It seems he invented the AAA format in 1977! He probably knows it pretty well by now.

Very true! He's a radio programming icon!

constantine?
whew, someone needs to check their history books.
Inheriting a great format is not inventing it.
Only because he gets needlessly blasted when his name comes up do I refrain from naming him.
jealousy is sickening.

I've never met Dennis, but he's been very helpful through email. The man is a class act!

I am sure he is a really swell guy, no complaints from me, but don't be giving him credit for INVENTING AAA format! That's an outrageous statement, and stupid as well.

Dodger: Semoochie is correct. He's not referring to KINK. This from yesterdays R&R:

-----------------Boulder Sign On, Giving Birth To Triple A-----------------
By John Schoenberger

KBCO launched in 1977 as an independently owned “granola” station under the guidance of consultant Dennis Constantine with a 250-watt signal out of Boulder, Colo. Thirty years later, it has evolved into a 100,000-watt powerhouse that dominates ratings and revenue in Denver. And despite current ownership by Clear Channel and a tried-and-true footprint, the station is still perceived as your friendly, neighborhood station.

“The image idea I originally had was ‘Color Radio,’ as a play on words for Colorado, but it became clear early on that such an image really didn’t have much longevity,” Constantine recalls. “We simply changed the call letters to KBCO and played up the whole Boulder, Colo., mystique as our image.”

He, along with early staff members John Bradley, Dave Rahn, Doug Clifton, Ira Gordon and Paul Marzsalek, stepped out in the early ’90s to help spread triple A to many other markets -- even though it looked like the triple A forefather might not survive. When Mike O’Connor became PD in 1996, he was brought in to blow up the station and flip it to alternative. Instead, he helped reinvent and refine KBCO so it could survive and prosper well into the 21st century under the guidance of PDs Dave Benson and, now, Scott Arbough.

I still believe the KINK phenomena was prior to 1977. Perhaps it wasn't what we would call AAA, but it was unlike any station in America.

Not to rag on Constantine, but it's not clear in the article whether or not the term "Adult Album Alternative" was invented by Constantine, or at KBCO.

In addition to KINK, Seattle's KZAM, among others, was doing "soft album rock" by the early '70s. During a summer '77 road trip I discovered similar stations in Missoula MT and Duluth MN.

Gordon McLendon did not invent Top 40, but he was a kingpin who took the format and ran with it, further developing it.

Without more information, perhaps we can at least say the same is true with Constantine and AAA.

Hey I think KINK sounds cool, it sounds very Portland-ie. It's a format I know nothing about. I do remember Lee Abrams talking about KINK many years ago, as being unique.

However I think the presentation on KHITS is kinda flat. It doesn't match, in hardly any way, the atmosphere in which that great music was originally presented. You've got the Stones, Steppenwolf, the Beatles and, mostly, these boring small market sounding DJs. So, 10 points for KINK, -5 points for KHITS.

I'm sure Dennis is a great guy! I suppose he's just trying to play it safe in corporate-land. But, it's hurting the size of the audience and the time spent listening. KHITS could be really fun.

For the record, I think Dennis is a good guy, a friend and someone who is doing a good job with both stations.

Some background on KINK: The station signed on Christmas Day of 1968. Its Slogan was "KINK, the underground link." Hardly "triple A" stuff at that time. Before the AAA format name became widespread, the station was difficult to define formattically (is that a word?) Even for the radio industry, they weren't quite sure what kink was all about. I belive one year, KINK was nominated for a Marconi award as an album rock station and the following year, it won a Marconi as a jazz station! All without ever changing format!

I remember a soft rock format on KNX-fm, the CBS fm O&O in Los Angeles in the early '70's. It played some rock and some jazz. From the Doors and Jefferson Airplane to Wes Montgomery and Hubert Laws. That sound was probably closer to what KINK became after it's "Underground Link" debut. If you wanted to read about it, I believe some of the old memos that concern the beginnings of kink are posted on kink.fm. I always liked Carl Widing's description of KINK. "A bank with speakers." Sure summed it up!

