Looks like Philly missed out on the Metal-Alternative scene

[KlassikKountry]

After viewing many shows, reading books and hearing people talk, and watching VH1 Classic, it was apparrant Metal and Alternative were gigantic music sources in the 80's into the early 90's. This was happening all over the country, especially in the big cities. Just saw when Metal ruled the world on VH1 Classic. I never remember radio stations in the Philly area playing Metal or Alternative, you would see these bands on Nationwide television, but I never heard of them. Traveling to other cities, such as NY, Baltimore and DC in those years, I do remember hearing plenty of Metal, Alternative, Punk and Grunge music all over the dial. Why was Philly deprived of this great music, we had MMR and YSP which played a safe, Chicken rock product, during those years.

 

[ScorpioBoy]

> After viewing many shows, reading books and hearing people
> talk, and watching VH1 Classic, it was apparrant Metal and
> Alternative were gigantic music sources in the 80's into the
> early 90's. This was happening all over the country,
> especially in the big cities. Just saw when Metal ruled the
> world on VH1 Classic. I never remember radio stations in
> the Philly area playing Metal or Alternative, you would see
> these bands on Nationwide television, but I never heard of
> them. Traveling to other cities, such as NY, Baltimore and
> DC in those years, I do remember hearing plenty of Metal,
> Alternative, Punk and Grunge music all over the dial. Why
> was Philly deprived of this great music, we had MMR and YSP
> which played a safe, Chicken rock product, during those
> years.
>
You forgot about when I-92 was on for several months during 1983 when they were "Rock of the 80s." The station had a crap signal which you could pick up better in the suburbs instead of the city.

Otherwise blame the corporate mentality of Philly Radio. Always following the trends, never making them.

 

[valkyrie777]

Is Philly Metal-friendly?

> You forgot about when I-92 was on for several months during
> 1983 when they were "Rock of the 80s." The station had a
> crap signal which you could pick up better in the suburbs
> instead of the city.
>
> Otherwise blame the corporate mentality of Philly Radio.
> Always following the trends, never making them.
>

I'd like to ask you (or, anybody else) to follow up on that thought.

I didn't grow up in Philly, so, I wondered if (a) there were few to no "metal" stations because of a lack of audience FOR it or (b) the corporate moguls just missed the boat on a "metal" station.

Is Philly just more of a "rhythmic" city or are the "metalheads" simply being under-served?

 

[KlassikKountry]

Re: Is Philly Metal-friendly?

Yes, I can remember when Metal bands were booked here, they would sell out in seconds, also many Punk and Alternative bands sold out fast also, (same holds true to this day), the East Side Club on Chestnut was a haven for this music and was packed every night. The Factory and the Trama on Arch street were mobbed also. This city was a big Punk area and the tri-state metro was a breeding ground for bands like Cinderella, Joan Jett and many others. I would say the Rhythmic Jocks (we all know who they are), tried to claim this was a Rhythmic city, which was untrue. I do remember "Rock of the 80's" on I-92 with Toxic, Lee Paris (rest his soul), R.J. Lawrence of Disco 98 fame was the PD. Horrible signal for 50kw @ 500 feet from Potshop Road, same signal ruined Top 40 WIFI-92, compressed stereo to gain more coverage which never worked unless you lived in Reading and points west.

 

[gethigh]

Re: Is Philly Metal-friendly?

