The Abridged version:
- Facing retirement a decade ago, Dennis Newhall resurrected Sacramento’s beloved rock radio station, KZAP.
- The new version with added hyphen — K-ZAP — seeks to maintain KZAP’s offer of old and cutting-edge album-oriented rock.
- The station runs on volunteers, including announcers posted across the globe.
Most people don’t start a new business in their early 60s, but Dennis Newhall did.
Ten years ago, Newhall and a handful of friends revived a music outlet with a solid standing in Sacramento. Now K-ZAP is a highly curated, automated music stream with listeners around the world and announcers who sound like they could live next door.
It wasn’t “the usual path,” Newhall acknowledges. “It is kind of fun to know that people reach the point where you’re talking about ‘what do I do next?’ ‘I’m going to take up painting’ that’s done by a lot of people. ‘I’m going to travel. I’m going to fix that old car that I’ve been thinking of fixing for a long time,’ but I don’t think too many people say, ‘I think I’ll start a rock radio station.’”
In the 1960s and ’70s, KZAP was a radio station with a traditional transmitter on a broadcast tower and a faithful following in and around Sacramento. In its heyday, the format was album-oriented rock, or AOR. Extended-play songs were the norm, not the 2-minute-30-second pablum played by Top 40 stations. All the cool kids listened to AOR, and when Newhall started his career at KZAP in the early 1970s, he felt he had the good fortune to be behind a microphone.
When the station left the air in 1992, Newhall began a broadcast journey that included stops in San Jose and Sacramento’s KSFM, KROY, CapRadio and the commercial studio at Ray Nakamoto Productions.
Old friends reunite for K-ZAP revival
Eventually, Newhall saw an opportunity to revive the old KZAP music format. He got in touch with a few of his friends. The music was their driving force.
“We decided we would come back as a station in the spirit of KZAP, which was play the old stuff, play it deep, not just singles, not just what the record companies tell you to play, and play new music. KZAP always played new music. KZAP went away before classic rock came around. So if you think it was a classic rock station, it wasn’t.”
Several of the current announcers worked at KZAP in its glory days, while others are new to the format and new to radio.
“In fact, Mark in the Dark, who does Tuesday’s overnights, is on prime time in his hometown of London,” Newhall said. “I love that about streaming and automation. He can do the show the same as I can, and he’s 5,000 miles away.
“We’ve had people working from Chicago and Idaho and Hawaii and LA and San Francisco,” he said. “And as it started to come together, we got more and more excited about it.”
Station is now streaming, all-volunteer
One major difference between the old KZAP and the new K-ZAP, aside from the hyphen, is the means of delivery. The new station is a music stream, available around the world via computer or phone. Within the Sacramento region, the stream can also be heard on a low-power terrestrial signal on 93.3 FM.
Another difference is overhead. It’s an all-volunteer operation. There is no studio. Managing a stream and a low-power signal keeps costs down.
“That’s something that a lot of people don’t realize,” Newhall said. “Why don’t you turn up your power? And I tell them, well, the difference is it took about $20,000 to get here. If you wanted a full power station in this market, it’s going to take you about $10 million.”
Matt Pacini, 67, went from being a fan to hosting a show on K-ZAP. He has been on air for just short of 10 years, most recently filling in when other announcers take time off.
KZAP known as the ‘cool underground’ station in heyday
“I listened to KZAP as a kid, and up into my early 20s,” Pacini said. “They were definitely known as the ‘cool underground’ station back then.”
Pacini explained why K-ZAP’s leadership makes the station a success.
“Dennis Newhall is the perfect person to run a project like this,” he said. “Super nice guy, very sharp, loves music, and treats everyone really well, so that so many are willing to volunteer their time to be a part of it.”
It turns out Newhall, 73, is a walking knowledge bank of Sacramento-area rock trivia. He started collecting memorabilia for the Rock & Radio Museum decades ago. There are framed posters and handbills from bands and venues in the Sacramento region. That collection is now housed at Sacramento State University.
Newhall also built a considerable library of CDs and LPs related to Sacramento from the ’60s and ’70s. Those are now part of the Sacramento Music Archives, started by Shane Stacey.
The hub of Sacramento rock music
Newhall also is the hub of Sacramento’s rock music legacy. “I don’t know why, but I’m sort of the go-to guy on posters and history and stuff like that,” he said. “I don’t know everything, but I know some people who do.”
Following the death of legendary Sacramento bluesman Mick Martin in July – the two met when Newhall was 8 years old and Martin just a few years older – the Martin family gave permission to add material to the archives.
“So Mick’s entire output, including some rare stuff, is going to be in the Sacramento Music Archives. And all of the CDs are going to be a part of an exhibit at the Sacramento Room of the (downtown Sacramento Public) Library,” Newhall said.
As for the radio station, it’s a labor of love.
“Everybody here wouldn’t be doing it if they weren’t having some fun,” he said. “Even though they know they’re not talking to 50,000 people, they’re talking to an audience. It’s probably the difference between a musician who used to play stadiums and now they play clubs. It still can be fun. And we do it just because nobody’s hiring 65-year-old rock jocks, but hey, I get to do this.”
Donna Apidone is a regular contributor, writing Coming of Age for Abridged.