KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 
 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
I already changed it. Someone (initial L) informed me that I wasn't there there.

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Thanks for this Bill.
I ordered an analog copy for my reading enjoyment.

And thanks for the Amazon review OTD!

Listening to KFAT03 and it excellent so far.

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Cool. Glad you're enjoying the book. Thanks for posting the link to the KFAT airchecks!

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Cool. Glad you're enjoying the book. Thanks for posting the link to the KFAT airchecks!

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 

Wow! I lived in San Jose from 76-86 so I'm very familiar with KFAT (although, my faves at the time were KSJO and KOME). I will have to check this out. Thanks, Bill!
 

 Coaxial wrote: 
You're welcome, but it is actually Gilbert Klein's link. I just now edited my post to make it more clear that the link is one of many from his book.

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
Thanks for the link, G.

 BillG wrote:
  Thank you BillG!
   
I'm not yet halfway through this book, and I've been working on it for a week now. Every time I finish whatever chapter I'm on and decide it's time to put it down and go to bed, I read the title of the next chapter and decide I have to read it too. And the next chapter. Until I just can't read any more.
   
It's a big book, both in pages and in enjoyment. I bought the Kindle version ($9.99 from Amazon - use the RP link) so I could read it on my smartphone and have instant access to the many internet links provided. The hardcover version (644 pages, $27.95 at Amazon) probably has larger, more easily viewed photos. I will probably order it, too, just so I have a permanent copy. It's that good.
 
Speaking of links, this one from the book takes you to a page with 58 mp3 KFAT "airchecks", each about 45 minutes long. Thats about 43 hours of some very FAT music. It's on my phone too, and listening to it while I read the book just doubles the enjoyment.
   
Buy the book! If you have never heard of KFAT, This book will tell you what you missed and will entertain you for days. If you were fortunate enough to have been there when it was happening, you only thought you knew all about it. Again, this book will tell you what you missed. The memories alone are well worth the price of the book.

Very cool, Bill! 

I was one of the very few people who had read the book "FM" (note that I couldn't even find a link to the book on which the film was based), and was a big fan of "WKRP in Cincinnati" long before the interwebs existed.  So when I went looking for the iconic "Turkey Drop" episode I was thrilled to read a more complete backstory after all these years.

I look forward to reading the book, and file it aside stories spun from stations like WQXI-AM and WXRT (a Chicago FM indy station that just happened to be there in the '70s when people rushed en masse to the FM dial) as told straight from the mouth of their own Johnny Mars.  History like this needs to be preserved.

 BillG wrote: 
I met him and several others at the KFAT tent during one of the Garlic festivals. When I think about it all (my life) now, it was such an odd and unique experience for me out there, having grown up in a relatively small North Carolina town. I do treasure those memories, although much of it is a blur by now. So many things happened to and around me out there, and I was just 20-21. I wasn't exactly what you'd call worldly, but I had a blank slate to work with, so KFAT fit perfectly with that. For a while I tried to get out of the Army and just stay out there. One of my pals did that
(got out) and went up to Grant's Pass, Oregon and hooked up with a biker gang. I didn't figure on doing that but I did give it a passing consideration.
Thanks for putting the link up to G.K.'s site. Very interesting. I understand he was sort of monitoring the KFAT web site for a while. Now I guess it just lives in perpetuity. It's not for everyone, but I love it, and I love having been associated with it, even in my small capacity. 

 oldviolin wrote: 
Yes, I knew Gordy a bit from the pre-KFAT days, and from his time at KPIG — plus here & there during his last couple of years. I was living in Hawaii during the time he did mornings at KFAT. 

 BillG wrote: 
Bill, I was wondering if you knew Gordy at all. He and Sister Tiny as well as Laura Ellen were on a lot when I listened in the early days, as well as Cousin Al with his bluegrass mania. 

 BillG wrote: 
(bump)

 OlderThanDirt wrote: 
I think you're probably referring to Jeremy Lansman's "Fat Dork Show". For that, he provides details but as for an explanation — I'm not sure there is one :-).

 BillG wrote: 
Ordered it!

Will it explain the Dolby experiment that seemed to go on for hours in the middle of the night?

 BillG wrote: 
Thanks, Bill.

And also for you historians:

 

Carson chronicles Detroit pop music between World War II and Motown Records' early-1970s removal to L.A., delineating loud, intense Motor City acts from John Lee Hooker to Bob Seger and drawing lines of influence between white and black acts. During the period, Detroit's gritty, high-powered, seemingly urban industrial music had national influence. ...Mitch Ryder preceded Janis Joplin in defining blue-eyed soul, the MC5 provided the soundtrack to the sixties revolution, and Grand Funk Railroad spawned the mullet era of arena rock. And then there's Iggy and the Stooges. 

This book ends in 1970, which is quit fitting because the rock literally died around here during that time. There are various reasons for this, which are explored diligently within these pages. This book also goes into the importance of truly great freeform radio stations (yes they actually used to exist), like WABX (and WKNR), and how they influenced the growth of the culture. These radio stations in conjunction with publications like `Creem' helped to shape and permanently alter the musical landscape—not just in Detroit, but nationwide as well. 

Listening to the KFAT stream...cool hippy country and western tunes, yee haw. 

 BillG wrote: 
Very cool, Bill, thanks.