OK guys I have been doing these on the SC board although I must give credit to Neil aka Double O for starting it... It can be a current station or a station from the past like what I am going to do this week... This week we will look at WCKZ a station that really took the QC by storm... The station launched in January of 1988 with the Carolina's first CHURban format... it was an upbeat mix of dance and some evolving rap that was popular in the day... The station had the Beach and Boo morning show with other jocks including Kelly Masters Mean Jammin' Gene and a host other great talent that went through the doors... IMO the station reached its music peak in 1991 and then the slow ward trend started as the music shifted to a more hip hop approach... Kiss was very active in the community and had lots of promotions that kept the station fun and hip to listen to... Kiss was very active with nightly mixes from Captain Kirk plus they introduced the Thunder Storm which was a nightly mix show that ran from 10PM till Midnight... Kiss also had some low points as well such as getting into trouble by having The Carolina Lottery where lucky winners got lottery tickets from other states and the FCC quickly shot that down... There was also the Mark Driscoll flack as well that took place... By the time we rolled around to 93 Kiss was all over the road and it was announced that the owners of power 98 (The Charlotte Version) was taking ownership of the station... I remember an on air petition to keep the new owners from taking over, but 6 years later to the very day V 101.9 was born with SMN's The Touch playing the tunes with Tom Joyner doing mornings... OK guys it is your turn to share your memories on one of Carolina's biggest radio success... Kiss may be gone, but thirteen years it is not forgotten... CC1
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STATION PICKS WCKZ GASTONIA/CHARLOTTE
- Thread starter CrazeeCarroll1
- Start date
Crazee, I'm interested. What was the Mark Driscoll "flack"? I wasn't in Charlotte back then.
Prior to "Kiss", which I loathed--sorry to former Kiss102 fans!!--wasn't the station known as "Lite 102, WLIT" and prior to that WZXI which still had it co-owned and co-located with WGNC in Gastonia?
Eric
Eric
I used to listen to the station, so I know it well. I put what I know on Wikipedia.eacalhoun1 said:
WLIT by the time it ended was live and local, but before that they were using a satellite service with a very and I mean very soft AC format... It was good to go to sleep by... CC1
Call Me Sherlock said:
Back in 1992, Kiss 102's then-PD Lisa Tortelli (sp?) was on a panel at a radio convention (the only woman on that panel, I should add). Mark Driscoll was in the audience and had hired a stripper, which disrupted the panel discussion. He has made a comment that Lisa should get together with the stripper because it would be interesting to have "four of them hanging around" (meaning her's and the stripper's boobs).
Driscoll, who was serving as the station's voice, was dropped shortly after the convention and the station switched over to Brian James.
Here's Kahuna's Kiss 102 page that has a copy of the ratings from Winter 1993. Although Kiss was ranked #9 12+, they were doing way better than 95.1 WAQQ.
http://www.thatwasradio.com/kiss.html
Robyn
Thanks Robyn for stepping in... Had a fridge repair guy come to my house so I did not get to answer the question so thanks for picking up my slack 
. As far as Kiss goes they were very active in pumping out new music lot of time months before any other urban or CHR's were pumping out at the time... God I hate to admit this, but Kiss even sold out a Millie vanilli concert at what was then the new Charlotte coliseum... That was in Apr of 90 and I had a crush on this cutie while I was in College and she ask me to go to the concert with her ... Talk about bliss, but at least the CD did not skip... CC1
. As far as Kiss goes they were very active in pumping out new music lot of time months before any other urban or CHR's were pumping out at the time... God I hate to admit this, but Kiss even sold out a Millie vanilli concert at what was then the new Charlotte coliseum... That was in Apr of 90 and I had a crush on this cutie while I was in College and she ask me to go to the concert with her ... Talk about bliss, but at least the CD did not skip... CC1I'll also share some memories. I was down Morehead at WBCY at the time and lost my first ever radio job when they knocked us out of the format. Ironically, one of the architects of Kiss 102 is looking at buying the station I work at now.
I very much respected Kiss, up until, well, it was actually Tonnaci's reign where the wheels fell off the wagon.
I thought Rick and Kevin did a great job in mornings. The station from '88-'91 was as focused and hot as a station could sound. Mark Shands was the PD at the time. Jay Alexander was great at nights. It was a tight sounding station the never deviated from the format.
But when it went bad, it went BAD. I heard tales from friends of mine at the Mix/Kiss studios about board ops sneaking breaks overnights to put together airchecks, some jocks just basically dumping the playlist to play whatever they wanted. Interns were brought on that weren't actually interns, just folks who wanted to be on the radio and were actually working for free. It was as if the second Kiss moved into the Mix building, two good radio stations turned bad. By that time I was back at JP, but on the AM side and we were getting calls galore from future former Kiss AND Q jocks. Not too ironically, when Sunny started bringing some of that talent on board, their ratings tanked.
