Stevie Nicks to play homecoming concert in Phoenix. "It was freeform radio, a lot of call-ins and requests, which was really anathema to the Top 40 radio stations at the time, which were really tight-listed. "The air talent played pretty much what they wanted to play," Vascocu says. And the fellow that owned it at the time was just about to go into bankruptcy."īut Compton made a go of it at KCAC, also known as Radio Free Phoenix, with an on-air staff that also featured Manning, Gary Kinsey (or Toad Hall, as listeners came to know him) and Hank Cookenboo, the childhood friend with whom he'd moved to Phoenix. "Day-timers had a more difficult time than full-time radio stations. It was good."Īs fate would have it, KCAC wasn't built to last. "'It's a big Top 40 hit and we're the alternative station.' And he said, 'Because it's a good song.' It didn't matter to Bill that it was a hit. Manning recalls the time he questioned KCAC spinning "Light My Fire" by the Doors. It's not that Compton was opposed to hits. But what he brought to that was a sense of integrity - incredible integrity - and the concept that radio could be more than just a hit machine." "He had a background in Top 40 radio. So he was a professional. "Bill was right there as radio was changing," Manning says. "He was such a great spokesperson for the culture of young people at that time," Vascocu says.ĭon't miss out! Your guide to all the best and biggest Phoenix concerts KCAC: 'More than just a hit machine'Īnd he picked the perfect time to stage a sonic revolution. Tommy Vascocu, who first encountered Compton as a KCAC sales rep long before he took over as general manager at KDKB, says Compton was a perfect fit for that emerging format. KCAC was on the front lines of progressive radio in metro Phoenix, following several months of KNIX-FM testing the waters.Ĭompton was program director and an on-air personality, its format a natural extension of the freeform aesthetic he'd brought to the airwaves at KRUX.Īs Dennis McBroom sums up the impact of what Compton did with those 500 watts, "He introduced the Valley to a type of radio we'd never heard before. "Because it sounded like the voice of God," John Dixon, a DJ at KDKB and KCAC-AM before that, explains with a laugh. "He just had such great pipes and such a deep voice, it got your attention."Ĭompton briefly worked at KUPD-FM before finding a home at KCAC, a daytime-only, 500-watt station then housed on the south side of Camelback Road between Seventh and 15th Avenues. 'It was our Fillmore': Metro Phoenix had never seen a club quite like Dooley's 'It sounded like the voice of God'Īlmost any conversation about Compton will inevitably work its way around to that magical voice that earned him a blasphemous nickname. He had the ability to make the listener feel like he was right there in the room or in the car with them. "He was the real deal, very bright and charismatic. "It was great to listen to, especially as someone who was really into music in those changing times," Powell says. KDKB DJ Lee Powell was an instant fan of Compton's style at KRUX, the way he'd build his sets around a theme and blend these unfamiliar songs together in an almost seamless fashion.
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