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Old stations that would now be considered variety hits

N

nocece

Lately I've been trying to think of stations from years ago that played what would now be considered variety hits.

The only one I can think of offhand is WYNU in Jackson, Tennessee, in August 1990. I think they were listed as CHR by M Street, but the music was too old to be CHR. It was almost rock AC, but some of the music was either too rock or too AC for a rock AC. (I believe this was right before the rock AC boom began.)

A lot of small markets had stations that seemed to have bigger playlists than that, but they weren't variety hits. I'd say stations like WFMG in Richmond, Indiana, in the late '80s were AC/CHR hybrids with big playlists, and didn't sound like variety hits at all. The playlists at stations like that were actually bigger, more pop-based, and more current-based than variety hits.
 
> Lately I've been trying to think of stations from years ago
> that played what would now be considered variety hits.
>
> The only one I can think of offhand is WYNU in Jackson,
> Tennessee, in August 1990. I think they were listed as CHR
> by M Street, but the music was too old to be CHR. It was
> almost rock AC, but some of the music was either too rock or
> too AC for a rock AC. (I believe this was right before the
> rock AC boom began.)
>
> A lot of small markets had stations that seemed to have
> bigger playlists than that, but they weren't variety hits.
> I'd say stations like WFMG in Richmond, Indiana, in the late
> '80s were AC/CHR hybrids with big playlists, and didn't
> sound like variety hits at all. The playlists at stations
> like that were actually bigger, more pop-based, and more
> current-based than variety hits.
>
WYSY in Aurora Illinois on 107.9 was doing a variety and was commercial free. The reason the station did it was because Viacom bought WCKG (105.9) Elmwood Park IL, and 1160 (don't remember call letters) Chicago from Cox Broadcasting, but Viacom went over their limit and kept 1160 and 105.9, but sold off 107.9 (because it was a suburban signal) and 820 because it was a daytime station. As for 107.9, they dropped the 70's and played anything they felt like until SBS had studios ready for the station to be transferred to SBS. Most of their music was 70's & 80's. I don't remember if they played any 90's music.
 
> WYSY in Aurora Illinois on 107.9 was doing a variety and was
> commercial free. The reason the station did it was because
> Viacom bought WCKG (105.9) Elmwood Park IL, and 1160 (don't
> remember call letters) Chicago from Cox Broadcasting, but
> Viacom went over their limit and kept 1160 and 105.9, but
> sold off 107.9 (because it was a suburban signal) and 820
> because it was a daytime station. As for 107.9, they
> dropped the 70's and played anything they felt like until
> SBS had studios ready for the station to be transferred to
> SBS. Most of their music was 70's & 80's. I don't remember
> if they played any 90's music.
>

1160 was WJJD, right? Or was it WSCR by that time?

WYSY's "Bill" format seems to be the station to me that most resembles today's Jack. Chicago can also claim WRXR 95.5 in the 1980's as an ancestor. There was an entire series of posts about Chicago's past Jacks at <a target="_blank" href=http://www.radio-info.com/mods/board?Board=chicago&Post=472103>http://www.radio-info.com/mods/board?Board=chicago&Post=472103</a>.

For other stations, what about WMRQ in Boston? That station had some variety.
 
> 1160 was WJJD, right? Or was it WSCR by that time?
>
It might have been WJJD. I don't remember. It didn't become WSCR on 1160 until Viacom took ownership of the station. I don't know if it was called Infinity Broadcasting at that time or not. WSCR's call letter moved in August 2000 after they acquired WMAQ-AM on 670, then sold 1160 to Salem, which changed the calls to the current WYLL. Infinity Broadcasting couldn't get the night power upped to 50kw, but Salem did this year and they have a separate night site with 6 towers near Joliet IL., aiming nearly all of the signal north toward Milwaukee, covering nearly the same area at night that their day signal does.
 
Like I said before, Jack is like small town radio. Those station took whatever music they had and played it, many small town markets had to go buy their music but that style of radio was embedded in their culture. Not in the big markets. Jack's a poor excuse for radio.

