Radio, radio

AM 590 is still on the air. Do you know if any of those other ones are still around?

[All the frequencies are no doubt in use by some successor station or another but none of the '60s stations themselves exist, to my knowledge. -- DA]

I dont know about Inland Empire radio stations since I only came here in the mid-'80s...but who remembers The Mighty 690?

How about STOREFRONT RADIO STATIONS? You know, where the deejay would broadcast from a front window. Do any of those still exist in the I.E.? As I recall, downtown Pomona once had KTSJ, which was a religious station...

KWOW in Pomona was a country station in the Sixties and Seventies. As school kids we used to listen to it on foggy mornings to hear if (hopefully) our school bus was delayed. If the fog was really bad and on super rare occasions, school would be canceled. Occasionally our prayers were answered on the fog reports on KWOW.

Later it became an oldies station and then KMNY (K-Money), a financial news channel. Don't really know whether it is still happening.

KMEN began broadcasting as a Top 40 station in March of 1962. The legendary Ron Jacobs (later Program Director of KHJ Boss Radio from April 1965 to July 1969 - and a huge fan of Chuck Blore's Color Radio on KFWB which was launched in 1958) was on hand later to finetune the station's format. KMEN launched from a cow pasture in San Bernardino.

KMEN later became one of the testing stations in the Bill Drake format along with KGB in San Diego and KYNO in Fresno. These were the precursors to Boss Radio which then went into effect in Los Angeles KHJ 930 circa April/May 1965 and San Francisco KFRC and nationwide.

KMEN launched the careers of T. Michael Jordan, Russ O'Hara and Ron Jacobs.

KFXM was known as Tiger Radio in its Top 40 heyday of the Sixties and Seventies. I think KFXM might have been the more popular of the two Berdoo stations, but KMEN was hipper - lotsa Yardbirds, Stones, Them and Pretty Things and not just the singles.

Santa Ana had KWIZ at 1480 which adopted an oldies but goodies format circa 1965 to the late sixties before going all request and then adult contemporary. Then it became Radio Exitos and now I think it's a variety of ethnic programming.

The Diamond Mine used to be a radio show hosted by Dave Diamond (one of the original KHJ Boss Jocks and one of the first to leave). Dave was incredible and the peak of his career was probably on KBLA 1500 in Burbank. This station was impossible to pick up in the Pomona Valley. You had to be out L.A. way to get it. Dave kicked ass on KBLA till the station changed format circa June 1967 and went country and changed call letters to KBBQ.

He then went to work for KFWB till just before they went all news in March of 1968. Dave and BMR (B. Mitchell Reed) left around the same time. Reed going to FM undergrounder KPPC 106.7 before switching to the KMET Metromedia outlet after a spring 1968 strike.

I never heard of Jim Diamond and his Diamond Mine, but I never listened to Bakersfield radio either. I'm pretty sure Dave Diamond was the originator of the Diamond Mine, but who knows?

[You're right, "Hal." The radio name Jim Diamond is an homage to both Dave Diamond and Jim Royal of KASK, an early mentor. -- DA]

I forgot to mention that KMEN also had John Ravenscroft from February 1966 till 1967. John then returned to his native England and secured a job on the pirate radio Wonderful Radio London where he debuted his legendary "Perfumed Garden" show as John Peel. The rest is history as he went on to BBC1's Top Gear and his own John Peel Show. May he rest in peace.

John was also the inspiration for San Bernardino's The Misunderstood to travel to England in search of fame. A true cult band with a mighty talented psychedelic steel guitar player by the name of Glenn Ross Campbell.

Mid-1960's Berdoo was a heady place if you knew where to look. Local popular bands were the Bush, Whatt Four, Misunderstood, The Light, the Caretakers, House Of DBS, The Good Feelin's, White Pepper and Blues In a Bottle off the top of my head.

Many of these bands played the Purple Haze on the corner of Magnolia and Tyler in Riverside.

