Rock In Peace...

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Ronnie James Dio performed at the 1986 Texxas Jam, along with Van Halen, Loverboy, Krokus, Keel and Bachmann Turner Overdrive. Pulled from the KZEW archives and the upcoming Texxas Jam pages, here's some rare Ronnie James Dio which aired on the ZOO July 19, 1986. This audio also features George Gimarc working a rare Saturday midday timeslot.

KZEW-Texxas Jam '86 concert coverage 07-19-86

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Be sure to check out the new book by ex-ZOO Disc Jockey Bob Shannon,"Turn It Up! American Radio Tales 1946-1996". It tells the story of 58 of the top radio legends in the business for the fifty year period post World War II.

Bob Shannon was only with the ZOO a short time in 1977, but has remained close friends with ex-boss Ira Lipson to this day. In this audio excerpt from the book, with introduction by Ira himself, Bob tells the story about the day at the ZOO when the news came in that Elvis had died.

Elvis, Sam and Dewey

We are celebrating the 36th anniversary of the ZOO this coming Friday with the debut of Chapter 5 - ZOO Year 1974. Our apologies for the long delay of this chapter, but it's been a busy year. We hope to get content posted in a more timely manner in the future. Stay tuned, we have a ton of ZOO Propaganda coming.
Zookeeper

Joe Perry of Aerosmith is recovering at home after a recent emergency knee surgery to correct unforeseen complications that resulted from a previous surgery on the same knee last year. Perry had a complete knee replacement done in March of 2008. The new knee was needed after a degenerative condition developed starting with a stage-fall during a concert in Dallas 23 years ago this week. KZEW's Jon Dillon even mentioned Perry's fall on the air that night, but said Joe had only sprained his ankle, according to the KZEW archives.

It was Groundhog Day 1984 at about 6:30am when I dragged myself out of bed. Back in those days, I wasn't much of a early bird, but it was my birthday and I didn't want to miss a minute of it. After all it was a milestone, my twenty-fifth. I gazed over at the glowing blue dial of my Marantz and could hear the faint KZEW elephant trumpet at low volume. I reached over to turn it up, I realized that LaBella and Rody was on. Being an night-owl, it was a rare occasion to catch the ZOO's morning team. I quickly popped in a cassette and hit record. I soon hear John LaBella and Mike Rhyner, but no John Rody. Rody was famous for being late. I continue to record, not knowing this very recording would go out over the DFW airwaves once again nearly 25 years later.

Not really ZOO related, but besides looking for an excuse to test the audio player, I thought this was an interesting story. Last week, DJ Gregg Stepp of Jacksonville Florida's Rock 105-FM, after learning he is about to be fired, tells off management and walks off while on the air.

An honorable mention on what would have been KTXQ's 30th birthday. What was once KFWD Album Rock, KTXQ 102 Album Rock began on Oct. 6, 1978. You can say that it was 30 years ago today that the KZEW-KTXQ war began. Q102 would win that war with help from Anchor Media. Today, however, the KZEW legend greatly overshadows most of Q102's accomplishments.

ZOO collectors - got something in your collection that you would like to share with other ZOO Freaks? Something taped off the radio, captured from TV, or scanned from your collection? 98KZEW.com is embarking on recovering as many long-buried treasures as possible for our archives, and unfortunately that archive has holes. If you've got something we need, we would like to see it!

We're especially looking for:

* KZEW airchecks (any recorded ZOO audio)
* ZOO Tube, ZOO television commercials or any other ZOO related video.
* Buddy Magazines..especially during the ZOO sponsored era (Feb 76 - Apr 79)
* ZOO related articles, advertising, press clippings
* ZOO related photographs

Got something? Tell us about it. Give as many details as you can. Email us at zookeeper@98kzew.com

It was 35 years ago today that KZEW 98FM Dallas - signed on the air for the first time. What began with a call letter and format change of Dallas-Ft.Worth's WFAA-FM beautiful music station, the new progressive music station would become the legendary ZOO. KZEW was the first station ever to refer itself as a zoo. The brainchild of KZEW's first program manager and original Zoologist, Ira Lipson. The ZOO was a leader in creative promotions, live concerts, and connecting with the listeners. It also had great DJ's who could put together killer sets of music.