Im lookin for anyone that can give me the history of Hot 104.1 and WNYS.. When did it become a top40 station? Who were some of the DJs that worked for them? Were they in a heated rivalry with Kiss? And did Kiss cuase there downfall? And was Rock 102 doing there pre Majic 102 top 40 lean at the same time, or did they switch from hot ac to a full top 40? Were there 3 top 40s in buffalo at the same time during this period?? I was a listener back then but very very young so its a little foggy to me.. I thank you all ahead of time if you can shine some light on this for me..
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WHTT Hot 104.1 question?
- Thread starter majicrockstar
- Start date
Can't tell you much of anything about WNYS/WHTT , but at one point there were actually 4 Top 40s in Buffalo:
1. WBEN-FM with the fabled "TM Stereo Rock" automation aka "Rock 102"
2. WKBW in the "Great American Music Machine" days
3. WGRQ in their pre-"QFM97" days trying to decide whether to do "Fake Drake" or a "Q" format
4. WYSL-AM- a BIC lighter among the blowtorches above that did a pretty decent job.
We're talking 1973-1974 here...
My favorite of the bunch was GRQ- FM Top 40 without the boredom I found with WBEN-FM....I always thought it was a shame how they continually fiddled with the format. I've always maintained if they'd left it alone, they might had been surprised with what they had......even though history has proven me wrong with the success of the album rock format they flipped to.....
1. WBEN-FM with the fabled "TM Stereo Rock" automation aka "Rock 102"
2. WKBW in the "Great American Music Machine" days
3. WGRQ in their pre-"QFM97" days trying to decide whether to do "Fake Drake" or a "Q" format
4. WYSL-AM- a BIC lighter among the blowtorches above that did a pretty decent job.
We're talking 1973-1974 here...
My favorite of the bunch was GRQ- FM Top 40 without the boredom I found with WBEN-FM....I always thought it was a shame how they continually fiddled with the format. I've always maintained if they'd left it alone, they might had been surprised with what they had......even though history has proven me wrong with the success of the album rock format they flipped to.....
J
JustPastBuffalo
Guest
WNYS became "Constant Music" in the early 80s, guessing '83, when the "CHR surge" hit radio. That was a time when at least one AOR in every major market flipped to CHR, take WPLJ New York, for example. 97 Rock, as is well documented, abandoned AOR for AC in January 1985. Many people may not know that in 1984, WGRQ was one day away from being one of those AOR's that flipped to CHR, as Q-97.
In the mid 80s, Buffalo had four FM CHRs. Rock 102; WPHD which bounced from AOR to anAOR-CHR hybrid consulted by John Gorman of WMMS, Cleveland. There was WRXT, which morphed from Buffalo's Finest Rock" to CHR, first as WRXT the forerunner of Kiss and then WKSE. In the CHR days, WNYS featured the infamous Johnny Ringo, as well as PJ Foxx and Bill Todd, who had one of the best sets of pipes in the business. WPHD became WUFX Clasic Rock when Bob Howard sold the station to Norman Wain of Metroplex; WBEN became Majic 102.5 and in September 1986, WNYS became WHTT Classic Hits 104.1.
In the mid 80s, Buffalo had four FM CHRs. Rock 102; WPHD which bounced from AOR to anAOR-CHR hybrid consulted by John Gorman of WMMS, Cleveland. There was WRXT, which morphed from Buffalo's Finest Rock" to CHR, first as WRXT the forerunner of Kiss and then WKSE. In the CHR days, WNYS featured the infamous Johnny Ringo, as well as PJ Foxx and Bill Todd, who had one of the best sets of pipes in the business. WPHD became WUFX Clasic Rock when Bob Howard sold the station to Norman Wain of Metroplex; WBEN became Majic 102.5 and in September 1986, WNYS became WHTT Classic Hits 104.1.
The early history of 104.1 includes:
WWOL-FM (Simulcast with WWOL (C&W) and ethnic on weekends) ...
became WWOR-FM (C&W) automation, which became ...