> Yes, I can remember when Metal bands were booked here, they
> would sell out in seconds, also many Punk and Alternative
> bands sold out fast also, (same holds true to this day), the
> East Side Club on Chestnut was a haven for this music and
> was packed every night. The Factory and the Trama on Arch
> street were mobbed also. This city was a big Punk area and
> the tri-state metro was a breeding ground for bands like
> Cinderella, Joan Jett and many others. I would say the
> Rhythmic Jocks (we all know who they are), tried to claim
> this was a Rhythmic city, which was untrue. I do remember
> "Rock of the 80's" on I-92 with Toxic, Lee Paris (rest his
> soul), R.J. Lawrence of Disco 98 fame was the PD. Horrible
> signal for 50kw @ 500 feet from Potshop Road, same signal
> ruined Top 40 WIFI-92, compressed stereo to gain more
> coverage which never worked unless you lived in Reading and
> points west.
>
Well, on my radio, I had WMMR locked in on friday nights because the only time I heard metal on philly radio was Ray Koob's "For rockers Only". Ray would play overkill, Testament, Megadeth, Annihilator, Maiden, Priest, Kreator and any underground metal act he came across. That's where I heard of some of the best Metal acts that The Headbangers Ball wouldn't touch. At that time, WYSP was still playing woodstock-era music, and WMMR was playing Southside Johnny, Springsteen, Tommy Conwell, Tom Cochran & Red Rider and alot of standard rock and roll. "MMR was alot more into breaking local rock than they are now. Q102 was still rhythmic and no idea what WPST was playing, y100 was playing alternative crap like "ned's atomic dustbin" and gin blossoms. Metal truthfully was not on the local dial. Metal existed in Baltimore on 98 Rock, but that's not Philly. To my knowledge metal was not full time on the philly dial until around 1996 when WYSP flipped to Active Rock.

 

[John1]

Re: WIOQ in the '80's

>>Q102 was still rhythmic>>

Not in the time period being discussed. WIOQ was playing album rock from the mid-70's until 1987 when it became oldies as "Solid Gold 102". Like MMR and YSP it pretty much played mainstream rock, what would now be considered classic rock, and WIOQ pretty much stuck to softer progressive rock with Harvey in the Morning being a very popular show until the MMR Morning Zoo came along. Rock expert Ed Sciaky was on for years until YSP went classic rock, also Helen Leight and the popular "Leight Lunch". After WIOQ was sold (1989?) it became CHR and graually became more rhythmic CHR as I remember, but that was into the '90's.

 

[saund3461]

Re: WIOQ in the '80's

> Not in the time period being discussed. WIOQ was playing
> album rock from the mid-70's until 1987 when it became
> oldies as "Solid Gold 102". Like MMR and YSP it pretty much
> played mainstream rock, what would now be considered classic
> rock, and WIOQ pretty much stuck to softer progressive rock
> with Harvey in the Morning being a very popular show until
> the MMR Morning Zoo came along. Rock expert Ed Sciaky was on
> for years until YSP went classic rock, also Helen Leight and
> the popular "Leight Lunch". After WIOQ was sold (1989?) it
> became CHR and graually became more rhythmic CHR as I
> remember, but that was into the '90's.
>
Close, but no cigar. From 1975-1980, WIOQ was a very eclectic AOR station under the PDship of Alex DeMers. By 1977, WMMR threw in the towel on breaking new music to the depth that Q102 was doing, and were a pretty mainstream rocker. That's why Ed Sciaky, David Dye and Michael Tearson, for a much shorter period of time, ended up at Q102 as expatriot's of WMMR. WYSP was as it is today, a very bland corporate outlet, IMHO. Around 1980, the original GM that was responsible for WIOQ flipping from automated A/C, to AOR/Progressive passed away and a new GM by the name of Joseph Chairs came in and completely re-cast WIOQ as a Magic 103 clone, while keeping most of the airstaff intact. The only true shining moment, in an entire week of abysmal programming, was born in 1983. It was a Sunday evening program hosted at first by Larry Jordan, who was Harvey's producer, and later taken over by Ed Sciaky called the Sunday Night Alternative. Around 1985, David Dye and Helen Leitch were named co-program directors, and tried to recapture the WIOQ of 10 years earlier. It lasted for only 2 more years as an AOR station. In November 1987, they flipped to Oldies almost simultaneously with WCAU-FM. In 1988, EZ Communications bought the station and flipped it to Urban, killing what may possibly have been, the finest AOR station Philadelphia has ever seen. Today, Q102 is a mere shadow of the once groundbreaking station it was starting in 1975. Today, Q102 just plain SUCKS! Sorry, I had to throw that in. But as The Who once sang, "Music must change". I guess so goeth radio.

