Best of the Rap, Best of the Rock, Best of the Hip-Hop

[djtommyr]

Sorry to break from the bashing of Briggs W. Kyle Stevens Bickley Sr., Scott Walker, and Cat Thomas. Happy New Year!

I just got my hands on an aircheck of WHJX, 101.5 Channel X, from 1994. Did anyone here work there or have memories of that station? I did not listen to it when it was on the air, mainly because I hate rap.

For those unaware, it was, as the subject line alludes to (quoted from a sweeper), urban AND alternative simultaneously.

As I vaguely recall, 101.5 was just urban before becoming Channel X and adding Pearl Jam, Green Day, and the like. Did they have a reason to not flip to alternative exclusively? If they had, I wonder if Planet Radio would have ever debuted the following year.

So what does anyone know about Channel X? How were the ratings? Who had the grapefruits to program something so unique? What's the story?

 

[Radio-X]

> Sorry to break from the bashing of Briggs W. Kyle Stevens
> Bickley Sr., Scott Walker, and Cat Thomas. Happy New Year!
>
> I just got my hands on an aircheck of WHJX, 101.5 Channel X,
> from 1994. Did anyone here work there or have memories of
> that station? I did not listen to it when it was on the
> air, mainly because I hate rap.
>
> For those unaware, it was, as the subject line alludes to
> (quoted from a sweeper), urban AND alternative
> simultaneously.
>
> So what does anyone know about Channel X? How were the
> ratings? Who had the grapefruits to program something so
> unique? What's the story?
>
I had heard of "channel X", and bringing up the station again makes me think...

A radio station in Virginia (WXJK) had a similar format, with similar sweepers, known as "101.3 fm the X". About the same time Channel X signed off, WXJK dropped all the rap and most the modern rock and became a classic rock station, where it remains today.

I wonder if there was any connection between the two?

Radio-X
<P ID="signature">______________
Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and stupidity. -Martin Luther King, Jr.
</P>

 

[CHRles]

>
> So what does anyone know about Channel X?

96.3 WHYT in Detroit also had a Channel X sound, as did Kube 93 Seattle. The stations were inspired by the formatic sound of MTV at the time, which primarily married the Modern Rock and Hip Hop hits. The problem was that advertisers felt these stations targetted too young of an audience. It's a shame b/c the Channel X concept was fresh, and brought on these awesome youth-leaning CHRs. The liners and sweepers were very cool, similar to those aired on Z-100 New York, except that Z-100 (as well as stations like 104 KRBE Houston) was a CHR that was moving away from Hip Hop, and leaning heavily on Modern Rock hits.

 

[RobynWattsV2.0]

If I may add to this topic.

"Channel X" was a concept that was started by Keith Clark (who was programming then-CHR/Rhythmic WJMO in Cleveland. It started out as an nightly experiment in the Summer of 1993 to play both Rap/Hip Hop and Alternative hits side-by-side which was similar to what MTV was doing at the time. Clark left WJMO for then-Urban WHJX where it was tried full-time. Other stations across the country like KUBE/Seattle and WHYT/Detroit had noticed and also tried the format full-time as well.

Unfortunately, it died when ratings failed to meet expectations. WHJX was in the format for about 4 months and they saw their ratings drop significantly and WHJX went back to Urban shortly after.

Robyn

 

[901Rocks]

I remember the short-lived format on WHJX. It was different! I remember the billboards near Jax too, they said "Channel X United we Jam" ;D

 

[jmtillery]

I personally liked the former Channel X format and moniker..

 

[vadar]

I loved it too. I have one of their purple Channel X t-shirts and wear it proudly.