WBT/WBZK- 99.3 - Chester........

[electroboy73]

I just thought about this. But does anyone remember back in the early to mid 80's when 99.3 WBZK was a Top-40/pop station for Chester? I think it was more of an adult-leaning Top-40. Was it called K-99? They had an AM too. Is that the one which is now AM 980 in York? And lastly, around the same time in the 80's, I seem to remember an AM station with the calls WGCD and back in the mid 80's, I seem to remember it had a pretty strong urban format for such a small town.

Does anyone else have any info these?

Thanks.

 

[Matt]

The 99.3 signal was originally WBZK-FM, then WDZK with the format as you described it until it was bought by WBT to fill in the nighttime null to the west of the station.

Following the sale of WDZK to WBT, WBZK-980's owners tried some rather eclectic programming ideas on it, then finally sold it to Davidson Media, who brokered the time out to ethnic groups. The station was recently sold to Michael Glinter, who will likely broker it or sell the time to religious groups.

You mentioned WGCD. It's still there...now playing Urban Gospel and simulcasting Charlotte's WGIV-1370. It's owned by Frank Neely.

Later....

 

[jovialjay]

99.3 - Chester

This station was originally WCMJ, debuting in late '69 with 2kw ERP @ 360' HAAT. For 8+ years, the station programmed country music and operated from a mobile home at the transmitter site north of Chester, just off Highway 321.

In 1978, the Schaffer automation system was moved from Chester to York, to the studios of sister station WYCL. WCMJ's calls were changed to WDZK, while WYCL's calls were changed to WBZK. In Chester, new studios/offices were built and all new equipment was installed. In York, the 980 studios were overhauled and converted to stereo.

In the fall of '78, K-99 hit the air. The FM was a full simulcast of the then daytime AM station's existing adult top-40 programming from 6AM-6PM, with FM programming originating from the new Chester studios from 6PM-6AM. The WBZK/WDZK calls were because FCC rules at that time would not permit (without a waiver) different licensees in different markets to share call letters (The stations had common controlling ownership, but different licensee companies), and the Commission had just begun allowing stations to be programmed up to 50% of their broadcast schedules from studios outside of their city-grade contour. The remaining 50% had to originate from the "legal" studio, which explains the dual studios.

I did afternoons and was the PD at WGCD for about 6 months (or was it 6 weeks?) in early '78, then moved to mornings at WBZK in late summer, continuing in that slot when the simulcast began. I had applied for a new FM outside Augusta in 1977, and left K-99 in the spring of '79 to build that station. I should've stayed in York!

The Sigmon family built WYCL into a hot little Top-40 station by the mid-60's. The station had a killer multi-track production room, a surprisingly well-equipped control room and an audio chain so tightly compressed that a pair of Amprex 4-400C modulators would only last about 3 months in the Collins 20V-3. If the last part of that sentence makes no sense to you, think about how my poor wife has suffered through these last 31 years!

Oh...for those that tuned into K-99 in those early years, the jingles were from one the earliest JAM packages...Priority One.

 

[fortmill]

Interesting...I remember WBZK-AM from the 1970s--you're right it was a right cool little top 40. I'm sorry I missed it's days on FM. Am I right in assuming WRBK/90.3 is the progeny of of WBZK/WDZK? If so, could WRBK's wonderful music library have been passed down from the ZK stations (yeah, I know the music is now on hard drive)? I believe the current WRBK studio is the former 99.3 studio. While I'm at it, I have to add I LOVE WRBK and I'm a dedicated listener.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Re: 99.3 - Chester

I remember K-99. I lived near Monroe.

WPAJ was more my style, and I mostly listened to WSOC-FM or WZXI.

 

[joebradio]

"K 99 is WBZK, York-Rock Hill, WDZK, Chester Rock Hill."

I was one of the last people to do a live morning show at K 99 in the early 1990's. There had been little change to the production facilities in more than 20 years. It seemed to be "state of the art" for 1969. The FM station was upgraded to 25,000 watts about that time. After I left, the FM station would be sold to WBT to help 1110 fill local night coverage gaps around 1996. When I was there it was still AC, using a mix of clunky cartridge CD's and 45 singles. There was a change to Oldies and some Century 21 jingles were ordered. But, there was very little sales activity outside of owner Curtis Sigmon depending on tried and true clients, such as a local seafood eatery and a hardware store. The station was closely tied in with Clemson sports at the time and did a beach music show on Saturday afternoons. They also had a studio in the transmitter building in Chester, but they were only splitting the stations for Sunday monring (black gospel on AM, church programming on FM) and they would air York high school football on the AM and Chester HS on the FM. While I respected Mr. Sigmon and "Miss Peggy" it was clear even then the station had no future. Also, about the time the station "flipped" to oldies, the calls for the FM were changed to WBZK-FM instead of WDZK. I think I read on another board somewhere that the WBZK building on the edge of York out by the Tastee Freeze was used for fire training. From what I understand since leaving the area more than ten years ago that WRBK is operated by Curtis Sigmon's son Jeff, who was once the PD for K 99.

 

[PAT GWINN]

K99 was based out of York, Chester and Rock Hill... The Sigmond family owned it for years. Two brothers, Curtis and Melton...along with son Jeff (now at a non-profit station in Ridgeland) operated the station with a good format of Oldies and Urban greats. One of the jocks was Lynn Sinclair who was at WBCU in Union (1460) who also spent time at WORD in Spartanburg when it was the hottest of AM signals in the region. Lynn is now with WSPA TV 7 and has been for a number of years. That station had great production facilities as well.

Robert Hienlien and others were at WGCD in Chester. Another great station like WGCD was the WLBG in Laurens with Emil Finley, WPCC in Clinton when Dan Lynch managed it. Dan's son Joey and James Erwin (who eventually paired up with JJ Micheals at WANS) during it's incredible run of the 80s and 90s before Nick Frangis sold it to the powerhouses.

Pat Gwinn