The 93 KHJ-LA Complete Boss 30 - 1973

KHJ 1973 - BOSS By Name(but, not by Nature)
Since radio was a very straight forward entity when KHJ began the BOSS Top 30 in mid-1965...it is easy to see and hear that by 1973 the realm had changed dramatically. It is not so easy to explain in words but anyone listening should understand that things were not so simple anymore.

First of all, radio had already been laid to rest when television became the medium of choice with the fickle public consumer base. When KHJ created the BOSS campaign, radio had not yet realized how wide open the horizon actually was. Thus, from 1965 until the early 70's radio was still trying to figure out what it wanted to be.

Along the way, FM radio had also elbowed its way into the competition and had brought entirely new concepts to the realm. Many of the FM philosophies were giving AM radio a serious run on the claim for the high stakes that were piled up on the table. To say the ante had been upped into astronomical proportions would be a most conservative estimation of the situation.

Never before had KHJ had so much to keep abreast of. This may have even given birth to a God Complex whereby the station was adamant about its superiority and its inability to fail. This usually results in an overabundance of confidence that takes on the form of cockiness that has always been dangerous to apply to the typical practice.

 In this case, those practices were what had always been KHJ's bread and butter...its formula for success. Here's where things can go terribly wrong. What starts as confidence becomes an unwillingness to bend. From there, everything becomes self-parody. So, this is the rut that KHJ would have to navigate/negotiate if it was going to keep itself from falling completely into it.

Where FM had started to present more vanguard approaches to radio playlists, formalities, protocol and even the identity stamps of station jingles...KHJ had more and more format decisions to make. Would it not bend an inch? Would it make the DJs take on even more flamboyant personalities? Would it start and end every dialogue, every sentence with "93 KHJ" from the mouths of the Disc Jockeys? Would they play station jingles only at news breaks? Would they even cover news anymore? Should they do away with traffic and weather? Do they need to focus even more on contests that were no longer meaningful enough to pursue? Did they need to endorse the community at all? Perhaps they should play only music and do away with DJs and Station Jingles!

All of these things were non-decisions in 1965. Now, 1965 seemed so far behind 1973...and the BOSS was starting to seem archaic. First of all, there was much more music being made and therefore more diverse types of music/sub-genres. This was a logistical challenge all its own. How to support the music industry AND remain loyal to your own existence. Had KHJ BOSS Radio outlived its own usefulness? Did the industry even need creative commercialism? And, could music survive without them?

These are but a few of the reasons that NOTHING lasts forever. Gimmicks become gambits and overconfidence becomes an Achilles Heel that is not just an idiomatic reference...but something quite physical. BOSS Radio was so good at what they had created...it seems impossible that it could actually end. And, somehow, it seems that KHJ would be the last to know!  Kwai Chang


1972 to 1972   Yandex    Zippy
1973 Part 1 (January-February)   Yandex     Zippy
1973 Part 2 (March-April)    Yandex    Zippy
1973 Part 3 (May-June)    Yandex    Zippy
1973 Part 4 (July-August)    Yandex    Zippy
1973 Part 5 (September-October)    Yandex    Zippy
1973 Part 6 (November-December)   Yandex   Zippy


You can see the Playlist getting tighter, and things are really changing for top-30 AM radio. Nevertheless,  some classics and a whole lotta rare single-only mixes. I wish the quality of the available airchecks were better. All in all, an interesting, entertaining, but possibly not essential year.

The final year in this series will be in about 2 weeks.