Would anyone know what Q95FM in Detroit was? What was the format and the years the station was active?
Thanks.
Thanks.
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Question about old radio station
- Thread starter Jasonthegreat
- Start date
Q95 was an Adult Contemporary station that replaced the slightly edgier Z95.5 in 1989. At some point in the early to mid '90s, it started calling itself Q95.5. Over the years, it evolved from AC to Hot AC and then to CHR before its name changed to Channel 9-5-5 in 2002 or so.
Jasonthegreat said:
Q95 was 95.5's station name from 1989 through 1996 and then after Dick Purtan's departure, from 1996 thru 2002 as 'Q95.5' and the format was hot adult contemporary. Since 2002, the station has been known as "Channel 95-5" with a top-40 format. Here is an aircheck of Q95.5 from back in 1996 to give you an idea of what it sounded like when they had the hot AC format: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbAShZRmQPo and here is an ad for Q95 with Dick Purtan: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyrYpd2Pyzc
Thanks for the information. I actually do remember Q95-5, though I may have been a little young to remember Q95.
In terms of Q95, I find it interesting that they were regular AC at one point and later evolved to Hot AC and then CHR.
In terms of Q95, I find it interesting that they were regular AC at one point and later evolved to Hot AC and then CHR.
Re: Question about Q95
'Q95 FM' was Dick Purtan's well-intentioned attempt to salvage the mainstream, adult-leaning sound (targeting the 25-54 demographic audience) of Metro-Detroit's most mainstream CHR/Top 40 radio station, 'Z95.5', which had been the station's format since June of 1984. By 1989, Z95.5's two competitors had evolved into a 'Rap-CHR' (on 96.3 WHYT) or 'Rock-CHR' (on '99.5 The Fox'), and Purtan thought that 95.5 needed to be re-branded as "The Best Hits Without The Hard Rock & Rap". The earliest days of Q95 still featured some of the day's adult-CHR hits (like "Sowing the Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears, or "So Alive" by Love & Rockets), but by 1990, Q95 had become a mainstream AC featuring only 'safe' hits by AC-friendly artists like Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Bryan Adams, and Phil Collins, leaving Metro-Detroit without a mainstream CHR station that featured any non-Rap, non-Rock, upbeat, danceable, progressive pop hits (like "You Think You Know Her" by Cause & Effect, "Neon Moonlight" by Rosco Martinez, or "Love You More" by Sunscreem), which Z95.5 would most likely have played during those years had it been left alone. By the time 'Q95' became 'Q95-5' in 1996, CHR playlists had shrunk signifincantly, and Clear Channel was rapidly acquiring CHR stations around the country, tightening-up & homogenizing playlists. So, even though 95.5's return to CHR suggested (to me, at least) that Q95 had been one big mistake, gone was the impressive variety of CHR, not to mention the great DJ's and exciting sound, that was previously heard on Z95.5.
You can hear a sample of what Z95.5 sounded like here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLNAyf9MQnk
And you can hear the death of Z95.5 as Q95 was born here: http://www.detroitradioflashbacks.n...55/Format.Change.Dick.Purtan.WCZY.To.WKQI.mp3
Thanks for reading,
MM
'Q95 FM' was Dick Purtan's well-intentioned attempt to salvage the mainstream, adult-leaning sound (targeting the 25-54 demographic audience) of Metro-Detroit's most mainstream CHR/Top 40 radio station, 'Z95.5', which had been the station's format since June of 1984. By 1989, Z95.5's two competitors had evolved into a 'Rap-CHR' (on 96.3 WHYT) or 'Rock-CHR' (on '99.5 The Fox'), and Purtan thought that 95.5 needed to be re-branded as "The Best Hits Without The Hard Rock & Rap". The earliest days of Q95 still featured some of the day's adult-CHR hits (like "Sowing the Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears, or "So Alive" by Love & Rockets), but by 1990, Q95 had become a mainstream AC featuring only 'safe' hits by AC-friendly artists like Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Bryan Adams, and Phil Collins, leaving Metro-Detroit without a mainstream CHR station that featured any non-Rap, non-Rock, upbeat, danceable, progressive pop hits (like "You Think You Know Her" by Cause & Effect, "Neon Moonlight" by Rosco Martinez, or "Love You More" by Sunscreem), which Z95.5 would most likely have played during those years had it been left alone. By the time 'Q95' became 'Q95-5' in 1996, CHR playlists had shrunk signifincantly, and Clear Channel was rapidly acquiring CHR stations around the country, tightening-up & homogenizing playlists. So, even though 95.5's return to CHR suggested (to me, at least) that Q95 had been one big mistake, gone was the impressive variety of CHR, not to mention the great DJ's and exciting sound, that was previously heard on Z95.5.
You can hear a sample of what Z95.5 sounded like here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLNAyf9MQnk
And you can hear the death of Z95.5 as Q95 was born here: http://www.detroitradioflashbacks.n...55/Format.Change.Dick.Purtan.WCZY.To.WKQI.mp3
Thanks for reading,
MM
I remember that Q95-5 was a CHR-leaning Hot AC (a.k.a Adult Top 40) with mainly adult-based hits, such as Hootie & The Blowfish, (lots of) Alanis Morrisette, Paula Cole, and Sarah McLachlan. From 1996-99 you would hear the adult-based artists along with an occasional 80s song (such as "Sussudio" by Phil Collins, "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi, and "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson). In my opinion, Q95-5 was a pretty neat station. Of course, when they became a full CHR around the year 2000, that was when they really started to go downhill, and Q95-5's demise came in 2002 when they were renamed Channel 9-5-5.
I grew up listening to both Q95 and Q95-5 as my primary pop music stations. I remember seeing Q95 playlists in old issues of Billboard up on Google Books from 1989 and 1990 and noting that they were playing songs like Madonna's "Oh Father" and Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" at that time, which never made the AC chart. I believe Gary Berkowitz, who had previously worked at WHYT, was the consultant when Q95 was first launched in 1989. Apparently they had already shifted to mainstream AC by the time I started listening to the station in 1991, and the reason I latched onto it was that I had fallen in love with the song "Baby Baby" by Amy Grant and Q95 was the first station I heard playing it. (WHYT played it too, but they played some horrible dance remix that I couldn't stand.)
IIRC, Q95 had already started shifting toward Hot AC by fall of 1994. That was when they picked up Casey Kasem's Hot AC countdown show, "Casey's Hot 20," in place of his mainstream AC countdown show "Casey's Countdown" which they had previously aired. Of course, at that time, there wasn't a whole lot of music on Hot AC stations that mainstream ACs weren't also playing, so they still had a very conservative sound, but I would still call it a Hot AC by that time as their playlist closely mirrored what was on R&R's Hot AC chart.
The shift to Q95-5 in 1996 coincided with the station hiring Danny Bonaduce as its morning show host following Dick Purtan's departure to WOMC, and it was around that time that the station's music mix became somewhat edgier while still remaining Hot AC - they stopped playing softer AC artists like Michael Bolton and Gloria Estefan and started playing more adult appeal CHR hits like Alanis, Real McCoy, La Bouche, Sarah McLachlan, Joan Osborne, Dishwalla, Jewel, etc. For a time they seemed to have something of a split identity, remaining a pretty conservative Hot AC during the day but playing more newer music and almost sounding like CHR at nights - they on occasion would play a tiny bit of "safe" rap, like Will Smith, and would throw in dance remixes of ballad hits like Toni Braxton's "Un-break My Heart" or Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back To Me Now." Until WDRQ’s rebirth in the summer of 1996 and subsequent shift from rhythmic AC to rhythmic CHR, Q95-5 was the closest thing Detroit had to a CHR. I still enjoyed, however, getting to listen to ‘true’ CHRs like Flint’s CK105.5, Toledo’s 92.5 Kiss-FM, or Monroe’s Tower 98 whenever I could and whenever they DXed into my Macomb County neighborhood (I remember going to great lengths to hear CK’s AM simulcast on 1570, being the best way for me to get my CHR fix – but that’s another story). I do recall they had a decent selection of '80s music in rotation as well - the Sunday-night '80s shows were always good for bringing back a long-forgotten-but-still-a-great-song stiff, like Heart's "How Can I Refuse?" from 1983.
