OK Neil you have not did a station pick so I wanted to do one... As WZLD faded into that big radio station in the sky and YES was born I wanted to get you guys and gals thoughts on this station... For those who don't know YES was a very friendly dance top 40 station very similar to Power 98 at MYB... This station played a good mix of dance tracks from the likes of EXPOSE, Pretty Poison, etc... It was IMO what WNOK could have been, but did not need to... By the time 1990 rolled around YES was becoming more of a rock 40 format then for a short while was even alternative before kinda going back to a rock chr hybrid... Lets talk about this Columbia classic... Why do you guys think it failed... I know they were active on the streets, but what happened??? Was Columbia to conservative??? Come on Steve and Robyn I want to hear your thoughts... CC1
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Station Picks YES 97 WYYS
- Thread starter CrazeeCarroll1
- Start date
Neil it is funny you mention that... Everytime I listen to XRY (I can now listen on my new PC) I hear jingles and think wow they are the only alternative station I have ever heard that plays jingles... As for Steve and company doing the yes format as a stunt I did not get to hear that one, but if there are any tapes around I sure would like to...
I've got a CD I can send you or maybe Yousendit will let me upload it for you. It was 2 hours looped with whatever I had in my personal library at home. Fun stuff. I loved YES 97. If JJ Jaxson hadn't been working for another station, I woulda loved to have him do the drops.
We needed to get the XMTR on air and run program tests while we were still loading everything into MediaTouch. Hence, the stunt.
Fun fun! I always liked WPRH and WYYS better than NOK... but then again, more people in Columbia preferred WNOK.
We needed to get the XMTR on air and run program tests while we were still loading everything into MediaTouch. Hence, the stunt.
Fun fun! I always liked WPRH and WYYS better than NOK... but then again, more people in Columbia preferred WNOK.
CrazeeCarroll1 said:
You know, as I think about it, Yes never really struck me as dance oriented. C103 seemed more dance and Churban and they were playing all of those dance crossovers including Starpoint, Oran "Juice" Jones, etc. I guess Yes didn't seem as dance to me because C was leaning more dance at the time.
Scott:
You are right C103 was more dance oriented and Yes was more pop/rock. When MMC when to PRH Power 103, it shifted to dance and was really banging it out with all the Freestyle stuff for a couple years, then they tried the Rock40 thing and the Modern Rock 40 until they went country as Kicks 96.
Here's a link to one hour of the Yes 99 stunt. 85mb
http://www.yousendit.com/download/RmNETmZRNDR6NE41VEE9PQ
Hard to believe this is two years old.
You are right C103 was more dance oriented and Yes was more pop/rock. When MMC when to PRH Power 103, it shifted to dance and was really banging it out with all the Freestyle stuff for a couple years, then they tried the Rock40 thing and the Modern Rock 40 until they went country as Kicks 96.
Here's a link to one hour of the Yes 99 stunt. 85mb
http://www.yousendit.com/download/RmNETmZRNDR6NE41VEE9PQ
Hard to believe this is two years old.
Hey Steve I will check it out tonight when I get home from work... BTW since it was a stunt did you guys use Mitch Craig to do any of the VO work... Have a good weekend because I am going to freeze my you know what off... We are going down to 20 below zero for the lows here in northern IL with highs of 5 below... OUCH!!! CC1
Poor little old 96.7 has spun the format wheel in just about every direction:
1974: WZLD debuted at #1 in the market with a Pop or Bright AC format with some Oldies in the mix.
1978: WZLD after having been hammered by the debut of WNOK-FM (Stereo 105) as a CHR they change to AOR as "Z-96". Live Assist automation running Drake Chenault's AOR format
1980: segued into Top 40. I believe it was 1981 when they were actually #1 in the market by a tenth of a point, right in front of 'NOK.
Later in the 80's they segued into AC.
I lost track of them after that...would someone care to finish the timeline and formats leading up to "Steve?"
1974: WZLD debuted at #1 in the market with a Pop or Bright AC format with some Oldies in the mix.
1978: WZLD after having been hammered by the debut of WNOK-FM (Stereo 105) as a CHR they change to AOR as "Z-96". Live Assist automation running Drake Chenault's AOR format
1980: segued into Top 40. I believe it was 1981 when they were actually #1 in the market by a tenth of a point, right in front of 'NOK.
