CHR In The Cinci Area

[lovejamminoldies]

CHR EVALUATION IN CINCINNATI/DAYTON by Jason Stone

Cincinnati:

Q102: Wow. It's about time they stream! And it's 64k! Nice. They also sound much better since Bonneville has taken over. Nice and CHR-ish. Good work Q.

KISS 107 FM: YUCKO. They're so bland. No jingles, no "big city" sound. It sucks. A horrible example for a Clear Channel CHR.

Dayton:

Z93: They sound much better. They got new imaging. Their music isn't half bad. Looks like Radio One is making it sound the best while they still have it. The Dayton stations need to stream.

Channel 945: Well, they're stunting. 2 jocks. LOL. But their music is not too bad. Nice and Rhythmic, beats 102-9 by a mile. They have potential. Get some killer jingles, hot contest, GOOD imaging, they're set.

Ok, you guys vote. Your favorite CHR is...

 

[kirkiefan]

Dayton:
Z-93.. which was sold by Radio One to Main Line out of Philly(pending FCC approval) back in May.

Cincy:
Q-102 Hope the Bonnie suits bring it back to what it used to be in the 70s.

Lima:
Wild 93.9..Really upbeat with the R&B-flavored hit format.

Kolumbuzz
WNCI's a joke..Bring back 92-X

 

[kentuckymedia]

Dayton:

I really do feel that Z93 has tried to right the wrong and they are doing okay. Channel has a long way to go, and if Clear Channel sells DSJ/DKF...well, it will make it more interesting

Cincy:

The suits like Cincinnati. They like the feel and the vibe of the city, its not too big and not too small. They are following the simple method with WKRQ (Make it sound like Star 94 in Atlanta). Give it a couple years and that station can be even a more serious threat to Kiss.

Lima:

Wild has competition finally, and its about damn time. Wild sounds good, but Star has that rock lean to it that will skew the people tired of all the rap. Its gonna be battle royal in the 6 shares in two books.

Columbus:

WNCI is always a great station. What they need is competition. With WBNS leaning a little younger that might just be the solution. NCI has always had the dominant lead, but when someone starts poking around with their 25-34's they get freaked out and lose a share or two.

 

[lovejamminoldies]

Dayton:

I don't know... 945 is what I usually listen to.

Cincy:

Q. Definetely. KISS is way too bland.

Lima: WILD rules!

Columbus: WNCI has to be it because Power 107-5 doesn't have the touch.

 

[robmadden1]

I loved Q102 of the 80's that type of format was great. I used to listen to it all the time as a kid. Q102 should brand them selves as 80's, 90's, and now since they do play 80's music not alot but they do play some.

 

[hipporadio]

Kolumbuzz
WNCI's a joke..Bring back 92-X

AH YEZZ... “Those were the days my friend”! Pardon the reference to Mary Hopkin - the FIRST non-Beatle act on Apple Records, and a tune [thankfully] 92X would never have cued-up. I LOVED that station at the height of the pop-radio resurgence in the 80s... ‘First FM I heard Dwight Twilley’s “Girls” and Night Ranger’s “Sister Christian” on in the Spring of ’84 – and about the only place that played Tony Carey’s “A Fine [Fine] Day” [memories churning from that one?] I didn’t live in “Kolumbuzz”, but frequently visited and really enjoyed 92X – It hit me as sort of an 80s version of Indy’s WNAP [circa early-70s]... VERY WELL produced and adventurous.

 

[alans613]

DAYTON-Z-93 will always be the top CHR in Dayton, IMO. 94.5 has been a good alternative at times('96, '05), but Z will always be tops in CHR. Their heritage speaks for itself. Besides, 94.5 needs to stick with one identity instead of changing it every few years(The Beat 96-00, Kiss 00-05, Channel 05-present).

COLUMBUS-WBNS-FM/Mix 97.1 has been leaning much more CHR-ish in the last two months...I've heard Usher's "Yeah!" and Nelly's "Over and Over" in recent weeks, not to mention CHR-leaning stuff like "4 in the Morning" by Gwen Stefani and "Thnks FR The Mmrs" by Fall Out Boy. Mix 97.1 is a great alternative to WNCI. 'NCI just isn't the station they used to be 15-20 years ago(and i'm not talking about their horrible AC format they did in early '93 either). 'BNS is much like Q in Cincy-A rhythmic-leaning Hot AC. They're much improved since bringing in Jay Taylor as PD last year. 8)

CINCINNATI-Q102 is the winner. They have that "big" sound to them. Kiss is just another predominantly voicetracked station :.

