CHeif Engineer of KWFM (KCEE, and later KRQQ and KNST) until 1985 just
before the sale to SFX which became CLear Channel.  Great times and
places.  I worked for Behan, American Media and Prism.

Wow!!!  What a flashback this site is.  I grew up in Tucson and played
in a band called "Bloodstone"  along with Marc Lock, Brian LeBoeuf,
Drew Comey, and David Detor.  We were included on your radio ad posted
on this site from the 1980 Night Train KWFM ad.  We used to play at the
Night Train, The Twin Peaks, The Embers, and played at the TCC for a UA
Homecoming party.  I remember Fred from "The Pills" as we went to the
same church together.  I also remember Winston Watson, whom I believe,
joined a later iteration of The Pills.  Great site.  Thanks for the
memories.

Desert Dwellers REJOICE!  It's the weekend!

Wow.  What a blast from the past (75-83). Thanks. Anything that's Rock
and Roll, Midnight Album hour.  I STILL haven't found anything that
comes close to KWFM.

SANDUSKY RADIO....SHOULD HAVE NEVER BOUGHT IT...ONLY TO SCREW UP THIS
STATION..WITH TOP 40 DISCO CRAP...NOW THE CALL LETTERS ARE ON AM...THIS
IS..UNACCEPTABLE....GREAT JOB SANDUSKY RADIO...WHAT A JOKE.........

This brings back burning pallets and doobies in the desert. After High
school football games. Great site.

What a treat to see this.  Brought back some great memories for me.  I
was the Local Sales Manager from sometime in 1981 through 1983, when I
moved to Sacramento to work for KZAP.  Any one know where Jim Ray is? 
I know Jim Hardy is in Puerto Vallarta.  How about Lee Dombrowski or
Kimberly Craft?

This station so rocked when I lived in Tucson.  Air Brothers, Straight
Shot, Jerry Riopelle, Bob Meighan,  Dusty Chaps...dancig to this great
music at the Pawn Broker...so home grown and so great.

This is truly a fun site to visit, however what about going back a few
years to the real beginning of rock and roll, 1955 through the mid
60's.  Thanks everyone at the site.
Mark Gateman

Hello...I lived and loved in the 70's in Tucson and I am searching for
any info on the band.... Air Brothers with Paul, drummer, Chuck Surface
and Donny Roberts, etc......????
What happened to them???
Flash from the past and so many happy memories and the best music
ever!
Suzanne

Far out, truly wild. Hearing the Beatles ID again brought me back to 19.


Hey - I have HOURS of the Sunday night KWFM Jazz Show on fairly good
stereo 3-1/4 inch tape. How do we upload this analog stuff?

Doug Jaffee's Beatles ID lives!  Tune it at noon Pacific time Saturdays
and Sundays to 97.5 FM in Malibu, or online at kbu.fm or
radiomalibu.net . 

So, AM 1330 has gone dark and with it the KWFM call letters have been
released.   
Somebody, please fix the KWFM Wikipedia page! It doesn't even mention
this giant FM station.

Played guitar in Raven shortly after they recorded this.  Some good
guys.  Freestyle -- great guys, great band !!

Just found this site somehow when revisiting the record "KWFM On The
Air". I grew up with KWFM but I moved to San Diego in 82 and to
Australia in 84. Really, really, miss it. I understand there is a new
incarnation on the AM band now. Can't possibly be the same can it? My
souvenirs extend to "KWFM On The Air" and 5 C90 cassettes taped off the
air when everybody went on holiday (or something) and had a robot DJ (or
something) play every Rolling Stones track from A to Z (or whatever). I
remember there was a contest where you were supposed to figure out
which one track was left out. Anyway I have from approximately D to S
with some inevitable missing periods.    

Tim, Thank you for this history of KWFM. Being a 4th generation native
from Tucson and working there starting in 1982 was an honor. 

