My favorite Country station of all time!

I just became friends with A.W. Pantoja on Facebook and it made me think of how awesome KYNG Dallas was in the early-90's. I left San Francisco in mid 92 to take a new job in Dallas. I was a Country listener in San Francisco and when I got to Dallas to do mornings at Classic Rock KZPS from KFRC-FM San Francisco, I instantly became a fan of Young Country.

A.W. in afternoons was off the hook, instead of caller 10 concert ticket giveaways, he would make people in cars do weird things that other listeners had to verify. His big stunt hiding cash in the Fort Worth Library and people went nuts. Alliance (the owners) tried to copy this format in Seattle and San Francisco and it didn't catch on. The reason: The personality of the station and how it fit in North Texas. Everyone argues who came up with the success story, Rusty Walker, Dan Pearman, Rick Torcasso, Le Bron James...

A song would end and you'd hear: "Hi Young Country" into a caller asking about a something bizarre or memorable the station just did. On Wednesdays they would play a new CD at night, during the holidays they recorded church choirs and played them on Christmas Eve. They played song hooks on the top of the hour ID and the talent told you when these songs were coming up. This station generated a buzz with it's audience and had two other competitors, KPLX and KSCS. After I left KZPS in late 93, I did swing at KPLX and realized what fun this format was. When I put WCTO on in 1997, people ask what I did special to make it an 800 pound gorilla? I borrowed the great concepts from KYNG!