• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Anyone have pictures of the old 104.7 WKFM studio at 1022 Willis Ave ?

E

ELL383

Anyone have pictures of the old 104.7 WKFM studio at 1022 Willis Ave. The building is an old fire house and I was wondering what the layout inside looked like because its not very big and to top it off 1390 WDCW was there too.
Thanks
 
Can't help you there; all I have is their TM jingle package somewhere on a cassette. Remember the Top Hour? "K-F-M, Syracuse."
 
Sorry I don't have any either..I could draw you a picture haha, it was a strange layout. I still remember seeing "the Fat Man" sleeping on the couch as I walked in...hahaha. I know that a whole box of pictures were thrown out after Buckley took over the MOYL format. I also heard, not sure if its true that there where more pictures that did get sent over to Baldwinsville somehow...but that those were thrown out by the present owner of SEN. Sad...can't believe how many owners have no respect for history. Would love to see em if you find em. Good luck.
 
HoboDJ If you want to draw a picture ;D !! Was the studio on the 2nd floor and was it in the front or back ? and do you know how many work there before 1390 WDCW moved in?
 
As quick as I can, please be patient...in 1992..the station actually was composed of three floors! As you walked into the station, it was one open room, reception desk straight ahead(high counter type), to the right of the desk big window looking into production and under the window against the wall, a couch the "fatty" use to sleep on! To the left a really small room..with the automation system that MOYL used..Carousels! Best part of this behind the reception desk area was a square room all in brick...where the fire pole USE to be! Immediately to the right as you walk in door..a hallway....a LONG hallway...going down the hallway..first door on left,,,production...next door on left...KIX 104.7 FM studios!!! lots of Kix condoms on the floor (kidding!)...then at end of the hallway was the WFBL studio....how do I explain that!? haha..it was like another long hallway (or better yet closet!). If the DJ was at the board you had to have him/her stand up to get behind them to move to the guest mic!!. Back to reception area...there were two sets of stairs the stairs going up went to Sales staff area, jsut big open room with cubicles, an office for the Sales manager and of course the infamous Jay Sterin office!!! ..If you took the down staircase that was where DJ's, morning show producers(darren?), promotional folks, had desks plus PD's office (Brian Iles) was there too. Pretty cool place but when folks were not getting along (as it happens in radio) there was very little room to hide in..hahahahaha!
Hope that helps a little...that's best I remember...I know I have left some things out..."getting old"
 
Sorry as far as numbers of employees.... on-air KixFM about 12 maybe? Not sure about how many weekenders they had.
WFBL MOYL...thats easy - 1! haha.. not actually they had 2 weekenders I think. so 3 mayber
Sales staff about 4-6?
Office staff - 3 (I think)
Sales Manager and General Manager.

Best I recall.....about 25-27 I guess incl part-timers...thereabouts.
 
Sorry..one more thing. I TOLD YOU I WAS OLD! ;) WDCW was never there when KIX FM was there. What happened was...KIXFM the frequency 104.7 etc was sold to CC, it turned into B104 Country (good thing cuz it was about to become Eagle 104..and would have been the first country station and obviously number one right now...that's why CC bought...can't beat the competition..buy em out!)..anyway...After that sale...WFBL Music Of Your Life 1390..stayed there until August of 93 (thereabouts)..no one else in the building. That's when 1390 was sold and became WDCW 1390...and MOYL format and call letters(WFBL) went over to Buckley Broadcasting in B'Ville and was placed on 1050AM.

Ok now take out your number two pencil....we are having a pop quiz! :eek:
 
So Eagle 104 would have competed with Country 108 (107.9 WHEN) because CC bought WHEN they flipped it to Top 40 so not to compete with B104. So the Syracuse radio landscape could have been very different. HoboDJ You must have been high up in the ranks there because I don't think the jocks knew about or they where very good at keeping it to them self's. When was Eagle 104 going to start? Did they have Imaging for the Eagle 104 format? I know CC wanted to keep the Kix name and slowly change to country and become kix country but a bunch of other stations switched to country so kix switched and became B104 so I have been told. And thanks HoboDJ for keeping radio history alive
 
In the room the fire pole was is that part of the little brick tower in the back? and if i understand the WFBL studio would have been where the fire truck door was?
 
