Modesto Radio Museum

Submitted by
Name: Jeff "Beaver" Brown
From: Ceres,Ca
E-mail: yobeav@msn.com

Comments:
Hello everyone from the artist formerly known as Beaver Brown. I still look back on my days at KDJK as some of the best in my life. I miss not being on the radio. I don't think the kind of morning show I did with Richard back then would fly now, but damn it would be exciting. The one thing I really wanted to say was thanks to all of you who used to listen to KDJK. We tried to put out the best product we could, be it the music and the on air personalities. I enjoy running into people who used to listen and hearing their favorite Beaver and Richard stories. I am in the process of going through tapes of our morning shows. I'll be sending them to the webmaster and hopefully he'll be able to put them on this site for you to hear us again. Once again thanks for listening and if I ever win a big Lotto i'll buy a local station and be back on the air. C-YA!

Added: February 13, 2009

Submitted by
Name: Cecil Bartolommei
From: Chico
E-mail: candhbart@aol.com

Comments:
I first listened to KTRB around World War II, when I was living in Riverside. I bought White's Radio Log then tried to pick-up as many stations as I could. For many years now, I have been working on a list of old time radio (AM & FM) and TV stations. I have defined 'Old Time' as pre 1950. I am listing city of license, call signs, frequencies, powers, and owners. Date on air, and dates of changes in above listed information. Would any one care to furnish me information?

I noted while reading the Guestbook, that KTRB-FM ccme on in "late 1947". I previously had 1949.

Is the Modesto Museum open to guests? Hours and location?

Chico needs a Museum for momentos of KHSL-AM-FM-TV and KXOC-KPAY.

Admin reply: Hello Cecil, Thanks for signing our guest book. The best information we have is that KTRB-FM came on the air in 1949. You should be able to find all the information you need for your listing of stations in this are on our website. Start with the "Stations Index" from the menu. The museum is virtual only (website) at this time. We had hoped to erect the physical museum in the old KTRB building on Norwegian Ave. However, those plan fell through.

Added: February 8, 2009

Submitted by
Name: Mike Lindsey
From: Modesto
E-mail: mikelindsey22@comcast.net

Comments:
Love the site. I was approached at my place of employment by Bill Slater. He remembered I once worked at the station he was an account representative for K-FIV. I was the overnight jock on the FM side. Air name was Lindsey Michaels.I also have ties with KMIX I went by Smil'n Mike and did a few weekend shows for KDJK. For those students that are getting credit for visiting this site. Go up to Mr. John Chappel and ask to see the "This is a Pot" video. If you have already seen it I am the Young Goofy guy in it.

Added: February 5, 2009

Submitted by
Name: Dennis Gibson
From: Santa Barbara
E-mail: wb6tnb@cox.net

Comments:
I spent a couple of hours tonight looking at everything you have about KTRB. I love old photos of broadcast equipment and towers. I have a friend Scott Fybush, who is probably the foremost radio historian in the country. He has a web site where he visits broadcast stations and gets tours of the studios and inside the transmitter buildings. The site changes every week. I live in Santa Barbara; when he came here in 2004 I showed him around and he put these two pieces together about his visit here. I wasn't able to get into any studios or transmitter buildings but if you look at other places he's been you'll see what happens when he does. He also puts out a Tower Site calendar every year:

When I was a teenager in the Santa Cruz area I checked into Cliff Price's weather net as often as I could then later when Cal Purviance took over. Do you know what year Cliff passed away? I was very pleased to find out that the Stanislaus Amateur Radio Association was able to get his W6ERE call letters for their club. That tells you how special he was.

I looked at the KTRB history for the first time about six months ago and I e-mailed Cal. He actually remembered me. That was great.

Keep up the good work.

Admin reply: Hello Dennis, Thanks for the nice comments. Regarding Scott Fybush, this Guestbook program does not allow url addresses. If anyone is interested in Scott's website you can find it by searching Google using the name scott fybush. Cliff Price passed away in 1985.

Added: January 14, 2009

Submitted by
Name: Don Bunce
From: Chico, CA

Comments:
Good to see this site up and running.

I worked many a graveyard shift listening to KDJK 95.1. The DJ at the time was a guy named Spot the Dog.

I always wondered what became of him and Beaver Brown (one half of the KDJK morning show team).

