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Nashville Top 40 radio history

RMarino

RMarino

As a relative newcomer to the Nashville area, I'm wondering who did Top 40 in the '80s.

I know that WKDA was around in the '50s and '60s, WMAK dominated the '60s and '70s. And I heard that for a brief period there was a WKDA-FM 103.3 that was CHR (1970s?) before switching to AOR.

And on the recent end, 107.5 has been dishing out the hits for awhile. The first time I heard Y107 was in 1989, was it around before then? And who else covered Top 40 between WMAK's demise and Y107's debut (whenever that was)?

Thanks
 
> As a relative newcomer to the Nashville area, I'm wondering
> who did Top 40 in the '80s.

That would have been Kix 104(.5), the last days of which ended up being the foundation for Y107, and the all-too short lived Kiss 96(.3).
 
Not to mention WLAC-am (early 70's) and WQQK (92q) before it becane urban




> > As a relative newcomer to the Nashville area, I'm
> wondering
> > who did Top 40 in the '80s.
>
> That would have been Kix 104(.5), the last days of which
> ended up being the foundation for Y107, and the all-too
> short lived Kiss 96(.3).
>
 
> Not to mention WLAC-am (early 70's) and WQQK (92q) before it
> becane urban


Correct only back then (I'm guessing that was actually the mid to late 70's)
the call letters for 92Q were WBYQ. I'm sure Romar could help us out here, If memory serves me correctly (as the Iron Cheif would say) Romar did the allnight shift at 92Q. I also recall Sherman formerly of WSM-FM (I refuse to say The Wolf) bieng on the air there too.
 
Haha, it's Iron Chef not Iron Cheif :)

When did Y107 debut? And were 92Q (CHR version), Kix 104, and Kiss 96 all co-existing at the same time?
 
WWKX (Kicks 104) was dominant in the early 80's. They had Coyote McCloud and Rhett Walker in the morning. I "think" (it's been quite a while!) Proud Mary (still rocking on "The Rock" mid-days) was with them.

My memory must be going, because I don't remember much about Y107's rise. They seemed to come out of nowhere. I believe they flipped from Christian to Country to Y107 and soon enough they had Coyote & the gang in the mornings and Marc Chase in the afternoons. 104 faded away at that point.

Somewhere I have some old tapes of Y107 doing the 5 O Clock Whistle and the "Eat My Shorts" dedications.

96.3 was a mix between 103KDF and Kicks 104. 105.9 was doing the adult contemporary thing and I recall 92.9 being EZ93. It was mostly elevator music, I think!

The years have flown by pretty quick. One day in the future we'll be remembering the "old days" of Jack FM and The River!

Jason



> As a relative newcomer to the Nashville area, I'm wondering
> who did Top 40 in the '80s.
>
> I know that WKDA was around in the '50s and '60s, WMAK
> dominated the '60s and '70s. And I heard that for a brief
> period there was a WKDA-FM 103.3 that was CHR (1970s?)
> before switching to AOR.
>
> And on the recent end, 107.5 has been dishing out the hits
> for awhile. The first time I heard Y107 was in 1989, was it
> around before then? And who else covered Top 40 between
> WMAK's demise and Y107's debut (whenever that was)?
>
> Thanks
>
 
> WWKX (Kicks 104) was dominant in the early 80's. They had
> Coyote McCloud and Rhett Walker in the morning. I "think"
> (it's been quite a while!) Proud Mary (still rocking on "The
> Rock" mid-days) was with them.
>
> My memory must be going, because I don't remember much about
> Y107's rise. They seemed to come out of nowhere. I believe
> they flipped from Christian to Country to Y107 and soon
> enough they had Coyote & the gang in the mornings and Marc
> Chase in the afternoons. 104 faded away at that point.
>
> Somewhere I have some old tapes of Y107 doing the 5 O Clock
> Whistle and the "Eat My Shorts" dedications.
>
> 96.3 was a mix between 103KDF and Kicks 104. 105.9 was doing
> the adult contemporary thing and I recall 92.9 being EZ93.
> It was mostly elevator music, I think!
>
> The years have flown by pretty quick. One day in the future
> we'll be remembering the "old days" of Jack FM and The
> River!
>
> Jason
>
In the early 80s WWKX (kicks 104 was the dominate top 40 station but there was also 92 Q WBYQ in the late 70s until 1982.

96.3 was doing a few things in the 80s they were the dominate top 40 station for about a year and a half from the spring of 84 until the fall of 85 as 96 kiss. There call letters at that time were WZKS.

Let's not forget WLAC AM in the 70s. They weren't a 24 hour top 40 station until 2 years before they switched to talk but they were a dominate top 40 station especially with their signal. WMAK really didn't travel far at night.
 
And don't forget, back in the day, WSM-AM rocked daytime, country at night. In effect two sepaerate stations, one appealing to the ground wave, the other to the sky wave


> > Not to mention WLAC-am (early 70's) and WQQK (92q) before
> it
> > becane urban
>
>
> Correct only back then (I'm guessing that was actually the
> mid to late 70's)
> the call letters for 92Q were WBYQ. I'm sure Romar could
> help us out here, If memory serves me correctly (as the Iron
> Cheif would say) Romar did the allnight shift at 92Q. I also
> recall Sherman formerly of WSM-FM (I refuse to say The Wolf)
> bieng on the air there too.
>
 
I won't be able to give you exact years...but...
104.5 was CHR before the KX104 days as WHIN-FM. Pretty big signal
from "the ridge" between Gallatin and Portland on 109. Their tower was
built in order to microwave ABC programming from WSIX-TV (8) to WBKO (13)
in Bowling green...so the line of site was excellent. WVCP is still on the stick. BTW...in the early 70's...104.5 was doing BIG BAND as WFMG.
In the late 70's...WMAK's PD Michael St. John was the first PD of KX104...
Darryl Douglas (also ex-WMAK) was first morning person. KX104 was eventually sold to a group from Atlanta...became a rock/CHR hybrid as ROCKHITS 104...
and faded until St John was re-hired to restore it as KX104 in 1987.
It was an adult CHR, and had great studios at 31st and West End. I came back to radio in March of '87 doing weekends...and have been doing weekend work ever since. KX104 flipped to classic rock WGFX (The Fox) in August of 97.

