As long as we are remembering the past ....

[XTalker]

Anyone lurking here that worked at the old WKIX? What a great station that was! Another Southern Boradcasting property!

I remember visiting one night when Charlie Brown was on the air from the old studios off highway 54 near what is now I-40. Interstate wasn't there, then, and it seemed like it was really out in the country. It was in the mid-60s.

 

[MaskMan]

Gee! You're old!

 

[XTalker]

Oh, come on, MaskedMan! I was a freshman in college!

I am old, but not as old as some who lurk here! :~)

 

[BIG APE]

I was with Southern when one day it was lightening and thundering and all hell was breaking loose in Raleigh. Charlie was on the air and it lightened through the window.. Charlie looked up and said Ha! Ya Missed me.. Well it lightened again and caught the damn control room on fire. Best I can remember it may Charlie a believer!

 

[TheBigWhiteWolf]

Check out http://www.wkixrewound.com/

 

[XTalker]

WKIX was an incredible radio station - with a parade of awesome air talent. They just don't make 'em like that anymore!

 

[mobley]

Yeah, they (KIX) were great!! We've been talking about WTOB on here as well, so how bout a few more! WISE and WKKE in Asheville. WKKE brought a Drake style format to Asheville around '69 or so, they did really good for awhile until Ric Jorgenson bought WISE and turned it into a legend. WISE stayed Top Forty until 84 when Kiss came on. WTMA in Charleston was among my favorties when I was kid growing up. I got to hear them when I went to visit my relatives down in Charleston. Eventhough it's not in NC or SC, we cant leave out WGH in Newport News. Honestly, WGH was probably the closest thing we had to a major market sounding station in the Southeast (IMHO)...Big WAYS was also amazing. In the smaller markets, we had WHSL, WGNI and WKLM all playing Top 40 in Wilmington during the mid 60's, plus WMBL skipping over the "salt path" with their PAMS jingles. WOOW in Greenville was a great training ground for college kids getting into radio, and sounded pretty doggone good as well in the late 60's and 70's. Kinston had WISP, Rocky Mt. had WRMT and even Roanoke Rapids had a Top 40 WSMY (I think)...Cant forget WTGR in Myrtle Beach, and listening to WAPE during the day, all the way from Myrtle Beach to Jax FLA. Wow, those were glorious times! Hey, I'm not that old, I just have an incredible memory....

 

[Zsmith]

Yes a few more... Z 93 in Winston??? WDCG the BIG G 105!!! in Durham really changed the way top 40 was presented! Yep Pat Patterson days i Raleigh on WQDR, and WBT don't forget. H.A. Thompson ring a bell with anyone. He did a stint on WRQK PM drive at one point....
.
Yes those were the days.

You didn't need cofffieee to stay awake.... :

And now you know why I drink so much da daaaaa.....

Oh well back to more Christmas music...... Wish they would add an old hymn into the mix!!!

Z Man

;D ;D ;D ;D

 

[RobynWattsV2.0]

Some more:

WKSI from 1985 to around 1990-91 (afterwards, they've slowly declined until they went Country).

94-Z from 1984 to around 1988. Anyone remember the afternoon they've signed on, G-105 went into full panic mode and started giving away cash out the wazoo on the air ($1,000 per hour I believe).

Radio back then was waaay better due to the simple fact that competition kept everyone on their toes
Robyn

 

[vchimpanzee]

H.A. Thompson ring a bell with anyone.

Me! He was on WBT for many years. I didn't know he worked anywhere else. I wish he had come to Mix 106 when they had local DJs other than in the morning.

 

[vchimpanzee]

In the smaller markets, we had WHSL, WGNI and WKLM all playing Top 40 in Wilmington during the mid 60's

I know WGNI was on 980 but where were these other stations?

 

[vchimpanzee]

You look long enough here, you find things. I didn't know WKLM was 980 before it became WAAV.

I knew WAAV was "beautiful music" until it became 103 WGNI but I can't remember whether that's when it went soft rock.

 

[errandboy]

WGNI was AM 1340 and WAAV was playing beautiful music on 102.7 when they were purchased by Cape Fear in the early 80s. Cape Fear swapped the call letters, put Music of Your Life on the AM and AC on the FM. At the time WAAV with its beautiful music format was the #1 station in Wilmington. The stations were purchased from Leo Brody and studios were located at 211 North 2nd Street in downtown Wilmington. Later, Cape Fear sold 1340, bought 980 WKLM (a daytimer), upgraded it to full time and installed a newstalk format. It was eventually sold to Don Ansell and Cape Fear bought WMNX to pair with WGNI. WGNI's signal was later upgraded with a new tower at the former WWAY-TV site near Boiling Springs Lake and WMNX is also on that tower today.

