The All-Jazz Format Gets Stacks Of Wax

March 31, 1985 Publication
Although KJZZ is only a memory, some of its music will live on, thanks to a gift to KPLU.
The 4,000 jazz records that were the base for KJZZ’s all-jazz format have been donated to KPLU, a surviving jazz-format station operated by Pacific Lutheran University in Parkland, a Tacoma suburb.

KJZZ changed format in January, adopting a contemporary-music format almost identical to its sister station KLSY-FM, and even had a name change _ to KLSY-AM. Dana Horner, general manager of KLSY-AM-FM, offered the discarded records to KPLU.

The rumor diminishes

Fisher broadcasting properties are not for sale. KOMO-TV is not for sale. KOMO-Radio is not for sale. Jay Ward Geisa, executive vice president for broadcasting Seattle at Fisher Broadcasting, repeated those statements.

Rumor had it that a large national broadcasting chain had made an offer, Geisa conceded only that there was such a rumor.

“Our own news department picked it up nearly two weeks ago,” Geisa said. “We told them it wasn’t true.” A spokesman for the national chain also said there was no basis to the report.

The first rumor included all the Fisher chain of stations, which includes TV stations in Portland, Seattle and Spokane. Then it was KOMO-TV and KOMO Radio, then just KOMO Radio.

“I’d like to put it to rest,” Geisa said. “I can assure you, to the best of my knowledge, this station is not for sale, period.”

Twisting the dial

The return to “Morning Show” simulcast on KMPS-AM-FM squeezed Brady Wright, recently morning host on the KMPS-FM side, right out the door. Wright had just moved to a nighttime slot. Jay Albright, KMPS program director, said he didn’t regard Wright’s departure as a firing, because “I’d be willing to hire him back if there were an opening.” .

. . Wright said he might pursue public-relations work. “I’m open to offers,” he said.

“Saturday AM Sports” has been added 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KAMT, 1360 kHz. The weekly program features interviews and special reports, plus listener call-ins. Bart Wright, sports writer, and Jack Eklund, UPS athletic director, are hosts.

Two installments in April of “Carnegie Hall Tonight,” weekly hour radio series on KING-FM, will include brief nostalgia features in addition to the program’s standard concert fare. Excerpts from “The Telephone Hour,” an 18-year series on radio which aired weekly from either NBC studios or Carnegie Hall, will include conversations with radio and stage performers of 1935, along with reminiscences of Donald Voorhees, orchestra conductor, and Arthur Rubinstein, frequent featured pianists.
Baseball training camp in Phoenix at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on KAMT, 1360 kHz. . . . Michael Fuzener, from Jacksonville, Fla., will be new program director of the new KQKT when it begins late next month . . . . . A number of changes have finalized at KHIT, 106.9 mHz., including introduction of Maureen Mathews, from KRCK, Portland, doing morning traffic and features, and Justin Case, from Tri-Cities, as afternoon personality.

Doug Warne and Ron Olsen have expanded the scope of their Saturday-morning “Scandinavian Hour,” a familiar fixture, 8 to 10 a.m. on KBLE, 1050 kHz. They are also producing a “Scandinavian Hour,” a one-hour feature, for KBRC, 1430 kHz. Mount Vernon, at 10 a.m. Sundays . . . Bob Alek’s “International Interlude,” worldwide ethnic-music program, is on at noon and 7 p.m. Sundays on KAMT, 1360 kHz.