HoboDJ said:
Sorry..one more thing. I TOLD YOU I WAS OLD! ;) WDCW was never there when KIX FM was there. What happened was...KIXFM the frequency 104.7 etc was sold to CC, it turned into B104 Country (good thing cuz it was about to become Eagle 104..and would have been the first country station and obviously number one right now...that's why CC bought...can't beat the competition..buy em out!)
Click to expand...

This is correct. I believe I even saw an Eagle logo after the fact. I think the proposed calls were WEQL or WEGL can't remember.
 
I wasn't high up at all, just heard things and (here's a novel idea most radio people can't do nowdays) I KEPT MY MOUTH SHUT! Never saw any logos that I recall, maybe I did, but I did hear a rumor that the GM was driving around Syracuse with the music library and imaging in the trunk of his car! ;D
I guess CC thought it would be easier to compete against 1 country station not to have to go against 2. Some of the jocks from KIX I believe ended up at WHEN..after the sale..only to be out of job again when CC bought WHEN. I think Lois Burns was one of 'em, but I could be wrong..she was a great person, had to be to put up with Fatty!! haha kidding! It was a crazy time.
 
Sorry I guess I bored you...(I'm known for doing that..haha). One other thing..Im not sure about door locations when it was Fire Station, but I know it was a Pizza Parlor before it was a radio station. At least I was told that.
 
HoboDJ said:
Sorry I guess I bored you...(I'm known for doing that..haha).
Click to expand...
No I love radio history if you have any bits of info from 104.7 KIX-FM or any other Syracuse station please post!
 
"The Firehouse" was a fun little place back in the mid 80's. It was the Hitradio KFM era and then the early KixFM days. Most of that time was pre-WFBL 1390 and it was FM-only. Most of us were young, and were friends, and had an endless supply of station events that we could either work, or just attend free and "hang out" with the KFM crowd.

When you walked in, the whole front room was like our living room. It had a couch and couple of chairs. The tiny rooms off the left were the admin office and PD's office. The little "tower" on the building was an empty space about the size of an elevator shaft, where the firemen used to hang hoses to dry. It was unused space. Upstairs was the sales department, GM's office, and a conference room. Downstairs there was some audio processing equipment and the locked storage room, known on-air as the "prize vault"; this also served as the engineering shop.

Off to the right were the three studios down a hallway. The first was production. The second was the air studio, and the last one used to be news, back when Lois Burns did news on the morning show. In the back of it was the AP teletype machine. That studio became WFBL, and morning show news was done from either air or production (I don't recall).

It was functional and well-kept, neither a palace nor a dump. It was middle-class radio facility that felt like home.

I, too, wish for pictures of it.

...Sam Brown
 
Thanks Sam
Sounds like it was a great place to work! Where the studios big or small and did they have windows? As log as I can remember the main floor front windows were covered. Also across from the studios was there anything?
 
ELL383 said:
Thanks Sam
Sounds like it was a great place to work! Where the studios big or small and did they have windows? As log as I can remember the main floor front windows were covered. Also across from the studios was there anything?
Click to expand...


Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I felt it necessary to post. 1022 Willis Ave actually has a sister building - 123 Harold St over on the Northside. I live at the 123 Harold St building and was attempting to find more information on the building on Willis Ave when I stumbled upon this thread.

I was given notice of the existence of the sister building on Willis this past winter while trying to garner more information on my own building online. The former Deputy Fire Chief contacted me, giving me a complete history on my own building and telling me about this identical building on Willis. I haven't had the opportunity to go check it out in person yet, but definitely will in the near future.

Does anyone know who owns the building now or what it's used for? From what I understand, both buildings were built to the exact same specifications. I hope someone finds this as interesting as I did!
 
hackabuse said:
Sorry to revive such an old thread, but I felt it necessary to post. 1022 Willis Ave actually has a sister building - 123 Harold St over on the Northside. I live at the 123 Harold St building and was attempting to find more information on the building on Willis Ave when I stumbled upon this thread.

I was given notice of the existence of the sister building on Willis this past winter while trying to garner more information on my own building online. The former Deputy Fire Chief contacted me, giving me a complete history on my own building and telling me about this identical building on Willis. I haven't had the opportunity to go check it out in person yet, but definitely will in the near future.

Does anyone know who owns the building now or what it's used for? From what I understand, both buildings were built to the exact same specifications. I hope someone finds this as interesting as I did!
Click to expand...

I don't know who owns it now but I do recall seeing a post somewhere about some one restoring the building back to what it was an old fire hall. But if you find anything out about 1022 Willis Ave please let us know
Thanks
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom