103.1 (more about that later), and from what I do remember, the music mix was decidely mellow, but not wimpy, rocky, but not grungy, relaxing, but not sleepy, and it still bombed in the Arbitrons, except for one particular demo where it ranked at #1... the $100,000+ income bracket! Funny, I only make $20,000 a year and I still preferred it to the unoriginal Arrow 93 playing just the old rock and roll.

When it was announced in November 1996 that Golden West Broadcasters was going to let Heftel (now HBC) program and market the station, the AAA format was doomed, and in Feb 1997, there was a candlelight vigil as well as about 100 fans and several musicians staging a peaceful rally to let the TV and newspaper media know what is going on and why they wanted a AAA station in Los Angeles.

Around that time, the Internet was taking off for the masses, and I was on a mailing list regaridng the AAA rally via e-mail, and for lack of anything else to do, I drove 120 miles up to Los Angeles to take part in the rally and meet some people. They didn't believe me at first that I was from San Diego and I explained how I got KSCA down there with a good antenna and a car radio running in my house since they can get better selectivity than most of the home radios I tried. We got on channel 7 before the Pro Bowl, then live on channel 9 singing "American Pie", the same song "Weird Al" Yankovic would later use to parody into "The Saga Begins", a Star Wars Episode I movie tribute, and again on channel 4's late news. I signed the banner by the building "Ant Farmer" to mark my place there. I also met Dr. Demento who did his show live every week on KSCA until the format flip to Spanish language La Nueva 101.9, which, by gum, shot up to #1 in the Arbs before the end of the year. I knew there was potential in the signal, but La Nueva must have filled a niche competetor KLAX 97.9 wasn't fulfilling.

It would be about 20 months before AAA music returned to Los Angeles. But around the time, Groove 103.1 was playing some of the better music not heard elsewhere in Los Angeles, and for two years, I used the same car radio to try to pick up the weak signal for groove music. In September 1998, Groove was sold because it simply wasn't making the ad money it hoped, and the ratings were as good as it was ever going to get with a pair of weak transmitters. The two 103.1's were sold in tandem to Jacor (now merged with Clear Channel), who in turn changed the format to AAA music Channel 103.1: World Class Rock.

I was sad that groove didn't last, but at least there was a AAA format back on Los Angeles again, but now that Clear Channel and AM/FM are merging into one huge corporate entity, the 103.1's will have to be sold to someone else.

Will Channel 103.1 move to the similar-formatted but tighter-playlisted Star 98.7? Will Groove make a comeback? Will KACD be sold to another company who will make it the 27th Spanish-language station in Los Angeles? Stay tuned in 2000!

Meanwhile back in sleepy San Diego, KKOS 95.9 was going to move to 95.7 in Sep 1995, the same month D.T. launched his future Jacorized website empire covering Southern California Radio and other topics you can find yourself. When it moved to 95.7, it became KUPR for lack of anything else to call it, Music First! Music First!, and the feeling of a smalltime radio station seemed a bit too polished. AAA music was also featured in part on the then-decent Flash 92.5 as well as Star 100.7 playing AAA and other Hot Adult Pop music.

In November, KCBQ-FM 105.3 dumped its rock oldies format and became Sets 105.3 playing music in sets of 2, 3, and 4, as well as finally playing some of the current rock artists that fit the AAA format more or less. In April 1996, it switched to the weaker 102.1 in Oceanside when Compass bought heavy rocker KIOZ 102.1 from Par Broadcasting while Par took Compass's 1170 KCBQ, which became a simulcast of it's own Q106.5, and it also took Compass's 105.3 KCBQ and moved KIOZ and its format there. KCBQ-FM disappearred at the same time 102.1 became KXST, and Par donated Oceanside's 1320 (former AM sister station of 102.1) to Palomar College.

The AAA music on 102.1 evolved more and more while the AAA music on 95.7 eventually was ruled a dud and gave way to country, then Magic 95.7. Nowadays, Sets 102.1 is established as a better alternative to worn-out dinosaur KGB-FM or the overfouled KIOZ 105.3 for the more intelligent radio listeners in San Diego.

You see, not all radio listeners are simple-minded idiots, and the Clear Channel people who run the local radio stations seem to think that they do by programming music with narrow playlists and minimal variety as well as relying on outdated methods of research to figure out what San Diegans want to hear, except for Magic 92.5 which asked its listeners for old skool song suggestions for its playlist. There are people who enjoy adult rock and roll without the grunge or heavy metal, there are people who enjoy upbeat dance music but dislike listening through hip-hop and slow jams, there are people who enjoy world beat music, there are people who just plain hate watery wimpy ballads, there are people who enjoy country music that rocks, there are people who enjoy traditional rock and roll beyond the so-called period piece range, there are people who enjoy popular music with variety such as modern rock/upbeat dance/ jazz-rock/comedy, there are people who like all-slow jams and ballads but not modern rock or fast dance, there are people who like oldies from the 50s through the 80's, there are people who like the 80's but know it's more than a decade of 91X-esque pop tunes, and the list goes on and on.

You can find Internet streaming audio stations all over the place if you use yahoo.com or whatever search engine you can find. If you want more AAA streaming audio stations aside of Sets 102.1 http://www.sets102.com and Channel 103.1 http://www.channel1031.com, then you can try some of these: KPIG in Monterey http://www.kpig.com, WXPN in Philadelphia http://www.wxpn.org, WRNR in Annapolis, MD http://www.wrnr.com, KINK in Portland http://www.kinkfm102.com, WXRT in Chicago http://www.wxrt.com, KGSR in Austin, TX http://www.kgsr.com, WYEP in Pittsburgh http://www.wyep.org

If you still want AAA in Los Angeles, and the weak sticks at 103.1 isn't the answer, then write your station and let them know you want the format to survive when Clear Channel sells the 103.1 frequency. Moving it to 104.3 isn't being ruled out, given the fact that KOST 103.5's format is similar to KBIG's format at 104.3, but the bad news is that Disco blocks would have to move to Mega 92.3 (when 100.3 is sold). Then again, it's possible that 104.3 might be the home of an all-dance format, or even country music! Who knows. You'll have to wait and see just like me.

