KKIS 990, Pittsburg
“Top 33 On 99” Survey
Week Ending June 21, 1966
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“Little Girl” by San Jose garage-rock legends The Syndicate Of Sound maintains the top spot once again on the K-KIS Top 33 On 99 survey of the “Inland Empire’s Most Popular Music” for the week ending June 21, 1966.
The 5,000-watt KKIS, with studios on East Fourth Street in Pittsburg and transmitter in the Collinsville (Solano County) marshes, was a feisty competitor against its big-city rivals — including KFRC, KYA and KEWB — for youthful Top 40 music fans in the Contra Costa County suburbs.
During the warm Summer of 1966, the K-KIS Playboys air team included:
WEEKDAYS
Johnny Van — 6 to 9 a.m.
Art Douglas — 9 a.m. to noon
Ron Garner — noon to 4 p.m.
Larry Ickes — 4 to 8 p.m.
Ray Farrell — 8 p.m. to midnight
Bob Evans — midnight to 6 a.m.
Not listed as a Playboy here — but still playing a vital role at KKIS — was Bill Plummer, who served as the fill-in and vacation relief announcer at the station at this time.
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 served as the friendly 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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