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remember when 93.9 was classic rock?

B

blamethemayo

of course you do. it wasnt too long ago. i believed they flipped to 'sunny' sometime in the fall of 96. ( irealize theyve switched from sunny to kiss now).

anyway, i really enjoyed that station. what happened to the jocks. i believe the afternoon guy was bruce brady? i also recall there was a guy named 'cosmo' at night. i believed he later moved on to g105.
 
;D No, She does overnights at your Internet Station!
 
TINA! APE!

ARE YOU GUYS GOING TO TOXIFY EVERY THREAD FROM NOW ON?! CUT IT OUT!
 
I remember when they were Classic Rock, They were WZZU. (94Z), Then I think they went "dark" for a while. After WRDU did some house cleaning, they (93.9) became "The New 'ZZU". Kevin Silva and Mike Wheles (sp) (now on WQDR) did the Morning Show. Kitty did the 10am - 2pm show. Remember the "All Request Lunch". Several of the EX-WRDU Staff worked there.

In October of 1997 (I know the month, I returned from my Honeymoon) and they were "The New Sunny 93.9". :mad: The Morning Show was with Bob and Jolene. Nicki Morris (Mike Wheles' ex-wife) did traffic. On Sunday mornings, Kitty continued the tradition of "The Jazz Brunch".

I am sure Ape will provide more details and correct my information ;)

Stuart
 
I think the morning traffic guy used to call himself Juan Valdez and I faintly remember a girl named Kristin (or something like that) co-hosting mornings with some guy. Also, I remember meeting another female jock at 5 Counties Satdium in like '93 and ZZU hosted fireworks after the game. Weren't they licensed to Burlington at 1 time? Did they ever have studios in B'town?
 
if i remember correctly, they were licensed in burlington the entire time they were classic rock.

i always thought they were a far superior station to rock 92.

after 93.9 flipped to sunny, rock 92 picked up john boy and billy for awhile.
 
I never listened when they were Classic Rock 94-Z, I did like the music when they changed to the "New 'ZZU". They played "Classic Hits", pretty much what "The River" (100.7) does now. Kevin and Mike were really funny in the mornings! It was a good local station, shifts were always covered with real people!! :D

Stu
 
I thought 103.9 was a Jazz Station before turning into a Gospel Station WNNL ("The Light) ???
I do agree a lot happened with 93.9 and 103.9 during an extended period of time.

Stu
 
FM 93.9 began in Burlington as WFNS-FM, later WBAG-FM, the FM sister station to AM 1150 there. The Village Companies bought it around 1983-84, expanded the signal and moved the studios to Raleigh as Top 40 WZZU "94-Z". WZZU shifted to a new rock format in 1989 as "U-93.9" and later classic rock as "Classic Rock 93.9." It seems like the station might have gone by the "Rock 93.9" handle as well. In 1996, WZZU came under the same ownership as legendary rocker WRDU 106, so the format became soft rock WRSN "Sunny 93.9" in September of that year (just before Hurricane Fran blew in) so as not to compete directly with 106.1 FM.

Fuquay-Varina's 103.9, known at different times up until 1996 as WAKS-FM, WAZZ, WNND, andfially WTCD, took the WZZU call letters and began a classic hits format as "Classic Hits 103.9." Clear Channel actually owned 103.9 at this time. The New 'ZZU was short lived, as 103.9 dumped it to become black gospel WNNL in the fall of 1997.

When 93.9, now WKSL, relocates its antenna to the 1,700-foot WLFL-TV analog tower in Apex, its city of license will change to Cary, giving North Carolina's seventh-largest city, on paper, its first allocated radio station.
 
"FM 93.9 began in Burlington as WFNS-FM, later WBAG-FM, the FM sister station to AM 1150 there. The Village Companies bought it around 1983-84, expanded the signal and moved the studios to Raleigh as Top 40 WZZU "94-Z". WZZU shifted to a new rock format in 1989 as "U-93.9" and later classic rock as "Classic Rock 93.9." It seems like the station might have gone by the "Rock 93.9" handle as well. In 1996, WZZU came under the same ownership as legendary rocker WRDU 106, so the format became soft rock WRSN "Sunny 93.9" in September of that year (just before Hurricane Fran blew in) so as not to compete directly with 106.1 FM..."

Heaver moved the signal to Raleigh in 1984 to shiny new digs in an office building at the corner of Blue Ridge Road and Lake Boone Trail and crammed it full of the best toys money could by, at the time, and borrowed liberally from Shannon's Morning Zoo in Tampa and Lander's Morning Zoo in Houston to crank up a full-throated CHR.