Later in the 80's they segued into AC.
I lost track of them after that...would someone care to finish the timeline and formats leading up to "Steve?"
Picking it up where Al left off...
February 1986: Z-96 drops CHR for AC (IMHO one of the most dumbest moves in Columbia radio history). One year later, they segue back to Top 40, but obviously the damage was done.
February, 1988: WZLD changes it's name to Yes 97, "Your Fresh Music Energy", with new call letters WYYS. Yes started out as a Pop-leaning CHR with sweepers done by Eric Edwards and jingles done by Thompson Creative. Yes 97 then segues to Dance with newer Mitch Craig sweepers in late 1988 or early 1989. They remained Dance-leaning until, late 1989 when they've adjusted themselves back to Mainstream CHR. In September of 1990, Yes 97 went Rock 40 which lasted 6 months until they went back to Mainstream CHR in the spring of 1991. In late July, 1991 the station announced they were going Country and fired the airstaff.
August, 1991: After spending about a week playing a lot of 80's tunes as well as a brief stunt as "Elvis Radio". Kicks 96 was born with the new call letters of WHKZ. The station signed on with a Gold leaning format, but adjusted themselves toward Hot Country as time moved on. Kick did very well as first, but after they were acquired by Benchmark (WCOS's owners) in 1995, the ratings declined. After 4 years, the station became a shell of it's former self.
Over Labor Day Weekend-1998: Kicks dropped Country for brief simulcasts of WCOS and WVOC. Afterwards, Lite 96.7/WLTY was born.
And now, we're up to "Steve"....
Robyn
February 1986: Z-96 drops CHR for AC (IMHO one of the most dumbest moves in Columbia radio history). One year later, they segue back to Top 40, but obviously the damage was done.
February, 1988: WZLD changes it's name to Yes 97, "Your Fresh Music Energy", with new call letters WYYS. Yes started out as a Pop-leaning CHR with sweepers done by Eric Edwards and jingles done by Thompson Creative. Yes 97 then segues to Dance with newer Mitch Craig sweepers in late 1988 or early 1989. They remained Dance-leaning until, late 1989 when they've adjusted themselves back to Mainstream CHR. In September of 1990, Yes 97 went Rock 40 which lasted 6 months until they went back to Mainstream CHR in the spring of 1991. In late July, 1991 the station announced they were going Country and fired the airstaff.
August, 1991: After spending about a week playing a lot of 80's tunes as well as a brief stunt as "Elvis Radio". Kicks 96 was born with the new call letters of WHKZ. The station signed on with a Gold leaning format, but adjusted themselves toward Hot Country as time moved on. Kick did very well as first, but after they were acquired by Benchmark (WCOS's owners) in 1995, the ratings declined. After 4 years, the station became a shell of it's former self.
Over Labor Day Weekend-1998: Kicks dropped Country for brief simulcasts of WCOS and WVOC. Afterwards, Lite 96.7/WLTY was born.
And now, we're up to "Steve"....
Robyn
Getting back to the question..
I think why Yes 97 had such a hard time was they had a nasty habit in adjusting the format every six months or so due to the high turnover of the various PD's that worked there. Can anyone name them? I remember Leo Windham was the OM/Mornings in Yes 97's first year on the air and Chuck Finley was around in 1990. Who else am I forgetting?
Yes, for some reason, seamed to be the unwanted redheaded stepchild of the Bresson-Hafler Media Group chain, in comparison to their sister station WBPR/Power 98 (which BTW, kicked major a$$).
Here's the proof:
http://www.thatwasradio.com/power98.html
I think why Yes 97 had such a hard time was they had a nasty habit in adjusting the format every six months or so due to the high turnover of the various PD's that worked there. Can anyone name them? I remember Leo Windham was the OM/Mornings in Yes 97's first year on the air and Chuck Finley was around in 1990. Who else am I forgetting?
Yes, for some reason, seamed to be the unwanted redheaded stepchild of the Bresson-Hafler Media Group chain, in comparison to their sister station WBPR/Power 98 (which BTW, kicked major a$$).
Here's the proof:
http://www.thatwasradio.com/power98.html
Another name that had popped-up today while I was thinking about it...Mitch Michaels. I believe he's the one that took Yes 97 Rock 40 in 1990. He also did TV voiceovers for some stations up in Ohio during his time here and left for Ohio when Yes changed over to Country.