The 1990's in Review: Dance Music Format

Later in 1990, Jammin' Z-90 debut on 90.3 playing tha R&B and dance jams not being heard down here. With bumper spots attacking Q106 (saying they suck), they eventually became a dominant player in San Diego radio, where it's signal can reach up through Orange County.

In 1991, Mars 103.1 debuted playing mostly underground techno, rave, and electronica as far as I can remember. Power 106 responded later on with retooling its format so that it not only plays the R&B and hip-hop hits, they were playing some dance (but no longer the modern rock stuff like Robbie Nevil), some techno, rave, and other stuff Mars was playing, as well as introducing a late Saturday Night block Power Tools, which still plays on Power 106 today (2am) playing underground grooves mixed together not being programmed at other times.

Speaking of dance mixes, seems that every night you could hear a dance mix show on the radio. Z-90, Power 106, and Q106 were running a dance mix show every night from 9-10pm, except weekends where it starts at 8pm and usually on to 2am!

While Z-90 was jammin' and groovin' to the hits, 92.5 eventually dropped its Power handle and went back to playing today's R&B music, while Q106 played some dance and contemporary stuff.

In the first third of the 90's, when gangsta and grunge were supplanting dance and adult modern rock, rap music was being heard on more stations, as well as the outcry from the parents for radio stations to stop playing that rap music. Eventually, in 1993, Q106 dropped the rap while 92.5 dropped not only the rap, they dropped the format and became The Flash competeting with 91X. Z-90 became the sole station playing rap music in San Diego. Power 106 was the place to hear hip-hop and rap music and the ratings showed that, along with the Beat 92.3, listeners in Los Angeles were jammin' to the rappin' on the radio.

By then, Mars 103.1 disappearred and became jazz or adult contempo in the fall of 1992, but in 1996, when WKTU made it big in New York with an all-dance format, Groove 103.1 was born, playing the kind of grooves that the old Power 106 used to play as well as dance music not being heard anywhere else. Shortly after, 100.3 became B100.3 playing popular dance music (not hardcore enough by some listener opinions).

Meanwhile in San Diego, Jammin' Z-90 was still mixing in dance with hip-hop and R&B, but a new competetor came to town when Jacor bought the 93.3 station and converted it to WFLZ for the interim, but during the time, you could hear dance mixes as early as 5pm on Saturdays and 7pm on Fridays! Shortly afterwards, Channel 93.3 was born loosely following the dance mix of WKTU, but Groove 103.1 was more innovative and daring in my opinion. For a short while, you could hear Groove on 91X on Saturday nights while Flash 92.5 was playing modern rock mixes dubbed "The Flash Zone".

Around mid 1990's, 104.3 started playing Disco Saturday Nights and that became a popular show for late-boomers to listen to. Now it also airs on Friday Nights.

In the late third of the 1990's, the dance music of Channel 93.3 gave way to a mushy unlistenable contemporary hit format (but they play Club 933 mixes daily at noon and on weekends), Z-90 cut out the dance (but has been relegating it to weekend mix shows), B100.3 became jammin' oldies Mega 100.3, Power 106 lost the dance music, 91X dropped the Groove Radio program, 92.5 flushed the Flash and became oldskool, Groove 103.1 was killed in favor of an AAA format, and Q106 went Español!

On a brighter note, KIIS 102.7 started playing Christian B's (late of Groove) Full Frequency dance program late Fri 1am-4am, as well as playing dance mixes on the weekends. You can also find dance music Fri 8pm on Rewire on 98.9 in Tijuana, in fact, that's where I first heard the Eiffel 65 tune "Blue" back in October, before anyone in Clear Channel would play it!

In 1999, Cher's "Believe" not only was an European smash, but it also swept America as well. Let's hope that Cher will pave the way for dance music to return to popular contemporary radio, and hopefully supplant those monotonous boy band ballads and sleepy R&B crooners.

Dance music in Southern California: it crosses all demographics and age groups, listeners come in all yearly incomes, and the music is upbeat and fun. So why isn't it getting the respect it deserves with a full-powered stick to reach a bigger audience? Groove 103.1, you have to understand, had limited signal range, but the former 72,000-watt transmitter of the old Power 106 often reached into San Diego with ease, as does Z-90.

There has been plenty of talk about getting a dance music station on K-BIG 104.3 or some other frequency, but that's all there has been is talk and no action.

Coming into the 21st century, one radio station will someday go dance, get big ratings, and leave the Clear Channel suits wondering why they never considered doing such a format in the first place.

The 1990's in Review: Talk Radio

So much has happened in the decade, whoever is keeping a scorecard of talk shows in the history must be proud. But here are the highlights that stand out in my head.

The 1990's began with the powerful sleeping giant known at the time as KKLQ-AM 600 in San Diego, simulcasting sister station Q106.5 playing contemporary Top 40 hits. 1994 brought a change to the AM side as it became Hot Talk AM 600 and returned the former KOGO calls it had in the golden days of radio. Shortly afterwards in May, another AM station in Los Angeles, KMPC 710, which had been a nostalgia and sports talk radio station at different times, switched to talk, while its owner Golden West Broadcasters sold the AM outlet to Capital Cities Corp, owner of ABC. KMPC brought back Tom Leykis to the Los Angeles airwaves who was just beginning his syndicated run on Westwood One, as well as Joe Crummey and Peter Tilden and Tracey Miller among others.

While AM 600 went through many talk show shuffling changes before Jacor bought the station, AM 710 also went through changes as it went into a short-lived concept called The Zone, and dumped the legendary KMPC calls for KTZN c. 1995, shortly after Disney bought ABC's parent company CCC Inc. Then in August of 1997, the talk format was replaced by a canned satellite feed Radio Disney, competeting with the former Radio Aahs from Orange at 830 AM.

