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Ft Walton History
- Thread starter Rob
- Start date
Coast 100.3 was never top-40, was it? I remember it always being similar to Mix 99.9.
Now back in the 1980's WKSM (then "Kiss" on 99.3) was the FM top-40 for the Fort Walton market. The main competition was WABB or WPFM, which had much better signals in FWB back then.
Going back before that... there has been some AM history of FWB posted on here before...
Now back in the 1980's WKSM (then "Kiss" on 99.3) was the FM top-40 for the Fort Walton market. The main competition was WABB or WPFM, which had much better signals in FWB back then.
Going back before that... there has been some AM history of FWB posted on here before...
In the 70's, the CHR for Ft. Walton was 1400 WNUE...Brother Bob, Uncle Don, Gabby Bruce, etc. Pretty amazing station for a little town...I can still remember listening for the clues to the Billy Bowles Treasure Hunt, winning tickets to the Palm Theatre, the Swisher Sweets Sure Smoke Swell contest, The Big Mac song contest, etc.
In 1977, I had a chance to hang out with Gabby Bruce (THE fastest talking DJ) while my dad met with Dutch Van (the GM). After sitting in the corner in absolute amazement for 3+ hours, I made my career decision that day.
When WFTW-FM (anyone remember the owner of Piper's Nursery doing live breaks on the two-way?) flipped from Beautiful Music to CHR, it really hurt NUE..if memory serves, 1400 tried AM Stereo in the early 80s...
Great memories from a great small town station.
In 1977, I had a chance to hang out with Gabby Bruce (THE fastest talking DJ) while my dad met with Dutch Van (the GM). After sitting in the corner in absolute amazement for 3+ hours, I made my career decision that day.
When WFTW-FM (anyone remember the owner of Piper's Nursery doing live breaks on the two-way?) flipped from Beautiful Music to CHR, it really hurt NUE..if memory serves, 1400 tried AM Stereo in the early 80s...
Great memories from a great small town station.
make that the Billy Bowlegs Treasure Hunt....
for those who want to hear what NUE was like in the 70's, music and jingles are streaming at
www.thegreat108wpfm.com
www.thegreat108wpfm.com
Watch this guys...
Rob, it's because in 1996 everybody knows three things happeneded:
1.) Bill Clinton was President of America and
b.) he introduced Deregulation which ruined all stations and used
3.) His vice--president Al Gore to invent and introduce "tropo" to airwaves to fight global warming and Castro
fought back with more statics on AM (and he uses no strobeys)
9.) So a signal that went out to places where no one was back then got screwed by Clinton and
Gore and youre paying for it in higher electricity taxes
what else are we supposed to do here. (sorry tg108, good post.)
Rob, it's because in 1996 everybody knows three things happeneded:
1.) Bill Clinton was President of America and
b.) he introduced Deregulation which ruined all stations and used
3.) His vice--president Al Gore to invent and introduce "tropo" to airwaves to fight global warming and Castro
fought back with more statics on AM (and he uses no strobeys)
9.) So a signal that went out to places where no one was back then got screwed by Clinton and
Gore and youre paying for it in higher electricity taxes
what else are we supposed to do here. (sorry tg108, good post.)
H
hickok
Guest
I had the great pleasure of working mornings at WNUE in the 70's. It's foggy, but I believe it was 77-79. We were owned by Smith Broadcasting. Jerry Dean was ops manager and brought me in from Rockford Il. We always referred to Dutch Van Buskirk as Von Buttkick. Dutch was a great manager who really cared about his employees and families. We didn't make a lot of money, but we sure had fun. Great music, great jingles and great promotions in the waning days of AM radio. Gabby was moving on, and didn't work long with him. The other two I remember were Larry White and Robert W. Conrad. I used WNUE as a stepping stone and went on to KAAY Little Rock, FM100 Memphis, WNOE New Orleans, etc.