I remember a consultant (don't remember which one) addressing the brand-new staff a few weeks or maybe months after sign-on, describing how we wouldn't be playing the Beatles because their last hit was over 12 years earlier. We had some former WQDR staffers there (from back when 'QDR was AOR) and they were simply mortified. It did feel a bit like sacrilege, at the time, though it shouldn't have, given the format.

Gary Dickson was the PD -- he now does overnights at KDKA in Pittsburgh -- and co-hosted the Morning Zoo with Nola Roeper, his former partner from Heavner's then-property in Lexington, KY, WKQQ. Gary was later bumped to OM and Peter Delloro brought in as PD (I think he was another 'QDR transfer from when they flipped to country, though I don't remember). Nola later split to work with Ted Brown at WNEW in New York. I think she's out in LA now, producing direct-to-video films, though that may be a different Nola Roeper. Donna Mason replaced her as co-host, a Zoo fan with no radio experience but buckets of natural talent, and she of course later went on to work on WPTF.

94Z signed on in as a CHR in the fall of 1984 and was deader than Vaudeville five years later. I'd been shown the door in July or August of 1986, having been one of the original hires in '84 -- first as copywriter, later working as Morning Zoo producer. By the time it flipped to classic rock, I don't believe any of the original hires were left, other than maybe one or two. That includes sales and support.

I've got a "Best of the 94Z Morning Zoo" cassette on my CD case now (proceeds went to to the Ronald McDonald house). It was a terrific learning experience and, when it was cooking, not a bad CHR.

I just blogged on a piece about radio back in the day, pre-94Z, centering on 'QDR: www.theninthhouse.net/tnh. Feel free to stop by, leave a comment and spread the word. I'd love to hear from you.

Peace...
 
Oh yes I Remember the WZZU!
Great station, come to think of it they had a real playlist of more than 200 songs.
Me and my friends in Highschool listened to WZZU in the 90s.
Then we woke up one SEPT. morning in 96 to WRSN "We really suck now."
 
From what I remember, after 93.9 became Sunny, JB&B, after a brief hiatus, moved to WRDU, where they were the morning show on that station until Bob and Tom took over in 2001. At the time WZZU flipped to Sunny, they were not yet under the Clear Channel umbrella, and in 1997, Clear Channel tried to revive WZZU on 103.9 (now WNNL The Light 103.9, which has since been sold to current owners Radio One). The new WZZU didn't fare too well, and in 1998 CC flipped it to its current gospel format. Two years later, in 2000, CC did pick up 93.9 (now WKSL 93.9 Kiss FM), along with WTRG (now WRVA-FM 100.7 The River), G105 (still intact), and WRDU (now 106.1 The Rooster). At that point CC was forced to sell WNNL, along with its current sister stations WQOK, WFXC, and WFXK. WDUR-AM 1490, which at that time was simulcasting WNNL, then switched its broadcasting partner to what was then WTRG until June 2004, when they took on a satellite-fed gospel format "Rejoice!". Five months later, CC blew up WTRG, which became first "100.7 The Bull" and then "100.7 The River." The current WRVA calls came a week later. That River took on a AAA format, but CC blew that up in September 2006 when they kept the River name and calls, but changed the format to "classic rock." This turned out to be the prelude to WRDU flipping to its current country format "106.1 The Rooster." Meanwhile, CC sold off WDUR to Triangle Sports Broadcasters, where they simulcast WTSB's ESPN Radio format. That station is now dead, with the two stations finally being sold separately last summer; the ESPN Radio affiliation is now on WDNC 620 The Bull.
 
ncscradiogeek said:
Oh yes I Remember the WZZU!
Great station, come to think of it they had a real playlist of more than 200 songs.
Me and my friends in Highschool listened to WZZU in the 90s.
Then we woke up one SEPT. morning in 96 to WRSN "We really suck now."
Click to expand...

yeah, i loved that playlist of 93.9. you could actually tune in and hear neil young songs like 'cowgirl in the sand' and 'unknown legend'.

on rock 92, you could hear neil young....probably 'southern man'...or maybe 'hey hey my my'....which would be followed by 'sweet home alabama' or 'ramblin' man'...one of the seemingly 5000 times per day they play those songs.

(in fairness i havent heard rock 92 in years. maybe theyve changed, i suspect they havent)
 
They have, but not much. At least they're consistant!
 
quadraphonic said:
I feel like I just watched a season's worth of "Dynasty" berlin201! ;D
Click to expand...

Good analogy ;D
BTW, I have a good idea for a soap-opera name for the format-changing frenzy that took place in 2006: "As the Format Changes"... Hmmm... between Clear Channel and Entercom, the two major combatants in this frenzy, I wonder which one was Joan Collins and which one was Linda Evans (to further apply the "Dynasty" analogy)?
 
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