Tanna Guthrie: 'I hate that KC lost KY'

Above: Larry, Tanna and Max, back in 2006.

Her 20th anniversary with KYYS was also Tanna Guthrie's final year with the radio station. Like everyone else on staff, she was let go by the station today.  Word is KY will, perhaps as soon as tomorrow, become known as "The Boulevard."

Guthrie had this to say:

"I hate that I lost my job and I hate that Kansas City lost KY. I think it was still viable and I hate that it no longer exists. It's a station that a lot of people grew up with.

I'm gonna miss the listeners most of all. They are so passionate about KY. And I'll miss things like the Elvis Parade, breaking the Guinness Book of World Records for most people playing guitar, things like that. And I'll miss going backstage.

I'm looking for a job in radio in Kansas City. I want to stay in radio and I want to stay in Kansas City."

Comments

[Geordan]

Yep, a lot of people grew up with KY, Tanna. Unfortunately, KY NEVER grew up with it's audience. You have finally been rendered obsolete and it was WAY overdue. Guess you'll have to take your stogies to another station in a smaller, less-evolved market. Towns like Sioux City, Iowa or Rapid City, South Dakota are probably still dousing their listeners with staid, 70's AOR....Good luck!

[MusicMike]

Sorry...playing only 70's/80's music is dead. On my drive this morning with XM I heard: Hot Tuna, Merle Haggard, Marvin Gaye, Radiohead, Little Feat, and Motzart...all on the same channel! Good luck KY. Wherever you go you'll need to adapt!

[Sliv]

Sorry that likable local folks are losing jobs behind it, but "we won't play any song you haven't heard 2,000 times already" stations are deader than dinosaurs. If KY had the sense to go to the format it was playing in the 70's when it earned its fame, mixing mostly AOR modern rock with the classic stuff, maybe they'd have given me a reason to listen. It's not like there's anybody else in town who's trying to fit a niche between The Buzz and The Bridge, and The Fox had a tight grip (a cold, dead hand?) on the extinct species format before KY got there.

[DJ Moves]

As usual, a radio station has no regard for its fans who - by being loyal listeners - were responsible for what little advertising income the station received. No respect or warning is given to the fans who turned on the radio one day and didn't even get to "hear" a goodbye from folks that they spent 20 years with in the intimate settings of their cars during their commute. It's just sad.

[morris]

KY stunk 30 years ago and never got any better. You guys did as much as anybody to kill decent live music in town and for that alone you should have gone belly-up long ago.

[john hammond]

KY will be greatly missed. Dick and Jay in the morning,the General's rocknroll army,Larry Moffet's joke of the day. Kansas City has lost a wonderful radio station.

[Donkey Shane]

All you haters are bozos. Why do you care about a station you never listened to? Do you really think the new station will be any better? It'll be worse: all pre-fabbed and formatted. And if you didn't listen why do you care? Do you laugh and applaud when you notice that a restaurant you never patronized has closed? At least KY had real people behind the mics who were involved with their community. "KY stunk 30 years ago"? I don't think so.

[A smooth guy]

Fascinating. I remember the first time KY "died," in 1997. A month later they were on a different frequency after a month of candlelight vigils, staff members getting interviewed on other radio stations, and generally a bunch of hooey about how "public demand" brought back the station. Garbage. You can't flip a frequency that fast. The whole thing was planned well in advance... but gullible people bought into it's being "spontaneous."

So is it really dead this time, or will we get it back somewhere else on the dial in about a month?

[Geordan]

Sorry, Donkey Shane, but KY DID stink 30 years ago and as it rotted for the past 30 years, the odor got worse. You want to continue to live in the past and I want a station that would evolve with my taste in Rock Music and I'M the Bozo?? You don't know how deluded you sound.

I listened to KY years ago and liked it. But when Post-Punk/Alternative bands like The Clash, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Church, R.E.M, Husker Du, The Replacements, etc., came along and caught my interest, a so-called Rock Station like KY wouldn't touch them although they were part of the same genre.

If they had mixed these bands with the likes of Boston, Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Led Zep, and all the other 70's AOR cabal, KY might have remained interesting and continued to move forward. They didn't and although it took WAY too long, the dinosaur finally died. It's a little sad, granted, but I stopped caring years ago when they stopped caring about me as a listener.

[Steve]

The reason why KY died was because the program director played the same songs every hour. You can only hear the same Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Bob Seger and Boston song so many times before you have to change the station. Terrestrial radio is slowing fading away to Sattelite radio is the place to be.

[Griney]

KY102 was great but KY 99.7 tried to live in the past. Get Sirius!!!

