WDOD "96.5 the Mountain" Chattanooga flips to CHR!

[Bill Burkett]

Here are the call sign start dates for 93.1 according to the FCC website.

WCKS 10/03/1998
WWZZ 12/03/1990
WWST 05/20/1994
WMYU 03/09/2001

 

[BRH]

Yeah, as far as 93.1 goes; they first signed on as WCKS "93 Kiss FM" with an AC format in the late 80s. That was followed by a move to classic rock (keeping the Kiss FM name). They then changed in the early 90's to WWZZ and became an active rock station as "Z93". They were owned by a group then called the Ben Brothers, who got into trouble with the FCC for some of their on air sweepers and so forth. (They had sweepers aimed at crosstown rocker WIMZ talking about them having "no balls", etc.) They also stirred up controversy by actively going on the air and telling listeners the names of advertisers who wouldn't advertise with them and had the listeners call and ask the advertisers about it. Stupid move that really caused a big stir, but did get them publicity. Anyway, they then went became "young country Z93" for a very short time period. And when "I100" moved from CHR to Country, they then became CHR as "Z93". They were sold a couple of years later to Journal (or Jacor), or whoever owned WMYU back then, and they kept the CHR format but changed calls to WWST and adopted the "Star 93.1" name and a more adult CHR sound for the rest of the 90s. (Oh, incidentally, speaking of WKSF Asheville. Their popular night jock at the time of the flip from CHR; "Todzilla". Was immediately hired by 93.1 in Knoxville after WKSF's flip and Todzilla has been the night jock at Star ever since the mid 90's and is still there on Star 102.1. If you've never heard his show, you should check it out. He is a production whiz and does a fun show, but it's a bit old school sounding and dated now I guess.)

As far as 94.3 goes. They were an automated station (WKNF "K94") for years in the late 80's with several AC type satellite formats. In the early 90's the owners of WOKI (Johnny Pirkle) bought it and flipped it to a CHR/Alternative hybrid after WOKI went country. WNFZ was originally "Z94.3" for a short time, and then segued from the CHR/Alternative hybrid to being a true alternative as "94Z" for several years. It was later sold to South Central who kept the alterntive format but changed the hame several times. It went from 94Z to "94.3 the Planet". They then changed to a harder alternative/active rock slant as "94.3 Extreme Radio" for several years. And more recently they changed the name to "94.3 the X, Knoxville's rock station" and are pretty much an average active rocker now.

 

[BRH]

You can also go back into the WayBack internet archives and see a few old web pages from some of these stations. Here's an old one from WNFZ as "94Z" in 1996, http://web.archive.org/web/19961231074923/http://www.94z.com/ .

This is a fun website if you are looking for old archived websites from the past. There are lots of old radio sites archived on there. It's at http://www.archive.org/web/web.php . Only problem is a lot of links and flash type stuff no longer works. But it can be a real time waster if you are looking for something fun to do.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

Does anyone remember a station in Lexington KY pre 1993 called X-100, it was on 100.1 and had a Rock Friendly CHR format. They played stuff like Metalica and GNR, Nirvana, but they also played all the POP Hits as well. I dont know much about this station except that it was there in 91-92, and was also flipped to country in 1993. I remember the signal was quite weak even in Lexington, though they have had a signal upgrade a few times since then. The station was licensed to Winchester about 10 miles away, but only had like 3kw. I remember going south a little past Richmond about 20 miles there signal would start getting hammered by 100.3 WOKI Knoxville. Even to this day you can still pick up 100.3 Knoxville almost to Lexington, even with the crowded dial and high powered stations Lexington has these days.

 

[BRH]

I briefly remember X100 in Lexington. I know the 100.1 frequency was CHR for a good period during the 80s. I think they used the "FM100" name for a long time too. If I'm not mistaken, their call letters were WFMI back during their CHR period of the 80s. I know they competed with crosstown WLAP "Power 94 1/2" in the late 80's before WLAP went Hot AC in the early 90s.

 

[MusicDoctorRadio]

I dont remember no Z-93, but I remember Star 93. I dont remember 94.3 ever being CHR either, but I remember them as Active rock (EXTREME RADIO)..... Not saying I dont believe you, its just that I wasnt in the area at the time.

