Very nice website, John. I have visited it a few times before and found it very interesting. You are the one who put it together, right? If so - thanks.
What is interesting about those old AM stations was the fact that, compared with today, some of them had HUGE market shares. I recall reading that, back in its glory days under Gordon McLendon, KLIF had something like 20% of all Dallas listeners - I don't think it did as well in Fort Worth. Sort of like the days when, during the evening, a very large percentage of American households were all tuned into one of three television networks.
Those days, of course, are long gone - and I don't think that is a bad thing. More programing options, more specialization and a greater diversity of voices is always a good thing and certainly has been for television viewers. AM/FM radio, sadly, has sort of gone the opposite direction with the corporate consolidation of recent years - but that is going to change really fast with satellite and, most especially with the eventual portability of Internet radio. When that happens, I think a lot of the fun and creativity which used be associated with radio will come back.
Have you ever give any thought to bringing KXOL back as an Internet station? You could pick an era from the station's history, program a playlist with the sort of music it played and mix in any old station ids, jingles and vintage commercials that people might be able to dig up. Perhaps you could even mix in audio spots of people who were associated with the station sharing their memories. If you wanted to, you could even broadcast live for special events such as the reunion mentioned on your site. But since the whole thing would be automated, once you put the playlist together, the only ongoing effort which would be mandatory would be periodic playlist additions and updates which you could do as frequently or infrequently as you wish.
Last April, I took a trip to New York City and, when I was there, I went to a couple of live performances of 1920s style music and met a bunch of people who listen to my Internet radio station. One of the people who listens to my station is a local New York City radio personality who is a huge fan of 1920s and 1930s music - though he does not get an opportunity to play it over the air. When I was up there, he still had a show on WCBS-FM and he invited me to drop by the studio and hang around during his program. The station's music was not my cup of tea - 1960s and 1970s pop stuff. But who cares? It was a VERY fun experience. I have been in radio stations before - but certainly not one in the nation's top market and most especially not one with a skyscraper view of Broadway and Midtown Manhattan. I even had my picture taken sitting behind the WCBS microphone. The station was owned by Viacom, which also owns MTV. MTV is housed in the same building, though in different facilities which I did not get to see. But since MTV was in the same building, it was close enough for us to crack a few jokes about Dismuke being in the belly of the beast - an institution which, in my view, represents the very worst aspects of today's pop culture. I joked that it obviously was a sure sign that MTV's days were numbered and that good music and good taste would eventually make a come back. Well, I must have been a jinx because, unfortunately, it wasn't MTV's days which were numbered but WCBS-FM's. Not too long after my visit, Viacom fired the staff and changed the frequency to a "Jack" format. Interestingly enough, however, they kept the station and format alive to a limited degree on the Internet - presumably on the premise of being able to keep at least some portion of the audience they would lose as a result of the format switch. The whole thing is completely automated - so there is none of the on-air staff from when it was heard on FM. They have also, more recently, reincarnated an automated version of the station as New York's first HD radio station - which requires a special receiver to pick up. See:
http://www.wcbsfm.com/Perhaps you and/or others who share your interest in KXOL could bring back that station in a similar manner over the Internet - a sort of living time capsule. Such a station would certainly be a great addition to the website.