 

[Keeper]

In the mid 90's Philly had 103.9 WDRE the only true 100% ALT ROCK station in the market. I loved it personally but it didnt get good ratings at all and was sold. It was a great throw back station where they just put on great bands and had a huge playlist. It was one of the few places where you could really get the new cutting edge music.


> After viewing many shows, reading books and hearing people
> talk, and watching VH1 Classic, it was apparrant Metal and
> Alternative were gigantic music sources in the 80's into the
> early 90's. This was happening all over the country,
> especially in the big cities. Just saw when Metal ruled the
> world on VH1 Classic. I never remember radio stations in
> the Philly area playing Metal or Alternative, you would see
> these bands on Nationwide television, but I never heard of
> them. Traveling to other cities, such as NY, Baltimore and
> DC in those years, I do remember hearing plenty of Metal,
> Alternative, Punk and Grunge music all over the dial. Why
> was Philly deprived of this great music, we had MMR and YSP
> which played a safe, Chicken rock product, during those
> years.
>

 

[wavelength]

Re: WIOQ in the '80's

> > Not in the time period being discussed. WIOQ was playing
> > album rock from the mid-70's until 1987 when it became
> > oldies as "Solid Gold 102". Like MMR and YSP it pretty
> much
> > played mainstream rock, what would now be considered
> classic
> > rock, and WIOQ pretty much stuck to softer progressive
> rock
> > with Harvey in the Morning being a very popular show until
>
> > the MMR Morning Zoo came along. Rock expert Ed Sciaky was
> on
> > for years until YSP went classic rock, also Helen Leight
> and
> > the popular "Leight Lunch". After WIOQ was sold (1989?)
> it
> > became CHR and graually became more rhythmic CHR as I
> > remember, but that was into the '90's.
> >
> Close, but no cigar. From 1975-1980, WIOQ was a very
> eclectic AOR station under the PDship of Alex DeMers. By
> 1977, WMMR threw in the towel on breaking new music to the
> depth that Q102 was doing, and were a pretty mainstream
> rocker. That's why Ed Sciaky, David Dye and Michael Tearson,
> for a much shorter period of time, ended up at Q102 as
> expatriot's of WMMR. WYSP was as it is today, a very bland
> corporate outlet, IMHO. Around 1980, the original GM that
> was responsible for WIOQ flipping from automated A/C, to
> AOR/Progressive passed away and a new GM by the name of
> Joseph Chairs came in and completely re-cast WIOQ as a Magic
> 103 clone, while keeping most of the airstaff intact. The
> only true shining moment, in an entire week of abysmal
> programming, was born in 1983. It was a Sunday evening
> program hosted at first by Larry Jordan, who was Harvey's
> producer, and later taken over by Ed Sciaky called the
> Sunday Night Alternative. Around 1985, David Dye and Helen
> Leitch were named co-program directors, and tried to
> recapture the WIOQ of 10 years earlier. It lasted for only 2
> more years as an AOR station. In November 1987, they flipped
> to Oldies almost simultaneously with WCAU-FM. In 1988, EZ
> Communications bought the station and flipped it to Urban,
> killing what may possibly have been, the finest AOR station
> Philadelphia has ever seen. Today, Q102 is a mere shadow of
> the once groundbreaking station it was starting in 1975.
> Today, Q102 just plain SUCKS! Sorry, I had to throw that in.
> But as The Who once sang, "Music must change". I guess so
> goeth radio.
>


Regardless of what radio has played over the years CC Philly with the various Colleges in the area has always been a hipster city. There was a time when South St was less corporate and a true alt-punk haven. Also, there's always been the Khyber, The Pontiac (once known as JC Dobbs), The Trocadero, and other clubs. In regards to radio WMMR was once a great station. They played a variety of alternative acts. They also mixed in some of the hair metal. Of course there has always been WXPN.