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WBMW "The Wave"

J

JakeLongwell

Recently, I've been enjoying some great airchecks of KOTH, a smooth jazz/new age station in the St. Louis area that was on the air from 1989-1991. They used the "breeze" moniker, and the programming appeared to be all satellite fed. The more I listened, I began to wonder if this was the same satellite used by 107.7 during its short incarnation as 'the wave". Some of the jocks included Ben Johnson, Ray Peterson, and Shannon Smith. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?
It was a really great service, with a very broad playlist. It was a great station, even if it was all satellite. I vaguely remember 'the wave", but I was too young to really appreciate this music back then. If by any chance someone has some WBMW airchecks, I'd love to hear them.
 
My memory of 107.7's short run with "wave" anything seems to lean more toward "Easy favorites" or "Always quiet and beautiful" of times past.

Instrumental versions of classic hits, rather than the true Smooth Jazz sound that surfaced for a short while in 1995 on "Buffalo's Unique way to relax" Smooth Jazz 92.9.
 
Yez, I believe you're thinking of WEZQ. This was the chapter on 107.7's saga that followed 'the wave". WEZQ was indeed a beautiful music station, something of a novelty by that time in the early 90s. They then switched to "new country" in 92 as I recall.

No, the wave was a smooth jazz/new age station. I do recall they carried the syndicated "jazz show" with host David Sanborn. My guess is that the satellite service I heard on the airchecks may very well have been the same one heard on 107.7. Just trying to confirm it.

It's times like this that I wish time travel were a reality.
 
The lineage of stations @ 107.7 IIRC since Pat Robertson sold WBIV in 1982 was WUWU, WBMW, WBYR, WEZQ, WNUC, WNSA, and, finally WLKK. The formats: alternative, jazz, classic rock, easy-listening, country, sports and classic rock again. IMSMC I think WNUC had two seperate runs on-air with the EZQ stint interrupting it for a spell.
 
Very close. But I think the correct order was:
WUWU, WBYR, WBMW, WEZQ, WNUC, WNSA, and WLKK, respectively.

I think WNUC ran uninterrupted from 1992 until it became WNSA in 2000.

I also remember hearing that the station had the same owner through many of the format shifts, starting with WBMW and carrying on through the WNUC days.
 
I also remember hearing that the station had the same owner through many of the format shifts, starting with WBMW and carrying on through the WNUC days.
Click to expand...
That should be John Cassiani - I believe the last independant owner in the Buffalo market at the time.
 
Jake,

I enjoyed The Wave and listened all the time. I don't remember much about the on-air lineup outside of Jon Butterfield who was a national voice. I believe they had local announcers as well. Was it programmed by Broadcast Architecture? I think Butterfield was with BA when WSJZ had their brief fling with smooth jazz.

aL
 
I loved 107.7, the Wave, especially at the beginning. None of the names Jake brought up at the beginning ring a bell. Indeed, Jon Butterfield was a Wave announcer who later surfaced in either a voice tracked or syndicated evening show on 92.9. Timothy Drum was another Wave announcer. I do believe that toward the end of the format in Buffalo, Dan Lenard was doing a locally produced morning show. The legendary Ken Ruof was also a part-timer.

At the beginning, the Wave was a mix of new age and smooth jazz. They didn't really get into the ambient, way out new age pieces that you sometimes hear in this format. It was pretty listenable! Remember the singing time checks at the top of the hour? Toward the end, they started mixing in rock tunes. I remember hearing Pink Floyd from "Dark Side of the Moon," for example, in the mix.

In any event, one interesting item of note. When we were visiting Cleveland two years ago, I noticed a bus card advertising 107.3, the Wave. So, I tuned it in. It's a home-grown Cleveland format with local announcers. It's truly smooth jazz, with no new age. They'll even throw in some Earth Wind and Fire. It's now on my car pre-set for when we make one of our frequent trips to visit the Kid. And best of all, it has the same jingles that were used back in the day at 107.7. The station streams on line if you want to catch it.
 
WUWU, WBYR, WBMW, WEZQ, WNUC, WNSA, and WLKK,
Click to expand...
The formats: alternative, jazz, classic rock, easy-listening, country, sports and classic rock again.
Click to expand...

Post Pat Robertson era: It started off with Bob Allen doing alt rock as WUWU around 1980, but then there was that infamous Bob Allen transmitter site takeover(1983?), right after majority owner Dr. Chemiel(spelling?) changed formats to something resembling the old WADV. Then WBYR, The Bear(with Tony Magoo in mornings?). The rest of the story, listed above, seems correct to me. I seem to remember Dan Lenard doing mornings on WEZQ and I think Ken Ruoff was doing weekends and I believe they had live announcers at least through midnight, maybe 24/7.

That frequency has had almost as many call letter/format changes as The Bills have had coaching changes.
 
Philip_Airtime said:
I loved 107.7, the Wave, especially at the beginning. None of the names Jake brought up at the beginning ring a bell. Indeed, Jon Butterfield was a Wave announcer who later surfaced in either a voice tracked or syndicated evening show on 92.9.
Click to expand...

Both stations also had the involvement of Frank Cody, whom some may remember as a newscaster on NBC's "The Source" network, which was carried by the original 97 Rock. Frank was the originator of the satellite "Wave" format, and as part of Pyramid's Broadcast Architecture, brought Smooth Jazz WSJZ to 92.9 after we bought it from Lincoln (we tweaked the A/C format to "B-93" first, unsuccessfully).

On 'SJZ, Butterfield was voice-tracked for Buffalo nights, as was Anne Gress in middays. IIRC, they were based in Philly. AM and PM Drive were local (Chris Whittingham/Eileen Buckley and PD Steve Wiersman, who used a nom d'air I don't remember). First example of out-of-market VT I encountered, back when it was nowhere near as ubiquitous as now.

Schuh
 
Philip_Airtime said:
In any event, one interesting item of note. When we were visiting Cleveland two years ago, I noticed a bus card advertising 107.3, the Wave. So, I tuned it in. It's a home-grown Cleveland format with local announcers. It's truly smooth jazz, with no new age. They'll even throw in some Earth Wind and Fire. It's now on my car pre-set for when we make one of our frequent trips to visit the Kid. And best of all, it has the same jingles that were used back in the day at 107.7. The station streams on line if you want to catch it.
Click to expand...

WNWV 107.3 has been in the format forever. I think since they dropped the ABC "Z-Rock" format 20+ years ago. I wonder what the secret to their success is? The Smooth Jazz format has been dropping like flies over the past couple of years.

And thanks, I'm listening to the stream right now. This must be the best sounding radio web-stream I've ever heard. Very dynamic.
 
I think I answered my own question on why WNWV in Cleveland is successful. The "Wave" format is much more palatable (to me at least) than most Smooth Jazz formatted stations I've heard that play a lot of rhythmic/funk, and/or techno-jazz, for lack of better words.
 
Well, it appears I was wrong about the satellite service being the same. Thanks everyone for the info. Glad I could conjure up some fond memoires for some of you.

In case you'd lie to listen to the airchecks I was talking about, here's the link from the smooth jazz board. I'm sure the original poster won't mind that I shared it here.

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,110102.0.html

The folders to listen to are the two "breeze" folders.
 
ThePickleReport said:
I think I answered my own question on why WNWV in Cleveland is successful.
Click to expand...

If I'm not mistaken, WNWV was programmed, up until the last year or so, by Bernie Kimball, former 70s era programmer of WCMF in Rochester. It must
have been quite a sonic adjustment for Bernie going from progressive rock to smooth jazz. Apparently he made it, since he stayed there for years.
 
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