Meanwhile, AM 600's owner, Edens Broadcasting, was bought by Par, then by Jacor, and then by Clear Channel, but it was during its time under Jacor that it decided what to do with 600 as it added the syndicated Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura shows to its sked while it was on its weaker talk outlet KSDO 1130, which had been a longtime talker until Jacor in 1999 changed its format to business news/talk. The popular local talker Roger Hedgecock moved from 1130 to 600 along the way, joining Rick Roberts.

Another popular local talker, Stacy Taylor, was heard on KFMB 760 and KSDO, but has since been gone from the local scene doing radio in other markets nowadays, and hopefully he'll be back one of these years, but Weissberg, who was on KOGO, hasn't been heard of in years. Anyone know?

KFMB 760 had the longtime morning team of the late Mac Hudson and Joe Bauer, but another favorite local afternoon talker, Ted Leitner, will be doing the AM shift in early January. The John and Ken show, which was formerly a syndicated show heard on KFI 640 and KFMB, became local-only on KABC 790, a veteran talker in Los Angeles.

KFI 640 had been a talker since the mid 1980's with Rush and Dr. Laura for as long as I can recall, but it was Mr. KFI that stands out, who migrated to 790 and became Mr. KABC, a handle change. Did we mention that Bill Handel was on KFI? John and Ken and Stephanie Miller were also stars on the station.

Music formatted KLAC 570 had a couple of talkers by Gabriel Kaplan and Wally George at the beginning of the 90's, but during the mid 90's, it had the syndicated Don Imus in the morning (along with KOGO 600) which moved to KRLA 1110 once that became a talker in the late 90's, as it populated its talker slate with several former KABC talkers.

KIEV 870 had been a talker all along featuring longtime vet George Putnam hosting Original Talkback.

KCBQ 1170 in San Diego, which was playing 50's and 60's oldies, went talk about 1996 with talkers such as G. Gordon Liddy, Gabriel Wisdom, and Tom Leykis until this year, where now it's Oliver North, Dennis Prager, and Michael Medvid among others.

KCEO 1000, a small station in Vista, has a business/talk format where George Chamberlain hosted his morning show for many years before Jacor hired him to do KSDO 1130 for the rest of San Diego. KCEO airs syndicated talkers Bruce Williams and Jim Bohannon as does KSDO as neither station seems to reach each other's parts of San Diego county at night.

1210 KPRZ is a religious-based talker, whose parent company, Salem, just purchased KCBQ in 1999 and made changes in its lineup, dumping everybody along the way.

Probably the #1 talker in all of Southern California, or make that the United States, outside of overnight talker Art Bell (on several AM stations) is Howard Stern, hosting his live or taped morning radio show from New York...not on the AM, but on the FM side of the dial! KLSX picked up his show in 1992 while 91X had his show beginning in 1995 until Jacor moved it to KIOZ 105.3 in 1997 due to pressure from the Mexican government to get Stern off the Mexican-licensed 91X when Howard stated that the Mexican government is corrupt among other statements.

Howard Stern is the cornerstone of 97.1-The FM Talk Station, beginning with the Real Radio handle in August of 1995; it had been a classic rocker until then. When it launched, it had believe it or not, all but forgotten talker who lived in O.J.'s house, Kato Kaelin, plus former Brady Bunch kid actress Susan Olsen, but as it developed, it added the Leykis show, which had been dumped by Mickey Mouse-owned KMPC once it became the owner, and afternoons paid off for KLSX as Leykis became the dominant talker in his period. Eventually, KLSX expanded its talkers to a seven-day schedule, but as it expanded, the talent pool seemed to thin out as most of the weekend talkers, with the exception of Kim Komando, David Addelson, The Film Freak, and Ed Powers, didn't catch that much fire if any. The sole music show remaining on KLSX is the Beatles program on Sundays.

Will there be an FM talker in San Diego anytime in the new millenium? KIOZ 105.3 could have Howard Stern, and have B.C. and Woody host a rock and talk kind of program until Tom Leykis takes over, then after another talker whoever that may be, it would be Loveline imported from 91X, which gets more hours to program music in exchange.

Sports talk has been a viable format as XTRA Sports 690 reaches all over Southern California, simulcasting on an AM 670 in Simi Valley for a short time, but when Jacor started buying the AM stations in the area, it launched XTRA Sports 1150 in Los Angeles where it displaced the simulcast of KIIS 102.7's top 40 format. You can hear an XTRA Sports in Santa Barbara on 1340, Antelope Valley on 610, San Bernadino on 1350, and other areas to be networked if not already. The Muscle 1510 from Ontario had a short-lived sports talk format in 1998, but One-on-One Sports 1540 in Los Angeles was also launched to replace a Spanish-language format it had since the last decade.

107.1 in Arcadia had a short-lived sports talk format in the mid 1990's.

Radio talkers on the local side that came, went, and stayed include Phil Hendrie, Clark Howard, Bill Handel, Joe Crummey, Ed Tyall, George Putnam, Wally George, John and Ken, Larry Elder, Stephanie Miller, Mr. KFI/Mr. KABC, Michael Jackson, Ken Minyard and Rick Minyard, Ira Fistell, Stephanie Edwards, George Putnam. Jonathan Brandmeier, Danny Bonaduce, Susan Olsen (yup, the Partridge and Brady kids on the radio!), Peter Tilden, Matt Drudge, Tracey Miller, Conway and Steckler, Ed Powers, Tom Looney, David Adelson...

In San Diego: Joe Bauer, Mac Hudson, Jack Wood, Clark Howard, Bill Holland, Ted Leitner, Hank Bauer, Randy Jones, Mike Cook, Larry Piland, Roger Hedgecock, Rick Roberts, Stacy Taylor...

Radio talkers syndicated include Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Dr. Dean Edell, The Motley Fool, Kim Komando, Michael Reagan, Dennis Prager, Howard Stern, Tom Leykis, Art Bell, Don Imus, Dr. Toni Grant, Michael Medved, Oliver North, G. Gordon Liddy, Gabriel Wisdom, Ken Hamblin, Paul Harvey, Joan Rivers, Larry King, Jim Bohannon, Bruce Williams,...

