KONO Concept

I produced the KONO Concept program from January 1969 until I left for KLIF in Dallas in July 1969. I produced the show on tape each week for playback on Saturday night from 10 to midnight. I was told KONO repeated all my shows after I left.

Each KONO Concept program featured a new album and a theme. For example, I used the soundtrack of the movie Yellow Submarine and the new Led Zeppelin album for a show that I titled Led Zeppelin to Pepperland.

KONO Concept featured a “control voice.” The voice was recorded at a fast speed and then played back at a slower speed, advising listeners that we were taking control of their radio. They could not change the station until told to do so.

At one point I told the listeners to take a candle and drip wax on the radio tuner knob to keep from changing the station. I got about 300 complaints from parents that we had ruined their radios, because someone had dripped candle wax on the radio tuning knob.

Once we had a bomb scare. The police showed up at KONO to see if everything was all right, because the voice heard on the radio was “threatening people.”

I opened a venue at the AT & T Building at Hemisfair ‘68 for “Saturday Night Heavy Music.” The name of the Teen Club was AT & T at Hemisfair.

Frank Jolley