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Which radio stations did cool people listen to in your day?

Started by bandit957, December 25, 2018, 03:11:00 PM

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kurumi

KITS 105.3 ("Live 105") in SF was fantastic circa 1990. Alternative rock right before grunge, ska, and 3-chord punk lite -- meaning Depeche Mode, NiN, a lot of Manchester bands, Pixies, New Order, Violent Femmes, etc. Basically a college station with professional DJs, and very much a local station. Morning show (Alex Bennett, Lori Thompson) was not syndicated.

A few years later, alternative rock took off (Nirvana, Green Day etc.) and Live 105's playlists adapted (and seemed to shrink). They got acquired, added the Howard Stern show; by the late 90s I had stopped listening. Every once in a while I'd stumble across Live 105 and they sounded a lot like Mix 106.

I do remember an April Fool (or Pride weekend) gag (around 1999?) where they claimed they had changed format and call letters to K-GAY -- and the music changed to all clubby britpop dance, with a lot of (now-retro) alternative rock mixed in. It sounded better than their current playlist.
My first SF/horror short story collection is available: "Young Man, Open Your Winter Eye"


inkyatari

Quote from: bandit957 on January 07, 2019, 11:39:12 AM
Occasionally, I'd come across a Billboard magazine and look at the articles on radio. Back then, Billboard printed the music surveys compiled by a few major top 40 stations. I remember in 1987, WLS still had a survey of current music and apparently still reported to Billboard as a top 40 station. But I don't think WLS was top 40 for much longer.

In fact, WLS might not have been real top 40 in 1987. I seem to recall that the music on the survey overlapped top 40 and AC.

At that time, WLS was doing top 40 and some AC.  I remember they'd play something off of Genesis' Invisible touch, followed by Badfinger's "Day After Day"
I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

Rushmeister

...and then the psychiatrist chuckled.

bandit957

I very, very, very rarely heard 97-X. Once in a while it would slip in, but most of the time it was jammed by WAXZ.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

abefroman329

Quote from: Rushmeister on January 07, 2019, 01:51:40 PM
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.

Rushmeister

Quote from: abefroman329 on January 07, 2019, 02:02:12 PM
Quote from: Rushmeister on January 07, 2019, 01:51:40 PM
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
Good. Someone got it.  (Charlie Babbitt made a joke.)
...and then the psychiatrist chuckled.

abefroman329

Quote from: kurumi on January 07, 2019, 11:47:35 AMI do remember an April Fool (or Pride weekend) gag (around 1999?) where they claimed they had changed format and call letters to K-GAY -- and the music changed to all clubby britpop dance, with a lot of (now-retro) alternative rock mixed in. It sounded better than their current playlist.
99X in Atlanta did something similar in the mid-90s, where their morning-drive hosts swapped with Sean Hannity, who was either only on the radio in Atlanta or nationally syndicated from there (I don't really give a shit either way), ostensibly because of format changes at their respective stations.

abefroman329

Quote from: Rushmeister on January 07, 2019, 02:05:18 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on January 07, 2019, 02:02:12 PM
Quote from: Rushmeister on January 07, 2019, 01:51:40 PM
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
97X - BAM! The future of rock-n-roll.
Good. Someone got it.  (Charlie Babbitt made a joke.)
Uh-oh!

roadman65

In my days in High School it was WPLJ.  Of course back then WPLJ had a Rock format instead of what it is now. Most everyone in my town listened to Led Zeppelin, The Who, Tom Petty, Springsteen, Black Sabbath, etc. and that was the place for us.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Henry

Quote from: inkyatari on January 07, 2019, 12:04:53 PM
Quote from: bandit957 on January 07, 2019, 11:39:12 AM
Occasionally, I'd come across a Billboard magazine and look at the articles on radio. Back then, Billboard printed the music surveys compiled by a few major top 40 stations. I remember in 1987, WLS still had a survey of current music and apparently still reported to Billboard as a top 40 station. But I don't think WLS was top 40 for much longer.

In fact, WLS might not have been real top 40 in 1987. I seem to recall that the music on the survey overlapped top 40 and AC.