Gary Lycan, radio editor of the Orange County Register, wrote in his 1-2-00 column about how talk radio has made its mark of influence in the 1990's. http://www.ocregister.com/show/radio.shtml

Michael Harrison, editor of Talkers Magazine and a keen observer of talk radio for years, believes the '90s "will be remembered as the decade of talk radio." He goes on to say in the current issue that the '90s may well be "the golden era" of the talk genre.

Why? In his view, "It has literally saved the life of broadcasting on the AM band and breathed new life into the political process of our nation ... The seeds began sprouting in the late '80s. Advances in satellite communications and telephony were already being developed, which paved the way for the kind of technology that made networking and remote broadcasting ù such vital components of modern talk radio ù doable."

There were about 100 talk stations in the late '80s. Harrison estimates 1,350 today.

He said the most single important development "was the repeal of the so-called Fairness Doctrine in 1987. That opened the door to uninhibited discussion."

He credits Limbaugh's entrance into national syndication as the model for the way talk radio is done today from a programming and business standpoint. Translated, he's agreeing it's a win-win financially for everyone: the talent, the station and the syndicator.

He's concerned the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ù which has allowed massive consolidation ù "does not bode well for the genre as an art form ... unless talk radio is artistic and meaningful, it cannot be successful as a business," he writes. The flipside is the Internet, which creates new opportunities. How big a role will talk radio play? "Only time will tell," he concluded.

The 1990's in Review: Rock Radio

At the beginning of the 90's, San Diego had Z-90 playing rock and roll, but four months into the year, and low ratings, it added the "Jammin'" handle and became a R&B/hip-hop/dance format where it stands to this day. San Diego also has KGB 101.5, just losing the morning team of Berger and Prescott to then-rival 91X (more on that later), but it was playing progressive rock like the former Z-90 was through November, then because of the popularity of classic rocker KCLX 102.9 (which had Mark and Brian via satellite from KLOS in the mornings), KGB decided if they can't beat them, clone them without the wimp rock as they say; needless to say, KGB became a period-piece dinosaur devoid of new innovation in rock and roll and becoming an embarrassment musicwise in the industry.

But believe it or not, KGB still managed to knock off the other period-piece rock and rollers along the way: first KCLX died in 1994 and went 70's, then KCBQ-FM 105.3 played 70's and 80's hits featuring classic rock, but a lot of lighter rock beginning in July 1993, but that format wore itself out after two years and was replaced with Sets 105.3 (now moved to 102.1), The Eagle 94.1 replaced its longtime classical music format with classic rock of 60's and 70's in early 1997, but by fall 1998, the Eagle was grounded! Finally, 103.7 went classic rock when the owners of former soft hits rival KYXY 96.5 converted the K-Joy 103.7 first into Rock Mix in 1995, then it evolved into 103.7 The Planet. The fate of this station's format and new owner will be revealed in early 2000.

One station out of Oceanside was playing the current day's hard rock and roll, and that was Oceanside's KIOZ 102.1, whose signal was very faint at some 10kW, but it was the preferred station by many local rockers along with 91X for new rock music. KIOZ has since moved to 105.3, thanks to corporate swapping with Sets 105.3.

Going up to the North side, Hard rock and roll wasn't any better than the late great KNAC 105.5 out of Long Beach, but that was gone midway into the decade, replaced with a Spanish-language format. KLOS 95.5, a veteran rock and roller, was traditional, then it picked up some of the harder stuff famous on KNAC, then back to sounding similar to the late KSCA AAA (which, by gum, also went Spanish!) explaining that they temporarily lost their heads for a while, but now it recently readded the harder rock such as Van Halen and all that.

Hard rock was also on the short-lived Pirate Radio 100.3, reaching into San Diego with ease, but after some 3-4 years it went K-Light (it's now Mega 100.3 Jammin' Oldies) KCBS 93.1 replaced its oldies format with a version of KCBQ-FM's rock oldies format as Arrow 93: All Rock and Roll Oldies by late 1993, while a classic rocker playing new rock, 97.1 KLSX, programmed the format from late 1986 through mid 1995 when it reformatted itself into a talk radio station daily, but continued to play rock weekends through mid 1998.

Other notable places on the dial to listen to rock and roll include 99.9 KTYD in Santa Barbara, 96.7 KCAL in Riverside, and 93.7 KCLB in Palm Springs, all through the decade.

Alternative rock had a wild ride, but the two stations that started alone when the 90's began are the sole survivors at the end of the 90's.

In San Diego, 91X began playing a more grungier sound with the rise of Nirvana, then in 1993, XHRM dropped its R&B/rap format and became 92.5 The Flash, which started out really lame playing, would you believe, Ace of Base and Hallaway's "What is Love", the song that brings in your mind the head-bobbing Roxbury Boys dancing duo from Saturday Night Live; in 1995 it found some focus with a blend of alternative rock with The Flash Zone playing alternative rock remixes on Saturday nights, while 91X countered with Groove Radio's taped syndicated electronic techno noise show. In 1997, Flash was flushing itself out of quality control while 91X dropped to its lowest numbers since it began in 1983. 92.5 became Independent Radio programmed by Mike Halloran for eight months in 1998, but the owner must have finally said "Eight is Enough!" when he looked at the bleak Arbitron ratings and finally let competetor Jacor program and market the station, dumping the format for Magic Old Skool. KUPR 95.7 played a mixture of alternative and rock programmed by Halloran for the summer of 1996 after its "Music First" AAA format bombed, but was gone by fall when country replaced it, followed by Magic.

In Los Angeles, KROQ 106.7 kept playing alternative rock though the 90's as it did in the 80's, and recently lost its competetor when Y107.1, which tried a modern rock format beginning in 1996, went Spanish just this past December! The last months were featuring, you guessed it, Halloran, sometimes programming the station, but mainly an afternoon deejay. The 107.1 trimulcast reached into Ventura and North San Diego/South Orange Counties with two additional stations also on 107.1 simulcasting the station. A translator on 98.3 serves a small slab of Temecula. Alternative rock also exists on 103.9 in San Bernadino and the new 99.5 in Palm Springs, 92.9 and 97.5 in Santa Barbara.

