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96.1 The River

C

CaliRadioGuy

I found myself reminiscing about the short lived station "96.1 The River" which was only around for a short time in between the "Variety 96" and "Mix 96.1" years. I think this was back in 1996(ish.) I remember when they first launched, they took the B94 night jock, Bender, and made them their morning host. I was in my early teenage years when this station was on the air, but I was wondering, what was the official format of this station? I remember them advertising as being "Hanson" free in their promos and playing a lot of Matchbox 20 which was my favorite band back then, but I forget what their format was. Anyone remember?


Bonus Question: Anyone remember what there call letters were too?
 
CaliRadioGuy said:
I found myself reminiscing about the short lived station "96.1 The River" which was only around for a short time in between the "Variety 96" and "Mix 96.1" years. I think this was back in 1996(ish.) I remember when they first launched, they took the B94 night jock, Bender, and made them their morning host. I was in my early teenage years when this station was on the air, but I was wondering, what was the official format of this station? I remember them advertising as being "Hanson" free in their promos and playing a lot of Matchbox 20 which was my favorite band back then, but I forget what their format was. Anyone remember?


Bonus Question: Anyone remember what there call letters were too?
Click to expand...

It was an adult alternative station that came on the air day before Thanksgiving in 1997. It changed to mix 96.1 in Feb of 1999. I could be wrong, but I think the call lettters were WDRV.
 
The River was a Modern AC station.... I did weekends.... Bender and Jackie did mornings (Now at Kiss in Seattle).... Merlin was the morning show producer. (Last I heard he was producing a morning show in Columbus, Oh.... but that was a while back)..... Chris Shebel was the PD (Now at CC in Raleigh)... Scott Alexander was the APD/MD (Now at WZPT... aka WBZZ).... Shawn Israel did an airshift (I think he's still in Pittsburgh somewhere.).... Erin O'Malley did Nights (Now At Mix in Boston)... Chris Reynolds did overnights (Haven't heard anything about Chris in years.).... Troy Garrett did weekends (Currently out of radio, living in Pittsburgh.).... BJ Forsyth did weekends (Still living in Pittsburgh.... I think he's out of radio.).... TJ Hess was a part of the morning show and web designer for the morning show (He's doing swing for Star 100.7 and doing their mix shows and can be found at clubs around tahn!)..... and I am currently doing afternoons at WSLC, 94.9 Star Country in Roanoke, Va.

Those were some fun times and a great station!

Brian Mo
 
Chris Reynolds and BJ Forsyth are both part-timers at WORD-FM now. (They'll both occasionally fill in for Kenny Woods and John Hall during their weekend music stints.)
 
freddyb590 said:
Chris Reynolds and BJ Forsyth are both part-timers at WORD-FM now. (They'll both occasionally fill in for Kenny Woods and John Hall during their weekend music stints.)
Click to expand...

I was going to say, I recently heard Chris Reynolds do a live break on WPIT during a Robert Morris basketball game.
 
It was a pretty cool station. Though, The River's 'Modern Hits" format: how is the music on a format like that any different from music than shall you say on "Star 100.7" or something?

I remember as a kid listening to Bender on B94. I actually attribute him to my early interest in broadcasting as I found him to be smart alecky, but funny. Glad to hear he is still in the radio business and those who worked there seemed to have good memories of the station. Wasn't that station owned by Chancellor Media at the time?
 
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