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Questions about the histories of some of Augusta's stations

R

RobynWattsV2.0

I've been trying to do some of the individual histories of some of the Augusta's radio stations for Wikipedia, and I'm having some problems on finding some of the earlier histories. Can some of you folks on the board help out in filling the blanks on some of the following stations? I've put some of what I remember in parenthasies:

92.3 (Simulcast partner with 100.9 when that station was known as "The Bomb".

93.9 (I think this was AC at one time).

94.7 (Have no idea).

95.1 (It was WCHZ beginning in 1992, but was it something else before then?)

96.3 (It was WRXR by 1986 or 87, but what was it when the station was located in Aiken?)

96.9 (Wasn't this Z-96/WRNZ in Wrens at one point?)

98.3 (What was it before WSLT?)

99.5 (I think Kicks signed on this frequency in 1988)

100.9 (It was The Bomb at one point (I think).

102.3 (I remember this being WGUS-FM (Country) and WOPW with a Top 40 format in the late 80's). Was it anything previous?).

103.1 (Was Foxie 103 (WFXA) in the 90s, but I think it simulcasted with another FM)

104.3 (This was WBBQ of course, but before it was Top 40, wasn't it something else? Also how much simulcasting did WBBQ do with it's AM?)

105.7 (before the "Sunny 105" era from 1986 to 1994 when it became Top 40 as WZNY. Someone on an earlier incarnation of this board mentioned the station being known as "M-105" with either a Top 40 or Album Rock format).

107.7 (It was Country as "US-107" back in the 90's, but wasn't it Urban as well at one point?)

Thanks for any help,
Robyn
 
I do know that 93.9 use to be on 94.3 with less power. I know I remember country on 99.5 before 1988. I spent a fair amount of time in the mid 80s near Greenwood which had decent signals from 6, 12, 104.3,105.7,99.5 and 96.3fm.
 
Based on some reasearch I guess the 1998 launch date was right. I must of heard 99.5 as country for the first time around the debut.
 
Calls-License to Cover-Frequency info

92.3 Evans started in a WYFZ a simlucast of 107.1 out of Waynesboro with BBN.
93.9 Martinez started as WMTZ on 94.3 (class a) then WGOR in 92 before moving to 93.9 in 1994 upgraded
94.7 Williston stayed WAAW since its debut in 1994/95 was WKBG then WUUS before becoming WPRW in 99
 
From about 1965 to 1980, WLOW(FM) operated on 95.9 out of Aiken. The call letters changed to WPBM when the station sold in 1980. A few years later the station was sold again and moved to Augusta as WRXR at 96.3 with higher power. WLOW(AM) operated on 1300 until it went dark in the 80's. That frequency is now used for Augusta National's Masters Radio one week out of the year.

WAUG operated at 105.7 until it was sold in 1980. It then changed to WYMX (Rock 106) until 1984. It changed to WFMG as an Adult Contemporary station and then changed again to WZNY (Sunny 105) in 1985 or 86.
 
Also, 103.1 was WZZW, an automated Adult Contemporary station in the 70's and 80's before it was bought and changed to Foxy 103 in the mid 80's.
 
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
95.1 (It was WCHZ beginning in 1992, but was it something else before then?) Was called Channel Z before being sold and named 95 Rock

96.9 (Wasn't this Z-96/WRNZ in Wrens at one point?) Yes

98.3 (What was it before WSLT?) Was easy-listening WCNA, changed to WSLT in 1993

99.5 (I think Kicks signed on this frequency in 1988) Was easy-listening WNEZ located in Aken

102.3 (I remember this being WGUS-FM (Country) and WOPW with a Top 40 format in the late 80's). Was it anything previous?). No. I believe WGUS was original calls.

103.1 (Was Foxie 103 (WFXA) Is still Foxie. Used to be automated AC WZZW.

104.3 (This was WBBQ of course, but before it was Top 40, wasn't it something else? Also how much simulcasting did WBBQ do with it's AM?) Simulcasted 24/7 in the early days.

105.7 (before the "Sunny 105" era from 1986 to 1994 when it became Top 40 as WZNY. Someone on an earlier incarnation of this board mentioned the station being known as "M-105" with either a Top 40 or Album Rock format). TB3 posted the correct story on this one.

107.7 (It was Country as "US-107" back in the 90's, but wasn't it Urban as well at one point?) It's urban now, Power 107.

Thanks for any help,
Robyn
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RadioMahn said:
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
107.7 (It was Country as "US-107" back in the 90's, but wasn't it Urban as well at one point?) It's urban now, Power 107.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Yes, I know about Power, but was was it before US-107? Was it a simulcast partner with another station?

Also, before 102.7 was Oldies as WGOR, wasn't the station Adult Standards as WAJY (Joy 102.7)?

Radiomah & TB3: Thanks for the info. This is not an easy project.

Robyn
 
One more thing:

Didn't 102.3 go back to Country after their CHR/Rock AC stint as "Power 102"? I notice the WGUS-FM calls were picked up in 1991 and they had the WXFG call letters in 1993 before they became WEKL.

Also, when "Eagle 102" debuted, were they actually Classic Hits, instead of Classic Rock?

Robyn
 
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
One more thing:

Didn't 102.3 go back to Country after their CHR/Rock AC stint as "Power 102"? I notice the WGUS-FM calls were picked up in 1991 and they had the WXFG call letters in 1993 before they became WEKL.

Also, when "Eagle 102" debuted, were they actually Classic Hits, instead of Classic Rock?

Robyn
Click to expand...

I don't remember it going back to country. It was "Big Gus" WGUS until about 94 or 95 when it flipped to "Power 102". Then, about a year later, sometime late 95 or 96 it had an "All Beatles Weekend" and flipped to a hybrid Classic Hits/Oldies/Classic Rock format. A few months later, it dropped the softer stuff and went to "Classic Rock, Eagle 102" where it has been since.

WAAW 94.7 in Williston was originally going to be a country format station when the original owners built the station. James Brown bought it just before they signed on and made it 94.7 "The Boss" (My first job in broadcasting was an AE for the station in 96), a classic R&B format. I think it was 2000, or maybe 2001 when Mr. Brown sold the station and it became Gospel.

WBBQ had a heritage for being top 40 and simulcast on 1340 AM. I forget when the decision was made to exchange formats with WZNY, making Q-104 to "Augusta's Soft Rock Favorites WBBQ" and "Sunny 105" to "Today's Hits, Augusta's Y-105", but I do know that Cumulus finally stopped the simulcast in late 1998/early 1999 to launch "Radio Disney" on the AM format.
 
Thanks for the info. I've said this before, and I'll say it again, that Augusta radio was 100X better before Telecom 96. It true that you don't know what you have until it's gone.

Robyn
 
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...
You're quite welcome.

RobynWattsV2.0 said:
I've said this before, and I'll say it again, that Augusta radio was 100X better before Telecom 96. It true that you don't know what you have until it's gone.

Robyn
Click to expand...
Amen to that!
 
FloydB said:
I don't remember it going back to country. It was "Big Gus" WGUS until about 94 or 95 when it flipped to "Power 102". Then, about a year later, sometime late 95 or 96 it had an "All Beatles Weekend" and flipped to a hybrid Classic Hits/Oldies/Classic Rock format. A few months later, it dropped the softer stuff and went to "Classic Rock, Eagle 102" where it has been since.


WBBQ had a heritage for being top 40 and simulcast on 1340 AM. I forget when the decision was made to exchange formats with WZNY, making Q-104 to "Augusta's Soft Rock Favorites WBBQ" and "Sunny 105" to "Today's Hits, Augusta's Y-105", but I do know that Cumulus finally stopped the simulcast in late 1998/early 1999 to launch "Radio Disney" on the AM format.
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WGUS-FM (licensed to Augusta, while the AM was licensed to North Augusta) signed-on in late '67, and simulcasted the AM's country format from 6:00 AM 'till sunset (and continued with country on FM only...'till midnight for a couple of years, finally going 'round the clock in 1970).

