Have You Ever Called a Radio Station??

DENNY BROUGHER IS JAY MICHAEL STEVENS!
(Editor’s note:  Denny’s answer to this blog question belongs here in the Modesto Radio Museum.    Denny’s long radio career included five  years at KFIV, MODESTO during the peak of Top 40 Radio’s popularity.   His air name was Jay Michael Stevens.)   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was 1966. I was 16 years old, and top rated music station KHJ/930 AM Los Angeles California was doing a “Cash Call” contest. The cash prize, which grew larger at every incorrect answer, had just been won the previous hour, so it went back to a small amount ($10). I guessed wrong, and got the

Here it is! Denny’s long-lost album, or at least a photo.

consolation prize, which I wanted anyway. It was a souvenir KHJ Boss Radio record album, with pics of the KHJ jocks including Robert W Morgan, The Real Don Steele, and twelve songs from 1965 including “Gloria” by Van Morrison, Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe”, and Barry McGuire’s “Eve Of Destruction”.

For someone who wanted to get into radio, this was better than winning the cash. Unfortunately, when I moved to Tucson, Arizona in 1970 for my first radio gig, my album collection and other stuff I left at home, was given to the Salvation Army.

“BORN TO BE MILD,” The Great K-5 Motorbike Giveaway.

Now, fast forward to 1972. The tables were turned. I was 22 and just started working at top 40 radio station, KFIV, Modesto. We were giving away a Yamaha motorbike.      We took one caller every four hours to try and win it. The program director thought we could milk the contest for at least a couple of weeks. I had a winner the first evening of the contest. Program director was upset. Management was upset. And I thought I was going to get fired. The other more ‘seasoned’ jocks, thought it was funny. Especially when I put “Jane”, the winner, live on the air to congratulate her. After a few questions about how she felt winning a motorcycle, I asked if I could be the first one to ride with her. She answered with a very loud “NO!” I hit the radio station jingle and went straight to music.

At the K-5 Bridal Faire, 1976–Jay Michael Stevens, The Unreal Don Shannon, Radio Rick Myers, and Captain Fred James.

 

Station management realized the contest needed to be reworked. Fortunately, the sales department got us a second motorbike. For this contest, we played the sound effect of a motorcycle throughout the day. We took the first caller’s name and phone number. All the contestants were then put into a barrel. After taking entries for a month or so, we had an on-air drawing for the “big” winner. This time around, the program director was happy. Management was happy. The advertiser was happy. And I continued working there for the next five years. But I never did get that ride on her new motorcycle.

(However, Jay DID get to sing at a piano bar):

Write us a letter, and we’ll sing you a song! Don Shannon, Radio Rick, Captain Fred James, Kenny Roberts, Larry Maher, Diane Cartwright, and J. Michael Stevens. 1976. KFIV

(And, he took a lot of requests)

 

 

2 thoughts on “Have You Ever Called a Radio Station??”

  1. I listened to and worked with Dennis Brougher, (J. Michael Stevens), at the now defunct: AM-1570: KPRO-Riverside, California. The station was broadcasting a brokered religious format by the time the station went silent in August 2018. He was a pros’ pro and had a wonderful sense of humor. The station tried to balance its books and the late general manager Valorie Stitely and Dennis tried to hold it together; but, in the end, the property on which the radio station sat, was more valuable to the “mom-and-pop owners” than an Inland Empire radio legacy of sixty-one years.

    Reply

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