So, where ya' been since they made an offer y'all couldn't refuse?  I'M 
FROM THE SEVENTIES. . .remember those days when music was something that
Suzette could ask you to play 'in the dark'--and you could?   . . .And 
$Penny Lane$ was not 'THE WAY'?   Remember?

Had a crazy dream last night...was up on the roof of my teenage house
listing to KWFM again. Heard Street Pajama's "Screwed" in the dream.
After getting the morning caffeine, I went straight to the web looking
for that song. Thank Goodness for Google! Found this website and
remembered how much fun I had filling out 150 forms for the 79 top ten
list for rolling stone magazine! I still have three k-dub stickers on
my metal footlocker! Thanks for giving me an eclectic taste in music!
Have added the site to my favorites!

duuuude...  are uou guys still on the air?? or is it canned spam  
advertising with  musical interludes?  As  a former  listner  ... now
residing in florida...    I goyya sau I miss the 50 minuted of
commecial free music...  no one here  ever heard of such innovation///
here is to another 50 yrs of oublic service!!!

It's great to see that so many people have signed this guestbook and
visited the KWFM page over the past 2 years.  KWFM meant a lot to many
people.  I especially like listening to all the old airchecks from
folks I knew and to remember that era in Tucson.  This is a great web
page!  Keep up the great work!

Mike Kraushaar (aka Pete Michaels)
Former DJ at KLPX, KSTM and currently at RadioFreePhoenix

One of my favorite memories was sitting on 4-Wheel Hill near Snyder &
Harrison with all my buddies and our girlfriends around the fire with
KWFM cranked up.  It was about 1978 and whenever "The Smoke Off" by
Shel Silverstein came on (it was a new record then so it came on KW a
couple times each night) we'd all shut up and listen to the lyrics with
a big grin, then roll another number and have a good ol' time!  KW was
the happenin' thang!

I don't really understand why Clear Channel didn't bring back the KWFM
call leters on Tucson's 92.9 frequency, maybe a few of the old jocks,
etc.  Especially since they play a Triple AAA format now and own the
calls KWFM on 1450 AM.  Seems like the least they could have done out
of respect for Tucsonans and radio fans.

Course in this day and age of corporatism it still wouldn't really
resemble the old KW.  What a GREAT station that was.  A lot of great
memories!

What an honor to see my name listed as a former employee.  I was only at
the station for three months (I think) at at $350/mo...that's all I
could afford.  When my salary was cut to $175/mo. and was billed for
the electricity used to record my "news,"  I finally got the hint and
left.  Short time but major creativity.  News isn't fun anymore...it's
downright nasty. Reunion plans?  Please let me know...I love Tucson.

Larry Jacobs

What a blast it is to find this site. We moved to Tucson in 1978 and I
soon started working with Fred, Roger and Bill Cashman at Westwood to
put together a new band for the up and coming Street Pajama. I booked
and did sound for what I thought where the best years. Those gig's at
Tequila Mockingbird very cool. I have just spent most of the afternoon
listing to the Central Air Session that was recorded at Westwood for
KWFM. I happened to be in the studio that night. What a great band.
Cherie and I will be in Tucson in a couple of weeks, would be great to
see some of those folks.

Great site. This brings back a lot of memories for me from the mid-70's.
I was actually googling for some info on Street Pajama when I found this
related site.

After a few years out of the business and some 24 years after being on
the air at KWFM. it's nice to see a legend being remembered.

 Just took a second look at the pictures from the 9th Anniversary at
Reid Park, what you don’t see are fat people. Now go by any high
school and look at the weight the kids have on. What happen?
 Can’t be the beer, we drank plenty of that back then plus drinking
age was 19 so you could start your drinking (legally) career earlier. 
We made plenty of runs to Jack in the Box at 10 PM (ya know why), so it
can’t be the snacking. 
I think the quality of what food we are sold is the problem. Plus
exercise, too much playing with computer games and not getting out. 
Let’s see if we can’t do better with the next generation. 

Wow!  This brings back some memories! I loved KWFM!  As a youngster,
rock musician and budding radio guy myself, that was the pinacle to
which I aspired.