I do recall that Q95-5 was quite slow to react to the teen pop movement and the boy bands while DRQ jumped on it, and that is what enabled DRQ to swoop in and eat Q95-5’s lunch by 2000. Around that time was when I recall that they actually switched to CHR/Pop, though still as Q95-5, to better compete with DRQ. However, I also recall Q95-5’s playlist being full of hot AC-leaning stiffs from the likes of Fisher, the Cranberries, Dexter Freebish, and Leona Naess, and that they were still slow on boy bands and rhythmic material (since Q had had the image of being the “no rap” station for so long), while DRQ stayed the course as the all-inclusive, all-around CHR station. While Q95-5 still played the likes of Britney, Christina, ‘N Sync, Jessica Simpson, O-Town, and Mandy Moore, one sort of got the sense that they would have preferred not to but had to if they were to be credible as a “hit music” station – hence the inclusion of all the Hot AC material in their music mix that ultimately went nowhere on the CHR/Pop charts – perhaps they felt Planet 96.3 had left a hole for Modern AC by moving into “Alternative Classics.” They were also very friendly to the wave of country-to-pop crossovers from the likes of Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, Lonestar, and Shania Twain – they even played country songs like “Who I Am” by Jessica Andrews which stiffed on the pop side. I personally preferred the music on 95.5, but DRQ was definitely the better-executed station at that point, with easily recognizable personalities like Jay Towers and Lisa Lisa.
Anyway, as we all know, Q95-5 made its final transformation into Channel 955 in February 2002, and it was not long afterward that the tide began to turn in 95.5’s favor again. By the time WDRQ switched to Doug-FM, it had become the more adult-leaning station with lots of ‘90s gold thrown in.
IIRC, Q95 had already started shifting toward Hot AC by fall of 1994. That was when they picked up Casey Kasem's Hot AC countdown show, "Casey's Hot 20," in place of his mainstream AC countdown show "Casey's Countdown" which they had previously aired. Of course, at that time, there wasn't a whole lot of music on Hot AC stations that mainstream ACs weren't also playing, so they still had a very conservative sound, but I would still call it a Hot AC by that time as their playlist closely mirrored what was on R&R's Hot AC chart.
The shift to Q95-5 in 1996 coincided with the station hiring Danny Bonaduce as its morning show host following Dick Purtan's departure to WOMC, and it was around that time that the station's music mix became somewhat edgier while still remaining Hot AC - they stopped playing softer AC artists like Michael Bolton and Gloria Estefan and started playing more adult appeal CHR hits like Alanis, Real McCoy, La Bouche, Sarah McLachlan, Joan Osborne, Dishwalla, Jewel, etc. For a time they seemed to have something of a split identity, remaining a pretty conservative Hot AC during the day but playing more newer music and almost sounding like CHR at nights - they on occasion would play a tiny bit of "safe" rap, like Will Smith, and would throw in dance remixes of ballad hits like Toni Braxton's "Un-break My Heart" or Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back To Me Now." Until WDRQ’s rebirth in the summer of 1996 and subsequent shift from rhythmic AC to rhythmic CHR, Q95-5 was the closest thing Detroit had to a CHR. I still enjoyed, however, getting to listen to ‘true’ CHRs like Flint’s CK105.5, Toledo’s 92.5 Kiss-FM, or Monroe’s Tower 98 whenever I could and whenever they DXed into my Macomb County neighborhood (I remember going to great lengths to hear CK’s AM simulcast on 1570, being the best way for me to get my CHR fix – but that’s another story). I do recall they had a decent selection of '80s music in rotation as well - the Sunday-night '80s shows were always good for bringing back a long-forgotten-but-still-a-great-song stiff, like Heart's "How Can I Refuse?" from 1983.
I do recall that Q95-5 was quite slow to react to the teen pop movement and the boy bands while DRQ jumped on it, and that is what enabled DRQ to swoop in and eat Q95-5’s lunch by 2000. Around that time was when I recall that they actually switched to CHR/Pop, though still as Q95-5, to better compete with DRQ. However, I also recall Q95-5’s playlist being full of hot AC-leaning stiffs from the likes of Fisher, the Cranberries, Dexter Freebish, and Leona Naess, and that they were still slow on boy bands and rhythmic material (since Q had had the image of being the “no rap” station for so long), while DRQ stayed the course as the all-inclusive, all-around CHR station. While Q95-5 still played the likes of Britney, Christina, ‘N Sync, Jessica Simpson, O-Town, and Mandy Moore, one sort of got the sense that they would have preferred not to but had to if they were to be credible as a “hit music” station – hence the inclusion of all the Hot AC material in their music mix that ultimately went nowhere on the CHR/Pop charts – perhaps they felt Planet 96.3 had left a hole for Modern AC by moving into “Alternative Classics.” They were also very friendly to the wave of country-to-pop crossovers from the likes of Faith Hill, LeAnn Rimes, Lonestar, and Shania Twain – they even played country songs like “Who I Am” by Jessica Andrews which stiffed on the pop side. I personally preferred the music on 95.5, but DRQ was definitely the better-executed station at that point, with easily recognizable personalities like Jay Towers and Lisa Lisa.