Got Fogerty's live of "Almost Saturday Night."  I was at Riopelle's "In
the Round" shows at the Celebrity Theater.  Listened to Meighan but
never caught him live.  Saw Jerry Riopelle about a dozen times.  Would
really like to get a line on some Meighan material.

Anyone have any leads or know of who may sell his work???

Thanks!

Jim Ray is my father!  Crazy but true!  Seeing him back before I was
born is nuts!  With the aviators and members only jackets, he was the
badass :)

My daughter Colby found the web site.  A treat for her to see the old
man in his aviators and his partners with their members only jackets. 
Tell your kids to look at it and respond...

Tim, you have done a great job putting this together.  We need to
recognize the UNSUNG HEROS of KWFM. THE SALES & SUPPORT STAFF.  Back in
the day people like Larry Sotosanti, Lauren, Chris, Julie, Linda, Sue,
Tom, Jennie, Dave, Regina Barndt, Nancy Wilson, (and a ton more that I
can see their faces but can't recall their names) helped PAY THE RENT! 
The owner at the time shall we say was a bit "frugal".  When we needed
something for the station these guys went out and made it happen for
us. We didn't always agree but they loved it as much as we did.

Larry Sotosanti was the original Herb Tarlick (WKRP) — this guy made
sure we all had free pizza and beer trade somewhere.  Larry was the
originator of the "Blues Brothers" look-a-like contest that went on for
weeks and helped us get "off the dime", so to speak.

People like Joe Crystal — not part of our generation but put up with
us — will always be remembered.  (He had a great collection of Bolo
Ties, Mexican Wedding Shirts and Kachina Dolls.)

Then the "BIG GUY" Jim Hardy came along with the corporate strcture
that would eventually put KWFM in the money making column.  We didn't
agree with the structure but we accepted it and he brought the "TEAM"
to the table. Thanks Jim.

Thanks again for the site.  Lets fill it up with memories!  

Watching this site come alive is very exciting.  While I was in Tucson
in February I ran into many people that still have great memories of
KWFM.  I have listened to the tapes from that time and it is amazing
just how good that station sounded.  Holy cow, we knew how to have a
party.  50 ounce pitchers of beer for 92 cents at the Outlaw!  The
people that worked on the air and manager Lee Dombrowski made it click.
 If anything was ever a group effort, KWFM was.  I will be sending all
my memories to Tim to share with others.  There's not too many days
that go by that I don't have a great memory about my time there.  While
listening to the tapes I got chills listening to Bob Cooke and Jim
Owens.  Great friends taken away from us way too early.  They would
love this site.  The KWFM Birthday party at Reid Park, Lee Dombrowski
and I met with Jim Ronstadt who asked us how many people we thought
might show up.  We smiled and said "if we're lucky about 1500 or so." 
Well, 10,000 people showed up and Mr. Ronstadt was not happy with us at
all.  What a blast!  The number of artists that dropped by KWFM studios
to do interviews — the names are many and there was always a "Party
on the Patio"!

I can't believe I have stumbled upon a website that brings me so close
to an incredibly important and never to be forgotten part of my
history.  I have been looking for ways of staying in contact with so
many of the site's contributers.  Thanks to those of you who have
posted information and thanks for never letting go of the work and
memory of my late husband Bob Cooke.

Glad I stumbled on this site. My air name was Rich Kalin. I started out
at KW as a part timer sometime around 1980. Bob Bish showed me the
low-tech board while getting high on a overnight shift! I did weekends
and fill ins for about a year. I left for a brief time to do sales for
an AM Top 40 station in Tucson (KHIT???). I returned to do part time
again (for minimum wage!). Soon after I returned, KWFM was bought out
by a large company. Bob Bish was let go and I replaced him as the
weekday overnight DJ until sometime in 1982. Bob Cooke was the morning
DJ. Great memories from a great station.

An amazing time machine - I can not stop browsing the playlists and
remember the times...

Thanks for this!

