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My heart had always been in programming. Though I enjoyed being on the air, my real desire was to find a Program Director's job. Whatsmore, in the aftermath of the sale of 66 WNBC in New York, I knew the only real place for me to look for one was on the West Coast where I'd wanted to live all my life.

In my naiveté, I looked at a map of California and saw that Bakersfield was 'just north' of Los Angeles (more like a hundred miles away!). It might have been a million miles away, as I had no idea of how colloquial Bakersfield was (think: Tulsa, Oklahoma in California). Nor was I aware of the the bias against LA (where I really wanted to be) that was so prevalent in 'B-Town'.

So when I learned that Q94 (KQXR was named after the Classical Music station WQXR in New York) was looking for a Program Director, I applied for the position, flew out for an interview and was offered the job. Blinded by my desire to get to California by any means possible, I accepted the position.

Q94 was the #1 contemporary station in Bakersfield when I arrived in 1988. But it had only gotten there by default several months earlier when long time market leader, KKXX (owned by Country legend, Buck Owens) was blown up to go Country when an upstart elsewhere in the market had the audacity to start playing Country music on FM!

That station had no real chance of combating Buck Owens' KUZZ (AM or FM) with its massive promotional budget, history, heritage and authenticity. Sensing a greater opportunity with Top 40, it got the now available KKXX call letters and within 90 days brought the station, along with its staff back from the dead. The library however was skewed much more rhythmic than it had been before, a blocking measure so that Q94 (which historically had a Rock lean to it) wouldn't be able to do so in an effort to cater to the highly dense Hispanic make-up of the market. All this occurred before my arrival and unbeknownst to me.

Hence I walked in to a no-win situation. Predictably, Q94 which had never been #1 until KKXX went away briefly lost it's #1 contemporary ranking after only one book and I was ceremoniously offered as the sacrificial lamb. After my exit the station did not rise again in the ratings. The new KKXX catered heavily to the ethnic composition of the market and continued to grow with each ensuing book. Ultimately, Q94 gave up the fight and changed format to Oldies, the very format I had done in New York at 66 WNBC. I however had no desire to remain in Bakersfield (much like the 'Oakies' in 'The Grapes Of Wrath').

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