Perception of the Swinging Lifestyle – destined to fade with time.

– KCBH-FM, Beverly Hills – “Stereo At 6” and The London Phase-4 Stereo Hour – January 26, 1969 –

A 90 minute peek at the waning days of FM Radio devoted to all things stereo and all things easy listening. Much of it was automated, most of it was classified as “elevator music” and all of it was rapidly becoming a thing of the past.

In its earliest days, FM was a mirror image of its AM counterpart (if a station was set up that way). Because the sound quality was of a considerably higher standard than its AM version, the FM version was relegated to high-end sound systems for the home. Autos were not equipped with FM receivers and portable radios were also relegated to AM-only, unless you had one of those mouth-dropping Zenith Transoceanic portable receivers that could pick up shortwave which were sadly banned (buying new sets) for the duration during World War 2. So FM was left up to its own devices, eventually landing with a growing audience of Hi-Fi enthusiasts, especially in the mid-1950s when stereo was introduced in record manufacturing and FM-Multiplex became a selling feature with high-end sound system manufacturers.

Because FM had a rather limited audience, advertising was limited as well. Subsequently some went broke and went off the air while others struggled on, getting support from listeners or from small high-end Hi-fi stores and equipment – nothing anyone was going to get rich from, but enough money to keep the home fires burning, as it were.

Come the mid-1960s and the FCC was busy revising some of the restrictions which were in place since the 1930s. Coupled with the fact that a few adventuresome souls branched out into Jazz programming since the early 1950s and still others took advantage of the changes in Rock, whose restrictions were based on playing time, since bands were diving into longer, more experimental songs which no longer adhered to the 2 minute maximum and began experimenting with the Magnum Opus which helped define the Psychedelic period.

The radio audience was still limited but were becoming aware – mostly by word of mouth and the underground Press. By the late 1960s the popularity of FM had exploded and FM underground was a reality. Coupled with the fact that, with this dramatic increase in audience, many stations touting the “beautiful music in stereo” format were being dropped in favor Rock, or that early blend of Rock, Folk, Blues and Jazz that defined Underground Radio to an audience who had arrived and couldn’t get enough.

KCBH had tinkered with the idea of “beautiful Music” during the day and Rock at night and Classical on the weekends, but by 1970 KCBH was no more and had morphed into KJOI.

But on January 26, 1969 it was still clinging on – here is a 90 minute + slice of what KCBH sounded like