Damn back in the sixties it was where you went if you wanted to hear the Beatles or the Stones or the Supremes or the Beach Boys.

Whatever happened to radio worth listening to? These days I'd rather listen to my mp3 player.

Anyway KOMA was pretty hip at the time. Especially considering they were out of Oklahoma. We could never get them in the day here in Colorado but they ruled the night.

OMG!!!

When I was little, I had to share a bedroom with my two older sisters. They ALWAYS had KOMA on late at night after my parents told us to go to bed, I went to sleep listening to it for years. And this was in NW Colorado.

I shared a bedroom with my older sister, which was a disaster because she had/has, in my view, borderline OCD and I am much more relaxed (ie, sloppy). I remember many a time being awakened by the, "K-Oh-Em-A...Oklahoma City!", late at night. I particularly remember hearing The Beatles', I Wanna Hold Your Hand, for the first time...at midnight...on a school night. I didn't appreciate it. But I have fond memories now.

I used to listen to KOMA in southern Idaho in the 60's all the time (at night only). It was the best station for playing all the music we loved in high school. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!

A few of you mentioned Fred'n'Fae. They had a very popular kids show on Denver TV from 1952 until 1967. I know about everything you'd want to know about them, because I knew Fae in the last five years of her life. We wrote a book together called "Whatever Happened to Fred'n'Fae?" in 1999. It was a local Denver best seller! 140 pictures in it. You can still buy used copies from Amazon.

Wow Charley, you just brought back one of the great memories of my youth. KOMA, Oklahoma City, channel 1520 on your AM dial. All hits, all the time. The original Top 40 format playlist. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Supremes, One Hit Wonders, everybody.

I grew up in Northern Wyoming, and everybody - I mean everybody - tuned in to KOMA after the sun went down. KOMA was the Rocky Mountain version of Wolfman Jack, the source of the rock and roll soundtrack to our lives.

OK, so how about this, for all you denizens of the Mountain States in the '50's and '60's who listened to KOMA. Do you remember "Fred 'n Fae," the TV kiddie show out of Denver? Say yes and I will detail your car. :)

I don't remember Fred n' Fae because we got our tv out of Albuquerque but I'll bet every exmo of a certain age from the western states listened to KOMA 1520 in their youth.

I remember listening to Bob Dylan sing Rainy Day Women and asking my dad what does he mean when he says everybody must get stoned. My dad told me it meant getting drunk. LOL! Damn back when AM radio was fun!

Wow, surprised so many of you listened to one of my hometown radio stations! I had heard their signal carried far at night when they cranked up the power. KOMA is still popular here with the 40+ crowd - all the oldies and goldies.

This link gives you the history, at the same time brings back great memories from the 60's.

http://www.komaradio.com/komainfo.aspx

Beat the heck out of Garner Ted Armstrong on KSL...

I don't understand how any of you could listen to such music...did no one read "Worthy Music Worthy Thoughts"? ;)

So THAT'S why we're all apostates! We listened to Satan's music. LOL

I don't remember that pamphlet, but I do remember being lectured about modern music being the devil's tool. One of my cousin's wives quit going to aerobics because the teacher wouldn't change the music to something "uplifting." ROFL

KOMA was one of the "Clear Channel" stations allowed by FCC guidelines. These were the giant 50,000 watt stations that were protected on either side of the bandwidth with "clear" space. At night, they had the AM Sky wave and could bounce all over the country.

KOMA was one I listened to in Central Utah, along with KOB-Albuquerque which catered to Truck Drivers and that culture with hard core country.

X-rock 80 was the pirate station just across the Texas border in Mexico with 100-thousand watts and Wolfman Jack doing his shtick.

I loved KOMA and learning about the joys of rock and roll in my youth, at night, under the stars.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2014 08:49AM by fakemoroni.

