Mere weeks away from an actual semi legitimate anniversary.

[Scooter Lesley]

Mere weeks away, in the month of September, the WROQ call letters will be 20-years old. I know because I changed them Live, on the air, myself, in 1991; from WCKN. It is something to be proud of, if you figure in how stations are bought & sold like used cars. Back in January, I was quite outspoken about their premature celebration, as they are 19, and until September gets here the station is, in the words of Harold Faltermeyer: Nineteen Naaaaa Naaaaa Nineteen! It's just the truth! There were a few Boob know-it-all, yet know-nothing hemroidal posters that hated on me for my rant, but as usual, they all fall by the wayside. I also pointed out that they were wrong twice! When we get to December, the current Classic Rock format, under the heading of "Rock 101", will be 24-years old. Still, however, let me say that no, I don't listen to the station, but I will be the first to stand, and salute them for their milestone. 20/24 years surviving several ownership changes. Y'all help me out: Carolina Broadcasting, ABS Communications,___________________,
____________________, SFX,______________, Barnstable, Entercom. If you've ever worked in the Biz, you find yourself walking down the hall, and breaching the GM's door, with the in-quiz-itive:
"Excuse me, who owns us this week?". I would say congrats, but we're still not there!

 

[carolinaradio]

I may be wrong, but I believe Clear Channel was in the mix. Seems like they sold 101.1 and 93.3 to Barnstable.

 

[ATOMO]

No CC never owned 101. They had 93.3, 92.5/660 and 107.3 when CC was based at Stone Ave. CC bought 'em from Benchmark which owned the four together. BTW - Scooter, that'd be Paul Hardcastle and yes, it is sad I know that. Barnstable was able to get into the market as CC would've had too many stations in their Capstar/CC merger. They took ROQ from Capstar and TPT from CC. Benchmark then spun off 107.3 to Cox.

 

[Wabbit_Season]

Not to be a jerk, but "Nineteen" was by Paul Hardcastle. Harold Faltermeyer did the instrumental "Axel F".

 

[Scooter Lesley]

Wabbit Season,...You're not a jerk. Love ya man...My many years of CHR, and one hit wonders ain't so clear. Thanks for the correction.
Sheeeesh, at the number of spins I gave some of those records!
By the way,...Duck Season!

 

[Wabbit_Season]

At least you didn't quote Kajagoogoo........WABBIT SEASON!

Peace

 

[vchimpanzee]

Not to be a jerk, but "Nineteen" was by Paul Hardcastle. Harold Faltermeyer did the instrumental "Axel F".

Yes, and the vocals, say Wikipedia, were by Peter Thomas. Who never intended to be a rapper, I'm sure.

I'd like to add that people in the Charlotte area consider the loss of the WROQ call letters to be nothing to celebrate. They were still used by the legendary album rocker in 1990 when that station once again went top 40 and put them on its AM station, which was Z-Rock for a year. Then that station went all-50s and let those letters get away.

 

[Scooter Lesley]

Actually, the FCC took the WROQ calls away, and then placed them in limbo. We were the first to file paperwork, and ask for them. I don't consider Rock 101 as a villian. Then GM, Charlie Cohn was the main one behind acquiring those calls. That was early in our "Hungry" days, and we were out for Ratings & Revenue. It was a good time!

 

[quadraphonic]

I'd like to add that people in the Charlotte area consider the loss of the WROQ call letters to be nothing to celebrate.

I remember the mourning!
George Shinn's inability to bring them back to Charlotte was part of what led to his downfall/ouster/career move/however you want to characterize it.

 

[virgiltab1]

I have never heard of George Shinn having anything to do with bringing the WROQ calls back to Charlotte, can someone fill me in on this? Also, who let the WROQ letters go in the first place? Find it hard to believe Stan or Sis Kaplin would. I do remember when the station flipped to a top 40 "kiss" type format they had billboards up around town with slogans like "we got the Led out".

 

[virgiltab1]

I just remembered that Stan and Sis did let the WAYS letters go, when they flipped 610 AM to news/talk so perhaps they let the ROQ letters go as well.

 

[CrazeeCarroll1]

I may be wrong, but the "WROQ" calls went bye bye in Jan of 1990 when WROQ went full fledged Top 40 under the Gorilla Radio slogan. During that time WBT FM what was once WBCY changed to AC leaving Kiss 102 and WROQ as the defacto Top 40 in town. When the change of BT took place WROQ along with Kiss 102 started filling parts of what WBCY was playing, but no true straight up TOP 40 was being done till WROQ changed formats and went straight up Top 40. Ofcourse that was short lived as by the time Dec 1990 rolled around Gorilla Radio once again changed formats to Kool 95.1 to compete against Magic 96 which went bust in no time and by the time Oct of 91 Hit Kool 95.1 was spinning the format wheel once again to become 95QQ. Since the WROQ calls were already in GSP WAQQ was born till once again in Jan of 94 95.1 The Edge was born. At 7:10 in the morning that is what I remember, but Kahuna's website thatwasradio.com has all the info about WROQ and it's history... CC1

 

[Ssummers]

I just remembered that Stan and Sis did let the WAYS letters go, when they flipped 610 AM to news/talk so perhaps they let the ROQ letters go as well.

Lol. I was sitting here scratching my head, wondering where the hell Shinn fit into the WAYS/WROQ scenario. Over the years, my friends and I have told and retold as many radio stories involving the Kaplans as stories involving disc jockeys...especially stories that included Stan and Robert Murphy. Stan and Sis were legendary, but I'm pretty sure the ROQ calls were allowed to go after they were out of the picture as owners. And like Carroll mentioned, Kahuna's website could shed more light on the timeline and specific circumstances regarding the loss by Charlotte and ultimate relocation to the Greenville/Anderson area of the ROQ calls. Also, Randy Bliss(who is now in Winston Salem at 93.1 The Wolf) would have the specifics, without a doubt.

