FOOTY & CHIO - BACK ON Y-100 !!!

[top4odj]

Major-
First off, you're welcome. I don't mind sharing what REALLY goes on in the business. It's not all fun and games as listeners would think. It's a business like any other. As for what would have happened had we gone with the I-Man....it's a shoulda, woulda, coulda, didn't. We'll never know "What If". Ratings wise...I really don't remember how the I and Y faired, just that Y was doing better. The first song played on the new 96X was song #16 lol....Again, It was 21 years ago, with as much "Massive" memory my brain has for rehashing, i'm sure there is as much I can't.

My run at Y-100 went from May 1988 to August 1996. After the crash and burn at 96X, I needed to vent out my brain. Thanks to Kid Curry, my long time radio bud, he gave one of my tapes to then PD Steve Perun and I was in. Then Steve left, followed by Frank Amadeo, Rob Roberts, Casey Keating (My favorite of the group to work with) and Rob for his 2nd term. I mostly did late nite / over nite shifts, and in the later years, weekend evenings. It really didn't matter to me, for the most part, I really loved what I did, so to me, any air time was good.

As for pictures I currently have scanned: Gannett Tower, A View from Gannett Tower from the 800 Ft. Level looking toward Downtown Miami from the Miami- Dade / Broward Line, Me just moments after signing off the original 96X Feb. 15th, 1981, Me at the board at I-95 in 1983 & a shot of the Control Room/Studio at I-95 without me.

You (or anyone interested) can send me an email to: [email protected] and in the subject line put Radio Pictures and i'll (as we used to say at the X) Pass It On.

***Note, I am sole owner of the pictures, along with my multi-part story/commentary on this board. I kindly ask that they not be reprinted or used in any form without my "expressed written consent and or approval"***

 

[The-Major]

My run at Y-100 went from May 1988 to August 1996. After the crash and burn at 96X, I needed to vent out my brain. Thanks to Kid Curry, my long time radio bud, he gave one of my tapes to then PD Steve Perun and I was in. Then Steve left, followed by Frank Amadeo, Rob Roberts, Casey Keating (My favorite of the group to work with) and Rob for his 2nd term. I mostly did late nite / over nite shifts, and in the later years, weekend evenings. It really didn't matter to me, for the most part, I really loved what I did, so to me, any air time was good.

I remember all of those PDs during that run. I even remember when Steve Perun did his own television commercials promoting Y-100. As a listener I had real problems with Y-100 during the early-to-middle-1990s. They were essentially a HOT-A.C. station during that time. I even remember the annoying and overused 'without all of that hard rock and rap' catch phrase. I didn't consider Y-100 to be a real TOP 40 station at the time. I strayed away from the 'Y' and drifted over to '103-SHE' to get the rock. I even listened to the short-lived 'MIX-105.9' at the end of 1991 when they actually had a more adventurous playlist than Y-100. They actually played the occasional rap song on there ! Despite this drifting around I could never miss 'Bobby & Footy' in the morning (which you occasionally appeared on in different voices). Rob Roberts ('Two-Bob') returned real early on in 1996, and he turned Y-100 upside down and began including European dance music on its playlist. I consider the late-1990s to be the glory years for Y-100. That's when the 'Y' pretty much led the nation as far as dance music on a pop station was concerned. I could go on and on about the history of Y-100 good and bad (since 1987 anyway), and perhaps I'll write some more in here in the weeks and months to come.

***Note, I am sole owner of the pictures, along with my multi-part story/commentary on this board. I kindly ask that they not be reprinted or used in any form without my "expressed written consent and or approval"***

You don't have to worry about me. I have a strict rule regarding cross-pollination (if you will) regarding my work on this board and the content of my web site. What is on my web site does not go on here. (I think I've only mentioned my web site by name once or twice on this board in the nearly 7 months that I've been on here). Also what I (or anyone) posts on this board does not go on my web site. Basically the only common component between here and there is my name 'The-Major'. (I've been 'Major Hitwaves' for almost 11 years now. Before that I was 'Major Airwaves', and before that I was 'Captain Airwaves' going back to 1993.)

THE MAJOR

 

[954]

Y-100 stories

***Note, I am sole owner of the pictures, along with my multi-part story/commentary on this board. I kindly ask that they not be reprinted or used in any form without my "expressed written consent and or approval"***

Great story.

As I said to you and the Major on the 30th...

"When all is written, a volunteer (you?) needs to edit everyone's contributions into something usable.... rather than just stream of consciousness. And list the names of all the contributors, so they can be listed in the byline.

Then, please e-mail me the completed text, if you want me to use it in South Florida Radio History. (I wouldn't just copy something from a board to put on my web site, for obvious reasons.)

I especially like the April Fools anecdote. That could stand alone.

Thanks, Stuart!"

The tower story, too.

73s from 954

PS "I kindly ask that they not be reprinted or used in any form without my "expressed written consent and or approval" applies to ANYTHING that I post on this board or any other board unless it is labeled news release or otherwise obviously conveyed that it is intended to be copied.

