Columbus FM Bandscan - Fall 1998

[Buckeyes2001]

My first year at Ohio State, these are the FM stations I remember picking up in Columbus between 92 MHz and 108 MHz. I never really paid attention to the stations between 88 MHz and 92 MHz

92.3 WCOL (Country)
93.3 WKKJ (Country from Chillicothe)
93.7 WQIO '93Q' (AC from Mt. Vernon)
94.3 There were two stations here that always came in one in Washington C.H. playing country music and another in Marion that was an AC station
94.7 WSNY 'Sunny 95' (AC)
95.5 WHOK (Country)
96.3 WLVQ 'Ohio's Best Rock, QFM 96' (Rock)
97.1 WBNS 'Oldies B97' (Oldies)
97.9 WNCI (Top-40)
98.9 WXMG 'Magic 98.9' (Classic Dance/Rhythmic Oldies)
99.7 '99.7 the Blitz' (Hard Rock Alternative)
100.3 WCLT (Country from Newark)
100.7 WEEC (Religious from Springfield but came in clear in Columbus)
101.1 WNCD 'CD 101' (Alternative)
102.3 Translator for WHOK
103.1 'Z103'
103.5 WJZA (Smooth Jazz 103.5 & 104.3)
103.9 WEGE 'Eagle 103.9' (Classic Rock)
104.3 WJZK (Smooth Jazz 103.5 & 104.3)
104.9 '104.9 the River' (Christian)
105.3 WYHT (Hot AC from Mansfield)
105.5 WCHO 'Buckeye Country 105.5' (from Washington C.H.)
105.7 '105.7 Channel Z' (Marysville) - Alternative
106.1 WVNO (AC from Mansfield)
106.3 WJYD 'Joy 106.3' (Gospel)
106.7 Translator for WOSU-FM
106.9 WMRN (Country from Marion)
107.1 WAZU '107.1 The Big Wazoo' (Hard Rock) I remember the V/O personality for this station had a VERY deep voice and was the same voice heard on some other promos
107.5 WCKX 'Power 107.5' (Hip-Hop)
107.9 WXST 'Star 107.9' 'The Greatest Hits of the 80s and More!'

Anyone else have a bandscan of Columbus FM they can remember from years past?

 

[schmave]

My first year at Ohio State, these are the FM stations I remember picking up in Columbus between 92 MHz and 108 MHz. I never really paid attention to the stations between 88 MHz and 92 MHz

92.3 WCOL (Country)
93.3 WKKJ (Country from Chillicothe)
93.7 WQIO '93Q' (AC from Mt. Vernon)
94.3 There were two stations here that always came in one in Washington C.H. playing country music and another in Marion that was an AC station
94.7 WSNY 'Sunny 95' (AC)
95.5 WHOK (Country)
96.3 WLVQ 'Ohio's Best Rock, QFM 96' (Rock)
97.1 WBNS 'Oldies B97' (Oldies)
97.9 WNCI (Top-40)
98.9 WXMG 'Magic 98.9' (Classic Dance/Rhythmic Oldies)
99.7 '99.7 the Blitz' (Hard Rock Alternative)
100.3 WCLT (Country from Newark)
100.7 WEEC (Religious from Springfield but came in clear in Columbus)
101.1 WNCD 'CD 101' (Alternative)
102.3 Translator for WHOK
103.1 'Z103'
103.5 WJZA (Smooth Jazz 103.5 & 104.3)
103.9 WEGE 'Eagle 103.9' (Classic Rock)
104.3 WJZK (Smooth Jazz 103.5 & 104.3)
104.9 '104.9 the River' (Christian)
105.3 WYHT (Hot AC from Mansfield)
105.5 WCHO 'Buckeye Country 105.5' (from Washington C.H.)
105.7 '105.7 Channel Z' (Marysville) - Alternative
106.1 WVNO (AC from Mansfield)
106.3 WJYD 'Joy 106.3' (Gospel)
106.7 Translator for WOSU-FM
106.9 WMRN (Country from Marion)
107.1 WAZU '107.1 The Big Wazoo' (Hard Rock) I remember the V/O personality for this station had a VERY deep voice and was the same voice heard on some other promos
107.5 WCKX 'Power 107.5' (Hip-Hop)
107.9 WXST 'Star 107.9' 'The Greatest Hits of the 80s and More!'

