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Mix 96

J

johnnyv

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"I have got to tell you how much I enjoy reading all of the posts from you guys who started doing this in the 60s and early 70s... radio truly was amazing then. Radio was truly different. It was different by the way it was approached from both sides of the mic.... it was fun. Thanks for schoolin' us young guys on how it was done." tbarber

I pasted the above quote from another thread so I could start a new one with the proper "subject line."

I have to say that I never expected such a warm reception and appreciation for my "stories of days gone by" on this site. I've always gone about my way thinking nobody ever noticed or thought much of what we (or I) did back when. It's nice to know you did notice.

Soooooooooooooo,

It's time to unveil the story of a more recent past that I'm sure many of you remember, but may not know much about as to how it came to be and who was involved.

I haven't see ANY posts or comments on the last Jackson station I was a part of...

MIX/96

In early 1990 I got a call from my dear old friend the late Dave Perkins. As most of you know Dave was the OM of MISS 103 & WJDX-AM for almost 20 years. You probably don't know I hired David at WZZQ right before I left for Buffalo in 1977 where he rose to become PD and remained to facilitate the change to MISS 103. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him.

Dave called me with a story that, at the time, was hard to believe. He said that through some sort of "arrangement" the company that owned MISS 103 was going to take over WSLI-FM 96.3 in addition to the stations they already had. Neither one of us quite understood what kind of arrangement that could be since no company could own more than one AM or one FM in a market. (remember THOSE days???) At any rate, he assured me it was going to happen and it was going to be an A/C station with the call letters WJDX-FM. He wanted to call it MIX/96 (I always liked the way that rhymed), and he wanted my help putting together the format and the music. So we talked about some ideas and agreed on my becoming his consultant. I sent him a list of music to track down, laid out the clocks, cut the promos & sweepers to go with the Jams jingles he'd had cut and off we went. The worlds' FIRST LMA (Local Market Agreement) was born!

That's the real historical aspect of the whole thing --this was the VERY FIRST LMA that had ever been done. Jackson may not have much in the way of broadcasting "firsts" but this one is quite significant considering what has transpired in the industry since that groundbreaking "agreement" back in 1989.

I continued as programming consultant until 1995 when the ownership situation became such that they brought in their own "in-house" people, but for those 5 years, I generated the music logs from Tampa and Fed-ex'd them to the station each week. In addition, I was the "station voice" on all promo's & sweepers, and pretty much de-facto PD by remote control. I made two visits a year to spend 3 or 4 days listening & meeting with everyone and offering my "ear" and advice. Dave & Shari, Wayne Scott and the rest of the staff had a pretty darn good thing going for a while. Once Dave fell ill and couldn't stay on the air, it just wasn't the same. With deregulation becoming a reality ownerships in the market began to change at a fever pitch and Mix/96 withered on the vine and eventually went away, but we had made "history" one last time.

...and as Paul Harvey would say, "now you know the rest of the story."
 
Oh yes I do remember the first LMA! I was at Hot 95 at the time and was part of THAT LMA....At the time we were part of several stations that a guy out of Baton Rouge owned and I got a call asking if I would want to move to the "Home Office" WFMF, to do afternoon drive. I went to see them and when I took the job they said.." Now we can tell you what is about to happen...We are going to go into an LMA with 106 but DON'T tell anybody!" Well I had to keep that under my hat for a wile and boy was that hard! The staff knew something was up and kept asking me what was going on. Think it was a Wednesday when the news came down and I was asked to stay on for a few weeks to help with the changes but just could'nt do it. We had worked so hard to move it from a "Urban 40" to more of a, for lack of a better term "AC 40" only to have the new guys come in and move us back Urban ish... Most of, if not all of the staff got the ax with a CHANCE to re apply for a job at a much lower rate.
I have been on both sides of an LMA in both radio and tv and what I learned is this. Both sides feel the OTHER side is doing things all wrong! Very few of the staff will stay in place on the LMA'ed ( sp?) station.....It's the same when a station is bought... It's very hard IF you are at the station that is being taken over.
I know some of the "young guns" will say that NOW is the best time to be in radio but for me it was the 80's. Back when we didn't know what an LMA was!
 
Mix 96 debuted in April, 1990. But I didn't start listening to it until January, 1994.

At first, I listened to Mix 96 for the short-lived Saturday Night Music Mix (especially for the '80s music). 8)

Then in 1995, I listened to Mix 96 for the short-lived Hot Nights (the station's attempt at top-40) and The Weekly Top 40 (which had debuted on Mix 96 on Sunday, April 9, 1995). 8)

But in 1996, I made the switch to the then-new Y101 (though I still occasionally listened to Mix 96). I'm sure many other listeners also made the switch to Y101.