Y-107 was originally WCOR-FM...doing country as Music Country 107. My first on-air job was weekends (it was still at 107.3). We trained at the FM (no one
was listening) in order to work on WCOR-AM. In the early 80's, 107.3 moved to
the new Gladeville tower (with 96.3 in Murfreesboro) as switched to WUSW...
US-107 (still country). Good signal...but the station sucked. Mooney (then owner of WMAK and 92Q)eventually bought the facility...spun-off what was left of 92.1 which was now WMAK-FM...and went to Y-107, using the calls WYHY. This was late 1978 (I think) but I actually picked the call letters. I was wanting to copy Y100 Miami...and actually thought I would be part of the station. Oops.
Fired!. The original Y-107 was a soft AC/Country hybrid...a clone of Mooney's successful U-102 Knoxville. What worked in Knoxville did NOT work here. Steven Wesley Bridgewater was afternoons for Y-107...eventually moving to mornings at 105.9 (the "new" 106fm). Y-107 was awful before turning CHR, and
106 kicked their ass. The frequency was changed to 107.5 to eliminate problems with WQLT Florence, AL on 107.3. The 107.3 subcarrier was used for Muzak, and the GM (Jerry Adams...what a tool)didn't tell them of the change.

105.9 became the "new 106 fm"...and changed calls from WJYN in the spring of '82
after finally dumping the hideous "Joy of Nashville" Shulke2 format. Remember? That's what the went to after destroying WKQB "Rock 106" (which was trouncing WKDF at the time). The NEW 106 debuted justy as WSM-FM swapped from AC
"SM-95" to country. AC doesn't really describe the format (John Young was PD,
and Nick Archer has a tribute site up, faithfully recreating the SM95 format).
Back to 106...Dave Nichols was the PD...the station evolved from fairly soft AC to going directly after Y-107...and was wildly successful...with Bridgewater (and Daniel the "butler" in mornings. Nashville's CLASS FM. I did overnights and later middays before new management came in (including Dave "Hollywood" Manning) and I left for TV production. Brian Sargeant (then of KX104) took middays, and was there until "The Rock" debuted many years later.

I'm tired of typing so this becomes a "stay tuned" thing (if you've been to the San Diego board, that makes sense. But...next time...anyone remember M-96...
or 96-KOS (chaos) with Bear Bradley? Maybe Valentine puking at "Magic 96".
He's gotta be the first talk talent to puke...but that's another post.



<P ID="signature">______________
you're not a lawyer, are you?</P>
 
Great Thread!

I'm fairly new to Nashville as well, so I've enjoyed reading about the radio history of the region :)
 
> > KX104 flipped to classic rock WGFX (The Fox) in August of
> 97.
>
> Wasn't the kix flip to the fox in the late 80'S. I actually remember to listening to that one happen.

Nock
 
> > > KX104 flipped to classic rock WGFX (The Fox) in August
> of
> > 97.
> >
> > Wasn't the kix flip to the fox in the late 80'S. I
> actually remember to listening to that one happen.
>
> Nock
>
yeah...that's a typo...it was August 1987<P ID="signature">______________
you're not a lawyer, are you?</P>
 
> Haha, it's Iron Chef not Iron Cheif :)
>
> When did Y107 debut? And were 92Q (CHR version), Kix 104,
> and Kiss 96 all co-existing at the same time?
>
Y107 debuted in 1982. I did the last airshift on its predicessor US 107 playing All American Country (I was awful but at the time I thought I was great. That explains why I am not still employed in radio). (Iron Chef sorry about the spelling error.)<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Donman on 07/05/05 12:23 AM.</FONT></P>
 
> I won't be able to give you exact years...but...
> 104.5 was CHR before the KX104 days as WHIN-FM. Pretty big
> signal
> from "the ridge" between Gallatin and Portland on 109.
> Their tower was
> built in order to microwave ABC programming from WSIX-TV (8)
> to WBKO (13)
> in Bowling green...so the line of site was excellent. WVCP
> is still on the stick.

Actually, that stick came down a year or so ago. Fell across Highway 109. WVCP has moved into town, not exactly sure where.

I was up there last weekend. The old 104.5 building is still up there but it's in pretty sad shape. I gather that was the studios and not just the transmitter.

The site apparently did work pretty well, as in the summer of 1979 I heard it in my apartment in Madison, Wis.....
 
I was up there last weekend. The old 104.5 building is
still up there but it's in pretty sad shape. I gather that
was the studios and not just the transmitter.

Yeah, before they moved into the WHIN studios down the hill...
104.5's studios were at the tower site "Music Mountain".
At one point, WFMG 104.5 transmitted from the square...last time
I was up there the 30' stick was still there, above an empty storefront.<P ID="signature">______________
you're not a lawyer, are you?</P>
 
Yeah, I remember that! The kept playing "Kicks (just keep getting harder to find)" over and over again


> > > KX104 flipped to classic rock WGFX (The Fox) in August
> of
> > 97.
> >
> > Wasn't the kix flip to the fox in the late 80'S. I
> actually remember to listening to that one happen.
>
> Nock
>
 
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