Places that had terrible radio in the '80s/'90s

[bandit957]

What are some places that had terrible radio back in the '80s and '90s?

By that, I don't mean places that didn't have many stations, period. I mean places that actually had quite a few stations (such as any metropolitan area in America) but they were lousy ones.

For example, Cincinnati was a miserable, miserable place for radio after WCLU went away. There was a lot of censored songs and a glut of "soft rock" and "lite rock" stations. It was so bad that I always listened to Lexington's WLAP-FM instead, which actually had a decent signal within a few miles of Cincinnati.

Apparently, Evansville IN also had awful radio at the time.

[Scott5114]

The inside of a bubble blown by someone who's head is shaped like a Speak 'n' Spell. TERRIBLE radio! HORRIBLE!

[Brian556]

Our adult contemporary station here in DFW, KVIL, wasn't that great. Too many commercials, very narrow playlist. They omitted tons of good songs that stations with the same format in other markets were playing. At night, when I could pick it up, I would listen to KLAK form the Lake Texoma area because it was much better. I found it odd that stations in smaller markets were generally much better that big city markets.

Our country stations got really bad after the 90's. We really need a classic country station without all the modern crap.

I haven't listened to the radio in over a decade because its so awful now.

[bandit957]

I found it odd that stations in smaller markets were generally much better that big city markets.

I noticed this too. I remember visiting rural counties in eastern Kentucky and noticing they had much better radio than we did.

I haven't listened to the radio in over a decade because its so awful now.

The only thing I still listen to on the radio is rebroadcasts of 'American Top 40' shows from the '80s.

The 1996 Telecommunications Act destroyed the radio industry.

[Brandon]

I found it odd that stations in smaller markets were generally much better that big city markets.

I noticed this too. I remember visiting rural counties in eastern Kentucky and noticing they had much better radio than we did.

I haven't listened to the radio in over a decade because its so awful now.

The only thing I still listen to on the radio is rebroadcasts of 'American Top 40' shows from the '80s.

The 1996 Telecommunications Act destroyed the radio industry.

Right

[CapeCodder]

Cape Cod had TERRIBLE radio up until the present. Iheart Media (Clear Channel) controls four stations here. Cape Cod Broadcasting controls four stations with Codcomm also controlling four.

Then you have the NPR stations.

Saint Louis had terrible radio up until the early 00's. I still remember when Emmis made the big buyout and we lost:
WKXX "Kix 106.5" became WSSM Smooth Jazz.
KSD 93.7 became 93.7 The Bull.
97.1 The Rock became 97-1 FM Talk.
WXTM "Extreme 104" became 104.1 The Mall playing 80's music.
105.7 The Point remained the only alt-rock station.

The Smooth Jazz station was blown up in 2005 to become WARH, or 106-5 The Arch.
KIHT, or K-Hits 96 became "Now 96.3" which is a CHR format.
Z-1077 is still one of the top dogs in the CHR format.

[hbelkins]

In the 80s, when I listened to much more radio than I do now, I couldn't wait to get out of the Lexington area so I could listen to something besides WKQQ-FM. If I went north, I switched to WEBN in Cincinnati as fast as I could get a signal. If I went west, there was a station in Louisville that I liked a lot. I think it was WQMF.

Eastern Kentucky is a radio wasteland.

[jp the roadgeek]

If anything, Hartford/New Haven had better radio stations in the 80's.  In the area of Rock, WHCN was a great station with all original local programming, and no set playlist.  I was a regular listener of Picozzi and The Horn in the morning (Picozzi is still on to this day as morning show host on now Classic Rocker WDRC, which was Oldies until about 5 years ago).   The same can be said of WPLR and WCCC (the latter at the beginning of the decade had a morning show hosted by some guy named Howard something or other).  Now, WHCN is an IHeart canned "The River" format without the great classic rock and more of an AC feel.  WPLR is still classic rock, still uses many DJ's from back in its 80's heyday, but only plays 2 or 3 songs by each artist.  WCCC went to the K-LOVE Christian format about 4 years ago.   

[bandit957]

In the 80s, when I listened to much more radio than I do now, I couldn't wait to get out of the Lexington area so I could listen to something besides WKQQ-FM. If I went north, I switched to WEBN in Cincinnati as fast as I could get a signal. If I went west, there was a station in Louisville that I liked a lot. I think it was WQMF.

Eastern Kentucky is a radio wasteland.

In the early '90s, eastern Kentucky was great compared to what we had. But one interesting thing I noticed when I visited the area back then is that stations that played mostly current pop still played the Cars a lot, even though the Cars hadn't had a hit song in years. This unusual interest in the Cars spread into southwestern Virginia. And these were kind of obscure Cars songs, not really their big hits.

The area actually had some decent music stations on both AM and FM back then.

[abefroman329]

Phoenix currently does.  One dinosaur rock station, one pop station, and a whole fuckload of country and Spanish stations.