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Lou Robbins — Admin/Editor | Airchecks
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Wonderfully said Mike.
Chris Mays was (in a way) like Pat O’Day. Two programmers who were given the opportunity to program their stations directly to the audience they served… rather than some consultant living in Phoenix, Arizona programming every major market station exactly the same … who has no sense of the “vibes” of the city he is supposedly serving. It’s become a dying art … thanks to owners who don’t understand or care about “the art of broadcasting”. With the demise of “The Mountain” (at least here in the Northwest) I’m afraid it’s the very sad end of an era.
It was a sad occasion the day KMTT “The Mountain” came to an end. The station was the Northwest’s final broadcaster programming to us adults with eclectic, wide-ranging tastes, multi-genre preferences, by offering large music libraries containing ‘deep cuts’. It all began with the underground/progressive programming of KOL-FM & KTAC-FM in the late 60’s-early 70’s, then segued to “92KZAM” in the mid-70’s, next evolving into KEZX during the 80’s & early 90’s & finally landing on KMTT. Chris Mays is a visionary programmer who knows the music, the tastes of listeners tuning in to such a format & the success that can be achieved having a large library & giving the on-air jocks a degree of freedom choosing tracks to play. I believe she was also programming KEZX for some it’s time as an ecelctic/progressive adult station but could be wrong about that. I know she also guided Portland’s KINK which is that’s city’s legacy progressive adult station. Her description of the evolution that led to here tenure at KMTT shows how long she’s been in this market gaining familiarity with the format & it’s fans along with the knowledge & wisdom how to make such a station appealing. For this listener, Seattle radio hasn’t been the same since the demise of “The Mountain” & it’s unlikely we’ll ever again get a broadcast station programming to our segment of the listening audience
I’ve been thinking that in my previous comments about “The Mountain”, I should’ve mentioned my favorite on air personality Marty Riemer. The music played on “The Mountain” is what drew me in, but I also super enjoyed the Afternoon Drive show with Marty Riemer and in particular I attempted to never miss his daily feature “The 5:20 Funny”. I recall he had at least 2 CD releases of “The 5:20 Funny Festival”. Anyway, Marty was so good that he was at “The Mountain” twice, or was fired once, whichever way you want to look at it (to quote Marty)!
I thought “The Mountain” was a good station, but now 103.7 FM is playing hip hop as “HOT 103.7”. Nowadays, when i get the chance i listen to KEXP. However, “The Mountain” has since moved to the HD band where it’s heard on 103.7-2.
During my time beginning in 1987 at Broadcast Programming in Seattle as a Consultant/National Programmer, I became close friends with Chris Mays once she joined BP in the latter part of 1990 as a Regional Manager. She remained there until she left for her adventures with “The Mountain” • KMTT-FM. Chris began her radio programming career in Eugene, OR before her move to Seattle & her long career in radio there … so we both had the Eugene radio connection (re: my time as PD•KASH in Eugene) and our keen interest in music and radio programming. We spent many hours discussing music and our ideas for the “perfect radio format”. We had very similar points of view in this area & when she created the format for “The Mountain” it was basically her “dream format” that she’d expressed to me during her time at BP.
I confess I was a huge fan of KMTT-FM and it’s not just because of my friendship with Chris … I simply loved the music, the format and the jocks, in that order. It was the last radio station I spent any continuous time listening to. I’m even a proud owner of most of their “Live From The Mountain Music Lounge” CDs. I hated to see the station go. If it still existed in the style of it’s heyday, I’m sure I’d still be listening.