[Sa-Rah]

For me it wasn't so much the music as feeling like I knew Max and Tanna for all of these years. When I think back to some of the hilarious stunts, the events they hosted, the random stuff that happened on the air - that is what will be missed. I start LOL when I think about some of the most memorable.

[Procol Harum]

We're gonna miss the royalty checks.

[doane]

There are thousands of dry-wallers crying right now in the greater KC area. RIP KY.

[Mike Lytle]

I have a radio show that plays alot of the KY artists and so much more ! Check out The REAL DEAL at 90.1 FM, fridays at 7pm. I'll even let Max & Tanna come visit if you like ! Mike Lytle

[KC Transplant in Iowa]

I still like the old stuff I grew up with too, but not a steady diet of it. I live in Des Moines now and there's a station up here (KDRB, The Bus)that plays a more eclectic blend of music, sort of like an I-Pod on shuffle. If it weren't for that station, I would have subscribed to satellite radio long ago. Formatted music, of any type, gets stale after a while. I wish former KY staffers nothing but the best.

[ghostofradiopast]

What about Rick and Brady on 105.1? Why isn't anyone reporting their firing?

[Wadkc]

Geordan,

So since you weren't listening you didn't know that in 1982/3 KY played all the "new" MTV rock bands. Duran Duran, Elvis Costello, Billy Idol, R.E.M., INXS, etc.... It tanked. So your theory of growing didn't work. Granted, squeezing the playlist to dust didn't work either. A lot of people listen to the radio for the friendships and personalities. You don't, fine. Just be on you way to your "High Fidelity" coolness.

[joe schmoe]

Reminds me of why I got out of being a commercial radio DJ.

[kc]

Hey Tanna, do you have another station to go to? You will be missed by many and at least by me.

[Geordan]

Wadkc,

I'll take "High Fidelity coolness" over musical stagnation any day! Besides, if you say you were actually listening to KY for the wit and wisdom of the simple-minded team of Max, Tanna, Moffit, Slacker. etc., well, that's really just sad. I'd rather listen to four hours of Muzak than to suffer THOSE guys every day.

As far as KY ever playing Elvis Costello, R.E.M., and INXS, I'm not convinced that ever really happened and I surely won't take your word for it. Doesn't really matter at this point as KY is now as defunct as it's staid format and tired personalities. Sometimes, justice DOES prevail. Peace, and happy listening......I hear they are re-releasing the entire Jethro Tull Catalog! Rock on, dude!

[Troy]

KY-102 was regarded nationally as one of the best stations. It was based on playing what the DJ knew people wanted to hear. Unfortunately 99.7 portrayed itself as KY but it was built around the sad "market research" radio formats that some dudes in suits set up based on what they read in industry magazines we want to hear. There is no originality any more in local radio. Ipods and satellite radio are the norm now. KY-102 will never happen again in this market or any market, it will only live in our memories.

[Wadkc]

Geordan,

You act like you listened to the station for years, when you stated previous you hadn't. I'll grant you the fact that the last 3 years were trimmed to 30 songs but the previous 31 were fine. "Simple" to a Rock & Roll Hall-Of-Fame DJ is laughable. Tanna is THE best interviewer in town. Not a talking head, off the cuff, clever, witty, sincere, individual. I'll take her rock interviews anytime. Not just the same cliched questions.

You surely won't take my word for it? I think you should if you want to be correct.

I love your "justice DOES prevail" quote. For your ears maybe. I'm sure there's a bohemian duo playing a coffee shop near you that would take your dollar tip (excuse me) quarter tip.

As far as Jethro Tull? If you'd like to meet Ian Anderson, I'm sure I can make that happen.....

[Allen]

I find it wryly ironic that the suits that killed a Kansas City icon were the same suits that limited the playlist. Remember when Larry Moffit left? He wanted to add newer music to the playlist, and the powers that be at Entercom wouldn't let anything newer be added. So when the listenership decided that they were tired of the same old music and switched stations, Entercom changed to add new music.

Remember when KY was advertised as "Real Rock Radio" not "Classic Rock"? Back in the day, they WERE playing the new releases, the deeper cuts from albums, new artists, the edgy stuff that the new Boulevard is claiming to play. If the Entercom suits had stayed with that format, KY would still be on the air.

Firing all the on air staff and changing the format after the suits killed the listenership is like Clark Hunt firing all the players and coaches of the Chiefs but keeping Peterson and changing the name of the team to the Braves. The general manager of the station is the one who caused the failure, not the on air staff.

[If I Never Hear Rush Tom Sawyer Again I'll Die Happy]

LOL on the drywallers! Why is it whenever movers, painters, or any workmen type people have a boombox it is always on KY no matter what their age?

