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98Rock 20 Years! Happy B Day

S

scottsvb5

1 of the best stations in the country started 20 years ago playing what the people wanted to hear and to target and kill off the competition in 95YNF. 98Rock decided to be a Pure Rock station playing New Rock 1st and expose 1 hit wonders and play the best of the classic rock. Greg Mull and his bosses did a great job. You would hear soo many new released music from Hair Bands to Metal bands and was 1 of the first radio stations outside the Pacific Northwest to push the seattle scene...(although other rock stations nationwide say the same thing). The whole history list of 98rock can be found on its home page.

Of course 98rock has lost its way by changing ownership to Clearchannel and having a playlist given to them.After peaks and valleys.. 98rock brought in DoubleDown and took 98Rock to the grave! Stuck in 1998.. playing the same bands and songs over and over and over again. Waiting on New Music 2 months after its released to become "Recognizable".. not having the listener get involved in the station. 98Rocks ratings sank to near bottom in every category outside of Men 18-34 that lived in Zepherhills (pretty much). Sticking to more of a Modern Rock playlist even though its a "Active Rock" station.... and staying away from New Hard Rock/Metal is what keeps people listening to WHTP (102.5) and talk radio for the 26-44 crowd.

Happy B Day 98Rock... but learn what made this station great in 1990 and if you go back to what you started.. you will return!
 
As I recall, WQXM, which was the original calls for 98rock came on the air in the mid 70's, if I had to guess I would say 1976...believe a radio legend, Lee
Abrahams was programming the aor format. That would make 98rock at least 32 years old. As far as format, new rock was not a term used in those days.98 rock was in direct competition with WQSR, and unlike QSR, was programmed from a playlist, while 102 1/2 was very free form, jocks could pretty much play
what they wanted. Before 98rock, WQXM was a very beautiful music station in a market loaded with Beautiful music at that time. WFSO was more a competitor
with 98 rock and WQSR than 95 YNF. Of course, Q 105 was a biggie back then.
 
Indeed, 98 Rock has been around much more than 20 years.

There was, of course, that period back in the early 1980s -- roughly 1983-85 -- in which it tried a Top 40/pop format (Z-98) to take on Q-105, but it was "98 Rock" before and after that experiment.
 
Didn't they kick off that reincarnation of 98 Rock by playing Stairway to Heaven for days on end? If memory serves, they then became the all Led Zep station. Then followed with promos adding various other artists and building the station. Great marketing at the time.
 
If any of you went to the site and noticed what I had put together it is the ENTIRE history of 98rock. However, most people don't remember anything prior to the "Pure Rock" and the old numbers state that. The station has not been a Rock station since the enception in the 70's so that's why we celebrate the 20 years we have.
You can hear the actual launch from the 24hrs of Zeppelin to the actual sign on here along with phtos and more. I'll be adding items daily to weekly: http://www.98rock.com/pages/history.html

Now back to your..."they'll be switching any day now.."
See ya in another 20... ;D

rig
 
We understand you cant say anything bad about your workplace Big Rig. This station has gone to crap over the years (thanks Doubledown).

No Metal "Ok you play Disturbed and Metallica" who doesnt?
No "New Rock" 98 waits 2 months for songs to become recognizable
No Listener appreciation.. aka 4gasm back in early 90s was great!
No Bays 9 most wanted or JRR does 11pm "New Rock" for 1 hr.
No Lunch all Request or was Perfect Hair late 90s.. Which should of been done for morning drive 6am-9am
Plays same songs/bands from the 90s over and over again and again.. sounds like 102.5

I could really go on but I know you dont want to read it.

98 needs to go back to its roots. Play New Rock 1st like they did in 1990-mid 90s. Mix up
more classic Metal instead of the same old same old. And get the listener involved with the
station.

UnFortunatley 98Rock wont go away cause 102.5 sucks and so does 97X.. the
listener just doesnt matter.
 
