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Favorite former PGH Radio Stations

13Q became "1320 WKTQ" the station that "Keeps You Hummin' Along" (arrgh) in early 1979, January or February, as I recall, concurrent with Dave Mason leaving the PD position to be replaced by Tim Powell (referred to by Don Bombard on numerous occasions as "The Antichrist"). Powell was WKTQ GM Steve Berger's hand picked PD, after getting rid of the last of former Nationwide radio president Dick Janssen's crew (Bob Savage was Janssen's pick for the PD job; he hired Mason, Quinn, myself and Bombard after the Nationwide takeover in early 1977; when Janssen left the company, Berger started making his political moves, eventually taking him to Columbus and the presidency of the company). Savage was fired, then things were made uncomfortable for everyone Savage brought in, myself included.

The resulting AC format, with a very wide playlist and virtually no control over clashes of music styles, pretty much decimated what little improvement we were able to bring to the frequency (13Q under Savage had the only upward-trending rating book in the station's history during spring of 1978; it started out huge with Buzz Bennett and company in '73, only to slowly erode over the following four years as FM competitors WPEZ and, later, WXKX siphoned audience away). I did not work there during this time, as I left for St. Louis and KWK at the end of 1978. Don Bombard can tell you legendary stories of train-wreck segues that could break the neck of even a "Jack/Bob/Ben/Ted FM" fan.

By the time I came back to town in April of 1981, WKTQ had returned to the WJAS brand and "Music Of Your Life", which made my father-in-law in Irwin a happy guy. I do not know the exact date of the flip, but it was during the first quarter of 1981, because Don had moved to NYC just before we returned, and he did a few shifts on the new WJAS before he moved.
 
Thanks Cary! Knew is was before I graduated high school. At this point in my life 1250 WTAE was always on my radio, but I did flip to you guys at KTQ.

If memory serves me right, you came back and launched Hitradio 96. I still have the full page ad (yellow now) that ran in R&R. Did you go directly to Orlando after this?
 
Thanks, Cary. I remember the last (and first) days of 13Q/WKPQ/WKTQ and you reminded me of a few things. I had forgotten that Don Bombard was there at the end as well as at the beginning of WJAS. Toward the end of WKTQ, he was playing some wild stuff (my favorite was "Angel in the Morning" by The Five, a Pittsburgh punk band at the time). The last week or so seemed like anarchy and was fun to listen to. And then, long forgotten by me, I indeed remember what sounded like a stoic Don Bombard-turned-staff-announcer breaking in to MOYL reels with "WJAS Pittsburgh...now back to more of the Music of Your Life". This went on for a few months IIRC and a few other WKTQ guys were also sounding a bit like fish out of water.
 
Grizzled Vet, lash: I spoke to Don Bombard (aka Bob Shannon) over the weekend. He thinks he may have indeed been the last guy on WKTQ. BTW, you can hear him tomorrow (Tuesday 6-12-07, 1pm Eastern) on WLNG in Eastern Long Island doing a radiothon for animal shelters. www.wlng.com . Don, and the rest of the 13Q guys, were totally out of place there. Oh yeah, Don reminded me of one of those great train wrecks on WKTQ: "You Belong To Me" by Jo Stafford into "Purple Haze" by Hendrix. Lord help us.

Here's the WHTX story: I was the production director of WTAE/WXKX in 1981 and 82 and also the studio producer for the football and basketball broadcasts. When Bobby Christian left in early 83, Capt. Showbiz (Ted Atkins) gave me the nod to be PD of WXKX, which was about to become WHHT "Hits 96" in an attempt to block a suspected move by WDSY to become a Mike Joseph "Hot Hits" format a la WCAU-FM (apparently, it worked since WDSY is still country). Ultimately, the station rolled out as WHTX (we talked them out of the hard-to-pronounce WHHT callsign) and the logo was changed to "Hitradio 96".

The plan Mark Roberts and I wanted to carry out was the wholesale move of WTAE to FM, moving the AM to news/talk/sports with Cope, Savran and Steigerwald anchoring major shifts on the AM, and OB&G, Quinn, Don Berns, Susie Barbour and the rest moving to the FM. But there was pressure from outside forces to keep a CHR format on the FM, from where I will leave to you to guess. We also had a plan to rehab the WXKX format (it had become a deep-tracks laden Rock 40 under Christian). We would have called it "Kix FM", and, musically, it would have been a new-wave leaning mix of CHR and "Rock of the 80s" artists like Duran Duran, Psychedelic Furs, INXS, Talking Heads, etc. This approach was nixed for the aformentioned reasons. We had even produced a "Kix FM" shotgun jingle that never made it to air. Ultimately, though, the music of CHR moved that way anyway, and Hitradio 96 played a lot of that during 83 and 84. Despite great ratings, Atkins let me go in early 1984 (those same outside forces). I returned to Rochester in 85 (there were a lot of Rochester-Pittsburgh connections back then; Bob Savage, Dave Mason, Greg Stevens, Lanny Frattare among them), then to Detroit and Greenville-Spartanburg before the Orlando assignment was offered.
 
Cary, Lash -- Somehow, it popped into my head that Randy Brooks was one of the guys who made the trip from WKTQ to WJAS. In addition to Don, I have very vivid memories of Randy calmy and patinetly reading his MOYL liners and then (in my imagination a least) banging the solenoid remote play butten to start the tape reel...and returning to Billboards classified section ;). In all seriousness, he sounded great...but what a waste of talent.
 
