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

Greatest radio station ever! This is the heart of my college days on
display, thanks!

Bob Meighan with Norm Pratt and Dick Furlow bring their notable musical
talent to the Calabazas stage at Oracle State Park Saturday for a
twilight performance.  Known for desert rock and ballads the talented
trio will wrap up the 8th annual Fiesta de las Calabazas.  Meighan
became well known in the 70’s and developed a regional reputation
for his original sound.  He’s back and has brought with him two
fine musicians to rouse a crowd and prompt some dancing under the
stars.

For more information contact:
Diamond Jim Hewitt
400-4965
jim@hewitt.name

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.

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

Precious stuff... Thanks mucho mon ami. Tap tap tap, is this thing on?
Sliding vinyl records back and forth to cue the next track... and
playing In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida to hit the head. Free Bird also, such
frivolity and festivity in the classic "not on this frequency - no
disco" '80's style. 867-5309, you got it! Remember that number. And who
can forget the "legendary" band Toto.  And Flock of Seagulls
 The Styx laser light show! That Frank Zappa interview was leading edge
for Tucson radio during that era. The first televised in Tucson on a
local channel music video program was brought to you by KWFM.  You see
those "I Love the '80's" shows on cable and what comes to mind? KWFM! I
lived in Seattle at the time and after a weekend visit while driving
back to the northwest would listen the excellent Sunday night jazz show
hosted by my brother Chris Ryan till the signal would fade out somewhere
near Phoenix.  Nice mix, a jazz show on a hard rock station; very all
inclusive and rare in the rock radio genre.  I was so proud of my
brother at that early stage of his radio career, and of course still am
a fan of his continued accomplishments.  After Chris cracked into the
west coast radio scene in San Diego after leaving KW, a lofty
accomplishment to be sure, did you KWFM nostalgia buffs know he played
the music as stadium DJ at the San Diego Charger games in the '90's?
Great website, keep up the good work.  Brilliant!

I ran the Pawnbroker from 1975 to 1980 and have a photo of Bob and Lau
Cooke at my home having dinner.  Also lots of Riopelle, Meighan,
Straight Shot, etc. photos. That and wild memories, what does a gal
need?  Ran into Lee Dombrowski at a Denver restaurant several years
ago, should have but didn't follow up.  Saw Steve Zind recently, what a
fine soul.

- Lisa Harber Maher 520-232-3878  

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!!! 

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!

KWFM supplied the soundtrack for my stoner-rock teenage years...fond
memories of the syndicated Flo and Eddie and National Lampoon shows on
Saturday nights before I started attending house parties every weekend.
I remember when the station first started as a pre-teen floating around
the head shops which had just moved from 6th St. to 4th Ave...donation
cups for a new "freeform" commercial free FM station...broadcast in
mono. I went to California with my parents and upon return, tuned in on
my Craig portable cassette/tuner; low and behold the red stereo beacon
was glowing! Fond memories of absolute on-the-air madness the day Nixon
resigned. How about the summer millions of grasshoppers took over the
city and people were phoning in suggestions on how to get rid of them.
I remember someone suggesting the issue of pistols to everyone, ha-ha!
(Oh my and how about Hot Rocks Records? I started going to bars way
under age
Choo Choos and that other place that was on the corner of 4th Ave and
6th St. By the way miss both Doc and Shag!) Back to FM. With the good
there is always some bad. I hated all the country rock and jazz
and when punk rock brought life and rebellion back to rock music, hated
how the station ignored this music.
but alas, it did trickle as with a Talking Heads interview
Karen Stern playing DEVO and our pal Dave Larussa with the "Anything
That's Rock 'n' Roll" show. We had the big "protest" by the UOFA in
regards to the three rock FM stations ignoring "new music" to the
dismay of recording engineer/producer Bill Cashman who released an
album by my band JOHNNY SEVIN
I'm trying to squeeze 10 years of memories into this paragraph which is
coming off as some sort of stream of consciousness / ADD rap but I will
say that I'm happy this site exists and I will return to hear more air
checks. RIP Bob Cooke
you were a talented, funny DJ who was a pal
I cherish memories of your visits to the Johnny Sevin house

Tim, thank you for constructing this web site.  As General Manager of
KWFM from 1972 to 1982 it gives me great pride to know that after all
these years listeners continue to remember KWFM.

Many of the crew have gone on to start their own businesses while many
have continued in radio.  Matt Siegel 20 years # 1 at Boston's WXKS,
Larry Jacobs ABC Radio News, Lou Waters CNN, Karen Stern Denver radio
personality and voice talent.  Little did we know that the innovative
and creative staff which deveoped: Live from Lee Furr's, the Radio/TV
simulcasts of national acts, the outdoor birthday celebrations at
Randolph Park and the Rock n Roll Picture Show — to name but a few
— would live on for so many years.

