TUCSON — The cult of the mysterious KCDX-FM started innocently enough.
Bill Keeling, a 51-year-old respiratory therapist, found the Arizona radio station when his daughter fiddled with his car stereo. Lynn Richeson, a graphic designer, fell in love with it when she heard a song for the first time in 30 years. One man became an acolyte after he rented a car in Phoenix and all the radio buttons were set to 103.1.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday May 05, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 0 inches; 28 words Type of Material: Correction
KCDX-FM: Monday's Column One about eclectic Arizona radio station KCDX-FM referred to its playing a 1960s Fabulous Poodles song. The group, however, did not record during the '60s.
The signal, which started broadcasting throughout central Arizona and much of Phoenix in 2002, played an eclectic mix that included hits by Huey Lewis and the News and an obscure 1971 tune about cannibalism by the Buoys. There were no commercials, no DJs, no way the station made money.
Hundreds of e-mails filled KCDX's inbox each week. Who was choosing the playlists? How did the station survive without advertising?
"IF YOU NEED DONATIONS, CONTACT ME, PLEASE," one listener wrote. "A day without KCDX is like a day without sunshine," another said.
The fans found one another online, sharing their frustrations about other stations that played the same songs over and over, and recalling the first time they heard "Pinball Wizard" or a forgotten song by Duran Duran.
They spent hours speculating about who owned KCDX. Richeson, Keeling and others scoured the Internet to identify the person who referred to himself on the station's website only as "The Guru."
But the harder they pressed for answers, the more frightened the Guru became, until he began questioning the wisdom of what he had done.
*
Fifty years ago, thousands of independently programmed stations similar to KCDX filled America's FM dial. Their disappearance, and the passion of KCDX's fans, demonstrate how greatly radio has changed and how much listeners may be missing.
Until the midcentury, commercial radio was focused almost solely on the AM band. FM signals, which don't travel as far as AM, were in such little demand that they could be snapped up by almost anyone with a little technical know-how and business savvy.
When rock 'n' roll emerged in the mid-1950s, it was ignored by most AM stations. Soon, disc jockeys named Wolfman Jack and Murray "the K" began filling FM airwaves with electric guitar solos and B-side tracks. Then the nation's youth discovered rock, and FM radio's audiences and advertising exploded.