All the while this rock radio war was going on, classic rock was being left out in the cold as only a handful of stations bothered playing the new rock and roll selections of its own stars in history. Stars like Paul McCartney, John Mellencamp, Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Sammy Hagar, and other classic rock stars of decades past, were still kicking and plugging away their new albums on David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, VH-1, and the Internet, but few songs if any became well-known hits of the past decade thanks to the ignorance of several big classic rock stations that insist on ending their formats at the c. 1985 year.

Too bad for the radio stations, as their ratings would have stayed high if the older listeners, who grew up with the rock and roll, as well as the younger rockers, stay tuned to their stations instead of simply activating their CD-changers in their automobiles playing the new rock and roll they're not hearing locally.

To close this chapter, rock as a collective term is in constant evolution, with new niches such as rap-rock, grunge, hot adult, AAA, and skate-rat, to join the establised 80's niches of new wave, Euro, modern, and 70's punk, hard rock, heavy metal, and 60's classic rock and British invasion rock and roll. What the 00's will be bringing us rock wise is anybody's guess, but the new rock niche just might be under your nose at a streaming underground Internet radio station near you. Whatever comes up, radio better be sure to pick up on it and play whatever new music is out there if it wants their audience to listen to them.

The 1990's in Review: Adult Music

At the beginning of the 1990's we thought of adult contemporary as Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Michael Bolton (ugh!), Lionel Richie, and Diana Ross.

At the beginning of the 2000's (or the 201st decade), the programmers have made adjustments and now we hear Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguliera, Hootie and the Blowfish, Sarah McLachlin, Madonna, and George Michael.

Meanwhile, soft hits KYXY 96.5 in San Diego continued to play the softer side of the popular hits, although the listeners seem to be waking up to adult music on other stations after years of being put to sleep. B100 played adult-contemporary music on the more upbeat side through May 1994 when it switched formats to Star the following month, playing adult modern rock and popular hits aimed at the former 91X listener. Q106 had an adult pop format playing the upbeat R&B and pop hits withouth the rap or sleepy elevator music from 1993 through Aug 1998. Y95, then Mix 94.9 played adult contemporary music in the first two years of the 90's, after which, they switched back to K-Best 95 playing golden oldies, and forcing KCBQ-FM to change its oldies format in 1993.

Jeff and Jer, the highly popular morning show duo, started out here on Y95, then they moved to B100 c. 1991, then to Q106 in 1994, then back to 100.7 two years into its "Star" handle in 1997. Meanwhile, Dave Smiley had shifts on Q106 in the early 90's, then on Star in late afternoons in 1994, moved to mornings later and stayed there through early 1997 when Star hired Jeff and Jer. Smiley moved his morning show to Q106 where it stayed until Jacor sold the station in Aug 1998 to Heftel while Smiley hang around in limbo until Jacor programmed Mix 95.7, aimed at the adults but slightly rockier than the older Mix was, for him to do mornings the following month. Now, Smiley is doing weekend shifts on KIIS 102.7.

Newest adult-contemporary competetion 91.7 XGLX, Galaxy, moved its Ranchero format to 97.7 in August while it programmed a new mix of hits from the 60's through today, a wider selection than heard on Mix.

Adult contemporary music had a history in Los Angeles in the 1990's as well. KOST 103.5 seems to be playing a more upbeat selection of adult hits nowadays compared to ten years ago, while K-BIG 104.3, a longtime major competetor, played its own selection of adult-aimed hits, nowadays throwing in Backstreet and Britney Spears into the mix, while programming Disco music blocks at noon and on weekends.

Other adult music stations include 92.7 from Avalon since about 1997, K-LITE 101.9, just coming off the edge of its former Edge format, played soft music through July 1994 when it flipped to KSCA Adult Album Alternative; it's now a Spanish Regional Mexicana format. When Pirate Radio left 100.3 in c. 1992, it became another station playing light music, then picked up the K-Lite moniker in 1994, and held on to it until 1996 when it became B100.3 playing popular dance music; it is now Mega 100.3 playing Jammin' Oldies.

One other soft hits station of note: KRUZ 103.3 out of Santa Barbara played the soft and easy music through 1995 when it "woke up" and started playing the kind of music heard on nearby "Star 98.7" in Los Angeles, which was playing adult modern rock music since about 1992.

As long as there are adults, there will always be adult contemporary music to be programmed on the radio.

The 1990's in Review: Country Music

In San Diego, KSON 97.3 has been ropin' in the audeince with its rural lasso for many years (since Dec 1974) and has been a consistent Top 5 station. During the 1990's, the small KOWF 92.1 out of Escondido has been playing a country format for its North County audience until it changed formats, adopting the former KFSD classical music format from 94.1, which dropped classical for classic rock in Jan 1997. A third country station on KUPR 95.7 lasted only three months as it played 10,000 in a row without commercials. In Feb 1997, it switched to Magic 95.7, which moved to 92.5 in August of next year. In June 1999, XHCR 99.3 exchanged Ranchero for Country and launched its promotion with a design-a-logo contest. XHCR plays a wider span of country music from the 1960's era on to the present.

In Los Angeles, not much except for longtime country stations KZLA 93.9 and KIK 94.3 (Orange) duking it out. For a brief while, KIF was simulcast on a 94.3 in San Fernando/Simi Valley, but has since switched to beaming KBUE 105.5's Spanish format in the valley.

Nearby Riverside has the long-standing K-Frog at 95.1 (now simulcast on 92.9 in Temecula listenable by North San Diego County listeners), 97.5 was playing country music as KHTX until they flipped to Spanish some three years ago as KSSE. For a brief spell in 1991, there were two country stations on 92.7 and 93.5 in the Inland Empire.

