L.A. people - anyone remember KIQQ?
This isn't really a pure "new wave" topic but the station did play a lot of it, so ...
For those who've never heard of it, KIQQ 100.3 was basically a "Top 40" station (back when the Top 40 actually consisted of good songs and not just solid hip-hop) but they were unusual in that they also played songs that weren't necessarily "hits" (or played them before they became hits). Amongst the songs I'd never have heard if it wasn't for that station were:
Minor Detail - Why Take It Again
Utopia - Feet Don't Fail Me Now
Life By Night - Phone To Phone
They did a few stunts on the air that made me laugh. When "State of Shock" by Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger came out, they played the song for 24 hours in a row but pretended like it was business as usual (they'd play it three times then the DJ would get on the mike and say something like "that was 'Whip It' by Devo, before that we heard (insert random song here) and (insert other random song here)." Another one that undoubtedly got them in trouble was that one of the DJ's went off one day about how much he hated Prince, and he asked people to call the station if they agreed. He took calls live on the air. The first few agreed with him, then this girl came on and said "I think Prince is great and you're an a**hole, f**ker." (uncensored). The DJ quickly cut her off with something like "it's a shame - she sounded like such a nice girl but had to use such bad language", but over the next 10 minutes he got a whole lot more calls like that one. Great stuff!
KIQQ went off the air sometime around 1986, only to be replaced with (gulp) "Pirate Radio" (all headbanger all the time ... God help us).
For those who've never heard of it, KIQQ 100.3 was basically a "Top 40" station (back when the Top 40 actually consisted of good songs and not just solid hip-hop) but they were unusual in that they also played songs that weren't necessarily "hits" (or played them before they became hits). Amongst the songs I'd never have heard if it wasn't for that station were:
Minor Detail - Why Take It Again
Utopia - Feet Don't Fail Me Now
Life By Night - Phone To Phone
They did a few stunts on the air that made me laugh. When "State of Shock" by Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger came out, they played the song for 24 hours in a row but pretended like it was business as usual (they'd play it three times then the DJ would get on the mike and say something like "that was 'Whip It' by Devo, before that we heard (insert random song here) and (insert other random song here)." Another one that undoubtedly got them in trouble was that one of the DJ's went off one day about how much he hated Prince, and he asked people to call the station if they agreed. He took calls live on the air. The first few agreed with him, then this girl came on and said "I think Prince is great and you're an a**hole, f**ker." (uncensored). The DJ quickly cut her off with something like "it's a shame - she sounded like such a nice girl but had to use such bad language", but over the next 10 minutes he got a whole lot more calls like that one. Great stuff!
KIQQ went off the air sometime around 1986, only to be replaced with (gulp) "Pirate Radio" (all headbanger all the time ... God help us).