Wheatstone ran an ad back when Kiss was in its early days, showing the Kiss studios featuring their A500 board. I have the original slick from that ad protected in plastic. Very cool studios.
I very much respected Kiss, up until, well, it was actually Tonnaci's reign where the wheels fell off the wagon.
I thought Rick and Kevin did a great job in mornings. The station from '88-'91 was as focused and hot as a station could sound. Mark Shands was the PD at the time. Jay Alexander was great at nights. It was a tight sounding station the never deviated from the format.
But when it went bad, it went BAD. I heard tales from friends of mine at the Mix/Kiss studios about board ops sneaking breaks overnights to put together airchecks, some jocks just basically dumping the playlist to play whatever they wanted. Interns were brought on that weren't actually interns, just folks who wanted to be on the radio and were actually working for free. It was as if the second Kiss moved into the Mix building, two good radio stations turned bad. By that time I was back at JP, but on the AM side and we were getting calls galore from future former Kiss AND Q jocks. Not too ironically, when Sunny started bringing some of that talent on board, their ratings tanked.
Wheatstone ran an ad back when Kiss was in its early days, showing the Kiss studios featuring their A500 board. I have the original slick from that ad protected in plastic. Very cool studios.
NewsNow,
Are you kidding me? Get your facts straight before you post. What fairy tale did you get that crap from? Nobody sneaked on the air to do breaks for airchecks, everyone was on the payroll.
You all are a bunch of radio-geek losers with nothing else to do but make up stories to make yourself look good about what you think you know.
Wake up, get a real job!
Are you kidding me? Get your facts straight before you post. What fairy tale did you get that crap from? Nobody sneaked on the air to do breaks for airchecks, everyone was on the payroll.
You all are a bunch of radio-geek losers with nothing else to do but make up stories to make yourself look good about what you think you know.
Wake up, get a real job!
Outtaradio,
Maybe it is you who need to check your facts. I worked there with Sly Douglas mixing during the Thunderstorm and I saw some FREAKY things going on first hand. And I have a friend who was on the air during many a playlist dump. Things did go on just as the posting claims. Just because you didn't see it, doesn't mean it didn't happen.
Maybe it is you who need to check your facts. I worked there with Sly Douglas mixing during the Thunderstorm and I saw some FREAKY things going on first hand. And I have a friend who was on the air during many a playlist dump. Things did go on just as the posting claims. Just because you didn't see it, doesn't mean it didn't happen.
1. I have a real job in a top ten market as a news anchor. Prior to that, I spent a year reporting for a national radio trade journal, and before that 6 years in NC as a PD and 11 as a producer and air talent. You're the one who is "outtaradio".
2. I knew an "intern" who was doing morning show stunts, and not on the payroll nor in any college program. To their credit, somebody eventually figured out that that might not be a good idea and they stopped. When that happened she bopped on down to WGSE to volunteer the right way.
3. Kiss employed board ops to run voice tracks. An employee there told me about how he sneaked breaks to make a tape. I heard his tape. He came to work for us and I helped him not sound so goofy. I heard others, where at one point it's personality X at 11:30, then suddenly the 11:45 intro is a kid who sounds about 18, then back to the other guy for the 11:50 break.
I didn't even mention that Shane idiot who decided it would be cool to take wire cutters to a competitor's guy wires, who lied on his resume to get a job at Kiss.
All of which isn't to take away from Kiss when it was good. It was a great station.
I spent years growing up in Charlotte and working at area stations. We all knew what was going on over there. It may not have happened while YOU were there, but it all happened. Let's hear your credentials.
2. I knew an "intern" who was doing morning show stunts, and not on the payroll nor in any college program. To their credit, somebody eventually figured out that that might not be a good idea and they stopped. When that happened she bopped on down to WGSE to volunteer the right way.
3. Kiss employed board ops to run voice tracks. An employee there told me about how he sneaked breaks to make a tape. I heard his tape. He came to work for us and I helped him not sound so goofy. I heard others, where at one point it's personality X at 11:30, then suddenly the 11:45 intro is a kid who sounds about 18, then back to the other guy for the 11:50 break.
I didn't even mention that Shane idiot who decided it would be cool to take wire cutters to a competitor's guy wires, who lied on his resume to get a job at Kiss.
All of which isn't to take away from Kiss when it was good. It was a great station.
I spent years growing up in Charlotte and working at area stations. We all knew what was going on over there. It may not have happened while YOU were there, but it all happened. Let's hear your credentials.
