In the late summer of 1983 station KNX-FM, which had been playing MOR and some current pop tunes, switched over to a total top-40 format. They also changed calls to KKHR. * KNX-FM simulcast KNX-AM's personality MOR (middle-of-the-road) format until 1966, when the AM went all-news. KNX-FM carried on with MOR music until 1967, when it and other CBS FMs around the country (most of the CBS AMs were following KNX's lead and going all-news), began airing a format called "The Young Sound"....the softer current rock hits...or most of them, anyway. The key, besides softness, was that all the music was in stereo....and many hit singles were issued only in mono in those days....with albums often released weeks or months after the single. CBS' nationwide use of that format was cited by Billboard as being a catalyst for most labels switching to stereo 45s by 1968/69. *"The Young Sound" morphed into KNX-FM's long-running (1971-1983) "Mellow Rock" format...which drew its core sound from the singer-songwriters (Carly Simon, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell) popular at the format's inception. "Mellow Rock" was also far less hit-driven than "The Young Sound"...exposing L.A. to album cuts from important artists that were deemed too "laid-back" for KLOS or KMET. *The format was well past its peak in 1983 when CBS shifted most of its FMs to CHR...most of those under consultant Mike Joseph, using his "Hot Hits" format. KKHR sounded a lot like the Joseph stations, but never actually was consulted by Joseph nor used the "Hot Hits" trademark. KKHR "Hit Radio 93" was launched in late August, 1983, with Todd Parker at the mike, using the on-air name Jackson Armstrong, a.k.a. The Gorilla. *PD Ed Scarborough gave the station a ton more personality than the Joseph stations....a diverse playlist that somehow blended New Wave pop and rhythmic music.....and (once the reverb was dropped and the audio cleaned up six months or so in), an electrifying technical sound. Not to mention great jingles, and, by 1985, Charlie Van Dyke as the ID/promo voice. *The air staff included Lou Simon 6am-9am, Dave Donovan (killer voice talent Joe Cipriano) 9-12 noon, Christopher Lance 12 noon-3pm (replaced by The Slim One in 1985), "Jackson Armstrong" 3pm-6pm (after 1984), Dancin' Mark Hanson 6pm-12 midnight, and "Willie Sancho" overnights. Although the playlist wasn't nearly as wacky as Ten-Q's had been, the station had the same spirit -- and the disc jockeys were just as wild. One such DJ was their midnight man, Willie Sancho. Speaking with a thick Hispanic accent, he sounded a little like Cheech. Sunday nights during the first half of 1984, KKHR broadcast Live From The Record Plant, a show which featured various artists live on the air from a recording studio in Hollywood. Members of groups like The Go-Go's and The Romantics were showcased on this program, which was transmitted via satellite nationwide. Weird Al Yankovic was interviewed one week. *KKHR was born when KLOS was on the way down and KIIS was not yet entrenched as the market leader. KKHR was more entertaining than KIIS, with every bit as good a signal and, except for Rick Dees, it could be argued, better jocks. So why didn't it work? Simply put, CBS didn't support KKHR with a realistic promotional budget. At a time when KIIS was giving away a Porsche 944 every Friday with $25,000 in the glove box, KKHR was doing album and ticket giveaways...and not all the time (Slim often gave away cans of creamed corn (honest!) just to have something to give away). CBS wised up...a little....one Nissan 300ZX with $10,000 in the glove box....but far too late. For a time, the station got respectable Arbitrons. But in the end, KIIS FM was king. KKHR threw in the towel in 1986, reverting back to an MOR format with a dash of AOR and changing its calls back to KNX-FM. (Although the FCC does not reissue three-letter calls, the station was able to do this because CBS still owned KNX-AM.) WHERE ARE THEY NOW?: In early March 1989 KNX-FM changed calls to KODJ and switched over to an oldies format. KLSX decried this in a promo, stating "Who needs oldies on FM anyway?" (KLSX and oldies 1110 KRLA had the same ownership.) In the early 1990s, KODJ adjusted their format to 1970s-based oldies and changed their calls to KCBS-FM. Although the station still is, and has always been, owned by CBS, they have de-emphasized those call letters, stating them (softly and quickly) only at the top of the hour as legally required. With numerous smart billboards around town stating the tune being played, most people knew them by another name: Arrow 93. They have now adopted the Jack FM format. Back To Radio Main Page Return to Home Page