Another thing: Anyone remember that cheap homemade TV spot that was done for Yes at that time? It was voiced by Mitch Craig, proclaiming Yes 97 as "Your #1 Home For Rock Alternative". It then cut to a bunch of high school-aged boy trying to rap like Vanilla Ice, with the caption on the screen saying "No Rap Music", then it cut to a man looking similar to Leo Windham sitting in a bar bemoaning how the station doesn't play beach music with the caption "No Beach Music". Finally, they cut to a elderly woman screaming: "It's too damn loud! It made me fall, and I couldn't get up!", with the caption "She couldn't get up."
I believe WIS edited the word "damn" out of the spot at one point. Guess either they or Yes 97 got complaints about it. :
Another thing: Anyone remember that cheap homemade TV spot that was done for Yes at that time? It was voiced by Mitch Craig, proclaiming Yes 97 as "Your #1 Home For Rock Alternative". It then cut to a bunch of high school-aged boy trying to rap like Vanilla Ice, with the caption on the screen saying "No Rap Music", then it cut to a man looking similar to Leo Windham sitting in a bar bemoaning how the station doesn't play beach music with the caption "No Beach Music". Finally, they cut to a elderly woman screaming: "It's too damn loud! It made me fall, and I couldn't get up!", with the caption "She couldn't get up."
I believe WIS edited the word "damn" out of the spot at one point. Guess either they or Yes 97 got complaints about it. :
Mentioning Yes 97 as being the "Red Headed Stepchild" of the Bresson-Haffler Stations was a bit amusing to read, Robyn! If that was the case, it was only because every time we visited the station (Once every month, me, Barry, and Steve Richards, and Waxman a few times) it was like no one there knew what they were doing, like the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing. I don't think it was at fault with the programming talent, they just weren't "together" on everything, plus they all had free will, there was no one single direct "Supervisor" or boss there, everyone just came in, did their work, and left. At least that's what we observed when we were there.
Waxman worked on the air there doing middays one summer, I remember him complaining that there was no format clock, all the sweepers we had sent from Mitch Craig had been edited down to only one or two seconds of just "Yes 97" (They got the same sweeper copy we had at Power 98, but for some strange reason never got put on the air), and he said all the spots were loose, meaning when he hit the cart into a stopset it waited a second before it started, and they had late tones on the end (meaning they ended, had dead air, then the next spot started).
I'll never forget when Barry asked me to take a butt-load of 12 inch records to them and have them dub them to cart (re-mixes and stuff), I told him I was nervous about leaving my personal records with them, he said it would be fine, they would have them dubbed in a week or so. I never saw the records again. When Chuck Finley left we went down there to get my records, they were gone. I'm not saying he took them, I guess the jocks thought they were station promo copies and helped themselves to them, or, heaven forbid, they gave them away!
I have an aircheck of Waxman on the air there that I will get dubbed down to my site soon (as with all the fine airchecks you sent to me, Robyn, just not enough hours in the day!), but he said their aircheck skimmer had no "manual control" on it, so he didn't get the sweepers on it.
Kahuna
www.thatwasradio.com
Waxman worked on the air there doing middays one summer, I remember him complaining that there was no format clock, all the sweepers we had sent from Mitch Craig had been edited down to only one or two seconds of just "Yes 97" (They got the same sweeper copy we had at Power 98, but for some strange reason never got put on the air), and he said all the spots were loose, meaning when he hit the cart into a stopset it waited a second before it started, and they had late tones on the end (meaning they ended, had dead air, then the next spot started).
I'll never forget when Barry asked me to take a butt-load of 12 inch records to them and have them dub them to cart (re-mixes and stuff), I told him I was nervous about leaving my personal records with them, he said it would be fine, they would have them dubbed in a week or so. I never saw the records again. When Chuck Finley left we went down there to get my records, they were gone. I'm not saying he took them, I guess the jocks thought they were station promo copies and helped themselves to them, or, heaven forbid, they gave them away!
I have an aircheck of Waxman on the air there that I will get dubbed down to my site soon (as with all the fine airchecks you sent to me, Robyn, just not enough hours in the day!), but he said their aircheck skimmer had no "manual control" on it, so he didn't get the sweepers on it.
