WBAQ 97.9 - what's their story?

[rwells2265]

While passing through Greenville on the way back home from a week in Arkansas, I scanned upon a station still playing easy listening. Most commercials were done by this announcer who had a very old-school way about his delivery. It seemed like every third song was an uptempo "adult standards" selection, but the rest was good old-fashioned elevator music.

Can anyone shed some light on its history? It didn't seem like that powerful a station, as it petered out around Yazoo City. I was laughing at myself the whole way there -- I'm a 41-year-old be-bopping down 61 in my Honda Element with a Muzak arrangement of "Just Like Starting Over" blasting on the radio.

In this day and age of consolidation and cookie-cutterism in radio, I found it ... refreshing.

But Greenville doesn't strike me as having a big retiree population ... exactly WHO'S listening??

Russell Wells - Savannah, Ga.

 

[thedougpound]

Russ:

WBAQ is a near Full Class C2. It's licd for 49KW at 496 feet and i think the max for a C2 is 50KW/500 feet.

The same company that owns 97.9 also owns TOp 40 Q 102/WIQQ Leland-Greenville, MS along with WNIX-AM 1330 also in Greenville.

 

[robgrayson]

> Russ:
>
> WBAQ is a near Full Class C2. It's licd for 49KW at 496 feet
> and i think the max for a C2 is 50KW/500 feet.
>
> The same company that owns 97.9 also owns TOp 40 Q 102/WIQQ
> Leland-Greenville, MS along with WNIX-AM 1330 also in
> Greenville.
>
The station went on the air in the late 60's/early 70's. Paul Artman was the owner, and did just about everything there was to do down to typing the logs. Paul was kind enough to give me my first on air job at age 14 (mine, not his). I was fortunate enough to get the chance to work for him before they went automated. When I started there in 1972, we had a Sparta 5-pot stereo board, two turntables, and spots on reel-to-reel, with ABC Information news at the top of the hour and MRN at :30. The control room faced the transmitter, on the top floor of the May Building in downtown Greenville. Paul's son, Paul Jr. joined his dad after I left, and later the younger Paul Artman was elected mayor of Greenville.
Some folks who came through WBAQ include Jim Chick and Dave Dunaway (later of WJDX and Y-100), and the current OM of the CC Miami cluster, Rob Roberts. Dave's father, Coach Dunaway, also did a weekend shift on the station (he had been my principal in 7th grade at Solomon Jr. High). His theme song was "Dear Hearts".
The station signed on with "Dixie" (Paul was a big Ole Miss fan), and signed off with Jim Nabor's "The Lord's Prayer", following the "Stero Showcase" program 11 to midnight. That was an uninterrupted hour which could be anything from a musical soundtrack album to a Vegas Wayne Newton concert to a Mystic Moods Orchestra album.
Being 14, I would always suggest current pop songs that I felt would fit the format of the station. Paul would patiently listen to them, and then tell me (I can still hear him saying this in his mellifluous tones) "Robert, you can play that song anytime you want to... at your house. Don't ever bring it back here again!"
Paul sold the station to the WNIX/WIQQ folks, but my understanding is that he gets to operate it until he retires.
RG

 

[smashedcd]

> > Russ:
> >
> > WBAQ is a near Full Class C2. It's licd for 49KW at 496
> feet
> > and i think the max for a C2 is 50KW/500 feet.
> >
> > The same company that owns 97.9 also owns TOp 40 Q
> 102/WIQQ
> > Leland-Greenville, MS along with WNIX-AM 1330 also in
> > Greenville.
> >
> The station went on the air in the late 60's/early 70's.
> Paul Artman was the owner, and did just about everything
> there was to do down to typing the logs. Paul was kind
> enough to give me my first on air job at age 14 (mine, not
> his). I was fortunate enough to get the chance to work for
> him before they went automated. When I started there in
> 1972, we had a Sparta 5-pot stereo board, two turntables,
> and spots on reel-to-reel, with ABC Information news at the
> top of the hour and MRN at :30. The control room faced the
> transmitter, on the top floor of the May Building in
> downtown Greenville. Paul's son, Paul Jr. joined his dad
> after I left, and later the younger Paul Artman was elected
> mayor of Greenville.
> Some folks who came through WBAQ include Jim Chick and Dave
> Dunaway (later of WJDX and Y-100), and the current OM of the
> CC Miami cluster, Rob Roberts. Dave's father, Coach
> Dunaway, also did a weekend shift on the station (he had
> been my principal in 7th grade at Solomon Jr. High). His
> theme song was "Dear Hearts".
> The station signed on with "Dixie" (Paul was a big Ole Miss
> fan), and signed off with Jim Nabor's "The Lord's Prayer",
> following the "Stero Showcase" program 11 to midnight. That
> was an uninterrupted hour which could be anything from a
> musical soundtrack album to a Vegas Wayne Newton concert to
> a Mystic Moods Orchestra album.
> Being 14, I would always suggest current pop songs that I
> felt would fit the format of the station. Paul would
> patiently listen to them, and then tell me (I can still hear
> him saying this in his mellifluous tones) "Robert, you can
> play that song anytime you want to... at your house. Don't
> ever bring it back here again!"
> Paul sold the station to the WNIX/WIQQ folks, but my
> understanding is that he gets to operate it until he
> retires.
> RG
>
is this the only elevator station left?? gotta be the only one in mississippi.<P ID="signature">______________
note to the NAB..satellite radio..its worth paying for!!</P>

