Letters From Readers

In Tune With KLC Radio

I enjoyed your article on KLC Radio. I was a communication major (loved Professor Jean Ward) and worked at KLC for a couple years off and on in the 1970s. I also did most of my senior thesis in the KLC studio with a study on one of the best rock operas ever, “Quadrophenia,” by The Who.

As you know, those were the “professional” years, when the studios were in the basement of Templeton. I spent some “quality time” in Studio B with my boyfriend and then program director Cliff Conley BS ’75, whom I married a year after college. We are still married, and our daughter graduated from L&C last May.

In regard to KLC, I, too, consider it to be an integral part of my education and passion. I have always loved radio, and after L&C went to work on the air at KEED-AM 1600 in Eugene. They wanted me to work overnights, but I said, “No, what else do you have?” and went for sales, which is where I’ve been ever since. I moved to Seattle in 1978, went to work for KMPS-FM 94.1 Country, and am still there. Yikes, 33 years of radio sales! KMPS is still the lead country station in the market, even after four or five ownership changes.

Radio has survived TV, cassettes, eight-tracks, CDs, iPods, Sirius XM, Pandora, and the Internet. It is still a main source of news, traffic, entertainment, friendship, local event coverage, new music, old music, concerts, disaster advice, sports, and advertiser sale information. It has tons of opportunity with website coverage, links to Vevo, Last.fm, streaming, texting, couponing, contesting, e-mailing, blogging, and so much more I can’t keep it all straight. I still love the on-air aspect, but get plenty of it through remotes and promotions.

So, thank you, KLC, for some fun record-spinnin’ days, complete with real tape splicing and pots and fades. This is Holly signing off …

Holly Conley BA ’76

Mercer Island, Washington

Your article about KLC was validating. In the early 1970s, I was very involved with the station, serving as a DJ and assistant program director. I remember broadcasting to the college, but never knowing if a single soul was actually listening.

At that time, we were focused on being “professional,” more so than being creative/free-form. It was a good discipline to experience timing, concise writing, enunciation, and thinking about how to reach your audience.

I ended up pursuing a bachelor’s degree in radio/TV at San Diego State. Eventually, I went on to earn a master’s degree in applied communication research at Stanford University, which led me to a marketing career in the Silicon Valley high-tech arena for over 20 years. I’ve found my radio/television education highly applicable to other areas of my career. I use my training currently as a Web writer for PayPal.

Julie Ford Sears CAS ’76

Los Altos, California

Photo Recall

In the winter issue of the Chronicle, we asked readers for help in identifying alumni in several KLC Radio archival photos.

The two 1980s punk rockers (page 19, upper left) drew particular interest. Laura van Fleet B.M. ’86 identified the woman in the photo as Malka Youngstein, “a hip LA punkster, who drove a lipstick-red Datsun 300 ZX” and owned a boa constrictor named Sid. She identified her companion as Jim Abeles BA ’88. Others concurring were Carol Bress BA ’87; Nancy Swartz Spear BA ’87; and Christopher Naze BS ’86, who was KLC’s general manager in 1986.

The female DJ at the turntables (page 19, right) proved a little more challenging. Both Holly Conley BA ’76 and Julie Ford Sears CAS ’76 claimed to be the woman in the photo. We may never know for sure, but the odds are good that it’s a photo from the mid-1970s. Thanks to everyone for taking a spin down memory lane.