KQAK

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

KQAK is an oldies station in Bend, Oregon at 105.7 FM.

1 Official Website
2 History of the KQAK Call Letters
3 See also
4 Where are they now?
5 External links

[edit] Official Website

Official Website

[edit] History of the KQAK Call Letters

KQAK was an American radio station better known as The Quake, located at 98.9 FM. The Quake was on the air in San Francisco, California from August 23, 1982 until June 22, 1985.

Formerly known as KMPX, the station was purchased by a New Jersey investor group in 1982 and was administered by general manager Les Elias and station manager Bob Heymann. Under their guidance, KQAK assembled a talented air staff, including weekday morning host Alex Bennett (with Joe Regelski as co-host, continuing their collaboration from KMEL), Big Rick Stuart, Jed Gould III (aka Jed the Fish), Mike Koste, Richard Gossett, Belle Nolan, Rob Francis, Oscar Medina (aka Oz), Paul Wells (aka Lobster), and comedian Tim Bedore, among others. Although The Quake was not in operation for very long, it continues to command a devoted following decades after its final broadcast. In addition, The Quake was an important catalyst for the shift to a similar but more polished format at "Live 105" (KITS) in 1986.

KQAK was a personality-oriented album-oriented rock station for its first eight months of operation, and was partially influenced by the programming of WLUP in Chicago, the station where Elias and Heymann had previously managed. A month after KQAK's debut, another Bay Area station, KFOG changed its format from beautiful music to rock. This change left the San Francisco radio market with six very similar-sounding stations (KMEL, KRQR, KQAK and KFOG, plus San Jose stations KOME and KSJO).

Elias and Heymann decided to reposition the station (under the programming guidance of Rick Carroll from KROQ) in April 1983 as "Rock of the '80s," emphasizing new wave, punk, reggae, 'Two-Tone' ska, first generation Gothic rock, tracks from the 1960s and 1970s by musicians whose work influenced later punk and new wave performers, and the occasional novelty track.

Popular programs on The Quake, in addition to the 'Alex Bennett Program', included 'Early Tremors', 'Midnight Dread' and a syndicated program called 'Rock Over London'.

The KQAK broadcast studios were located at 1311 Sutter Street in San Francisco.

After KQAK ended its run on June 22, 1985, a new station with the call letters KKCY ("The City") was born on 98.9 FM. The FCC later assigned The Quake's call letters, KQAK, to an FM radio station in Bend, Oregon with a format unrelated to the former San Francisco station of the same name.

A current San Francisco progressive talk radio station, KQKE (960 AM), calls itself "The Quake," but it is also unrelated to KQAK, though air personality Paul "Lobster" Wells has the distinction of working for both stations.

Following the demise of KQAK, the 98.9 frequency has undergone many changes and many formats over the years, though it has had great success with Spanish-language programming in the past decade.