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KKDJ

Frank Jolley joined KKDJ while still on the air at KNAC-FM Long Beach, California. The airs staff included; Larry Hayes 6A.M - 12 noon, Ed Shane Noon to 6 P.M., Frank Jolley 7-12 Midnight and Jeff Salgo and Billy Pearl alternating the overnight shift. KKDJ was run by a HAL 900 IBM automation and had very much difficulty until it was scrapped.

KKDJ -FM 102.7 was the Stereo Rock Voice of Los Angeles, California from late 1971 until 1975 when KIIS AM merged with the station in broadcast marriage and changed it's call letters to KIIS - FM.

The original staff of the FM Giant was Ed Shane Program Director, Larry Hayes Mornings 6am-12 noon, Ed Shane 12 noon - 6pm, Frank Jolley 6pm - midnight, and Billy Pearl and Jeff Salgo rotating nights from 12 midnight - 6am.

During the transition to KKDJ from KNAC Jolley was asked by Jim Harden to continue on his 7-midnight air shift at KNAC. So, what was he to do? Both stations agreed that it would be OK for him to be on both stations at the same time, since the KKDJ was run by a four bank Insta Cart tape automation system. and KNAC was Brodcasting live broadcasts twenty four hours at a time.

KKDJ 's air studio included four Insta-carts ( huge rack mounted cartridge machines that held up to 48 cartridges of music and commercials <you remember what 8 tracks looked like>) and one ten inch reel to reel machine with a reel to reel tape for the voice tracks made by the disc jockeys earlier in the day and played back during their regularly scheduled airshift. KKDJ was at that time in September of 1971 completely automated so it made no difference whether Jolley was actually in the station or not. Jolley said " I was at a convenience store in Lake Isabella, California one Saturday night and I heard myself on the radio. I said to the guy behind the counter, '...that's me on the radio' and he replied, '... Yeah well I'm Elvis I left my other suit at home, now you buyin that beer or what?' "

Now knowing that the management of KNAC would take well over 30 days to find a suitable replacement for Jolley, he agreed to stay on until such a person was located. Jolley in the meantime was garnering over 25% of the teen audience in Los Angeles by being on KKDJ 102.7 from 7p.m. to midnight AND on KNAC 105.5 from 6 to midnight programming to two dissimilar audiences. KKDJ was playing a Top 40 format with time and temperature and lively chatter and KNAC was playing a hard rock format and Jolley talked in depth about artists if he talked at all, KNAC was mostly segueing Beatles, Stones, Doors and Led Zeppelin thus not much dial switching nor audience sharing went on between those two stations, the KNAC audience was 18-35 while KKDJ was targeting a 12+ audience.

Before Jolley could arrive for his first airshift at KKDJ Ed Shane was let go and Bill Comb was hired as the new Program Director. They were as different as Oil and Water. Bill was not familiar with California nor the Top 40 format and having just been separated from the Army he wanted his old job back. On the recommendation of a friend was hired by KKDJ to replace Ed Shane who'd fostered the Stereo Rock format that was being aired at KKDJ on WPLO-FM in Atlanta.

Jolley goes on to tell the story of the KKDJ Panic button. The radio station was located in the Sunset and Vine Tower in Hollywood, California. KKDJ was on the 16th floor and The Famous ROOM at The TOP Hollywood Restaurant was located on the 20th floor. Jolley's airshift was between 7 P.M. - 12 midnight and at around 9 P.M. the building management, for some reason locked down all the elevators except the most used number one (of four) elevators and it became an express to the Room at the Top Restaurant. When this happened the elevator created so much static electricity that when it zoomed from floor one to twenty the radio frequency static produced would be as if someone had magically reached in and pushed start on all 192 cartridge machines and it fired all insta cart tape machines and they would then be playing on the air. Think of it 192 tape cartridges of songs, commercials and Jingles, plus the reel to reel voice tracks all playing at the same time. listen again to the above aircheck and imagine everything you hear during that 60 seconds playing simultaneously, on the air and multiply mentally all four banks of tape cartridges on the air! It sounded like AM radio sky wave or static in the middle of ratings and still early enough to drive listeners away from the station and back to the AM dial. Jeff Salgo the all night engineer and producer of commercials realized what was happening when he filled in for Jolley one night. He advised the engineering department that the only remedy would be to either go live at night and play records or install a button that would take all the machines off the air and a tape machine in the main production studio ( where we actually made our voice tracks ) would start the song SUPERSTAR by the Carpenters. One Wednesday night in September of 1971 "Superstar by the Carpenters" played as many as twelve times between 7p.m. and midnight!

