I can't believe I have stumbled upon a website that brings me so close
to an incredibly important and never to be forgotten part of my
history.  I have been looking for ways of staying in contact with so
many of the site's contributers.  Thanks to those of you who have
posted information and thanks for never letting go of the work and
memory of my late husband Bob Cooke.

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.

Lived (and just 're-lived') through a lot of this history and memories.
I was girlfriend/wife (now 'ex') of DJ David Slavin (mid 70s). Listened
in many nights (he worked midnight - 6 am slot). Like so many have said
before, thanks for the memories! Interesting to see old articles and
photos, my how we have all changed!!! 

Hey, awesome site.  I was too young to be able to enjoy this station,
but I wish to God I had been there!!  I wondered if anyone knew where
to find a copy of Bob Meighan's albums, or anything by Rock Doctor?  If
anyone knows, let me know at: kurt@cfa.arizona.edu
Thanks again,
Kurt

new e-mail and website ....stop by sometime

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!!! 

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"!!!...

I lived in Tucson from '72-'80 and have fond memories of KWFM. It was a
great part of the music scene in those days, truly a great station. Of
course Janie was my favorite DJ!! Thanks for this site, it's great to
see so many people supporting it! 

There were 2 great radio stations in my life during my slightly extended
time at the UA ('77 to late '81), KWFM and WXRT in Chicago (KWFM was the
better of the two.)  It's a shame what's happened since.  Kdub is gone
and XRT is a shell of its' former self (it's now owned by CBS Radio,
need I say more.)  The photos and Tune In To The Past bring back a lot
of great memories.  Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this
site.      

If one radio station ever existed that pushed musical boundaries KWFM
was the ticket to every type of genre. Bob Bish kicked and so did Doug
Jaffe with whom I lived in 1974 at Euclid Terrace Apartments, went to
UofA until 1980, now married with 3 children, my long association with
"electronic" music and those concerts at the Night Train on 4th Avenue,
saw Randy Hansen, The Dregs, Asleep at the Wheel... is owed to the staff
at this remarkable station.
Great I found this website....

I remember sitting in my parent's house late at night watching channel 9
with my Walkman tuned to 92.1.  Rock 'n Roll picture show was awesome!

WOW, what a cool find. I was a loyal listener from 72 to 79 when I moved
away. I still got that old bummper sticker on my tool box.

In 79 the station was giving away 3 albums if you were the 9th caller,
got the bumper sticker with the albums.

I to was checking the web for following groups: Street Pajama, Chuck
Wagon and the Wheels, Saddle City Band, & The Frank and Woody Show.
Anyone know if you can get their CD's if there are any?

CHeif Engineer of KWFM (KCEE, and later KRQQ and KNST) until 1985 just
before the sale to SFX which became CLear Channel.  Great times and
places.  I worked for Behan, American Media and Prism.

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

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 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

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.

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.

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!

Nice site. I appreciate the historical significance of such sites,
especially with regards to the evolution and current state of radio
today. Indeed, kwfm was born in the true spirit of radio, a rarity
today outside of free-form college and pirate broadcasts. kwfm's
influence on myself and friends who grew up to be musicians was
invaluable. To this day i miss the old FM delivery, typified by voices
like Bob Bish (when I hear todays "radio personalities", zingers, and
obnoxious production thats when I reach for my revolver). It was my
observation that the station changed pretty heavily after about
1977-78, playing more toward standard hit formats. Its interesting to
me to read others' comments that post-1978 could be considered "the
golden age" of kwfm (I wouldve considered 1970-76 the golden age of FM
in general). Unfortunately my interest in commercial radio waned around
the time time krq and klpx appeared (78?) as the competition seemed to
breed less creative air programming (and my music tastes went
underground where they've remained ever since). But thats just me. 
Thanks for a wonderful site. And thanks for having a hand in the
evolution of radio. kwfm was great (especially the jerry's audio "album
of the week" on weds nights where you would even give us time to cue up
our cassette recorders! boy, try that in today's ridiculous anti-music
sharing corporate atmosphere).

Bill Cuevas

p.s. and for those of you "longing for the past", good radio is far
from dead. In fact, webstreaming makes it easier to access than ever.
Check the streams of wfmu, kzsu, wnyu, kfjc, kexp, wkcr and others.

