The small print below the artwork accurate describes the arc traced by KFWB during its years as a pop/rock station in Los Angeles. When I was a kid, 9 or 10 years old circa 1960, KFWB was the background soundtrack to most activities, especially pool parties, car rides when grownups weren't involved, etc.. Great deejays (square -- apart from Bill Ballance -- but professional), programming from a Top 40 playlist that persevered into the '60s, making space for new records that didn't necessarily have "guaranteed hit" stamped all over them. As KRLA began to overtake KFWB among da youth (very much including mem circa 1964), it wisely retained a 40-item playlist, leaving plenty of bubbling- under room similar to KFWB's playlist, only hipper. The coming of KHJ in spring '1965 -- its Bill Drake-devised format now considered a breakthrough moment for fast-paced, tight-playlist market leaders nationwide -- was alarming to music fans the day it debuted, and its pressure on less-restricted stations like KFWB and KRLA was intense. The ground was shifting.
The small print below the artwork accurate describes the arc traced by KFWB during its years as a pop/rock station in Los Angeles. When I was a kid, 9 or 10 years old circa 1960, KFWB was the background soundtrack to most activities, especially pool parties, car rides when grownups weren't involved, etc.. Great deejays (square -- apart from Bill Ballance -- but professional), programming from a Top 40 playlist that persevered into the '60s, making space for new records that didn't necessarily have "guaranteed hit" stamped all over them. As KRLA began to overtake KFWB among da youth (very much including mem circa 1964), it wisely retained a 40-item playlist, leaving plenty of bubbling- under room similar to KFWB's playlist, only hipper. The coming of KHJ in spring '1965 -- its Bill Drake-devised format now considered a breakthrough moment for fast-paced, tight-playlist market leaders nationwide -- was alarming to music fans the day it debuted, and its pressure on less-restricted stations like KFWB and KRLA was intense. The ground was shifting.
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