For Midwest Clubber and Scott Zorn...

[justthenumbers]

I've uploaded a 45-minute aircheck of WMGI/Terre Haute from July 1995:

http://www.mediafire.com/?nlmigx5dqzm

 

[szorn]

Thank you! I have lost my two 90 minutes cassettes of MIX-FM from that time. All dance music lovers should listen to this. We were lucky from 1995-96!!!

Z

 

[szorn]

Ok, dance fans, do not cry foul play on the above MIX-FM aircheck. Surprised me! It almost sounded like a HOT AC hybrid Adult CHR in the summer of 95. Not really how I remembered it. They certainly moved into dance-intensive music later in 95 and I know in 1996 "the year of the MIX". You can hear hints of their dance direction in the above aircheck, but mainly rhythmic to soulful hit music. They were playing Corona, Corina, Lissette Melendez and others during this time just not on July 16th, 1995! My airchecks (wherever they are) reveal the "golden age" of MIX-FM. I will try and find them and list the songs here. I appreciate the clip though. The DJs, sweepers, jingles were a great trip down memory lane. I just remember more dance than that in a hour's time -- much more!

Z

 

[justthenumbers]

Yeah, I had a feeling that you might be a bit disappointed in what I posted. That's why I didn't say much in my original message. I just wanted to confirm that what you have described on this forum is better. Can't wait to see a list of what was played in better days. And if you have any desire to get the aircheck converted to MP3 or some other format that would make it easy to share, let me know

I found it interesting that the legal ID said "WMGI Terre Haute-Indianapolis". Did/does this station have any measurable listenership in Indy? I lived in Carmel, IN (a suburb of Indianapolis for those not familiar with the area) in the late 80's and early 90's -- while I wasn't quite the radiogeek I am now, I used to scan the dial and I don't remember ever hearing WMGI. At night, however, I do recall being able to pick up CHRs from other nearby markets from time to time, such as WZWZ "Z93" in Kokomo and WAZY "Z96" from Lafayette.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Yeah, when Mix fm first launched in FEB 95, they spent the first 6 months or so seuging from their former AC Magic 101, into the new MIX fm,,, they were almost kind of a Rhythmic AC at the time,, even including late 70s disco, and early 80s rhythmic like Rick James.... It was actually more of 96 and 97 that they were Dance intensive, but they remained Dance Friendly until like 2000,,, but not near what they were in 96,,,,The Year of the MIX,,, also during 96 they raised a ton of money for local chairities in that time...

I never understood why they IDed as terre Haute Indianapolis,,, the signal was listenable there before 100.9 moved into Indy,, but it was no where near City Grade,,,, but I do recall them getting alot of phone calls from people saying they were listening in Indianapolis,, including people at the Indy Airport that used to regularly listen and call in from the control tower...HEHE... They did have a pretty good signal on the far west side of Indy where the airport is,,, and it was listenable in the car on the south side.. but the signal was non existent on the east side and north side. BTW,,, I think that station in Kokomo your talking about was Z-92.5 Now an AC with the same name... I dont think they were ever on 93..... And yes WAZY used to be quite listenabl in Indy before Hot 96 signed on in 91...

 

[justthenumbers]

Yeah, when Mix fm first launched in FEB 95, they spent the first 6 months or so seuging from their former AC Magic 101, into the new MIX fm,,,

OK, that explains why they kept saying "THE NEW" Mix FM. I had no idea they had signed on only a few months prior.

BTW,,, I think that station in Kokomo your talking about was Z-92.5 Now an AC with the same name... I dont think they were ever on 93.....

They've always been on 92.5, but they used to "round up" their frequency for the name..at some point, they changed the name from Z-93 to Z-92.5. I have proof on a tape somewhere

 

[szorn]

Clubber cleared some things up for me. I moved to Danville, IL (within range of MIX-FM) in June of 1995 and found 100.7 for the first time. Did not realize they were transitioning at that time. I just remember that every time I tuned in, which was every single time in the car and at home, the dance would increase by the hour! I remember Kelly Green talking to a trucker who was on the I-465 westside bypass in Indy. I think Beau Richards told me once that they included Indy in their ID because the company that owned them was located in Indy. Faint memory of that but I think that's why. Just found my one MIX-FM tape I kept.WOW! I would be impressed if a majority of guys on this board would know some of these songs. Glad I found this one! I'll list the songs later on here. Stay tuned....

