Before 1290 was KMEN it was radio station KITO since 1947. I believe right before they switched over, the music they played was country. But at least one week in the fifties they played Rock 'n' Roll. This is the only survey I've seen for KITO and Put Your Head On My Shoulders-Paul Anka was number 1 the week beginning 10/12/59.
Th DJs were Gary Fuller Alan Bowles Dave Lee and Harry Gift and the first two of them worked split shifts. Has any other station done this? Was this a common thing to do?
Anyone have more info on KITO rock years? I have seen no other surveys. Anyone have any others out there?
Th DJs were Gary Fuller Alan Bowles Dave Lee and Harry Gift and the first two of them worked split shifts. Has any other station done this? Was this a common thing to do?
6 comments:
Now that's a rare find on this
KITO survey. I never even heard
of KITO until KMEN came along in 62.
So KFXM had actual competion back then. What years was KITO a rock
station?
I remember KITO prior to 1962 as a "Middle of the Road" kind of music station. For a while, maybe 1959 and 1960, I believe they carried LA Dodgers Baseball. I don't remember their Rock days, but vaguely recall they tried country music for a while. The week before K/MEN started in February, 1962, they "stunted" with all sorts of teases to get listeners to listen to the format change. I lived in Riverside from 1959-65 and now live in Kentucky. I have many fond memories of K/MEN and KFXM. Radio was GREAT in those days.
Did the letters ITO of KITO stand for anything or were they part of any slogan before or after they were assigned?
Curious One
Visiting San Bernardino in the late 1950's I remember KITO being country. My uncle who hated country music would dial in to hear the Dodger games there. I never heard it as top40, It must have been very short lived. I remember 1240 KRNO had a short run at top 40 I think just before the time 1290 switched. I worked for Harry Gift in 1967 in Ventura. He is now in Klamath Falls Oregon. Jonny Bruce
I agree with 'Ananonymous' No. 1 that this is a rare find. Regarding split shifts, Doug you will find in my book, Aircheck, The Story of Top 40 Radio in San Diego that XEAK did this all the time and so did KCBQ in the 1950's. The XEAK explanation is simple, they had to dedicate a portion of their air time each day to Mexican broadcasts. The DJ was therefore designated in time slots before and after the Mexicans did their thing. I believe it was deliberately shown as a split shift on the XEAK surveys so that English speaking listeners would know to tune back in. Thanks for sharing that survey.
Dad (Gary Fuller) remembered these days as really fun. Looking for pictures of when he was at the station.
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