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Favorite former PGH Radio Stations

S

Sahisko

Guest
To perhaps pump some fresh blood in this board, I am curious to hear everyones favorite former radio station that was Pittsburgh based. There have been quite a few of them and for me I wish I was around to hear a lot of the older ones, but I am just curious to hear what everyone listened to and what they enjoyed most about their former radio station.

For me it was WDRV aka "96.1 The River" I am not sure the years of this station, it was after The Variety 96 years but I am thinking late 90s and it was only on for 1-2 years before becoming Mix 96.1 then becoming Kiss in 2000. If you remember, it seemed like Chancellor Media (later AMFM and then later Clear Channel) used to flip that station's format every year. But The River played bands like matchbox 20, hootie and the blowfish, etc. In fact, I think they made themselves known as the 'station that wouldn't play Hanson (which was a awful kiddie pop band in the 1990s) The morning shift was held down by a man named "Bender" who left B94 to be the new morning host. He is the only host I can think of.

I wish I could remember other older stations like WTAE FM and such but another favorite which a lot of people would agree on is old B94. I mean, comon, it was Pittsburgh even though the music they played was not my taste.
 
Unfortunately while I was growing up in the sticks of Altoona and before FM channels were on cable, the only 4 channels I could pull in from the Burgh were WTAE FM, WBZZ FM, WDVE FM, and WYDD FM. All were dang good radio stations, tight mixes, awesome jocks. I can remember some of the jocks back then such as O Brien and Garry, Keri Griffith, Steve Hansen, Michelle Michaels, and the list of more that who are out of radio or still in goes on and on.

YDD was my personal favorite. Seemed like all the jocks had deep bassy voices and using the old reverb box a little. Ahhh, those were the days of GOOD RADIO, Where you chose your own music, cued it up, and actually segued it. And when that 45 had a scratch, you just bumped the needle a little to move it on. LOL.

Too bad I wasn't born about 10 years earlier that I was.
 
The Revolution had some of the best dj's...the fact that most of them are in major markets now proves it...booker...philly, whitefish...san fran, ally syndicated, bunch of part-timers are in big places...all has to say something...
 
And when that 45 had a scratch, you just bumped the needle a little to move it on.

On the GOOD stations, it was a 33 1/3, not a 45.
 
clangham said:
YDD was my personal favorite. Seemed like all the jocks had deep bassy voices and using the old reverb box a little.
Click to expand...

That reverb actually the result of YDD having one of the worst sounding studios acoustically! It would later be surpassed by WMYG/WRRK's studios in the Trimont and at Parkway Center.
 
WYDD - I think I still have the tape I made of the "Beatles A to Z" weekend.

WXDX AM - on 1510. Were playing "alternative" music before anyone else was, if I recall. Changed rather abruptly to an R & B station and then to a religious station.

and of course, the Revolution. I wonder if it was still around if it would still be better than the X.
 
There is only ONE former radio station in Pittsburgh- and it is 106.7 The Force.

Horrible morning show- but they had the weekly porn stars so who cared?

Best rock music format I've ever heard. Bar none.
 
The short lived WXXP, 100.7 for me, with Cris Winter and Phil Kurzik (sp?) as jocks and being able to listen to bands The Smiths, The Cure, Psychadelic Furs and local acts like The Affordable Floors. Of course they were only around for a couple of years, showing that what I like and what is marketable isn't always the same thing.
 
KQV early 70's
13Q
WTAE (OBG, Brinkman/Quinn, Berns, Cope Savran)
DVE
YDD
96KX
WPEZ (Radio that happenin' in the City of champions)
Magic Y97 (when I worked there)
B94
 
corporateradiosucks said:
WYDD - I think I still have the tape I made of the "Beatles A to Z" weekend.

WXDX AM - on 1510. Were playing "alternative" music before anyone else was, if I recall. Changed rather abruptly to an R & B station and then to a religious station.

and of course, the Revolution. I wonder if it was still around if it would still be better than the X.
Click to expand...

