Abandoned Conway Radio Station WLAT/WYAV

[RobynWattsV2.0]

Since we're turning this into a WKZQ/WYAV trend, how long did WKZQ remain Top 40 before switching over to AOR?

As for WYAV, I remember them personally as a Hot AC/CHR hybrid (complete with a Saturday morning Beach music show) from 1988 to 1990 when they went full-blown CHR. After Chris Ling left WYAV in 1991, the station adjusted itself back to Hot AC for a time but went back to a Hot AC/CHR mix by Spring, 1992 where it remained untill it flipped to Classic Rock in Fall, 1993.

Robyn

 

[Ssummers]

Since we're turning this into a WKZQ/WYAV trend, how long did WKZQ remain Top 40 before switching over to AOR?

Robyn

All of the discussion regarding WYAV and WKZQ got me thinking, so I called a buddy of mine, John Kilgo, to ask him about the timeline for a few benchmarks. By the time he was hired in the Fall of 1984, KZQ had been "Myrtle Beach's Energy FM" for a year already, and therefore had dispensed with the yellow Rock 102 logo and had transitioned into "Myrtle Beach's Energy FM". He says that despite WYAV's contention that they were an AC station, they positioned themselves musically and promotionally as a Top 40 in the Fall of 1984(I do recall that they dayparted heavily...much like Star 94 in Atlanta does). I remember that WYAV was exercising format discipline before just about anybody in Myrtle Beach at the time. They had a plan, whereas KZQ was playing pretty much whatever they wanted. They had enjoyed wicked high numbers since the 70s, so they had no reason to change...until WYAV kicked their collective ass. That's when KZQ started using a little discipline themselves. By then, though, the days of total radio domination by KZQ were over. In KZQ's defense, I will say that we were a bit hampered by the tendency of a few to live in the past. That said, it was still one of the coolest and hippest stations on the East Coast to work at. Also, Robyn, I asked Kilgo when WKZQ switched back to Rock and he said it was at least a year after he had moved to Charlotte to work at WROQ. Since he moved to Charlotte in 1987, I'm thinking sometime between 1988 and 1992. I can't say with any more specificity that that because I was in Hilton Head putting WHTK on the air in 1988 and I was in the Army from 1989-1992.

 

[Marvelous Merv]

Beasley Broadcasting owned WLAT/WYAV before Pinnacle Broadcasting.

 

[Marvelous Merv]

WKZQ officially went rock on April 24, 1989. Banana Jack Murphy was the morning man 6-10 AM, Mark Jacobs aka Boom-Boom handled middays, Johnny D. did afternoons and Rockin' Rick Hudson did nights and Sir Laurance Richardson handled overnights. Daniel Hoffman and Russ Parsley also worked there at the time. Amy Garrison & Jae Jackson did news and "The Coach" Morgan Patrick handled sports.

The WKZQ/WYAV rivalry was intense. It was a love/hate relationship between the 2 staffs. WKZQ had announcers around the clock until late 1997 when Grand Strand Broadcasting sold the station to Hirsch Broadcasting.

Audio Vault was installed and voice tracking killed personality radio. Next Media came to Myrtle Beach in 2000 and purchased the Pinnacle stations and the Hirsh stations. The feud between WKZQ and Wave ended.

In 2001, Banana Jack left WKZQ to replace Howard Stern at Wave 104. 5 1/2 years later, Next Media replaced Banana Jack with Free Beer & Hot Wings.

On October 3, 2007, Banana Jack purchased his own station, WLSC in Loris, SC.

 

[quadraphonic]

Audio Vault was installed and voice tracking killed personality radio. Next Media came to Myrtle Beach in 2000 and purchased the Pinnacle stations and the Hirsh stations. The feud between WKZQ and Wave ended.

There's no reason for two computer programs to feud, I guess?
Yet. ;D

 

[vchimpanzee]

I hate to disagree with someone who actually worked there, but WYAV was AC until 1986.

No offense taken or meant, but if Wave was AC until 1986, then it didn't play what it reported. It was playing pure Top 40 when I arrived at 'KZQ in February 1985. It was a bee in Hennecy's bonnet that Wave effectively ended the 60 and 70 shares that KZQ had enjoyed from the late 1970's until the early 80's. By 1982 or 83, KZQ was no longer rock, tho it still used the famous Rock 102 logo until 1984(I think) when it went to the Outer Space Lightning Bolt "Energy FM" logo.

They may have called it Top 40 ( I saw at least one source where they did) but when I heard it at Waccamaw Pottery during those years, it sure sounded like AC to me.

 

[vchimpanzee]

If memory serves me correct, 1050-AM in Conway was WJXY-AM when I lived there, I think it has gone through a lot of changes since, including call letter changes. If this was indeed WJXY-AM, I remember it being a little station with studios in downtown Conway with the FM at the time, Bob Chrysler had ownership in it in the late '80's. They were playing Country at the time and their logo was fairly bland, stock letters with a generic graphic of an analog radio dial on a blue background.

