When I arrived in Sacramento in 1978, KROY AM (1240 Khz) had already seen its glory days, dominating Pulse, Hooper, Trendex and Arbitron ratings for decades. While there was memorabilia of the station’s past, including every FCC license issued since 1937, there were no airchecks of the original “Rock ‘n’ Roll KROY” of the ’60’s. For the 16 years I remained employed at 1240 AM, none appeared.So, imagine my delight when, in August of 1996, almost two years after leaving radio, Mike Larsen sent me an aircheck of his overnight show on KROY, 1962, and a copy of his book, Three Score and More, with instructions to turn to page 123 and read about Color Radio KROY, circa 1961!
The book itself is a delightful autobiography, detailing Mike’s incredibly varied career as a singer, radio and TV host, clothing designer, pilot, sheepherder and more. He was truly a Mike of all trades.
Among the “I never knew that!” secrets about KROY that Mike reveals in the book were that engineer Bill Ennis worked on the original ATC cartridge machine at KROY; programming veteran Ted Randall consulted the station in the early 60’s, and Gary Owens did mornings at KROY before hitting the big time at KMPC and Laugh-In in Los Angeles.
In fact, Mike’s book is filled with similar revelations about many other stations (including KSON and WJJD) and people (including many country music stars.) He heard about the Repository from Shotgun Tom Kelly, and has known our friend Gene Knight since Gene was a kid.
Mike, again, my thanks for your contribution. I am sure that many ex-KROY friends, listeners and co-workers will find it fascinating.
Orignally published as ‘scoped on October 6, 1996. Restored and upgraded for mobile on August 2, 2015.