Ronald Scott: Which Mighty 690 are you referring to, the one in San Diego? Or some other town?

Here’s a helpful chart of the AM radio dial looked like during the Sensational Sixties.

570 KLAC – Country & Western (L.A. Corn)
590 KFXM – Top 40 Rock – San Bernardino
640 KFI - EZ listening plus Vin Scully & Jerry Doggett for the Dodger games
710 KMPC – MOR plus Angels b'casts w/ Buddy Blattner, Don Wells, Dick Enberg
740 KGLM – MOR > changed call letters to KBIG 1965
790 KABC – talk news
870 KIEV – talk, MOR
930 KHJ – Top 40 from April 1965 Boss Radio
980 KFWB – Top 40 Color Radio launched 1958 > all news March 1968
1020 KGBS – EZ Listening > C&W 1965
1070 KNX – MOR > news and music April 1968
1090 XERB – Wolfman Jack R&B & religious wackos beginning 1965
1110 KRLA – Top 40 1959 > 1966 all request > 1967 hip AM > 1969 > Top 40 > 1971 - Future Rock
1190 KEZY – Anaheim – EZ listening till 1965 Top 40 request
1230 KGFJ – Soul R&B
1290 KMEN – San Bernardino from March 1962 Top 40
1330 KFAC – Classical
1480 KWIZ – Santa Ana – Oldies But Goodies from 1965
1500 KBLA – Burbank – Top 40 1965 to June 1967 > KBBQ – C&W > 9-72 KROQ “Mother Rock”
1580 KDAY – Santa Monica – R&B, Rock
1600 KWOW – Pomona – C&W

[K-wow, "Hal"! -- DA]

GREETINGS:
As a longtime radio listener, former radio student and for a short time radio announcer/DJ/engineer, I love all the details on the area's radio history. As I look through, I don't see the progression of the initial 1510 AM/93.5 FM pairing.

I wish I could provide better details, but most of this is coming off personal memory. After KASK/KEDO I believe came KSOM AM and FM. It's what later was referred to as a "beautiful music" format, pretty much "elevator" music (or the corporate signature, "Muzak"). The segment blocks were all titled, such as "Daybreak" and "Solitude." It was background music, or as some of my friends termed it, "music for the living dead."

We always wondered if the SOM stood for "Serving Ontario/Montclair." A buddy always said it was short for "Insomnia" because it was the kind of music that was sure to put people to sleep!

I recall in the late '70s the stations switched over to new formats, the AM becoming Spanish language KNSE (Radio Quince) while the FM was KNTF (Ninety three-five). For a while KNTF was country music, I believe referring to itself as "Thunder Country."

In the '80s I believe next format switch involved sports talk radio, which even involved sports reporters from the Daily Bulletin doing spots for local coverage. Somewhere along the way I think the FM side switched to an alternative language format (Korean?). Sorry, I'm not sure and have lost track of the FM station.

The AM side has gone through multiple other changes, including Big Band, Pop Rock, and today's "Contemporary Standards" format offered as KSPA "The Spa."

I also want to toss in a few more "memories" of local radio. KFXM and KMEN were both popular local stations when I was in high school. KFXM played a little more mainstream but KMEN always gave out the high school football scores on Friday nights and everyone tuned in to hear how the other schools in the area fared.

KOLA 99.9 FM was another popular rock & roll outlet. Broadcasting out of the "Mission Inn," it was almost a sure bet to find it on a "save" button on any kid's car that picked up FM.

Then there are the local college stations. KSPC at the Claremont Colleges, KSAC (I think) at Mt. SAC, and I believe there was even a broadcast station for a while at Cal Poly Pomona.

Over at La Verne we had KLVC (later KULV), then a carrier current station that could be heard in the various buildings around campus. We also had a studio workshop where the university provided the live broadcast for a local FM station (KBOB 98.3 in West Covina) for 7 1/2 hours a day. It was a big band format (with one Hawaiian song included in each hour!).