KINK launched as KINK THE UNDERGROUND LINK around Christmas of 68. I was at KOL, and Jimmy Fuscaldo of Craig Corporation (CBS) was on the flight from Seattle to Portland. He was the one that told me.

Like KOL-FM, the format was "progressive" featuring tracks from albums that were selling, but getting no representation on Top 40's of the day.

In the early days, there were no rules. We were just "making it up." KINK, like KOL-FM, gave the DJ's latitude to forge the sound...picking hte music they played. Guys could get on a "bluegrass" bent...jazz...anything. Over the years, KINK probably became best known for their jazz undertones. However, they played everything from hard rock to reggae.

Think back to the TV Spot: THE KINK PRIMATE TEST. This was a defining moment in KINK's evolution...and this was about 1979.

Ron Saito became KINK's GM. Bill Minkler was named KINK's PD. KGON was on top with HARD ROCK.
The decision was made that KGON was specializing in HARD ROCK, so KINK would take the other end of the spectrum.

KINK pared the library from 6,000 Albums...which the DJ's could play anything from....to 200 TRACKS!!!

BUT....this was just the defining moment. The music was Acoustically oriented rock: Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, etc. The new format base was these 200 songs...each song being a true representation of what KINK was all about.

Each day more tracks were added that matched the formats objectives....until the library was fattened out.

Simultaneously, KINK was promoting LIGHTS OUT, and JAZZ EXPO....both features that fed the key images that KINK listeners had grabbed onto over the "wide open" library years.

KINK was the "sweetheart" of the ad agencies. We always thought of them as the "wine and cheese" format, embraced by agency buyers that were rockers at heart, but had grown up.

The new sound delivered 25-54 audience at competitive levels, eventually becoming a player for the #1 position...with female lean...but still accepted by males.

Bill Minkler could certainly give you a more intimate glimpse into "the making of KINK" as we know it today. He was a great PD in KINK's building years.

However, Dennis Constantine...a former KBTR-Denver Top 40 DJ/Music Director...did wonders in creating KBCO...and what became known as AAA.

KINK was KINK...a unique tree in the Portland radio forest....because of the late 68/early 69 launch....years playing from a broad genre of rock music/jazz/bluegrass...but probably having a kind of "blurred image"....being different things to different people. Minkler and Saito gave KINK their FOCUS in 79...and the rest is
"evolutionary history."

Give Scott Carter some credit as well.

...and KINK is credited with inventing the NAC format evolving from Lights Out! It seemed to me that KINK softed up much earlier like '75 or so.

Robin as usual is spot on ...

Truth be it known, album oriented radio of any flavor started
in the 60's.

The folks at Metromedia deserve some credit. WNEW-FM, NY, WMMR-FM Philly, KSAN-FM SanFran were all Metromedia stations that championed the album rock format beginning in 1968.

All KINK did as they evolved was to filter out long cuts, hard rock, fusion, real jazz ... as well as repeating ad nauseum certain cuts that went from unknown to classic light rock as the 70's ended and the 80's began.

I'm not personally a big fan of KINK. I tend to see them as very boring, repetitive, and very unsatisfying. But I'm an ex monomaniac whom also did a great allnighter in Allentown, PA previous to going west and I'm still getting email about both those stints. Radio, in general, was never better than it was in the 70's before Reagan began the deregulation of ownership ball rolling.

Let's go with WOR-FM in '66. Did you know that WOR tried to change its FM back to WOR-FM and WRFM wouldn't let them?

So I was 14 in 1968, a budding music lover already. When KINK came on the scene, I was thrilled. Finally some "underground" music on the radio. And it was good.

Later on, as described above, they tightened up, and went to a much more "mellow" sound. Then we started to hear more Kenny G type stuff as thier Lights Out and such became popular. That's when I migrated away from KINK. This period lasted quite awhile.