BTW, Tony Carey's "A Fine, Fine Day" can be heard every now and then on Jeff Stevens' "Time Warp Cafe" from Noon-1 PM on Mix 107.7...He usually plays it as a "Vault" song around 12:45...That song also appears on the CD "Billboard Top Rock N Roll Hits 1984" if you're looking for a CD copy. Jeff also plays "Why Me" by Planet P, the band Tony Carey headed up in 1983. Yeah, i'm a big fan of Tony Carey.

 

[hipporadio]

Tony Carey's "A Fine, Fine Day" can be heard every now and then on Jeff Stevens' "Time Warp Cafe"... Yeah, i'm a big fan of Tony Carey.

BRAVO Alan! During the CHR-surge in the 80s, I used that song as sort of a yardstick to determine which stations ignited the gas as opposed to those who were content to cruise on fumes. “A Fine Day” was top-25, but many Midwest stations passed it over – except for the former 92X. It was absent from the B96 Chicago playlist [they were too busy burning the very-last inch of Spandau Ballet as a re-current] :

I understand Carey received more airplay on AOR [especially west coast and southeast]. 92X was somewhat typical of an upstart taking-on “the establishment” [i.e. WNCI] – with an adventurous playlist that often turned to AOR for predictably-safe songs to spike the hip-factor and differentiate them from the “fat ‘n lazy insurance-company station” across town. Indy’s WNAP was quintessential for the same conduct in the early-70s when they were attempting to dethrone monster AM Top-40 WIFE [“The station your girlfriend and her mom listens to”]. A similar secret weapon then was “Jeepster” by T-Rex.

After nearly TWENTY-YEARS, I finally heard “A Fine Day” on radio a few weeks back on a rambunctious local pop-rock classic-hits station... Right after an image-liner: “FINALLY – a hit-music station for guys who don’t wanna shave their chest.” SOME things never change... Thank goodness ;D

 

[ouuc]

92-X...long gone

WNAP...long gone

WNCI...still around

B96...still around

Ignite too much gas and you will explode.

You win by playing what your audience wants to hear, not by being a crusader for certain artists.

 

[hipporadio]

I am not at all attempting to comment on this format in the contemporary sense – I’ll freely-admit to an under-ONE-PERCENT current qualification level. Despite 25+ years of enthusiasm for and nearly 15-years employment in Top-40 radio - it’s like my dark-blonde hair – gone for good! I have to wonder about these old hold-overs turned apologists for the industry status quo. What ever happened to the so-called crusaders well-cheered a few decades ago? Did they sell-out [with some silence covenant] after the Telcom Act also :

92-X...long gone

...as it was the following year after I first heard it. I have no reliable information as to why, but I suspect the obvious - the super-powered, super-financed, super-programmed, super-promoted SuperStation known as WNCI. BTW, you cannot find in print ANY criticism by my person of the perennial WNCI operation [only a cynical competitor’s analogy to the “fat guy” they dream of knocking off]... The operative word here is “dream”.

WNAP...long gone

...And you DON’T want to “go there” with me Mr. ouuc – NOT UNLESS you had a long tenure in their employment and/or have lived in that market between 1968 and about the mid 90s. Had you - then you’d be up-close ‘n personal with the FIVE LIVES of WNAP - some briefly-interrupted by purposely ill-fated “experiments” [and alternating call letters] for reasons best described as “outrageous” – ALL guided by a different set of ulterior motives and sometimes-shameful circumstances. Do the words “sacrificial gun boat” and “radio enigma” mean anything to you? They did to Jim Duncan [he coined them – then used WNAP as their poster-child]. Emmis later purchased Mr. Duncan’s enterprise... Interesting, given their ownership of 93.1 since the mid 90s and their attempt to revive the “long-gone” but well-remembered WNAP in 1995. I suspect that Mr. Jeff agreed with Mr. Jim – he DID keep a very-nice gig!

Ignite too much gas and you will explode.