 

[szorn]

OK - Here goes Side A of vintage MIX-FM 1995-96:

All or Nothing --Miisa
Take Me Higher --Diana Ross (surprisingly good)
We've Got It Going On --Backstreet Boys
Funky Situation --Tag Team
Fairground --Simply Red (sample of the Good Men's "Give It Up")
Slip n Slide --Tia
Take Your Chance --Fun Factory
Now and Forever --Lil Suzy
Beautiful Life --Ace of Base
Every Little Thing I Do --Soul For Real
Be My Lover --LaBouche
Hooked On You --Silk
Tell Me --Groove Theory

Not bad!! Listening to Side B now, kickin' it off with the Outhere Brothers!!!

Z

 

[szorn]

And now for Side B: (MIX-FM Terre Haute, 1995-96)

Boom, Boom, Boom --Outhere Brothers
Sally --Earthtones
Santa Maria --Tatjana
Missing (Dance Mix) --Everything But The Girl
Every Shade Of Blue --Bananarama
When I Fall In Love --Lil Suzy
Move It To The Rhythm --Technotronic
Another Night (remixed) --Real McCoy
This Is How We Do It --Montell Jordan
As I Watch You Dance --Tia
Stayin' Alive --N'Trance
Set You Free --Planet Soul

They played stuff like: Rhythmcentric, LeClick, Mr. President (Coco Jumbo), Cardigans' Love Fool remix, Collage, ALL THE TIME!!!! This was a truly great radio station and like Clubber said, live and local with tons given to local charities, live on location every week, great DJs, great morning show (Beau and Mike in the morning). I'm sure CHRles knows all the above tunes but some were pretty obscure. Now it's just a typical CHR, oh well. :-\

PS -- I meant to say in two posts above "I would be impressed if a majority of guys here would know ALL of the songs" not some! Brain dead today!

 

[justthenumbers]

Was this an UNSCOPED aircheck, meaning that all of those songs aired consecutively?!? Or was a "mix" (of MIX-FM) tape, meaning that only dance songs were recorded over a period of time?

Either way...I just GOTTA get a copy of that aircheck from you. If you can't record it to MP3, can you copy it to another tape and send it to me? I'll pay for the tape and the shipping! E-mail me at [email protected] pretty please

 

[szorn]

I recorded it song by song. But that sort of consecutive order was not unusual at times. The only songs sprinkled in at the time would be stuff from TLC, Smashmouth, maybe Hootie and other 'rock' band stuff but only a couple of those per hour. If it wasn't real dance, it was rhythmic in nature with two or three pop/rock songs per hour. You'll hear the DJs on this tape talk of songs coming up and it is almost always dance/r&b artists. E-mail is on the way...

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Alot of those songs that are thought of as AC today where part of the CHR music fare at the time... I think it was mainly late 95, into 98 when they were Dance Friendly cause in either 97 or 98 they sponsored Dance mix USAs Dance across America and had Artists like LIL Suzy, and Jocelyn Enriquez come to Terre Haute to do a live show at,,Of all places a Middle School....

Later in the 90s they played stuff like LE Click-Call ME,,, and 3rd party-Can you feel it.... And even right befor me and my ex hooked up you could still hear songs likes Lady-Hear me tonight, and IO-Rapture tastes so sweet, and a few more..... Daniel Beddignfield-Gotta get through this,,, and Dirty Vegas-Days go by,,, plus Eifel 65-Blue,,, and Move your body...

 

[justthenumbers]

Alot of those songs that are thought of as AC today where part of the CHR music fare at the time... I think it was mainly late 95, into 98 when they were Dance Friendly cause in either 97 or 98 they sponsored Dance mix USAs Dance across America and had Artists like LIL Suzy, and Jocelyn Enriquez come to Terre Haute to do a live show at,,Of all places a Middle School....

And that may have been a problem.

Years ago, I seem to recall reading a comment from someone involved with WMGI with regards to why they dropped their Dance lean. His response was something along the lines of "too many kid and teen listeners, not enough adult listeners".

These days, a dance-leaning station would probably do better with young adults than with kids or teens.

 

[szorn]

PD at the time Beau Richards told me the same thing plus people in Terre Haute didn't like MIX-FM becoming the "rap" station in town. Total ignorance on the listener level, dance does not equal rap -- rap was coming in the form of thug hip-hop that took over Top 40 up until recent months. If they only knew then...