While in Colorado for extended periods, I discovered KBCO. I distictly remember telling someone about it, and saying "This is what KINK should do." Lo and behold, I saw news somewhere talking about KINK modifying thier format. When I tuned in, what do you know? It sounded a lot like KBCO! I went onto thier website, got Dennis's email, sent him a note praising the change. He replied kindly back.

Nowadays, I'm noticing they are playing lots of stuff; Death Cab For Cutie, Modest Mouse, etc. along with the "traditional" KINK types like Van, Bonnie, James, Joni, etc. Mostly a really nice mix, except for artists I personally don't like, ie: Counting Crows, Jack Johnson, Wallflowers, etc. But music is personal as we know.

Overall, I think they recovered nicely back then, and are trying to keep current in many ways now.

Plenty of car dealers ready to give anyone the Credit they deserve including D.C.

"Let's go with WOR-FM in '66. Did you know that WOR tried to change its FM back to WOR-FM and WRFM wouldn't let them?"

Once you give up a 3 letter call sign you can't have it reissued.
The commission does not issue any 3 letter calls anymore.

There was also WPLJ-FM (ABC). Both OR and PLJ were NYC stations that pioneered prog. rock radio, but Metromedia had the guts to roll it out in several major markets. In NYC, NEW didn't have the coverage of PLJ or OR, which I believe were both 50kW Class B's whereas NEW was only ~17kW.

Then again, back then from the top of the Empire State Building you had line of sight clear across Jersey west and out to Long Island east and Conn. & upstate NY north plus very little RF coming inbound from adjacent smaller markets. Those were the days.

Once you give up a 3 letter call sign you can't have it reissued.
The commission does not issue any 3 letter calls anymore.
From what I've heard, if the owner of a 3-letter call station buys a station on another band, they can apply for those 3-letter calls.
I used to read the Seattle board on Radio-Info when 95.7 The Beat switched back to 95.7 KJR-FM... rumor on that board had it that Clear Channel had to apply for the change on paper because the online system doesn't let the 3-letter-call owners make that request.
If the 3-call-letter station is the last with those calls and changes their call letters, the calls are lost from AM/FM/TV broadcasting forever.
All of this is how I understand this, the actual rules may vary.

This was over 30 years ago and it was still common to use the same calls for AM and FM. There was no change in ownership. They simply wanted the 'OR-FM call letters back and WRFM objected because they sounded similar. I don't know which was there first, WOR-FM or WRFM. If WOR-FM was first, as I suspect, they apparently didn't object to the WRFM calls being used. I suppose it's possible that WRFM began after WOR-FM changed calls. Another possibility is that both sets of calls are old and FM listenership was so low at the time, it didn't make much difference.

Im so sick and tired of hearing about Dennis Constantine. All the ass-kissing posts are really starting to get old. I don't have a problem with Dennis, but I don't think he has really contributed that much. Kink would still be doing ok regardless of who the PD is, it has nothing to do with Dennis. Its just like k103, it doesnt matter who the pd is, that station will always do well because of the name recognition.
So can we please stop kissing Dennis Constantine's ass??

Coming from someone named "Bunsofsteel", that is an ironic post.

I disagree. Mr. Constantine is a class act all the way. He doesn't believe in cheap format elements, like phoners that require the listener to "tell me your favorite station". He also respects the medium for its ability to create theatre of the mind. I don't know if you got passed up for a job at KINK or K-HITS, but if you did, you'd know that Dennis responds to all applicants personally, unlike many PDs.

......."responds to all applicants personally, unlike many PDs."

One of the few who do.

You have got to be kidding me. Maybe one of the most inane posts of all time. Dennis is one of the few really great programmers that have worked in our market. There is a great reason why he gets respect.

If I were to make the move to Portland, and I'm not, Dennis would be one of the first people I would contact! I don't know him personally but do know of his reputation. I do agree with name recognition KINK has been around for a long time! Dennis has been able to tweak things over the years as to not mess with the already successful dynamics of the station. A true art indeed. The numbers under his tenure have reflected his philosophy. I tend to believe unlike most programers these days that Dennis runs the ship rather than corporate telling Dennis how to run the ship.