I'm sure there will be some to correct any blunders I've included in this note, while others will have more to add. I hope so, because this is one topic that never gets older, just better!

[Whitehead's book says KSOM, which took over from KASK after its sale in September 1967, stood for Sound of Music. But I like Charles' guesses better. -- DA]

I got Mighty 690 when I was living in Redondo Beach. It basically played Top 40 and it was based out of San Diego.

With regard to the original KOLA 99.9 FM:

It was originally based in the Mission Inn and then moved to a building off of Pennsylvania Avenue (near the 60 - which I think is now called Martin Luther King Boulevard), I think, in the early 1980's. The station was run and owned by a toupee wearing (and a very bad toupee at that) guy named Fred Cote. He also had a non-existent program director who had a fake name and was on the payroll.

It was funny, because on rare occasions when a piece was written about the station, they would quote this non-existent program director. I'm not entirely sure, but I think his name was Michael Allen. Again, there was no such person.

The station also seemed to be keeping some of the prizes which were supposedly given away on the radio. There were scores of very nice motorcycles parked inside of the latter day building off of Pennsylvania Avenue.

The programming at KOLA was all pre-taped AOR and automated with Revox reel to reels and CART'S. There were no in house DJ's. They just had caretakers (generously called board operators) to keep an eye on the machinery in case of malfunction.

Fred got into some serious legal troubles, which make for an excellent story but one I'm sure he wouldn't want made into a TV movie.

The old geezer's first mistake was marrying his young and foxy receptionist.

I really don't know if Fred is even alive today, but his radio empire came crumbling down. And if he's alive, he's probably still in jail.

OK, I'll tell you. Fred hired a hit-man to kill his estranged wife's lover.

Well it wasn't actually a hit man, it was the board operator at the station. Who also happened to be boinking poor old Fred's wife.

Ooops!!

The board operator told the police. The aging Fred flew to Hawaii and was arrested trying to board a plane to Argentina!!

This is all true!!! It really should be a TV movie.

If you knew Fred, you'd never even think he was capable of this!!!

I dealt with the guy on numerous occasions in the 1970's and 1980's and found him to be congenial and soft-spoken. He never screwed me.

Plus I always got the feeling that he really wasn't cut out for radio. He seemed disinterested in the vein of Gordon Jump on TV's WKRP, almost!

Anyway, poor old Fred went to trial and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1994. The family owned FM-er which signed on in 1959 and went AOR circa 1970 went into receivership and was sold. His extremely unfaithful (and I know this from personal experience) ex-receptionist, ex-wife getting 50% of the proceeds.

KOLA subsequently was bought out by Anaheim Broadcasting and is now located with KCAL-FM 96.7 in the same building near Redlands off of the 10 Freeway.

Fred also owned a Banning based AM station which for years was known as KGUD. But when Metromedia's old powerhouse AOR station KMET folded in 1987 and became KTWV "The Wave", Fred adopted the KMET call letters for his AM and used "The Mighty Met" moniker from the previous station as well. KMET-AM played MOR. Since then, it has had a variety of formats.

I really liked Fred, he seemed like a kindly old man. Obviously, I might have been wrong. His story is pretty tragic.

Still, when I first heard about it, I just about fell over. He was such a loser. It just kinda figured something stupid like that would evolve.

Just the fact that he married the extremely sexy young receptionist was absurd enough!

Poor Fred, I'm sure he curses the day he ever hired her!!

It still kinda cracks me up though.

I've got some other stories about the idiotic gay heroin / cocaine addict that was running KROQ into the ground in the mid-1970's too. But that's for another time.

Plus some real inside stuff regarding the John Delorean bust.

Another big local station is K-Frog KFRG-FM 95.1 which is quite possibly the local ratings leader with its C&W format.

Speaking of C&W, does anyone know if the Branding Iron nightclub in San Bernardino is still a going concern?

