O’Day Buys KORL; Norm Gregory Becomes KZOK PD

February 20, 1976 – Pat O’Day, former air personality, and radio station manager at KJR, announced yesterday that he had purchased radio station KORL, Honolulu. O’Day said O’Day broadcasting company purchased the station for $360,000. He described O’Day broadcasting company as a joint venture, consisting of himself and 4 other partners. Radio Hawaii Inc. was the seller. O’Day said the parties will file an application with the federal communications commission in the next several weeks, and he expects the FCC to take action by early summer.

February 22, 1976 – Norm Gregory is the new program director of KZOK. Eddie Mason, short term PD has returned to San Jose.
Gregory continues with the afternoon air shift. Musical emphasis will stay the same, but with Gregory’s background it is likely KZOK announcers will be able to inject a little more of their own personality into each air shift.
“We won’t sound mechanical,” Gregory said. “I think the station has already established itself as a no-hype, no-nonsense music station.”
Gregory has served as music director at KZOK the past year. Previously, he had been afternoon drive-time disc jockey at KJR.
“I had a chance at being program director once before,” Gregory reminisced. “… At KJR.
“But I really wasn’t ready, so I never made my move.”
Now Gregory exudes confidence. “I think the air staff will work as a team,” he said. No air staff changes were contemplated, he said, except that he was scheming to get an additional person, maybe shorten shifts. Team Leader was dressed in his usual crumpled corduroys, and lumberjack shirt. He wore a bejeweled star in his jacket lapel.
“Somebody gave that to me a year or so ago,” he shrugged.

The mechanical adjustments at KUUU are complete, and from now on most of the voices you hear on the station will be those of either Mark Allen, new program director, or Gary Mitchell, production director. Don Christi, former program director, has apparently gone home to San Diego…
Disc jockeys do well enough pronouncing their names, but they never tell you how to spell them. Thus, if you are taking notes, KJR’s new all-night disc jockey from 2 AM to 6 AM spells her name “Kacie Sommers”. Right now it is pretty much of a “white-knuckle flight” for the Seattle girl, long a KJR listener, but the station is sure she will develop into a top-40 disc jockey of consequence…

[1969]
Turmoil is to be expected at Channel 13, but it was a surprise to regular viewers last week to find Bob Corcoran missing.
Instead of the familiar long-lasting rubber-faced TV host, 7 PM viewers saw one or more scratchy old movies.
Tonight Corcoran returns, ready to face the camera unflinchingly for two hours or more, with no props, few guests and a lot of opinions.
“I was assembling a good package of movies,” Corcoran said. “I just took it easy until my movies could be added to the schedule.”
Corcoran says he has purchased for his own use, TV rights to 182 movies. Many of the films are identical to a 20th Century Fox package that KIRO TV has been running but, Corcoran said, some films may be first-time offerings in this area.
To compensate for day-light-saving time, Corcoran has moved his weeknight program to 9 PM. He will talk on the phone and philosophize for two hours, then crank up the film.
“Counter-programming, that’s what it is,” Corcoran said, raising his right eyebrow. “At 9 PM there is a carload of movies, so I’m going to talk. At 11 PM there are news programs galore, so I’m going to show my movies.”
Corcoran said he would work out a comedy-movie night, a Western night and, beginning Friday, a science-fiction doubleheader.
11-STAR NEWS
KTNT-TV 11 expands its nightly news program to 45 min. 11 Star News, with Bill Wippell, news editor, introduces a new weather girl, 20–year-old Sandra Viahovich. By December, 11 Star News expands to a full hour each night.

Victor Stredicke

Former radio columnist for the Seattle Times (1964-1989).
— View other articles by Victor Stredicke