 

[The-Major]

Great story. 73s from 954

First of all it is great to see you back on here as '954'.

Second of all with all of this great talk about 96-X, I-95, and the heritage Y-100 I had temporarily forgotten that Miami had another great TOP 40 radio station within the past 25 years - 'HOT-105'. I'm not talking about the highly-rated Urban-A.C. station of today. I'm talking about the short-lived hit music station of 1988. It was a TOP 40 station that truly sounded like Miami that was heavy into the British pop and dance scene and the Miami freestyle beats that was so prevalent at the South Beach clubs of the time. They also played the heavy hair metal hits of the time all day long at a time when Y-100 would only play them at night. They had a tight playlist for their time. It was not uncommon to hear their top hits every 90 minutes to two hours. That was an extremely fast rotation for 1988 !

HOT-105 sounded like 1988 Miami TOP 40 music. I listened to it all the time. They essentially flipped their format to TOP 40 shortly after I-95 had flipped over to rock as ZETA-4 and 96-X had evolved into POWER-96 and become less mainstream and more urban. Unfortunately that first version of HOT-105 didn't last very long, as Y-100 was a powerhouse at the time (and deservedly so). HOT eventually flipped itself over to hip hop and rap to compete directly with 99-JAMZ. Those two stations are owned by Cox today, but back then (and well into the 1990s) they were fierce competitors.

And so it goes ... The 4TH Miami TOP 40 radio station of the past 25 years has been identified and given its due respect !

THE MAJOR

 

[954]

Great story. 73s from 954

First of all it is great to see you back on here as '954'.

Thanks. The "If you really want to know" stuff looked ridiculous. I never even got an e-mail reply. Just noticed it had changed yesterday!

To admin: Thank You!

And so it goes ... The 4TH Miami TOP 40 radio station of the past 25 years has been identified and given its due respect !

Maybe you (or someone else) would like to write something comparing the four, for radio history?

I'm still a WKBW top-40 fan, circa early 60s.

73s from 954

 

[The-Major]

Thanks. The "If you really want to know" stuff looked ridiculous.

I couldn't have agreed with you more. I just didn't want to say it out loud ! ;D

Maybe you (or someone else) would like to write something comparing the four, for radio history?

I would love to write a Miami TOP 40 radio (modern) history story for RadioPages - once I can find the time to do such a project of mass proportions justice. Give me the rest of the year to work on this.

I would actually include your favourite station of 2002 and 2003 - PARTY-93.1 - : - in that project amongst the other greats because let's face it - PARTY was a glorified TOP 40 station - a Belgian / Dutch TOP 40 station but one nonetheless. Call me crazy, but that's why they call me 'The-Major' - one of the first and original hit music chartographers on the World Wide Web.

I'm still a WKBW top-40 fan, circa early 60s.

Tell me more !

THE MAJOR

 

[954]

Thanks. The "If you really want to know" stuff looked ridiculous.

I couldn't have agreed with you more. I just didn't want to say it out loud ! ;D

Maybe you (or someone else) would like to write something comparing the four, for radio history?

I would love to write a Miami TOP 40 radio (modern) history story for RadioPages - once I can find the time to do such a project of mass proportions justice. Give me the rest of the year to work on this.

Take as much time as you want. There is one article promised to me two years ago that hasn't arrived yet (I won't embarrass her by revealing her name), and I am about to post a funny story Greg Budell (who I am listening to now, while watching FNC) wrote for a magazine last year, that I just got last month!

I would actually include your favourite station of 2002 and 2003 - PARTY-93.1 - : - in that project amongst the other greats because let's face it - PARTY was a glorified TOP 40 station - a Belgian / Dutch TOP 40 station but one nonetheless. Call me crazy, but that's why they call me 'The-Major' - one of the first and original hit music chartographers on the World Wide Web.

I'm still a WKBW top-40 fan, circa early 60s.

Tell me more!

I stopped listening to top-40 in junior high school.

We moved to Fla. the following year -- 40 years ago.

So I never was a fan of WFUN or WQAM, much less Y-100.

But I *was* guest deejay on WFUN! Did you see this?

http://RadioPages.net/radio/wfun1971.html

73s from 954

 

[djeddy]

first off, thank you stuart for the 96x stories... and for all the horrible things Mr. T may have done...we all know he ended up getting his.

talking about budgets and promotion... i remember 96x made free print-out sheets that displays the super 16 for the month..local record stores like Spec's carried them, they usually had them placed on the checkout counter next to the local flyers to clubs and concerts. i even think Spec's actually had a cross-promotion thing with 96x too, they displayed the 16 records from 96x's list.

--

regarding hot 105, wasn't Bill Tanner there first? i could've sworn he had the morning gig during Hot 105's beginnings. Hot 105 was most definitely an awesome station in the beginning..they had bon jovi in the daytime and shannon/alisha disco mixes at night with Bo Griffin, and the Hot 105 Hot Mix Club. that being said, does anybody have any idea what happened to Phil Jones? I remember he went from Hot 105 to power..and was on power for a while 'til mid-late 90's when Kid Curry became PD and literally killed Power 96 for good.