As for considering Rock 101 as villains, I don't....however, that being said and with all due respect, when the WROQ calls come up in conversation anywhere in the nation other than the Upstate of South Carolina, those involved in said conversations are referring to WROQ Charlotte 99.9% of the time.

 

[RobynWattsV2.0]

I just remembered that Stan and Sis did let the WAYS letters go, when they flipped 610 AM to news/talk so perhaps they let the ROQ letters go as well.

Actually they let the WAYS call letters go after the News/Talk format failed. When WROQ decided to changed to Top 40 in September of 1984, they made the decision to change the AM to Top 40 as well, dropping the WAYS call letters altogether. It was reported that Stan wanted to use the WAYS call letters for both stations when the decision to go Top 40 was made, but Randy Kabrich talked him out of it.

And Carroll was right. After WROQ was sold in late 1989 or early 1990 to Adams Communications, the airtime for 95.1 was leased to Tenore (sp/) Broadcasting. Needing a clean break from the past, WROQ was dropped for WZZG and Z95.1 was born. Late in 1990, Tenore declared bankruptcy, reverting control of the station to Adams, which dumped the CHR format for SMN's "Kool Gold" format as WGKL.

A book (or a really good article) needs to be written about 95.1's history.

Robyn

 

[quadraphonic]

George Shinn was just a fictionalized representation of someone who was run out of town because of the widespread mourning of people in Charlotte over the loss of the WROQ call letters. For everything, there is a scapegoat.

"people in Charlotte see the loss of the WROQ call letters as nothing to celebrate" that I quoted there made it sound like there is still great wailing and gnashing of teeth. As if people in Charlotte are wholly fixated on this issue (well not many of the productive ones).

 

[Ssummers]

And Carroll was right. After WROQ was sold in late 1989 or early 1990 to Adams Communications, the airtime for 95.1 was leased to Tenore (sp/) Broadcasting.

Ahhh, yes....Tonorri...It's all coming back to me now...Frank Tonorri was the GM at some juncture during that period. And Bliss would definitely be the guy to "fill in the blanks" regarding the dropping of the calls by Tonorri. And I think it was Tonorri that chose to drop the calls and not the FCC that "took" them.

George Shinn was just a fictionalized representation of someone who was run out of town because of the widespread mourning of people in Charlotte over the loss of the WROQ call letters. For everything, there is a scapegoat.

"people in Charlotte see the loss of the WROQ call letters as nothing to celebrate" that I quoted there made it sound like there is still great wailing and gnashing of teeth. As if people in Charlotte are wholly fixated on this issue (well not many of the productive ones).

lol. Sarcasm duly noted and you're right...it does sound that way. But I'm sure he meant radio types and radio history buffs familiar with radio indigenous to the area being up in arms about letting the calls go...because they were, and many still are, even though no one has, to my knowledge, ever hopped down off their horse(ala Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes) on Radio Road, dropped to their knees and pounded the pavement with their fists screaming, "DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!" about it.
It's still a little difficult for me to believe that call letters like WROQ, while not being as legendary as, say, WLS or WABC, were allowed to slip away.

And besides, everyone in Charlotte knew that George Shinn had enough on his plate with the Hornets. ;D

 

[Ssummers]

OK, I spoke to John Kilgo, a friend of mine who worked at WROQ Charlotte back in 1990 when the calls were given up, and he confirmed what Carroll & Robyn have posted and what I thought was the case, with one correction(to my contribution, not Carroll's or Robyn's)...the WROQ call letters were, in fact, dropped by the owners, not taken "away and placed in limbo" by the FCC. I had stated earlier that it was Frank Tonorri who decided to drop the calls. I stand corrected...it was Adams Communications who chose to drop them. It was Tonorri who tried to get them back, but, by then, WCKN had already filed the necessary paperwork, gained approval from the FCC and it was too late...the gig was up. Sure, the distinction is moot, but it is a subtle, yet important one. To say the calls were taken away by the FCC normally indicates some sort of malfeasance on the part of the owners in Charlotte, and that was just not the case.

Still, Happy Anniversary to WROQ-FM, the "station formerly known as WCKN-FM, the station formerly known as WAIM-FM, the station formerly known as WCAC-FM".

 

[squarehead]

even though no one has, to my knowledge, ever hopped down off their horse(ala Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes) on Radio Road, dropped to their knees and pounded the pavement with their fists screaming, "DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!" about it.

i did

blaine

 

[Ssummers]

even though no one has, to my knowledge, ever hopped down off their horse(ala Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes) on Radio Road, dropped to their knees and pounded the pavement with their fists screaming, "DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!" about it.

i did

blaine

lol. I know what you mean, Blaine. You, me, Dwayne, Kilgo...a lot of us did, brother. How's everythang going?

 

[Scooter Lesley]

Not to disagee with Ssummers, but his/her post, regarding the WROQ call letters, is based on what was told...or remembered. I salute the original WROQ Charlotte, but here's what I was told: I changed the WCKN calls live on the air that morning to WROQ. The following week, an FCC rep paid us a visit at our offices/studios in the Park Central building. It was around 10:45, and he spent about an hour in Charlie's office. Later, over lunch, Charlie told Mike & I that the meeting regarded the new calls, and a tower light modification on our Anderson tower. Secondly, we had acquired the new calls via proper paperwork, and the station in Charlotte did not have approval to park the FM calls on the AM for keeps. That meaning that they were pulled. This was what I was told, and I was there. That's the truth, as I was told!