Tribute to Early KZAP Music Director Jeff Hughson
October 15, 2024 by Alex Cosper
Jeff Hughson, the freeform radio visionary who served as KZAP's first music director in the
late sixties and early seventies, passed away on October 15, 2024, according to K-ZAP.org.
He will also be remembered as the co-founder of Sacramento Blues Society in 1979. I was fortunate
to meet Jeff on several occasions and interviewed him for my online history project called
"The Legend of KZAP." Below are some video interviews
I did with Jeff February 28, 2004 and November 8, 2012 when KZAP personnel took over UC Davis station KDVS for one day.
Dawn of Freeform Radio (2004)
This interview with Jeff helped kick off my writing project about KZAP history. Jeff talks about
when he was in high school with his first radio job playing jazz on KXRQ (98.5 FM). Due to mismanagement,
the FCC forced the owner to sell the station. The new owner, Lee Gahagan, changed the call letters to
KZAP and allowed jocks to adopt a freeform presentation of rock mixed with a wide range of musical styles.
The Birth of KZAP (2004)
In this segment Jeff discusses the launching of 98.5 KZAP FM November 8, 1968, the week Nixon
was elected president. The first song to kick off the freeform/rock format was "The Star-Spangled Banner"
by Jose Feliciano, which segued into the current single "Revolution" by The Beatles. KZAP served the counter-culture with freeform programming that originated
with the musical libraries of Jeff and local musician Mick Martin, who worked at Tower Records. Jocks, such as Jeff, were allowed
to choose and play whatever music they wanted.
Freeform Era (2012)
Celebrating KZAP's 44th anniversary, Jeff Hughson and other early KZAP jocks took over KDVS
in November 2012. In this segment I talk with Jeff and Edd Fong, who did news on KZAP. Jeff mentions
some of the early KZAP personnel attended UC Davis and got their start at KDVS, as well as Sac State
station KERS.
College Freeform (2012)
This segment compares college freeform radio with KZAP's approach to freeform in the late sixties and early seventies.
Jeff says all forms of music were acceptable on KZAP during its freeform years. Edd praises KDVS for maintaining its
freeform tradition for decades.
The 60s (2012)
Jeff Hughson and Edd Fong talk about life in the late sixties and the early days of KZAP. After graduating
from Sac High, Jeff landed the job at KZAP in August 1968, prior to its launch. During the KZAP years he
got to hang out with a lot of recording artists, including Jimi Hendrix, whom he met at the Fillmore in
San Francisco.
KZAP Returns to Sacramento Airwaves
Here's a recap of when KZAP was relaunched as a low power FM radion station in 2015 as K-ZAP.org. This SacTV
page includes video interviews with Dennis Newhall and Cary Nosler, who both worked at the original KZAP.