Anyone else have a bandscan of Columbus FM they can remember from years past?

You brought back some great memories with this post. Makes me realize how much better this market was 13 years ago (and personally how much my tastes have changed). Really good jazz station, 107.9 cranking out the 80s, B97 blasting oldies and Channel Z (among others). That last one's never truly been replaced.
I was sort of a Blitz guy back then, too. Then again, I was 20 then and 33 now.
Also, in those days 94.3 from Chillicothe was AC, just like Marion. I don't know what country you heard. Interesting. Nowadays, that 94.3 is WKKJ.

 

[Clinton70]

Radio dial was a lot better then. Star 1079 for your 80s. A REAL oldies station on a big stick. 93.3 was Chili's station.

Not to mention there was alot more air talent then, less sat feeds and voicetrackers. 103.9 was classic rock then too but had local jocks.

 

[the marv]

Too bad Nationwide Communications decided to get out of radio. At the time before Clear Channel absorbed Jacor they owned 95.5,96.3, 98.9, 105.7, 107.1 and 610 am. It would have been interesting to see how our radio would sound if Nationwide didn't sell. I think we would have had our own kiss fm to go against WNCI and Q FM 96 would be more mainstream rock than classic rock.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Memories...

Nationwide was cool, although I liked their stations in other markets a lot more  The current GM of 97.1, Dave Van Stone, was a PD in the 90s at Nationwide's KHMX Houston, the station that initiated the 90s surge in Hot AC's and was the first to use "Mix."  Maybe that had something to do with 97.1 flipping from oldies to Hot AC Mix in 2001.  BTW, backing up to the early 90s when 98.9 was first fired up as WXMX "Mix 98.9," I was delighted that Columbus was going to be a Hot AC.  Nope, THIS Mix was proudly declared a soft AC by original owner Mary Mahaffey.  After lack of success, they announced they were switching to Hot AC, but in reality were still softer than mainstream AC.  In 1993, several years after that station had been sold and flipped to another format (to country, I believe), Dave Robbins masterminded a similar "soft AC calling itself Hot AC" debacle.  Those two incidents left people thinking Hot AC doesn't work in Columbus, even though no one had *really* tried it other than in-name-only.

After Jacor acquired Nationwide in 97, I recall Randy Michaels giving them a thrashing for their stations' big budgets.   IIRC, he also mocked them for claiming that they hired "Only The Best People."  He was (is?) a real mouth.

A number of years after WCOL-FM established itself as a country powerhouse, I heard that Jacor had set up a switch to Hot AC in the late 90's, but decided at the last minute to stick with country instead.  But something doesn't seem to compute, because wouldn't that have clashed too much with NCI?   Maybe they were planning to take WNCI hotter and make 92.3's sound similar to what WMVX Cleveland was doing then -- almost more of a "Jack" precursor (ironically that signal is now back to a somewhat-similar sound and doing smashingly as The Lake). Would have been interesting to see things unfold.

 

[xmusicmatt]

104.9 '104.9 the River' (Christian)

I am pretty sure that in 1998 WCVO was still "God's Powerline 104.9 WCVO" airing a mix of Christian Teaching/Christian AC.

I do not believe they made the change to "The River" until around 2000ish.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Too late to edit. Corrections in bold below:

Memories...

Nationwide was cool, although I liked their stations in other markets a lot more The current GM of 97.1, Dave Van Stone, was a PD in the 90s at Nationwide's KHMX Houston, the station that initiated the 90s surge in Hot AC's and was the first to use "Mix." Maybe that had something to do with 97.1 flipping from oldies to Hot AC Mix in 2001. BTW, backing up to the early 90s when 98.9 was first fired up as WXMX "Mix 98.9," I was delighted that Columbus was going to get a Hot AC. Nope, THIS Mix was proudly declared a soft AC by original owner Mary Mahaffey. After lack of success, they announced they were switching to Hot AC, but in reality were still softer than mainstream AC. In 1993, several years after that station had been sold and flipped to another format (to country, I believe), Dave Robbins masterminded a similar "soft AC calling itself Hot AC" debacle at WNCI. Those two incidents left people thinking Hot AC doesn't work in Columbus, even though no one had *really* tried it other than in-name-only.

