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STATION PICKS WSPA FM GREENVILLE SPARTANBURG ANDERSON

C

CrazeeCarroll1

This is a station that has been around for a long long time... When I first heard this station I was at the School for the Deaf & Blind and as a young lad I thought what the heck is this crap... Little did I know that a B/EZ station would be so popular... For the longest time it was B/EZ music, but around the late 80's into the early 90's it progressed into a Soft AC station as Lite Rock 98.9... It went through quite a few owners in the 90's after Spartan Radiocasting sold it... In the mid 90's they started to really pick up the pace with their music and even had themed Sunday's playing a mix of 60's and 70's tunes when WFBC switched from oldies to CHR... In 2003 Entercom turned out the lite and gave it some magic with a pretty decent AC mix... It has been a few years since I have had the chance to hear Magic 98.9, but there have been some been names that have come through the studios weather it was Spartanburg or the move to Greenville... Now guys and gals it is your turn to give your thoughts on WSPA... Sorry I have not did the station picks the past few weeks so a big thanks to Robyn for picking up my slack... CC1
 
A couple more details.

"Lite Rock" wasn't the first name they had after they dropped easy listening. They were really soft AC, what you might call MOR, at first, and I think the name was "Lite". But the day I heard "If I Could Turn Back Time" by Cher, I knew we weren't in Kansas any more.
 
Hello Chimp!!! Me and you seem to have a lot of the same knowledge of radio stations in and around SC... I am curious where you live and do I possibly know you... Email me off list just kinda curious... CC1
 
WSPA-FM flipped from B/EZ to Soft AC in February 1991. The name was "Lite-FM 98.9". A few years later, it became Lite Rock 98.9, then Magic 98.9 at the beginning of 2002. Sundays in the mid to late 90's were all 70's...no 60's. It was called "70's Sunday", and did very well in the ratings. The station also had a popular smooth jazz show on Saturday nights: "Saturday Night Jazz" and for a while even played smooth jazz on weeknights. When Keymarket took over the station from Spartan Radiocasting in 1995, WSPA-FM ran the Dick Clark TV spots and was able to surpass WMYI in Arbitron several times between 1995 and 2000.
 
Is it just me or does WSPA sound more like a Hot AC these days? WMYI sounds much more like the conventional AC and sounds a little softer. WSPA is rather bold with some of their songs, IMO....a lot more currents than a regular AC.
 
I remember in the Spartan ownership days that a couple of key voices were shared between WSPA-FM and TV--I'm sure the same was for WSPA-AM (on 950). There was one guy in particular who did mornings on the FM when it was B/EZ and his voice was heard on promos and spots on TV-7...I cannot recall his name. Another heritage voice was John Gosnell who was last heard just prior to the flip from Lite Rock to Magic.

Eric
 
It was "FM 99", and the long time morning guy was Mike Vassy. After he left WSPA in 1992, he worked for a funeral home in Gaffney. (He may still be there).
 
SPA AM was by today's standards AC while the gang at 91WORD was straight up top 40... In the mid to late 80's SPA AM was more of a middle of the road type format kinda what SCQ in Columbia would become... As long as I was at the School for the Deaf & Blind Bill Drake held down mornings... After I left Spartanburg I kinda lost touch with the AM side of things... I just remember WORD went dark in 89, but would come back in Oct of 90 with a simulcast of what then was WFBC AM and WSPA was MOR... CC1
 
Here's some SPA history for you. The FM was the first fm in SC in 1946. The original antenna bow tie is still visible from when they broadcast from the I-85 towers of the AM. First in stereo in the southeast. Even did a test stereo broadcast using the am for one channel and the fm for another. Mike Vassey, John Gosnell, the late Bob Morgan & Jeff Warren were the main hosts of the fm station. During the beautiful music years it was Bonneville reel-to-reels on Scully machines, spots on cart carousels. They still have one of the top 3 0r 4 signals from the area. And there's the 10 watt deal in Biltmore Forest that came about when 'LOS FM deserted the old people. They demanded to hear their instrumentals of Madonna's past hits so on came 97.7. 'Lite FM 98.9' came first in the ac world. Lite Rock 98.9 hit right before Keymarket took over when some folks at Spartan decided the station needed to be 'amped' up a tad. When the 'lite' was turned on it was switched to live 24/7 with cd's and Computer Concepts DCS for spots and imaging. Again, a first for the market. Mike didn't make the cut 'for the new sound.' Rick Woodell was brought in at this time. My favorite days were broadcasting from the 'trailor plex' at the cul-de-sac of the news-plex. CD's of lite favorites from Celine and the like would skip all over the place while we had our sh*t tanks sucked out. Good times.

Craig Debolt
 
You are correct, WSAP FM was referred to as FM 99 in its EZ format because I remember listening to it in the car as a kid while traveling with my parents. Dad would go from WXRY to WSPA to WLOS in Asheville.
 
I remember one of the spots that WSPA-FM ran in the 70's that stated: "WSPA-FM 98.9 - broadcasting since 1946; In stereo since 1961." Were they possibly the first FM stereo station in the upstate?

WSPA-TV used to run a commercial in the 70's for WSPA-AM. It showed all of the on-air personalities of the AM at the time. My favorite part was the close-up of the venerable Gates Diplomat console with the big 'ol knobs and the VU meters just a-twitching. I wonder how many of those are still in use?
 
CrazeeCarroll1 said:
SPA AM was by today's standards AC while the gang at 91WORD was straight up top 40... In the mid to late 80's SPA AM was more of a middle of the road type format kinda what SCQ in Columbia would become... As long as I was at the School for the Deaf & Blind Bill Drake held down mornings... After I left Spartanburg I kinda lost touch with the AM side of things... I just remember WORD went dark in 89, but would come back in Oct of 90 with a simulcast of what then was WFBC AM and WSPA was MOR... CC1
Click to expand...
When people say "middle of the road" I never know what they mean.

I remember a time when WSPA-AM was big band/nostalgia, but I don't remember when. I do know WSCQ did that. Someone wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in The Charlotte Observer saying the market needed a station like that. Two people who had such a station wrote in--someone from Chester or near there who could hear WSCQ (I remembered it being soft AC, so this was news), and someone who liked WGTL (which has a thread on the Charlotte board).
 
CraigD said:
Here's some SPA history for you. The FM was the first fm in SC in 1946. The original antenna bow tie is still visible from when they broadcast from the I-85 towers of the AM.
Click to expand...
I remember going to the mountains in the days when WORD was still on 910 and they had towers next to I-85, with their call letters actually on the towers. Now as for WSPA, I don't remember them having towers there, but you are probably right about them.
 
They're on your left on (now Biz 85) headed toward Sptbg from G'vl....Broadcast Drive is the physical street address. The tallest tower and closest to the interstate has the FM bow-tie. I'd kill (o.k. mame) to get a 96-7 booster on there. Dag-gone 700 watts. There's also a cool old emergency studio at the 950 tx site.
 
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