Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of the demise of Kicks 106 (WKXX). For nearly fourteen years Kicks brought Top 40 radio to Birmingham, causing the demise of both WSGN and its own sister station 96-ERC. Its replacement, WBMH (Real Country 106.9) lasted six totally forgettable months and may have been the worst FM radio station in Birmingham history.
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25 years ago yesterday...
- Thread starter Charles35080
- Start date
You don't mention that WERC-FM, prior to changing to WKXX, was Top 40 from mid-1972 with jocks including Stan Smith (J.W. Jason), Rusty Ford, Tony Bruno, and Larry Hayes.
You're right. I guess it's because when I was in junior high I didn't have access to an FM radio, so I spent my time listening to 'SGN and 'ERC-AM...and when I wanted to be nerdy I would listen to WLS or WLAC at night, since both of those stations came in very clearly.
I was listening the morning Real Country 106.9 kicked off. When I heard the new station debut, I thought the station management had lost their minds, lol. I did listen to the station from time to time, however, which is where most of my interest in classic country music began. Still, never understood why they went the classic country route...
'ERC AM was AC in the form known then as "Chicken Rock" but it went as far as playing "Stuck in the Middle with You" and "Dead Skunk (In the Middle of the Road)" and was slow in going on "The Morning After". But mostly it was personality starting with Doug Layton in the morning and ending with Neil Miller in the Evenings. Mid-days was Frank Lewis, and afternoons was Jan Jeffries (yes, the Cumulus guy) who I hired out of WKGN in Mobile on a tip from Bill Tanner.
Top-40 on 106.9 goes back to 1970 or 1971 when it was still Taft-owned WBRC-FM. But by 1972-73, under Mooney, what was then called "Stereo Rock ERC-FM" was a laid back top-40/AOR hybrid .... at least going by what is on the several airchecks I have. One late-night run of tape, with a jock by the name of "Captain Jack", was most decidedly progressive -- right down to the wind chimes in the background and tip-off about a pending pot-party bust.
Part of the time, 106.9 was simulcast with the AM; as a kid I recall the "WERC-AM and FM" legal IDs.
Which brings me to one huge mystery: along about August 1973, with a jock named Dan Enright, the call letters were WERQ. What was up with that, and how long did it last?? It couldn't have been too long, because it was back to WERC-FM by '74 or so.
In any event, what I think Charles meant about his "brought top-40" comment was that Kicks 106 by most all accounts was the first FM hit music station in the market to be on the map; other past attempts (didn't WAPI-FM 94.5 dabble in a full top-40 automated format for a brief while in the early-mid '70s?) were hampered by other factors -- automation, low power (I don't think 106.9 went to a full 100 kW until just prior to the launch of Kicks) and simply being ahead of their time. A station in Montgomery comes to mind: for about 20 minutes or so, 103.3 was doing top-40 as "Z-103" (WMGZ), basically a carbon copy of Atlanta's "Z-93." Despite a good presentation, it didn't last but a couple of years; the problems were they barely made it 25 miles out, plus at the time a lack of FM penetration among its target.
--Russell
Part of the time, 106.9 was simulcast with the AM; as a kid I recall the "WERC-AM and FM" legal IDs.
Which brings me to one huge mystery: along about August 1973, with a jock named Dan Enright, the call letters were WERQ. What was up with that, and how long did it last?? It couldn't have been too long, because it was back to WERC-FM by '74 or so.
In any event, what I think Charles meant about his "brought top-40" comment was that Kicks 106 by most all accounts was the first FM hit music station in the market to be on the map; other past attempts (didn't WAPI-FM 94.5 dabble in a full top-40 automated format for a brief while in the early-mid '70s?) were hampered by other factors -- automation, low power (I don't think 106.9 went to a full 100 kW until just prior to the launch of Kicks) and simply being ahead of their time. A station in Montgomery comes to mind: for about 20 minutes or so, 103.3 was doing top-40 as "Z-103" (WMGZ), basically a carbon copy of Atlanta's "Z-93." Despite a good presentation, it didn't last but a couple of years; the problems were they barely made it 25 miles out, plus at the time a lack of FM penetration among its target.
--Russell
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