BJ 105 in 1988 or XL 1067 in 2008? Pick your poison

[meanspirit]

In your past life I bet you guys ran a railroad. Back then, people just like you loooooooonnnnnnged for the good ole' days when folks didn't have a desire for the ease and speed that automobiles and air travel provided.

Look, this isn't about age. It's about coming to terms with times changing. Sure, back then radio was really the only choice for in-car entertainment. By default, that makes the good ole days better. Longing for them is fine. I'm with you. I'd much rather NOT have a million forms of entertainment competing for the ears of people who were exclusive terrestrial radio listeners. But, all those new fangled gadgets make my life easier too (one is making it really easy for us to debate this topic).

Just don't try and say that "if we did radio today, like we did it then, things would be so much better." THAT is my argument. Not the fact that you might be old.

 

[vadar]

Ok, I have to ask, and I already divulged my age (38), do you really think I'm old???? BTW, how old are you since YOU have made this an age issue?

I would tend to think the average person who view/posts on these boards is OLD and in their 30's.

So MS, let's be relevant here, exactly how old are you? Remember its an age issue according to you. ;D

 

[meanspirit]

You aren't old. You are simply male and above the age of 34, which means that you have TWO things working against you. I am male, but in demo, which means I only have one thing against me. So, I win.

Ok, really. This has been good debate. Let's debate something else. I have taken a break from message boards for awhile. I don't know why this thread inspired me to jump back in, but it did and I think it is fun.

I am 26.

 

[kentraco]

I'm old enough to remember rock music played with real rocks. And, I worked at BJ105 in the 80s.

But I still find a lot to like in the music played on XL.

From my perspective, every decade has had its share of great and lasting hits. And among them there's always a large measure of the mundane and the truly bad.

Not being a particularly nostalgic person, I'm not inclined to disparage what's new as not being as good as what was. But that's just me.

 

[billcross]

I really think the problems today are not with CHR in general or XL specifically. They are with the state of radio in general. Back in the day, nearly every market had two CHRs going at each other's throats. That fierce competition led to stations being hyper-responsive to what their listeners wanted.

Today's anti-competitive industry has adopted a "they'll take what we give them" attitude. So, it's not surprising that radio listenership in general continues to decline.

The advances in technology have not helped radio either. My own daughter, off-spring of a radio guy, raised around control rooms and production rooms, has NEVER been a radio listener. She's 19 and avoids CHR totally (unthinkable a generation ago).

In fact, she was called last week by someone doing radio research in our market (SW Fla) and she declined to be surveyed because she doesn't even know what stations are in our market.

This does not bode well for the future of the medium.

 

[tanner]

My daughter is almost 19 and is the same way. IPOD's and Pandora, etc.

 

[MusicMan11]

i have 12 year old twins who have i-pods and love to load music, but originally they hear the songs on the radio. both listen to a variety of stations - i live in tampa bay are. They listen to the CHR stations, but most of the songs they like are on the 'greatest hits' station. They have also noticed too that the songs they hear on their CHR station tend to sample the older tunes they hear on the greatest hits station.

 

[DIZ Guy]

Hey meanspirit, cool list of songs a few posts back....I do agree that we should move on with a new topic to discuss...

Hear our some thoughts of some new ideas to talk about that I think would be pretty cool..

1. Why our the Monsters on the air?????

2. Who is the idiot who gave that Russ Rollins dude the go-ahead for the Monsters????

3. Why does Jim Philips exist??????

4. What is the deal with WTKS??????

5. How many cigarettes does WHTQ's Buckley smoke before he goes on the air????

6. What the hell happened to Little Steven's Sunday night show on WHTQ????

7. What is Buckethead up to these days???

8. What is the deal with "Bud Hedinger Live".....does anybody listen to that show????

9. Why are Lex & Terry on??????

10. Why was Dirty Jim called "an Orlando radio legend" by the Sentinel???

just a couple of thoughts....

 

[MusicMan11]

i believe harry valentine was the original real radio PD who gave russ the go-ahead.

WTKS went down the tubes when stern went over to O-rock.

 

[DIZ Guy]

Aaaaahhh...

Harry Valentine. So HE is the one responsible for crap like "Drunky The Bear"...

Back to the topic of BJ or XL, anybody here remember a station out of Ocala in the late 80's called Z-93????

 

[billcross]

1. Why our the Monsters on the air?????

Originally, Russ Rollins bought air time on WTKS on weekends to promote his "Party World" rental store. He manned the show with his buddy, Bo and his brother-in-law Dirty Jim.

The show actually attracted great numbers in the weekend ratings.

