Kiss 108 question

[ksradiogeek]

How long has Kiss 108 been around? I heard they were urban after disco died, but when did they go CHR?

 

[MR. JAROME_CALVIN]

??? maybe 1985 or 1986??
They used to play "Give Me" by: I Level, "You're The One" By D Train, "Pull Up To The Bumper" by Grace Jones to name a few back in the day. Those songs are now knows as (Urban AC/R&B Oldschool)

 

[chrish]

Early January 1979 when it changed from WWEL-FM Beautiful Music, it slowly started morphing from Disco into a Rythmatic based CHR late 1980 to 1981

 

[dhoule]

It was much earlier than 85-86. I remember them competing with WHTT in 83. I think it was a gradual change over during 81 and 82.

 

[GenXRadio]

It was late 79 into 80 because they used to play a lot of dance & disco music and it was at the tail end of the disco era.
I remember as a kid seeing some graffitti that said :"Rock is good, roll is great but disco sucks on 108".

 

[101NY]

station was sold to Heftel Communications, operated by U.S. Rep. Cecil Heftel (D-Hawai'i) in early 1979. Heftel changed the call letters to WXKS, adopted "Kiss 108" as an identity and changed to a disco format. The first record played under this new format was At Midnight by T-Connection[citation needed]. Under Heftel, the station soared to near the top of the Arbitron ratings, and forced WBOS (which had been first in Boston with a 24/7 disco sound and had a short period of huge success with it) out of the format in early 1980.

Sunny Joe White, a young programmer (who had previously programmed WILD in Boston) came aboard at Kiss-108 upon its shift to disco and had much to do with the station's early success.

At the end of 1979, WXKS dropped disco to adopt an adult standards format, while the FM slowly evolved into urban contemporary when disco's popularity crashed. By the end of 1981 and into early 1982- the station became a mainstream CHR, the only one in that survived the Boston market. And one of the most influential Top 40 stations in the nation.

 

[faderraider]

I remember working pumping gas at the time Kiss 108 came on the scene, just about every young woman who came into the station was listening to it, loud and proud. I was a rock guy, WBCN, WCOZ were my choice at the time. I couldn't understand the draw....

 

[Wildstyle K]

I guess I'll jump in with my history memories here:

I remember back when I visited Boston for Christmas and heard "runaway" by Real McCoy for the first time. I heard it the first day they premiered it. I instantly fell in love with the song.

This was also back when hip hop Jam'n 94.5 was playing "the sign" by Ace of Base.



I wonder if Kiss 108 ever played Jocelyn Enriquez, Rockell, La Rissa, Lil Suzy, Lina Santiago, or Planet Soul. I wish I was there in the late 90's to about '01 to see what Kiss and Jam'n were playing.

 

[Retro]

The first Rock song that I ever heard on Kiss was "Another Brick In The Wall" by Pink Floyd, so they slowly morphed into CHR in 1980, but they never really were a true Mainstream CHR until 1995, when they added Hootie & The Blowfish in January of that year and started playing 2 "rock" songs back to back.

Before January '95 they were always Rhythmic leaning, even when WZOU became Jam'n.

 

[Signpost]

Sunny started playing "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin on Kiss 108 to signal the focus was moving away from pure Disco to a wider variety of music. Afterwards the station was a brilliant amalgam of genres that could never be replicated today - it could be Sylvester into the Cure, and oldie from James & Bobby Purify into Michael Jackson. Throughout the 80's it possibly the most progressive CHR in the country; and with WBCN spinning a similar vibe on the Rock end of the music spectrum, Boston was the best sounding radio market in the country, as the two stations complimented each other so well.

 

[MikeyBos]

I guess I'll jump in with my history memories here:

I remember back when I visited Boston for Christmas and heard "runaway" by Real McCoy for the first time. I heard it the first day they premiered it. I instantly fell in love with the song.

This was also back when hip hop Jam'n 94.5 was playing "the sign" by Ace of Base.



I wonder if Kiss 108 ever played Jocelyn Enriquez, Rockell, La Rissa, Lil Suzy, Lina Santiago, or Planet Soul. I wish I was there in the late 90's to about '01 to see what Kiss and Jam'n were playing.

Kiss 108 definitely played Lil' Suzy in 1992. However, the rest of those great freestyle acts primarily had hits after 1995 and were never played on Kiss 108, other than perhaps during Club Kiss prior to its demise as a true mix show in April 1997. Kiss 108, as another poster noted, began to play back-to-back rock songs during 1995, and slowly morphed towards a very tragic on-the-cusp adult top 40/hot AC station through 1997, after John Ivey took over the PD reigns.

Once Ivey finally left for LA in summer 2001 and Cadillac Jack took over, Kiss 108 progressed back towards true mainstream.