They used to run some scrumptious long legged fillies out there.

Just wondering if the iron's still in the fire.

Further on that subject, how about local TV's C&W programming of yore: Like Cal's Corral, Town Hall Party, and the Spade Cooley Show (Hoffman Hayride) live from the Santa Monica Ballroom on the pier.

Spade Cooley has a crazy life story. When his wife asked for a divorce in 1961, he beat, kicked and strangled her to death, while he forced his teenage daughter to watch.

He was sentenced to life in prison after having a heart attack at his trial.

Later he was allowed to give a benefit concert for the Oakland - Alameda County Sheriff Department. He died after the show from a fatal heart attack. That was around the end of the 1960's.

Hal, You really know your stuff! Being at KROQ in the mid 70's I know what you are talking about.

When I was at top 40 KASK in 1967 before the new owners came in they did say KSOM stood for the sound of music. I went back there in 1975 when it was top 40 at the time.

Oh, by the way for a time in the mid 60's 93.5 was KOYA which had Spanish part time and then simulcast 1510.

I worked at KWOW (as country) and 1220 KKAR when it was country as well. "The Mighty 690" XETRA during its second run at top 40 in the early 80's had its studio and transmitter in Rosarito, BCN, Mexico. -- Jonny Bruce KDES-FM, Palm Springs

[Jonny, thanks for the dual comments! -- DA]

Thanks Jon, it's an honor to have your input!

For those of you who don't know, Jonny Bruce was the overnight guy on San Bernardino's KFXM 590 during the late 1960's. He also worked weekends if I remember correctly. Those were some great times for AM radio!

How long have you been at KDES, Jonny?

Cheers!

I forgot to mention this tagline:

"Jonny Bruce On the Loose!"

Thank you Hal. I have been at KDES since March of 1994! I finally stopped moving around a lot like I did when I was young. I did eventually move up to the 9 am to noon shift at KFXM before going to KWOW in 1970.

Well Hal Linker has most of the story right about Fred Cote...except for a few details:

You see, Fred hired one of his board operaters (Joseph David Miller) to murder his estranged wife's lover whose name was John Morell.

Fred supplied the "hitman" John Morell's address, a rental car, a pistol and a key to John's house, which he stole from his wife's keychain. The hitman was NOT boinking Fred's wife and the hitman did NOT tell police...instead, the hitman went to John Morell's house and killed him. Fred Cote gave Joseph David Miller $4,000 for the hit.

Fast forward two weeks later, Joseph David Miller shoots and murders a 14 yr old boy named Pedro Andres Romero in a desolate area off of Highway 60 in Banning, CA. Over a $24 debt. Pedro's 13 yr old friend, Abraham Pedro Valdez, who witnesed the murder, was shot twice in the head and once in the chest but survived by running away and hiding in the dense bushes. Valdez was later discovered in the area clinging to life. He was rushed by helicopter to Riverside Community Hospital and survived his injuries. He was able to give police the assailant's first name, as well as a description of the assailant and his vehicle.

The assailant was caught a week later and confessed to police. He told cops that the firearm was hidden at the radio station. Upon further investigation, police found out that Joseph Miller had carried out the murder of John Morrell on orders from Fred Cote.

It was later discovered that Joseph Miller had told Fred Cote that he had "killed 2 kids out in the badlands"...and that he needed to hide the gun. Fred Cote did NOTHING even though he knew that Joe Miller had murdered 2 kids.

Fred Cote was indicted for murder and solicitation of murder.

Joseph David Miller was convicted on two counts of murder and one for attempted murder. Both of these scumbags got a life sentence without possibility of parole. His wife, who caused this entire tragedy, got 50% of his assets.

I went on to sue Fred Cote and got a measly settlement. I suffer daily from my injuries...and in the meanwhile, Fred Cote sits in his jail cell watching TV enjoying his life...and my friend Pedro, murdered at 14...well, he's buried next to his dad.