Does anyone know of a quicker format change

[Radio Nashville]

than 97.1 to Oldies 27.5 hours after 96.3 became Jack? 28 hours earlier they had no idea.
P.S. In my notes, 97.1 had an Active Rock format for less than 2 months in '08. Does that sound right?

 

[lanceventa]

than 97.1 to Oldies 27.5 hours after 96.3 became Jack? 28 hours earlier they had no idea.
P.S. In my notes, 97.1 had an Active Rock format for less than 2 months in '08. Does that sound right?

Sure. On December 4, 2017, Audacy flipped former Country 94.1 KMPS to Soft AC at 9:12 am. Hubbard reciprocated by flipping "Rock 98.9" KVRQ to Country at 10:40am.

WRQQ was Rock from March 2008 until May 2009. Not sure you could consider it Active as records show it more Classic leaning Mainstream Rock similar to then sister Rock 100.5 Atlanta, which had launched earlier that year.

 

[Radio Nashville]

Lance, that is QUICK! The reason i remember the Jack/Oldies flips was that i turned on "Oldies" 96.3 about 12:30pm, and the son they were playing didn't fir the format. Then next one did. The one after didn't. Then i heard "Jack" and i knew. I had been listening to Denver's Jack online at work (they never found out). At the time, i was also listening to sports talk, Hot AC & classic rock, so-

#2 I am not an expert on radio, or formats. Never worked in radio. Knew only 3 people personally who did. But i got hooked on the poppiest pop you could imagine fall of '65 (6th grade), then was crushed when that station flipped to country 4/70. (There's more.)

I have these dates for 97.1, and i could be wrong. Most of the info i have is from people who (worked) in local radio from this site & the radioinfo.com & fcc.gov site

WLVU			CCM	K-Love		7/15/12-present	EMF
WRQQ			Classic Hits	Nashville's Classic Hits	Belle Meade	7/16/10-7/14/12	Cumulus
			AAA	Quality Rock		5/15/08-7/16/10
			Active Rock*	RQQ Rock 971		3/21/08-5/15/08
			Classic Hits	97 1 The Tower		9/8/07-3/20/08
				Classic Hits 97.1		9/1/06-9/6/07
		*	Oldies	Oldies 97.1
		*			Goodlettsville	5/13/05 3:30p
						-8/13/06
			Hot AC	Star 97		-5/13/05

 

[Deleted member 108832]

@Radio Nashville Are you only interested in sudden format changes in Nashville, or are you on more of a nationwide search? I ask because you will be hard pressed to find a "quicker format change" anywhere in the country than that of 990 AM in Farmersville, Texas. At the time (2002, maybe?), it launched from its new site with a female oriented talk format named "Cafe 990", complete with accompanying KCAF calls. The format lasted just 3 days. That's right, 3. Owner had such bad financial issues, that the writing was on the wall after day 1. I doubt you will find a less lengthy attempt at an actual format attempt anywhere in the States. It changed to conservative talk on day 4, as "Radio America", and now operates under a brokered model, with time blocks sold to area Spanish language religious broadcasters.

 

[speer360]

@Radio Nashville Are you only interested in sudden format changes in Nashville, or are you on more of a nationwide search? I ask because you will be hard pressed to find a "quicker format change" anywhere in the country than that of 990 AM in Farmersville, Texas. At the time (2002, maybe?), it launched from its new site with a female oriented talk format named "Cafe 990", complete with accompanying KCAF calls. The format lasted just 3 days. That's right, 3. Owner had such bad financial issues, that the writing was on the wall after day 1. I doubt you will find a less lengthy attempt at an actual format attempt anywhere in the States. It changed to conservative talk on day 4, as "Radio America", and now operates under a brokered model, with time blocks sold to area Spanish language religious broadcasters.

2002.

THE CURSED FREQUENCY: 990 AM

%%cf_subhead%%

www.dmagazine.com

"If it wasn’t such a sad story, it would be funny. Cafe 990 did launch on Monday, October 21. But it sank two days later–making it what has to be the shortest-lived format ever in Dallas-Fort Worth radio."

"When the staff learned, just one day into the station’s existence, that the owner had run out of funding two weeks ago, they threatened to quit unless Cafe 990 was sold to a new owner. Renaissance’s CEO, Scott Savage, put together an offer in 24 hours, but Schum called the price “ridiculously low,” and Renaissance’s 30 full-time employees walked."

 

[Radio Nashville]

JUST LOCALLY. THIS WAS THE QUICKEST I HAD EVER HEARD.

 

[Tibbs4]

Technically speaking, the craziest shift in formats/monikers and playlist would have been WKOS (appropriate chaos). The owner at the time literally would go to lunch, hear what people wanted to hear and the music would flip and flop weekly. That went on for years. Eventually it would be sold and become 96Kiss (WZKS), WTMG Magic 96, WRMX in various versions of AC and eventually then Oldies 96.3 before Jack-FM.

Another fast format flip/brand would be 106.3 as The Rooster, various Rock, Urban Oldies, Sports, The Planet, etc. on what is now Hot106. I can’t remember how that Rooster format went from and too or something. Some legal thing, I think.

You are right on WRQQ. It is sad. That signal has literally been cursed and never had a chance. Man the talent, music playlists and monikers.

