By Hardy Price

The Arizona Republic, N1 – December 11, 1977

Two days and two nights on the road. Fighting fatigue and accidents by playing the radio. Picking up Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Chicago, Fort Worth. Listening to announcers pitching everything from pine tar and Pontiacs to alum and autographed photos of Jesus that glow in the dark.

Roaring up I-10 north of Casa Grande in the pre-dawn hours. It was with great anticipation that eyes started straining for the blinking red lights atop South Mountain. Not only would it mean that home was near and the end of a long trip, but the tinny car radio speakers would begin to shoot with familiar voices.

Hey that’s Toad Hall on KDKB and there’s Heywood on KOY and Spero on KXIV. Wonder what corn Len Ingebrigtsen is dishing out this morning on KOOL? Art Webb, W. Steven Martin and Richard Ruiz on KRIZ, KUPD and KRUX, respectively, will have already started to talk a mile-a-minute. Chris O’Connor at KNIX and Larry Scott at KJJJ have already fed the chickens, milked the cows and slopped the hogs, getting ready for four hours of Buck, Willie, Ol’ Waylon and Hag. Too bad Johnnie Linn is no longer talking about July pork bellies on KTAR.

Just as soon as the sun breaks over the Superstitions, the Christian stations will start saving souls, KMCR will begin educating and KXTC will be denying rumors that it will change from an all jazz format to a gospel-Christian-Catholic-Jewish-Zen-agnostic country-western station.

That’s good old Phoenix radio. A little something for just about everybody, unless you happen to be black. Phoenix has 33 radio stations (18 AM and 11 FM) but not one with a dominant black format. Matter of fact, Phoenix is the largest metropolitan radio market without a black station.

It would seem that Phoenix has just about more radio stations than anybody. According to Spot Radio Rates and Data, a monthly radio trade publication, Phoenix has more radio stations than Los Angeles, 28; San Diego, 18; Denver, 26; Miami, 24; Chicago, 27; Kansas City, 20; St. Louis, 23; Buffalo, 28; New York, 29; Boston, 28; Dallas, 18; Houston, 25 and Salt Lake City, 18.

Radio in Phoenix grew with the population boom. KOY signed on first in 1922, but KTAR gets the nod as the first commercial radio station to hit the air, also in 1922. KOY started out as an experimental station with the call letters of 6BBH. It turned commercial shortly after KTAR.

KJJJ (then called KPHO) went on the air in 1940 to be followed by KRUX and KQXE (formerly KBUZ) in 1946, KOOL in 1947, and KIFN in 1949. Things really began to pick up in the 1950s with KRIZ (1950), KXIV (1954), KHEP (1956), KSGR (1956), KMEO (1957), and KPHX (1958) right on into the 1960s with KNIX (1960), KUPD (1960), KRDS (1960), KDKB (1960), KCHS (1962), and KASA (1966).

You have to understand that some of the call letters are not the same ones as those originally granted the licenses. Many times when ownership changes, so do call letters. And a recent Federal Communications Commission recommendation calls for stations with both AM and FM outlets to have separate call letters. The FCC has already required that stations with both outlets provide substantial differences in programming, thereby eliminating the goold old days of cost-cutting, simultaneous broadcasting.

For many stations in Phoenix, cost-cutting is essential. There are just so many ways to split the profits pie and no matter how thin the slices, somebody always comes out with the crumbs.

“This just might be as competitive a radio market as there is in the country,” said one station manager. “And that does make it hard on the coffee pots (small stations). I would guess there’s always one or two stations in the Phoenix market for sale.”

Radio stations, just like any business, operate in different ways. One station use to pay its on-air staff by allowing the staffers to sell their own programs, splitting the fee with the station management. “I was trying to sell spots on my show for $8,” said a former disc jockey. “Come to find out this other jock is going to the same people offering spots on his show for $6. Helluva way to make a living?”

This instance is an exception to be sure, but would seem to indicate that all is not well on local airwaves. To attempt to judge the relative healthiness of a station by checking the rating can be just as misleading. There are almost as many ways to interpret radio ratings as there are ways to interpret the bible.

Station managers privately admit to this, but would rather see their children spirited away by gypsies in the night than tell a potential advertiser that his station is not at least No. 1 during some time of the day.

Several years ago one station manager wrote an advertiser, and friend, asking for a letter of recommending the merits of buying time on the station. The station’s rating was so low that even a ladder wouldn’t provide much help. “I really hated not to write him the letter,” said the friend. “I know it would probably help him, but next year when I go to buy advertising, he could pull my letter out and tell me I could afford to pay more since advertising on his station proved to be of such benefit to me.”

Pratt is paired with co-host Kassi Jayde, a former assistant producer with JohnJay & Rich on Clear Channel Kiss FM. Other notable members of the show will include Channel 12 news anchor Mark Curtis, voiceover, imaging and production artist, Rob Trygg, and assistant producer Alexis Rodriguez.

Interested in your thoughts. Leave your comments below!

Her project, “Lee Stone’s World of Sound” first aired on Zona Rocks (zonarocks.com) Saturday, April 9 and airs on “The Buzz,” Prescott Valley’s rock station.

“I am very excited to be in control of my own broadcasts,” Stone tells Phoenix Airchecks.

