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Format change, 1978: WOKZ-FM to WZEN (now KATZ-FM)

Mark Roberts

Mark Roberts

Over on the Houston board, I had posted earlier this week in a sidebar discussion:

WOKZ was interesting, too. Though I lived in St. Charles County, maybe just 15 miles from Alton, I simply could not pick up the AM. The FM, though, was a class B, and simulcasted the AM during the daytime. As you mention, it was very much a locally-oriented station with a fairly typical adult contemporary format. It also had Associated Press network news, which wasn't all that common. St. Louis' Laclede Radio (KATZ) bought the FM late in 1978 and at 8 pm New Year's Eve 1978 {time and date corrected in this quote} went all-disco as WZEN. I have a tape of that somewhere. Later it became more of an R&B station and is now KATZ-FM, having moved its city of license to Bridgeton, Missouri.
Click to expand...

I found the tape, and here's the moment of the switch. WZEN's first minutes were kind of rough.

WOKZ-FM_WZEN.1978.12.31-2000-Ownership+FormatChange.mp3 (3m25s)

On the tape:
1) The WOKZ news sounder, which was a pretty good news sounder, in my opinion
2) DJ intro into the final song (scoped)
3) DJ cutting off the song early because 8 pm was approaching
4) Farewell message from WOKZ-FM
5) Off the air briefly
6) A minute or more of dead air until the opening announcement of WZEN
 
Mark Roberts said:
Over on the Houston board, I had posted earlier this week in a sidebar discussion:



I found the tape, and here's the moment of the switch. WZEN's first minutes were kind of rough.

WOKZ-FM_WZEN.1978.12.31-2000-Ownership+FormatChange.mp3 (3m25s)

On the tape:
1) The WOKZ news sounder, which was a pretty good news sounder, in my opinion
2) DJ intro into the final song (scoped)
3) DJ cutting off the song early because 8 pm was approaching
4) Farewell message from WOKZ-FM
5) Off the air briefly
6) A minute or more of dead air until the opening announcement of WZEN
Click to expand...
Thank you for posting this. I hadn't heard that news sounder in over 40 years.

I had been tuning the dial that New Years Eve afternoon, and ran across this programming/ownership change by accident. WOKZ AM/FM was a Middle Of The Road format in its purest form. The station was heavy on news and sports, along with music from Perry Como, Vicki Carr, Andy Williams, and Andre Kostelanetz. The on-air personalities called the programming based on the current year ('Music '76/'77/'78'). When I heard more contemporary music played, my ears perked up and learned it was WOKZ's last day on the FM dial.

Our area also had an ice storm that New Years Eve/Day, which cut power to a lot of residents in the area.

WZEN signed on with all disco for the New Years Eve/Day, but started their programming with an Adult Contemporary format, which lasted a few months. The station switched to an all Disco format which lasted a year, shifting to a mix of dance music and top-40. In early 1981 WZEN adopted a Black/R&B format, and then tweaked it later that year to a more album oriented R&B format. This format stayed intact for several years until the station was granted the KATZ-FM call in 1986.
 
spiritof67 said:
Thank you for posting this. I hadn't heard that news sounder in over 40 years.

I had been tuning the dial that New Years Eve afternoon, and ran across this programming/ownership change by accident. WOKZ AM/FM was a Middle Of The Road format in its purest form. The station was heavy on news and sports, along with music from Perry Como, Vicki Carr, Andy Williams, and Andre Kostelanetz. The on-air personalities called the programming based on the current year ('Music '76/'77/'78'). When I heard more contemporary music played, my ears perked up and learned it was WOKZ's last day on the FM dial.

Our area also had an ice storm that New Years Eve/Day, which cut power to a lot of residents in the area.
Click to expand...
That storm just missed us in O'Fallon (Mo.). It knocked many radio and TV stations off the air. That night, I remember that Channel 5 actually was broadcasting from their original downtown tower; the picture was kind of crappy out our way as a result. KSHE was off until about noon on New Year's Day and came back on playing "Alice's Restaurant".

spiritof67 said:
WZEN signed on with all disco for the New Years Eve/Day, but started their programming with an Adult Contemporary format, which lasted a few months. The station switched to an all Disco format which lasted a year, shifting to a mix of dance music and top-40. In early 1981 WZEN adopted a Black/R&B format, and then tweaked it later that year to a more album oriented R&B format. This format stayed intact for several years until the station was granted the KATZ-FM call in 1986.
Click to expand...
I got to met KATZ/WZEN's Rod King, "Dr. Jockenstein", during the brief time that I was doing PR work. The man had one of the most uplifting personalities I had ever encountered. On his shows, he would encourage kids to call in and would let them rap...as long as the rap was about staying in school and getting an education.
 


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