 

[robgrayson]

> > > Russ:
> > >
> > > WBAQ is a near Full Class C2. It's licd for 49KW at 496
> > feet
> > > and i think the max for a C2 is 50KW/500 feet.
> > >
> > > The same company that owns 97.9 also owns TOp 40 Q
> > 102/WIQQ
> > > Leland-Greenville, MS along with WNIX-AM 1330 also in
> > > Greenville.
> > >
> > The station went on the air in the late 60's/early 70's.
> > Paul Artman was the owner, and did just about everything
> > there was to do down to typing the logs. Paul was kind
> > enough to give me my first on air job at age 14 (mine, not
>
> > his). I was fortunate enough to get the chance to work for
>
> > him before they went automated. When I started there in
> > 1972, we had a Sparta 5-pot stereo board, two turntables,
> > and spots on reel-to-reel, with ABC Information news at
> the
> > top of the hour and MRN at :30. The control room faced
> the
> > transmitter, on the top floor of the May Building in
> > downtown Greenville. Paul's son, Paul Jr. joined his dad
> > after I left, and later the younger Paul Artman was
> elected
> > mayor of Greenville.
> > Some folks who came through WBAQ include Jim Chick and
> Dave
> > Dunaway (later of WJDX and Y-100), and the current OM of
> the
> > CC Miami cluster, Rob Roberts. Dave's father, Coach
> > Dunaway, also did a weekend shift on the station (he had
> > been my principal in 7th grade at Solomon Jr. High). His
> > theme song was "Dear Hearts".
> > The station signed on daily with "Dixie", and signed off with Jim >Nabor's "The Lord's Prayer",
>
> > following the "Stero Showcase" program 11 to midnight.
> That
> > was an uninterrupted hour which could be anything from a
> > musical soundtrack album to a Vegas Wayne Newton concert
> to
> > a Mystic Moods Orchestra album.
> > Being 14, I would always suggest current pop songs that I
> > felt would fit the format of the station. Paul would
> > patiently listen to them, and then tell me (I can still
> hear
> > him saying this in his mellifluous tones) "Robert, you can
>
> > play that song anytime you want to... at your house.
> Don't
> > ever bring it back here again!"
> > Paul sold the station to the WNIX/WIQQ folks, but my
> > understanding is that he gets to operate it until he
> > retires.
> > RG
> >
> is this the only elevator station left?? gotta be the only
> one in mississippi.
>
I know that up here, WEZI went from being a consistent top 5 station (ratings AND billings) to being non-existent years ago, as did WLIN in Jackson (MS). I imagine that trend was a reflection of what was going on nationwide.
Someone in sales could probably hip us to how being successful with older demographics is the kiss of death for programming. WRVR was making big bucks with "Solid Gold Sunday", but gave it the boot because it made the numbers "skew too old".
I have wondered recently what would happen to WBAQ when Paul retires. He has been there from the inception, and as of the last time I came to visit, still oversees the daily programming.
RG

 

[glennnn]

Paul Sr. is one of last of the southern gentleman broadcasters still around. I worked with a regional agri. network for 13 years and Paul's station was an affiliate from the beginning. I stopped at his station many times to adjust satellite equipment. If I had time when traveling through Greenville I alway tried to stop in and just visit. Paul is good guy to know. I saw recently that his station had sold to another local broadcaster and wondered what would happen to the programming. It's good to know that at least for now that "beautiful music" as it use to be called is still playing. If you get a chance go through the area and listen to some radio history before it goes away.