[/quote]
I know there was a Z-93, but I can't remember when it was around. 93.1 had the calls WWZZ for a few years. I believe those were the calls it took after it dumped country as WCKS in the 1989 or '90. As for 94.3, it was indeed a CHR for a brief time. That's where it got the WNFZ calls as it called itself "Z-94." I believe it flipped from classic country WKNF.
[/quote]

Z-93 was around from December of 1990 to April of 1994.

The 93.1 Frequency first signed on the air here in Knoxville as "93 KISS-FM (WCKS)" back in early January of 1989, and it was Adult Contemporary.

Then in March of 1990 (I believe it was) they dropped the AC Format and changed to Classic Rock, however they were still called "93 KISS" up until December of 1990, which is when they changed over to "Z-93 (WWZZ)". They continued to play Classic Rock, however they started playing some newer Rock along with extra album cuts. I also remember back during part of the year 1991 when they had no Overnight DJ, they would put the station on automatic pilot and would play whole entire albums during the overnight hours. It was really cool. I remember hearing these following 4 albums played on Z-93 in their whole entirety in one night back in '91:

Van Halen - Diver Down
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
AC/DC - Razor's Edge
Queensyrche - Empire

Then they later on got some homeless guy off of the streets and taught him how to run the board during the overnight hours. I believe the guy was kind of elderly and his name was Jack from what I remember. He usually never talked since he had no prior experience working in radio. He would just play the songs and the ID, however I do remember him getting drunk a few times while he was running the board during the overnight hours, and once in awhile he would get kind of crazy and would open up the Microphone ever so often, and he would make some drunken gibberish sounding comments on the air late at night from time to time. It was kind of funny to tell you the truth, however the way I understood it, Poor old Jack got a little bit too crazy and liquored up one night and they got rid of him. That's the details that I remember hearing.

The Hard Rock Version of "Z-93" was also where current WIVK Afternoon DJ "Gunner" first started using his current on air name back in the late spring/early Summer of 1991.

Then in early 1992 around February or March, Z-93's Hard Rock days came to an end when they switched over to Country Music which would be the format that they would trade off with WOKI a year later. Then in March of 1993, Z-93 became known as, "Knoxville's New Home For The Hits" when they traded their Country Music Format for WOKI's Top 40 Format. Both stations were under some type of joint Sales Agreement back when 93.1 was owned by these two brothers whose names I cannot remember.

About a year later in early 1994, Z-93 was sold to "Jacor Communications" who also owned "U-102" at the time (Now known as Star 102.1). They got rid of all of the Z-93 Talent and changed the name of the station to "Star 93.1" in April of 1994. The station started playing more of a Hot AC Format.

 

[MusicDoctorRadio]

Yeah, as far as 93.1 goes; they first signed on as WCKS "93 Kiss FM" with an AC format in the late 80s. That was followed by a move to classic rock (keeping the Kiss FM name). They then changed in the early 90's to WWZZ and became an active rock station as "Z93". They were owned by a group then called the Ben Brothers, who got into trouble with the FCC for some of their on air sweepers and so forth. (They had sweepers aimed at crosstown rocker WIMZ talking about them having "no balls", etc.) They also stirred up controversy by actively going on the air and telling listeners the names of advertisers who wouldn't advertise with them and had the listeners call and ask the advertisers about it. Stupid move that really caused a big stir, but did get them publicity. Anyway, they then went became "young country Z93" for a very short time period. And when "I100" moved from CHR to Country, they then became CHR as "Z93". They were sold a couple of years later to Journal (or Jacor), or whoever owned WMYU back then, and they kept the CHR format but changed calls to WWST and adopted the "Star 93.1" name and a more adult CHR sound for the rest of the 90s. (Oh, incidentally, speaking of WKSF Asheville. Their popular night jock at the time of the flip from CHR; "Todzilla". Was immediately hired by 93.1 in Knoxville after WKSF's flip and Todzilla has been the night jock at Star ever since the mid 90's and is still there on Star 102.1. If you've never heard his show, you should check it out. He is a production whiz and does a fun show, but it's a bit old school sounding and dated now I guess.)

As far as 94.3 goes. They were an automated station (WKNF "K94") for years in the late 80's with several AC type satellite formats. In the early 90's the owners of WOKI (Johnny Pirkle) bought it and flipped it to a CHR/Alternative hybrid after WOKI went country. WNFZ was originally "Z94.3" for a short time, and then segued from the CHR/Alternative hybrid to being a true alternative as "94Z" for several years. It was later sold to South Central who kept the alterntive format but changed the hame several times. It went from 94Z to "94.3 the Planet". They then changed to a harder alternative/active rock slant as "94.3 Extreme Radio" for several years. And more recently they changed the name to "94.3 the X, Knoxville's rock station" and are pretty much an average active rocker now.

