KCHO-FM Archives

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These recordings are from when I was the Jazz Music Director at KCHO. At that time, the station aired NPR News during the drive time day parts, classical music during day and early evening, and jazz from 9pm until 5am weekdays. The weekends had more of a block format but maintained NPR News during drive times. Jazz and/or Blues ruled the evenings and overnight, and I managed those day parts. This was also long before the advent of automation, all of these shifts were staffed live.

These segments were recorded during 1986 and 1987.
KCHO Evening Jazz The Evening Jazz Show and Jazz Overnight were typical jazz programming in a similar vein to that of KJAZ in Alameda, which to me was the blueprint as well as the standard bearer of great jazz radio. At 9:00pm we often ran network programs such as Piano Jazz, Sidran on Record, and 4 Queens Jazz Night as lead-ins to the locally produced content.
Fall 1987 Ben Sidran on Record featuring Rudy Van Gelder, the recording engineer that created the "Blue Note" sound. Playlist and more details. (1:29:11)
Steve Allen Interviews We had the good fortune of being granted a one hour interview with TV superstar Steve Allen in November 1986. Joe Oleksiewicz, John Curtis, and myself spoke with Steve over the phone on a variety of topics, many of them quite serious in nature. Snippets of the interview ran on KCHO Sunday Nite during the last few weeks of 1986. Here are each of the segments that aired plus a bonus one that never ending up airing.
Part 1 Discussion of the direction of the entertainment industry; Steve's early radio experience, and how it transferred easily to television; his thoughts about the talk show format trends, and talk show hosts. (16:50)
Part 2 The Splenglarian Hypothesis: Steve's thoughts about the dumbing of our culture, the difference between current (1980s) punks and 1950s beatniks; Status of jazz in the USA vs. Europe, and his use of jazz musicians on his television shows. (8:10)
Part 3 How did Steve blend great comedy and jazz in his television shows? He talks about "his gang", Louis Nye, Tom Poston, Don Knotts, and others. (8:17)
Part 4 Steve's advice to young broadcasters and his own teaching activities; a discussion about Steve's prolific music writing. (7:38)
KCHO Sunday Nite KCHO Sunday Nite premiered in the fall of 1986 as a tip of the hat to the older era of radio that I remembered as a youth. This show was a combination of jazz, comedy, radio drama, science fiction, studio guests, and live jazz performances all produced from within the confines of our small Studio B in the basement of the CSU, Chico Merriam Library.


Due to the limitations of the surviving source material, some audio may exhibit print-through or other degradation inherent in magnetic media. When present, the degradation is noticeable at the beginning and end of the tape reels but typically subsides within a few minutes.
June 28, 1987 with Jocelyn Parrish. Playlist and more details. (2:06:17)
July 5, 1987 "Happy Birthday Bob #2" with Jocelyn Parrish. Birthday celebrations for Robert Conrad of WCLV with a satirical piece performed by John Curtis and myself as well as a surprise birthday for me. Playlist and more details. (28:11)
September 13, 1987 "Grandparent's Day" with Jocelyn Parrish. Playlist and more details. (1:00:11)
September 20, 1987 "Farewell Jocelyn" with Jocelyn Parrish. This was the last show where Jocelyn was to be my co-host although neither of us knew it at the time. So, enjoy the banter one last time. There is also a complete episode of The Incredible Adventures of Jack Flanders. Playlist and more details. (1:32:38)
September 27, 1987 No playlist available. (2:28:40)
October 11, 1987 "First Date" with John Curtis. John pops in for the evening to celebrate the good old days and also make follow KCHO announcer Doug squirm in the studio audience while on his first date with Jen. Playlist and more details. (2:04:21)
October 18, 1987 Playlist and more details. (2:35:07)
November 1, 1987 "Our Fair City" with guest Ed Livingston. This is one of the few complete KCHO Sunday Nite programs to survive and in it is our in-house adaptation and performance of Robert Heinlein's "Our Fair City" starring several members of the KCHO staff.  Playlist and more details. (3:03:01)
Theater of the Unseen - Our Fair City. This is a standalone copy of the radio play.
November 15, 1987 "Radiothon 1987". Every NPR affiliate subjects the listener to the inevitable pledge drive. We had no choice, honest! Listen to a complete KCHO Sunday Nite skewer NPR fundraising while doing some of our own. Other KCHO staff join in including Joe Oleksiewicz, Dale Perey, and Lisa Menke. There's also a complete episode of The Incredible Adventures of Jack Flanders. Playlist and more details. (3:01:25)
November 22, 1987 Playlist and more details. (1:57:39)
December 6, 1987 "An Evening of Xmas Jazz". Ever since I first heard Herb Wong host Christmas Day on KJAZ, I knew that Christmas was one of the hippest times of the year. While we did not have the KJAZ library to pull from, I always thought everyone deserved a swinging yuletide celebration.  Playlist and more details. (2:33:12)
December 13, 1987 "Live Jazz Nite". This is only one that survived, and it was actually a tape delay! Here the CSU, Chico Jazz Ensembles I and II from their November 14, 1987 performance under the direction of Dr. Rick Winslow and Dan Kinkle. Featuring many great local Chico musicians including Greg D'Augelli, Barbara D'Augelli, Alan Ginter, Vince Prudente, Scott Cadell, and of course yours truly. The remainder of the show is filled with swinging Christmas Jazz. Playlist and more details. (2:34:47)
December 20, 1987 "The Final Show". This was planned to be retrospective, but at the last minute John Curtis arrived and the show took a different direction. Nevertheless, the last hour was more as planned and we saluted some of the worst records ever made. Live in studio performances by Ron Cole and Cliff Sojourner. No playlist available. (2:34:23)