Sunday, August 24, 2008

Chip Chip? or Johnny Angel?

Someone has made a comment about what was the first song played on K/men in March 1962.
I've heard an aircheck of Huckleberry stating that it was Chip Chip, and that the reasoning for playing that song first was that they wanted to chip away at KFXM's ratings.
The comment below stated he heard from Bill Watson? that it was Johnny Angel. I know Johnny Angel was the first number one song listed the K/mentertainer (See March of this year for a picture).
Are there any comments from people who were there, or heard the opening broadcast?
Tim Perrin has left a new comment on your post "K/men returns 3/10/2008":


You say the first song on KMEN was Chip Chip. I beg to differ.
As I recall, it was Johnny Angel by Shelly Fabres to kick off Huckleberry's show at 6:00 a.m. Of course, I'm quite willing to be wrong and I wasn't listening but remember hearing this second hand (from Bill Watson?) but that's my recollection.
I was a quick convert to KMEN right from the get go. My friends and I wired the governors on the dials on our phones so we could dial the contest number more quickly (681-1291) and just hit the return once for the ones. It got so we'd win so many contests they wouldn't put us on the air any more, just give us the movie passes. I don't think I paid for a movie throughout high school. (Ramona, '67).
But I also remember the first night I heard KFXM. I was eight and my folks were out with some friends of theirs so I was bunked in with the friends' 15-year-old. He had on Gary Price's show and I remember hearing Tequila for the first time.
My exposure to radio at KFXM and KMEN triggered a love affair with the medium that lead to a 15 year career that started at UCR's campus station, then to KPRO in Riverside, KFRC-FM in San Francisco, and KSJO and KPSJ in San Jose before I moved to British Columbia and switched from being a DJ to news. And it was all because of guys like Huckleberry, William F. Williams, Bill Watson, Brian Lord, Mark Denis (with whom I stayed in contact for years, R.I.P.) and Gary Price (whom I ended up working with when I was at KFRC-FM in San Francisco and he was also with RKO). Lots of fond memories, here. Thanks. Tim Perrin

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