KQTE occupied the 1460 slot on the AM dial in Santa Rosa between 1981 and 1986. Prior to March 16, 1981, the station was known as KVRE.
The call letter change was accompanied by a format change. John Detz, whose company Visionary Radio Euphonics had purchased KVRE and its sister KVRE-FM in 1978, wanted to find a new niche for the AM station while KVRE-FM continued with its “progressive country” format.
What Detz installed on KQTE was the “Music of Your Life” format. He called it “modified oldies”, featuring popular singers from the 1940s through the 1960s. Detz said it was a format that had proven successful at Long Island, NY station WHLI–another daytime-only station serving a market on the edge of a major metropolitan area and facing competition from the powerful but distant big-city stations.
As KQTE split away from KVRE-FM, popular disc jockey Bill Bowker stayed on the FM station, while Jack Roberts, Randy Westmoreland and Tim Elliott became the backbone of the KQTE staff.
Old radio dramas were recycled into evening programming. KQTE served up Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, and Have Gun, Will Travel seven nights a week for a time.
In 1982, KQTE ran a contest. Newspaper ads and on-air promos said “KQTE is giving away a house”. Not exactly, as it turned out. The contest winner would have to qualify for a mortgage for the new three-bedroom townhouse in Petaluma’s Shelter Hills development. KQTE wasn’t actually giving away anything; the down payment and closing costs were being covered by the developer.
Tro Harper, who’d worked at KSFO before World War 2, hosted a nightly show, The Oakmont Hour. It featured big band music and was aimed squarely at the retirees who lived in Sonoma County’s big Oakmont Adult Community.
In August 1986, KQTE became KWFN. Owner John Detz said listeners were confusing KQTE with San Francisco public radio station KQED (say them both aloud).
