CHR
CHR 96 TIC-FM Becomes Hot AC 96-5 TIC-FM
Program Director Paul Cannon launches this ‘new’ incarnation of WTIC-FM with a few words, and a produced history lesson. “The Rap is gone. Forever.” Today, CBS Radio O&O WTIC-FM shares the same building with it’s AM counterpart, dinosaur WTIC AM 1080, Lite 100.5 WRCH and a few others. The station…. pretty much your typical Hot AC now, and FAR from it’s CHR glory days. For those who remember (and even those who don’t or don’t care to), here’s what it sounded like over a dozen years ago from the Insurance Capital of the World…. Aircheck courtesy of Peter Q George. Summary courtesy Airchexx.com.
WMMZ Becomes K-Country 93.7 WOGK
Previous Format: CHR “Z93” WMMZ New Format: Country “K-Country 93.7” WOGK Date & Time Of Change: March 11, 1994 More Info: CFLRadio, Wikipedia
Eagle 106 WEGX becomes Smooth Jazz WJJZ
In the early 1990’s CHRs across the country were flipping formats. Baltimore and Washington, D.C. had lost theirs in 1992. In 1993, Philadelphia would lose its. The 106.1 frequency had been CHR for almost a decade under a few monikers: WZGO Z106, WTRK Electric 106, and finally Eagle 106. Smooth Jazz formats were sprouting up across the nation, targeting a more desirable audience to advertisers. After the flip on Friday, March 12th, another station was quick to jump on WEGX’s audience. 100.3 WKSZ, a struggling AC flipped to CHR as Z100 the following Monday, but would later change calls to WPLY “Y100” after a lawsuit from New York’s Z100 fearing audience confusion due to signal overlap. WPLY would have an Adult lean until it flipped to Modern Rock in 1994. Other...
KXXR moves from 106.5 to 107.3
CHR KXXR 106.5 was set to change formats to country, but decided to stay around, via LMA with KCFM 107.3. The station moved to 107.3, where it lasted two years, first as “107.3 KXXR”, then “107.3 Kiss-FM”. In 1996, KISF changed to modern rock as KNRX, and then KNRX became Rhythmic Oldies in 1999
CHR “Power 99” WAPW becomes Alternative “99X” WNNX
During the late 80’s WAPW was the leading Mainstream CHR in Atlanta with ratings in the 7 to 9 share range and beating out longtime runners WZGC (Z-93) and WQXI (94-Q) out of the format. But during the fall 1991, the station started stumbling from a 6.5 in the summer book to a 4.7. This was caused by a decision at the time by management to lean heavy on Dance in order to find a nitch for the station. Reversing course, the station started re-adding Rock & Alternative tracks over the winter of 1991-92 and rose to a 6.3 in the winter, then dropped in the 4’s in the spring & summer books. After experimenting with a nightly all-Alternative music program called “On The Edgeâ€, the decision was made to change format to Alternative and the weekend before the format change on Octob...
I100 WNFI Becomes The New 99.9
Previous Format: CHR “I100” WNFI New Format: Hot AC “The New 99.9” Date & Time Of Change: April 10, 1992 at 3:00pm More Info: CFLRadio, Wikipedia Image courtesy CFLRadio.net
CHR WBSB “B104” becomes Hot AC WVRT “Variety 104.3”
As the CHR format began to lose steam in the early 1990’s, many CHR’s across the country found themselves losing ratings and revenue streams; WBSB included. After a long successful run as “Baltimore’s Best”, the format was fading fast. In order to increase it’s ratings, the station decided to go after an older audience and flipped to a Gold based Hot AC as “Variety 104.3”. It could not, however, gain listeners from it’s primary competitor WWMX “Mix 106.5”. By the end of 1994, Variety 104.3 was dead and had been sold to the owners of Mix, who changed its format first to Soft AC and then to all 70’s.
The Final Hour of CHR on WAVA
In the early 1990’s, Emmis Broadcasting was one of the premier ownership groups in the country consisting of many stations of the former Doubleday and NBC Radio groups. However, one bad business decision (Ownership of the Seattle Mariners) caused the company to auction off many of its stations to the highest bidder. While WFAN in New York went to Infinity Broadcasting, some stations were unable to keep their current format by their new owners. Salem Broadcasting acquired WAVA and quickly stated its obvious intent to flip the station religious. WAVA had an illustrious history. One of the first FM all news stations in the 70’s, the station had been an AOR in the early 80’s when the decision to go Top 40 was made. Under such monikers as “All Hit 105”, “Powe...
“93Q” KKBQ becomes “92.9 Easy Country”
KKBQ stopped playing CHR/Rock at midnight September 19, 1991 and stunted with the sound of the ocean for 6 hours straight with a time check to “Houston’s newest radio station” every 15 minutes. (actually a few minutes after the ocean sounds began it appears that maybe the board operator rebeled against the flip because the music starts again, he manages to play about 4 songs before the sound of the ocean returns… I’ll send this one later) This file picks up on the minute before the launch. Then at 6am in a live remote from The River Oaks Country Club, the general manager says a few words (the same old spiel about “doing months of market research” and “this is what you asked for”) then does a countdown thats followed by a montage of coun...