After Jacor acquired Nationwide in 97, I recall Randy Michaels giving them a thrashing for their stations' big budgets. IIRC, he also mocked them for claiming that they hired "Only The Best People." He was (is?) a real mouth.

A number of years after WCOL-FM established itself as a country powerhouse, I heard that Jacor had set up a switch to Hot AC in the late 90's, but decided at the last minute to stick with country instead. But something doesn't seem to compute, because wouldn't that have clashed too much with NCI? Maybe they were planning to take WNCI hotter and make 92.3's sound similar to what WMVX Cleveland was doing then -- almost more of a "Jack" precursor (ironically that signal is now back to a somewhat-similar sound and doing smashingly as The Lake). Would have been interesting to see things unfold.

 

[RadioMaxwell]

My memory is a bit hazy but wasnt 93Q still CHR in 98? I didn't think they flipped to AC until 2001 or 2002

 

[xmusicmatt]

Nope, THIS Mix was proudly declared a soft AC by original owner Mary Mahaffey. After lack of success, they announced they were switching to Hot AC, but in reality were still softer than mainstream AC. In 1993, several years after that station had been sold and flipped to another format (to country, I believe), Dave Robbins masterminded a similar "soft AC calling itself Hot AC" debacle. Those two incidents left people thinking Hot AC doesn't work in Columbus, even though no one had *really* tried it other than in-name-only.

Ahh the "years" of WNCI being "Not to hard, not to lite" ... and none of that "top 40 teeny stuff" That was around 1993... 98.9 did indeed have a very soft AC approach when it was Mix 98.9 prior to becoming I think "Wild Country" 98.9 would I think have had some success as a Country station however when they first signed on they had a lower power signal compaired to the current signal. Of course we all know when Nationwide went Country on WCOL-FM in Feb 1994 they pushed that they were "the no static, crystal clear choice for continuous country favorites" I still remember the ruckus they made with the robotic countdown clock counting down the format change from oldies to country...

 

[heresjohnny]

Back in 1992 through at least 1994 98.9 was "The River" with the calls WRVR. It was programmed by Rob Ellis, who still keeps his hand in it doing a weekend shift on 92.3 The morning team was headed by Derald Johnson, now known as Woody @ 92.3 It was owned by a small group out of the Dayton area headed by a man named Alan Gray if I recall. It was the top country station in the market until it was ultimately crushed by the then Nationwide-owned WCOL with it's nearly unlimited budget and signal. It was my last radio gig and I will always remember it fondly. It wasn't corporate radio. It was just a little family thing with a great sound and a bunch of great people who had a ton of fun working together. It was much like radio when I first got into it as a teenager in '71. I'll be forever grateful to have had that experience one more time before I put away my headphones and walked away.

 

[Nu_Roo_2]

Back in 1992 through at least 1994 98.9 was "The River" with the calls WRVR. It was programmed by Rob Ellis, who still keeps his hand in it doing a weekend shift on 92.3 The morning team was headed by Derald Johnson, now known as Woody @ 92.3 It was owned by a small group out of the Dayton area headed by a man named Alan Gray if I recall. It was the top country station in the market until it was ultimately crushed by the then Nationwide-owned WCOL with it's nearly unlimited budget and signal. It was my last radio gig and I will always remember it fondly. It wasn't corporate radio. It was just a little family thing with a great sound and a bunch of great people who had a ton of fun working together. It was much like radio when I first got into it as a teenager in '71. I'll be forever grateful to have had that experience one more time before I put away my headphones and walked away.

I do recall being impressed by the River, even though I'm not a country fan.

Just checked the Dispatch archive (they actually used to write about radio!) and see that 98.9 first fired up as WXMX in 1989, not the early 90's as I said below.  So it was soft AC (sometimes pretending to be hot AC) for roughly its first three years.