KOME

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The bumper sticker logo of KOME was ubiquitous in California's Silicon Valley during the 1970s and 1980s. The alternative weekly Metro ran a parody of the KOME logo for a cover story [1] on the radio station's demise.

KOME was a radio station in San Jose, California, heard at 98.5 FM from 1971 thru 1998. Currently, the 98.5 FM frequency is home to KUFX ("K-Fox").

[edit] History

The original legendary "street sign" logo from the 1970s and early 1980s.

Updated "street sign" logo. In the 1980s, the logo was modified using a "digital display" font.

KOME 1994 logo, after flip to modern rock, inspired by logo of co-owned KROQ

KOME 1998 logo, also inspired by new KROQ logo

In 1959, Edward W. Meece, one of the founders of Pacifica Radio, formed The Audio House, Inc and started a new radio station, KRPM at 98.5 FM in San Jose, California. KRPM's format was classical music.

Meece sold The Audio House, Inc, with KRPM, for roughly $300,000 in February 1971 to Mel Gollub of Pennsylvania and Ron Cutler [2]. The station's call letters were changed to KOME, and the format became free-form rock. In 1973 a group of New Yorkers who later renamed themselves Infinity Broadcasting acquired KOME as the first of many stations to come.

KOME attracted a loyal South Bay rock audience throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, against original San Jose FM rock rival KSJO. Both stations managed to attract some listeners within neighboring San Francisco against Tom Donahue's well-known KMPX and KSAN, neither of which had a significant presence in the South Bay. KOME's diamond shaped stickers were a common sight on vehicles and high school lockers around the area. Several on-air slogans suggested the sexual connotations of its call letters, probably the most memorable being "Don't touch that dial, it's got KOME on it!", "Wake up with KOME in your ear", and "The KOME spot on your dial". Not surprisingly, Playboy magazine found this newsworthy enough to mention the station.

The station's free-form rock music allowed disc jockeys to choose their music. In 1974, program director Ed Romig tightened up the free-form rock format, but his successor, Mikel Herrington (aka Mikel Hunter) returned the station to its free-form roots in August 1977. He discarded the card catalog playlist in favor of an eclectic library including art-rock, jazz, punk, new wave, and soul within a rock format framework.

According to an article in Metro, KOME 's freeform ethic ended around 1982, when Infinity Broadcasting tightened the station's playlist and enlisted radio consultants to determine programming. [3] [4] Mikel Herrington left the station in protest and went to KMET in Los Angeles.

In 1983, PD Les Tracy hardened the format to a mostly heavy metal playlist. Hard rock and Tracy lasted a year before new PD Pat Evans reverted KOME to its previous approach.

KOME went to alternative rock and new wave music in May 1994, eschewing much of the remaining remnants of its rock past. Syndicated programming such as the Howard Stern Show and Loveline [5] supplanted some local DJs. PD Jay Taylor instituted a danceable youth-oriented format about 1995.

In 1997, Infinity Broadcasting, which had recently merged with CBS, [6] purchased KITS "Live 105", San Francisco from Entercom, and ran both stations with identical formats for a short time. The company was legally required to sell one station when they took over American Radio Systems in May 1998, and opted to sell the 98.5 frequency to Jacor, owners of longtime rival KSJO. Jacor transferred their classic rock station KUFX and its callsign to their newly acquired frequency, thus ending KOME. CBS/Infinity transferred much of KOME's air staff, and the Stern and Loveline [7] syndicated shows, to KITS as "The New Live 105". [8][9] The KOME call letters were retired from the Bay Area, resurfacing briefly on a small co-owned AM station outside the market. At this writing, the KOME call letters are available.