2. Who is the idiot who gave that Russ Rollins dude the go-ahead for the Monsters????

It was Harry Valentine who gambled on the Monsters (then simply "The Russ & Bo Show") and put them on in the evenings. They did well there and were moved to middays after Ed Tyll went West. That move was made by "Popeye," the PD who came in after Valentine. That was when they switched from "Russ & Bo" to "The Monsters of the Mdday" name (parodying the NFL's "Monsters of the Midway").

If there are any "idiots," it would have to be the Orlando radio listeners who took this extended amateur hour and made it popular. Harry Valentine was absolutely correct in his decision as Russ & Bo pulled very good numbers at night and again in middays.

Yet, the Monsters have struck out in every attempt to move beyond Orlando. Seems to me the fault lies with the listeners in O-Town and not with the PD.

 

[DIZ Guy]

Good point Bill. The Orlando radio listeners are very responsible for the rise of that AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL, CRAPPY-ASS SHOW.......

It must be nice to get on the radio because your brother-in-law is involved.....

Maybe my brother-in-law can get a show on WTKS, you know, the same old crap, have a bunch of people all talking at the same time, and I can get on there an call myself "Dirty Jim".......

Oh wait, THAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED!!!!!

 

[DIZ Guy]

Another cool thing about BJ-105 in 1988 was that they had a GREAT morning show unlike the shows that are on in this market now...

Another good idea that I have been thinking about would be getting in touch with the PD of WTKS. I have a GREAT idea for an afternoon show. The show will be on from 3-6pm. It will start out with theme music that sounds like a bad rip-off of the theme from Seinfeld. I will then come on the air and talk about the Orlando mayor and act like that I know more than he does about this city. About 5 minutes into my show I will introduce my co-hosts. The first one will be this really annoying Rosie O'Donnel sounding women. The other two people on my show will sound like two guys out of High school. They will be required to talk at the same time so that the listener will have no idea what they are talking about. After this mess goes on for awhile, out of absolutely nowhere a REALLY ANNOYING cutsey sounding woman will start talking while the other two kids are talking creating an absolutely HORRIBLE audio experience.

At about 5-o'clock, I will start to talk about cooking and food. However, by this time I should've confused a lot of people that think that WTKS is a talk radio station. I will accomplish this goal by playing BLUESY BUMPER MUSIC THAT GOES ON WAYYYYYYY TO LONG. This will make the ordinary radio browser think that WTKS is some kind of a Blues station. I will then talk about "The Wire" and say that it is the greatest show ever. Then my show will start to wind down with a bunch of crappy trivia questions. This will be one of my favorite parts of my show, as I will include old, dated, audio of Regis Philbin. I will then insult the president of the country, tell off about 15 callers, talk about some nasty-ass food that local newsman Pat Clark has been experimenting with, and then go home.


I will then long for the days of BJ-105...

 

[TerryLongJr]

terry - last name escapes me

dave edwards worked 3-7 shift. he was the guy who delivered the news that elvis had died......i was a sophomore in high school.

His name is Terry Long. I used to know him; nice guy.

American Top 40 was run on WLOF in the 70s from 12-3pm and CK101 ran it from 1-3pm. I used to prefer to listen on CK because it was stereo.

Yes, his name was indeed Terry Long. Well... makethat Terry Long Sr. now. I am his son. My arrival to this world was actually announced around the lunch hour on BJ105 29 years ago today! (Yep, I'm 29 as of a few minutes ago) and nostalgia kicked in and I figured I'd pop online and do a random search of the web and see what I could dig up on my dad. He's moved a few stations over the years. From BJ105 to Joy-108 in Mt Dora FLA, then on to KCMO in Missouri, on down to KTEX 100 Brownsville TX and then up to Power 105.1 Fayetteville AR. He later took up a great possition at RCS (Radio Computing Services, worldwide) as their top tech system admin and onsite installer/programer. He's still with RCS out of New York today actually.

Glad to see so many of you remember the good ole days. I have a bunch of albums (45s included) from the old 222 Hazard Street station and I think my earliest memory of childhood was actually of me pulling a frosty rootbeer from the coke machine (bottles!) at the Hazard Street station's snack room somewhere around 1981 or 1982.

Radio and Orlando sure have changed since back then!!! Feel free to contact me if you recall my dad at all. It's fun to talk about those days. I was a kid, but to me, my dad was as famous as superman because he was on the radio and everyone seemed to like him. I nearly followed in his footsteps, but opted for the US Army instead... a move he is very relieved and proud I took

 

[jmtillery]

Aaaaahhh...

Harry Valentine. So HE is the one responsible for crap like "Drunky The Bear"...