Again, check your facts. It was Rex, not Shane. He was never convicted.
Uh-huh.
There was some freaky stuff going on, without a doubt. Rex once fired off an ABC fire extinguisher in the studio while "The Unknown DJ" a.k.a. Tim was on the air. The engineer, Alane Lane had a FIT. By the way, Alan was and still is the World Heavyweight Champion of radio engineers.
There was some freaky stuff going on, without a doubt. Rex once fired off an ABC fire extinguisher in the studio while "The Unknown DJ" a.k.a. Tim was on the air. The engineer, Alane Lane had a FIT. By the way, Alan was and still is the World Heavyweight Champion of radio engineers.
A
Art Carlson
Guest
Butts NEVER did mornings at WMXC. He did mornings at Kiss 102. And, he was married to Lisa. Butts was a piece of work - boy, did he ever want to be Rick Dees!
Rex was an unpredictable one. Walked off once during his shift because he was having a fight with his wife.
BUT, the boy could flat out do it on the air. But he did like to crawl into Gary Morgan's rack room (Alan was out of the picture when it moved over to the WMXC studios) and 'fix' the processing.
Tim (AKA Unknown DJ) was probably the most talented night jock in Charlotte when he was at his peak. REALLY could do great radio.
The studio (before it was moved over to Kings Drive) was amazing. Custom and amazing.
The Brian James change was an EZ Communications move - but it did happen around the same time as the Driscoll NAB event. About the time Brian James came on was when Lisa was playing the dance mix of Genesis 'I Can't Dance' and Achy Breaky Heart. Yes, both true. Painful but true.
There was an 'informalness' to the station as far as part timers and interns. As was the norm in that day, it was not all done by the books.
They never really did have a PD worth a hoot. Eric Bradley was the MD for most of the Kiss 102 run and was the one that kept things cohesive. Now he had ears for records.
Rex was an unpredictable one. Walked off once during his shift because he was having a fight with his wife.
BUT, the boy could flat out do it on the air. But he did like to crawl into Gary Morgan's rack room (Alan was out of the picture when it moved over to the WMXC studios) and 'fix' the processing.
Tim (AKA Unknown DJ) was probably the most talented night jock in Charlotte when he was at his peak. REALLY could do great radio.
The studio (before it was moved over to Kings Drive) was amazing. Custom and amazing.
The Brian James change was an EZ Communications move - but it did happen around the same time as the Driscoll NAB event. About the time Brian James came on was when Lisa was playing the dance mix of Genesis 'I Can't Dance' and Achy Breaky Heart. Yes, both true. Painful but true.
There was an 'informalness' to the station as far as part timers and interns. As was the norm in that day, it was not all done by the books.
They never really did have a PD worth a hoot. Eric Bradley was the MD for most of the Kiss 102 run and was the one that kept things cohesive. Now he had ears for records.
HOLY COW!!! I had forgot all about Rex D on Kiss... He was pretty darn good on the air... Another good night time jock on Kiss was Don O'Neil!!! Dunno what ever happen to him, but he was doing nights i believe around 90 or so while 2Live Crew "Banned In The USA was popular" which would have been around the summer of 90... I remember Billy "Boom Boom" Cannon did a short stint on Kiss as well after Gorilla radio went oldies.... AHHHH The memories from a listener standpoint... From the sounds of it if there were ever Animal House had a radio movie Kiss 102 would fit the bill... BTW since I missed a pick for this week wait until next week... Get those minds sharpened up and we are going to really have some fun... CC1
I forgot about "Boom" filling in a couple times. He didn't work on Kiss very long at all. The whole "Boom-Boom' act was very tired and didn't work.
I talked to Rex after Kiss when he was working in Ft. Lauderdale on a station that was brodcasting in the Bahamas, what a cool gig. After the Butts/Tonacci FUBAR, we brought Rex back as an image voice and he sounded awesome. I often thought, as did other folks, that after the Kiss/Mix "wedding" that they brought in Mike and Lisa to tank the station intentionally.
I talked to Rex after Kiss when he was working in Ft. Lauderdale on a station that was brodcasting in the Bahamas, what a cool gig. After the Butts/Tonacci FUBAR, we brought Rex back as an image voice and he sounded awesome. I often thought, as did other folks, that after the Kiss/Mix "wedding" that they brought in Mike and Lisa to tank the station intentionally.
Mike wound up in IA working from what I was told... He sucked just as bad in IA as he did in the QC... To me he sounded like somebody you would see in a cheesy 80's movie in small town Kansas... He was just outright bad and I think listening to paint dry was more entertaining... CC1
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