WWOR-FM (Oldies) using the old 'Rock 102' automation system, which became ...
WACJ (Oldies), which became ...
WACJ (Adult/MOR ... the "Al Martino" format), which became ...
WNYS ('The Super Station', which fell apart at the national syndication level and never really materialized), which became ...
WHTT (Oldies) ...
and it goes on ad nauseam into 'Hits' and 'Classic Hits' and more 'Oldies' and whatever they have become these days.
Anyone feel free to edit my 'timeline' and provide appropriate dates. I was there for many of these changes but the dates escape me ...
Kal
WWOL-FM (Simulcast with WWOL (C&W) and ethnic on weekends) ...
became WWOR-FM (C&W) automation, which became ...
WWOR-FM (Oldies) using the old 'Rock 102' automation system, which became ...
WACJ (Oldies), which became ...
WACJ (Adult/MOR ... the "Al Martino" format), which became ...
WNYS ('The Super Station', which fell apart at the national syndication level and never really materialized), which became ...
WHTT (Oldies) ...
and it goes on ad nauseam into 'Hits' and 'Classic Hits' and more 'Oldies' and whatever they have become these days.
Anyone feel free to edit my 'timeline' and provide appropriate dates. I was there for many of these changes but the dates escape me ...
Kal
A
adamgre
Guest
I am wondering if anyone has any old tapes from WNYS, WPHD and WRXT as top 40/rock outlets.....if you have, please contact me:
[email protected]
Thanks
[email protected]
Thanks
Majic rockstar
Banned
Wow would love to know if anyone on this site now could add more to this long ago post?
Well. I can tell you that I have the actual midnight format change when 104.1 scratched a Madonna record and went to Oldies or Classic hits. There was a montage of different songs put together when the format changed.
Other interesting facts….I also have the cassette air check tapes when the famous heartbeat of 1077 The Bear came on air. JP was the first person to talk after a day of a heartbeat sound and said “have you heard enough of that? Then the Bear was on….
I had the absolute honor of being the last person on air at Z98, before the change to rock WRXT Buffalo’s Hot FM. While RXT was pretty innovative under a PD named Mike Bushy from New Hampshire, I did overnights for them, until one morning at 6am, when they took RXT CHR. The first song they played? Pointer Sisters, I’m so excited. Then it changed to KISS…..the first song Kiss played? Yep, I have it….Hall and Oates, Kiss on my list.
I also have the cassette recording of 97 Rock to WRLT. First song, Michael Jackson, Rock With You, and the first DJ on RLT was Tom Shoe.
Another good one I have on cassette is WRLT, going back to 97 Rock, back and rockin. That was a fun one as all the 97 rock boss jocks alumni came for that on air, the only new person at the new 97 Rock was Anita West, I believe.
A scary one I have is when WPhD was looping an eerie message of WPHD NO LONGER EXISTS…. I was getting up from bed to do my YRK overnight shift and thought I was dreaming. Then, the switch to WUFX which came with a lot of fanfare in the studio. I also have that on cassette.
I lead a very boring life!!!
Format changes used to be market changing news. Unfortunately now, nobody even notices them. There is zero passion. If I ever did a format change, I would spend a week stunting and every person in Buffalo would know about it.
Oh ya, last song at Q102, went it went to Star? ‘Closing Time”. First song Star every played? Madonna, Lucky Star.
Oh ya, who can forget WFXZ, with The Appleton’s husband and wife morning show, to the station with the best call letters in history, WBUF.
My favorite DJ, modern radio history? Hands down , Donny Walker from KISS. Incredible talent. If I could find him, I would add him to a station is a second.
Other interesting facts….I also have the cassette air check tapes when the famous heartbeat of 1077 The Bear came on air. JP was the first person to talk after a day of a heartbeat sound and said “have you heard enough of that? Then the Bear was on….
