What were the radio stations of your youth that helped you on your music/audio journey?
WUSF FM, Tampa FL. Spent my teen years in St. Pete, where one of my favorite things was listening to “the Underground Railroad” Saturday night at midnight. In stereo. The show opened with the sound of a steam train chuff-chuffing from left to right in my headphones and the DJ would announce 📣 you’re listening to the Underground Railroad and, being FM, would play entire albums, ten minute songs, long jams like nothing you’d hear outside of a record store. I first heard John Mayall, Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, Savoy Brown’s Hellbound Train, The True Story of the SS Titanic by Jamie someone or another, ” it was midnight on the sea the band was playing nearer my God to thee, fare thee well Titanic fare thee well, they wouldn’t take Jack Johnson on board they said this ship don’t haul no coal, fare thee well Titanic, fare the well.” Broad-based musical tastes were reinforced by my brother’s collection of things like Tangerine Dream, Moody Blues, Rolling Stones, Genesis, ELP, and more, also heard on WUSF. The college used to hold Sat night festivals on the riverfront at its Tampa campus which were fun. good times. Thanks for asking the question. |
Up until the time I was 14 (which was in 1970), it was KILT AM (610) in Houston. They played all the pop/rock. After I discovered FM, it was KLOL (101.1) in Houston. There was a disc jockey in the evenings named Crash, with a deep laid-back voice, who introduced me to lots of bands I'd have never discovered otherwise. In the mid-to-late 70's I was in the Air Force, stationed in Austin, and my radio was tuned to KLBJ (93.7) which played a great mix of all genres. |
77 WABC AM - 1962 - 1967 - top 20 radio 102.3 WNEW FM - 1967 - 1976 - progressive rock 104.something WNCN FM - 1975 - 1980 something - classical 89.9 WKCR FM - Columbia university - 1972 to present - classical, jazz, world music, Bachfest 99.5 WBAI FM - 1972 to present - news; political, cultural talk; world, Latin, jazz classical music personalities: WABC: Cousin Brucie: WNEW: Alison Steele (The Night Bird), Scott Muni, Dennis Elsas, Dave Herman, Pete Fornatale, Vin Scelsa |
WRAS, the 100k watt student-run radio station of GSU in Atlanta. Now it's just another useless NPR outlet here, duplicating the one at 90.1, WABE, formerly the classical station. Used to love listening to "My Word" on WABE on Saturdays as I was baking the breads for dinner service at Carbo's Cafe in 1980, a British game show of considerable philological depth and great wit. |
Growing up in L.A.in the 60's and 70's- it was all about KHJ, KLOS (Smith here), KMET. Those were the days when the DJ's were into the music, not just talk radio where they gave opinions. I moved to my mother's home town (Albuquerque, NM) after I got discharged from the USMC in 1980. The now defunct KQEO, and now KZRR still play on my tuner. Ed FM is playing right now. |
KCAC 1010 AM Phoenix, "The Joint That Gives You The Heaviest Hits", a daylight hour only underground radio station. Frequently broadcast alerts ("Bad brown acid" at the concert, "Don’t come bustable, or you’re likely to be burned") and was non-commercial, free-form radio. Later morphed to KDKB FM, "Flagship station of the Dwight Karma Broadcasting Network" (the one and only Dwight Karma station!). Had some really good times there on-air (and off) with DJs "Toad Hall", "The Amoeba", William Edward Compton (aka "BS Bill") and a few other pals. |
Growing up in Seattle, my first listening was to KAYO, an AM country station. My parents liked country music and it's what I first started listening to. Then I discovered pop and rock and KJR AM, and then KISW for "heavier" rock and KZOK for "album oriented rock" (as well as crazy stuff like Dr. Demento). Later, many of the KISW DJs left and went to KXRX, which was a great station while it lasted. In the 90s (not exactly my youth anymore), there was KNDD and all the "alternative" bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Janes Addiction, and so much more. When alternative started to transition away from the "grunge" sound, I lost interest and "mellowed out" to KMTT (The Mountain) which played " Adult Album Alternative". I grew tired of that and for many years stopped listening to radio for the most part when most radio stations were taken over by "personalities" that were all talk and no music. These days I listen to KNKX while working. NPR news in the morning and afternoon and great jazz and blues the rest of the time and a good signal. |
