Former FM CHRs in THE VILLE

[Mid West Clubber]

If I remember correctly, one time in summer of 1991 I turned the radio to 103.9 only to find a CHR called Kiss, which was airing AT-40.... How long did this last??? Also, ive been told im off my rocker on this one, but was 102.3 ever a Chr. It seems like sometime around 91-92 they had a format pretty close to CHR, but I could have been mistaken it for a more energetic Hot Ac. This was way after the Original LRS Rock Format, but before the newer LRS on 102.3... Im pretty sure it was called Mix, which we know did exist, but I am thinking they were pretty close to a CHR, if not a straight ahead CHR... I know MIX was a Hot Ac through most its life, but didnt they gamble with CHR for a year or two?

 

[hotpatrick2004]

Yep you are correct sir it was kiss 104 and frosty stillwell and tony cruz did a morning show and it was pretty good. Frosty now works for the cbs talk station klsx in los angeles. But djx ended that with putting country on 104.But can you all believe it a station called kiss that clear channel didn't own ;D The station that is the home of john and jeff overnights on 1080. You all know where mr cruz works i am sure as for lrs that station i swear every since qmf went on the air over 2 decades ago they just can't catch a break after realizing that qmf was kicking there butt they went after djx then they went to what is now called a hot ac. Then in 1988 lrs went to rock 102 then they stunted with that computer thing and new years day 1991 went to mix 102 and then in 1997 went back to the walrus and lrs 102 which 2 years later became love 102.3(yuk) which morphed into a few years later the max and then blue chip bought the soft christian favorites at 105.1 and resurrected wlrs as a alternative station and now lrs(in name only) has morphed into a rock station so that is what i can recall about both. Mix 102 was pretty rocking towards the end. Very mellow when it went on the air. Funny story ron micheals he was a jock on rock 102 and now on the fox well once they flipped to mix he was working the pillow talk show a love song show and he started this barry manilow song and just after he started it he came on the air i said i can't do this i just can't and took the barry manilow off. It was very amusing.

So i have come to the conclusion the calls WLRS are cursed and should be retired.

 

[radiorob2.0]

The Kincers, who included Buddy Kincer (former Buddy Kay of WAKY and Buddy Scott of WGBF-AM Evansville and B-96 Chicago) purchased the signal from WFIA. It was a tight sounding station that could, but didn't hang on long enough to catch DJX. Eventually it was purchased by the owner of DJX (Great Trails?). It then spun the format wheel like 1080 AM. That included Country before the move to 98.9, 70's, Classic Hits before the move to 107.7, smooth jazz and several others.

It's worth noting Buddy Scott commissioned an audio engineer to set up the station's incredible processing. Even through most of the format changes of the 90's the processing stayed the same and sounded wonderful. Following the demise of Kiss they simulcasted DJX on 103.9. A former DJX jock told me he would monitor 103.9 in the studio because it sounded better than 99.7.

As long as we're talking about CHR on FM, WKLO simulcasted on 99.7 in the sixties and for a short time ran separate automated CHR programming. There is an aircheck at radio timeline. It became Beautiful Music WCSN during the seventies until the birth of KJ-100. Plus, you can't talk about CHR on FM without mentioning "The Boogie Machine" on Hi-95 with John Borders around the clock. John Quincy's site www.lkyradio.com has more details.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

So what years was 102.3 going after DJX? And what call leters were they using as CHR? I dont remember any Hi-95,,,, Was it on the QMF Frequency? :-\ Also, wasnt DJX using reverb duing the time of Kiss 104, I think both stations used Reverb, but DJX was more Bass heavy, and therefore sounded somewhat muddy at times. Remember how Chris Randolph used to sound on the old DJX processing, You had to turn the bass down to understand him....lol I think they changed the processing when Radio One bought em.

 

[hotpatrick2004]

1984 1985 and 1986 and 1987 is when lrs went after djx. 1988 is when they went more hot ac and then rock 102 for about 2 years.It was always wlrs they used the moniker"the hot rocking flame throwin lrs" for a few years. You can go to www.lkyradio.com and hear some of the hot rocking flame throwin air checks. I remember when jill laurens would sign off she would say"hide the valueables chris randolph is up at 2" Also before qmf was qmf it was hi-95

 

[Mid West Clubber]

I was thinking it may have been more in the mid 8os when LRS went CHR... Kind of a rock leaning CHR, while DJX leaned on Dance-Urban Pop at the time.

 

[radiorob2.0]

So what years was 102.3 going after DJX? And what call leters were they using as CHR? I dont remember any Hi-95,,,, Was it on the QMF Frequency? :-\ Also, wasnt DJX using reverb duing the time of Kiss 104, I think both stations used Reverb, but DJX was more Bass heavy, and therefore sounded somewhat muddy at times. Remember how Chris Randolph used to sound on the old DJX processing, You had to turn the bass down to understand him....lol I think they changed the processing when Radio One bought em.

