San Diego sports station Mighty 1090 is no more

The Kings were on his station in the early '90s. Hockey-expert Hacksaw all of a sudden showed up in Toronto for the conference finals. Fortunately, he kept pretty quiet because he didn't know shit, and he did stay out of the way. He didn't go back for Game 7 and he didn't stick with the team for the Stanley Cup Final in Montreal. Vacation or something. Dedication, man.

 

Lee Hacksaw Hamilton in his prime in the late 90s he was something else

 

One of two must-listens when I had long drives at night on the 80s and 90s. The other was the Friday Landmark Tower Sports Review on KDWN-720 out of Las Vegas. They'd break down every NFL game in terms of the spread.

 

There are other factors besides Nielsen ratings that determine an AM station's health. Demographics, cume, billing, overhead, etc. Fortunately for most big market legacy AMs, they either have a FM simulcaster, are on an FM HD channel or have a strong streaming audience, like a couple of Dallas FMs do.

 

I don't know which is more disheartening to me, seeing my old AM station in Melbourne (call sign now owned by the local Catholic church) covered in kudzu, on the verge of falling down, begging to be demolished and replaced by another housing development, or Al Neuharth's massive Florida Today building on U.S. 1 mostly dark and empty, the landscaping overgrown and the for sale sign on the corner.

The technology has outpaced the industry in my lifetime.

And XTRA was the 50,000 watt flamethrower we could hear at night in the Bay Area. Top 40 at the time.