This market composite was recorded in the back seat of a rental car while riding through downtown Phoenix on I-10! I was 17 years old, vacationing with my family as we traveled to Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Fortunately, I came prepared with my boombox, headphones, plus lots of blank tapes and spare batteries.
Even in the short time I was there, I managed to record 6 of the market’s top stations:
1. KOOL-FM 94.5. This was the ORIGINAL “Kool” station. The only one to ever have actual KOOL call letters. Weekends were now “solid gold” as they continued a gradual transformation to all Oldies. The DJ on duty was Ron Cossack.
2. KUPD-FM 97.9, licensed to Tempe. One of two Rock stations in the market. The other was…
3. KDKB-FM 93.3, licensed to Mesa. For years, their positioning statement was “93 KDKB Rocks Arizona!”
4. KZZP-FM 104.7, licensed to Mesa. This is the legendary CHR that later became home to Clarke Ingram and Bruce Kelly. On this day, Randy Stewart was behind the microphone.
5. KOY-AM 550. Although FM was starting to take over in this market, the big AMs were still healthy. Specifically, KOY and KTAR. KOY was Full Service A/C at this time.
6. KOPA-FM 98.7, licensed to Scottsdale. They were the market’s dominant FM AC outlet.
This recording was made using a Pioneer AM/FM/cassette “boombox” with telescoping antenna. Original source tape was a TDK D90. However, this is a second generation dub which was transferred to digital. Because this was before dual cassette decks became available, I used two stereo decks connected directly with the levels set properly. Even as a high school kid, I was very meticulous when it came to audio quality!