KKIS 990, Pittsburg
“Top 33 On 99” Survey
Week Ending January 3, 1967
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The Royal Guardsmen, with “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron,” knock The Monkees out of the top spot on the K-KIS Top 33 On 99 survey of the “Inland Empire’s Most Popular Music” for the week ending January 3, 1967.
The 5,000-watt station, with studios at 230 East Fourth Street in Pittsburg and transmitter at Collinsville (Solano County), battled valiantly against its big city rivals — including KFRC, KYA and KEWB — for the hearts and ears of listeners in Concord, Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, Richmond and the eastern Contra Costa County suburbs.
A few days into the new year, the station’s air staff, known as the K-KIS Playboys, included:
WEEKDAYS
Ron Garner — 6 to 10 a.m.
Art Douglas — 10 a.m. to noon
Radio Ray Farrell — noon to 4 p.m.
Larry Ickes — 4 to 8 p.m.
Bob Evans — 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
WEEKENDS
Johnny Van — Saturday 6 p.m. to midnight and
“Klassic Karavan” Sunday 6 p.m. to midnight
Bill Plummer — Sundays 10 a.m.
KKIS afternoon disc jockey Radio Ray Farrell (nom de radieux of Ray Lenhart), who came to the station from KMBY/Monterey, would depart for KYNO/Fresno in 1968, where he became Johnny Scott.
Working his way to Top 40 radio superstardom, Johnny Scott moved on to KGB/San Diego, changing his name — not by choice — to Bobby Ocean. In later years, he would work at KFRC (on three separate occasions, as well as serving as the station’s imaging voice) and KIOI in San Francisco.
Larry Ickes, doing p.m. drive at KKIS at this time, joined the station after getting his start at KNBA/Vallejo. Ickes moved to KMPX (FM 107) as “Larry The Lion” in 1968 after the station’s regular staff went on strike, then worked at KTIM/KAPX in San Rafael and 560/KSFO during its final days under the ownership of Gene Autry’s Golden West Broadcasters. For many years, he has served as the popular afternoon voice on 96.5 KOIT.
K-KIS/99, which went on the air in September 1949 as KECC and became KATT in 1957, took on the KKIS call letters in September 1958. In October 1993, the station became KATD.
IMAGE: Edited from “K-KIS Top 33 On 99” newspaper.
ADDITIONAL TEXT: David Ferrell Jackson.
SOURCE: Bill Plummer Collection, Bay Area Radio Museum.
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