STANDARDS, STAND-UP AND SPORTS
By David Fiorella
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Radio hosts who were at the end of their careers often ended up at a little station in Thousand Oaks, California. That station was KGOE (AM 850), which in a "morbid" sense was called "The Graveyard of Disc-Jockeys" and radio hosts, but often, hosts would rekindle their careers there. They would "catch on" somewhere else afterwards. One personality in mind who practically ended his career at KGOE was Bill Ballance. He brought his female forum show over from KGBS to the morning hours at KGOE.
KGOE basically played MOR (Middle of the Road) music: songs like Houston (Dean Martin); Hey There (Rosemary Clooney); Chances Are (Johnny Mathis) and Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte (Patti Page) to name a few. KGOE did good from the 1960s to late 1970's.
The demise started in the early '80s as new management bought the 850 AM spot and a new station was born. The station became KMDY (comedy radio) in 1984. They featured stand up comedies on stage from many comedians. Funny stories a mile a minute with canned laughter would be the staple of KMDY. People like Rodney Dangerfield or the late Henny Youngman would be heard. Live performances on stage would be used by the famous and not-so-famous.
KoMeDY radio stayed on the air until it too faded in ratings. The station was put up for sale in the late 1980s. KNJO-FM 92.7 was known as "Conejo Valley Radio". Toward the end of KMDY's existence, they simulcast with KNJO for a few months until new ownership assumed the wheel of command.
Childrens Radio Inc. bought KMDY and changed the format to "Childrens Radio" KAHS. This was storybook radio that appealed to ages five to twelve. This would take in nursery rhymes, fairy tales, early rock 'n' roll. Songs like Bread and Butter and even the theme song from the movie Titanic would be played. School tales would also be heard on KAHS. They would form a partnership with Los Angeles Radio station and simulcast with KPLS (AM 830) for the rest of its existence. With the advent of KDIS AM 710 (the Disney station) KAHS was soon to be in want. In 1997 or 1998 the station changed its format to an all-sports venture and became KLYF. This was also under the ownership of Childrens Radio Inc.
KLYF broadcast on 850 AM from 1998 to the end of 1999. It was a sports talk simulcast with KXTA broadcasting the Los Angeles Dodgers, also simulcasting some NFL games on Sunday with KXTA.
It was basically a talk station discussing sports. Like its predecessor KAHS, it was located at 1000 Business Center Drive, in Newbury Park. Weak in ratings, KLYF ended its tenure in late 1999 or the beginning of the year 2000.
New ownership once again bought the station and KBET broadcast from the 850 spot on the dial. KBET call letters were previously used in Santa Clarita at a radio station that was located on the 1220 spot on the dial. KBET 850 was an all talk radio station with some sports in its format. For a while, they simulcasted the programming from worldclassrock.com, formerly on FM 103.1 in Santa Monica/Newport Beach. They went Talk, and later simulcast XTRA Sports and Dodgers games. For a while in 2003, they simulcast AM 1350 KTDD The Toad in San Bernardino, according to a post on the SC Groove board.
KIIS Oct 26, 2003 (this would have been the move of the call letters from 1220 in Santa Clarita)
Interestingly enough, KGOE was assigned an expanded band allocation in 1978, which was rescinded when they got their nighttime allocation.
KGOE call letters are now in Eureka, California, where they reside at a talk station at 1480. KNJO-FM was replaced by KMLT-FM, part of a trimulcast of lite favorites. It is now KYRA, part of the Air1 Network. KAHS and KLYF call letters are not in use as far as I can determine. KPLS (AM 830) has changed its format and ownership. It was a religious station owned by the Catholic Radio Network Facilities, and is now sports KLAA "Angels Radio". |
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