At that time, WLS was doing top 40 and some AC.  I remember they'd play something off of Genesis' Invisible touch, followed by Badfinger's "Day After Day"
I'd like to retract my earlier comment about the flip occurring before my senior year in high school. I graduated in 1988, and the actual format change occurred in the summer of 1989 (with the closing song being Just You 'n' Me by Chicago), while I was preparing for my sophomore year at UCLA, so I was two years early on my original comment.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

jon daly

Quote from: jp the roadgeek on December 26, 2018, 12:15:31 AM
Growing up in CT in the 1980's, the cool kids listened to a few stations.  The kids who liked Top 40 type music listened to WKSS (KISS 95.7), while those who liked rock either listened to WHCN (105.9), or WCCC (106.9).  WKSS switched from the Beautiful Music format to Pop around 1984, and remains the same format to this day.  I actually went to school with the former owner of WKSS's daughter, and I still keep in touch with her (ironically, both our musical tastes are the polar opposite of what the station plays).  WHCN was sooooo much better in the 80's with the AOR format; you wouldn't hear the same 100 songs on continuous loop like you do today with the corporatization of terrestrial radio.  WKSS and WHCN are now both iHeart stations, and WHCN was emasculated in 2002 when it went from hard edge classic rock to a soft contemporary format (The River).  WCCC, the original home of Howard Stern's morning show, remained a great rock station until a little over 3 years ago when it flipped to Christian music.  Howard even made a cameo on the old format's last day.  WTIC-FM was somewhat popular, while those on the fringes of the area tended to listen to WPLR or KC-101 in New Haven.

I miss the AOR format. I would switch between WHCN, WPLR, and WAQY out of Springfield. I was class of '86, so I remember WHCN mixing in some Pet Shop Boys and Duran Duran with The Doors and Jethro Tull. At some point around 1990, Classic Rock came around (I was stationed at Ft. Campbell, KY then) and the playlists became tighter. But that's mainstream.

There was a station out of Northhampton, MA (WRNX) that had an adult alternative format before it switched over to bro-country. That one was about the coolest non-college station I ever found.  In the college division, I dug WWUH's mix of jazz, folk, and classical.

jon daly

Quote from: KEVIN_224 on December 26, 2018, 12:36:56 AM


Today's WMRQ-FM 104.1 of Waterbury, a.k.a "Radio 104.1" is OK...but the first go around as a modern rock station from 1994 to 2002 was a lot better. They were owned by Clear Channel, then sold off. Today, their current owner also operates WDRC-FM 102.9 and the low-power chain of Kool Oldies stations, such as WNTY-AM 990 Southington and low-power 96.1 of Meriden.

WMRQ was probably the second coolest commercial station I listened to; especially when it first came on without DJs. I still remember Soul Coughing's "Screenwriter Blues" being in heavy rotation.

bandit957

The leading AOR in Cincinnati was WEBN. But in the late '80s, it sounded like a decrepit old dinosaur. They played all these songs that were really old and really boring. I don't know if they even played any new wave at all by then.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

kphoger

I was born in Joliet in 1981 and lived in the outer suburbs of Chicago from then until 1990.  During the mid- to late-1980s, the cool radio station was Q101.
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inkyatari

Quote from: kphoger on January 11, 2019, 09:14:08 PM
I was born in Joliet in 1981 and lived in the outer suburbs of Chicago from then until 1990.  During the mid- to late-1980s, the cool radio station was Q101.

Damn. I was in Jr. high then.
I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

amroad17

In the Hampton Roads area in the early 1980's, it was FM 99--WNOR.  The station played the current rock hits at the time and had the best DJ's in the area: Reeger and the Bull mornings, Mike Arlo and the Electric Lunch middays, Les Wooten afternoons, and Carol Taylor (and her own offbeat records she brought from home) evenings.
I don't need a GPS.  I AM the GPS! (for family and friends)

kevinb1994

I wasn't much into radio until I hit puberty, when I got an earful of rock. Q 104.3, 94.5/97.5 The Hawk (RIP), 102.9 WMGK, 93.3 WMMR, 104.5 Philadelphia, 101.9 WRXP (RIP), 92.3 K-Rock (RIP), 99.9 The Hawk (not sure if they flipped away from that), 105.7 The Hawk (not sure if they flipped away from that), etc. I also got some soft rock and r&b/disco in addition to talk radio and smooth jazz in the form of 98.3 WMGQ, NJ 101.5, 102.7 which used to be r&b/disco and has been soft rock for some several years now (used to be rock back when my parents were younger) and Smooth Jazz CD 101.9 plus WJJZ (RIP). Of course got a whiff of top 40 and classic hits in the form of 101.1 WCBS and 98.1 WOGL in addition to WPST and one other station I forget the callsign of that's top 40.

jon daly

Jp: Picozzi is still around? Gary Lee Horn now does traffic reports in the New London area.