As suggested above, 98 Rock and WQSR were two very different stations, although appealing to the same target group. WQSR played a very eclectic mix of music that included rock, folk, country etc., pretty much any string-based music that appealed to young people. When 98 Rock came in, they programmed hard rock, and pulled the rug out from under the eclectic mix that WQSR was offering.

I enjoyed both stations and frequently switched back and forth. But the writing was on the wall, and the young people were moving away from the transitional music that WQSR offered and toward the heavy, hard sound of 98 Rock. I think it was illegal to drive a car that didn't have a 98 Rock bumper sticker on it.

Was one better than the other? No, the times changed and when they did, public tastes changed. Since then, that has been the challenge that 98 Rock has faced over these succeeding years, and they've done a good job of staying in the ring. Whatever their shortcomings, however battered and blue, they keep hanging in there.




Both stations were heavy weights in their day.
 
98 Rock's current issues IMHO:

1: They often sound dated. If your focus is (supposedly) "Current Rock", save the spandex-clad big-hair acts from a quarter century ago for a specialty show. Might as well still be sporting a sleeveless T and parachute pants.

2: Lack of mission. What is 98 Rock? What do they offer that others in the market don't?

3. Lack of personality. (self-explanatory).

4. Stale, tight playlist (esp. recurrents). Even the "new adds" sometimes have whiskers on 'em by the time they reach WXTB.

Given the shrinking New Rock audience (who are already better served by 97X), IMHO either a shift to 70's-90's Classic Rock, or a wide playlisted music intensive "Everything That Rocks" format (encompassing Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Alternative and Modern Rock..see WAAF Boston) would best serve WXTB at this point (if CC is determined to continue within the rock genre).

Use 98Rock's heritage as Q105 has used theirs. Loosen up the playlist (The Bone/Eagle's weak spot), and the old 98Rock faithful may come back.

More likely WXTB will suffer the sad fate of other once mighty big-market Active rockers like Boston's WBCN and New York's K-Rock (now languishing as automated streams on HD subchannels, replaced by Sports Talk and CHR respectively). CHR would be highly unlikely. Talk on the other hand.....(see 97.9 HD2 for a preview).
 
Its called out of touch Music Directors and their bosses. They play recognizable music .. so its safe! But thats the problem.. people are tired of recognizable tunes. Kids want New Rock... Older Peeps want Classic Rock that were hits that is not currently played to death. What do you get? New Rock with the recognizable tunes but not overplayed. It dont matter if its Metal, Hairbands or 90s grunge. Play what were hits in the past..but not thats played 24/7 every few hours... and play more New "Active" Rock....which thats what 98Rock is suppose to be.

rock945.com does very well in its mid-market along with alot of other mid-market stations.
 
XTB achieved some amazing things in it's history. We went up against YNF which was the biggest and most respected rock station in the country.
We weren't supposed to win. We were a bunch of snot nosed kids playing in the big boy playground.
What a great time to be in radio! Seabass, Ted, Ledge, Austin, Kelli and Rig. Solid air staff that lived the lifestyle and connected with the listeners.
From The Volley Club, Rock-it Club and ML Chasers. To the first Livestock.....to the last Livestock. XTB has one hell of a history and I'm very proud to have been a part of it.
 
Rock radio in the 70's trusted the jock to program AND connect with the listener. Then, Consultants decided the musical fate of the transmitters in the 80's. In the 90's corporations bought stations, like I load up on donut selections at Dunkin Doughnuts on a Sunday morning. And now those same corporations teeter on bankruptcy and have sucked 90% of that connection from their crippled stations. Air personalities didn't kill radio...

The yes men did...middle management carrying out the commands of the blind.

But during the first 5 or so years that XTB ...connected with the Bay Area, Radio for me, was special. That 5th floor building at feather Sound was a family. Dysfunctional ass all hell, but family non the less...Great TIMES!
 
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