Anyway, as we all know, Q95-5 made its final transformation into Channel 955 in February 2002, and it was not long afterward that the tide began to turn in 95.5’s favor again. By the time WDRQ switched to Doug-FM, it had become the more adult-leaning station with lots of ‘90s gold thrown in.
I have another question. Would anyone know the playlist of or songs played on Q95 from 1994 or 1995? I'm looking for just new songs, not the older stuff. I'm just curious.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Jason - like I said above, the Q95 playlist during that time stuck pretty closely to what was on Radio & Records' Hot AC chart. Specifically, these are some of the songs I remember them playing during that time:
Breathe Again, You Mean The World To Me - Toni Braxton
Without You, Anytime You Need A Friend, Fantasy, One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey
The Power Of Love, Misled - Celine Dion
Lucky One, House Of Love, Big Yellow Taxi - Amy Grant
I Know - Dionne Farris
In The House Of Stone And Light, Keeper Of The Flame - Martin Page
Run-Around - Blues Traveler
All I Wanna Do, Strong Enough - Sheryl Crow
The Sweetest Days, Colors Of The Wind - Vanessa Williams
Can I Touch You... There? - Michael Bolton
Because The Night - 10,000 Maniacs
Love Sneakin' Up On You, You, You Got It - Bonnie Raitt
Turn The Beat Around, Everlasting Love - Gloria Estefan
Come To My Window, I'm The Only One - Melissa Etheridge
You Gotta Be - Des'ree
Secret, Take A Bow, You'll See - Madonna
You Are Not Alone - Michael Jackson
Exhale - Whitney Houston
If You Go, Whipped, Mental Picture, Where Do I Go From You - Jon Secada
I Will Remember You - Sarah McLachlan (the original studio version)
Prayer For The Dying, Kiss From A Rose, Don't Cry - Seal
Hold My Hand, Let Her Cry, Only Wanna Be With You, Time - Hootie & The Blowfish
Hopefully that gives you an idea.
Breathe Again, You Mean The World To Me - Toni Braxton
Without You, Anytime You Need A Friend, Fantasy, One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey
The Power Of Love, Misled - Celine Dion
Lucky One, House Of Love, Big Yellow Taxi - Amy Grant
I Know - Dionne Farris
In The House Of Stone And Light, Keeper Of The Flame - Martin Page
Run-Around - Blues Traveler
All I Wanna Do, Strong Enough - Sheryl Crow
The Sweetest Days, Colors Of The Wind - Vanessa Williams
Can I Touch You... There? - Michael Bolton
Because The Night - 10,000 Maniacs
Love Sneakin' Up On You, You, You Got It - Bonnie Raitt
Turn The Beat Around, Everlasting Love - Gloria Estefan
Come To My Window, I'm The Only One - Melissa Etheridge
You Gotta Be - Des'ree
Secret, Take A Bow, You'll See - Madonna
You Are Not Alone - Michael Jackson
Exhale - Whitney Houston
If You Go, Whipped, Mental Picture, Where Do I Go From You - Jon Secada
I Will Remember You - Sarah McLachlan (the original studio version)
Prayer For The Dying, Kiss From A Rose, Don't Cry - Seal
Hold My Hand, Let Her Cry, Only Wanna Be With You, Time - Hootie & The Blowfish
Hopefully that gives you an idea.
I'd like to thank those of you who helped me out with this topic. I appreciate all of your information on Q95FM. 
Jason
Jason
WOW WOW listening to that you tube clip from 1996 man 95.5 sounded good I do remember Q955 before it became Channel 955 and then 955 went to hellBuckeyes2001 said:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Hey, I thought I'd share something here. My mom remembers listening to Casey Kasem and one of his countdowns in the early 90s. I assume that was on Q95FM. In fact, I also remember hearing "Casey's Hot 20" on Q95-5 in the late 90s (I think that was just before Q95-5 discontinued it).
Q 95 wasn't my thing since it came around when I was in high school. But now that I look back at it, it was a really good AC station. Not too soft like Lite-FM, not too far in the other direction. Hit songs that didnt rock too hard and no rap. Good sound quality too.
Buckeyes2001 said:
I am sorry but i was there in the mid 80's when Dick had just really taken hold and became the leader. We were playing
Like a Virgin... Easy Lover.... It was pretty much CHR and all hits. Tight playlist. It was far from A/C. Z 95, BTW,.... Where the point makes the difference....
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