If you listen to Star 100.7 in San Diego, you probably figured out the mystery of K-HAY. When Star goes off the air, you can probably get KHAY 100.7 just out of Ventura playing country music.

There may be room for two or three country stations in one market depending on where you live, and if the variety is right, listeners will keep coming back for more.

The 90's Radio in Review: Children's Radio

Let's start with children's radio stations. In about 1992, the first radio station for kids showed up in Orange at KAHS 830 AM, broadcasting Radio Aahs. It was also on 850 AM in Ventura county, which was a station formerly broadcasting comedy radio that reached into parts of Western Los Angeles county.

Radio Aahs, which broadcast via satellite to radio stations all over the world, had a short-lived competetor around 1995 when KidStar beamed into several other AM stations including 1240 KKDZ (KSON-AM) in San Diego; When KidStar died in about 1996, Radio AAhs became the only kid's station for a short while until Radio Disney began broadcasting on Nov 18, the first anniversary of Mickey Mouse's debut with sound in "Steamboat Willie" in 1928 (I refuse to say that Mickey Mouse was born on that date because the creation of Mickey Mouse was given birth by creator Walt Disney some year before that event occurred).

Radio Aahs (which folded after the sale) soon sold its stations to radio owners who would use their former station base as flagship stations of its new Catholic Family Radio Network, while the former Radio Aahs owners, CBC, used their funds to settle a lawsuit with Disney over something like trade secrets and whatever, but that's not important anyway.

Radio Disney first appearred in Los Angeles in August 1997, replacing The Zone talk radio, then KSON-AM 1240 in San Diego followed in March 1998, then 1290 in San Bernadino, and about 30-40 more affilliates since. You can also hear it on 1690 and 1580 at night when distant radio stations' radio signals travel farther into San Diego.

The 90's Radio in Review: Dr. Demento

Dr. Demento was on 97.1 KLSX when it was a classic rock station playing new rock and roll, but in August 1993, for reasons that remain a mystery, the show disappearred for 11 months until KSCA 101.9 signed on playing AAA music, but that format was short-lived and in Feb 1997, the station went Spanish, so Dr. D went 11 months more out of L.A. until KLSX got the show again in March 1998, but in Feb 1999, it was gone again. Too bad KLSX couldn't have kept it on the more listenable Sunday nights so it could have followed ESPN Sunday Football in the same night.

In Santa Barbara, it was on KHTY 97.5 through 1994 or so, then on an AM 1340 around 1996 until Jacor bought it and moved the show and its oldies format to 107.7, a station just launched on the frequency, in 1998, but in 1999, it was gone. Ventura had Dr. Demento in The Bus 96.7 for a while until it went Spanish in 1997.

San Diego had it good as Dr. Demento had a long run on 95.9 KKOS, until that imcompetent programmer Sherman Cohen, fresh from bombing at 92.5 The Flush (as Mike Halloran called it) took over the station, dropped his show, and when it moved to 95.7 as KUPR, ruined the AAA format by making it repeatedly saying "Music First" between every song, as well as making the station sound too polished for it to sound like the former smalltown KKOS. Flash got Dr. Demento from Aug 1995 to Dec 1996, but when that station dropped the show, XHRM received a flurry of angry listeners for that act, and people consistently flamed their messageboard, and some rigged bots to repeatedly "Flush The Flash" and "Listen to 91X" over and over again for months on end. Jacor must have loved that kind of publicity as listeners flushed the Flash, eventually being taken over by Jacor themselves and reformatted to soul oldies. Guess that's what happens when you underestimate the popularity of the show.

Palm Springs had Dr. Demento on 93.7 KCLB for a short while from Oct 1997 through May 1998 when corporate owners trashed the programming and had mostly Prophet computers running the rock music and ads. Guess the new owners didn't have a clue either.

So will Dr. Demento ever pop up again on local radio? There's only one thing you can do...let the radio programmers know you want the show on the air. Write stations such as oldies, traditional rock, classic rock, and other formats and let them know!

The 90's Radio in Review: Spanish Radio

In Los Angeles, KLVE 107.5 has been the long-time top-rated Spanish Love station for many years, in fact, one of the top five stations of the decade overall. KLAX 97.9, playing banda and ranchero, also competeted for the Spanish radio listener for the long haul in the decade, but when KSCA 101.9 began playing Regional Mexicana in Feb 1997, it shot up to #1 within a year, giving KLAX a run for the money.

KSCA began two years after KBUE 105.5 replaced KNAC's long-missed hard rock format. KBUE is now among the most listened Spanish language stations thanks in part to a repeater on 94.3 in the San Fernando valley.

KKHJ 930 AM replaced the K-Earth 101.1 simulcast in c. 1992 and had a short experiment with all news in 1999 before returning to music, but KTNQ 1020 has been a longtime Spanish broadcaster for most of the 80's.

Two stations at 1510 and 1540 quit the Spanish broadcasting business in 1998 and began all-sports formats. Another Spanish station on 98.3 became a simulcast of KACE 103.9 for the San Gabriel valley.

KWKW 1300 moved to the stronger 1330 in a deal that left 1300 with a language change...to Asian.

Other Los Angeles Spanish broadcasters include KMRB 1430, KVNR 1480 in Santa Ana, and 1580 KBLA in Santa Monica on the AM side, and KWIZ 96.7 in Santa Ana on the FM side.

KSSE 97.5 broadcasts from Riverside since 1997, replacing a country music format, and can beam into Los Angeles when the nearby 97.5 out of Santa Barbara doesn't interfere with it. Also broadcasting is 590 out of San Bernadio, which can drown out KOGO 600 in some areas.

Just this past December, the three 107.1's in Ventura, Arcadia-Los Angeles, and Fallbrook-North San Diego County, replaced its modern rock format with a Spanish Language format.

Speaking of San Diego, the only Spanish-Language stations you could listen to were beamed out of Tijuana...until KURS 1040 signed on as the first San Diego-licensed station broadcasting a Spanish format of any kind (news/information) in c. 1990 or so. The next San Diego-based Spanish language formats would appear in 1998 when Jacor sold 102.9 and 106.5 to Heftel, who reprogrammed them as Love and Ranchero formats respectively.