In October, 1998, Mix 96 bit the dust.
 
Jeff Steele said:
Mix 96 debuted in April, 1990. But I didn't start listening to it until January, 1994.

But in 1996, I made the switch to the then-new Y101 (though I still occasionally listened to Mix 96). I'm sure many other listeners also made the switch to Y101.

In October, 1998, Mix 96 bit the dust.
Click to expand...

Yeah, well, by 1996 I was out of it, so I don't blame you for switcing!!!!

Seriously, I'm glad to hear you liked the Saturday Night thing. The Hot Nights idea was a misguided attempt to generate some better nighttime numbers that the "love songs" approach hadn't accomplished, but it didn't really work. Let's face it, in hindsight, MIX/96 was a female appeal radio station, going to a more male appeal approach on a female appeal station was destined to be a disaster. It's the one big mistake I'll take credit for.

I'd like to think that my departure was the beginning of it's demise, but I'll let someone else be the judge of that.
 
Y101 was the death knell for Mix 96.3. No one was doing CHR in town before Y101 debuted and Mix, which was hot AC at the time, was the closest thing to CHR.

Mix was an OK station and did have its fair share of good personalities. Jan Michaels of Q105.1 worked there and I believe Christian on Z106.7 even worked there (though I may be wrong).
 
I heard Mix96 the first day it was on. I always listened to JDX in the morning which was oldies at the time and was completely confused when I heard them ID as MIX96 because I knew it was impossible to have bought out WSLI FM. Most of the disk jockeys were the same as they were on WJDX AM. Dave and Sherry, Wayne Scott and most of the other JDX AM crew. I was a long time listener to WJDX, and even though I knew the glory days were over, I was a little bummed when they moved to FM, it was ok, but it became much more cookie cutter on FM. I always liked the AM better. Even bought an AM stereo so I could listen,then they moved to FM, and 1180 went talk and 1590 was simulcasting Z 106, so I was stuck with a useless AM stereo.
 
This part might be boring to you programming types,but I was the LSM for Mix96,and got to be the lucky guy trying to sell advertising on the first LMA in the country. Imagine trying to explain to some 22 year old media buyer in Chicago that I was the rep for THREE stations in a market. - "No,you can't do that". To top it off,we moved the WJDX call letters to FM,and changed 620 to WJDS. Lots of explaining. First song on Mix96 was "Night Moves" by Bob Seger, if anyone's interested.
 
Wasn't SFX Broadcasting the parent company of that LMA? I've always wondered why mighty Jackson was picked by big-time radio owner Robert F. X. Sillerman to be the country's first.
 
Actually,Capstar was the current evolution of ownership of the the Jackson stations at that time,if the brain cells aren't too fuuzzy. Somebody jump in and correct me if I misspeak. Let's see- it's like remembering the Presidents in order: WJDX,Inc.,Keymarket,Sterling,SFX,Capstar,Chancellor,Clear Channel,now Bain-Capital,is that it? The first LMA could only work with a close relationship of two different owners,and the Austin,Texas connection between Capstar and the owner of WSLI-FM led to a good investment,IMO. The process took a lot of legal work and several months to make sure everything was FCC worthy. When all the bugs were ironed out, the concept spread like wildfire across the country.Steve Hicks' team at Capstar changed the scope of the radio world in,yes,Jackson, MS.
 
tzbarber said:
Actually,Capstar was the current evolution of ownership of the the Jackson stations at that time,if the brain cells aren't too fuuzzy. Somebody jump in and correct me if I misspeak. Let's see- it's like remembering the Presidents in order: WJDX,Inc.,Keymarket,Sterling,SFX,Capstar,Chancellor,Clear Channel,now Bain-Capital,is that it? The first LMA could only work with a close relationship of two different owners,and the Austin,Texas connection between Capstar and the owner of WSLI-FM led to a good investment,IMO. The process took a lot of legal work and several months to make sure everything was FCC worthy. When all the bugs were ironed out, the concept spread like wildfire across the country.Steve Hicks' team at Capstar changed the scope of the radio world in,yes,Jackson, MS.
Click to expand...

Actually think now it was Capstar,then SFX,and I left out AM/FM, and probably a brief spinoff of a type of "star" corporation,but I guess ya'll get the drift of the ownership chain. Didn't want to mess with history!
 
That really brings back memories Johnny. I did afternoons (as Kevin Hayes) at Z106 "Guerrilla Radio" at the time, but was friends with Russ Allen and Andy at WSLI. When you came in, you put them out on the streets.

