Growing up in Hattiesburg, I witnessed the demise of local radio first hand. In the early '90's we had several radio stations playing the same songs of Top 40/AC or country. I have nothing against either format but it is ridiculous to repeat the formats in a market so small. After trying the oldies format, WKNZ then at 101.7 flipped to country using a satellite format from Westwood One. Then Y-104 switched from Mix 104.5 to a format that played classic rock, vintage, and new alternative. This was a very innovative format, especially for a town like Hattiesburg. Of course, Y 104 was not paying its bills and the feds shut down both 104.5 and 1230 AM. At that time, SL-100 sucked really bad and strayed 180 degrees from their rock roots and started playing a mix of softer AC and some older music targeting females. This was also complimented with Scott In The Morning...the Pine Belt's only morning show at that time. A few months after the shutdown of 104.5, WZKX Power 108 on the Coast decided to flip to country. This left SL 100, Lite 106, and WJMG as the only non-country FM stations in the market. To make matters worse, SL-100 decided to water down their format even more by playing older "hits" as far back as the 60's and "cross-over" country such as Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus into regular rotation. I remember as a high school kid during that time, Hattiesburg radio went from awesome to depressing in 6 months.
Since the market can only take so much country music, WKNZ which moved to 107.1 realized that their canned country format from Westwood One satellite wasn't working and couldn't hold a candle to locally produced Eagle 103, B 95, and Kicker 108. Not to mention that the country stations are broadcasting on a 100,000 watt signal and WKNZ broadcasts from a 6,000 watt transmitter from Collins barely covering Hattiesburg and Laurel. WKNZ's new manager, Ted Tibbett, decided to flip to a different canned format, Westwood One "adult classic rock". This was a watered down classic rock station that did not play any offensive hard rock or anything with loud guitar solos (perfect for South Mississippi). This station was known as Zoo 107.
The Blakeneys decided to revive Y-104 as Rock 104 shortly after. I remember everyone was excited because we were told that the format would be local (not satellite), 100,000 watts, and a "real rock" station. Unfortunately, the Blakeneys chose the ARRO format (all rock-n-roll oldies) and played only the top 200 pop rock songs of the 60's and 70's. This means no album rock, no deep cuts, no new rock or anything beyond these top 200 songs repeated over and over. Both Zoo 107 and Rock 104 started debuted with strong ratings but dropped quickly because these never changing playlists became stale quickly. During this time, SL-100 decided to cash in on the classic rock fad by adding classic rock to their “hit music” playlist.
So now there were three stations playing some form of classic rock, and all three stations played Freebird at least twice a day. In an attempt to solidify itself as the market leader, Rock 104 decided to add a heavy amount of Southern rock to their daily rotation. This meant more Freebird and .38 Special played almost every hour. As if that wasn’t enough, the station started doing Southern Fried Weekends which meant all Southern rock all the time.
As I became even more frustrated with Hattiesburg radio, I decided to get involved and make a difference. I started approaching SL-100, Rock 104, and Zoo 107 encouraging them to consider adding newer and more unique music to their formats. SL-100 explained that it was not their target demo (middle-aged females) and they already had several programs like Backtraxx and the Saturday Night Rock Party where they play music outside of their format. Larry and Debbie Blakeney were very nice but they explained that new rock and alternative music on Rock 104 would alienate their fanbase and it would be too risky, especially since the station is doing so well in the ratings. Ted Tibbett at Zoo 107 was losing market share to Rock 104. So this idea became very tempting to him. However, since Zoo broadcasted the Westwood One satellite format, they could not modify it and add newer rock and alternative music. So, our only option was to launch a radio show featuring new rock music. It was called Nightrock because it would air every night of the week. However, the station owner, Tommy (the guy that also owns Suuuper Discount Furniture Warehouse), decided that was too risky. However, Tommy wasn’t concerned with losing listeners and ratings decline like Rock 104 and SL-100 were. Zoo 107 broadcasted Ole Miss, MSU, and high school football games all weekend and this was more than enough to break up the format and alienate listeners. It was about money. Extra costs were involved in creating a local radio program. Since the Westwood One programming was free, Tommy and Ted decided to start it off with just one night a week. We were contemplating between Friday and Saturday night. Saturday night would be an excellent option but Friday night worked out better for us. Since Zoo broadcasts Hattiesburg High football on Friday nights, this would be a good lead in to the show. Also, SL-100 had the Saturday Night Rock Party which began adding more new rock and alternative at the time. Later, the Rock Party was changed to The Edge which featured all alternative rock.
Now that Zoo had committed to the show, we needed to build a library of music. Fortunately, WUSM had a large amount of alternative singles and albums that they did not play since they were non-commercial. With the help of Ted’s son Gene, this music was donated to our station and started our library.
