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BEST SC STATIONS OF ALL TIME

T

The Maestro

I'm sure there will be a bunch of comments on this ..... Radio sure has gone down the toilet with all these corporate and conglomerate types wrecking everything .....
 
WANS FM: until about 1990... I lived in WNC and would tweak my rotor antenna til I could bring it in just right...

Q107 Charleston

WAVF 96 WAVE Charleston, I still wish it would come back

AND since it hit 5 states plus...
99.9 KISS FM... with Dawn, John, GT, Patrick, and Chuck.
 
in the upstate i have to vote for the stations that do not hide their call letters over time. wroq and wesc come to mind and don't mind saying them and they have been here a long time. wfbc is only in the legal identification and word is just a shell of itself from those call letters heritage from spartanburg.
 
I am not a big country fan but The Great 98FM WCOS, The Big DM 101FM and WNOK were the station's when I was growing up in Columbia,SC.
 
With a $3, Radio Shack, "S" shaped, FM antenna, you could get it in....in Pickens county.
A true AOR...1975...Fox 97, WFOX, Gainesville, GA.
Sam Church, Dave Welchel, and list of others I can't remember.
Real Rock, in Stereo: Heart, Styx, Ted, Head East, The Who, and etc.............
 
Best that hasn't been mentioned yet would have to be WBPR/Myrtle Beach in both the Dance and Mainstream CHR formats. It was a sad day for me when they flipped to Adult CHR as Mix 97.7.

Another station that I though was good (from what little bit I've heard) was WKZQ during the "Energy 102" CHR era.

One more: WMMC/Columbia when they were Rhythmic CHR as "C103".

Robyn
 
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
Another station that I though was good (from what little bit I've heard) was WKZQ during the "Energy 102" CHR era.
Click to expand...
Maybe I just listened at a bad time, or many bad times, but it sounded like Hot AC to me.

Then there was the time in 1983 when someone called WROQ (the one in Charlotte) complaining WKZQ didn't play Def Leppard all weekend. "Photograph" started playing after the DJ said, "They're not much good then, are they?" or something close to that.
 
You never hear it mentioned, but I liked WCSC, when it was on 1390. Late 70s. Good sounding adult top-40. Great signal at night into NC.
 
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
Best that hasn't been mentioned yet would have to be WBPR/Myrtle Beach in both the Dance and Mainstream CHR formats. It was a sad day for me when they flipped to Adult CHR as Mix 97.7.

Another station that I though was good (from what little bit I've heard) was WKZQ during the "Energy 102" CHR era.

Robyn
Click to expand...

Robyn, you must have liked the same CHR sounds that I always have. WKZQ was VERY HOT there for a while when they had JAM jingles and the reverb, oh, and the jocks!!! HOT, HOT, HOT!!!! But I do have to agree with another post that they were leaning hot A/C at times, 'cause I remember hearing stuff like The Supremes, Jimmy Buffet, The Beach Boys, and other similar artists thrown in twice each hour during the early 1980's. But over-all they were right on target for the audience there. They were one of the main influences for us to have reverb on the mic at Power 98 back then. I've used reverb on the mics and JAM jingles at all my stations I've programmed since then, even today.
 
thatwasradio said:
'cause I remember hearing stuff like The Supremes, Jimmy Buffet, The Beach Boys, and other similar artists thrown in twice each hour during the early 1980's.
Click to expand...
I never heard anything like THAT.
 
thatwasradio said:
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
Best that hasn't been mentioned yet would have to be WBPR/Myrtle Beach in both the Dance and Mainstream CHR formats. It was a sad day for me when they flipped to Adult CHR as Mix 97.7.

Another station that I though was good (from what little bit I've heard) was WKZQ during the "Energy 102" CHR era.

Robyn
Click to expand...

Robyn, you must have liked the same CHR sounds that I always have. WKZQ was VERY HOT there for a while when they had JAM jingles and the reverb, oh, and the jocks!!! HOT, HOT, HOT!!!! But I do have to agree with another post that they were leaning hot A/C at times, 'cause I remember hearing stuff like The Supremes, Jimmy Buffet, The Beach Boys, and other similar artists thrown in twice each hour during the early 1980's. But over-all they were right on target for the audience there. They were one of the main influences for us to have reverb on the mic at Power 98 back then. I've used reverb on the mics and JAM jingles at all my stations I've programmed since then, even today.
Click to expand...