Got Fogerty's live of "Almost Saturday Night."  I was at Riopelle's "In
the Round" shows at the Celebrity Theater.  Listened to Meighan but
never caught him live.  Saw Jerry Riopelle about a dozen times.  Would
really like to get a line on some Meighan material.

Anyone have any leads or know of who may sell his work???

Thanks!

I remember KWFM as a listener.  I remember how its DJ personalities
molded my and others' exposure and our taste of Rock n' Roll music
while coming of age as a teenager in the late 1970's.  KWFM was an
integral part of the freshman student experience at The University of
Arizona in the late summer of 1978.  Everything felt so new including
what emanated from the stereo speakers in our dormitories, the
fraternity houses and apartment dwellings.

Was it Tucson's "Golden Age of Radio"?  I believe that it was.  KWFM
was one of Tucson's first tenants on the mysterious FM dial, a frontier
that demanded the eclectic and creative.  In the fall of 1978,  KWFM was
voted the 9th best radio station in the country by Rolling Stone
magazine.  KWFM comforted us through the deaths of Keith Moon and John
Lennon.  It introduced Tucson listeners to "Punk" and "New Wave". 
Before cable and before all night local television, KWFM was our
overnight sentinel.

How can one relive the entire KWFM 70's and early 80's?  We must build
a spaceship that can travel faster than radio transmissions.  We must
catch up to all those fleeting signals of the music and the warm voices
in between.


"I like to dream yes, yes, right between my sound machine
On a cloud of sound I drift in the night 
Any place it goes is right 
Goes far, flies near, to the stars away from here"

Thanks for the great memories that I have been enjoying with all the
pictures and recordings in this site.  I worked from 1975 to 1980 on
KEVT am, wich was a Spanish radio, in the same building and of the same
owner of KWFM, so I knew a lot of the great announcers of KWFM, as we
shared the studios and a lot of good times, both the Spanish speaking
announcers and the KWFM dj's.

Great site, Thanks again

I lived in Tucson from 80 to 95.  KWFM was the only thing I listened to.
 What a treat to stumble on your site!

I was actually trying to find any surviving recordings of Street
Pajama.  Anybody know where I can get any or all of their three
albums??

Thanks! And keep on rockin!

I am very thankful to KWFM for all the great memories especially those
Friday nights out off of Houghton Road in the back of my truck, I can't
remember all the girls names but I can what was on my radio. And then
there was Saturday Nights cruising Speedway, KWFM was a lot more than
just a radio station it was a way of life for many of us. Thank you for
all the great memories.
Harry Gorrell

Wow!  This site is soooo freakin'cool!  Hearing those old Bob Cooke
airchecks brought tears to my eyes.  Thank you for doing such a
wonderful job of preserving the memory of this great station!  

Chris Wagganer

P.S. Keep an eye out for "High and Dry" the documentary which I
co-produced about the Tucson Music scene which features interviews with
Dave LaRussa and other Tucson air personalities.  

You can get more info at www.highanddrymovie.com

Hi Tim, I've been to the KWFM web site many times. You guys have done a
great job on it. It's a shame there isn't a KDKB one.

The playlist archives & personal history are great. I enjoyed reading
awhile back how Nina Joy did her show in the nude and you (the
listener) missed it. 

Radio is notorious for forgetting its past so it's nice to see such an
excellent work in progress. It validates what happened back then and
those that contributed to it.

Andy Olson
RadioFreePhoenix
http://www.radiofreephoenix.com/

Kay-Dub.  Nothing finer in radio before or since.  I was glad I was in
Tucson listening in during the Golden Years of KWFM.  Best study music
for those late nights cranking on U of A lab reports, etc.  Thanks for
the website & the memories.

Found this looking for anything I can find on the classic "Mississippi"
Charles Bevel song "Overheard".  

I have heard only on two radio stations, both in Tucson.  One of course
was KWFM (still the best station I have ever listened too).  The other
had a direct link to KW because the music director the overnight DJ for
several years on KW, and that was KEKO.  

It was a shame when KRQQ went on the air and forced KW to change its
(what is now called AAA) format.

Was in Tucson last March (O4) and heard the Mountain, good, but still
not as good as KW in its heyday.

Wow!  What a blast from the past with this web site!  I moved away from
Tucson about six months after KWFM came on the air but now 34 years
later when I talk to old friends still in Tucson, "KW" still comes up
as very fond memories.