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!

I lived in Tucson from '76-'79 & I remember that the DJ's would always
answer the phone with,"FM", because it was understood that this is the
ONLY station of note!  I also remember they played a song for me on my
birthday(as requested by my sister, I was in the desert partying & she
knew I would be listening)it was "Montana" by Frank Zappa, who else
would play him??!!  
   One other memory, I scoured the city to get as many bumper stickers
as I could & covered every square inch of my bedroom walls with them!
It looked pretty cool!  Glad to have found you guys!

Started listening to K-Dub-Ya in 1970 until we got assigned to a base in
Germany in 1972. Came back to go to the U of A in 1973 and this was
STILL the only station in town to listen too.  Spent so many nights in
the design studio at the U listening to K-Dub during all night
charrettes and jamming to artists you’d never hear anywhere else. I
have so many fond memories listening to this station and wish I had
gotten all the playlists thru the 70’s. After leaving Tucson in 1980
I gave up on finding a better station to listen to because where I
landed there were none to be found. I hope folks keep adding to the
playlists because there’s a certain song I’m trying to find but
can’t remember the artist or the songs title.  Thank so much for
providing this web site!

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?

I was looking for Margie Rye and found your website...  My sister Toni
Nichols worked in the offices of KWFM until her death nearly three
years ago... the names I saw here were familiar from hearing her talk
about you all like "family"... I love Tucson, and still hope to move
back there one day...

Where else in 1970 could anyone hear songs like "The Legend of the USS
Titanic" by Jaime Brockett but KWFM?  Or anything by King Crimson? Or
"Layla" coming from a cheap FM radio purchased at AMA? Or Hot Tuna's
"Water Song" played at sunset from a backyard patio on a steamy,
post-monsoon-rain summer day?

But I digress. My yellow Datsun wore the stripey KWFM bumper sticker
until the sun bleached it white. Were there any other stations then? Oh
yeah: KTKT. Pop. Shrimp.

Y'all have your memories, I have mine. KWFM was there for so many of
them. Thanks to all.

Ahh...Tucson.  I can still remember listening to the great tunes in
Sabino Canyon with the smell of the creosote bushes in full bloom, and
a beer.  Love those days.  Thanks for the walk down memory lane.  Are
there any stations taking the place of this cultural icon?

It was odd that I was thinking back to the times when I lived in the
barrecks in 73 and 74 at DM. My first exposure to FM radio...and a lot
of other things. It would be great to find some old faces..Anyhow..KWFM
was a great source of entertainment back in the day!!!

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 worked as an ad sales rep for KWFM from 1983-1985. Won a couple of
Tucson ADDY awards for the the copy I wrote that was produced by the
great air staff of both KWFM and then sister station KCEE-AM.

In 1983-84, I remember assisting our Chief Engineer (I can only recall
his first name was "Bill") with the installation of the new transmitter
and STL on top of the mountain after hours.

Dan Hicks of NBC Sports (Golf, and most recently 2016 Olympic Swimming)
got his start at KW/KC around that time.

Lived in Tucson 1980 - 82, remember great station highlighted by Bob
Cooke's tribute to John Lennon when he was killed; have two cassettes
of Beatles music thanks to Bob. Sadly we were still there when BC was
taken from us. Still a sad memory to this day. Long live the memory of
KWFM in Tucson and WZMF in Menomonee Falls,WI.

One reason KW was so successful was it had that we will do as we please
attitude. They played what everyone wanted to hear, not what some d!@&
back in New York wanted to play to us. 

  I was sorry to see it go.

searching google for Nina Joy and came up with this website. I was lucky
enough to grow up in Phoenix and listen to underground radio the way it
should be...KDKB 93.3 FM and 1510 if you AM..as the firesign theatre
used to say during station ID's. never got to listen to Tuscon
radio...but heard Nina and the rest...they definately shaped my
listening styles...and I thank them for that. Nina had the Lost Gonzo's
on one evening and I got to request a couple of songs...I still have
that night on tape...1977ish ....

PS...oops that's Tucson...forgive me for the mispellin

What a trip ... this site takes me back to the Naked Pueblo ... the
Stumble Inn ... halter tops ... the best rock and roll station in the
world right there at 92.9.

I remember getting into an argument with the program director - Guy
Zapoleon, who's now a certified radio genius - when they put KRQQ on
the air.


He said Tucson in 1978 had the lowest FM penetration in the country
because FM was so bad. I argued that it was low because the only rock
station - KWFM- was too good for the masses. 

He looked at me like the populist simpleton that I was.

Hearing the Beatles station ID took me to the back seat of a Datsun
210, waking up one morning in at Gates Pass and listening to the
Beatles during a Tucson sunrise....

Nicely done!

[I have several hours of reel-to-reel tape of the KWFM jazz show -
which I loved - from the late '70s. Pls e-mail me if you want a dub...]