This market composite was recorded in the back seat of a rental car while riding through downtown Phoenix on I-10.  Seriously!  I was 17 years old, vacationing with my family as we traveled to Las Vegas, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.  Fortunately, I came prepared with my boombox, headphones, plus lots of blank tapes and spare batteries.

 

Even in the short time I was there, I managed to record 6 of the market’s top stations:

-KOOL-FM 94.5.  This was the ORIGINAL “Kool” station.  The only one to ever have actual KOOL call letters.  The weekends were now “solid gold” as they continued a gradual transformation to all Oldies.  Ron Cossack was the DJ.

- KUPD-FM 97.9, licensed to Tempe.  One of the two Rock stations in the market.  The other was…

- KDKB-FM 93.3, licensed to Mesa.  For years, their positioning statement was “93 KDKB Rocks Arizona!”

- KZZP-FM 104.7, licensed to Mesa.  This is the legendary CHR that was later home to Clarke Ingram and Bruce Kelly.  On this day, Randy Stewart was behind the microphone.

- KOY-AM 550.  Although FM was starting to take over in this market, the big AMs were still healthy.  Specifically, KOY and KTAR.  KOY was Full Service A/C at this time.

- KOPA-FM 98.7 , licensed to Scottsdale.  The market’s dominant A/C outlet on FM.

 

The recording was made using a Pioneer AM/FM/cassette “boombox” with telescoping antenna.  Original source tape was a TDK D90.  However, this is a second generation dub which was transferred to digital from a TDK SA90 tape.  Since this was before dual cassette decks became available, I used two stereo decks connected directly and with the levels set properly.  Even as a high school kid, I was very meticulous when it came to audio quality.

Phoenix_Dial_Scan_Mar_1982