Hi Kahuna (been a while, hasn't it?!!),

It wouldn't surprise me that KZQ (and, later on, Wave 104) DID play some Oldies at the time. After all, radio at the time was not overly-nitched and KZQ was smart to keep the older demos. WBBQ/Augusta was another station that played some gold alongside current hits and even though I was critical of that at the time, now I can see why they did that.

As for jingles, I can't tell a lie, but yes I do like the JAM jingles that were used on KZQ (and other stations) during those years.

Best,
Robyn
 
CHR during that era did play a lot of gold. WAVA DC played the Beach Boys (and not just the awful Kokomo) and many others.
 
KZQ had a very eclectic playlist for a CHR. (Greg Fowler was a HUGE Buffet fan, so we heard lots of Jimmy) I've had people in the industry tell me they thought the KZQ of the Fowler era was the best small market station in the country. (Remember the Funky Green Jeep?) At the Wave, we were more of a Hot AC, and played lots of gold.
 
KZQ was in fact, one of the best and edgy, promotionally oriented small market radio stations in the nation during the Fowler era and for a time after he left to join the Alabama organization. They did indeed have a very eclectic playlist from the late 60s until around 85...everything from Sugarcreek and the Supremes to Foreigner, from The Tams to Slave and from Alabama to Deep Purple. But the Jocks made the Q what it was...they were BOSS! Living in Hartsville from 75 when I started working at WHSC(where Fowler also worked as PD for a time) until I went off to USC in 1979, I hooked my television cable up to my Marantz stereo and was able to listen to WKZQ, WAYS and WBCY as if I was living in Myrtle or Charlotte. I liked listening to the original Murphy in the Morning, Spanky and Scott Slade(who I derived my radio name from) at WAYS, and to a lesser extent, John Boy & Billy on WBCY, but I LOVED listening to Fowler, Bill Hennecy, Freakin' Deacon, J. Patrick Milan, Brian Phillips, Debi Snyder, John Van Pelt, Bob Chase, Bob Scarborough and the others on Rock 102.

That being said, when a very well researched Hot AC WAVE 104 came to town around 84(I think), they started cleaning the Q's clock ratings-wise. By then, the Q had transitioned from "Rock 102" to "Energy 102". They hired me from WNOK in 1985 to help them battle Wave's momentum, and while we never did return to the radio prominence KZQ enjoyed from 69-83, it was some of the most fun radio I ever did. I made great, lasting friends from KZQ, Wave and NMB who I remain in contact with today.

Later, in the early 90s when KZQ alum John Kilgo took over the PD reins at WBPR (when it was Power 98), in my estimation, he came the closest of anyone to "recapturing" the KZQ vibe on Power. I was sorry to see it switch to Mix, too.

Incidentally, regarding Greg Fowler, after staying with Alabama for decades, he's spent the past few years as one of Jake Owen's managers. I gotta say, the guy knows talent.
 
Ssummers said:
...but I LOVED listening to Fowler, Bill Hennecy, Freakin' Deacon, J. Patrick Milan, Brian Phillips, Debi Snyder, John Van Pelt, Bob Chase, Bob Scarborough and the others on Rock 102...
Click to expand...

Oops. Sacrilege!!! I left out one of the best pure flamethrowing jocks in history..."Shotgun" Jeff Stone, who became Cat Summers, who became "Easy" Randy Street, who became the original "Cadillac" Jack and who became "Human" Numan.

LOVE that guy!! After KZQ, "Gun" worked everywhere from Q105 Tampa for Scott Shannon to Z100 in New York. He's currently on a few stations on Sirius including Radio Margaritaville as Miles Hampton. One of my favorite people in the world.
 
Pre-1972,...1070 WHYZ-AM, and The WHYZ Team: Larry Mills,
G.Steven Green, Charlie Burkett, Tom Norman, John Paul Heatherton,
Don Crain, and "Kee-mo-sa-bee" Joe Johnson.
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That was one more Smokin' 50,000watt Top 40...Cash Cow!
 
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