Twice Is Nice for Phil Harper

…September 1984 — Alan Hopwood, general manager of KBRO, has restructured elements of the Bremerton station, and some of the new voices should sound very familiar to Puget Sound listeners.
Steve Nicolet, KBRO’s morning personality since the station was acquired in July by Bingham broadcasting, continues from 6 to 10 AM weekdays. Nicolet may be moderately familiar from stints at KISW and KSPL. But it is the voices during the later parts of the day that might dazzle listeners: Phil Harper is heard middays, Jerry Kay is heard afternoons. Chris Lane is heard evenings and Dave Sawyer is heard overnights. KBRO has contracted with BPI Inc., the Bellevue based national radio programming service, to supply automation tapes of adult contemporary music and familiar announcers. BPI hires strong personality announcers and limits them to single sentence bits, with introductions for the musical selections.
BPI usually avoids presenting a canned radio personality in his own community. Thus a Seattle listener might have to drive through Montana or Central Oregon to hear such a lineup. How come, then, we can tune in Phil Harper on KBRO, and on KRPM, Tacoma?
Harper’s morning stint in Tacoma is a single station automated arrangement between himself and KRPM. Harper’s BPI program is an adult contemporary show available for nationwide placement. If Harper automation must go against Harper automation, may the best machine win. Jerry Kay is the afternoon personality on KBRO’s high-energy sister station, KHIT, so his employer isn’t complaining. I mean if he’s good enough for KHIT live, he ought to be moderately tasty on KBRO canned.
Chris Lane once worked at KAYO, Seattle, but now is a Los Angeles radio personality.
Hopwood said KBRO will continue its 38 year history of focusing on news and sports for Kitsap County listeners. Newsmen are Mike Walsh and Steve Lent. A high school football ‘game of the week’ will be broadcast each Friday, drawn from teams in AA and AAA leagues. Hopwood said that he has installed a new gizmo (sorry, I’m not an engineer) that should improve KBRO’s reception in Seattle and Tacoma.

Through subtle deletions, the KIXI lite format is running leaner this month. Nearly all daytime and evening features have been scrubbed on KIXI FM. Only the weekday Citizen of the Day and the Sunday evening Rock, Roll and Remember remain. Not much news, no traffic reports, no Triviola. Only the Terry MacDonald morning show continues as a definable segment.
Dean Smith, general manager, explains it pure and simple: “we want to be known as the one with music.” Smith is unabashed about the inspiration. “If it works for KUBE, it ought to work for us.”

Dick Harris left the KCIS morning news show last week and will resurface someday at the new KGMW. Those will be the new call letters of KSPL (nee KAYO) when the new owners get Federal Communications Commission approval. Harris had been operations manager and engineer at KCIS but had recently transferred to morning host.

The new host of KMPS AM’s 10 PM feature, Love Line, is Dewey Boynton, who comes from KPMA, Tacoma. Boynton does the wraparound 7 PM to midnight shift also. Buck Wade is back in the all-night spot.
At the end of the seasons Tacoma Tigers baseball, Art Popham retired as play-by-play announcer, counting up nine years with the club. He continues, however, to host a weekday show, PM Tacoma, at 6 PM on KPMA.

Victor Stredicke

Former radio columnist for the Seattle Times (1964-1989).
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