[edit] Ratings history vs. KSJO and KSAN

Arbitron average share, total age 12-plus, 06:00 - midnite, seven days:

    Apr/May 78  Jul/Aug 78   Oct/Nov 78  Jan/Feb 79  Apr/May 79

• Santa Clara county only:

KOME   2.7         ---          2.8         4.4         5.2
KSJO   2.6         ---          2.4         3.2         4.0
KSAN   1.3         ---          0.7         0.7         0.7

• San Francisco nine-county, including Santa Clara county:

KOME   0.8         0.9          0.8         1.6         1.9
KSJO   0.8         1.8          1.0         1.1         1.2
KSAN   1.9         2.1          1.8         1.9         1.8

It appears that KOME began to overtake KSJO significantly Jan / Feb 1979. In the San Francisco nine-county area, KOME actually beats KSAN slightly in Apr / May 1979.

[edit] Notable disk jockeys and other air staff

alphabetical by air name (aka)

• Billy Vega about 1988-1992 also KSJO, KUFX
• Bob Lilley 1986-1994: news (News Director in Idaho)
• Bob Simmons early 1970s also KSJO
• Carson Daly 1990s (NBC's "Last Call with Carson Daly")
• Dana Jang 1974-1985 also KKUP, KSJO (PD of KBAY and KEZR, San Jose) [10]
• Dennis Erectus 1977-1982 (works behind the scenes for PD Dana Jang at KBAY / KEZR)
• Gene Mitchell (Geno Michelini, sometimes as air name) 1979-1982 (Los Angeles radio on and off)
• Gary T. (...Torresani) 1971-1972 & 1975-1983
• Greg Stone 1978-1983 & 1986-1998: Stone Trek (KUFX, San Jose)
• Jay William Weed (aka J. William Weed) 1972-1973: DJ and PD; also KSJO, ABC at KGO-FM>KSFX, San Francisco (Mr Mom)
• Jack Perry 1979-1983: commercial production (KCBS ad producer)
• Jeff Blazy 1987-1994 (PD of The Fox Santa Rosa, CA)
• John Higdon 1971-1998: Chief Engineer, "The Classical KOME" host early 1970s (Consultant-Engineer for KBAY & KEZR)
• Joe Regelski about 1976-1977 also KSJO (News Director KOZT, Mendecino, CA)
• Jona Denz-Hamilton 1974-1982 (KBAY, San Jose)
• Karin Nakamura 1976-1983 (KUFX, San Jose)
• Kelly Cox 1979-1983 (KLOS, Los Angeles)
• Larry Jacobs 1977-1979 (ABC News, New York)
• Laurie Roberts 1975-1985 (PD and DJ KUFX, San Jose)
• Lobster (Paul Wells) 1974-1976 also KSJO (KQKE, San Francisco)
• Mark Goldberg 1979-1983 (News Director KKCS, Colorado Springs, CO)
• Mark Sherry early 1970s: DJ and PD; also KFIG, KSJO (Eugene, OR area radio)
• Marla Davies 1990s (KEZR, San Jose)
• No Name 1990s (KLLC "Alice", San Francisco) [11]
• Peter B. Collins 1976-1977 (Syndicated Peter B. Collins show, owns KRXA Monterey, CA)
• Phil Charles early 1970s (Montana radio)
• Rob Singleton 1979-1983 (News Director KJZY, Santa Rosa, CA)
• Sean Donahue (Sean Coman) 1970s also KSAN (died Jul 2000 [12]
• Stephen Dunwoody 1973-1975 & 1990s) also KSJO (Station Manager of KYOU, San Francisco pod-cast radio)
• Ted Kopulos 1976-1983: movie guy/song parody guy (KUFX, San Jose)
• Uncle Jack 1971-1974 also KSJO (audio man for "Jeopardy")
• Victor Boc 1972-1980: talk show (Oregon talk show host)
• Wolf about 1973-1975

[edit] External links

• KOME was originally classical KRPM
• June 4, 1998 Metro: KOME chronology since Infinity ownership
• June 4, 1998 Metro: Last two weeks of "Kingdom KOME"
• June 4, 1998 1998 Metro: South Bay radio re-shuffling: "The Big Radio Play"
• June 4, 1998 1998 Metro: "Goodbye, KOME"
• January 21, 2006 Mercury-News blog: "Almost 33 1/3 years" KOME Reunion
• Assorted links regarding KOME