KOME

In 1959, Edward W. Meece, one of the founders of Pacifica Radio, formed The Audio House, Inc and started a new radio station, KRPM at 98.5 FM in San Jose, California. KRPM's format was classical music.

Meece sold The Audio House, Inc, with KRPM, for roughly $300,000 in February 1971 to Mel Gollub of Pennsylvania and Ron Cutler.[3] The station's call letters were changed to KOME, and the format became free-form rock.

The station's original free-form rock music allowed disc jockeys to choose their music from a vast and diverse rock, jazz, blues and R&B albums (vinyl). It would not be uncommon to hear Whipping Post, Who Do You Love, Won't Get Fooled Again in the same day that you'd hear Issac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, The Crusaders, Grover Washington, Laura Nyro, Joni Mitchell, Googie Coppola (Air), Essra Mohawk and Holly Vaughn (Stanley Steamer). Music sets were often themed as in Who'll Stop the Rain, I Wish it Would Rain, Riders on the Storm. Or you could hear a themed set of only Motown songs. But the emphasis at KOME from 1971-1974 was on each DJ having a show with its own music personality each day. And segues (song blending) was always at a premium. Just one simplistic example of song blending would be the segue from the end of Colour My World to the beginning of Sparkling in the Sand. Segues by Wolf could be much more complex and intriguing.

KOME first originated from studios in the Pruneyard Shopping Center in Campbell in the Towers building on the 13th floor in 600-700sf offices and studios. Later, it moved to an old house on The Alameda in San Jose. DJs from 1971-1975 included Cese McGowan, Uncle Jack Tossman, Gary T., Phil Charles, Michael "Mother" Deal, Wolf (Rick Ricketts), Wapaho Joe (Amadeo), Joe Kelly, Dick Baribou, Captain Reif/Jim Reifschnieder, Mark Sherry, Victor Boc, J. William Weed and The Lobster (Paul Wells). Most of these disc jockeys were known as Progressive Radio Announcers and they varied in emphasis on air personality versus musical persona. Cese was laid back and was quite eclectic with a lot of folk music emphasis. Uncle Jack was a Beatles, Moody Blues, CS&N type guy with an engaging personality. Mother Deal was a prankster who just loved being on the air, a straight ahead rocker who loved noverty songs like "My Ding-a-Ling." And Wolf was just plain serious about performing via his sets and segues. And if you wanted to have an occasional epiphany, you just had to listen to Wolf. He would regularly come up with songs you never heard before, styles you hadn't heard before, and types of music you may have never considered before. Phil Charles had similar qualities. But the King of the Segue will always be Wolf. Lobster, Joe Kelly, and Wapaho Joe were progressive rock guys which meant Nektar, Genesis, Trower but all could easily stretch out to fusion of any kind, especially jazz-rock fusion like Jeff Beck. All of the progressive rock dj's of the early KOME had a base of The Beatles, Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Allman Bros, Pink Floyd, Motown and R&B like the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Country/Folk-rock fusion like CSN&Y, Dan Fogelberg, and Tim Buckley.

In 1974, program director Ed Romig from ABC's WDAI-FM in Chicago, literally ended the free-form format, mandating the use of index cards with specific songs to be played. He was literally responsible for ending the creative era of radio at KOME where Wolf (Ricky Ricketts) had become known as one of the most brilliant segue (song blending) artists of all time. This became a time of transition from progressive radio disc-jockeys whose shows had music personalities to be replaced by air personalities and strict music formats. He brought in Peter B. Collins from Chicago, and hired Jona Denz, Dana Jang, and Gene Mitchell. In August 1977, Mikel Herrington (a.k.a. Mikel Hunter, Lefty, Oil Can Harry, and earlier as "Captain Mikey") was made Program Director and discarded the card catalog playlist in favor of allowing jocks to select "playable" tracks from an eclectic library of art rock, punk, new wave, country rock, heavy metal, oldies, and comedy. . Local bands such as Hush and Cornell Hurd often got airplay. Mikel did the morning show and hired Barry Corkery, Dennis Erectus, Laurie Roberts, Mark Goldberg, Kelly Cox, Larry Jacobs, Greg McClure and Joe Regelski.

One of the yellow-on-black editions of the patch, with pushpin for size comparison.

KOME's diamond shaped stickers were a common sight on vehicles and high school lockers around the area. Several on-air slogans suggested the sexual connotations of its call letters, probably the most memorable being "Don't touch that dial, it's got "KOME" on it!" as well as others saying things like "K-O-M-E all over your radio dial," "You've got KOME... oozing out of your speakers," "Wake up with KOME in your ear," and "The KOME spot on your radio dial." Not surprisingly, Playboy magazine found this newsworthy enough to mention the station. KOME attracted a loyal South Bay rock audience throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s, against original San Jose FM rock rival KSJO. Both stations managed to attract listeners within neighboring San Francisco against Tom Donahue's well-known KSAN.

