The Jeff March Collection
 KBLA "Rock-A-Top" Survey, July, 1965 KFWB "Fabulous 40", June, 1965
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Jeff March, co-author of Echoes of the Sixties and Where Have All The Pop Stars Gone? - Volume 1, and Where Have All The Pop Stars Gone - Volume 2, grew up in Los Angeles during the golden age of Southern California Top 40, and worked in California radio between the mid-1960s and the mid-'70s. While a journalism student studying broadcasting at San Fernando Valley State College (later renamed California State University, Northridge), he got his first commercial radio job in late 1967 as a board operator at Spanish-language KSFV San Fernando (106.3 mHz)--which went dark in the spring of 1968. From there, he joined KVFM San Fernando (94.3 mHz) doing weekend board op shifts and relief before moving to 9:30-midnight weekdays--for $1.60 per hour. In 1969 Jeff moved on to country-formatted KIEV Glendale (870 AM) where the hours and the pay were a lot better. By 1970 he also was running Mutual Network news feeds out of KBBQ Burbank (1500 AM), working with newscasters Charles Arlington and Mark Stacey.After a stint as a recording studio engineer in Hollywood, Jeff moved with his wife Marsha to the Sierra Nevada foothills town of Auburn, where in May 1972 he became program director of KAHI (950 kHz) and KAFI (101.1 mHz), a small-town radio operation. That autumn he moved on to top-40 leader KROY Sacramento (1240 kHz), of which he was production director until early 1974. From that point, with the exception of a couple of brief and largely unsuccessful forays into sales at KNDE (1470 kHz) and KGMS (1380 kHz) in Sacramento, Jeff has worked principally in print communication, encompassing copy writing, advertising management and editorial supervision of news publications.
In 1993 he and Marti Smiley Childs — with whom Jeff worked at the University of California, Davis for a decade — formed EditPros, a firm in Davis that provides writing and editing services for businesses, government agencies and research and trade organizations. In 1997 Jeff and Marti began work on their book Echoes of the Sixties, which was published in November 1999 by Billboard Books. Chapters on seven musical groups and solo performers are included. Through conversations with performers, producers, managers and family members, the book offers fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpses into the lives of The Association, Herman's Hermits, The Kingston Trio, Chris Montez, The Spiral Starecase, Bobby Vee, and The Zombies. They followed that in 2012 with Where Have All The Pop Stars Gone? -- Volume 2, containing chapters about The Buckinghams, Bobby Goldsboro, The Moody Blues, Donnie Brooks, Sam & Dave, Ray Stevens and The Grass Roots. They have begun work on a third volume. EditPros has evolved into book publishing, with a catalog of titles by a half-dozen authors. |
Scoped
[DESCRIPTION BY UNCLE RICKY, CONTRIBUTED BY JEFF MARCH]
This aircheck comes out of the gate like a winner. Glynn Shannon is ready to roll, he sounds friendly and happy, the TM jingles are great and the first two records are right on target for a midday 25-49 audience. And then, inexplicably, the station changes to the iPod format, right before our very ears. KGW, classic call letters going back to 1922, are tossed aside in favor of the jukebox concept. So, Super 62 stumbles a few minutes into this recording and never quite gets up again.
KGW had better days, for sure, but at least 620 Khz still had the call letters in 1979. In 2008, it’s KPOJ, a progressive talk format.
Scoped
[Description by Uncle Ricky; Contributed by Jeff March]
Bobby Box seems to have spent most of his broadcasting career in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but he also worked in Lubbock and Austin, Texas, Cleveland, Ohio, and for some period of time, he was the morning guy on market leader KROY in Sacramento, California. This restored studio aircheck features Bobby in the 8-9AM hour on 1240/KROY from Labor Day, September 3, 1973. This is genuine Top 40, evidenced by the musical variety!
The State Fair is in town, and the big Bike To School promotion is with the now-defunct local department store chain Weinstocks. Bobby keeps reading names on the air, listeners have only 60 seconds to call, and in those days before mobile phones, it would seem difficult to qualify. Bobby correctly predicts the new Allman Brothers record as a hit, but his prediction for Cat Stevens misses the mark. Mr. Box also liked to jump on records before they had actually finished, and he accidentally gets “stuck” on one selection in the vestibule.
Bobby was voted into the New Mexico Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2006 and is apparently still on the air in Albuquerque daily, as of the publication of this page on February 12, 2017.
Unscoped
Scoped
[Description by Uncle Ricky; Contributed by Jeff March] I heard the name Downtown Barry Brown years ago, but never actually heard him on the air. He sounds quite comfortable here, stylish, I guess, downtown in a casual sense, but not too slick for the room. Music is interesting, genuine Top 40 Variety for 1981. Brown’s board work is very clean and this station sounded good. Famous Amos worked at KIDD. More about this recording below. Downtown Barry Brown should not be confused with REELRADIO’s own Barry Brown, who has continued to assist REELRADIO as System Administrator. And now, an audio note. This one sounds a little gritty, I didn’t do the transfer but I suspect it was a slow-speed reel or cassette recording and some of those older tapes drop oxide, and sometimes consumer tape decks don’t hold the tape against the head tightly. I hear wrinkled tape passing over the head. When contributor Jeff March checks in, he’ll confirm or dispute my hypothesis. In any event, thanks for another exclusive exhibit, Jeff! Downtown Barry Brown, KIDD Monterey CA., August 8, 1981 ©2015 REELRADIO, Inc.
Unscoped
Scoped
Scoped
Description by Uncle Ricky; Contributed by Jeff March]
Robert W. Morgan has a busy hour this Memorial Day Morgan in 1973, with two Phrase That Pays calls, two young ladies requesting to be Morganized, an Indy 500 report and a Top Ten LP giveaway.
B.R. Bradbury is also busy with HOTLINE NEWS. The next day is an election day in a runoff for L.A. Mayor.
Music was restored to this aircheck which was originally ‘scoped, but all the news, commercial announcements, jingles and promos are included.