Country In Knoxville

[tk]

> A lot of people may not remember, but before WIMZ became
> Rock 104 in August 1979, it was WBIR-FM and was a country
> format, as was 94.3 FM and 95.3 FM in the early to mid
> eighties. With the exception of 97.5 FM and, possibly 102.1,
> I think ever other FM signal in the Knoxville area has
> attempted, and failed, to program a country format and
> compete against WIVK.

I never thought WBIR had the programming or the heritage to rival WIVK.
I remembering listening back in the day and you could tell that they were
not spending what it'd take to compete. I was once at Kix 95..there too... owners were unwilling to spend what it would take...plus no signal. Same story with 94.3 and many others. But I believe WOKI with the same power and good programming was enough to scare Dick Broadcasting into the LMA for insurance purposes. If you have enough power, resources and the committment to stick it out...you could at least chip away a few numbers from the Frog.
(Keep that in mind Star 102)

What I don't get is why none of these struggling little stations now in the market are not trying a niche format like Classic Country or Oldies again. Yes the demo would be a little higher...but they could still perform better than what some of these stations are doing now. (Jack, etc)

 

[BRH]

Yeah, let me clarify what I said earlier a bit. I'll agree that WOKI did sound really good in the early 80's when Jeff Jarnigan programmed the station and they were known as "Hits 100". This is the time period when they had "Shotgun Stephens" on the air, and when they had all of the Z100 JAM jingles. If the station had continued to sound like this, it would have been awesome. But in the mid and late 80's when Brother Clay Gish came in, it went downhill very quickly. There was another PD in between (Ron Harper, I believe), and when he came in, and then Gish, it seemed as if Pirkle quit spending any money on making the station sound decent. And as I said earlier, Gish's programming style was bizarre at best (I'd say horrible, personally).
But yeah, I'll give props to the way it sounded in the early 80's during the "Hits 100" timeperiod.

I know many may not remember them, but I still think 95.3 WTNZ from 1986-1988 was one of the better sounding Knoxville CHR's ever. They were programmed by Tom Miller (now at Dick Broadcasting/WIVK), and were first known as "95-3 TNZ" and then as "Power 95". I loved them because they leaned younger than WOKI and they played a ton of dance stuff and mainstream CHR hits that Brother Clay wouldn't touch on WOKI. And even though they didn't have any money and the signal wasn't great, they started to make big inroads against 'OKI in their last ratings book. Sadly though, the station's owners were bankrupt and the station went dark before being sold to the Bible Broadcasting Network a couple of years later. Anyway, WIVK's Tom Miller, "the Sports Animal's" John Wilkerson, "Star 102.1"'s Kim Hansard, and voice of the Tenn. Titan's, Mike Keith, were all dj's at the old WTNZ "Power 95" during it's time on the air ('86-'88). In fact, Jeff Freeman and Mike Keith's afternoon show was one of the best and most fun CHR show's I've ever heard. Anyway, some impressive talent came out of that little no-budget station. I have a few airchecks of them and they still remain my all time favorite Knoxville CHR station.

Also, as far as Brian Landrum, who was one of the better PD's during WOKI's country period; I just saw where he was in line to be the new PD at a new country station in Mobile, AL. I know he's been in Lexington, Nashville (at WSM AM as PD), and North Carolina since he left Knoxville. He seems to move around a lot from market to market, but I always thought he was one of the better country PD's out there. His stations always have a fun sound. Anyway, enough rambling... sorry!

 

[kjallen]

I agree with you 100.3%, The FM 100 and Hits 100 days were pretty cool. I could not pick up TNZ out where I lived. I heard that Sherry Reed (former WATE reporter/anchor) was a jock there… maybe middays? She was pregnant one summer, and the station was supposedly in a old train caboose, with no air conditioning. It was not a comfortable situation for her, as you would imagine.