The dulcet tones of Vin Sculley broadcasting the Dodger games on clear channel KFI. Even in small town Utah I knew that Farmer John had the Easternmost in quality and Westernmost in flavor. The new on KNX and KNBR San Francisco for light pop. The memories flood back.

I used to listen to KOMA during the nights when I drove from northern New Mexico, and Albuquerque (central New Mexico), to Alamogordo (southern New Mexico) and back.

Driving on those (mostly rural) roads, KOMA felt like a friend.

dI think everyone had late nite radio in the 50s and 60s. In Oregon, I would listen to KXL from Los Angeles, WNxt (?) from Chicago, and a smattering of KOMA. I was all over the dial once the sun went down. I even got New York once.

I had no problem picking up KOMA, Oklahoma City in Duarte,a town in Southern California east of Los Angeles. It was an easy catch, along with KOA, Denver, KOB, Albuquerque along with your dear old friend, KSL, Salt Lake.. Also remember hearing X-Rock 80 out of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, too. WWL, New Orleans was easy to get along with WOAI, San Antonio. One cold winter night, I once heard WBZ. Boston!

Along with some of you, I remember dragging in far away AM stations from all over the country because they were diverse and Entertaining! Consolidation of radio ownership and homogenized programming killed the joy of the late-night long distance AM radio experience. The old 1930s era radio I used to use now sits on a shelf, cold and dark in the closet.

I was playing the 45 Handyman (I bought old records at Goodwill) and he said KOMA used that as one of their signature songs. We lived in SW Iowa.

I remember a contest on KOMA where you had to call in and tell them how many times they said "Koma" in Handyman. This was in southwest Wyoming, our only source of rock and roll in the 60's. Great memories

I lived in southern Utah and we got two stations,KSUB from Cedar City which pretty much sucked and KOMA at night.Without it,we probably wouldnt have heard any hits unless we owned the records.

Man, you guys know how to bring the memories. Nothing like AM radio at night driving around in rural western US. Depending on the atmospheric conditions we always had KOMA, KOB, or KFI blasting the tunes. The 60's early 70's happy memories. Thanks.

I never got to stay up late enough for KOMA.

I had to settle for KNAK and KCPX in Salt Lake.

Then along came KRSP.

KMUR in Murray, UT.

KOB brings back memories. As does the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre. A number of my high school classmates and I used to carpool back to college on Sunday nights after a weekend at home. The long drive across nowhere in the Southwest was made shorter by the clear channel AM radio stations.

BcE

We even picked it up here in southern Alberta, along with KNBR San Francisco....and when I was at Ricks I could some nights pick up a little station from California on the skip and listen to the legendary Wolfman Jack...

Ron Burr

Ah, late night radio...it was magical to me as a kid to tune in the clear channel stations. I was in LA and could get KOMO, KSL, KOA, KOB, XERB (Wolfman) and rarely I could catch KOMA.

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Herb Jepko's Nightcaps Show on KSL? It was a kick listening to that stuff, especially when I got tired of nutty callers on Art Bell's show...

I listened to Herb....kinda different....

Ron Burr

I had to settle for KPIX. I had an early morning job on the weekends and then I would listen to the early morning farm report.

I grew up in a very small rural town. I had a small am/fm radio in my room (tube of course) and 100' of antennae wire strung up in the attic. I remember many a late night pulling in channels from all across the country. Something about a cold winter night, next to the warm glow of the tubes with sounds from another world to fall to sleep to. I really miss good radio.

Koma gave me my first listen to a certain new band.

The clever jock introduced 'I wanna hold your hand' with.....you've heard of Japanese beetles? Well here's some English beetles.

My ears have never been the same.

KOMA had inestimable influence over an etire generation that grew up under the glow of the 50,000 watt 'blowtorch'.

Once heard Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys claim that he picked up KOMA on a transistor radio on a beach in Hawaii.

It was truly a great antidote to the morg-enslaved youths of my day.

Yours truly 1520, KOMA!