We had staff parties, dinners and usually spent every hurricane or tropical storm warning at the station, reporting together and hunkering down. I remember taking the news car down to the beach for a report when Hurricane David was moving in, and the wind tore the drivers side door off when I got out of the car. Yup, good times. Thanks for brining up the thread.
Bill Hickok
We had staff parties, dinners and usually spent every hurricane or tropical storm warning at the station, reporting together and hunkering down. I remember taking the news car down to the beach for a report when Hurricane David was moving in, and the wind tore the drivers side door off when I got out of the car. Yup, good times. Thanks for brining up the thread.
Bill Hickok
I remember the 70's at WNUE when AM was the only thing to listen to. I did a stint at WNUE from
1969-1980, then on to Korea (Armed Forces Radio), a gig in Honolulu Hawaii at KQMQ 93FM Q and KKUA
and Ron Jacob's KDEO in 1983-84, Shreveport, Louisiana (86-89) at KEEL AM/KITT FM, 1989 WWAV-102 Destin,K-92, WMMK Destin, WWSF 98 SURF FM Ft Walton Beach (92), LUV-100 WNCV Niceville (93-97) and the radio people Holliday Broadcasting WFTW, WYZB (97-2004). My airname at WNUE was "Sandy Beach"
but used my real name, Steve Williams elsewhere. I am currently employed at civil service with USAF Eglin
AFB.
"Stonecold" Steve Williams
1969-1980, then on to Korea (Armed Forces Radio), a gig in Honolulu Hawaii at KQMQ 93FM Q and KKUA
and Ron Jacob's KDEO in 1983-84, Shreveport, Louisiana (86-89) at KEEL AM/KITT FM, 1989 WWAV-102 Destin,K-92, WMMK Destin, WWSF 98 SURF FM Ft Walton Beach (92), LUV-100 WNCV Niceville (93-97) and the radio people Holliday Broadcasting WFTW, WYZB (97-2004). My airname at WNUE was "Sandy Beach"
but used my real name, Steve Williams elsewhere. I am currently employed at civil service with USAF Eglin
AFB.
"Stonecold" Steve Williams
stonecold49 said:
Not to be confused with Steven B Williams who also worked at KKUA (my friend and co-worker), KIKI, KORL, KAHU/KULA/KDEO, KQMQ all in Honolulu among many other stations in California and Colorado. Steven B Williams, a great voice, was lost to us in May 2006. A Hui Hou.
one can't discuss radio history in fwb without mention of zoe rowley, formerly of wftw. i had the pleasure of working with her back in the day. a little ditzy, yes, but that's what made her as colorful as she was.
and, as long as I'm forcing the synapses to work, when I first arrived in fwb back in the late '70's, K-92 was the shiznit; skip and gator in the morning, harvey sputnik in the morning across town on surf and mike "mikey in the morning" on 99.5 kiss fm. wow. here's to the good old days, may they never return.
and, as long as I'm forcing the synapses to work, when I first arrived in fwb back in the late '70's, K-92 was the shiznit; skip and gator in the morning, harvey sputnik in the morning across town on surf and mike "mikey in the morning" on 99.5 kiss fm. wow. here's to the good old days, may they never return.
Lots of people I talk to in this town (Ft Walton Beach) say "radio is dead", but they keep working in it. Why is that? One PD I once met said "There's two kinds of people in this business: the ones on the way up, and the ones on the way down." I disagree. Some of us are just passing through. The same guy told me "If I could be doing anything else but this, I'd be doing it." I now work part-time at a radio station, not because I want to work in radio, but because I need an easy part-time job while I finish my last few classes for my B.A. I believe radio can and should play a role in broadcasting live events like high school sports ... that's content that is unique and serves the community. If I want music, I'll turn to my CD player or MP3 player. That way, I don't have to deal with all the egos. I find myself just driving around town with the radio turned off so that I don't have to listen to all the "talking" on the music stations.
