KMET

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KMET was a Los Angeles radio station originally owned by Metromedia that first took to the air in June 1968 at 94.7 MHz. The station, nicknamed "The Mighty Met," was the pioneering station of the "underground" album oriented rock format.

History

KMET was still automated in June 1968 (with female voices and middle of the road music) when the Stereo station first played Rock Music. It all began with legendary deejay B. Mitchel Reed playing a Beatles song on a pre-taped in Hollywood two hour B. Mitchel Reed show (programmed and produced by Ted Alvy, who acted as producer for B. Mitchel Reed from Summer 1967 until June 1976), followed by a two hour pre-taped at KSAN-FM San Francisco Tom Donahue show. B. Mitchel Reed then became the voice of KMET 24/7 before the suits finally allowed the deejays to broadcast live. If not for the strong broadcast signal and the creative dedication of B. Mitchel Reed, the glory years of KMET would not have happened (as a Top Forty format was to be used without Album Rock). Several former staff members of KPPC-FM Pasadena (the first L.A. FM Rock Underground Radio Station) joined KMET after the mass purge at the Ol' PP in October 1971 and they built up the amazing KMET music library (essential to creative FM Rock) and brought cosmic consciousness to that uptight Metromedia outlet located across the street from the famous Tar Pits on Wilshire Blvd. that evolved into the highly rated KMET (the station moved in Summer 1976 to the Metromedia complex where KTTV Channel 11 was located; KLAC also moved there).

As DJ Tom Donahue got behind the mike for the first time, few could predict that the station would become a highly emulated role model of what a rock and roll radio station should be. Creative bands of the time, especially those specializing in progressive rock, were recording longer songs and concept albums. Traditional radio had no place for this music given the strict three-minute maximum imposed by the Top 40 radio format. By comparison, the fledgling FM side of the dial was ripe for innovation, including niche programming like Dr. Demento, whose show began on KPPC-FM. The "Dr. Demento Show" moved to KMET-FM in 1972 and soon became the most listened-to Sunday evening radio program in Los Angeles.

The emergence of KMET as a Los Angeles-area cultural icon followed a mass firing of the entire KPPC-FM airstaff on October 24, 1971. Most were immediately hired on at KMET, where they continued their rebellious and freespirited broadcasting. The station maintained themes of personal freedom and opposition to the Vietnam War during the hippie/yippie era.

KMET often mixed counterculture comedy skits by Firesign Theatre and Credibility Gap with the music. KMET's jingle was "Little Bit of Heaven, Ninety-Four Point Seven - KMET - Tooweedle-De." Artist Neon Park did ads for KMET as well the famous KMET Mouse Billboards.

To its fans throughout the 1970s and mid-1980s, KMET's progressive rock radio format was what you listened to in Los Angeles if you were to be considered "hip." Evenings were given over to Jim Ladd, whose laid-back philosophical ruminations usually led into a song - often Pink Floyd, The Doors or Led Zeppelin - that underscored his point.

KMET has stood alone in pioneering the free-form style of rock radio. Everything from folk to acid rock to rockabilly to modern jazz to pop to R&B might be heard in one well blended set. The sudden death by heart attack of the unofficial dean of KMET B. Mitchel Reed (in 1983 after he had moved to KLOS-FM) and (likely) the event of a cocaine epidemic in the entertainment industry were likely factors in KMET’s demise.

KMET signed off on February 14, 1987 to be replaced with New Age KTWV "The Wave," much to the consternation of its fans, many of whom called it "the Valentine's Day Massacre". Today, "The Wave" has shifted to a smooth jazz format and is presently owned by CBS Radio. The call letters have been since reassigned to an AM smooth jazz station in Banning, California.

 

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