A few weeks ago I was stuck all day in a workshop at work where the man helping us make things had KY on all day long. We were mostly about 50 and I guess the guy with control of the radio was a few years older than us. We 50-year-olds were cringing and making fun of the same old classic rock songs even though we don't know Echo and the Bunnymen from Ludacris.

[matthew]

I do not like the fact that every radio station that I listen to in this city plays the sames songs over an over all day long. But I do understand that music that is on the charts has to be played. although to radio station that has replaced 99.7KY Plays boring music just like another 98.1 KUDL or 105.1 Jack Fm. I like music of all generas but would like to hear more songs than just the singles that are played over & over again all day long.

[A smooth guy]

Listened to "The Boulevard" for about an hour yesterday.

Those of you mourning KY's music going away... relax. They still play it, apparently with a lot of other music of the 70's-80's era KY SHOULD have been playing in the first place.

To some that may be KY with it's balls cut off. To others it may be "about time."

They claim they're playing newer stuff from the 90's and today, but I heard none of it.

I'll listen more before making a further judgment to go back to my iPod, but right now it's a letdown. Wouldn't surprise me at all if in a few weeks they bring back the whole KY staff and say "Just kidding."

[Wadkc]

Allen,

You're the smartest man in this room. That's exactly the funniest thing about this debacle. If the jocks would have run the playlist, they're keen enough to know what works and what doesn't....but of course, the man behind the music is still there.

[Sa-Rah]

So, what happens to Max and Tanna and can they be "resurrected" and allowed to determine their own playlist AND entertain us all?

[Mugu_Guyman]

KY not only played a healthy dollop of "new wave" in the early 80s (INXS, Talking Heads and The Romantics were all in regular rotation), they had a nighttime format called "Route 102" in the late 80s where they played "alternative" hits that nobody else in the market was really playing. If they could have booked a lot of advertising money with this music, they would have gladly continued to play it. Instead, 98.9 The Rock went on the air with an "all harder rock all the time" format and took all of their listeners. Basically the "real" KY was dead by the time it was flipped on 102 in 1997...Entercom and Bob Zuroweste buried it. The fact that it seemed to succeed for a while on 99.7 says more about the weakness of the competition than anything else. The Fox would be a distant memory by now if not for the Chiefs.

[KODIACK]

KY WAS A GOOD MIX WITH THE CHANGING TIMES. I WONDER WHAT'S "REALLY" THE DEAL?

[smartman]

Thanks for the memories KY...Dick and Jay...The Joint Chiefs...Herndon Hasty...Scott Jameson...Max's Disco Destruction...Paul Fredrocks, (God Bless You Wherever You Are Now)...Randy Raley...Von Mack, "rollin' some "Doobies" in the wee morning hours...Katie McGuckin... Joe "Scooter" McCabe...The "Smokin Hot" and lovely then and now Debbie Van Pelt...The $1.02 concerts at the Uptown...It was a good run that ended a long time ago. The station never grew up "intellectually" with its' listeners. RIP...ROCK IN PEACE!

[Michael]

I think they need a whole new format in Kansas City. Doesnt Kansas City have enough Rock/Classic rock 94.9 KCMO thats not what it use to be Oldies 95.. 99.7 Rock and then we have 101.1 the Fox.. and that 96.5 and all I dont like the Radio Stations here at all in Kansas City.. There are way too many of the same Formats here.. We need a Change... Like another Oldies Radio station here or a Classic Country Radio station. I dont even like 106.5 the WOLF anymore after they changed from WDAF.. AM Kansas City Please hear the residents of this City and Change Radio Formats..

[Fighting]

It is really sad to see you all go! It's too bad that this run down city never grew up and pulled up their pants. This was and is one of the best stations next to 98.9 the rock. The city is full of nothing but inconsiderate young fools. Now the station 99.7 the "Boulevard" is going to reak just as bad as a 93.3 and 95.7. Kansas City is losing a darn good station and some of the best radio personality out there! Keep it up guys, you will make it big where the people are grown up enough to pull their heads out of their A**'.

[Joe]

I don't live in the Kansas City area anymore and have no idea what KY had become, but when it was 102 in the late 70's and early 80's and played album rock, it helped define our generation, just as WHB did the previous generation. I am sure it's time has since passed, but it is nice to stop for a minute in the middle of our busy days and remember Skid, Frankie, and the rest of the crew.

[stoopid]

i hate to seee ppl lose their job but KY was nothing more than the best mid-day on air host. slacker did a great job while max and tanna were copying what stations like 98.9 had copied years before. an a side note it took moffit and frankie no time at all to copy 98.9's format.