I worked part time at WFTW AM/FM from 1971 to 1975 while stationed at Eglin AFB. WFTW was a 1000-watt daytimer with a simulcast 3 kw FM on 99.3 (I believe). The owner was an ‘older’ gentleman (60-ish) who was a real nice guy.
Either he or the GM was into flying and they were really impressed when I gave them a tour of the F-4E simulator I worked on at the 33rd TFW on the base. That was high-level technology then, but home PCs now days have more computing power!
I usually worked from 6 PM to sign-off (AM at sunset/FM at 1 AM) weeknights and on weekends. I tried talking management to go 24 hours on the FM, but they contended no one was listening then, even though I kept getting requests right up to sign-off.
We had a very strict music policy of primarily what was then Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, pop instrumentals, an occasional slot for requests, plus a “DJ Choice” thrown in once in a while. We read the AP news every hour with the weather very detailed including what was called the ‘offshore forecast’ including tide data for our boating friends.
One night, about 11:30 or so, I was playing “Moon Shadow” by Cat Stevens after it had just been placed on our playlist that day. The phone rang and it was the wife of the owner who demanded that I stop the record as she thought it was ‘evil’. I explained it only had a about 15-20 seconds to go before it was done, so she said OK. But she ordered me to leave a note for the PD (John Anthony, who left for Orlando in ‘73 or ‘74) to remove that record from the playlist immediately! That wasn’t the first or last phone call I’d get from her about some of the records she found offensive (to her and her alone, I’ll bet). In my mind I could only imagine her at home, listening to their station because she had nothing else to do, just to hear mistakes or other ‘offensive’ material so she could call the offender and complain. I met her at a Christmas party and she fit the mold of what I had imagined.
Anyway, during the last 2-3 months I was at WFTW, there was talk of the FCC changing the frequency of the FM station to allow more power. Then later the AM was allowed more power and nighttime approval. So a lot has changed.
A lot of good memories from those days at WFTW.
Either he or the GM was into flying and they were really impressed when I gave them a tour of the F-4E simulator I worked on at the 33rd TFW on the base. That was high-level technology then, but home PCs now days have more computing power!
I usually worked from 6 PM to sign-off (AM at sunset/FM at 1 AM) weeknights and on weekends. I tried talking management to go 24 hours on the FM, but they contended no one was listening then, even though I kept getting requests right up to sign-off.
We had a very strict music policy of primarily what was then Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, pop instrumentals, an occasional slot for requests, plus a “DJ Choice” thrown in once in a while. We read the AP news every hour with the weather very detailed including what was called the ‘offshore forecast’ including tide data for our boating friends.
One night, about 11:30 or so, I was playing “Moon Shadow” by Cat Stevens after it had just been placed on our playlist that day. The phone rang and it was the wife of the owner who demanded that I stop the record as she thought it was ‘evil’. I explained it only had a about 15-20 seconds to go before it was done, so she said OK. But she ordered me to leave a note for the PD (John Anthony, who left for Orlando in ‘73 or ‘74) to remove that record from the playlist immediately! That wasn’t the first or last phone call I’d get from her about some of the records she found offensive (to her and her alone, I’ll bet). In my mind I could only imagine her at home, listening to their station because she had nothing else to do, just to hear mistakes or other ‘offensive’ material so she could call the offender and complain. I met her at a Christmas party and she fit the mold of what I had imagined.
Anyway, during the last 2-3 months I was at WFTW, there was talk of the FCC changing the frequency of the FM station to allow more power. Then later the AM was allowed more power and nighttime approval. So a lot has changed.
A lot of good memories from those days at WFTW.
An old timer's look back further back at FWB radio history ... in 1960, there were two AM stations, WFTW 1260, playing what at the time was called "good music" (non rock), and WFBS 950, both 1 kw daytimers. The M D Smith Family, which owned a top 40 in Huntsville (WAAY 1550, and WAAY TV), changed the WFBS calls to WNUE and moved it to 1400 to get fulltime. It was called appropriately "New Radio." I thought someone would apply for the vacated 950 frequency, but that didn't happen. WFTW later on got 3 kw WFTW FM 99.3, and that later moved to 99.5, upgrading from Class A to C2 as WKSM. Back in the 60's WNUE's chief competition was WNOE and WTIX blasting in during the day, and WTIX at night.