LRS evolved to CHR in the early 80's when nobody else did the format. WAKY was oldies, KJ-100 evolved to AC and QMF signed on in 1981 and was cleaning LRS' clock. Lee Masters returned to LRS with the plan to go full CHR. However, his plan hit a snag when the owners (The Henson Family) wouldn't allow the release of the AOR jocks. So the format was CHR but with the album rock jocks. I want to place the evolution to CHR around the time Ron Clay and Terry Meiners moved to QMF in 1983. It seemed like they held on to CHR for a few years before the return to rock, AC, and plenty of other formats.

Yes, Hi-95 became WQMF. The call letters were WQHI.

WDJX had decent processing at first, but it just got louder and obnoxious. DJX's sound hit rock bottom in the mid nineties with their LOUDNESS. They were way above 105 percent and the peak lights were still flashing past 110 percent. I think they were still flashing a bit at 120 percent and maybe beyond.

 

[Craven707]

Funny story ron micheals he was a jock on rock 102 and now on the fox well once they flipped to mix he was working the pillow talk show a love song show and he started this barry manilow song and just after he started it he came on the air i said i can't do this i just can't and took the barry manilow off. It was very amusing.

I hate to break it to you, but that never happened, lol. At least not with Ron. Peter Smith stuck him on overnights when we switched to Mix102. He was told by the GM to do it since Ron was the only unmarried jock working there at the time. They didn't want some married guy to have to do an overnight shift and be away from his wife. Becky, Rebeca Lake, did the first Pillow Talk on a Saturday night. She was the first jock to talk on Mix102. Eventually, Jay Scott took over the show. But, neither of them had a meltdown like that. Besides, we never played Manilow. Peter used to make fun of the AC's that did. Ron and I were room mates at the time, so I would have remembered this.

On the other hand, I got fired for breaking format one Saturday night there. I was scheduled to do Pillow Talk and they new I hated doing that show. I broke format for the whole 4 hours. I was getting requests from jocks at other stations, lol. I remember Ed Phillips coming into the studio, late in my shift, to prepare for his overnight shift. He said "since you gonna get fired, can you play some Grand Funk?" lol

Peter cried when he fired me.

 

[radiohawkins]

Funny story ron micheals he was a jock on rock 102 and now on the fox well once they flipped to mix he was working the pillow talk show a love song show and he started this barry manilow song and just after he started it he came on the air i said i can't do this i just can't and took the barry manilow off. It was very amusing.

I hate to break it to you, but that never happened, lol. At least not with Ron. Peter Smith stuck him on overnights when we switched to Mix102. He was told by the GM to do it since Ron was the only unmarried jock working there at the time. They didn't want some married guy to have to do an overnight shift and be away from his wife. Becky, Rebeca Lake, did the first Pillow Talk on a Saturday night. She was the first jock to talk on Mix102. Eventually, Jay Scott took over the show. But, neither of them had a meltdown like that. Besides, we never played Manilow. Peter used to make fun of the AC's that did. Ron and I were room mates at the time, so I would have remembered this.

On the other hand, I got fired for breaking format one Saturday night there. I was scheduled to do Pillow Talk and they new I hated doing that show. I broke format for the whole 4 hours. I was getting requests from jocks at other stations, lol. I remember Ed Phillips coming into the studio, late in my shift, to prepare for his overnight shift. He said "since you gonna get fired, can you play some Grand Funk?" lol

Peter cried when he fired me.

LOL!!!!!!!

 

[recordhead]

I remember Ed Phillips coming into the studio, late in my shift, to prepare for his overnight shift. He said "since you gonna get fired, can you play some Grand Funk?" lol

Ed was one of the best. I hope he's doing well.

 

[hotpatrick2004]

It had to be ron i remember mentioning it to him on this board and he remembered. He said he was ticked off at the station changing format i was not imaging it i know it happenend. I remember when they flipped he was on that station in that time slot for a bit before he left.

Hey craven is the fox going to survive? Even with the voice tracking you guys still sound better then lrs. I guess bains capital just wants all voicetracking all the time when they take over from north to south east to west no local talk or jocks or nuttin!!! You can certainly tell you guys are not live. Miss ya on the weekends craven. Voicetracking just doesn't cut it in my world but in our capitalist society it lives and flourishes!!!

 

[BobOnTheJob]

99.7 was playing the hits on FM back in 1969 or so...that was some fine sounding radio. I think it was a simulcast of 1080 WKLO.

 

[greg.hahn]

It's worth noting Buddy Scott commissioned an audio engineer to set up the station's incredible processing. Even through most of the format changes of the 90's the processing stayed the same and sounded wonderful. Following the demise of Kiss they simulcasted DJX on 103.9. A former DJX jock told me he would monitor 103.9 in the studio because it sounded better than 99.7.

What, an Optimod 8100/XT with a Somich Engineering baseband clipper? That's not exactly rocket science. And at the time the audio was traveling from the studios to the transmitter site over equalized telephone lines.

I'm betting the main reason 103.9 sounded better to the former DJX jock is that the transmitter site is only 5 blocks from their old studio. The two library stations were also downtown at the time, and 102.3 was across the street from them.

91.9 - 89.3 = 2.6. And

102.3 - 2.6 = 99.7.

So those 3 stations were creating intermod interference in the front ends of receivers all over downtown and it all added up to 99.7. It used to drive the chief engineer of DJX crazy, and there was nothing that could be done about it because everyone was legal.