Dr. Donald D Rose. Think he was out of L.A. That was AM Radio. KMSL in Santa Rosa Cal. one of the earlier FM stations that played the long version of songs to long for AM radio. You could hear the people in the sound booth that you knew weren't supposed to be there !!! They went off the air during a set No doubt they were smokin up in the booth! Good times. |
In mid-60’s Los Angeles rock was AM radio KHJ 930, with Robert W Morgan in the Morning and The Real Don Steele in the afternoon. For adult listening was KMPC, with Dick Whittinghill in the morning (with occasional visits from Foster Brooks) and Gary Owens during drive time afternoons. For Classical it was KFAC, and for Jazz it was that station in Long Beach… |
Nights throughout the 60's, I listened to to WABC out of NYC, via a transistor radio under the covers. The only records my parents played were Classical and Broadway Shows, which I didn't dislike but I much preferred the Beatles and Motown. In the late 60's, I discovered much less commercial FM stations out of NYC but don't recall their identities. There was also a guy in the neighborhood who'd been a USN radio operator. He set up a low-powered station in his basement, from which his eldest son would broadcast entire albums-- a rarity at the time. The soundtrack for my freshman HS year in Guadalajara was provided by a Mexican station that played the hits popular at the time in the US. . In the early to mid 70's it was KMET out of L.A. They played a great variety of Rock and I rarely missed the Jimmy Witherspoon Blues Show, airing Sunday nights after Dr. Demento. Mid 70's, it was KTYD in Santa Barbara and the UCSB student radio station. The latter was "instrumental" in luring me into exploring Jazz. At the time, there was also Jazz station in L.A. that leaned toward slick, CTI-type material. They clarified for me what I didn't like (and still don't). |
KOMA Oklahoma City. It drifted in and out as I listened from a cow town in Wyoming. An old RCA Victor radio in my basement bedroom got me by. On Friday nights was a show called rappin. The usual dope head would call in to offer his opinion about legalizing pot, man. Then he would forget what he was saying. The music was all I had to listen to except for a local cowboy station KPOW where the singing cowboy offered songs early in the morning. Good music was pretty scarce. Somehow in this little town there occasional concerts by musicians who felt the need to give more people a chance to hear something classier. |
4krowme When I was stationed at Ellsworth AFB near Rapid City, S.D., we would drive over to a small town in Wyoming to buy Coors, which was not sold in S.D. One night I had my girlfriend drive to pick up some beer, and then I remembered she had wrecked her last boyfriend's car...so I sobered up quickly. Was driving a mint 1960 Corvette. We all have memories of our youth, from war to auto racing to marriage, it is amazing we've made it this far! |
San Francisco 1960s KFRC KYA Seemed not much available good music at the time, didn’t care for the “old stuff” much beyond the 50s. Now I got decades living through music with it’s affect on the culture and me. Also increased musical knowledge and maturing tastes makes me a fan of most musical genres…including the “old stuff”. Hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t have called it “old stuff”. |
Growing up in NYC as a teenager in the 70’s the biggest influence in radio were WNEW rock, WRVR jazz WBLO all the way to the left, WFUV was in there too but maybe later. But there were other stations (Illegal for sure) broadcasting late at night. These stations were fairly radical in what they were playing. One in particular was somewhere on Long Island. It was an awesome station. I only listen to the radio in my car these days and only sometimes. NPR sometimes but I'm so tired of politics and the obvious bias they employee. I prefer to bias tubes thank you. There is a great classical station whose call sign escapes me at the moment. Does anyone still use a tuner? I have a really decent one here that hasn’t been plugged in for....oh 30 or so years |