A new manager came along in late '73, and decided the FM needed to become "uptown". An automation system was installed, and WGUS-FM became...1 0 2 - G, all easy listening...all the time.

I'm not sure when the simulcast re-started, but it was still BM in the very late 70's.


As for WBBQ, the full simulcast was broken in the late 70's, due a change in the FCC's rules about the percentage of simulcasting allowed, based on market size. As best I remember, I think the Augusta market size limited simulcasts to 50%. You gotta hand it to Handsome Harley...he duplicated, but didn't simulcast.

What he did was put a Harris System-90 automation system in for WBBQ(AM). When the automation was running, it was pretty much the same music that was on FM, with the same announcer doing the voice-track. Unless you knew, or punched back and forth between AM and FM, you really couldn't tell the difference.

At some point (I think), the rules were changed again, and the full simulcast returned (again, I think that's right).
 
jovialjay said:
As for WBBQ, the full simulcast was broken in the late 70's, due a change in the FCC's rules about the percentage of simulcasting allowed, based on market size. As best I remember, I think the Augusta market size limited simulcasts to 50%. You gotta hand it to Handsome Harley...he duplicated, but didn't simulcast.

What he did was put a Harris System-90 automation system in for WBBQ(AM). When the automation was running, it was pretty much the same music that was on FM, with the same announcer doing the voice-track. Unless you knew, or punched back and forth between AM and FM, you really couldn't tell the difference.

At some point (I think), the rules were changed again, and the full simulcast returned (again, I think that's right).
Click to expand...

Wow. I never knew that. I was a weekend jock doing Sat mornings from midnight - 6am, then moved to Sat mornings from 6-9am while doing Sun mornings midnight - 6am for WZNY during '98-99. All we did for the AM was have to take the meter readings. Even the legal we played was WBBQ-FM&AM. I really didn't know when the flip to Disney on the AM was permanant until the legal changed to only announcing the FM. Word passed through then that we had a studio (closet) to the right of the BBQ studio to check the AM broadcast.
 
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
Also, before 102.7 was Oldies as WGOR, wasn't the station Adult Standards as WAJY (Joy 102.7)?
Click to expand...
Yes, and the amazing thing is, I heard this station in North Carolina. Just a few times.
 
vchimpanzee said:
RobynWattsV2.0 said:
Also, before 102.7 was Oldies as WGOR, wasn't the station Adult Standards as WAJY (Joy 102.7)?
Click to expand...
Yes, and the amazing thing is, I heard this station in North Carolina. Just a few times.
Click to expand...

WAJY went on the air in 1990 as an automated Soft AC. They did have local, live AM & PM drive jocks for a while. Before switching to Adult Standards the station was handed to former major league pitcher Denny McClain to manage. He flipped the format to FM talk featuring Imus in the morning. This didn't last but a few months. McClain returned home to Detroit and is now serving time in Federal prison, for at least the second time in his life. But that's a whole other story. :D
 
RickRose said:
I do know that 93.9 use to be on 94.3 with less power. I know I remember country on 99.5 before 1988. I spent a fair amount of time in the mid 80s near Greenwood which had decent signals from 6, 12, 104.3,105.7,99.5 and 96.3fm.
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94.3fm was the first frequency allocated to Columbia County with an ERP of 3kw The station signed on around 1984 as WMTZ "Z-94" playing a country format. In the late 1988, it raised it's ERP to 6kw, but remained on 94.3mhz. During this time the format was changed to oldies and took on a new name "94 Gold". The station eventually went to a hot a/c format and became "Magic 94". In 1993, the station was sold to CSRA Broadcasters (a spinoff Beasley Group) The format was switched back to oldies and the call letters changed to WGOR "Oldies 94"
WGOR later would increase power to 25kw and move to a new frequency, 93.9mhz, and took on a new name "93.9 Cool FM", later down the road, it was called "0ldies 93.9". Then later the format was moved to WAJY which had previously been a talk and soft a/c station
 
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