On the air up there

Kimberley McGee

Tuesday, Feb. 2, 1999 | 11:26 a.m.

Baby boomers around the West are twisting the night away as local oldies radio station KQOL-93.1 F.M. is spreading its brand of boogie to six western cities.

"Live! From Las Vegas" is broadcast weeknights, from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m., from the Stratosphere Tower to six of Jacor Broadcasting's 240 stations around the country: KLIX (Twin Falls, Idaho), KLTB (Boise) and KPKY (Pocatello, Idaho); KIST (Santa Barbara, Calif.;) KODJ (Salt Lake City) and KLDZ (Medford, Ore.). Plans are to extend further east soon.

"We want to take the uniqueness and star quality of Las Vegas to those markets that would not have this available otherwise," Mike Ginsburg, vice president of Jacor Broadcasting of Las Vegas, says. "It adds some sizzle to the other communities."

Jacor Broadcasting is spreading the wealth of Las Vegas' entertainment base to smaller markets (about one-tenth the size of Las Vegas' total population) which have previously used "canned" pre-recorded shows for slower nighttime slots, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

By networking this show -- basically sharing it, but for a fee -- to its sister stations, Jacor eliminates the hassles and considerably higher costs of purchasing syndicated shows.

"At night, a (smaller market) radio station's budget is not as much" as it is during the day, explains "Live! From Las Vegas" host Jay Michaels explains. With the show, "We want to put on something different, instead of Johnny DJ."

KLDZ changed to the oldies format from 24-hour talk after Thanksgiving last year.

"We used to be an automated jukebox (at night), with very little talk," Bill Minkler, operations manager for the station. "The network show gives an opportunity to have personalities and interviews, and listeners can call in and request music. It's much more personal."

And cost-effective: Boomers make up a large part of the radio market's advertising dollars.

"Oldies (stations are) usually not one of the top-rated stations in markets," Calvin Gilbert, oldies editor for Records & Radio Magazine, says. "This (program) fills a niche with baby boomers where the advertising money is concentrated."

The show "has a further reach to it than just buying in the local market," Julie Neal, media director for Outback media and a local radio advertising buyer, says. "(Demographically), with an oldies format, this is real appropriate and probably the first time a show like this has come out of Las Vegas in this design."

Tuning in

Michaels, along with Ed Wright, "The Oldies Professor," keep guests -- who have included comedians The Smothers Brothers and musicians Sam and Dave, Bobby Vee, Paul Revere & The Raiders -- and callers guessing with music trivia and tales of the rock 'n' roll era.

"We are bringing stars into (listeners') homes," Michaels says from his radio above the city. "It's the only time that small-town America can have that luxury."

The '50s-flavored show features fast-paced banter, nostalgic slang and a chummy vibe reminiscent of earlier radio days.

Ron Witthaus, a retired truck driver in Medford, Ore., called in to a recent show. Listening 1,600 miles away, he wanted to request a song and tell the "boys" they are doing a great job.

"They use a lot of the language from the '50s that you don't get now," Witthaus says. "These guys bring that back to you.

"When I hear them come on, I know I'm going to have a real good time with those guys," he says.

The guests' anecdotes -- mostly about songs' origins -- also keep him tuned in.

Case in point: Ron Townsend recently explained on the show how the return of a lost wallet (to the producer of the musical "Hair") led to his group, The Fifth Dimension, landing its 1969 hit tune, "The Age of Aquarius."

"You learn the ins and outs of stars' lives," Witthaus says. "(The disc jockeys) bring a lot of things you wouldn't hear forward."

"We are creating radio as we go," Brad Holster, program director and operations manager for KLIX, says of networking the show.

"Small-market radio used to be about making money, and you had no budget, so you'd try to get as much as you can as cheap as you can, and you lose a bit of locality," he says.

With shows such as "Live! From Las Vegas," "This is sharing talent. Smaller markets are getting large market talent without losing the local edge."

Dan Allen, co-project coordinator for the show and KQOL's production manager, explains networking as "a hub-and-spoke concept, where you use one market that is a hub and spread it to the smaller markets."

This is the first Las Vegas-based radio show to be networked among Jacor stations. The company intends to syndicate the show, if it's successful, later this year.

It's an experiment, of sorts: The company will officially introduce the late-night program at the National Association of Broadcasters convention that meets here in April.

Brad Chambers, co-project coordinator for "Live! From Las Vegas" and regional operations manager for Jacor's 14 Idaho stations, says the program has breathed life into the stations' previously canned evening lineups.

"It was a meaningless voice. We haven't had a live body in the studio at night," he says. "Now we have this oldies show from Vegas, with live human beings interacting with (local) people."

The regional sister stations keep in contact daily with KQOL, briefing the DJs about local weather and goings-on -- such as sports and politics -- so that listeners can truly connect with the program

"It's one-on-one with listeners," Holster says. "With the canned shows, you can't give local flavor or talk about (events) coming up, which makes it more personal.

'Still cool'

While baby boomers make up the bulk of oldies listeners, younger generations are also rockin' to the lost genre.

"I listen to a variety of music, but oldies has a different beat; it's more innocent than (music) now," Gabriella Gonzalez, a 20-year-old from Grants Pass, Ore., says.

Valerie Cole, a Las Vegas dancer, listens to the show before work to get motivated. "It makes music from before seem like it's still cool," she says.

Partial credit should go to DJs Michaels and Wright, who party like it's 1959, spontaneously breaking into ballads and crooning one-hit wonders.

Chambers says the show "offers the old, traditional, stereotypical image of the DJ that really made the music happen."

The excitement conveyed by 1950's-era DJs, including Wolfman Jack, Murray the K and Allen Friedman, and their dedication to the music inspired would-be rebels without causes to get up and dance.

"DJ's got excited about the music, got young listeners excited, and we are offering something that reminds the listener of what they grew up with," Chambers says.

The steadfast boomer audience is not just wired for sound. Their preference for The Platters was part of their adolescent makeup.

"People establish their musical tastes from ages 12 to 18, and they take that music with them throughout their lives," Ginsburg explains.