I was a former DJ at X 15 WXVX from 1992-1995. The format actually went R & B in 1996, before going all 80's in 1997. I belive it went religious in 1998. Those were the good ole days of alternative music.
 
What the heck, as long as we're listing any and every station we can remember, how about:

KQV-FM, in the days before John "Brother John" Rygren 24/7. It had an interesting percursor to "lite rock" format.

WAMO-FM when it was "Radio Free Pittsburgh".

WAMO-FM when it had Ken "Brother Love" Reeth playing the precursor to AOR. Most notable on that incarnation of WAMO-FM was Porky Chedwick trying to update his act a decade after his prime. Nobody on the planet could do early R&B radio as well as Pork the Tork, the Platter Pushin' Papa. His pioneer work in early rock and roll radio earned him a top slot in any radio hall of fame. But nobody on local radio ever sounded so much like a fish out of water as The Bossman attempting to recast himself as "Electric Pork".

WZUM in the days of "Underground Explosion", going head-to-head with WAMO-FM on a dinky, day-time station. Especially great was Jimmy "Poll" Schulis (probably spelled that name wrong) calling himself "Brother Hood". His thick ethnic accent was actually an asset.

KQV-FM when it was playing John "Brother John" Rygren 24/7. So it wasn't the exact same thing as what we know as voice-tracking today. Still, it was one and only one DJ on at all parts of the day and night, playing album cuts in stereo.

WARO in Canonsburg when it carried the BBC World Service during the hours it was on the air.

That same station, with different call letters, attempting commercial success playing popular classical music. At the time, I worked in an office with a boss who was a classical music fan, and who insisted that classical music be the background music. He signed our checks, and he wanted classical, so we listened to classical. But where WQED-FM seemed to go out of its way to find obscure classical "deep cuts" no one ever heard of, the station on 540 played popular classical music, like the 1812 Overture. The only other thing I remember about it was that it didn't last very long.

WRYT, playing "beautiful music" on 1250 in the early 60's in between being WCAE and WTAE.

There were all the other elevator music format stations on FM in the 60's and 70's, like WKJF.

And don't forget WNUF with the Big Band sound.
 
Radio_Realist said:
KQV-FM when it was playing John "Brother John" Rygren 24/7. So it wasn't the exact same thing as what we know as voice-tracking today. Still, it was one and only one DJ on at all parts of the day and night, playing album cuts in stereo.
Click to expand...

After Brother John but before DVE, KQV-FM played taped shows featuring, among others Dave Herman from NY and the late JJ Jackson, later to become an original MTV VJ.....
 
After Brother John but before DVE

Yes, I do recall that for a brief spell they started working additional voices into the "Love" package mix. If my memory is correct (and we're talking a long time ago), they had fifteen minute reels of programming that played somewhat randomly. After a while, it got so that listeners knew that once they heard song "X", it would always be followed by "Y" and "Z". I also recall that they had snippets of the Beach Boys singing harmony vocals that they'd use as filler between reels. They also seemed to use a large number of PSA's from the "Do It Now" foundation.
 
Part Timer- I'd never heard of WPEZ- but that is a great tag (Radio That's Happenin' in the City of Champions!- I like it!)!!!

Can you tell me more about the station?
 
It's now known as 3WS..... The original calls were WWSW-FM, which of course they are again today; WPEZ came on the air after 13Q playing the hits in FM stereo (many people also forget that 13Q debuted as a simulcast on 99.7, which later split off and became WSHH).

The original lineup featured Buzz Brindle and Big Jim Ryan and it did very well for a few years. Later it morphed into an early version of Hot AC with Chilly Billy Cardille doing morning drive. "Radio that's happenin' in the City of Champions" came along at the very end, right before they went back to being 3WS. Rob Sisco, a young PD from San Diego came in and brought back high-energy top 40, with John DeBella from Philly in the morning and Kelly Randall in the afternoon.

On a personal note, as a college student, I came really close to getting my first weekend gig there, but finished second to a guy who had some experience at WJOI. I think his name was Jim Merkel or something like that... (and now you know... the REST of the story...)

Good DAY!!!!
 
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