[Wadkc]

Stoopid,

At least you represent your moniker well.

[sincitydisciple]

I gave The Boulevard a try on the way home from work last night. Let's see... Hungry Heart by Springsteen, Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2 and some song by Santana. I'm telling you... this station has really reinvented itself. Between my iPod and sports talk radio, I've been off of FM for about 4 years now. Since it appears to be more of the same old, same old... the FM knob on my car stereo will continue to gather dust.

[ky-fan]

thanks for the memories,the boulevard(it sucks)no personality whatsoever.different name,same format as 105.1,102.1,93.3,they all suck.

[Jique]

Sorry, KY-fan, but the Boulevard at least has a sense if variety, which KY lost sight of in 1978 or so. KY was a lousy dinosaur that will not be missed, so let's MOVE ON, already.....Jeez, a station that plays 'Freebird' every three hours was THAT important to you?? The Boulevard isn't much better, but it makes KY, and it's tired, unfunny (and thankfully DEFUNCT) morning jocks look small in comparison.

[DG]

It's really no wonder why the station changed, people are tired of all the unnecessary talk from DJ's and endless commercials. Plus, playing the same three songs from artists who have vast catalogues too. At least now you'll have less talk and more varied rock. I'll take it.

[ky-fan]

hey sorry ky-fan,oh yea tracy chapman really rocks(your a nerd)small cranium,small brain.bet you can't even play a musical instrument(only with yourself).i don't agree with playing the same songs but they had character unlike yourself.

[Trent]

An era is slowly folding up, and dying. And, it is unfortunate. I just recently learned (I was a truck driver. And, rarely made it back to Kansas City.) That Ron Rooks has died. I fear that Kansas City will no longer have the soul it once had. Instead, it will turn into (if it hasn't already) A greedy, no caring, self centered, business driven city. With no heart, no soul. And, only dollar signs in its coporate ran eyes. The people of Kansas City are wonderful, and it is ashame that radio, and the local business seem to be slowly dying.

[Doug]

I moved from KC in 1990. Grew up in the 70's and 80's listening primarily to KY.

Whenever I came back to KC, I'd rent a car at KCI and tune in KY or the FOX and check my watch, playing my patented "how long before they play BOSTON" game It never failed. NEVER longer than a day. Sometimes in minutes.

Things have to change. What was once considered renegade became formula- about 20 years ago. Radio is so much better nearly everywhere else.

[Trent]

It sucks that KY 99.7 bit the dust. I really don't listen to muci radio much, just sports talk on my short comutes to work. I will miss going to see the Elvis Parade though. For those of you who will also miss it, I video taped the 2006 Elvis Parade and made a nice DVD out of it. You can go check it out on Craigslist.com, search for Elvis Parade DVD, or check out some of the clips on Youtube.com, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqVmIs8zM2k

Peace out!!

[Mike Battin]

There are a lot of great "old" classic rock songs that if I don't hear them once or more a day, I'm dissapointed. If it was great today yesterday and the day year decade or decades before, it will still be great if not greater tomorrow the next day next year next decade or decaades or even a century from now!! My personal list would include U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday, Phill Collin's I Don't Care Anymore. Judeas Priests' You've Got Another Thing Commin', George Thourghgood's Bad To The Bone, Wings Live and Let Die Lynnard Skynnard's Sweet Home Alabama, The Beatles Come Together, Black Sabboths Ironman, Van Halens Runnin' With The Devil, VH's And The Cradle Will Rock, Foriegners Juke Box Hero, Forigners Urgent, Forigners I Been Waitin' For A Girl Like You. I'm an absolute Classic Rockaholic Junky. I got to have my fixes. The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Led Zepplin, AC\DC, The Doors, Eric Clapton and Cream, and Jimi Hendrix just to name a few. KY played all those and then some. KY was also starting to get into Alternative Rock which I also like. I am and will be a true hardcore loyal and devoted fan and follower of KY and all it's people forever!

[Bubba]

I, too am STILL pissed off that KY 99 closed down in early ' 08. What are you gonna do? 101 The Fox is okay - FOR awhile but they get old FAST! Wish KY 99 had JUST expanded their play list - IF they had done so, MAYBE they'd still exist.

[cheap nike shox]

This was an age of innocence and happiness.God bless you all, and God bless America !

[nike shox]

If it was great today yesterday and the day year decade or decades before, it will still be great if not greater tomorrow the next day next year next decade or decaades or even a century from now!!

[Bubba]

Yeah, I sort of STILL miss KYYS too. The Fox 101 is okay but I had many life-long lasting memories with KY. R.I.P. my friend! Bubba said it.