 

[Pat2]

> Paul Sr. is one of last of the southern gentleman
> broadcasters still around. I worked with a regional agri.
> network for 13 years and Paul's station was an affiliate
> from the beginning. I stopped at his station many times to
> adjust satellite equipment. If I had time when traveling
> through Greenville I alway tried to stop in and just visit.
> Paul is good guy to know. I saw recently that his station
> had sold to another local broadcaster and wondered what
> would happen to the programming. It's good to know that at
> least for now that "beautiful music" as it use to be called
> is still playing. If you get a chance go through the area
> and listen to some radio history before it goes away.
>
I believe the old 103.7 in Hattisburg was still beautiful music for a few years after WLIN had already switched. There was also a beautiful music station in Gulfport for many years on AM. At one time there was both a nostalga station and an elevator station at the same time. Today there is only one (WROA AM) and I think its more of a standards station. The only easy listening stations I've run across traveling has mostly been on AM and its mostly adult standards with a few elevator tunes thrown in. WLEZ Jackson is kinda like that. I heard a station in South Carolina that was playing easy listening but I believe it is a religous station run by Bob Jones University.

 

[msteven3]

Like Rob, I did my time at WBAQ in high school and college, back when I thought that my career would go in the direction of radio. All I can say is, I have the highest respect for Mr. Artman and Paul, Jr. for giving me the chance to work with them. It was truly a privilege. I first started there when the station was atop the May Building. The building originally was full of tenants, but Mr. May decided to close it down, but the station stayed there until the end. Let me tell you, it got kinda lonely up there after everyone else moved out, but it was nice to look out of the control room windows and see downtown Greenville spread out below. After that, the station moved over to Broadway, which is where it is still located. The studios and offices offered a little more room, but there was something about being on top of that old office building that I miss.

I really feel bad that I haven't stopped by the station the last few times I've been over that way. I'll have to go make amends next time I'm there, and I probably ought to give them a call. Not only did I get my first taste of broadcasting there, but I got to spend time talking with Mr. Artman. He's a walking encyclopedia of local radio history, and I will treasure what I learned from him. I also miss our debates about many things, including music, politics, and, of course, which school is better: State or Ole Miss. We could be on totally opposite sides of an issue and debate it for an hour, but then we'd end up agreeing to disagree and move on to something else. How many people these days can debate in a civil manner just for the fun of it, disagree about everything, then put it all aside to talk about something else entirely?

Sorry this post went on for so long. I'll close by saying that, if you find yourself up that way, tune in to 97.9, and, if you have time, drop by the station and chat a while. I guarantee that you will come away with some insight about how radio was done back in the day that you've likely never heard anywhere else. But, if you go, take Mr. Artman something for lunch. He really needs to branch out from eating his usual: one ham sandwich and two cookies.

 

[937QID]

> Russ:
>
> WBAQ is a near Full Class C2. It's licd for 49KW at 496 feet
> and i think the max for a C2 is 50KW/500 feet.
>
> The same company that owns 97.9 also owns TOp 40 Q 102/WIQQ
> Leland-Greenville, MS along with WNIX-AM 1330 also in
> Greenville.
>
I beleive the company you refer to is Great River Broadcasting. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[937QID]

> > Paul Sr. is one of last of the southern gentleman
> > broadcasters still around. I worked with a regional agri.
> > network for 13 years and Paul's station was an affiliate
> > from the beginning. I stopped at his station many times to
>
> > adjust satellite equipment. If I had time when traveling
> > through Greenville I alway tried to stop in and just
> visit.
> > Paul is good guy to know. I saw recently that his station
> > had sold to another local broadcaster and wondered what
> > would happen to the programming. It's good to know that at
>
> > least for now that "beautiful music" as it use to be
> called
> > is still playing. If you get a chance go through the area
> > and listen to some radio history before it goes away.
> >
> I believe the old 103.7 in Hattisburg was still beautiful
> music for a few years after WLIN had already switched.
> There was also a beautiful music station in Gulfport for
> many years on AM. At one time there was both a nostalga
> station and an elevator station at the same time. Today
> there is only one (WROA AM) and I think its more of a
> standards station. The only easy listening stations I've
> run across traveling has mostly been on AM and its mostly
> adult standards with a few elevator tunes thrown in. WLEZ
> Jackson is kinda like that. I heard a station in South
> Carolina that was playing easy listening but I believe it is
> a religous station run by Bob Jones University.
>
WROA-AM serves the Gulfport/Biloxi market with the easy listening/nostagila format and are owned by the Dowdy's. The station is well known for playing muzak versions of Christmas classics during November and December and were doing it long before CC and other's started doing more lively, modern versions on their A/C's.