by KYYX4ever » Fri May 28, 2004 6:45 am
I lived in Lacey, WA, from '81-85 and listened to all 3. I have always remained nostalgic for KYYX & KJET, in particular. ( See my other posts on this topic.) The unique music I heard back then changed my life (as a young, impressionable teen, of course), and thus so did the stations themselves. Remember when KYYX finally died in April '84, and Pat O'Day "fired" everyone (all the djs were there at its last hour, obviously partying there in the studio); then, at midnight, instead of blank air, they snuck in Elvis Costello's "Radio Radio", rebels to the last ! I was there, and teary-eyed. (well, I was in my bed, listening to the radio underneath the covers so the 'rents wouldn't hear ! ) Then, afterwards, KHIT, at the end of the dial, popped up with that mechanized tape recording playing endlessly for days, until the real djs showed up....and one of them was Stephen Rabow !! The station played unremarkable pop, but then Rabow showed up on the weekends for his "House Party: Hours of Adventure, Romance, Danger, and Lust" ; and he'd play the same stuff he had played on KYYX ! It was awesome, and took the pain away some. I think Debbie Paine was there for a little bit, or maybe she went over to KJET for a bit ?
Anyway, KYYX & KJET were the last great New Wave stations up there, that's for sure.
Now I live in Albuquerque, so I can't comment on Seattle's stations now. Radio generally sucks now, except for college stations. Our market here is pretty much dominated by the big corporate boys at CC, so one must valiantly sample elsewhere.