I recall listening to the station in the late '80s and it was CHR. Now, remember, in the late '80s CHR was much more rock-orientated than it is today. So in addition to hearing Michael Jackson sing "Man in the Mirror," or Aretha Franklin sing "Pink Cadilliac," or Kool and the Gang with "Victory," Paula Abdul with "Straight Up," or Tone Loc with "Wild Thing," we'd hear the latest from Guns n' Roses, Poison, Cinderella, Bon Jovi, Great White, and any of the rock acts of the time. Nothing like "Welcome to the Jungle" to get a fella out of bed and ready for school!
I used to wonder why WQUT didn't go AOR because frankly, most of us in our crowd wanted to hear the rock stuff. I also remember WZXY in Kingsport, who had a frequency way to the right of the dial and not as much power but possibly a better station from where I sat, playing a similar CHR format. They did a great job competing- giving away tickets to concerts at Freedom Hall, having a competitive morning show with "The Champions of Breakfast" as compared to the "Q Morning Zoo" with Steve Mann (that's not a knock on Mann, just saying he had worthy competition).
I want to say WQUT went AOR in the early '90s, say around 1992. This would make sense as CHR was beginning to be taken over by rap and frankly, this market doesn't swing that way. I was away in college for much of this period of time, but when I returned I can recall WXBQ putting up its monster numbers for the first time that I knew of.
Here are some other random thoughts which anyone else can pick up on if they wish-
At the time, there was a country explosion going on through the country with Garth Brooks, NASCAR coming into major popularity, etc. It was much like the late '70s-early '80s when country was cool.
Similarly, the LA bands were being replaced by a much gloomier Seattle sound. Nirvana might have been No. 1, but it wasn't as much fun to listen to as Motley Crue.
And, as I said, rap was taking over CHR.
There was a country music promoter who said at the time that every time he saw a rap record doing well he smiled, because that just meant he was going to pick up more potential listeners. Aside from an impressionable teenager, where else was everyone else in our demographic going to go?
Johnson City, and the thousands of cities just like it all across the country, simply isn't going to listen to MC Hammer (nor would anyone else after the fad died, incidentily).
Hence, for the first time country became sort of "adult contemporary."
At the same time, the competing country stations around here were beginning to change. WJCW went talk. US 99 was bought out by Bristol. WXBQ was in position to reap the benefits and never looked back.
I think WQUT positioned themselves well with AOR. They did numbers that anywhere else would have made them No. 1. But the country explosion, coupled with no real competition, and the with the fact the people who listened to WQUT for the pop songs in the '80s (whoever they were) now no longer had those pop songs on WQUT meant that:
That listener was attracted to WXBQ for the frist time, because frankly Garth Brooks and the Shania Twains and Tim McGraws that would follow were far more hipper and contemporary than anything WTFM had on at the time.
And that's how WXBQ got to be No. 1.
What's so distressing is that nobody has really tried to challenge them in the meantime. I maintain they have their status now by default and the market could use a real radio war.