When I first went to the station to meet with Ed Shane the station was in an old house on fifth street near the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles. The station was playing album cuts and singles live but the plan was to go to the Insta Carts tape machines as soon as the studio was moved to the Sunset and Vine Tower.

KKDJ was the sister station of WWDJ in New Jersey beaming and blasting a flamethrower (as they called it) signal all over New York City.

George Burns a major radio consultant was the groups National Program Director and had OK'd the offer to me by the station." Jolley remembers", K.K.D.J. FM 102.7 (Now K.I.I.S. FM) was to go head to head with Bill Drakes K.H.J. 920 kc on the AM dial , the station that dominated the 18 to 49 audience in Los Angeles. I'd been on the air a t K.N.A.C. in long Beach since early 1970 and had brought the station's 7 to midnight slot from no traceable audience to fifth in the Los Angeles market in teens in eighteen months. The Arbitron showed K.N.A.C. with a nighttime rating of .05. K.H.J. had 9.5, KEZY AM in Anaheim had a 1.0 in Los Angeles with their own brand of top 40 and five thousand watts. So, getting into the Arbitron caught the eye of both Burns and Shane. Actually Shane knew me from ten years earlier when he was an intern at W.P.L.O. in Atlanta and I was the 7 to midnight rock jock and that gave me an inside track on getting my foot in the door of a Los Angeles radio station. While we amused ourselves that K.N.A.C. was in the Los Angeles market our station ID even said so, we were a small 3000 watt FM that could barely be heard in Hollywood Hills if you were looking for it and had an FM antennae.

Being part of the original staff at the station gave me an insiders point of view of what the station was attempting to accomplish.

While Jolley was on the air at K.K.D.J. He kept close contact with both Ron McCoy and the Owners of K.N.A.C. in Long Beach. Recording K.N.A.C. station Id's in the K.K.D.J. production room the new station Id's were immediately placed into rotation On K.N.A.C. and were still airing when Jolley returned to K.N.A.C. in Early March.

Ed Shane was gone the day before Jolley arrived and Bill Comb was hired. Bill wasn't that familiar with how the format was supposed to work so he trudged forward to create a new Stereo Rock for Southern California sound of his own, lending to the fact that KKDJ didn't get off the ground until later in the 70's. By the end of 1971 both Larry Hayes and I were gone. Jolley became Program Director of KYMS in Santa Ana until May at which time Jim Ladd and Jerry Longdon left KNAC for KLOS in Los Angeles and Jolley was rehired but instead of doing the nighttime, 7p.m.- midnight he was heard in the mornings, both KYMS and KNAC were competitors doing the album rock format. The KNAC aircheck is a Morning show aircheck.

KKDJ became the first and most popular DISCO rock station in Los Angeles in the late 70s.

More on KKDJ and its innovative sound and stories to follow. KKDJ did eventually become the top rock formatted station in Los Angeles and it gained its success just prior to the takeover of K.I.I.S - A.M. Radio station

Who is Frank Jolley? Frank Jolley is how he was known on the radio. Frank Jolley began his media career while still serving in the United States Navy at W.P.T.X Radio Station in Sunny Southern Maryland and ventured his way to Hollywood via the airwaves and K.K.D.J. - F.M. (Now K.I.I.S. - FM). Heard exclusively in Hollywood from 1970 to 1977 he then gained national popularity with his syndicated SH-BOOM RADIO SHOW. Frank attended both FIWI and The Hollywood Film Institute. While earning his way as both a disc jockey and M.C..(You may have seen him introduce The Rolling Stones, Blue Oyster Cult, AeroSmith or Bo Diddley and Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and many others including his Woodstock story <see above>), and an underground filmmaker of the sixties. He operated the midnight movie venue titled 'Underground Cinema Twelve' at the Art and Western Theaters? A place where very many members of the Producers Guild screened much of their early work.

Your draft article, Franke Jolley

Hello Rockitradio. It has been over six months since you last edited your WP:AFC draft article submission, entitled Franke Jolley.