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Trip Down Memory Lane

R

ryan rafferdy

Guest
For anyone who was in the area in the 80's and 90's obviously remembers Mark Sebastian. For those who don't know who he is, lemme give you a quick refresher. He was one of the boss jocks on Q102/Cincinnati back in its glory days. Every day part on the station had 20+ shares on a regular basis. Mark had a 51 share one book IN DAYTON! When Mark left Cincy he came to Tampa. Now, 10 years or so later, he's our production director down here at Clearchannel Sarasota. Its kinda cool working with a guy you grew up listening to.

That is all!
Off to the beach I go :)

Rafferdy
Clearchannel Sarasota
 
I was a big fan of Q during his tenure. Q was a great top 40 station back then. It's a shame what local radio has become. You won't find jocks creating news like Sebastian did when he locked himself in the studio and played Everybody Wants You 50 times. Those were fun days as a listener.

It's a shame that the fun is gone from radio.
 
Yup....no more fun like competing stations, dumpster dives, attempted sabotaging of giveaways, etc.

What ever happened to giveaways on the air like 7 one notes of songs edited and making the listener guess? I hope it didn't go away when Casey co-wrote the WKRP script.

Sometimes I feel like I lived through the second golden age of broadcasting, when everything wasn't exactly programmed to the second, in precise 10 minute wheels.

The fun is gone. The fun is gone away.
 
Please stay out of trees and keep it shakin' and please remember one thing that I, MARK SEBASTIAN, would love to see you all, completely and yes, I do mean, completely........ Start Pink Floyd song, "Money." Yes, those were the days of classic radio, will never forget it. I remember the times that he would ring that cow bell for contest winners from Norwood and Kentucky. Top 40 music, along with all of the great bands, like Led Zepplin, great memories.

Shark
 
Nobody sounded or had such a command on radio at the time more than Q102. I have enjoyed reading all the comments. I loved that radio station. It was my main influence when I started in radio. Some other things I remember:

It was a tight playlist on new music. They sometimes would not even be on something that Billboard had in their top 5. But the Q would play an album track (like "Dance") from the new Stones release. Very cool.

The Pink Floyd or Steve Miller music bed behind contest winners.

Their processing was like no other. You knew when you found them. They were louder than everybody.

Back in 78 or 79 the new competition Yes95 signs on. Sounding a lot like Q102. I think they even stole Q's asst. pd. They announce they are going to be commercial free for a length of time and are going to giveaway $500,000. A few days later on my way to my first radio job I hear Mark Sebastian say that they have a major announcement coming at 5:30. Jim Fox the p.d. comes on the air, says he "is shaking." They announce that they are giving away $1 million. Take that Yes95. A huge deal in the late 70's.

I also remember Fox filling in for Bob Shrieve on his WKRC Channel 12 late night movie show on Saturday nights.

It was a great time for radio and that station was all about great music, great personality and FUN! Thanks to Fox, O'Brien, Barry, Sebastian, Elliott, Coyle and all of the others for all the fun and making my teen years so memorable.
 
Mark was lucky to have a job and his lack of talent was exposed once he was fired or quit Q102. He is a great candidate for a job at WDJO!
 
1316wwood said:
It was a tight playlist on new music. They sometimes would not even be on something that Billboard had in their top 5.
Click to expand...

This is what turned me off about Q-102. If it was in the top 5 nationally, it would have almost certainly been in the top 40 in record sales locally. Thus, I think probably anything that made it that high on the national chart in the '80s, prior to about 1988, belonged on top 40 radio locally at the time (in addition to what Q-102 actually did play).

There's a lot of stuff that hit the top 5 after 1988 that I would have held off on, but probably not before. (Yes, I probably would have even played that Sergio Mendes song if I ran a top 40 station in 1983.) Unfortunately, by that time, Q-102 generally played the songs I would have held off on, and refused to play other songs that I would have played.

Q-102 even failed to add some songs that hit #1 nationally. I'm pretty sure "The Reflex" by Duran Duran was never added at Q-102 (until years later when it started doing retro specials).
 
onegreatplace said:
Mark was lucky to have a job and his lack of talent was exposed once he was fired or quit Q102. He is a great candidate for a job at WDJO!
Click to expand...


LOL, you and WDJO! Do you honestly see Mark playing music on 1160, talk about an alternative universe.

Shark
 
I do indeed. That is, of course, if they have a wheelchair ramp to the studio.
 
onegreatplace said:
I do indeed. That is, of course, if they have a wheelchair ramp to the studio.
Click to expand...


There are many things that I could see in this lifetime, however, that is not one of them.

Shark
 
Someone who wants to take a cheap shot behind a screen name said:
Mark was lucky to have a job and his lack of talent was exposed once he was fired or quit Q102. He is a great candidate for a job at WDJO!
Click to expand...
You're right, I was very lucky to have worked with Q102, and I regret the decision I made to leave in 1979 when offered a transfer to another Taft station. I'd love the chance to work with some of the legends now with WDJO, as it is one of the few stations I've heard taking chances. I wish Roger, Dusty and the gang great success and I'd love to come by and visit sometime.

Mark Elliott
 
I think Mark Elliot is talented. I was referring to Mark S.
 
For those who are interested, there is some stuff with Mark and "Froggy", as well as Mark doing the Hyde Park "Honk-off" on reelradio.com
 
Boy do I feel stupid! Sorry, I take a beating on the Michigan Buzzboard almost every day, and sometimes it gets to me. I misread your line, and I apologize. If I could edit my post, I would. Have a great day.
 
Sorry Mark. I was commenting on a mark of another color. Mark E., nice. Mark S, not so nice.
 
Mark E., you were a big part of that whole team too. Great memories of really good chr radio. You always sounded like the smart one of the bunch. You and Fox.

What he (Fox) wound up doing was not at all smart and I really hate to take the discussion down that road but - does anyone know where Jim is these days? Did he stay at the little station in Indiana or go somewhere far away? Or is he completely out of the business? Everytime I watch Dateline's Predator series I think of that guy. I will never forget having no idea what happened from living so far away and driving to Columbus about 7 years ago and listening to him sob telling the story of what happened on Pat Barry's show on KRC. I could not believe my ears. What a shame for such a talent to mess it up. I'm glad he didn't mess up someone elses life. You always felt like you were the only person listening when Fox was on the air. One of the best one-on-one communicators ever in my opinion.

Thanks folks.
 
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