I'm glad to see that someone's keeping the memories alive.

Admin reply: Don, I contacted Jeff "Beaver" Brown who works at a large business in Modesto. He has been out of the radio business for several years. As for "Spot" the last he heard he was working for a Fresno classic rock station. Jeff will be supplying us soon with several photos and soundtracks from the heyday of KDJK. Check back often.

Bob Webmaster.

Added: January 8, 2009

Submitted by
Name: Jim O'Reilly
From: Hayward
E-mail: gogladiators1@yahoo.com

Comments:
Great site!
I worked at AM970 ESPN for a couple of years doing play by play and as a sports talk host...had a ball.
Nice folks there!
Currently, I am a news anchor at a station in San Jose.
I loved broadcasting those football games over there...the Oakdale v. Sonora games were really fun to do...I can smell the tri tip cookin now!
Thanks for the great site!
I will always have happy memories doing radio in Modesto!

Jim O'Reilly

Added: December 26, 2008

Submitted by
Name: Dale Hope
From: Oroville, Ca.
E-mail: ldhope@gmail.com

Comments:
Just a delightful website and it brings back lots of good memories. I grew up in the Escalon area where my grandfather had a dairy. I remember when helping him it didn't make any difference whether it was in the dead of winter at 4:30 in the morning or in heat of summer in the evening he always had KTRB on the radio playing as loud as the radio would go so you could hear it over the sound of the milking machines and compressor. I once asked him why he played the radio and he said it made the cows give more milk.

Both my wife and I recall the birthday program, she says she even had her birthday mention on the program once.

Years later I grew to respect how difficult the job of a radio announcer was when our church had a broadcast over KTRB and I was asked to be the announcer for the program.

I enjoyed all the pictures and great history. Thanks.

Admin reply: Thannks Dale for your nice comments. During our research we have been told by dairymen many times that their cows would not give any milk unless they could hear KTRB in the barn. Go figure.

Added: December 23, 2008

Submitted by
Name: Linda
From: Colorado
E-mail: machinegunmomma@hotmail.com

Comments:
Hi Floyd
My name is Linda and I was thinking about John Katz (funny) so I looked his name up on the internet and saw your comment about his radio show. I lived in South San Francisco and was a guest on his show one night, when I discovered my daughters school was teaching them some very disgusting subjects, so I faxed him over the homework and he was as shocked as I was.

The subject matter in the school book was about excepting suicide as an OK reason to allow someone to die with dignity. The story was about this one man was who was a sport fanatic and very active and he was involved in a motorcycle accident and ended up a quadraplegic and he asked his brother to kill him so he could remain with his happy memories of playing football and such. so of course the brother loaded up the shot gun and brought it to the hospital hid it then did the job and was then arrested.
The questions proposed to the children were ever worse because they were trying to get them to see that it was ok and left them no room for opposing views. (Mind you this was in my daughters class of age 8, 3rd graders)!

John helped me in getting this book removed from ALL of California's schools and it was a lot easier than I thought it was, thanks to John Katz he gave me the courage to confront the district authorities and not be bullied by them.

I was not well liked in that school district and the woman that flew up from LA who was the head of all the California schools, tried to intimidate me, but I got through it all with the threats of going to the radio stations. It was off the school list in 1 week.
I also got them to start saying the pledge of alligencs in the morning, something they stopped doing in the schools around there.

I am now living in Colorado and my daughters are all grown women, so this was all some time ago. But listening to John Katz down home people's station got me very involved in understanding the things going on in our world today and I feel very blessed to have this knowledge people like John Katz probably have no idea how or who they helped.

God Bless and thanks for the memories of John Katz

Added: December 22, 2008

Submitted by
Name: Floyd
From: Stockton
E-mail: pinkfloyd95209@gmail.com

Comments:
I recall a Radio Talk Show Host on Sunday Afternoons around 4:PM. His name was JOHN KATZ and the name of the show was ONE MAN'S VIEW OF AMERICANISM. He got his start on KTRB-860, I'm guessing, around the 1970's? Then he had a on air confrontation with a radio executive in either 1989 or 1990 and then jumped to KPLA/KCBC-770. I think he retired a few years ago. Does anyone else have memories of JOHN KATZ as well as what he is doing today?

Added: December 14, 2008