KYYX The Rock of The 80's

The History Of KYYX

KYYX, the Rock of the 80's, aired in the Pacific Northwest on 96.5 FM from August 1982 to March 25, 1984. The station was owned by O'Day broadcasting, with Pat O'Day, "the founding father of Northwest rock & roll. Pat truly was a legendary figure, working with Seattle's top 40 station KJR in the 60's, and touring with Jimi Hendrix. At first, KYYX offered contemporary Top 40 music, but in 1982, Pat hired Rick Carroll as a consultant, and changed the format to "Rock of The 80's". Rick had been running KROQ in Los Angeles, and the station's success with "Rock of The 80's" made him decide to take the format nationwide. KYYX was the first station he landed.

Initially, Pat O'Day kept on the deep-voiced boss jocks of the Top 40 format. One exception was Stephen Rabow, who convinced Rick Carroll to hire him without even giving Carroll an aircheck tape. A few months later, Rabow was hired to work at the station full-time. His program, "Stephen Rabow's House Party", which had previously aired on KZAM, now also aired on KYYX.

All songs were generated on a computer print-out and the voices were cut on reel-to-reel tape so an entire 4-hour shift could be recorded by the DJ in about fifteen minutes. During the daytime Pat O'Day's son Gary played all the songs and added the tapes for DJ voice-overs.

Then in the spring of 1983 Rick Carroll hired Van Johnson and Mike Bell, and the station began airing DJs live, instead of automated. Other DJs were added over the summer and fall of 1983 until the station was fully live.

The station was popular, especially among the 18-34 age group, but apparently not popular enough. March 25, 1984 was the last time the "Rock of the 80's" aired on KYYX.

The 96.5 frequency went through several incarnations, including rocker KXRX from 1986-1994. In 1994, it became country KYCW. then, ironically, at the end of 1999 the 80's returned to 96.5 as KYPT "The Point". However, as an 80's station, "The Point" steers away from much of the new wave and pop music that dominated the airwaves at KYYX, focusing instead on the 80's rock such as Journey, Pat Benatar, and Bon Jovi.

On this site, you'll find information about KYYX DJs, some audio clips of DJs, songs from the KYYX Local Heroes tape, information about Stephen Rabow's House Party, pages from The Wave magazine, a sampling of the press and fan mail about KYYX, and a guestbook along with a few related links.
Enjoy!