Brian556


jp the roadgeek

Quote from: jon daly on January 12, 2019, 10:30:04 AM
Jp: Picozzi is still around? Gary Lee Horn now does traffic reports in the New London area.

Yeah.  Picozzi does mornings on DRC.  I was wondering what happened to The Horn.  I heard him do some freelance once on WTIC 1080 under the name "Gary Morris".  The voice was unmistakably that of The Horn. 

http://www.1029thewhale.com/picozzi/
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jon daly

Quote from: jp the roadgeek on January 12, 2019, 11:35:18 AM
Quote from: jon daly on January 12, 2019, 10:30:04 AM
Jp: Picozzi is still around? Gary Lee Horn now does traffic reports in the New London area.

Yeah.  Picozzi does mornings on DRC.  I was wondering what happened to The Horn.  I heard him do some freelance once on WTIC 1080 under the name "Gary Morris".  The voice was unmistakably that of The Horn. 

http://www.1029thewhale.com/picozzi/

He looks healthier now than the last time I saw a pic of him.

I forget if Hartford now has an oldies station after WDRC became The Whale. New London lost Kool FM for a while, but it's back on a different frequency. WKNL is now exclusively 80s, it seems. (I don't like the idea of an oldies format anymore because it is amorphous. Madonna doesn't mix as well with Motown as, say, the Beach Boys or other contemporaneous music.)

bandit957

I've never been to Hawaii, so I didn't get to enjoy a radio station there called Radio Free Hawaii. But I read about it once when I was in high school or college. This station compiled its music selection from ballots filled out by listeners. These ballots also surveyed listeners about what songs they didn't want to hear, and these votes were subtracted from the song's total. The result was a station that played all different types of music, but not all of it was stuff that was played on pop radio at the time.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

renegade

Quote from: bandit957 on January 11, 2019, 08:01:44 PMThe leading AOR in Cincinnati was WEBN. But in the late '80s, it sounded like a decrepit old dinosaur. They played all these songs that were really old and really boring. I don't know if they even played any new wave at all by then.
WEBN was once one of the greatest rock stations of all time.  Now, it's just living proof that "I Heart Radio" does NOT "heart" radio.
Don’t ask me how I know.  Just understand that I do.

Gulol

Depending on your musical tastes in LA in the 70s and 80s, it was KROQ (106.7) for modern/alternative rock, KLOS (95.5) for hard rock/classic rock and underground rock was KMET (94.7) ... the mighty Met with the catchy jingle "little bit of heaven, 94.7 KMET ... tweedle dee!".

Flint1979

WJR for me. 50,000 watt station out of Detroit that when I was growing up had the best local talent anywhere to be found from J.P. McCarthy, Jimmy Launce, Kevin Joyce, Warren Pierce, Mike Whorf, Jay Roberts, Jimmy Barrett, Dan Streeter, Gene Fogel, Dick Hafner, John McMurray it was basically an endless list of a great radio station. For some reason I wanted to hear J.P. McCarthy's voice tonight and went and searched for some clips of his show. J.P. died in 1995 and the station really lost it's luster after his passing, Jimmy Launce left around 1996 and Jimmy Barrett hosted J.P.'s show for about a year until Paul W. Smith took over the morning slot. Paul W. isn't a bad radio host but he's no J.P., nobody is.

I went and looked for a clipping of the J.P. McCarthy show and found the entire show one morning in April 1994 that was actually televised on CSpan that day. Listen from about 18:30 for about five minutes to get the picture of what an opening of J.P.'s show was like.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?55849-1/jp-mccarthy-radio-talk-show



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