Not A Fan of Local Radio, But

[alans613]

I remember John King, the first PD of WGTZ Z-93, telling me that some people during the "10,093 In A Row" launch were calling the station and complaining about them playing certain songs several times. Remember folks, this was back in March 1984 when Z-93 launched and even back then they had a tight playlist. Z-93 for its entire lifespan on 92.9 usually kept a pretty tight playlist...although I do remember Jeff Ballentine sneaking in, for no reason in particular, "Ah Leah!" by Donnie Iris in August of 1989..."Ah Leah!" was a hit in 1980.

 

[One Who Knows]

I remember John King, the first PD of WGTZ Z-93, telling me that some people during the "10,093 In A Row" launch were calling the station and complaining about them playing certain songs several times. Remember folks, this was back in March 1984 when Z-93 launched and even back then they had a tight playlist. Z-93 for its entire lifespan on 92.9 usually kept a pretty tight playlist...although I do remember Jeff Ballentine sneaking in, for no reason in particular, "Ah Leah!" by Donnie Iris in August of 1989..."Ah Leah!" was a hit in 1980.

Yeah...for some reason some listeners "think", 10,093 in a row means 10,093 "different" songs...when the station never suggests such a thing.

Yes..Z had a tight list...but if I remember correctly, I think that Donnie Iris song had been re-released in 89, which may have been by Jeff Ballentine spun it for a while. In fact, I remember a couple of songs that were like that in the 80's and early 90's.

 

[alans613]

I remember John King, the first PD of WGTZ Z-93, telling me that some people during the "10,093 In A Row" launch were calling the station and complaining about them playing certain songs several times. Remember folks, this was back in March 1984 when Z-93 launched and even back then they had a tight playlist. Z-93 for its entire lifespan on 92.9 usually kept a pretty tight playlist...although I do remember Jeff Ballentine sneaking in, for no reason in particular, "Ah Leah!" by Donnie Iris in August of 1989..."Ah Leah!" was a hit in 1980.

Yeah...for some reason some listeners "think", 10,093 in a row means 10,093 "different" songs...when the station never suggests such a thing.

Yes..Z had a tight list...but if I remember correctly, I think that Donnie Iris song had been re-released in 89, which may have been why Jeff Ballentine spun it for a while. In fact, I remember a couple of songs that were like that in the 80's and early 90's.

You're exactly right...Another song that was rereleased then was "Into The Night" by Benny Mardones. It was rereleased in the Summer of '89 as well.

 

[FRR]

I remember John King, the first PD of WGTZ Z-93, telling me that some people during the "10,093 In A Row" launch were calling the station and complaining about them playing certain songs several times. Remember folks, this was back in March 1984 when Z-93 launched and even back then they had a tight playlist. Z-93 for its entire lifespan on 92.9 usually kept a pretty tight playlist...although I do remember Jeff Ballentine sneaking in, for no reason in particular, "Ah Leah!" by Donnie Iris in August of 1989..."Ah Leah!" was a hit in 1980.

I moved to Eaton in April, 1984 and loved the old GTZ that was "Eaton, Dayton, and Springfield alive". I didn't notice the playlist being that tight, and thought they played lots of tunes that were popular at the time. Just goes to show what little us listeners actually realize about radio

 

[KevinFodor]

Z in the early days was probably playing about 250 titles total...by later on in the late 80's/early 90's, it was probably more like 190 or less...

I can vividly remember being on the air there in 1990 on the 3 and a half hour "overnight" shift (2 to 5:30 am), playing "Ice Ice Baby" (which was on the charts then), on average...3 to 4 times each shift. Sometimes, Jeff Ballentine would schedule it 30-45 minutes apart. (Yikes!)

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Z in the early days was probably playing about 250 titles total...by later on in the late 80's/early 90's, it was probably more like 190 or less...

I remember hearing Z-93 around Fourth of July 1989, and noticing that their playlist had suddenly shrunken drastically. They actually had a pretty big list around 1988 and early 1989. After that, they went down the toilet pretty quick.

 

[One Who Knows]

Though, yes...Z's numbers went down dramatically during the Mid 1990's...

In 1990-1991 at least, their 12 plus was around a 12.5 share. The fall, I think came with:

1.) Jeff Ballentine leaving...
2.) Great Trails being almost bankrupt and...
3.) Selling to whoever they sold it to (I can't remember off the top of my head if it was Radio One or someone else and then Radio One) and seeing the station, eventually become the poor red-headed stepchild of Radio One in Dayton, who put virtually no money into the station.

 

[gr8oldies]

I don't remember when Great Trails sold but the succession I remember since 1996 was pre-Jacor merger Clear Channel, Blue Chip, Radio One then Mainline.

 

[KevinFodor]

Thank you, Gr8t...even I had forgotten the succession. (I think it happened almost so quickly, it was hard to keep the scorecard correct, if you know what I mean).

 

[gr8oldies]

Stations were changing hands so fast after 1996 it truly made one's head spin. Was there anyone between
Great Trails and Clear Channel (again the "old" Clear Channel)?

 

[alans613]

Stations were changing hands so fast after 1996 it truly made one's head spin. Was there anyone between
Great Trails and Clear Channel (again the "old" Clear Channel)?

I think Entercom may have owned them briefly before or after CC did.

 

[alans613]

Z in the early days was probably playing about 250 titles total...by later on in the late 80's/early 90's, it was probably more like 190 or less...

I remember hearing Z-93 around Fourth of July 1989, and noticing that their playlist had suddenly shrunken drastically. They actually had a pretty big list around 1988 and early 1989. After that, they went down the toilet pretty quick.

That's right around the time period that Jay Jarvis left the PD chair and turned things over to Jeff Ballentine, hence the change in the playlist.

 

[alans613]

Though, yes...Z's numbers went down dramatically during the Mid 1990's...

In 1990-1991 at least, their 12 plus was around a 12.5 share. The fall, I think came with:

1.) Jeff Ballentine leaving...
2.) Great Trails being almost bankrupt and...
3.) Selling to whoever they sold it to (I can't remember off the top of my head if it was Radio One or someone else and then Radio One) and seeing the station, eventually become the poor red-headed stepchild of Radio One in Dayton, who put virtually no money into the station.

Z-93 was still a solid station under Kevin Kenney, who took over after Ballentine departed. It remained that way through Louis Kaplan's tenure, then after that, it seemed that the station took a downward spiral and never recovered, right around the time Mary Franco took the reigns as PD in the second half of 1996. It only got worse when it got swapped around from 1995-2001 from GT to Entercom to CC to Blue Chip to Radio One. The total collapse came when Radio One launched Hot 102.9 with a similar format to Z's. I remember Z going from a 5+ share 12+ to a high 3.

 

[One Who Knows]

That's probably a pretty accurate timeline, Alans...

I had forgotten about the "revolving door" in the PD's office...at least it seemed that way for a while.