“Great Sounds and Wonderfulness”: KMPX and the Birth of Freeform Radio

Abstract

Historians have long celebrated the impact of Tom Donahue and KMPX-FM on both radio and the San Francisco counterculture of the 1960s. Surviving recordings from that period shed light on how revolutionary the station was, and how freeform FM spread to corporate radio. This study examines KMPX, AM rival KYA, and KSAN, the corporate-owned station later staffed by Donahue and his colleagues. KMPX and its DJs succeeded in marrying the counterculture to the station, propelled by Donahue's preexisting status in radio. The freeform approach flourished at KSAN, but ultimately could not survive the decline of the counterculture that created it.

Editor’s Remarks: Celebrating 100 Years of Radio Broadcasting!

“…In "'Great Sounds and 'Wonderfulness': KMPX and the Birth of Freeform Radio," David Crider examines KMPX, KYA, and KSAN to assess the changes wrought by the 1960s counterculture and freeform approach (Crider, 2020). Crider concludes that the story of KMPX matches the story of the "Summer of Love" ….a brief, shining moment when a new generation thought they could change the world, (Crider, 2020, p. 332).…”