Chill

My father Mr. Korngold was the founder and owner of KWFM. He started
from the ground up. It was actually named after me when I was a little
girl living in Tucson. My father has recently died, and I came upon
this website, I just want everyone to know, that his entire life he
never stopped talking about KWFM, and we, his children have the
greatest memories of all the station provided us as young kids growing
up....This is my tribute to my dad, who I loved deeply.....

Stumbled into this site following a memory lane trip that started with
looking for WTBS's Night Tracks show back in 1982. That brought
memories of the Rock and Roll Picture Show; I was 15 at the time living
in Nogales Sonora Mexico (60 miles south of Tucson). Me and my brother
had to rig up our TV antenna on the roof (no cable!) to properly get
channel 9... fuzzy and ghosty at best but it was enough: it was the
once hour we could see videos and listen to them in full blast stereo
sound. Stopped to check the personalities names in the site and it was
like seeing old friends... Mike Rapp... Kimberly Craft... Bryan
Miller...

Been working as a Radio Broadcast Engineer since 1987, currently doing
so in New York City for a Financial News AM station. Far cry from the
days when KWFM was a staple in my HS and college years... and the one
station that kept KLPX on its toes :-)

Long live KWFM!

Started at the UofA in the fall of 1975. KWFM was my indoctrination to
real rock, reggae, southern rock, and jazz.  Oh yes... Blue Dolfin,
KWFM, Sunday evening jazz show.  Thanks for the website. It brings back
many memories Despite all the partying, I still remember.

Wow, I wish I had been in Tucson at the time of this station! My
girlfriend used to work at Shipwreck Kelly's and would watch a band
called "Central Air, of whom she just turned me onto. 

What's the backstory on those guys? What an awesome group! Thanks
again!

Geez Louise!!! They just cannot make a Radio Station like KWFM was in
the 70's-some of the 80's.  Bob Cooke was the Greatest!!!!  We had alot
great AM conversation. R.I.P. Mon Ami!!!
Lived in San Francisco in the mid 80's to mid 90's KFOG was like KWFM
but couldn't and never could be like FM in the 70's.
I live in Coastal North County San Diego and we have a cool local
Station called Sets 102,  But I like my music via satellite. Too bad we
cannot "beam" all the Greatness of the 1970's KWFM into  Space and back
to Earth. It's the Back to Earth that hards!!! Thanks to whoever put
this together!!!  My Brother Jim was in a few of those great bands we
had around town back then!!! Adios Muchachos~ Tomas

Bob Meighan with Norm Pratt and Dick Furlow bring their notable musical
talent to the Calabazas stage at Oracle State Park Saturday for a
twilight performance.  Known for desert rock and ballads the talented
trio will wrap up the 8th annual Fiesta de las Calabazas.  Meighan
became well known in the 70’s and developed a regional reputation
for his original sound.  He’s back and has brought with him two
fine musicians to rouse a crowd and prompt some dancing under the
stars.

For more information contact:
Diamond Jim Hewitt
400-4965
jim@hewitt.name

If one radio station ever existed that pushed musical boundaries KWFM
was the ticket to every type of genre. Bob Bish kicked and so did Doug
Jaffe with whom I lived in 1974 at Euclid Terrace Apartments, went to
UofA until 1980, now married with 3 children, my long association with
"electronic" music and those concerts at the Night Train on 4th Avenue,
saw Randy Hansen, The Dregs, Asleep at the Wheel... is owed to the staff
at this remarkable station.
Great I found this website....

I just happened upon alot of familiar names looking at your web site. We
lived in Tucson from 1972-1984.  I managed Creations on 4th ave. from
around 1973-1979 and Larry Sotosanti was my ad salesman. I knew Bob
Cooke, John Shook and alot of other people at KWFM.  What struck me
while reading some of the entries was the entry from Laura (Lau) Cooke.
That time was something that will never be erased from mine and my
husband Mike's memeory.  Thanks for the memories.