For many years, Radio Latina 104.5 has been playing Spanish love music and popular songs through San Diego county and into Orange and Riverside counties. The former X99 was at the old location at 95.7 as X96, but a frequency swap between the U.S. and Mexico resulted in X96 moving to 99.3 (KKOS 95.9 moved to 95.7), but in 1999, the channel switched to English exchanging Ranchero to Country and moved to 91.7 (which began on 103.3 in c. 1992), but months later, 91.7's format moved to 97.7 while that became Galaxy soft hits in English.

Drive all over Palm Springs, Victorville, and Santa Barbara and you will encounter many more Spanish broadcasters all over the place.

In 2000, look forward to KACE 103.9 to exchange its longtime R&B format to Spanish music (along with 98.3) once the sale of the radio stations is transferred from Cox to another broadcaster. 103.1 KACD/KBCD is rumored to be sold to another Spanish broadcaster, but no truth of that has surfaced yet. In San Diego, rumors persist that Planet 103.7 could be sold to HBC to be taken Spanish, but the format of the established KYXY 96.5 should not be messed with.

In 1999, it seems that there has been a lot of crossing over of the same acts between the English and Spanish pop stations (especially K-LOVE 102.9, Latina 104.5, and XHFG 107.3) sharing artists such as Ricky Martin, Christina Aguliera, Marc Anthony, Lou Bega, Santana, Jennifer Lopez, and Enrique Iglesias; some of the artists on the Spanish stations sing in English. In a market like San Diego, sharing the listeners with those from Tijuana, you have to serve the Hispanic market (in English and/or in Spanish) in order to get the most listeners, and like the English-only listeners, they do buy cars, food, insurance, housing, wireless phones, computers, and all that jazz like everybody else.

XHMORE 98.9 has been playing a Rock En Espanol format since c. 1992, and in its early days it played techno and rave music as well as 91X-type alternative music, some in English. Nowadays, it occasionally plays covers of modern rock songs in Spanish in its Rock en Espanol format, and on Friday nights, does a mix show called Rewire, a mixture of English and Spanish dance mixes. It was rumored that Viva 107.1 would adopt that format, but that never materialized as far as I know.

The 90's Radio in Review: Oldies Formats

Well, after some serious thought, I sorted out all the radio stations that I remembered in the 90's that had an oldies format of one genre or another. Let's see how they stacked up in the 90's.

One angle of oldies radio is the nostalgia angle, consisting of big bands, swing, jazz, crooners, Your Hit Parade era hits, and even including instrumentals (easy and light rock) and 50's rock in some cases. KLAC 570 in Los Angles had a country format at the beginning of the 90's, but switched to nostalgia sometime in the decade, and can be heard today all over the California West at night. KMPC 710 had a longtime nostalgia format before it went to sports, then talk, then Radio Disney. KGIL 1260 had nostalgia, then tried all-news, then all-Beatles, then back to nostalgia, and sister station on 540 moved to 1650, which simulcast the news and Beatles formats, but split off to do all-traffic before it went back to simulcasting with 1260's nostalgia format. KGRB 900 and KBOB 98.3 in West Covina had a big band, swing format until it went dark in circa 1995.

KWRP, which is WKRP spelled sideways, on 96.1 in Riverside, has nostalgia on the FM side.

Easy listening, or beautiful music, has a nostalgic memory to all who grew up with radio since the 50's and 60's, but the only one left as the decade ended sits in the Coachella valley on 1340 AM and 98.5 FM. 103.3 KRUZ in Santa Barbara had a longtime beautiful music format before it went to light AC rock in the mid 90's.

San Diego's 1360 and Escondido's 1450 are currently longtime nostalgia programmers in the county, one for each half of the county.

Another angle of oldies is the so-called golden era of rock and roll, consisting of rockabilly, R&B, easy pop, instrumentals, and country, some of which are also heard on the nostalgic formats. Other offshoots include classic rock of the 60's-80's, MOR rock of 60's-70's or 70's-80's, and soul oldies of 60's-80's.

In Los Angeles, K-Earth 101.1 had a longtime oldies format and recently included oldies from the 70's and 80's that fit the kind of music it plays from the 60's such as Stevie Wonder and Elton John. KCBS 93.1 had a competeting oldies format for a while, but in 1993, switched to 70's and 80's era rock oldies, but is now a classic rock station. KLSX 97.1 played classic rock as well as some new rock until it went all talk in 1998, with talk daily in 1995. KRLA 1110 played oldies until 1999 while 1230 played R&B oldies until it went to brokered programming, now who knows what it is. KGFJ 102.3 and KACE 103.9 played R&B oldies all through the 90's, while newcomer Mega 100.3 beams its jammin' R&B oldies all over Southern California. Out of Riverside, you can get 99.9 KOLA playing oldies.

In San Diego, oldies radio is rampant in town. K-Best 95 (now Oldies 94.9) played 50's and 60's era hits beginning in 1992, and is now into 60's and 70's era oldies. When the 90's began, 105.3 KCBQ played golden oldies, but in 1993, switched to MOR oldies from 70's and 80's until 1995 when it switched to Sets-FM, then swapped with KIOZ's 102.1 KCBQ 1170 played a 50's and 60's era oldies format through 1994.

Classic rock has popped up all over the place. KCLX 102.9 launched classic rock in 1989 that replaced its failed New Age format, but in 1990, KGB dropped its new rock for classic rock (ouch!), then KCBQ's MOR classic rock in 1993, then in 1995 we had Rock Mix 103.7 and its successor The Planet, and finally Eagle 94.1's classic rock from 1997-98.

Soul oldies first appearred on Magic 95.7 in 1997, then moved to 92.5 in 1998 when Jacor got programming rights on that powerful Mexican station.

In 1994-95, 102.9 replaced its classic rock format for The Beach, played AC hits just from the 70's, but due to lack of variety, it just bombed.

