KZAP had over 10,000 albums in its library during its freefrom years in the 1970s. Dennis Newhall talks
about how KZAP evolved in the early to mid 70s from complete freeform to a commercial force by the mid seventies.
Newhall worked at KZAP on the air from 1972 to 1975 then went to rock station KSJO in San Jose for awhile.
He returned to Sacramento to work at KZAP's rival KSFM Earth Radio, where he was Program Director until
its final freeform days in 1979. That was the same year KZAP became more of a commercial rock station than
a freeform station where anything was possible.
In this interview we did on May 14, 2000, Newhall tells the history of KZAP's timeless logo.
The orange cheshire cat, created by Roger Shepherd and Bill Styler,
seen on bumber stickers, windows and guitar cases everywhere for many years. Newhall says that 1972 marked a
period when a new more-commercial minded company took over KZAP. He says that jocks were hired on the
basis of their musical knowledge and ability to mix different styles. He says that period was a golden
age because the pay scale was increasing while the jocks got to teach the supportive owner about freeform.
Read more about The Legend of KZAP at Playlist Research.
