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Greensboro Arbitron ratings from 25 years ago.

R

RobynWattsV2.0

While I was doing some research on another project, I've stumbled upon some old Arbitron ratings (12+) from Fall 1983 survey period for Greensboro. These were taken from the January 28th, 1984 issue of "Billboard" magazine.

Station Format Summer 1983 Fall 1983


WQDR Country 16.1 16.6
WQMG Black 9.2 8.5
WMAG AC 3.6 7.2
WSJS AC 5.8 6.7
WKZL AOR 3.4 6.5
WGLD Easy Listening 7.1 6.4
WSEZ Contemporary Hits 7.4 4.8
WRQK Contemporary Hits 5.4 4.1
WDCG Contemporary Hits 3.2 3.6
WEAL Black 3.3 3.5
WAAA Black 3.5 3.3
WBIG Nostalgia 3.3 2.5
WHPE Religious 1.8 2.4
WAIR Black &nbsp! 3.1 2.2
WPCM Country 0.7 2.2
WWMO Religious 1.5 2.0

As you can see, a lot of changes have since taken place, but stations like WQDR, WMAG, & WHPE are still with us 25 years later with essentially the same format.

Robyn
 
Yes, that was my bad! I was trying to read a not-so-clear copy that was taken from microfilm. I had also photocopied a WQDR article that was written about their upcoming format change to Country so you might say I've had WQDR on the brain. ;D

Robyn
 
WBIG calls were also used for the short-lived country "Big 102.1" -- I believe this was the first format for this frequency as a "move-in" from Reidsville (where it was Southern Gospel) to Greensboro. Billy Buck Blevins also worked at Big 102 -- and I have a "Big 102" coffee mug given to me by Mr. Blevins.

Eric
 
Beasley owned WWMO and moved it to Greensboro in the spring of 1987 to do a country hybrid. They had approached JP when it was announced that JP was turning off WBIG AM about allowing them to use the calls on FM and JP refused. A few months later, JP returned the AM license to the FCC before 102 moved and freed up the calls on both AM and FM and Beasley picked up WBIG for WWMO when Big 102 launched. The original calls for WWMO had WBIG not become available would have been WGSO. When 102 went urban in 1989, Beasley parked the call to their AM station in Conway, SC so to hold them until he could sell the rights and when Conway was sold, they moved to Aurora, Ill and he sold the rights to WBIG FM for a small chunk of change to the station that has them now.

I think Beasley still owns WBIG AM Aurora, Ill.
 
Interesting that WMAG signed on in March of 1983. They were unable to go full power until later because Bernie Mann, who owned WGLD filed a complaint with the FCC. Amazing that WMAG was so highly ranked in such a short period of time. This was fun to see. Thanks for sharing it!
 
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
While I was doing some research on another project, I've stumbled upon some old Arbitron ratings (12+) from Fall 1983 survey period for Greensboro. These were taken from the January 28th, 1984 issue of "Billboard" magazine.

Station Format Summer 1983 Fall 1983


WQDR Country 16.1 16.6
WQMG Black 9.2 8.5
WMAG AC 3.6 7.2
WSJS AC 5.8 6.7
WKZL AOR 3.4 6.5
WGLD Easy Listening 7.1 6.4
WSEZ Contemporary Hits 7.4 4.8
WRQK Contemporary Hits 5.4 4.1
WDCG Contemporary Hits 3.2 3.6
WEAL Black 3.3 3.5
WAAA Black 3.5 3.3
WBIG Nostalgia 3.3 2.5
WHPE Religious 1.8 2.4
WAIR Black &nbsp! 3.1 2.2
WPCM Country 0.7 2.2
WWMO Religious 1.5 2.0

As you can see, a lot of changes have since taken place, but stations like WQDR, WMAG, & WHPE are still with us 25 years later with essentially the same format.

Robyn
Click to expand...

What were the format/sound differences between the 3 urban stations?
 
wasn't TripleA in a house on Indiana at Home Rd with KZL in the basement around 1980? I think it was shortly after that KZL started broadcasting from the transmitter site in Kernersville til new studios got ready (just off North Pointe)
 
AAA was indeed there upstairs...and in that time frame KZL...was WSGH..in the dimly lit basement..Pat Hoops GM... ;D
 
WKZL was formerly WAAA-FM, simulcasting WAAA-AM's programing---man, the WAAA owners made a big mistake, selling 107.5 off, considering the success of WQMG and WJMH. BTW, someone asked about the differences between WEAL/WAAA/WAIR and WQMG 25 years ago. QMG was one of the original urban ACs, and very smooth and sophisticated---they played lots of jazz in addition to adult R&B--really a joy of a station. For many years, QMG had serious signal problems in Winston-Salem, even though they were running 100k from east Greensboro---I think they tried various directional patterns, but nothing worked until they moved the tx to the Level Cross area---of course 97.3 was the culprit. I guess most people know 98.7 was the original FM R&B in theTriad, back in the late 60s early 70s.
 
I guess most people know 98.7 was the original FM R&B in theTriad, back in the late 60s early 70s
Click to expand...

I thought they were country during that period...under the call letters WMDE and owned by Suburban Radio Group.

I believe Charlie Hicks was the Station Manager, and George Quesinberry was Chief Engineer and an air personality on the station.

Later, Suburban sold the station to the owners of WPET and it became first WPET-FM and by the mid-70's, WRQK.

At least, that's the way it was told to me. If anyone can confirm the facts, we'll get it in Wikipedia.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV
 
The station had the call letters WSGH (standing for Winston'-Salem / Greensboro / High Point) during the early 1970s when its format was Easy Listening and for its first few years as a Top 40 format in the late 70s. For a short period of time in the mid 70s the station featured an eclectic blend of pop, rock and progressive rock selected at random by the hosts. Wikipedia... It was only AAA FM for a short time before that!
 
The current owner of WKBC bought WAAA AM & FM, sold WAAA to the first female black owner of a radio station in NC; changed the FM calls to WKZL and the rest is history.
 
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