Bud Walters went through a number of formats on his stations, but they did last at least 90 days max. Maybe.

Hope that all made some sense. Off the top of my “brain.”

 

[Radio Nashville]

Tibbs, you forgot 106.7 (not 106.3 ) was The Beaver for a few days before the Rooster. They got so many complaints, they changed it.
Staying with 106.7*, the weirdest non-format change i know of was one night driving on Ellington Parkway, for some reason i tuned to WAMB-FM (also short-lived), and they were playing some of the loudest music i ever heard. I guessed it was active rock, but i'm no expert. I would have forgotten this, but i called the station and asked if it was permanent, and a very deep-voiced man said "No." This was shortly before The Planet (my favorite station at the time), so '98?
*I believe, i do not have this in my notes

 

[Tibbs4]

The Planet was great. I recall the Beaver launching and then the Rooster showed up quickly. I heard that it was a legal issue with WBVR in Russellvillle that technically was an in-the-same market station. I could be wrong on that being why. Honestly, I wasn't sure which came first...the Beaver or the Rooster, but that story about WBVR would explain the order. WBVR is today's 101.1 The Beat.

Man, you are attentive and remember a lot. That WAMB-FM story was legit. That voice would have probably been Bill Barry, the man behind WAMB-AM and the attempt to put WAMB-FM1 on the air and someone came in and put a translator right on top of it. That didn't last long. It was hard rock and the signal wasn't much outside of the Donelson area. Bill Barry was something. Old school and what a deep, booming voice. He knew what he wanted and was precise. A wonderfully nice gentleman. I will never remember being at a Christmas party and he was holding court and telling stories. Incredible. I didn't want the night to end. A couple of days later, he came over to me and asked me two questions: 1.) why did I stay there listening to an old man tell stories (I was probably 20 at the oldest) when I had a friend who obviously wanted me to leave and go hang out with her, and 2.) why are you wanting to work at a beautiful music station when you could go be a star to people who don't fall asleep at 4:30 every afternoon. He had two very valid points. I took his advice and went out on the date and changed formats, but no careers. I blame him for being the single finest example of stoic excellence in the industry to this day and miss him every day. Oh, and WAMB operated out of a converted apartment on Lebanon Road for years. Simple, old school logical radio. I think that FM translator nightmare did take him to the edge of a heart attack. He didn't take it sitting down. (I also think somehow that that translator did have something to do with the eventual launch of 106.7, but maybe its the power of my own bad memory.) 106 point 7.... Gotta admit, I messed the frequency up. Officially worried.

 

[firepoint525]

than 97.1 to Oldies 27.5 hours after 96.3 became Jack? 28 hours earlier they had no idea.
P.S. In my notes, 97.1 had an Active Rock format for less than 2 months in '08. Does that sound right?

You just triggered a major memory in my mind! During (roughly) that time frame that you mentioned, 97.1 played this. Otherwise, you could only have heard this on Lightning 100 at the time:

 

[firepoint525]

WRQQ was Rock from March 2008 until May 2009. Not sure you could consider it Active as records show it more Classic leaning Mainstream Rock similar to then sister Rock 100.5 Atlanta, which had launched earlier that year.

They played the above-mentioned "Rock & Roll" during that time frame. But I believe that they were (as you mentioned) also mixing in more classic tunes at the time. But they were trying to mix in then-current songs as well.

 

[firepoint525]

Lance, that is QUICK! The reason i remember the Jack/Oldies flips was that i turned on "Oldies" 96.3 about 12:30pm, and the son they were playing didn't fir the format. Then next one did. The one after didn't. Then i heard "Jack" and i knew. I had been listening to Denver's Jack online at work (they never found out). At the time, i was also listening to sports talk, Hot AC & classic rock, so-

#2 I am not an expert on radio, or formats. Never worked in radio. Knew only 3 people personally who did. But i got hooked on the poppiest pop you could imagine fall of '65 (6th grade), then was crushed when that station flipped to country 4/70. (There's more.)

I have these dates for 97.1, and i could be wrong. Most of the info i have is from people who (worked) in local radio from this site & the radioinfo.com & fcc.gov site

WLVU			CCM	K-Love		7/15/12-present	EMF
WRQQ			Classic Hits	Nashville's Classic Hits	Belle Meade	7/16/10-7/14/12	Cumulus
			AAA	Quality Rock		5/15/08-7/16/10
			Active Rock*	RQQ Rock 971		3/21/08-5/15/08
			Classic Hits	97 1 The Tower		9/8/07-3/20/08
				Classic Hits 97.1		9/1/06-9/6/07
		*	Oldies	Oldies 97.1
		*			Goodlettsville	5/13/05 3:30p
						-8/13/06
			Hot AC	Star 97		-5/13/05

I absolutely HATED the name "The Tower." I believe that that was in conjunction with the then-proposed Signature Tower to be built in Nashville, which would have dwarfed even the "bATTman building"! But that development was scaled back, then scrapped all together. Worse yet, they called it the "new" Tower at the time, and everyone who knows me knows that I can't stand stations that INDEFINITELY refer to themselves as "new" when they are only fooling themselves. That name change, as shown here, didn't even include a format change. Also annoying was the CONSTANT references to the "RQQ" call letters. Those calls were so damaged here in Nashville that they HAD to be shipped elsewhere!