I hope you were thinking about “The Buzzard” [WNAP] when you were composing that cutesy. That’s exactly what happened – and those flames were threatening to burn Big Brother down the hall. Why toast your own when you can toast someone down the street?

You win by playing what your audience wants to hear, not by being a crusader for certain artists.

Didn’t I mention that I have never purchased a Tony Carey album or CD – and I can’t remember “crusading” for an artist – but I once-asked a certain syndicated oldies show host to snag me a clandestine Petula Clark Greatest Hits import back in 1981... He shipped it to me UPS 8)

 

[NoWayNoCC]

“A Fine Day” was top-25, but many Midwest stations passed it over – except for the former 92X.

Q-102 passed it over. WCLU played it quite a bit.

 

[hipporadio]

I just received an Email from a Citadel exec who was on-air in Spring '84 playin' the hits during the FOURTH LIFE of WNAP [“Hot-93 IndiaNAP-NAP-napolis”]. It was Hot Hits [minus Mr. Joseph's franchise fee], and he assures me that “It’s a Fine Day” was in rotation... Another “long gone” that dared play a song two clicks beyond the Top-20 :

“A Fine Day” was top-25, but many Midwest stations passed it over – except for the former 92X.

Q-102 passed it over. WCLU played it quite a bit.

Oh my goodness I sure wish I could have experienced that “six-transistor audio” with flat-lined/square-wave bass, tin-pan midrange, and near-negatory treble thru the Gates Level-Devil and well-baked modulator tubes at CLU 1-3-2. Interesting station - I heard it on a nice Alpine auto system [with very-good AM] passing thru in July ‘83 – second-worst audio I have EVER experienced from a radio station [and IBOC was twenty years away] - Bet you can't guess who’s in first place?

So in the Tri-State in ’84, Tony Carey enjoyed airplay on two “long-goners” and one “nearly-never was”... And that was at the height of CHR’s last heyday :'(

 

[alans613]

The demise of WXGT-92X can be pointed in one direction-The almighty dollar. When WXGT became "Cool 92" and brought the WCOL calls with it as Oldies in the Fall of 1990, it was a way for Great Trails Broadcasting to do a format that would cost far less than CHR and fill a format hole in the Columbus market and do better ratings than going against the monster known as WNCI. GTB was bleeding money heavily and looking to cust costs at any way in 1990, and Oldies was a quick fix for them(92X aired from 1978-90 I believe). All this cost cutting would eventually lead GTB down the path to getting sued by Alan Kaye, the host of WGTZ(Z-93)'s "Z Morning Zoo" in March 1991, who had a contract with GTB and was fired by the GM at the time, David Macejko, at the old Frisch's on Far Hills in Kettering. Kaye won the case, and his guaranteed contract was honored. I actually interviewed Alan Kaye about all of this back when I ran a Tribute Site on Z-93...His story was quite interesting. Nice guy, too.
Also to note...before the death of 92X, I believe they'd tried several different takes on the format, including a "Rock 40"-type format in the late-80s.

 

[hipporadio]

The demise of WXGT-92X can be pointed in one direction - The almighty dollar. When WXGT became "Cool 92"... it was a way for Great Trails Broadcasting to do a format that would cost far less than CHR... GTB was bleeding money heavily and looking to cut costs at any way in 1990, and Oldies was a quick fix...

A very dear friend working at WDJX Louisville often re-branded Great Trails as “Great FAILS”. I understand that was a common amusement for GTB employees at that time. That struck me as “odd” – considering their execution and history at WING and later at “Eatin’ Dayton Alive” [Z-93]. Co-owned WCOL [AM] and 80s 92-X were very-fine stations in their day – even neighboring 1340 WIZE Springfield was well-done! Did they eventually “bite-off more than they could chew”?

Wasn’t the oldies format [and “Cool” calls] on 92.3 preceded [and transplanted] from 1230 [AM]? I seem to remember ‘COL [AM] wearing that hat at one time. When Class-4 AMs received permission from the FCC to remain 1kw at night, 1230 ran a promotion announcing their nighttime signal boost to outlying ‘burbs such as Dublin, Reynoldsburg, and Westerville using Chicago’s “Feeling Stronger Every Day” as a theme. In most cases, this night-power bump was all about very-little – but 1230 was a rare exception – they actually DID benefit.