> Lately I've been trying to think of stations from years ago
> that played what would now be considered variety hits.
>
> The only one I can think of offhand is WYNU in Jackson,
> Tennessee, in August 1990. I think they were listed as CHR
> by M Street, but the music was too old to be CHR. It was
> almost rock AC, but some of the music was either too rock or
> too AC for a rock AC. (I believe this was right before the
> rock AC boom began.)
>
> A lot of small markets had stations that seemed to have
> bigger playlists than that, but they weren't variety hits.
> I'd say stations like WFMG in Richmond, Indiana, in the late
> '80s were AC/CHR hybrids with big playlists, and didn't
> sound like variety hits at all. The playlists at stations
> like that were actually bigger, more pop-based, and more
> current-based than variety hits.
>
 
> Lately I've been trying to think of stations from years ago
> that played what would now be considered variety hits.
>
> The only one I can think of offhand is WYNU in Jackson,
> Tennessee, in August 1990. I think they were listed as CHR
> by M Street, but the music was too old to be CHR. It was
> almost rock AC, but some of the music was either too rock or
> too AC for a rock AC. (I believe this was right before the
> rock AC boom began.)
>
> A lot of small markets had stations that seemed to have
> bigger playlists than that, but they weren't variety hits.
> I'd say stations like WFMG in Richmond, Indiana, in the late
> '80s were AC/CHR hybrids with big playlists, and didn't
> sound like variety hits at all. The playlists at stations
> like that were actually bigger, more pop-based, and more
> current-based than variety hits.
>
WDOR Sturgeon Bay, WI<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
> Lately I've been trying to think of stations from years ago
> that played what would now be considered variety hits.
>
> The only one I can think of offhand is WYNU in Jackson,
> Tennessee, in August 1990. I think they were listed as CHR
> by M Street, but the music was too old to be CHR. It was
> almost rock AC, but some of the music was either too rock or
> too AC for a rock AC. (I believe this was right before the
> rock AC boom began.)
>
> A lot of small markets had stations that seemed to have
> bigger playlists than that, but they weren't variety hits.
> I'd say stations like WFMG in Richmond, Indiana, in the late
> '80s were AC/CHR hybrids with big playlists, and didn't
> sound like variety hits at all. The playlists at stations
> like that were actually bigger, more pop-based, and more
> current-based than variety hits.
>
Some of the classic MORs played every bit as wide a variety, for their time, as this "variety hits" concept. When I could hear Sinatra, David Lee Roth, Madonna, Bobby Darin, the Bangles, the Beatles...etc...etc...etc on one frequency, that to me was a true variety station.
 
There were a bunch in San Diego, many of them involved Rich Brother Robin. For example, 105.3 KCBQ FM San Diego in the 90's, with their "Modern Oldies" format. They played Classic Rock, 70's Disco, 80's hits, 60's oldies, and even a couple of 90's tunes here or there in the begining. That format eventually evolved into regular Classic Rock and eventually, progressive.

Previously, Rich Brother tried KRMX "Mix94.9." This too had an ecclectic mix of Disco, Classic Rock, Oldies and Pop, but the overal sound came off very AC'sh, and it eventually became an oldies station.

Then, there was the "Great Radio Experiement" on what is now 100.7 Jack FM, in San Diego. A new format every day, but some of these formats were very ecclectic, especially the Top 40, Party, and MTV formats that they tested.

I'd also include B94.9 (Rich Brother again), breifly, as they tried some 80's dance and rock, with a few new songs thrown in.

And you have to inlude 102.9 the Beach, which, as a 70's station, seemed to run the whole combination from Classic Rock, to Disco, to soft AC hits, with some limited success.


> Lately I've been trying to think of stations from years ago
> that played what would now be considered variety hits.
>
> The only one I can think of offhand is WYNU in Jackson,
> Tennessee, in August 1990. I think they were listed as CHR
> by M Street, but the music was too old to be CHR. It was
> almost rock AC, but some of the music was either too rock or
> too AC for a rock AC. (I believe this was right before the
> rock AC boom began.)
>
> A lot of small markets had stations that seemed to have
> bigger playlists than that, but they weren't variety hits.
> I'd say stations like WFMG in Richmond, Indiana, in the late
> '80s were AC/CHR hybrids with big playlists, and didn't
> sound like variety hits at all. The playlists at stations
> like that were actually bigger, more pop-based, and more
> current-based than variety hits.
>
 
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