Kahuna
www.thatwasradio.com
Thanks Kahuna, for your perspective. Looking back, I'd wished that Yes had the same energetic staff that Power had. Who knows, they may had lasted as long as them.
I hate to admit this, but Powell was right several years ago when he stating that Columbia had never had any good stations. I've just about given up listening to local radio (for the most part, it sucks) and the only reason I hang around on the boards anymore is because I do enjoy the discussions that we have about past stations.
Robyn
I hate to admit this, but Powell was right several years ago when he stating that Columbia had never had any good stations. I've just about given up listening to local radio (for the most part, it sucks) and the only reason I hang around on the boards anymore is because I do enjoy the discussions that we have about past stations.
Robyn
I am with you on that Robyn... I guess we can't go back to the good ole' days of Columbia radio, but damn those were some good days... CC1
CC1Hello Steve I think I have an answer as to why nobody in Columbia is willing to take a chance... Until VT'ing and radio ego's go away the glass celling rule is in affect... The last time anybody had the you know whats to shake things up in Columbia was back in 1992 when somebody had the bright idea to do an in your face rock format... Remember what I am talking about . Radio can't and never will go back to being creative, fun, or unique until the DEREG rules are revisited of which I don't see happening even with the DEMI"S in power... Remember all parties love that money... Hell there are mom and pop stations that are still doing creative radio, but just like wal-mart they a slowly being killed off for higher power sticks or just outright being bought... Remember when the owners of Power 98 in Charlotte bought Kiss 102... Hey if you can't beat them you just buy them... CC1
. Radio can't and never will go back to being creative, fun, or unique until the DEREG rules are revisited of which I don't see happening even with the DEMI"S in power... Remember all parties love that money... Hell there are mom and pop stations that are still doing creative radio, but just like wal-mart they a slowly being killed off for higher power sticks or just outright being bought... Remember when the owners of Power 98 in Charlotte bought Kiss 102... Hey if you can't beat them you just buy them... CC1Carol: I remember well!
In 1992, financial issues drove Clayton Radio to go rock. Hot/Gold AC wasn't cutting it and the on-site owners (who, with the exception of Steve Bunyard) who were also the managers had to do something to turn the place around. So, they didn't have much choice to do anything but take a big leap!
It's hard to see, in retrospect, how unconventional it was to go active rock with 93.5. Active Rock is not exactly a far-left-field format these days. But in 1992, everyone in the market was saying that there was room for only one rock station in town, and that one station was Fox 102. But then again, the same collective thought in 1997 was that there was room for only one urban station: WWDM.
In 1992, financial issues drove Clayton Radio to go rock. Hot/Gold AC wasn't cutting it and the on-site owners (who, with the exception of Steve Bunyard) who were also the managers had to do something to turn the place around. So, they didn't have much choice to do anything but take a big leap!
It's hard to see, in retrospect, how unconventional it was to go active rock with 93.5. Active Rock is not exactly a far-left-field format these days. But in 1992, everyone in the market was saying that there was room for only one rock station in town, and that one station was Fox 102. But then again, the same collective thought in 1997 was that there was room for only one urban station: WWDM.
Steve, since you were there at the time, when did WARQ officially transition to Modern Rock? I know it was a gradual thing spread out over time.
Also do you happen to know what was WCEZ's format BEFORE Beautiful Music? Weren't they WIS-FM at one point?
Thanks,
Robyn
Also do you happen to know what was WCEZ's format BEFORE Beautiful Music? Weren't they WIS-FM at one point?
Thanks,
Robyn
It was some time Mid-1995.
The decision was made when the studios moved from 56 Radio Lane to Pineview Road to transition the format.
All the metal/hairband stuff went out of the library through the spring of 1995, leaving Led Zepplin, Van Halen and Tom Petty. All of those artists were gone by the Fall of 1995.
I don't know exactly when that was. However WARQ achieved its highest 12+ shares when it was doing the alternative/Zep/VH/TP thing. Strange?
The decision was made when the studios moved from 56 Radio Lane to Pineview Road to transition the format.
All the metal/hairband stuff went out of the library through the spring of 1995, leaving Led Zepplin, Van Halen and Tom Petty. All of those artists were gone by the Fall of 1995.
I don't know exactly when that was. However WARQ achieved its highest 12+ shares when it was doing the alternative/Zep/VH/TP thing. Strange?
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