 

[BIG APE]

Some more:

WKSI from 1985 to around 1990-91 (afterwards, they've slowly declined until they went Country).

94-Z from 1984 to around 1988. Anyone remember the afternoon they've signed on, G-105 went into full panic mode and started giving away cash out the wazoo on the air ($1,000 per hour I believe).

Radio back then was waaay better due to the simple fact that competition kept everyone on their toes
Robyn

:-\ Who was 94 Z ???

 

[vchimpanzee]

Some more:

WKSI from 1985 to around 1990-91 (afterwards, they've slowly declined until they went Country).

94-Z from 1984 to around 1988. Anyone remember the afternoon they've signed on, G-105 went into full panic mode and started giving away cash out the wazoo on the air ($1,000 per hour I believe).

Radio back then was waaay better due to the simple fact that competition kept everyone on their toes
Robyn

:-\ Who was 94 Z ???

I remember 94-Z. My father went to Durham to visit someone in the hospital. They were hot adult contemporary at that time. Why I still remember thisI don't know but they were playing Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love For You".

Later they went top 40, and then rock 40. In 1996 they became soft rock "Sunny 93.9" and we are told that's about to end.

 

[chromiumboy]

Who was 94 Z

94z=WZZU, Burlington. Formerly WBAG-FM, purchased by Village Companies, studios moved to Raleigh, and flipped to a sort of rock format 8/31/84 (same day WRDU signed on), morphed through rock-40, classic rock, and a few other types of rock before Prism sold it and G105 to SFX in 1996 and it became Sunny 93.9.

In the early days, the "morning zoo" was a big deal. Later on, they were the first Raleigh-Durham outlet for John Boy & Billy. Mostly otherwise the station never gained much traction with listeners.
Got it now?

 

[spacetrucker]

WOW you guys are old. But then so am I. Does anybody remember WRNA which became WROQ. I was told when the automation system was removed from the WRNA facility it was done by their engineer and the wires were cut so short that the engineer at WROQ/WAYS had a hell of a time putting it back together. Don't know if it's true or not. Could just be a 3rd beer brag.

 

[spacetrucker]

Oh...and what ever happened to Calvin. Hi................I'm Calvin. Loved to listen to that guy.

 

[Matt]

From what I read, Calvin's pretty bummed on radio. Read here...

http://440int.com/_cwalke.html

And Here...

http://440int.com/namesw.html (scroll down to "Calvin Walker")

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV

 

[berlin201]

Who was 94 Z

94z=WZZU, Burlington. Formerly WBAG-FM, purchased by Village Companies, studios moved to Raleigh, and flipped to a sort of rock format 8/31/84 (same day WRDU signed on), morphed through rock-40, classic rock, and a few other types of rock before Prism sold it and G105 to SFX in 1996 and it became Sunny 93.9.

In the early days, the "morning zoo" was a big deal. Later on, they were the first Raleigh-Durham outlet for John Boy & Billy. Mostly otherwise the station never gained much traction with listeners.
Got it now?

Boy have things changed in the fifteen years I've lived in this area; I also remember 93.9 WZZU. I don't know if John Boy was on 93.9 at the time I first moved here (early 90s), but I do know they've moved around quite a bit in the last 10 years since ZZU became Sunny; from ZZU they moved to WRDU (which was still 106.1 RDU then), eventually found their way onto WTRG "Oldies 100.7" until a couple months before WTRG flipped and became The River; from WTRG they went to 96Rock (they also air in the Triad on 100.3 The Buzzard), then disappeared from Raleigh until they returned to WRDU when it became The Rooster. I also remember when 104.3 was WCAS "Class 104" before they merged with Foxy 107.1. The WZZU calls are now on an oldies station in Lynchburg, Va. Until WCMC came on the scene last year there was only one country station (94.7 QDR) aside from the 101.1/96.9 simulcast (96.9 eventually changed simulcast partners to Star 102.9 and from there went Spanish, while 101.1 eventually became NT); now, with WCMC and The Rooster, we're practically drowning in country stations. And who knows what Sunny will change to after Christmas; I just hope they come up with a better name than Rooster...