I have a Bob Cooke story... I was a student DJ in the late 70s on
KUAT-AM (the local public radio/jazz station).

Bob called me during my shift one night to ask if I'd ever considered
doing commercial radio.  He said he thought I'd do well in the
business. 

That blew my mind! Having this pro-DJ calling to talk to me was a
thrill that I still recount decades later.  It meant a lot to me. I was
so sad when he left us...and in such a bizarre way!

I still do a bit of announcing on TV and Radio in Tucson, but one of my
buddies (also a budding student DJ at the time) is still burning up the
airwaves in Tucson...Mike Rapp.

A hearty pat on the back to all those who made my college years more
liveable by letting me tune into KWFM on my radio!

Mike Serres

Talk about a time warp..what a wonderful site.  KWFM was truly one of a
kind, because of the people who were there and the music that we could
play.

I'm a 2nd generation radio person; my dad and aunts and uncles were in
the biz in the way old days.  But moving to Tucson, it was Bob Cooke
that said "hi, you have a great voice"..dragged me into the production
room, Jim Ray said "o.k., we'll give her a shot", and 22+ years later I
can't get radio out of my system.

Thanks to Jim Hardy, who called me his "baby d.j." and gave me my first
taste of major market radio at KBPI, Denver, and Lee Dombrowski, who
wouldn't let me quit when I threw a hissy-fit!

I have tapes I need to share, being a wife and mommy to two beautiful
boys, finding time to xfer my stuff to c.d./mp3 is a challenge, but I
promise to come through!

Tim, you're great, thank you for giving us this site to share a unique
time in radio.

Margie Rye
KWFM
weekends/middays/research/production February 1982- August 1984

I came to town in 1980:  worked at KIKX, KCUB, and KCEE...listened to
KWFM.  When I heard that "we" (Behan Broadcasting) had purchased KWFM,
I was hoping for a shot at a shift.  I got one...AFTER the format had
changed.  Be careful what you wish for...

I'm still a close friend of Jane Snyder and know Perk pretty well.  I
used to hang at KWFM with Janie in the good ole days and remember
several live interviews that took place at the board.  What great
memories.  (I'm not saying anything here Janie!)  It was a tribute to
Jane that years after, when she would visit Tucson and the station
would give her courtesy air time, guys would still send her roses and
chocolates.  We remember her airtime well.  What a good time we all had
in those years.  KWFM was the only radio station worth listening to
then.  I moved here in 1972 and met Janie that first month.  What good
fortune.  Thanks Lee and everyone else for putting this together.  I
look forward to more photos and some stories.

Helen Gaus

Hey, you folks got my name all wrong!  It all started back in 1976 at
KIKX 580, .........KWFM .....  KLPX ..... KKLD .....KUPD ..... KDKB
....  England .. Guam ... and the saga continues!

Awesome Website! Thanks for a Historical tour of Radio here in Tucson.
Working with Margie and some of the others I am certain we've only
heard the tip of the iceberg when it comes to some of the stories out
there of "the ole days" Thanks again for the site.

Hey Cats and Kitties.  I love this site.  As a former radio personality
in town, I have fond memories of your station, including Sunday night
Jazz.  Tucson needs a full-time jazz station again.  Long live the
"Great American Art Form."!

KWFM was the ONLY station my big brother and I ever listened to in the
'70's and early 80's.  It was the greatest, and this web site has
brought back great memories of the station.  I remember one of the DJ's
doing a special segment where a disco record would be "put on trial"
(played) and then destroyed.  Would LOVE to hear that again!

Thanks for the memories,

Eric.

Howdy and thanks for doing such a great job on your web site!  Many
great memories came flooding back.  I was very fortunate to have worked
with folks like Brian Miller, Jim Brady, Alan Browning, Bob Cooke, Bob
Bish and many more beginning in 1976.  Oh, do we have some stories to
tell when we all get together around a pitcher of margaritas?!  

I'm even luckier to still be friends with most of them today.  Our hair
has some grey in it, there are fewer of us still around and we now all
have real jobs.  But it is a rich experience to relive the crazy days
of life at KWFM before the Empire of the Formats took over....  Before
the dark times.  We were considerably more carefree back then.  