--

also since we're in the 80's here..anybody have stories of the old 98.3 WRHM in Goulds? Rhythm 98?

 

[The-Major]

regarding hot 105, wasn't Bill Tanner there first? i could've sworn he had the morning gig during Hot 105's beginnings. Hot 105 was most definitely an awesome station in the beginning..they had bon jovi in the daytime and shannon/alisha disco mixes at night with Bo Griffin, and the Hot 105 Hot Mix Club.

I'm not sure about Bill Tanner on HOT-105 in the morning. Several weeks ago in here I wrote about the TOP 40 / DANCE version of HOT-105 during much of 1988 when they went head-on with Y-100 (and failed miserably). As I recall they were pretty much jock-less during all of the dayparts, and then they came alive with deejays at night (or late-afternoon). Bo may have been one of the jocks at night. I also remember them mixing hard rock, light rock, pop, urban, and even dance music all day long. I mean they went from Bon Jovi to The Pet Shop Boys to Rick Astley to Stevie B to New Edition to Poison in a typical hour. They were quite simply HOT ! Once they flipped to hip hop and rap in 1989 I went back home to Y-100. I always seem to find my way back home to the heritage Y-100 after experimenting with other stations.

THE MAJOR

 

[top4odj]

first off, thank you stuart for the 96x stories... and for all the horrible things Mr. T may have done...we all know he ended up getting his.

While Karma has it's way of making things right, I have to refrain from any comment's about the situation. I stated my case, but my true feelings will stay mum. It's just the correct thing to do. ;D



talking about budgets and promotion... i remember 96x made free print-out sheets that displays the super 16 for the month..local record stores like Spec's carried them, they usually had them placed on the checkout counter next to the local flyers to clubs and concerts. i even think Spec's actually had a cross-promotion thing with 96x too, they displayed the 16 records from 96x's list.



Yes, Specs, along with Peaches, Ricky's Records and pretty much any place that wanted a free plug kept the survey. It wasn't anything flashy, but it gave the countdown and things that were going on at the station/cross promotions. Basically, it got the name out.
--

regarding hot 105, wasn't Bill Tanner there first? i could've sworn he had the morning gig during Hot 105's beginnings. Hot 105 was most definitely an awesome station in the beginning..they had bon jovi in the daytime and shannon/alisha disco mixes at night with Bo Griffin, and the Hot 105 Hot Mix Club. that being said, does anybody have any idea what happened to Phil Jones? I remember he went from Hot 105 to power..and was on power for a while 'til mid-late 90's when Kid Curry became PD and literally killed Power 96 for good.

Tanner started HOT 105, then he left and eventually came (by the decision of former GM Greg Reed & Myself) to the now Power96, pretty much bringing the whole HOT staff with. I believe somewhere in there Keith Isley, my former PD From I-95, took the helm at HOT 105 for a bit. I don't know about Phil Jones, but when I talk to Kid Curry, i'll ask.

Speaking of Kid, I wouldn't give him all the blame for Power96. While he was the PD, you also had (and still do) 2 people with their fingers in the mix....a/k/a consultants. Bill Tanner & Jerry Clifton (Jerry was the man who gave me my first shot in radio at 96X). There is enough blame to spread around, let alone point to one person.


also since we're in the 80's here..anybody have stories of the old 98.3 WRHM in Goulds? Rhythm 98?

All I can say on this is....While being in a cramped strip mall caddy corner from Cutler Ridge Mall on the 2nd floor, It was run by Funky Frank & Now Power96 PD Tony The Tiger. It was a small ratty place, but they had fun as well as a nice following.


[/quote]

 

[The-Major]

Tanner started HOT 105, then he left and eventually came (by the decision of former GM Greg Reed & Myself) to the now Power96, pretty much bringing the whole HOT staff with. I believe somewhere in there Keith Isley, my former PD From I-95, took the helm at HOT 105 for a bit.

The jigsaw puzzle pieces of my MASSIVE Memory are starting to fit together now. Bill Tanner was at Y-100 from 1974 to 1983. In 1983 he moved to my original hometown of Washington D.C. to take over the longtime A.C. station there - 97.1-WASH. I was 16 years old at the time. WASH had lost virtually all of its 1970s luster by then. It was pretty much in ruin to be totally blunt here. Tanner was brought in to remake the station. The A.C. format didn't work out for him, so he went HOT-A.C. with it. He then tried to replicate his overwhelming success at Y-100 by converting it into a traditional TOP 40 station. That didn't work out too well for him either. He left in 1985 to return to Miami to start-up 'HOT-105' as a Rhythmic TOP 40 station. The next year he moved on over to the new 'POWER-96'. 'HOT-105' continued on (as more of a traditional TOP 40 station) until 1989, and then it flipped to hip hop and rap. When I picked-up on 'HOT-105' in 1988 it was in its dying jockless days. They were trying everything at the time from hard rock to Miami freestyle to British pop-dance - back-to-back ! They took risks. They wanted to survive. It didn't work out for them at the end.

THE MAJOR