KZUN, Spokane had just changed formats from Country to Adult Contemporary, and rebranded as “96 Apple FM.” In this 1982 aircheck, Bob Hooper displays his great radio voice as he updates us on the weather, plugs the station’s “staff of meteorologists,” and refers to Spokane as “the Bay Area” (tipping his hand that he may be new in town). Wayne Stepp is on deck in the newsroom.
Runtime: 3:48
Logo credit to Beta MAX. To view a “96 Apple FM” TV commercial click here.
Student engineer at pioneer Nathan Hale radio station KNH 1210 in 1970 (prior to KNHC). Also attended North Seattle Community College and L.H. Bates in Tacoma (KTOY-FM). Sam’s career began as a KJR request line operator in 1970, with his first on-air job at KRKO in 1972. In 1976 he segued to overnights at KTAC as Cory Landon, then weekends at KING. In 1978 he moved to Lewiston, Idaho for afternoons on KOZE and KRLC. Throughout the ‘80s he was an announcer and/or engineer at “the best mix and biggest variety” of Spokane radio stations; including 97KREM, KZUN, KGA, KKER (The Sam & Pam Show), KZZU, PD of KJRB, 98 KISS-FM, and the voice of KAYU-TV. In 1989 he moved to Los Angeles as Assistant Chief Engineer and weekends at KZLA/KLAC. Also engineered for KBIG, KFI, Premiere Radio Networks, CBS Radio, and others. After avoiding any actual work for nearly 45 years, now happily retired and very appreciatively back in the great Pacific Northwest!
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— Sam Lawson airchecks
Worked weekends there in the spring of 82…between K-103 CDA and KBRD, Tacoma-Seattle. Also put in many hours in the production room re-carting songs that were recorded out-of-phase!!!
Hooper has the voice for sure. Very pleasant to listen to. And pretty cool picking up a “Bay area” FM station in the Spokane area. 🙂