106.7 the force was an interesting interloper into pburgh radio.....having evolved from WBVP/FM beautiful music to AC WWKS........and then the force was put together........

what has not been mentioned here is that in the late 70's The force (WWWKS/WBVP FM) am sister staion was quite a full service station...as 1230/WBVP.........the station actually got 2's in p burgh in the late 70's/very early 80's

some of the folks who worked there include "earl the pearl lewis" who went to 13Q and then Y 100 in miami...
Dave Deforest....now on VOA in Washington DC/ Rick Pantel, also last heard on VOA.....Dennis Atkins , Known as Dennis Atkinson in his KQV and WTAE news days....Bill Kelly....the ops mgr ,who is now a Clear Channel market manager...Tony Scott ( knowm as actor Sam Nicotero) and some more folks......including a part time stint by Pam Carnegie....sister of Radio Columnist/Publisher and one time KQV'er Jim Carnegie....

the radio station patterned itself after 1220/WGAR in Cleveland....and it worked...........

ahh those were the days............but as carly simon sang "these ARE the gold old days"
 
radiomayor2 said:
ahh those were the days............but as carly simon sang "these ARE the gold old days"
Click to expand...

That song sold a lot of ketchup in this town back in the 70's! :D
 
radiomayor2 said:
what has not been mentioned here is that in the late 70's The force (WWWKS/WBVP FM) am sister staion was quite a full service station...as 1230/WBVP.........the station actually got 2's in p burgh in the late 70's/very early 80's
Click to expand...

Well, as long as we're mentioning the late Seventies, how about the FM? Around 1978 it became "KISS One Oh Six Seven," a progressive rock station that filled in the gap when YDD went mainstream. It was probably the best "free form" station ever in this market. Bobbie Vaughn, most recently of WKPL, worked there, as did Sara Lockard.
 
I remember WWKS best for an automation system that delivered time checks that were often about three hours and eight minutes incorrect.

Bobbie Vaughn had a deeper voice than Ed Barrett.
 
radiomayor2 said:
what has not been mentioned here is that in the late 70's The force (WWWKS/WBVP FM) am sister staion was quite a full service station...as 1230/WBVP.........the station actually got 2's in p burgh in the late 70's/very early 80's
some of the folks who worked there include "earl the pearl lewis" who went to 13Q and then Y 100 in miami...
Dave Deforest....now on VOA in Washington DC/ Rick Pantel, also last heard on VOA.....Dennis Atkins , Known as Dennis Atkinson in his KQV and WTAE news days....Bill Kelly....the ops mgr ,who is now a Clear Channel market manager...Tony Scott ( knowm as actor Sam Nicotero) and some more folks......including a part time stint by Pam Carnegie....sister of Radio Columnist/Publisher and one time KQV'er Jim Carnegie....
the radio station patterned itself after 1220/WGAR in Cleveland....and it worked...........
Click to expand...


Don't forget Chris Shovlin (now working for Renda) as the news director and ace play-by-play guy on all the HS sports. And there was local legend Jim Reynolds, who was morning man for much of the time. He got into the doghouse at one point and exiled to overnights, but he bounced back. He was a short-term news reader at KQV at one point, but basically spent his time at WBVP after winning a junior announcer contest with the Pirates in the late '50s. Jim did at least one term as mayor of Beaver Falls. Sadly, he passed away a while back, but stories of the "Ol' Teddy Bear" abound.

Later on WBVP started hiring guys with weird voices like Bob Martin and Randy Buckwalter. Dave Felts was doing their talk show when they got national publicity from Ronald Reagan's phone call, his first media appearance after the attempt on his life.
 
and more.....imus.......john lanigan....pittsburgh dj Stoney richards from WDSY spent some time there as well..
"emperor Joe Mayer" ........

wish radio could do a 21st centiry version but the suits say "it won't play"
 
jim reynolds, unfortunately, got himself into several bits of trouble........and somehow the folks in B.F. still loved him.......

re: his stint at KQV.....jim never learned to drive...so he took the train from beaver falls to pittsburgh and slept on a couch in one of the studios...
 
LIVE FROM THE LINCOLN LUNCH COUNTER.. .MIX JAMZ 100.7 what other local station made two contemporary stations pay closer attention and either swallow (EZ Communications buys WMXP and flips to K-Bear after stunt with K-Garth) and copy Hot 106 becomes Hot 106 Jamz "with the on-air drop..." Now let's spank the B in '93, Hot 106 -- JAMZ"

Jay Silvers in the Morning

Tony Q Foxx in the Afternoon
DC Taylor at Night


THE FAMOUS ONE - JJ SOLOMON (www.myspace.com/jjsolomonradio)
 
JJSOLOMON said:
LIVE FROM THE LINCOLN LUNCH COUNTER.. .MIX JAMZ 100.7 what other local station made two contemporary stations pay closer attention and either swallow (EZ Communications buys WMXP and flips to K-Bear after stunt with K-Garth) and copy Hot 106 becomes Hot 106 Jamz "with the on-air drop..." Now let's spank the B in '93, Hot 106 -- JAMZ"

Jay Silvers in the Morning

Tony Q Foxx in the Afternoon
DC Taylor at Night


THE FAMOUS ONE - JJ SOLOMON (www.myspace.com/jjsolomonradio)
Click to expand...

One thing I liked about Mix Jamz 100.7...they seemed to pick up where the former WNRJ (Energy 105) left off in 1990, after the Salem acquisition. No station other than NRJ sounded like Mix Jamz, and it's never been replicated since.
 
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