Thanks a megawatt!

Blake Williams
VBW Productions, Inc.

Tucson really lost a great radio station when the KWFM as we knew it
left us.  Bob, we love and miss you......  Radio just ain't the same
without ya.  Can't read that from a liner card!

Robert (Foster) Napier

Man, what memories this site brings back. I started listening to KW when
I was about 15, in 1976. The many great times that I associate with
listening to this station all come flooding back, Choo Choos, the Gran
Faloon Salloon, and just hangin' out with my buds....and somebody
always had an FM radio so we could party while we listened. Thanks for
a fantastic site.

What ever happened to Streeet Pajama.  They were the best Tucson band
ever!  I have not heard Screwed Again in ages.  I remember seeing them
at The Embers, Westward Look, and I think a place on 1st Avenue called
Noni's.  That was way back in '82.  Mikey King was great and Merle was
just too cool.  If anyone remembers this great band email me at
choicekten at aol dot com.

Wow! Thanx for the memories! I was doing a search on NYC radio stations
and recalled when I first moved to Tucson back in 78 and started to
listen to KWFM. The only dj's I could immediately recall from that time
were Dave LaRussa and Karen Stern. Thankfully, I found the site and was
able to go through everything again. PS: I still have the KWFM On the
Air album in my collection!

What a blast to find this site. I was the graphic designer and part
owner of a small alternative paper in Tucson from 1978-81 (Tucson Nite
Times) and we did a lot of work with Lee & KWFM. In fact, I put
together ('designed' might be too strong...) the Dave LaRussa "Anything
that's Rock & Roll" ad seen in the web gallery. Strangely enough, I was
also the "Dan Ackroyd" that won the Blues Brothers contest (also
featured in the gallery). All of us at the paper listened to KWFM
exclusively and we worked closely with them on a number of promos. I
still have a stack of our old papers around here somewhere so I'll dig
through and see if I can find any other print nuggets for the site.
Like the family-owned FM stations, our alternative paper was one of the
independant, funky papers of that era that ultimately led to the
corporate owned "alternative" papers that came later. Great work!
Thanks!

I started listening to KWFM in 1972 as a snot-nosed 12-year-old. It was
a revelation. No hype, album sides, DJs that sounded like real people.
It was like anti-radio. My only complaint is that I once requested
Black Sabbath and was told you had burned all their albums. You
weenies! It was probably Brady I talked to on the phone. Most
memorable: KWFM used to play new albums in their entirety on Sunday
nights. One evening in 1975 I heard Patti Smith's *Horses*. I had never
heard anything like it before (and probably never will again). A sublime
moment.

I was also looking around for Meighan and Riopelle music not too
recently (within past year) and dropped by PDQ records on Grant in
Tucson. Browsing through the old vinyl sections, I found several copies
of their albums; picked out all the ones I was missing. You might have
similar luck at Bookmans too, they have used records. I wish they had
recorded more material.
Good luck,
Francisco

I listened to KWFM from the time I was 12 years old (1973).   The
station opened my mind to so many types of music.  It wasn't just rock
being played, but a free, open format.  Bruce Springsteen's version of
"Fever" was a song often played and the one that sticks in my mind as
being an example of the quality of music airing at that time.

I arrived in Tucson in 1980...never got a chance to work on this
frequency when it was that format...I loved the station and, when it
was on the air, listened to it more than those I was working at.

(Street Pajama)
I need a copy of "I'd Rather Smoke Butts Than Kiss Them"!!!...

Bill Cashman (producer of the ON THE AIR) album told me about this site
and I'm sure glad... it's disturbing how much I'd forgotten, but this
site refreshes the memory! The names, images, playlists... the whole
era was a hoot and a half! How cool it was that one station would play
Alice Cooper and Pure Prairie League then John Couger and then Charlie
Daniels in the same hour..... that does'nt happen much anymore..... and
bless everyone at KWFM for the way they supported the local
musicians...... and to all who experienced the CHOO CHOO's, STUMBLE INN
era, isn't it nice to still be alive!!!