RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION
By Adam R Jacobson
Call it nostalgia. Call it boredom from hearing the Imanbek remix of “Roses” by Saint Jhn way too many times. Call it COVID-19 propelled mental instability.
I’ve been listening to vintage airchecks of one of the greatest Top 40 stations the world has ever seen — a Los Angeles-based operation with a world-renown air talent anchoring the highly rated station.
No, I’m not talking about 93 KHJ, which got another moment in the sun with the film “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.” Rather, the subject of this column is 102.7 KIIS-FM and the man who towered over the West Coast for more than two decades: Rick Dees.
Sure, Dees’ on-air shtick and questionably sexist commentary is certainly debatable in this #MeToo era. Yes, his star faded across the last 15 years while former sidekick Ellen K. is a top-rated star in her own right at KOST-FM 103.5 in Los Angeles.
But, no one can deny that the dominance of Dees and then-Gannett owned KIIS is the stuff of legend. And, perhaps it offers the modern-day operator a good learning lesson of how to build and maintain a winner — especially in difficult times.
On Nov. 7, 1980, following an airing of The History of Rock and Roll, VP/GM Neil Rockoff announced that KHJ would conclude some 15 years as a Top 40 station by switching to Country.
It could have been the end of Dees’ tenure in Los Angeles, which started with the April 1979 announcement that KHJ owner RKO was transferring the man mainly known for the novelty single “Disco Duck” from its WHBQ-AM in Memphis. Instead, it served as an incubator for much of the characters and flow of what would come over the next decade.
It would be at KIIS-FM, which became a Gannett property through the company’s mid-1978 multi-million acquisition of Combined Communications. It was a deal that saw headlines of the day focus on its proposed ownership of 79 daily newspapers, rather than 21 radio and television stations – the maximum number of broadcast outlets permitted by government regulations in 1978.
Among those stations: KIIS-AM 1150, a “Middle of the Road” station typical of the times; and KIIS-FM, which was all-Disco. Dees joined in July 1981; Radio & Records and Billboard didn’t even mention it. By summer 1982, however, that began to change. A Billboard feature on the Los Angeles radio market noted that KIIS-FM was ranked first among eight contemporary radio stations. That said, the following commentary was offered: KIIS is interesting in that just when you’ve decided to change the station, some extra terrestrial being comes down to earth and drops in a decent oldie. There you are surrounded by Barbra Streisand and the Eagles and all of a sudden, “It’s The Same Old Song” by the Four Tops comes on.
It added: It’s only in the last few months that the station has carved out a definition for itself and GM Wally Clark … and his staff are to be commended for an incredible job … As for Dees, he’s fitting in nicely.
Hidden among the commentary was a promotion that awarded a Porsche and $20,000 in cash to the 50th person who called in after four songs were played in a specific order.
Put that contest in the back of your head for a moment, as KIIS in spring 1982 was suddenly No. 6 in The Birch Report and the Rick Carroll-led KROQ was getting all of the attention for its revolutionary “ROQ of the ’80s” blend. With PD Gerry DeFrancesco, The Go-Go’s “Vacation” was a hot hit alongside the No. 1 song, Chicago’s “Hard for Me To Say I’m Sorry.”
Fast-forward two years to 1984. The Olympic Games turbo-charged Los Angeles as “Ghostbusters,” Tina Turner, Prince and Madonna topped the charts. On September 7, Dees would replace Marilyn McCoo as the host of the syndicated music program Solid Gold — fresh off of a summer Arbitron ratings period that saw KIIS score an 11 share among adults 25-49.
By September 1987, Commander Chuck Street was offering traffic reports from the sky. The late Charleye Wright, succeeded by Vic “The Brick” Jacobs, delivered sports reports. And, there was the late Liz Fulton, who in 1990 accused Dees and KIIS of sex bias and by May 1994 was succeeded by Ellen K.
Forget the “SuperDees” bit. Erase Willard Wiseman from your brain.
For six years, KIIS established itself as the home of the big contests. “We’ve got the cars,” Dees declared in a September 1987 broadcast. A Porsche 944 was the prize. Then, there was the escape: in the glove box of said car was a round-trip package for two to Syndey, Australia to see Michael Jackson in concert.
Meanwhile, CBS during that five-year period abandoned “Mellow Rock” KNX-FM for “HitRadio 93 KKHR,” and by 1987 had reverted back to KNX-FM. Those working in Los Angeles radio at the time noted CBS’s promotions were minuscule by comparison. And, other competitors gave Gannett and KIIS big challenges: The first incarnation of KPWR-FM “Power 106,” with morning man Jay Thomas and Scott Shannon‘s infamous KQLZ-FM “Pirate Radio.”
By mid-1994, Contemporary Hit Radio stations had fallen hard due to the Persian Gulf War-fueled recession, the exposure of Milli Vanilli as a fraud, and a three-way split of pop music that gave us hair bands, hip-hop and the Battle of the Teen Idols. There was grunge, and Alternative Rock. There was Snoop Dogg. And, there was Dees.
The latter half of the 1990s saw Dees’ luster fade, and his final program on KIIS consisted of a pre-recorded message noting how, even in his final months at the station, the revenue Rick Dees in the Morning generated was still No. 1 in Los Angeles.
Over that 23-year period, KIIS’s music changed dramatically. The rest of the station’s air staff evolved year in and year out. Dees was there, as were the dollars.
This brings me to the point of this column. It is not to honor Rick Dees’ dated on-air “sleaze,” but to honor Rick Dees’ ability to deliver ROI. Even in the lean years for Top 40 music, KIIS continued to outperform. Today, there are plenty of fortysomething Angelinos who can still sing “Tell us what time it is …” because they grew up with Dees, and remember him fondly.
For those in the industry, there was another side of Dees. But, again, we need not go there. Instead, we look at the learning lesson that KIIS-FM from 1981 to 2004 provides the modern-day radio station operator: A strong foundation begins at sunrise, with an individual or combination of on-air talents who can entertain, inform, and connect in ways a personality-free stream of Spotify-delivered tunes cannot. It branches out to the midday hour, where that companionship can continue by not being too intrusive, but also being more than a boring stream of overly researched musical selections. Then, there’s afternoon drive, and even nights — a forlorn shift that can still attract teens and young adults if the right approach was taken.
And … it involves contests and prizes. A Porsche 944? A roundtrip ticket to Sydney to see Michael Jackson?! Yes … KIIS did it.
Could it ever be seen again at radio? Why not?
There are myriad responses one can offer: Things are so different today. But what about Wall Street? Advertisers flocked to social media. Look at direct mail dollars. TikTok matters more.
That’s BS. Why did Miami’s WHYI (Y-100) rocket to the top at a time when FM was still in its infancy? Big-ticket promotions, which came before Bill Tanner’s “unpredictable predictability” and jocks who sounded like your buddy, not an announcer screaming at the start of “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting).”
The future of radio, however it is delivered, could last much longer if the industry only looked to its own history, and what created years of success. Rick Dees and KIIS got it right: Personality and Promotions deliver the dollars, not just the listeners.
Just keep the sleaze in the past.
Adam R Jacobson is the Editor-in-Chief of the Radio + Television Business Report. He grew up listening to The Weekly Top 40 on WSPK-FM “K104” in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and first heard Dees’ morning show on KIIS-FM in May 1994.