On the Thursday before our Friday debut of the program, the satellite received a lightning strike and damaged all receiving equipment. This meant no Westwood One and therefore no music since the station was completely automated. This was actually a blessing for Nightrock. Since we now had this vast library of nothing but alternative rock. So, we could either play alternative or just have dead air for 4 days. We chose the alternative rock course. So, Ted brought in other station employees to spin the tracks and take requests. We used this opportunity as a launch party of (re)introducing the new rock format to the Pine Belt. We played alternative music all weekend until the next Tuesday afternoon. We received numerous compliments, requests, and constant praise. Our phone lines were constantly flooded. This also confused the other stations as it seemed that a bunch of pirates invaded the station as our format was much unorganized and hastily composed. We promoted the new music as a possible permanent format or at least a nightly possibility if the station adopts a day parting strategy.
Ted was surprised of tremendous response and stated that we have never had so many people call the station and praise the new format. He considered adding jocks to the station to play a mix of old and new rock and only running the Westwood One format overnight. However, despite the tremendous response, Tommy decided to relegate the new rock programming to Friday night from 10 PM to 2 AM. The main reasons were cost and the fact that nobody at the station knew how to sell time for that type of format.
After the show gained a few sponsors, Ted allowed the program to start at 7 PM mainly to the demand of the advertisers as they wanted more exposure earlier in the night. This allowed the show to receive the tail end of the afternoon drive and our audience increased tremendously. As the response grew, we launched the show on Saturday night as well to compete with the Edge on SL-100. We felt that we had the upper hand over SL-100. We could play “edgier” music such as Korn, Stabbing Westward, and Marilyn Manson and we could start earlier in the night. Ironically, The Edge had a tight playlist that only included mainstream alternative at best and the music could not be played before 10 PM.
As the show grew in popularity, it became a testing ground for a possible future format. We decided to go the direction of active rock with an emphasis on alternative since that’s what garnered the largest response from our listeners. It seemed that the listeners were also tired of the watered-down rock formats and wanted the edgy and unpredictable new stuff. However, as more people became involved with the show, some debated playing more underground music and more heavy metal which alienated many listeners. The program no longer followed a playlist and the music became unorganized. Because of this train wreck of diverse music, the station never expanded from its timeslot of 7 PM to 2 AM on Friday and Saturday nights and slowly lost its audience and sponsors. At this time, SL-100 changed to a more modern format that included mainstream alternative and some hip hop and club music during the day. By the late 90s, SL-100 became more edgy by playing up and coming hits long before they even charted on the top 40. Their liner at the time was “If you just tuned in, welcome back to the 90s.”
We knew that our days were numbered as the Westwood One format had lost its appeal. Tommy and Ted were considering the Westwood One soft AC format as a possible change, but opted for Westwood’s All 70’s format instead mainly to prevent overlapping with Lite 106 at the time. Surprisingly, the Nightrock program was kept even though it did not compliment the new format, probably because we still had a few sponsors. Eventually, the sponsors died off and the show was cancelled. Later, the station would change to the soft AC format since Lite 106 went to a rock format called 106.3 The Fox once it was bought by Cumulus.
The biggest mistake that Zoo 107 made with the format was that nobody knew (or tried) to sell time on it. The sponsors that the program gained were mainly grassroots efforts by me and others interested in the show. It wasn't that we didn't have listeners. During that spring, we had solid numbers at night according to Arbitron.
Potentially WKNZ could have been a major force in Hattiesburg radio. We considered dropping the dull Westwood One rock format to become an affiliate of Z-Rock. We also considered adding a syndicated shock jock morning show and other popular shows at the time such as Rockline. I remember pitching the idea of creating a website with streaming audio. However, our only computer was connected to the control board and used to insert local commercials when the station was automated. We also had plans to create a Sunday morning jazz brunch show as well as a show called the Sunday Revival in the afternoon that featured 80’s new wave. A blues show was also in the works at the station
I enjoyed growing up in Hattiesburg and would definitely do it again if I had the chance. I also miss the experience of working in radio there and the excitement of developing a new format that people appreciated. This was an exciting opportunity for me, especially since I was in high school at the time.
I am now in Atlanta working for Cox Radio, assisting with the rollout of HD Radio in the market and the development of new formats on the HD2 channels. As a side project, I am in the later stages of developing a low power FM station that will feature extreme talk shows, podcasts, and new and upcoming music. We have already achieved agreements with Canada’s CBC Radio 3 network and soma.fm Groove Salad which plays chill and downtempo music. We will use this for the overnight hours.
I hope to one day return to my home of Hattiesburg and possibly bring my passion for good radio and my experience with me. Until then, I am glad that I found this website to keep me informed with what is going on in the Hub City.
