In the end, Power 93...had it right!

[Scooter Lesley]

The calls were WBBO, and believe it...or don't...Power 93...had it right! They had it right...in the end...in the eleventh hour...
on the very lip of purchase. When George Francis/Amcom General purchased Power 93, then PD Bill McCown was fine tuning a brillant format stab, here in the GSP. After the buy, 93.3 FM became "Q-Country", WESC's answer to WSSL. When that did the FF&D..."Fizzled, Farted, & Died",...that company(?) launched THE PLANET. McCown's swan song was some sorta Rock 30 CHR Hybrid/Mutt/Mutant/Mongrel that was right on track for what the listeners were looking for then. Before the forced cowboy hat & boots, the damn thing spiked at like a 9-share! Though very short lived, it did surface,...and then...swept under the rug!
When the purchase began, McCown was George's first firing, as he was easily re-cog-o-nized as the head porker of the WANS Power Pigging of the alledged fake bomb threat on WMYI. Back then, Francis was the owner of MY102, and became one of the chosen many that had to foot the building's multi-floor (Get Out!) stairwell, on that less than pleasant,...Broadcast day!
Did I mention that the FBI also had an office in the same building?
However, in the end,...Power 93...had it right!

 

[carolinaradio]

As CHR for a while, after "Power 93", 93.3 became "Q93" retaining the CHR format (not to be confused with their later country format, known as 93-Q). I think the country format just ran for a year or two. Nothing has really done well on that signal since the CHR format.

 

[CrazeeCarroll1]

Feb 14th 1991 was an awesome day... I remember power 93's launch that day perfect as it was a Thursday and it was Valentines day. They had a contest where you could win your height in CD's... I was at Spartanburg Methodist College at the time and one of my friends played a prank on me and called my dorm room the morning they were doing the contest... I was like Hot Dang I won I won... The music was right on and it pretty much picked up where WANS left off when they switched to AC... CC1

 

[awp69]

I was likely living in Atlanta when 93.3 was Power 93....probably was country when I first moved to the area. In any case, as I've spouted about in the Christmas thread, The Planet is an utter and complete failure. I'd really like to get inside the minds of those Entercom people to know why they haven't done something else with that signal. Waste of airwaves if you ask me and surely they can't be raking in much money with its poor ratings.

While I like the new MY 102.5 direction (as long as it continues after the New Year), there's no reason why something couldn't be done to either relaunch this as a real "new rock" station or I wouldn't even mind another CHR that's not as rythmic leaning as B93.7.

Carolinaradio had it right in the other thread that they could have stuck Charlie FM here and gave it a longer shot at making headway. I think it would have done well.

 

[carolinaradio]

93.3 will not go CHR because Entercom already has that covered right up at B-93.7. As much as I wish Entercom would fix the rock format, they've had 6 years to, and haven't. It's hopeless. Should they ever decide to put 'new rock' out of its misery, it's anyone's guess as to what they would stick there - I don't see them doing Urban, and certainly hope they wouldn't throw their hat in to the country ring.
Maybe if Clear Channel had Premium Choice available back in 2007, The Buzzard could still be around. Their audio quality killed The Planet, to boot.

Seems like the time 93.3 was CHR was the only time that frequency has been truly successful.

 

[awp69]

Well, if they did "new rock" right I think they'd have a fighting chance. But as you said Entercom hasn't done a thing with it which I really don't understand.

JAMZ destroys in the Urban market and you're right that they'd be crazy to try to duke it with the two country mainstays here. Can't see oldies on that strong of a signal. Something like Charlie FM would be nice, but even though it's playlist had far greater variety (mostly on the good side), it would probably be risky with WMYI's newer format.

If Entercom isn't going to fix it, I'd like to see them sell it off. I can't see any new owner doing any worse than The Planet's current management.

 

[Ssummers]

Is Tom Durney still affiliated with Entercom there in the Upstate?

 

[RobynWattsV2.0]

Is Tom Durney still affiliated with Entercom there in the Upstate?

No, he resigned back in April, 2006.

Robyn

 

[carolinaradio]

Is Tom Durney still affiliated with Entercom there in the Upstate?

No, he resigned back in April, 2006.

Robyn

I guess he eventually retired or left the business. I never saw anymore about him. 2005-2006 certainly were interesting years for Entercom Greenville.

Re: 93.3 - I've always thought it would be interesting to see how another station could do taking on 107.3 JAMZ, but I really could do without a second (or third) Urban station. Cox uses 98.1 (which plays a ton of hip hop) to kind of protect 107.3. I really think oldies would be a good option for them, if they ever change. I highly doubt Entercom will ever sell it, the signal has potential.

 

[freqdev]

i would program all week what wjmz programs on sundays. shares in the mid twenties approaching thirty which bolsters their total week numbers

 

[carolinaradio]

i would program all week what wjmz programs on sundays. shares in the mid twenties approaching thirty which bolsters their total week numbers

Urban gospel? I always thought that was what 96.7 should have gone with if they wanted to play gospel. It was brokered 7 days a week on 103.3 for a while.

 

[Scooter Lesley]

Who was on the Power 93 airstaff, toward the end? I know that Bill McCown was PD, Logan Kelly was on the air. There was a guy who lived in Asheville, Bill Ketcher? I always thought he was good on the air, but can anyone list the full airstaff?
I do remember the HAWT blonde on the sales staff. She use to come over, and pick-up dub reels.
It was a nice pink dress...it's just a shame that they didn't have it in her size.

 

[RobynWattsV2.0]

Who was on the Power 93 airstaff, toward the end? I know that Bill McCown was PD, Logan Kelly was on the air. There was a guy who lived in Asheville, Bill Ketcher? I always thought he was good on the air, but can anyone list the full airstaff?
I do remember the HAWT blonde on the sales staff. She use to come over, and pick-up dub reels.
It was a nice pink dress...it's just a shame that they didn't have it in her size.

Bill Catcher (now with Cumulus/Myrtle Beach) was WBBO's first PD when the format flip to CHR happened in 1991 as well. Incidentally, he was also the last PD of WANS before the flip to AC (which, IMHO, was THE single most dumba$$ move in G-SP radio history, but that's another topic). He came to Q93 after he lost his gig with WKSF/Asheville due to the Country flip on April 1st, 1994. After WBBO went Country, he went to a station somewhere in New York state before heading back south in the later half of the 90s.

As far as the rest of the staff, I think Christopher Goode (PT) was there, also Bear O'Brian (overnights) was as well. I had taped some of Q93 on Christmas Day, 1994 and had submited it to Airchexx.com, but as of yet, it hasn't shown up.

Robyn

 

[Ssummers]

Good info Robyn. Catcher was a Randy Kabrich disciple from his days at WROQ-FM. For what it's worth, so am I. I worked for Kabrich at Q105/Tampa in the 80s and with Catcher at The Beat/Atlanta in 2000-2001. Catcher's a good dude.

 

[carolinaradio]

As far as the rest of the staff, I think Christopher Goode (PT) was there

Seems like he still does weekends at B-93.7.

I'd love to see a CHR war in this market, but with B-93.7 just getting average ratings, I don't know if they are worth going up against. I don't see B as being a hard station to try to take some audience away from. Had 107.3 stayed CHR (or 93.3 stayed with the format), it would be very interesting to see what radio in this market would be like today.