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history of WSTR-FM/WQXI-FM/WKXI

MRFLASHPORT

MRFLASHPORT

I grew up in Cobb county and listened to "94-Q" on and off over the years, Craig Ashwood, Christy Tener, and Russ Davis' original Jazz Flavors on Sundays, this was a unique station though it died in 1989 (remember when WQXI-FM signed off as 94Q, they played John Lennon's "Imagine" and a sort of dedication to the GM, then signed on at midnight as WSTR-FM. I have a recording of this somewhere!)

anyway, came across an old late 60's coverage contour map of WKXI-FM, which lists it's city of license as Smyrna. Being from Smyrna I've always wondered, did we ever have an FM station here? We have WYNX now a Spanish station for several years (remember meeting the owner of that station back in 1985. They were one of the first C-Quam AM STEREO stations...boasted about it on the air), and RIP WFOM 1230 which later became Info 1230...nice attempt at being a local Cobb county WSB but it didn't work.

I notice that contour map on GRHOF shows what appears to be the current contour of WSTR-FM. Where is the site for WSTR? Has it ever been in Cobb county or is this just a table of allotments thing. I've read somewhere that a construction permit for WSMA-FM was issued...the predecessor to WKXI-FM?

To this day Star 94 legal ID mentions "Smyrna/Atlanta" but if there's a C3 FM around here I'd know about it.
 
Star 94's current site is on New Street in Edgewood/Kirkwood, just a stone's throw off the DeKalb Avenue MARTA tracks. It shares the tower with WVEE, WSB-FM and WPBA-TV. That tower was built around 1989 by WVEE in cooperation with WABE because the FCC decided to require FM's to be at 1000 or more feet to remain a full class C (and therefore retain their full value).

Prior to New Street, Star was on top of the Peachtree Plaza Hotel (where Q100 is now). Before that, WSTR was on a self-supporting tower just west of Atlantic Station on Bishop Street, which is now Star's backup site.

94.1 originally was the FM of AM 1550 in Smyrna, whose calls were WSMA (later WYNX and now WAZX). The FM (94.1) calls were WDJK. I'm guessing the antenna was atop one of the 1550 towers in Smyrna, which I think were behind the WSMA (WYNX) studio facility. Perhaps one of our engineering friends (Tom Taylor or Littlejohn) can tell us where that was. I did read that 94.1's power was increased when WQXI bought the station and moved the site into Atlanta.
 
The original WYNX tower was off of Franklin Rd in Marietta. It is now home to WFOM 1230 AM.
The tower is tall and I understand it once was the 94.1 tower
 
That's interesting. I knew WFOM was at a different site in its top-40 days, but I didn't know the current site used to be WYNX. There doesn't seem to be any way to get really close to that site using public roads. Another site whose entrance I could never find is 590; the gate is probably in somebody's backyard.
 
The old WSMA studios were in the Belmont Hills Bowling center. Just off the main corridor were a series of
three rooms - they had a control room, production room and another room devoted to office space. The funny thing about this set up, if the main door to the small complex, and the control room door were open at the same time, the ball hitting the pins could be hear in the background.

If I remember correctly, the operation only had 3 jocks, one known as Col. Beauregard. I'm not exactly sure,
but another may have called himself Robert E. Lee. I never knew why they chose these particular names.

Wasn't WSMA owned by a guy by the name of Ricky Lane at one time? Let me back-up, I believe it was his
mother-in-law who actually owned the operation. I don't know how factual the story, but it was said
the mother-in-law took back the station when Mr. Lane divorced his wife. I hope I've got my facts straight, things are beginning to get a little fuzzy for me after all these years.

One more thing, when the station operated under the call letters WSMA, I believe it was WSMA-AM/FM,
The AM later becoming WYNX and the FM surfaced as WQXI-FM. I never knew where the tower was located.
 
The original WDJK-FM, 94.1, licensed to Smyrna, was purchased by WQXI in 1965 and was taken silent until new studios on Peachtree Road could be completed. The station signed back on from the Bishop Street site in 1966 as WKXI. Later to become WQXI-FM then WSTR(FM).

The station was purchased from the Smyrna owner, Mitchell Meloff, for $50,000, assumption of debt (taxes), and a 3 year consultation contract. The consultation contract was a tax ruse to provide Meloff with more cash.

So....since 1965, 94.1 has been a Smyrna station by allotment only. The FCC would not allow the city of license to be moved because if it did, Smyrna would lose its only nighttime radio service. A no-no.

FYI
Tg
 
great information, I've always wondered about how 94.1 got allocated to Smyrna, so we actually did have an FM here at one time...about 10 years before I came into being, that confirms that WDJK-FM did exist as I have heard the rumor before. Would be cool to find some airchecks from early FM in Atlanta, I've got stuff from late 70's WQXI and Z-93 but nothing before that.

Speaking of WAZX, I wonder what is going to happen to the station once Belmont Hills gets demolished...the owners, Halperin Properties, have had a proposal for a new multi-use development, similar to what is going on down the road in Vinings, but it has been on hold for a while pending a bunch of protests. A Wal-Mart super center was proposed, but that was shot down too. Meanwhile about 70 percent of this old Smyrna land mark remains vacant and decaying, the rest is occupied by low end clothing shops, furniture stores etc. The old Monterrey Mexican joint is still popular (happens to be the oldest Mexican eatery in Cobb, dates to 1975) and the SubStation II still stands at the end of the strip.

The tower array of hot sticks for WAZX tower over the soon to be history crumbling Smyrna shopping center...for how long who knows...
 
1550 has been relocated to a new site. It is east of Powder Springs near the fuel depot. The Belmont Hills site has been abandoned.

1975? There should be a monument like the moon landing or Plymouth Rock at Belmont Hills. It is where the first Mexicans infiltrated Cobb County.
 
gravelgertie said:
The old WSMA studios were in the Belmont Hills Bowling center. Just off the main corridor were a series of
three rooms - they had a control room, production room and another room devoted to office space.
Click to expand...

They used to play The Beatles' "She Loves You" before it was released in the states. They played it a l l t h e t i m e , signed on and off with it.

Wasn't WSMA owned by a guy by the name of Ricky Lane at one time?
Click to expand...

Ricky Lane was hired by Meloff to PD the station after the "studios" moved from the shopping center to a (small) mobile hoime at the base of their tower - way out in the country - on Franklin Road. The first thing he did was get the calls changed to WYNX and call it "Winks 1550". (WDYX in Buford filed opposition, but failed.) He had no plans for FM because it was going to be sold.
 
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