By the way, why did the owners of 99.7 buy Kiss 104? Because it was killing them, and the only way to stop the bleeding was the buy it and change the format.

 

[romer979fm]

99.7 was playing the hits on FM back in 1969 or so...that was some fine sounding radio. I think it was a simulcast of 1080 WKLO.

exactly right...WKLO did simulcast 1080 and 99.7 in the late 60's.
I clearly remember hearing "Day Tripper" on WKLO-FM, and actually hearing the tambourine
(which was lost on AM). Used to spend time hanging outside the 'showcase studios' at
307 West Walnut...and clearly remember the change from music on 45 to carts.
What was the music store next store? Tiller? Maybe not. I know Durlauf's was close to WAKY on 4th.

when WKRX (106.9) was just getting started, they played some CHR at night...I'm thinking 1970 or so...
and WMPI (100.9) in Scottsburg, IN did CHR in the late 60s...there was a young jock that did afternoons
(Rothburger?) that always proudly proclaimed "WMPI...the only station in super-psychadelic-stereo"...
with some god-awful slap-echo-reverb thing under. Can't remember the names...it was long ago...
and it WAS the 60s...

wasn't much on FM...WFPL and WFPK (Library stations)...WHAS-FM @ 97.5 was classical...
WKLO-FM @ 99.7... WLRS @ 102.3 still the lab station for the Louisville Radio School...
103.1 was WSTM...weird AC...105.5 WSAC-FM from Fort Knox was heavy-duty AOR...had to have an
outside antenna to hear it... WQXE E'town was still on 106.3...how many frequencies has WQXE been on?...
and 106.9 was still WKRX...dufferent formats by daypart (almost).

 

[radiohawkins]

99.7 was playing the hits on FM back in 1969 or so...that was some fine sounding radio. I think it was a simulcast of 1080 WKLO.

exactly right...WKLO did simulcast 1080 and 99.7 in the late 60's.
I clearly remember hearing "Day Tripper" on WKLO-FM, and actually hearing the tambourine
(which was lost on AM). Used to spend time hanging outside the 'showcase studios' at
307 West Walnut...and clearly remember the change from music on 45 to carts.
What was the music store next store? Tiller? Maybe not. I know Durlauf's was close to WAKY on 4th.

when WKRX (106.9) was just getting started, they played some CHR at night...I'm thinking 1970 or so...
and WMPI (100.9) in Scottsburg, IN did CHR in the late 60s...there was a young jock that did afternoons
(Rothburger?) that always proudly proclaimed "WMPI...the only station in super-psychadelic-stereo"...
with some god-awful slap-echo-reverb thing under. Can't remember the names...it was long ago...
and it WAS the 60s...

wasn't much on FM...WFPL and WFPK (Library stations)...WHAS-FM @ 97.5 was classical...
WKLO-FM @ 99.7... WLRS @ 102.3 still the lab station for the Louisville Radio School...
103.1 was WSTM...weird AC...105.5 WSAC-FM from Fort Knox was heavy-duty AOR...had to have an
outside antenna to hear it... WQXE E'town was still on 106.3...how many frequencies has WQXE been on?...
and 106.9 was still WKRX...dufferent formats by daypart (almost).

Hey Romer, WLRS use to stand for Louisville Radio School??? Was it really a school?

 

[romer979fm]

Hey Romer, WLRS use to stand for Louisville Radio School??? Was it really a school?

yes, in 1964 WLRS went on-air as a training ground for students:
however, I don't remember anyone on-air but Jim Ameche (brother of tv's Don Ameche)...
my dad listened to WLRS, but I remember them as beautiful music...

 

[Craven707]

It had to be ron i remember mentioning it to him on this board and he remembered. He said he was ticked off at the station changing format i was not imaging it i know it happenend. I remember when they flipped he was on that station in that time slot for a bit before he left

lol, If Ron agreed to your memory, he was just yanking you chain, the way he has done to several others The only slot he worked at Mix was overnights. And it lasted less than a month for him. Mix came on Jan 1 and he moved to Tampa in Feb. We were jockless for the first couple of weeks. They REMOVED the mics from the studio! LOL. Our news guy had to record his newcasts in the production room on a cart and play them that way. The PD told us the reason for being jockless was to get all the "Rock102's" out of our system when we resumed our airshifts. What you heard may have happened, but it wasn't Ron. But, he'll happily take credit for it, lol. Just like I used to let the fox listeners who would call in, believe that I played 4 hours of AC/DC one Saturday night on Mix and got fired. I can't tell you how many of them said they heard it! IT NEVER HAPPENED!!! I broke format for 4 hours, but not with AC/DC. I did a 70's show in the vein of WAKY. I played rock, r&b and, of course, pop that night. It was cooler to let the fox callers remember it the way they preferred. Memories tend to get distorted over the years. I just want to make it clear that none of these conversations with the listeners made it on the air. These were just people who called in to shoot the sh_t. Now the rumors of Ron and me drinking tons of beer in the Rock102 studios during our Saturday night shows are completely true! They may even be understated, lol. I don't and can't do that anymore, lol