We should also remember the greats that have since passed away; in
particular the first P.D. Mark Young and of course Bob Cooke. 

Thanks to every one who supported KWFM then and continue to remember it
today.

Tim, Thanks !

You guys were the greatest station ever.  Tucson isn't the same without
you!  

The Best ever!!

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.

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

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

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!!!

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.

Holy Shee-yite!  Came across this site purely by accident.  Almost
brought tears to my eyes!  I moved to Tucson in '63 from northern MN. 
I worked at Choo-Choo's from '71-'75-ish.  I was Doc's housemate
(w/Gary Murray) on Waverly & Shag worked w/me, then took my spot as
mgr. when I left for NoCA.  I was in Tucson a few years back & didn't
recognize it.  My family lived up near Ina/Oracle when it was out of
the city.  God, I loved Tucson!  The Shanty, all of those bars up &
down 4th Ave, PocoLoco.  I've retired from IBM & MGM/Mirage in Vegas
now living in the stix in the Ozarks -- peaceful & beautiful.  PS.
Where's Jon Millar now??

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!

Wow; what a find!

After an evening of reminiscing through this web page, I'll admit - I
was one of those goofy high school interns at KHYT when Rich Robbin
showed up back in 1978!

REAL radio was KWFM - that was what I wanted.  Yeah, I wanted to be the
engineer that got to resurrect the transmitter at 3 in the morning, or
replace the pot on the board, or, even, clean the cart machines, but it
just never did work out that way.

Now, after over 25 years in aerospace (at that place south of the
airport...), I really miss what all of you did over there; thanks so
much for setting this web presence up!

Fortunately, the only thing that's marginally close is KRDX 98.5 in
Vail.  With a a good car radio receiver, it's covering a good chunk of
Tucson - give it a listen!

Now, to begin the task of copying some of the files for listening on
the road.

From my recollection, in the beginning, KWFM was a mono station that was
on the air 12 hours per day. I believe the broadcast day began with the
tolling of the church bells from the song "Black Sabbath" from Black
Sabbath's first album. The broadcast day ended with a very
psychedelic/energy charged (or was it the "white lightning") version of
"Let's Get Together" by H.P. Lovecraft. Is this correct, or was I
hallucinating?

This brings back burning pallets and doobies in the desert. After High
school football games. Great site.

Just found this site somehow when revisiting the record "KWFM On The
Air". I grew up with KWFM but I moved to San Diego in 82 and to
Australia in 84. Really, really, miss it. I understand there is a new
incarnation on the AM band now. Can't possibly be the same can it? My
souvenirs extend to "KWFM On The Air" and 5 C90 cassettes taped off the
air when everybody went on holiday (or something) and had a robot DJ (or
something) play every Rolling Stones track from A to Z (or whatever). I
remember there was a contest where you were supposed to figure out
which one track was left out. Anyway I have from approximately D to S
with some inevitable missing periods.    

I lived in Tucson from Jan 71 to 80. I doubt I ever listened to another
station.  I have many anecdotes about KW, and get red-eyed remembering.
I lived in some bigger cities that claimed great FM, but none touched
KW. My little brother got pulled over in Arlington, Va and was forced
to scrape the sticker I gave him off the car. Thanks for the great
site.

I remember with great fondness KWFM.  There has NEVER been a rock radio
station anywhere I have travelled that has rivaled the variety and
quality of KWFM.  I sure wish the DJ's were still on the air now,
spinning tunes just like they did back in the '70's. What a blast that
would be!

I have to say, whoever did your website did a FANTASTIC JOB!

As a radio junkie, and having been employed at great radio stations
like KNUS 99 Dallas, KVIL, WBEN, I always love to find collections of
those stations assembled into little historical archives of how those
stations appeared in the early days.

How I wish that I could find a KNUS 99 website done even 1/10th as
completely as yours is!

When I was an early teen back in the 70's my sister has some Pure
Prairie League albums, and I never listened to them myself.  However I
listened to all of what was available on your site, and I am now hooked
on their music, Thanks!!

Finally, let me add that, as an ex radio broadcast engineer, the high
quality of the audio on this site was a big unexpected surprise! 

Thanks again for creating such a wonderful website
that brought me back by reminding me of my previous radio days in the
early 70's!

Karl Ireland - Dallas TX

What a kick!  I'm having a little trouble concentrating at work today as
I just discovered this webpage. I keep looking at the pictures and
remembering how I felt 25 years ago when they were taken...knowing that
Bob and Jim aren't with us any more...knowing that I missed the reunion
and haven't seen the rest of you in that long...and still being in
radio knowing how much things have changed!  What an amazing time of my
life. Thank you all for being a part of it.

Tim, Thank you for this history of KWFM. Being a 4th generation native
from Tucson and working there starting in 1982 was an honor. 

memories, what wonderfull memeries Tucson in the 70s thanks all.