Back to the topic of BJ or XL, anybody here remember a station out of Ocala in the late 80's called Z-93????

Hey Diz Guy,

I live in Ocala and remember Z 93 very well. I was the one who came up with the concept of "Z 93" and taking the former WFUZ (93.7) from adult conetemporary to CHR. Our call letters were also changed to WMMZ while a new 1,400 foot stick was constructed just North of Ocala so we could hit Gainesville with a city grade signal. That was a fun station while it lasted (1986 - 1994). Barry Michaels from BJ 105 also did mornings for a while.

Mark Tillery,
WMMZ Z 93 Alumini (1986 - 1989)
Ocala, Florida
[email protected]

 

[jmtillery]

terry - last name escapes me

dave edwards worked 3-7 shift. he was the guy who delivered the news that elvis had died......i was a sophomore in high school.

His name is Terry Long. I used to know him; nice guy.

American Top 40 was run on WLOF in the 70s from 12-3pm and CK101 ran it from 1-3pm. I used to prefer to listen on CK because it was stereo.

Yes, his name was indeed Terry Long. Well... makethat Terry Long Sr. now. I am his son. My arrival to this world was actually announced around the lunch hour on BJ105 29 years ago today! (Yep, I'm 29 as of a few minutes ago) and nostalgia kicked in and I figured I'd pop online and do a random search of the web and see what I could dig up on my dad. He's moved a few stations over the years. From BJ105 to Joy-108 in Mt Dora FLA, then on to KCMO in Missouri, on down to KTEX 100 Brownsville TX and then up to Power 105.1 Fayetteville AR. He later took up a great possition at RCS (Radio Computing Services, worldwide) as their top tech system admin and onsite installer/programer. He's still with RCS out of New York today actually.

Glad to see so many of you remember the good ole days. I have a bunch of albums (45s included) from the old 222 Hazard Street station and I think my earliest memory of childhood was actually of me pulling a frosty rootbeer from the coke machine (bottles!) at the Hazard Street station's snack room somewhere around 1981 or 1982.

Radio and Orlando sure have changed since back then!!! Feel free to contact me if you recall my dad at all. It's fun to talk about those days. I was a kid, but to me, my dad was as famous as superman because he was on the radio and everyone seemed to like him. I nearly followed in his footsteps, but opted for the US Army instead... a move he is very relieved and proud I took

Hi Terry, Jr.,

I remember your dad very well from the former BJ 105 days. The first time I heard him, he was on middays (10AM - 3PM), and the first song I remember hearing him play was Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven". Wasn't your dad also music director at BJ?

Also, comparing BJ 105 and XL 106.7, I would have to say that the original WBJW (1973-1979) was the absolute best Top 40 station in Orlando. I've never really liked XL 106.7 although I did like, very much, the former Y 106 (pre-Top 40/CHR days) from 1976 through 1981. WORJ was my station for the progressive sound in those days.

Mark Tillery,
Ocala, Florida
[email protected]

 

[MusicMan11]

I remember terry long, had curly hair. saw him at the local skating rink one time, the one in pine hills off highway 50, not far from the old pine hills drive in theater.

speaking of BJ105, one of their former morning jocks - Scott Walker - was on BJ in 1980, 81??? - is taking over as the program director of a greatest hits station in Tampa market - Q105.

 

[jmtillery]

I remember terry long, had curly hair. saw him at the local skating rink one time, the one in pine hills off highway 50, not far from the old pine hills drive in theater.

speaking of BJ105, one of their former morning jocks - Scott Walker - was on BJ in 1980, 81??? - is taking over as the program director of a greatest hits station in Tampa market - Q105.

Hey Musicman,

I saw that on the Tampa board about Scott Walker taking over as PD on Q 105. I'm not sure if Mason Dixon will remain on mornings. Some seem to think he will remain in that capacity. Have you heard anything different?

I don't think Scott Walker stayed very long on BJ 105 and WLOF. What I do remember about him is his morning show was simulcast from BJ on WLOF, so he was on both stations at the same time. From what I remember, WLOF would break away to seperate Top 40 programming at 10AM. I think fomer BJ PM drive jock Dave Edwards was doing middays on WLOF around the same time.

Mark Tillery,
Ocala, Florida
[email protected]

 

[MusicMan11]

i remember hearing walker my senior year in high school on WLOF, mornings. i believe he was originally the afternoon jock when he arrived. He moved over to the FM signal when the owners of BJ 105 - rounsaville radio??? - bought channel 95, WLOF.

i have no idea what will happen at q105. should be interesting.

 

[vadar]

Wasn't Scott Walker just in Detroit?