Hot AC
104.7 KZZP Returns After 5 Year Hiatus
KZZP. During the 80’s, those call letters were synonymous with what was great about Phoenix radio. KZZP was the market’s legendary CHR during that decade. However, in April 1991, like many CHRs across the country, KZZP was forced to make big changes due to declining ratings and the polarization of the CHR format; they flipped to Hot AC as KVRY. Almost 5 years later, with KVRY on its death bed, owner Nationwide Communications decided to bring back the KZZP calls. But the format, while positioned as a CHR (the slogan was “Your Hit Music Station”), was actually a Modern AC — one of the first Modern ACs in the country. At the time, the move made sense. KKFR (Power 92) was a broad Rhythmic CHR that played a lot of the songs that KZZP as a CHR would have played. Ins...
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.
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.
104.7 KZZP Becomes Variety 104.7 KVRY
Previous Format: CHR “104.7 KZZP” New Format: Hot AC “Variety 104.7” Date & Time Of Change: April 30, 1991 More Info: Airchecked, Wikipedia Related Changes: 104.7 KZZP Returns After 5 Year Hiatus Aircheck contributed by Airchecked.com
98.5 WROR Boston becomes WBMX Mix 98.5
Previous Format: AC 98.5 WROR New Format: Hot AC “Mix 98.5” WBMX Date & Time Of Change: February 9, 1991 at 12:00pm More Info: Wikipedia WROR was the FM station to WRKO until RKO General was forced to sell off all it’s radio properties. Before WROR they were first WRKO-FM – ARKO-Matic, the automated top forty station in the 60s. Later, it was Boston’s first Oldies station as WROR. In 1980, they went live AC, with some of Boston’s most melodic and historic jingles (JAM’s ‘I’d Rather Be In Boston’ series #1). In 1983 they experimented with CHR using a version of the WLS-FM jingles but later reverted back to AC, which they stayed until February 1991 when Roy Orbison’s “It’s Over” triggered the end of WROR and...
96.5 KNRJ becomes “Mix” KHMX
When Nationwide Communications acquired 96.5 KNRJ Houston from Emmis Broadcasting in late 1989, it knew it had its work cut out. Energy 96.5 was at the bottom of the ratings pack as the third CHR behind heavyweights 93Q and KRBE. Nationwide put Guy Zapolean, its corporate programming head to oversee the construction of a new format for the station. While conducting the market research, KNRJ flipped to a smokescreen Alternative Rock format in April 1990. Finally on July 20, 1990, the finished product, KHMX “Mix 96.5” was launched. While nowadays a station debuting a Hot AC named “Mix” would draw a ho-hum response, KHMX was the prototype. The first AC station to focus on a rock based pop variety of songs from the 70’s and 80’s along with currents, “M...
CHR “94Q” WQXI-FM flips to Hot AC “Star 94” WSTR
WQXI was THE definition of Top 40 radio in Atlanta, starting in the late 50’s at 790 AM and later at 94.1 FM. But by the late 80’s, the station had evolved into Hot AC territory with ratings in the 4-share range. With the demise of WZGC (Z-93) as a CHR in January 1989, the station reverted to CHR as “Atlanta’s Hit Music Station” for a few months, but faced serious competition from WAPW (Power 99), which kept their ratings down in the 3 to 4 share range. Realizing that they needed to drop their 30+ heritage as a CHR and start from scratch, the station was “blown up” at midnight on November 15th, 1989 and reborn as WSTR (Star 94). Star 94 started out as a Hot AC but switched to Adult CHR in September of 1991. When Power 99 became WNNX (99X) in Octo...
