Do you remember....KEAP

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You just got home from school and it’s Channel 30 Fun Time! Or maybe Nancy Allen's Movie Matinee on Channel 24. Don’t forget the BOSS 30's #1 KYNO. If you were sophisticated, you only listened to KFIG on some new airwave called FM. We honor the late great Al Radka here at Lost Fresno whose motto was Lettuce Eat it!
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Little Duece Coupe
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Do you remember....KEAP

Post by Little Duece Coupe » Tue May 17, 2011 10:57 pm

Does anyone remember the country radio station of the 60's with the call letters, KEAP?
It has been a good while, but I believe one of the DJ's was called, "Timberline Cross" and had a deep voice. Grew up with a great appreciation of all styles of music, and entertainment, everything from KMJ to KARM, and everything in between. Although I had my 2 transistor cranked up to KYNO most always, I never lacked for entertainment or news; be it the farm reports on KMJ, or Arthur Godfrey Show, on KFRE in the mornings.

This is my first post, and I have enjoyed reading about everyone's perspective, memories, knowledge, and courtesy. :-)

Scott-o-Rama

Re: Do you remember....KEAP

Post by Scott-o-Rama » Wed May 18, 2011 12:28 pm

Yes, I think the KEAP station office was in Manchaster Center -- in the middle of the old breezeway area located between Mayfair Market and Longs -- next to Baker's Shoes. You could look in through a plate glass window and see the DJ's broadcasting. Back then country music wasn't as mainstream as it is now. My folks liked classical and northern folk music, and they let us kids listen to rock n' roll. But they always seemed to put down country music as unsophisticated and lowbrow -- at least until the likes of Kenny Rogers and the Oak Ridge Boys came along. Nowadays my main hobby is singing country and bluegrass music. And it's funny, I don't go much for the modern pop-country sound, but prefer to sing the old country stuff they used to play on KEAP!

Rodney
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Re: Do you remember....KEAP

Post by Rodney » Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:36 pm

I certainly remember KEAP (980 AM), always referred to as "keep radio." And of course Elwin "Timberline" Cross, who was a major player in the 1950s country & western (no one ever referred to it as just "country") music scene in the southern San Joaquin Valley, together with Dave Stogner, Bill Woods, Cliffie Stone, Fuzzy Owen, and of course "Cousin Herb" Henson, who MC'd the "Cousin Herb's Trading Post" TV show weekday afternoons on KERO-TV, channel 10 in Bakersfield, whose signal could easily be seen in Fresno.

58pacer
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Re: Do you remember....KEAP

Post by 58pacer » Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:34 pm

A buddy of mine did the late-morning program at KEAP for a while in the 1970's. He remembers getting a lot of lonely housewives calling him for requests!

He enjoyed that gig as long as it lasted, because the program director/station manager had no problem with him bringing some of his favorite albums to play on the air. "New Riders of the Purple Sage" was a sound that didn't exactly ring familiar with most KEAP listeners!

Pacer

Dave Owens

Re: Do you remember....KEAP

Post by Dave Owens » Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:13 pm

I worked at KEAP in the '70's, right after Elwin Cross. By the '70's, the station had seen its better days, was over on Valentine and was country in the morning and spanish in the late afternoon. Pretty much free-form country, with Elwin playing the old stuff and the kids that followed playing the newer stuff found at cross-town rival KMAK and down at KNGS in Hanford.

JackBauer

Re: Do you remember....KEAP

Post by JackBauer » Thu Nov 29, 2012 3:23 pm

If you're looking for information about KEAP Radio Station, here some YouTube recordings from the 50's and the 60's that were live broadcasts. My Grandfather was Barney Lee Golden who built owned and operated it out of his home on Valentine Ave. for years. You can watch for more post at this YouTube channel. I will be posting more as I find them: http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edit?n ... X5ZZwcsVSU

GY

Re: Do you remember....KEAP

Post by GY » Tue Jul 16, 2013 10:38 am

Thanks for posting these tracks. They certainly bring back some early childhood memories for me.

Pat Mullen

Re: Do you remember....KEAP

Post by Pat Mullen » Mon Oct 28, 2013 5:37 am

I just found this thread. My dad was Stan Mullen, one of the DJs at KEAP in the early to mid 1960s. I think he did the overnight shift for a year or so. I used to go to work with him sometimes. It always sounded exciting ahead of time but was really boring for a seven year old. One time I got in big trouble for trying to put play money through their photo copier and jamming it up. It was one of the early ones with the smelly, rubbery paper. My dad got a call later that morning from the station asking how play money might have gotten into the copier. Funny now, but not at the time...

Jim Bonkowski W6LFB
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Re: Do you remember....KEAP

Post by Jim Bonkowski W6LFB » Wed Apr 09, 2014 11:31 pm

I was listening when KEAP signed on for the very first time. I was a student at Fort Miller Junior High (7th grade) and read in the Fresno Bee of a new station going on the air (980 kc with 500 watts).
Up til that time (1957 as I recall), if you wanted to hear country music in Fresno, you could for a few hours a day on KGST. KGST was an "eclectic" station - bit of everything. C&W, Spanish language, blues, jazz, etc. Never thought that "Happy Harold" and "Blues" in "Happy Harold's House of Blues" quite went together!!! Then KEAP signed on.

Here is how I recall the Fresno Radio Dial in 1957 - think that was the year KEAP signed on:

KMJ 580 NBC
KBIF 900 (Daytime)
KFRE 940 CBS
KEAP 980 (Daytime)
KYNO 1300 MBS
KMAK 1340
KARM 1430 ABC
KGST 1600 (Daytime)

Kelly Patterson

Re: Do you remember....KEAP

Post by Kelly Patterson » Fri Apr 11, 2014 12:37 am

LOL I think I was one of those kids that followed Elwin that you were referring to - it would have been in '75-76. I didn't appreciate him then, but after I calmed down and grew the heck up, I realized what a treasure that man was... (RIP Elwin and thank for being so kind and understanding!)

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