New in 1999, we have soft oldies hits at 94.1 KJOY. Also in 1999, KGLX 91.7 plays hits from the 60's through today with great emphasis on the past.

In Los Angeles and San Diego lie the McMix Clear Channel/Jacor concept on 95.9 and 95.7 respectively, playing hits of the 70's and 80's as well as hits of the 90's.

Oldies programming blocks do exist on radio stations that play new music. Radio a Go-Go specializing in 60's music runs on KIEV 870, but the odd part is that it's a talk station. Oldies blocks on music stations include Z-90's Grub 'n Groove mix at noon and its Sunday night cruise 7-10pm, 91X's Resurrection Sunday 6am-NOON playing nostalgic alternative rock when 91X sounded good, 80's music on Star 100.7 all day Fridays and weekdays at NOON and 8pm, and others I can't think of at the moment.

Does it seem like there are more radio stations spending a higher collective percentage of time playing oldies than ever before? Seems like it nowadays.

The Music of Your Life concept was on an LA station for a while, but you can find it online at http://www.musicofyourlife.com

Best of Radio of the 1990's by Year

1991: 91X (modern rock), K-Earth 101.1 (oldies), KIIS 102.7 (top 40), KKOS 95.9 (AAA), KLOS 95.5 (traditional rock), KLSX 97.1 (traditional rock), KROQ 106.7 (modern rock), Mars 103.1 (techno), Pirate 100.3 (hard rock), Power 106 (dance/hip hop/R&B), Q106 (Top 40), Rock 102.1 (hard rock), z90 (urban dance/R&B)

1992: 91X (modern rock), K-Earth 101.1 (oldies), KIIS 102.7 (top 40), KKOS 95.9 (AAA), KLOS 95.5 (traditional rock), KLSX 97.1 (traditional rock), KROQ 106.7 (modern rock), Mars 103.1 (techno), Power 106 (dance/hip hop/R&B), Q106 (Top 40), Rock 102.1 (hard rock), z90 (urban dance/R&B)

1993: 91X (modern rock), K-Earth 101.1 (oldies), KIIS 102.7 (top 40), KKOS 95.9 (AAA), KLOS 95.5 (traditional rock), KROQ 106.7 (modern rock)

1994: 91X (modern rock), K-Earth 101.1 (oldies), KBIG 104.3 (Hot Adult comtemporary), KIIS 102.7 (top 40), KKOS 95.9 (AAA), KSCA 101.9 (AAA)

1995: 91X (modern rock), flash 92.5 (modern rock), K-Earth 101.1 (oldies), KBIG 104.3 (Hot Adult comtemporary), KIIS 102.7 (top 40), KSCA 101.9 (AAA), KYSR 98.7 (hot modern AC), Star 100.7 (hot modern AC), z90 (urban dance/R&B)

1996: B100.3 (popular dance), channel 933 (urban dance/R&B), flash 92.5 (modern rock), Groove 103.1 (dance), K-Earth 101.1 (oldies), KBIG 104.3 (Hot Adult comtemporary), KIIS 102.7 (top 40), KSCA 101.9 (AAA), KUPR 95.7 (modern rock), KYSR 98.7 (hot modern AC), z90 (urban dance/R&B)

1997: B100.3 (popular dance), channel 933 (urban dance/R&B), Groove 103.1 (dance), K-Earth 101.1 (oldies), KBIG 104.3 (Hot Adult comtemporary), KIIS 102.7 (top 40), KLOS 95.5 (traditional rock), KYSR 98.7 (hot modern AC), Q106 (Top 40), Sets 102.1 (AAA)

1998: Groove 103.1 (dance), Ind 92.5 (modern rock), K-Earth 101.1 (oldies), KBIG 104.3 (Hot Adult comtemporary), KIIS 102.7 (top 40), KLOS 95.5 (traditional rock), KYSR 98.7 (hot modern AC), Q106 (Top 40), Sets 102.1 (AAA)

1999: K-Earth 101.1 (oldies), KBIG 104.3 (Hot Adult comtemporary), KIIS 102.7 (top 40), KLOS 95.5 (traditional rock), KYSR 98.7 (hot modern AC), Magic 92.5 (old skool), Sets 102.1 (AAA), Star 100.7 (hot modern AC), Y107.1 (modern rock)

Worst of Radio in the 1990's by Year

1991: KCLX 102.9 (old rock and roll), KGB 101.5 (old rock and roll), Mix 94.9 (AC)

1992: KCLX 102.9 (old rock and roll), KGB 101.5 (old rock and roll)

1993: B100 (AC), flash 92.5 (pop modern rock), KCLX 102.9 (old rock and roll), KGB 101.5 (old rock and roll)

1994: flash 92.5 (pop modern rock), KCBQ 105.3 (soft old rock), KCLX 102.9 (old rock and roll), KGB 101.5 (old rock and roll)

1995: Beach 102.9 (70's AC), KCBQ 105.3 (soft old rock), KGB 101.5 (old rock and roll), KLSX 97.1 (talk), Rock Mix 103.7 (70s-early 80's old rock and roll)

1996: 91X (corporate modern rock), KCBQ 105.3 (soft old rock), KGB 101.5 (old rock and roll), KJOY 102.9 (AC), KLSX 97.1 (talk), Q106 (hot AC)

1997: 91X (corporate modern rock), flash 92.5 (91X modern rock), KGB 101.5 (old rock and roll), KJOY 102.9 (AC), KLSX 97.1 (talk), Power 106 (hip hop/slow jams). z90 (hip hop/slow jams)

1998: 91X (corporate modern rock), KGB 101.5 (old rock and roll), KJOY 102.9 (AC), Mix 95.7 (AC), Power 106 (hip hop/slow jams), Star 100.7 (hot modern AC), z90 (hip hop/slow jams)

1999: 91X (corporate modern rock), channel 933 (slow jams/boy bands/top 40), KGB 101.5 (old rock and roll), Mix 95.7 (AC), Power 106 (hip hop/slow jams), Rock 105.3 (hard rock)