WOW! Sounded like it was fun to listen to. Now a days, it's country or dance. I'm going to say it Ft Walton radio SUCKS. One reason I'm an XM subscriber and I'll more then likely have it when I do purchase a car.
If the GM's/PD's are reading this, well done on destroying what was a competitive market. Well done guys. The only respectable station is Danbo's at 102.1.
-Rob
If the GM's/PD's are reading this, well done on destroying what was a competitive market. Well done guys. The only respectable station is Danbo's at 102.1.
-Rob
Off the history record...
It's pretty scary, Rob...I have to say Mix 103.1 music is spot on for a Mildly Hot AC. I am surprised its ratings are so low. 98.1's modulation is wimpy. It should be a blaster. WAAZ is strong sounding technically, JW on his game there and playing old style real radio...
As for PCB ~ Sunny is hotter AC than I remembered, I guess because of 100.1 and 95.1. 95.1 carries great in the car (down here at Seaside, loud and clear.) Hard to believe David Nolans on there. 97.7, 105.9 and 107.9 aren't my kind of music cause I a moldz...I mean oldz... Bob is pretty much ok. Sounds alive and better than I remember. Talkers are ok, but whoever that guy on afternoons is on 101.1 is pitiful and rude. Bad call longterm there, maybe? Am I wrong. Destin FWB ~ haven't listened to all that much Z 96.5 or the two Country stations. I can't see Hwy 98 being all it could be if tweaked. Seabreeze is a nice respite from the usual fare. I gotta say, there are a dozen Classic Hit type stations on the coast and they all play the worst most overplayed 500 songs. Oyster radio was a bit refreshing esp. the new 104.5 in the afternoon. Didn't hear so much of the blues that was mentioned.
Charlie ~ I only get a few days here after all, beer Friday? Just arrived and virtually turn around. Not the fun trip of a week i was hoping for. Where's the sun and heat? Heat as in warm, saw THAT HEAT. YeaH! CW ~ you have to be making the big bucks cause Sunny's full of spots - get it???
RNR ~ I will check out YOUR dotless station ... I can't bring myself to do it because its not you anymore.
It's pretty scary, Rob...I have to say Mix 103.1 music is spot on for a Mildly Hot AC. I am surprised its ratings are so low. 98.1's modulation is wimpy. It should be a blaster. WAAZ is strong sounding technically, JW on his game there and playing old style real radio...
As for PCB ~ Sunny is hotter AC than I remembered, I guess because of 100.1 and 95.1. 95.1 carries great in the car (down here at Seaside, loud and clear.) Hard to believe David Nolans on there. 97.7, 105.9 and 107.9 aren't my kind of music cause I a moldz...I mean oldz... Bob is pretty much ok. Sounds alive and better than I remember. Talkers are ok, but whoever that guy on afternoons is on 101.1 is pitiful and rude. Bad call longterm there, maybe? Am I wrong. Destin FWB ~ haven't listened to all that much Z 96.5 or the two Country stations. I can't see Hwy 98 being all it could be if tweaked. Seabreeze is a nice respite from the usual fare. I gotta say, there are a dozen Classic Hit type stations on the coast and they all play the worst most overplayed 500 songs. Oyster radio was a bit refreshing esp. the new 104.5 in the afternoon. Didn't hear so much of the blues that was mentioned.
Charlie ~ I only get a few days here after all, beer Friday? Just arrived and virtually turn around. Not the fun trip of a week i was hoping for. Where's the sun and heat? Heat as in warm, saw THAT HEAT. YeaH! CW ~ you have to be making the big bucks cause Sunny's full of spots - get it???
RNR ~ I will check out YOUR dotless station ... I can't bring myself to do it because its not you anymore.
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