Here's what I remember.

WJXY-FM was playing the country music in the early 90s. WJXY-AM was southern gospel. Then one night I was seeing what I could find on AM (that's a joke in Myrtle Beach, of course, at least around all the motels). I heard pop standards. Later while I was there, I tried it during the day. This was good news! By this time, I wasn't too pleased with Joy 92, and I had a better station to listen to now. I saw a Sun News article (not microfilmed or even online--see more below) which said the Arbitron ratings for WJXY-AM were very good. In fact, considering it was AM, it was almost doing better than the FM. So why didn't they put the music on FM, the article asked?

In 1999, Floyd knocked WJXY-AM off the air (this explains why I was stuck with the likes of Joy 92 that year--and they had Delilah! ) and a Sun News article (which no one will ever see again because some idiot decided such articles belonged in the TV Book which isn't microfilmed; fortunately I saw it online before they got rid of that version of the article too) said they (and the paper) heard lots of complaints during the months it took to bring the station back, and the number of complaints, the article said, meant the Arbitron ratings surely did not reflect how well the station was really doing. WSEA (I don't remember what they were doing at the time) and WJXY-FM (by this time rhythmic), the article said, were able to come back from studios shared with Sunny 106.5 near Surfside, but the sound quality wasn't that good. Even when the AM came back it wasn't in stereo. The AM was called WIQB the next time I returned in 2001, and not long after that it was simulcasting Sunny--a good thing for all those classic cars with AM radios. But not for me. At least I had Easy 105.9.

 

[vchimpanzee]

The WKZQ/WYAV rivalry was intense. It was a love/hate relationship between the 2 staffs. WKZQ had announcers around the clock until late 1997 when Grand Strand Broadcasting sold the station to Hirsch Broadcasting.

What's the name of that man whose voice would sound perfect this time of year who used to say, "Rock 101.7, KZQ"?

 

[vchimpanzee]

All of the discussion regarding WYAV and WKZQ got me thinking, so I called a buddy of mine, John Kilgo, to ask him about the timeline for a few benchmarks. By the time he was hired in the Fall of 1984, KZQ had been "Myrtle Beach's Energy FM" for a year already, and therefore had dispensed with the yellow Rock 102 logo and had transitioned into "Myrtle Beach's Energy FM".

I saw in Broadcasting Yearbook that WKZQ had changed to top 40 in or before 1982. I definitely remember hearing it in Myrtle Square in 1983.

I miss the black billboard just beyond Galivant's Ferry that said "Energy 102" and "The Beach's Hot FM" and "Turn It On Now". That was a nice logo they had then.

 

[Ssummers]

The WKZQ/WYAV rivalry was intense. It was a love/hate relationship between the 2 staffs. WKZQ had announcers around the clock until late 1997 when Grand Strand Broadcasting sold the station to Hirsch Broadcasting.

What's the name of that man whose voice would sound perfect this time of year who used to say, "Rock 101.7, KZQ"?

It was former PD Greg Fowler (who helped discover Alabama and may even still work for Alabama's promotional organization) when it was Rock 102. After KZQ went to 101.7, it was another former employee, Henry K or Kaye(who may still work on air in Seattle).

 

[Ssummers]

All of the discussion regarding WYAV and WKZQ got me thinking, so I called a buddy of mine, John Kilgo, to ask him about the timeline for a few benchmarks. By the time he was hired in the Fall of 1984, KZQ had been "Myrtle Beach's Energy FM" for a year already, and therefore had dispensed with the yellow Rock 102 logo and had transitioned into "Myrtle Beach's Energy FM".

I saw in Broadcasting Yearbook that WKZQ had changed to top 40 in or before 1982. I definitely remember hearing it in Myrtle Square in 1983.

I miss the black billboard just beyond Galivant's Ferry that said "Energy 102" and "The Beach's Hot FM" and "Turn It On Now". That was a nice logo they had then.

It was AOR (but all over the road...playing whatever was hot) from the mid 70s until it went straight ahead Top 40 in 1983 and then went Rock in 1989. When I was in junior high and high school in the 70's (and LUSTED after a job there) they were playing disco, rock, AC...even country..after all, as I said above, Greg Fowler helped discover Alabama.

 

[RobynWattsV2.0]

There is a aircheck of WKZQ from 1979 on Reelradio (unfortunately, you have to be a paid subscriber to listen to it).

http://www.reelradio.com/ws/index.html#wkzqcomp79

Here's another question, when did KZQ increased it's wattage (from 3 kW in the 70s to their present 37 kW)?