In addition to the new show, Stone will continue producing and anchoring traffic for six markets at Metro Networks.

Courtesy: Inside Music Media

Veteran programmer, media professor and writer of Inside Music Media, Jerry Del Colliano, is set for his second annual Media Solutions Lab to be held this year at the Phoenician resort in Scottsdale Thursday, January 27.

The Media Solutions Lab is dedicated to collaboration and innovation with all who attend, regarding emerging technology, career opportunities, and getting out of the rut of old technology– or even terrestrial radio itself. Del Colliano outlines multiple topics regarding media and its changing trends, technology, and business growth to prepare for the trends and upcoming generations.

After attendees have a complimentary lunch, they can choose one of four labs hosted by the likes of Lee Abrams (most recently of Tribune and XM), Jim Farley (VP/News & Programming, WTOP in Washington DC), Chris Satullo (Executive Director of News and Civic Dialogue, WHYY in Philadelphia), and John Simson (former-Executive Director, SoundExchange).

Detailed information and prices on this day-long event can be found here.

Pratt has been away from mornings on CBS Radio Phoenix’s KMLE Country 108 since December 2008, but his contract is still in-effect to this day.

In a mass-email sent out today, Pratt updated his mailing list on how summer has been, his latest projects, and his hope to return on-the-air, depending on what CBS Radio does with his contract on its final year.

Pratt could return in as little as a few months if all goes his way.

“My hope is that CBS will not pick up the option on my final year,” wrote Pratt. “Sure, it’s been a long, paid vacation, but I am more than ready to get back in the air chair.”

Under the CBS Radio contract, Pratt remained off the air since December 2008 and has been spending more time with his family, remaining active in the community and blogging daily on AZCentral.com.

“If CBS does not pick up the option, I will be back in a few months,” Pratt wrote. He’s not ruling out rock, talk, country or sports.

Painting by artist and listener Brian Brooks, in celebration of Radio Free Phoenix's 6th birthday and depicting founder Andy Olson.

Radio Free Phoenix (RadioFreePhoenix.com), the free-form internet rock radio station based in the Valley, turns six years old this week.

Founded by Phoenix radio veteran Andy Olson in 2004, Radio Free Phoenix has continued to gain a loyal group of listeners that grow each year. The station prides itself on being free-form and on the internet. The on-air lineup is made of terrestrial radio veterans– a majority being from the Phoenix market–who have made the transition into the world of internet radio.

Some Radio Free Phoenix names that longtime Valley radio listeners would remember include Andy Olson (KSTM, KSLX, KZON), Liz Boyle (KOOL, KDKB, KESZ), Dave Cooper (KZON, KYOT, KJZZ), and Angela Allen (KOOL).

Bruce Jacobs, formerly hosting weekends at Fox Sports Radio and morning show host at Clear Channel Phoenix’s NewsTalk 550 KFYI, has landed a new job in the world of sports radio.

Jacobs will be joining Sporting News Radio. The time slot has not yet been announced.

Michael James, Technical Director for WestStar TalkRadio Network’s Kim Komando show was on his way to work Saturday morning when he was flagged down by a jogger and directed to a vehicle submerged in a water canal running near the road. That was where he saw a 77-year-old Valley woman struggling to escape her vehicle.

James removed some clothing and rushed into the water. The woman was close to being swept away by a current, according to James, but before it would occur, James got a hold of the woman. The jogger got to a grate and was able to pull the woman up by her arms, saving her life.

Rush Limbaugh returned to his show today after a week and a half long leave of absence. Limbaugh married girlfriend of three years, Kathryn Rogers, on Saturday, June 5 at The Breakers luxury resort in Palm Beach.

He devoted a part of his show to “relive” it rather than begin talking about the usual politics and recent events.

Limbaugh opened up to his audience about how he met Kathryn six years ago, the wedding, and shared the story of the challenge for he and Kathryn to get to Elton John to ask him to sing at their wedding. He did not mention any of this prior because he tries to keep his life private, but that he currently has never been happier.

Limbaugh had known 33 year old Kathryn Rogers for six years, who was a local party-planner that happened to be working at some golf events Limbaugh would attend.

“I met Kathryn when she was running the foundation for Gary Player, and part of that job was to put together celebrity golf tournaments for Gary Player at various places,” Limbaugh explained.

They began dating in 2007 and got engaged on October 3 of last year in Pittsburgh– a city which Limbaugh said had significance for the both of them.

Limbaugh credits Kathryn for getting Elton John’s attention as they worked to get him to play at their wedding. She wrote him a letter when they found out several months ago that they were staying in the same hotel.

Limbaugh had high praises for Elton on-stage in front of their 400 guests as well as off-stage.

“We met Elton backstage prior to the performance. He walked in, gave me a hug, gave Kathryn a big hug, invited us to dinner at his home in London. He was dead serious about it, and we had just the greatest chat with him backstage,” Limbaugh said. “He told Kathryn that she reminded him of somebody in his life that was very beautiful, and we just had the greatest time.”

The honeymoon took place in Las Vegas, with a stop in Detroit on the way home to get their second sheepdog, Wellesley. They returned last night and have not yet seen their wedding photos, Limbaugh said, although he is being asked about them.

Video showing fifteen minutes of Rush’s show, here.