During the 1970’s, the University of Dayton (Ohio) had a student-run station, call letters WVUD, at 99.9 FM. Every weeknight from 7-8 PM, they had a program called “Wax Museum” when they would play an entire new album of music. The difference was that this show was set up to facilitate recording the music. The show started with a tone that allowed the audience to set their recording level. Then the tone would sound at the start of each segment, signaling to begin recording, and then another tone to signal stop-recording before ads were played. I don’t know how they were able to do this, but it went on for years and was a great way to hear new music. Sadly, the station was sold, I think by the early 1980’s. I haven’t heard of any other station doing this. Commercial radio has since become mostly garbage. There is “Classic Rock”, but how many times can you hear the same songs from 30-40 years ago? There is “alternative music”, but so much of that is rap/hip-hop, “hey-ho”, “beep-beep-beep-beep” and not interesting to me. Currently, I enjoy listening to a couple of local stations (I know this is departing from “radio from my youth”, but yet it still is). WSWO, 97.3 FM and available on-line under daytonoldies.com, is located in Huber Heights, Ohio and features music from the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. Unlike the classic rock stations that play the same set of tunes, usually from the 1970’s to 1990’s, this station plays the older and/or seldom heard oldie tunes and the variety is entertaining. The station is only 100 watts but sounds great to me 8 miles away (haven’t needed to listen on-line yet). This station is run by volunteers, some of whom are retired local radio personalities, one was a former mayor of Dayton, and there are other people that just enjoy putting together shows to entertain people. They welcome donations. I have not been much of an oldie country fan, but I now enjoy listening to WBZI, 100.3 FM and simulcast on a few other stations in the general area, which is located in Xenia, Ohio. These are traditional country songs, not the current country rock that is popular now. The focus is more upon voices and musicianship rather than the rock band sound. I find it relaxing and entertaining in the evenings. During the day, they also have a radio version of “Trading Post”, when callers phone in with items to sell — I sometimes like to listen to that as well. |
Does anyone remember “Music through the Night” on WCBS AM in New York with Bill Hall sponsored by American Airlines. All night classical music on a commercial variety radio station during the day. GREAT memorable pop theme song for the broadcast: a dreamy version of “That’s All.” Those were the days! |
I am from Rapid City South Dakota. I grew up on the local college radio station. KTEQ. It was a huge influence on my musical education. Rock,jazz,country rock, I got a healthy dose of it all. In the early seventies I learned about Traffic, Yes. Miles Davis, Poco, John Coltrane,you get the idea. Even some classical. It helped me to get a job at one of the music stores in town. Maybe we even crossed paths at some point. KTEQ was one of the coolest radio stations ever. Hopefully you enjoyed as well. |
What a great thread. People are remembering call letters from 50 years ago which means to me they were an important part of our lives then. Today's youth aren't going to have that connection which is kinda sad or maybe not. They have Spotify, Tidal and YouTube ... I racked my brain for the last couple of days trying to remember the name of DR Demento. He had a LA radio spot on KMET before he went national and I still remember first hearing Weird AL and Randy Newman Short people on his program. Not sure what that says about my musical taste but it certainly had an impact. |
Back in the commercial free/free format FM days... So much great music listening CJOM 88.7 FM Windsor Ontario WABX 99.5 Detroit Michigan Jerry Lubin Dave Dixon was often vulgar and yet constantly thoughtful and encyclopedic of the artists and the industry WDET 101.9 Detroit Michigan special shout-out to Judy Adams and Martin Bandyke! their music morning shows were replaced by talk radio, hum?! WKNR Keener 13 so much great Motown. First time I heard What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye WJR 760 AM Detroit J.P. McCarthy. First time I ever heard Take 5 by Dave Brubeck [|;^)>
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