My first day on KKEZ was Monday, August 18, 1986. In his infinite wisdom, Program Director Jim Davis hired me for 6PM-Midnight. I was all of 22 years old, still very “raw” and undeveloped. But thanks to Jim, I now had a shot at nights on a 100,000 watt CHR that reached more than 30 counties in Iowa. By the way, Jim was one of the best PDs I ever had. A decade before coming to Fort Dodge, he did mornings on the legendary KIOA/Des Moines. In the short 7 months that I worked for him, I learned more from that man than I did for several years afterwards.
At the time we came to town, KKEZ was getting hammered by Q102 out of Des Moines. They transmitted from one of the big TV sticks near Ankeny and placed a city grade signal into Fort Dodge. You heard them everywhere. Our mission was to take the Q out of town. We were largely successful.
On September 1, 1986, “94 KKEZ” was transformed into flamethrowin, ass kickin’ “Z94.” All the imaging was removed. The only recorded drop used was the Legal ID which aired at :00. Mandatory talk after every song. All hits, no stiffs. Lots of personality, phones, and fun. A most enjoyable gig, to say the least!
This clip includes the imaging that was used prior to the Z94 launch as well as Jim’s “Birthplaces of Rock and Roll in Iowa” Legal ID which began airing on September 1st. The recordings were made directly off the KKEZ studio air monitor onto a Marantz Superscope “pro” cassette deck (mono, unfortunately.) Since the station had a large supply of bulk 92-minute “black” cassettes, this is what I used for airchecks.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the only surviving recording of the Jim Davis KKEZ Legal ID. Previously unreleased, it’s been locked in Drew’s Basement Archives for nearly 33 years.
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