Aw yes...it was the beginning of the end of the world as we knew it in the Spring of 1990 in Jackson.

I left at the end of the year for WQID Biloxi (before 106 and 95 teamed up), and made it out alive and just fine.
 
KevinCrashDavis said:
That really brings back memories Johnny. I did afternoons (as Kevin Hayes) at Z106 "Guerrilla Radio" at the time, but was friends with Russ Allen and Andy at WSLI. When you came in, you put them out on the streets.

Aw yes...it was the beginning of the end of the world as we knew it in the Spring of 1990 in Jackson.

I left at the end of the year for WQID Biloxi (before 106 and 95 teamed up), and made it out alive and just fine.
Click to expand...

I don't know who was responsible for putting anybody out on the streets. Dave Perkins already had a staff in place when we formulated our plans, and I made no staff changes during the 5 years I was involved except for filling some vacancies created by the shuffles that took place after Dave stepped down from the daily grind of the morning show.
 
Let's don't be jumping on Johnny there,or Capstar for that matter. The owners of WSLI-FM (Class-FM I believe they called it) had cut back to a bare bones staff by the time the LMA happened,and was drowning in red ink.
Maybe we should go back to talking about Dan Fogelberg,Johhny. Didn't we play him some on Mix????
 
It's been years BUT I seem to recall the staff being call in and told as of 5pm you don't have a job...no 2 weeks pay, no vacation pay just handed their last check. Again I might have my story wrong.... Can anyone help an old guy remember the story better?
 
Shadow,

I remember Russ Allen calling me up that day; said they had a meeting...walked in a conference room at the last checks were on the table. At the time, this was unprecedented. Take-overs were a bit more brutal then and after that. (but who says those end of year budget slashings are not brutal). By mid-late 90's, when stations were sold into a cluster there was more of a "combining resources".

I do remember the flip at midnite. I think some of us jocks from Z and Hot were on 3-way calling from our respective apartments (listening) and were less than impressed of the new vanilla format.

In hindsight, it was a well executed and formulated plan. (and a much needed format). But at the time, understand that I was in my early 20's and was anticipating something more exciting and edgey.

We (WSTZ) were pretty aggresive for that day and time, tactfully and tacticlly speaking. Gary Phillips (went by Rockett for some reason) flipped Z106 to "Guerrilla Radio". It was Jackson's answer to Pirate Radio or Power Pig I guess...LOL.
 
I remember that day, of course, from another perspective...

I was at Majic 107, in the swanky office in Ridgeland. Craig Scott and I spent quite a bit of time on the phone to a lawyer in DC, who was simply scratching his head over the whole thing.

Lawyers. Can't trust a one of 'em.

Fortunately, the same fate that fell upon the 96 jocks eventually fell upon me, as 107 became Kixie. Great timing... but, that's another story.

DE
 
So what was 96 before Mix?
Does anyone remember when we put Hot 95 on? Switched it from WLIN ( I think) nice "old folk music" to Urban 40. We had a big ice storm and I got sick and missed the first day! All the old listeners thought the storm messed up their radio and when it melted the old format would come back! They told us we were going to hell for playing that music!!!!
 
ShadowB said:
So what was 96 before Mix?
Does anyone remember when we put Hot 95 on? Switched it from WLIN ( I think) nice "old folk music" to Urban 40. We had a big ice storm and I got sick and missed the first day! All the old listeners thought the storm messed up their radio and when it melted the old format would come back! They told us we were going to hell for playing that music!!!!
Click to expand...

Before it Mix 96, it was simply called 96.3 (or "Jackson's Class FM, 96.3"). Same format. Anyone remember the old "Pillow Talk" show they used to do every night at 10?

I do remember when Hot 95 came on. For some odd reason, I decided to listen to WLIN that night (something I rarely ever did), probably to help me go to sleep. I had my radio in the bed and I remember waking up in the middle of the night and hearing upbeat music. I thought that my elbow or something accidentally turned the knob to 94TYX (this was the days before digital displays were really ubiquitous). So I turned my knob back to 95.5 and instead of hearing sleepy elevator music, I heard Exposé music and then I heard the voice of Bumper Morgan saying "Hot 95". At this point, going back to sleep was the last thing I wanted to do. School was cancelled the next day anyway, so who cared?

I remember the first voice I heard was the recently dearly-departed Bwana Jimmy, then Brock in the middays. I could've sworn I heard Shadow B on the first day, but if he says he was sick, then I stand corrected. I also remember those 50-in-a-row "hot streaks" that would go on literally all night.
 
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