KOME black-on-yellow diamond stickers were designed in 1972 and became an instant hit. For a short time in 1974, a round zig-zaggy design was tried but failed quickly. As an alternative the diamond was brought back with reverse colors. The famous KOME diamond stickers have been spotted all around the world. Listeners soon became highly creative, cutting up the decals to read new phrases; the most notorious was likely "KOKE 99.9% Pure." The "Our Decal" slogan on the stickers lent itself to other "KOME Paraphernalia" such as pinbacks, patches, nightlights, glass, T-shirts, and even the payroll checks said "Our Checks" on them. The later "Rock Radio" era eliminated the "Our Decal" and replaced it with "FM," as well as producing some with a digital typeface. Both eras produced limited edition decals promoting bands of the day such as The Rolling Stones, The Who and Bruce Springsteen.

In 1973 a group of New Yorkers led by former Metromedia executives Michael A. Wiener and Gerald Carrus, who later assumed themselves as Infinity Broadcasting acquired KOME as the first of many stations to come. They moved the station to a location on Winchester Blvd near Payne Avenue in San Jose in circa 1974 and eventually hired radio veteran Bob Simmons to become their Program Director.

News at the "come" era of KOME was taken seriously, but allowed for room to expand to clever parodies of news events of the day. Early reporters included Lynn Ryder and Victor Boc, who also hosted The Expressway talk show on Sunday mornings. Victor became well known for his interviews with over-the-top guests like "Squeaky" Fromme, Sylvia Browne, Mae Brussel, and "The Two".

In the early '80s, news often turned hilarious as current events were transformed into skits that rivaled those of popular comedy troupe, The Credibility Gap The Credibility Gap through the efforts of Production Director Jack Perry and News staffers Rob Singleton, Joe Regelski, and Mark Goldberg.

In the latter years, the morning team of Blazy and Bob integrated news into mornings, since Bob Lilley was both reporter and side-kick.

KOME's reputation for irreverence, raunchy fun, and a broad music format continued into the 1980s. Mikel Hunter and his crew became known for oddball station promotions like the Chicken-Fly and the KOME Party Crashers. Ratings soared all around the Bay Area during this era.

According to an article in Metro, KOME's freeform ethic ended around 1982, when Infinity Broadcasting cut back the station's playlist and enlisted radio programming consultant, Jeff Pollack.[1][4] Mikel Hunter, who earlier had great success programming KMET in Los Angeles, left the station in protest. He spent the next few years doing radio in Las Vegas, Philadelphia (WIP), and finally back in Northern California at Napa's KVYN.

In 1983, PD Les Tracy hardened the format to a mostly heavy metal playlist. Hard rock and Tracy lasted slightly less than a year before dismal ratings released Tracy, and new PD Pat Evans reverted KOME to its previous approach.

The era between 1984 and 1994 were also ratings winners with personalities such as Blazy & Bob, Stephen Page, "Weird Old Uncle Frank" Bennett, Scott Lewis and the return of Dennis Erectus. KOME won the Rolling Stone Readers' Poll as Station of the Year in both 1988 and 1990, landing them on the cover of the music magazine. Local, national and international live broadcasts and innovative promotions kept the station in the forefront of rock radio.

KOME went to alternative rock and new wave music in May 1994. Syndicated programming such as The Howard Stern Show and Loveline[5] supplanted some local DJs.

In 1997, Infinity Broadcasting, which had recently merged with CBS,[6] purchased KITS "Live 105," San Francisco from Entercom, and ran both stations with identical formats for a short time. In May 1998 the company acquired American Radio Systems and was legally required to sell one station. They opted to sell the 98.5 frequency to Jacor, owners of longtime rival KSJO. Jacor transferred their classic rock station KUFX and its callsign to their newly acquired frequency, thus ending KOME on June 19, 1998.[7]

CBS/Infinity transferred two members of KOME's air staff, Ally Storm and No Name, plus the Stern Loveline[5] syndicated shows, to KITS as "The New Live 105".[1][8] The KOME call letters were retired from the Bay Area, resurfacing briefly on a small co-owned AM station outside the market. At this writing, the KOME call letters are used on a country station in Glen Rose, TX at 95.3.

KOME was inducted into the Rock Radio Hall of Fame in 2014.