Do you all remember when 94.3 was CHR for a short period of time? Pirkle turned the signal back on around 1994 and they did classic country, as K-94.3 (WKNF). Then one evening (circa 1995), the owner’s son decided to change it to CHR, still K-94.3. This was after Pirkle ended the LMA with 93.1, and Star 93.1 was born. So, there were two mainstream CHR's on in Knoxville at once. Not long after K-94.3 flipped to CHR, they transitioned to Alternative 94Z.

I saw where 94.3’s call letters were WETQ at one time. I do not remember WETQ growing up. What was their format?

 

[bp37918]

>
> I saw where 94.3’s call letters were WETQ at one time. I do
> not remember WETQ growing up. What was their format?
>
This would be around 1981 and they were country. Q-94FM. Tony Eubanks was the PD, Arch Bishop was mid-days, he also worked at WIMZ, dan King afternoons, I did 7 til midnight and greg Mcmahan was all nights, he's the GM at WITA now. Rau Radio didn't spend a lot of money on the station. Pay was bad and the equipment was horrible. Our cart machines were still in mono but we did have a stero board. i was working one night when the big ice storm of '82 hit and we didn't have a de-icer on the tower so the power output shot straight up and we had to shut down or lose the transmitter.

 

[kjallen]

Wasn't there a point in 94.3's history where the tower was moved to a location not licensed by the FCC, and whoever had the license lost it, causing the station to go dark? This would've either been in the late 80's or early 90's.

 

[tk]

THE CABOOSE STORY!

> I agree with you 100.3%, The FM 100 and Hits 100 days were
> pretty cool. I could not pick up TNZ out where I lived. I
> heard that Sherry Reed (former WATE reporter/anchor) was a
> jock there… maybe middays? She was pregnant one summer, and
> the station was supposedly in a old train caboose, with no
> air conditioning. It was not a comfortable situation for
> her, as you would imagine.

Now this is quite a story. It was actually when Mack Sanders owned Kix 95 and was trying to the move the station to Knoxville. He moved the tower from Clinton to Powell...and until he could move the studios to WNOX on Whittle Springs Road...he pulled a trailer by the transmitter buiiding on a hill in the middle of nowhere. It was pretty much a cow pasture next to some woods covered in Kudzu. Great place for us to chunk beer bottles though!! Go there sometime and you'll find a ton of them...ah the memories.

Anyway...this was a trailer that Mack had dresssed up to look like a caboose. WNOX pulled this thing to remotes behind a pickup...complete with the WNOX Cowgirls...ahhh more memories gentlemen. The caboose ended up being the Kix 95 studios that summer...under a tower...with no grounding! Both Jimmy Vineyard and Jack Bean had lightning run in on them while on the air! Jack could not hear for like 15 minutes! We were all very much afraid anytime a storm was in the forecast that summer...and it happened way too much. All completely true! If the board of health had learned the company had a pregnant woman (Sherry) working there with no running water...they probably would have closed the place down! All we had was a lovely outhouse...but tons of great memories that you just cannot buy! Now that boys...is radio!

 

[tibbs]

Two words from the time OKI was the best...does anybody remember?

Boogie check....

-----------------

Different subject --- hey Booger? How'd you
get 99.6 to tune in? I can't get that frequency
on my radio!!!

WRJZ -- where was that? I am getting old.

 

[tibbs]

Re: THE CABOOSE STORY!

Now, that's a serious Caboose --- and a great memory!

I haven't talked to Jimmy Vineyard since the WPFM / Panama City
days (mid 80's) on world's most beautiful white sand beaches.
You have any info on how/where/if he is?


-- amongst other things...


Look at the brightside Booger ---
You had cows...we had sandcrabs...

Beers probably were equally refreshing (and as numerous!)

They don't make cabooses like that anymore, do they!
Well, actually... yeah they do.

XM is missing the best parts of broadcasting.

