When KZZO-FM was K108FM, it had a wacky morning duo called the J Team. I first became aware of them during the Spring 1984 semester, which was a few months before I started working there. Another student was talking about how they were trying to call Michael Jackson. They called up directory assistance in Indiana and got the number for a "Mike Jackson" and gave him a call. At the time, and for as long as I worked there, no other station in the area offered this kind of lunacy in the morning. The J Team continued its antics after the station switched to KZZO.
The J Team consisted of two men I'll refer to as JE and JF. JE was the station's General Manager and his father owned the station before it was sold to Jid. JF was one of the salespeople, although he later became the Sales Manager.
JE was also the anchor on the local ABC affiliate KMCC's nightly news program, but used his real name for that. This was something that was kept out of the general public's knowledge. In TV commercials and photos promoting KZZO, JE always wore sunglasses and a hat, so the wacky person wouldn't be recognized as the serious newscaster. However, it really wasn't that big a secret. I had seen JE make several radio-related appearances without the disguise. One thing I didn't know about JE was that he was about 24 years old when I first met him. I also didn't know at first that his father owned the station. I had wondered how he had gotten into a prestigious position at such a young age, but finding that fact out answered it for me. It would surprise me to find out that his father had allowed him to control the station a couple of years earlier and that was when they went with the AOR format. When that failed miserably, he was forced to switch to a format that was capable of producing revenue.
JF was about nine years older than me, and looked it. He had gone to high school in Clovis and graduated from Eastern New Mexico University. He probably came to the station because of his ability to announce high school football games on the air. He had a passion for it. He also did well in the sales department because he knew everyone in town.
The J Team proved to be very popular. A lot of people would talk about the stuff they had done that morning. It was exciting to hear people buzzing about the place where I worked. It made me feel proud to be a part of that.
Interestingly enough, the J Team was like a large market morning duo in that they split up and got back together. In 1985, JE decided to stop doing the mornings and concentrate more on being the General Manager. Dr D (whom I will go into detail about in tomorrow's post) teamed up with JF to create "The Morning Zoo." They were still funny, but it wasn't like it was with JE. He and JF had a much better chemistry. After Dr. D left in 1986, JE returned and re-established The J Team, but it didn't last long. JF eventually left and moved to Amarillo. He told me at the time that he felt like radio was a young man's game and he wasn't a young man anymore. He was 30 years old at the time.
JE left about a year after that, when Mr W had come in as a partner. While we continued to have morning comedy teams, it never really was the same. JE and JF actually had a stake in their show. Everybody else who worked were just employees paid to keep the station running and on the air without any concerns for whether or not they could produce something that was marketable to advertisers.
I had been lucky enough to be a part of the show on Friday mornings. Dr. D had invited me to take part when it was him and JF running it. They actually felt like I was contributing something funny to the show. I rather liked that. I was able to continue when it was back to The J Team. However, I got a stern lecture from JE when I said something out of line about one of the advertisers. The way he was talking, he sounded like he was going to fire me on the spot. That would not be the first time he would act like he was going to fire me. I'm surprised he let me back on the show after that. But I did learn my lesson.
After JF left, he continued in radio there, announcing high school sports. He continued to do that until he passed away six years ago. I never really understood why he felt he was too old to be a regular radio guy. Maybe there was something going on at KZZO that he didn't fill me in on. We weren't really that close, but I did look up to him.
But I have no idea with happened to JE. A year and a half after leaving the station, I contacted one of the partners who lived in Los Angeles. I happened to be in the area. He told me that JE and his father ripped off Jid by flat out lying about the station's signal when the station was changing hands. He asked if I knew anything about the transmitter readings, which are supposed to be done every three hours. I told him that we were told not to do those readings, that they were done by the people who worked at the transmitter. I was asked to write them a statement about that, but I never got around to it.
From the times that I'd been back through the area and listening to the radio in the next few years that followed, no other station even attempted what had been accomplished by the J Team. That's probably because no other station wanted to waste money having to pay two people to be on at the same time. It's just as well. I would have hated for every station in town to try to out-wack each other.
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