I had the absolute honor of being the last person on air at Z98, before the change to rock WRXT Buffalo’s Hot FM. While RXT was pretty innovative under a PD named Mike Bushy from New Hampshire, I did overnights for them, until one morning at 6am, when they took RXT CHR. The first song they played? Pointer Sisters, I’m so excited. Then it changed to KISS…..the first song Kiss played? Yep, I have it….Hall and Oates, Kiss on my list.
I also have the cassette recording of 97 Rock to WRLT. First song, Michael Jackson, Rock With You, and the first DJ on RLT was Tom Shoe.
Another good one I have on cassette is WRLT, going back to 97 Rock, back and rockin. That was a fun one as all the 97 rock boss jocks alumni came for that on air, the only new person at the new 97 Rock was Anita West, I believe.
A scary one I have is when WPhD was looping an eerie message of WPHD NO LONGER EXISTS…. I was getting up from bed to do my YRK overnight shift and thought I was dreaming. Then, the switch to WUFX which came with a lot of fanfare in the studio. I also have that on cassette.
I lead a very boring life!!!
Format changes used to be market changing news. Unfortunately now, nobody even notices them. There is zero passion. If I ever did a format change, I would spend a week stunting and every person in Buffalo would know about it.
Oh ya, last song at Q102, went it went to Star? ‘Closing Time”. First song Star every played? Madonna, Lucky Star.
Oh ya, who can forget WFXZ, with The Appleton’s husband and wife morning show, to the station with the best call letters in history, WBUF.
My favorite DJ, modern radio history? Hands down , Donny Walker from KISS. Incredible talent. If I could find him, I would add him to a station is a second.
Last edited:
What I remember from the night 104.1 changed to Classic Hits was the last song that was played before midnight. It was Springsteen’s “I’m Going Down.” Wish I had run tape on that. I absolutely loved Classic Hits. I still have a tee-shirt from that era. I was at the Tralf for the party celebrating the return of 97 Rock. Best radio party ever! Still have the bumper sticker I got that night stuck to the wall of my garage.
Wow you remember that better than I do - and I was there? In my recollection WRLT (We're Lite!) changed in the middle of a Friday (after the GRQ morning show?) Tom Langmyer brought in the boxes of A/C carts. I think they were jock-free all day and then I came on at midnight.
And a well-known member here can tell us what the last song in the Classic Hits > Oldies transition happened to be
With yours truly and the consultant tapped in from the other room.Boy the phones were nasty that night. Of course I answered 'em!
'HTT's transition to Oldies mirrored a similar move made about a year earlier by WKLX/Rochester. The station was owned by a pair of former 'CMF AEs and was backed by Sconnix whose oldies consultant (Rick Peters) oversaw the change. Bill Tod from WNYS was hired as PD replacing Cary Pall.
Majic rockstar
Banned
Would love to hear all of these. I used to have air checks 98 1/2 RXT with Boom Boom Cannon and Rock 102 when they went full top 40 with live DJs prior to the becoming Majic 102
I could of swore it was you. I do remember it was after the morning show
Correction: WGRQ was changed to AC WGR FM with George Hamberger in morning drive and simulcast from WGR AM. Middays split AM and FM content with WGR remaining full service and WGR-FM playing AC format. It was out to dilute the powerhouse at the time, AC formatted WBUF-FM with Stan Roberts in mornings, Fred Klestine at midday and Jim Majors afternoon. WGRF barely made a dent in WBUF after months of trying. A couple months later, WRLT was launched with Larry Anderson running the show. Many people sarcastically said WRLT meant We Reflect Larry's Taste. David Rich re-launched 97 Rock with the return of the legendary jocks plus newcomer Anita West. There was one other non-legend, Tighe Jensen, who did sports on 97 and later replaced by Marc Stout.
My memory was that Chuck Stevens did afternoons and Jim Majors was on in the evening. Anyone else remember it differently?
I think that is right!
I thought that Chuck Stevens and Jim Majors were on WBUF back in it's (small playlist) AC days in the early 80's.
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