Okay, enough. See...you really can see radio. :><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by tibbs on 04/13/06 06:36 AM.</FONT></P>

 

[BRH]

> Two words from the time OKI was the best...does anybody
> remember?
>
> Boogie check....
>
> Ah, yes!! "Brother John" (aka "John St. John, "Cadillac Jack"). This was Roy Jaynes, who was an excellent jock and a really good CHR PD as well. He went on to program KKSS Alburquerque, among others. He then came back to east TN in '97 to program Rhythmic CHR WKXJ "Kicks FM" Chattanooga for a couple of years. After that, he went to WALV "Alive 95" Cleveland, TN for a short time and then was back in Knoxville for a very short period a couple of years ago. He did a few shifts on 105.3 and then some work for Dick Broadcasting. But he wasn't around long, and I don't know where he is at currently. Anyone have any info on where Roy Jaynes ("Brother John") is at now? I've heard he got into trouble at a few of the station's he worked at, and didn't have the greatest reputation, but who cares, because he was an excellent jock and PD.

 

[BRH]

> > Two words from the time OKI was the best...does anybody
> > remember?
> >
> > Boogie check....
> >
> > Ah, yes!! "Brother John" (aka "John St. John, "Cadillac
> Jack"). This was Roy Jaynes, who was an excellent jock and
> a really good CHR PD as well. He went on to program KKSS
> Alburquerque, among others. He then came back to east TN in
> '97 to program Rhythmic CHR WKXJ "Kicks FM" Chattanooga for
> a couple of years. After that, he went to WALV "Alive 95"
> Cleveland, TN for a short time and then was back in
> Knoxville for a very short period a couple of years ago. He
> did a few shifts on 105.3 and then some work for Dick
> Broadcasting. But he wasn't around long, and I don't know
> where he is at currently. Anyone have any info on where
> Roy Jaynes ("Brother John") is at now? I've heard he got
> into trouble at a few of the station's he worked at, and
> didn't have the greatest reputation, but who cares, because
> he was an excellent jock and PD.
>
After doing some looking on the web, I found out where Roy Jaynes (aka "Brother John", "Cadillac Jack", "John St. John") is now. He is the PD and morning jock at CHR WSOY "Y103" in Decatur, Ill (www.y103.com). Glad to see he is back into programming again. I haven't heard this station, but I'll guarantee it is probably a fun station to listen to.

 

[dudekind_jack]

Two words from the time OKI was the best...does anybody remember?Boogie check....

ive got a boogie check aircheck from 81 or 82 (well most of it anyways. this is classic...as for hits 100 woki, and WOKI FM 100, yes , they were really great in the 80's. WOKI actually went under the name FM 100 twice in the 80's.. i think maybe in early 80's. and then did it again around the spring of 1987 till the switch to I-100 in febuary of 1988. woki was the only rock station i could pick up in the mid 80's, after our local station here in manchester ky flipped to a gospel music format in 1986.

 

[kjallen]

I was in Knoxville this past weekend and was surprised to hear 100.3 being referred to as “FM 100” again. The only difference is that they are no longer WOKI and the format of course. That brought back some old memories from my childhood to hear “FM 100” on 100.3 again! I wonder why they dropped the "News/Talk" name?

 

[BRice16]

Well, they haven't dropped "NewsTalk" completely, it's still used in some promos and even some of their new liners. As for why, who knows. Seems like a dumb move to me, but they didn't ask me.

 

[Steve]

Um......

Maybe cause Arbitron shows that the most relevant identifier of a radio station is dial position? What's more important, trying to remember which of the six different locations of the dial was/is "News Talk"....or getting listeners to write down FM 100?

Seems like a no-brainer to me.

 

[BRice16]

Your point about dial position is well taken, but I think they had an awful lot of equity built up in the "NewsTalk" name, since they've been using it for over 10 years. Just my opinion.

 

[NOXPD]

Tiny, your S/N should be "Giant" because you nailed it on the head. Very perceptive. However, if you work in the biz, then it's as basic as time and temp! SS