Robyn

 

[Ssummers]

I think "The Captain" they're talking about is Greg Fowler(I'm checking on it), Casey was KC Quinn(Lance Drake)(one of the best production wizards EVER!!!) and it was John Van Pelt, not Phelps, who also spent plenty of time in Raleigh radio post-KZQ. Also, Shotgun Jeff Stone, one of the best jocks on the planet, has a resume that blows one's mind...he was also 1-Cat Summers 2-Easy Randy Street 3-Cadillac Jack (the original one) and currently he's 4-Human Numan. He was interviewed on 10 Questions this summer on AllAccess.com. An ALLSTAR lineup to be sure, but they didn't list J. Patrick Milan, Freakin' Deacon and Brian Phillips.

Thanks Robyn.

 

[MrTVAMFM]

Oops. I'm just getting around to seeing this thread. Specifically about WKZQ-FM ... Somewhere in the early 1970s, '73 or '74ish, WTGR-FM did indeed play easy listening during the day. At 10 p.m., all top 40 broke loose; wel, it was restained, at any rate. I could hear it at night sometimes on the skip at home in Camden. Al Erwin was doing the all night show at one point and made the mistake of taking a live call one night (presumably without a delay). A well-lubricated young man called and used what polite society would call inappropriate language. Twice. In Camden, it was called cussing. At WACA, where I worked signoffs and Saturdays, I would have been a memory (you just didn't talk like that back then).

I have taped evidence (on 8-track tape, yet, and somewhere in a storage unit at the beach, likely) of the early KZQ-FM with Hennecy in the morning during the time the station was using that "Super Q" jingle package ("If you've got the time, we've got the summer ... Su-per Q").

 

[FeedJake]

Since we're on the subject of old radio stations...does anyone remember the short-lived WKOA, Coast 94.5 in Garden City? This would have been around 1991 or so. I worked there for almost all of it's short life, before being sold, and being changed to WRNN 94.5.

I remember mornings were Bert Thayer and Mark Dorroh on news, Middays were Steve Mims, Afternoons was Bob (Cant remember his last name) Nights was "Bren Evans" aka Temple Lundy, and Overnights was "Gary the Goldman Stevens," a.k.a. Ben Baugh.

Sales Dept. was head up by Ron Wayne....wonder what he's up to now? Last I heard he was selling for Cox Cable??

 

[thatwasradio]

I remember WKOA, we used to joke and call it the "Camp Ground Station", because there is a HUGE landmark KOA campground in Myrtle Beach. WKOA had potential, they were playing music that was missing in the area (Oldies), along with old PAMS jingles re-sung and old 50's and 60's commercials the first few months, although it was audio from TV COMMERCIALS, not radio spots, but the effect was there.
The problem was that we got tired of hearing those TV spots over and over (there must have been only a dozen or less) for several months, and the same few jingles over and over. You can only stand to hear "Chiquita Banana" or the "How About A Nice Hawaiin Punch?" TV spot audio so many times every few hours.
I am sure the station was live at times, but it sounded automated ALL the time, not very personality driven, very generic, but it had promise!
I have an aircheck of WKOA somewhere in storage, but it was completely automated that day, no announcers at all, so the aircheck is all jingles and those TV spots, oh, and I remember now that the liners all had loose tones too, always a few seconds of dead air before and after a pre-recorded liner. But it was good for a short while just for the music.
Kahuna

 

[more kilowatts]

Passing through Conway on my way to Myrtle Beach for the New Year's weekend, I discovered that the old WLAT/WYAV building is in the process of being torn down. The roof has been demolished. Only the walls are still standing. It is indeed sad to see a once very active station reduced to nothing more than rubble. The rusty old towers look awful lonely just standing there, almost eerily appearing to stand tall and strong in a last ditch effort to stave-off being toppled, but knowing the inevitable is coming. Next time I get around to passing through, probably no traces of the old station will be left. It will only be a memory to the folks who ever worked there, well as the many listeners who enjoyed it over the years.

 

[carlosswicegood]

anyone in the area with a camera?

 

[thebroker]

Passing through Conway on my way to Myrtle Beach for the New Year's weekend, I discovered that the old WLAT/WYAV building is in the process of being torn down. The roof has been demolished. Only the walls are still standing. It is indeed sad to see a once very active station reduced to nothing more than rubble. The rusty old towers look awful lonely just standing there, almost eerily appearing to stand tall and strong in a last ditch effort to stave-off being toppled, but knowing the inevitable is coming. Next time I get around to passing through, probably no traces of the old station will be left. It will only be a memory to the folks who ever worked there, well as the many listeners who enjoyed it over the years.

Ironic, I had planned to make a very similar comment, as I noticed the building being torn down when I was down that way during the Christmas holiday. It was a rather sad sight, really. I contemplated taking a picture, but it really was slightly depressing, so I passed.

 

[kenhawk1160]

As long as you all are talking about this, why doesn't someone create a Wikipedia page about this station? I do it all the time to remind folks of the rich history that all of these old radio stations have. Create the article and upload any pics if you have them.