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Buffalo Favorite Buffalo Radio Stations of the 90’s

B

BuffaloRadioFan

A continuation of the thread I posted a couple of weeks ago, but now focusing on favorite Buffalo radio stations of the 90’s. Local ownership was being replaced by corporate radio groups, AM music was being replaced by news, sports, talk, FM formats with increasingly narrower playlists. Unfortunately, IMO not many stations that stood out, but here are my thoughts…​


1. WGRQ 97 Rock - The reboot that started in ‘88 was probably at its high point. A solid DJ lineup with Larry Norton, Anita West, Carl Russo, John Hager, JP and others. If you needed your Zep, Rush, AC-DC and other classic rock staples then you found your comfort zone. Unfortunately, it was starting to get a little stale.

2. WHTT 104.1 - Probably the peak of the oldies or classic hits format. Late 50s to mid 70s playlist. Heritage DJ’s like Dan Nevearth, Tom Shannon, Craig Matthews and others. Very enjoyable listen - real pros at the mic there.

3. WGR 550 - They had a News-Sports format that competed with WBEN during most of the decade. Roughalong the edges, but lots of talent - both past and present. Art Wander, Clip Smith and Ray Marks were some of the grizzled veterans while some young talent got the chance to grow - Tom Bauerle, Barbara Burns, Eileen Buckley, Lynne Dixon, etc. And for a brief time JR Gach who kind of sounded like Rush Limbaugh and had lots of air presence.

4/5. WJYE/WYRK - They weren’t my preferred formats but they knew who their audience was and delivered the goods. JYE with its AC and YRK with country. Both with strong on air talent and very professional sounding.

6. WEDG 103.3 - Buffalo’s first stab at a 90’s Alternative/New Rock Station. A poor man’s version of CFNY, but was better than nothing. Probably the best thing to come out of it was the pairing of Shredd and Ragan which continues to this day now on 97 Rock.

I have to say that most of my listening during that time period was CFNY 102.1 The Edge. A who’s who of Toronto radio talent and a great playlist that sounded fresh and cool - perfectly timed for the rise of grunge music, lots of 80’s alternative too. Humble and Fred, Maie Potts, Alan Cross, Kim Hughes, Martin Streek, Brother Bill - just a fantastic station. Q-107 was pretty solid which was probably a better version of 97 Rock - but in small doses, 97.7 HTZ-FM was pretty interesting too, particularly in the first half of the decade. If you were over 40, CHFI 98.1 was a nice alternative to WHTT or WJYE if you were looking for a slightly different playlist - lots of heritage Toronto DJ’s there too.

By the end of the decade, this thing called Napster and internet radio was starting to come into play. The seeds of radio’s decline were planted. You didn’t need radio anymore to discover or hear your new music or find whatever you were looking for. New technology in the next decade including iTunes, the iPod and ultimately music streaming would change radio forever.
 
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You bring up WEDG and it being a poor man's CFNY. The funny thing is, those stations were having a decent legal battle over who, exactly, had the rights to the Edge positioner. CFNY came out with one of the funniest radio ads you're ever going to see(and I think WUTV was airing it-which made sense; that station was on cable systems all over southern Ontario). The end of the ad was epic: the logo for 102.1 the Edge was on screen(sort of; the word Edge was blocked out)and the on-air VO said "102.1 the (BLEEP)."
 
Radio-Bored-Op said:
majic 102
and then everyone else
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That version Majic 102 didn't last too far into the 90's. IIRC it was sometime in March or April of 1991 when the plug was pulled on CHR and Hot AC began on then WMJQ. I also seem to remember it was fittingly Janet Jackson's Miss You Much with it's cold ending 'that's the end?' as the last CHR song that played.
 
Andy Travis said:
FM 101 The Planet (CKEY-FM)

A much more diverse take on alternative and modern music, which eventually led to a dance format.
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It was more notable for having Jon Summers doing wakeup duty for that station than having Kerry Gray do PM drive. At least HE had experience doing that type of format, with one of his stops being the legendary WEQX-FM in Manchester, VT(which is still alternative after all these years).
 
ckg279 said:
It was more notable for having Jon Summers doing wakeup duty for that station than having Kerry Gray do PM drive. At least HE had experience doing that type of format, with one of his stops being the legendary WEQX-FM in Manchester, VT(which is still alternative after all these years).
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Hearing Jon introduce an REM song did sound odd, but he did give the station some name recognition and a glimmer of hope that they were trying to be a bigger station than they had been. BTW - I still don’t get why Jon isn’t in the Buffalo Broadcaster hall of fame.
 
WKSE, Kiss 98.5 deserves a mention here. While many CHR's nationwide struggled in the first half of the 90's, WKSE held its own and also didn't ignore the popular sounds of the time. What I mean is, some CHR's were actually Hot AC's, some were very Rhythmic, some were very grunge-heavy like WHTZ was for a few year.
WKSE was still an "All The Hits" Top 40 with a solid line-up of on-air talent and a fun station to listen to.
 
I have several off-air recordings of the Nerve which I ripped from cassette on to my phone and I still listen to them from time to time. Yes, the liners were cool and so were the ads - they all fit the format.

They ran Stern in morning drive but unlike many stations who took his long breaks (I think from :45 to TOH) as a chance to run all ads, they played a few tunes and ads. I remember them playing Cake "The Distance" a lot as the first song as entering the break.
 
When news broke out, WGR broke in! I miss that station. (for the news updates)
Magic 102 was a great hit music station.
WKSE was also good.
107.7? I think that was a nice easy listening station,
but I forget when that was. I enjoyed that station a lot more than "Buffalo's unique way to relax" Smooth Jazz92.
I don't really know what to say about WBUF FM 92 though, because they hold the record for most format changes in Buffalo, and possibly anywhere.
They were a pretty good station as Mix 92.9, but somehow that format didn't bring in the ratings they'd like to have.
Smooth Jazz, Alice, Dancin' oldies...nothing worked for them? Really? Wow. So they went with Jack FM instead of bringing back Mix...oh well.
 
ckg279 said:
107.7 was easy listening WEZQ(Eazy 107.7)for the first couple of years of the 90s, but switched to New Country 107.7 WNUC in 1992.
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I still liked the easy listening much better than the Smooth Jazz that came a bit later (1995) on 92.9.
I still prefer it over Smooth Jazz today.
 


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