Hey BRH,

Looks like we posted almost the same information about the same time.

Sorry about that.

Thanks for mentioning the original owners of 93.1 (The Bens Brothers) whose names I had forgotten.

I also remember one of Z-93's sweepers from their hard rock days that said: "It Takes Balls To Rock Hard, Z-93".

 

[Mid West Clubber]

I briefly remember X100 in Lexington. I know the 100.1 frequency was CHR for a good period during the 80s. I think they used the "FM100" name for a long time too. If I'm not mistaken, their call letters were WFMI back during their CHR period of the 80s. I know they competed with crosstown WLAP "Power 94 1/2" in the late 80's before WLAP went Hot AC in the early 90s.

Yeah, I remember Power 94.5 in Lexington in the 80s and early 90s. Unfourtunately this station switched to an AC format as Mix 94.5 WMXL and still remains that way today, although these days Mix 94.5 is almost a JACK FM type station, not really a soft ac like they were. Thats okay though because these days Lexington has plenty of CHR choices, they have 104.5 THE CAT for mainstream chr, as well as Hot 102 for a Rhythmic leaning CHR. Lexington also has 107.9 THE BEAT for Hip Hop and CD 106.3 for Modern/Hot AC. No shortage of CHR music in L town now days. I do think Knoxville could use a more Hotter Rhythmic friendly CHR to skew right between Star 102.1 and Hot 104.5, since star is still Adult friendly and Hot is straight Hip Hop. I wish they would put CHR back on the powerful 100.3 Knoxville signal and revive the past, just like how Atlanta put Q-100 on 99.7, the old Power 99 frequency. Even putting Star on 100.3 would be nice.

 

[RussAllen]

(Oh, incidentally, speaking of WKSF Asheville. Their popular night jock at the time of the flip from CHR; "Todzilla". Was immediately hired by 93.1 in Knoxville after WKSF's flip and Todzilla has been the night jock at Star ever since the mid 90's and is still there on Star 102.1. If you've never heard his show, you should check it out. He is a production whiz and does a fun show, but it's a bit old school sounding and dated now I guess.)

Hmmm...U haven't listened to Star 102.1 at night recently have you? :'(

 

[DoubleC]

What Happened to Zilla????

 

[Mid West Clubber]

He either retire or got canned, or moved on to another format. He was getting pretty old for a Chr Jock...



Anyway, I just remembered one more CHR that Knoxville had in the late 90s, and even early part of the decade. Anyone Remember Mix 95.7..... I know the name sounds more Hot AC, but they were definately a CHR. They played more 80s gold than most CHRs, but they didnt hesitate to play Rap, Harder Alternative, and Dance Music. I think they even simulcasted Mix 95.7 on 106.7, since 95.7 had a weaker signal to the north of Knoxville. Also, before that, 106.7 was a Modern Rock station.

 

[audiobuffer]

So, now that ETN has three listenable CHR's: WDOD, WWST, WAEZ, which is the best? Judging by music, presentation, etc.

 

[BRH]

Hmmm...U haven't listened to Star 102.1 at night recently have you? :'(

I hadn't realized Todzilla was gone from Star 102.1. Any info on what happened and where he is now? His "schtick" was getting a bit old I guess, but you have to admit that he was darn good at what he did and put more effort into his show than most anybody I know. He would be great at a real personality oriented station and format.

 

[BRH]

Anyway, I just remembered one more CHR that Knoxville had in the late 90s, and even early part of the decade. Anyone Remember Mix 95.7..... I know the name sounds more Hot AC, but they were definately a CHR. They played more 80s gold than most CHRs, but they didnt hesitate to play Rap, Harder Alternative, and Dance Music. I think they even simulcasted Mix 95.7 on 106.7, since 95.7 had a weaker signal to the north of Knoxville. Also, before that, 106.7 was a Modern Rock station.

Yeah, after 95.7 was bought by South Central and moved into Knoxville, they became WTXM "Mix 95.7" and first went Hot AC then segued to an adult leaning CHR format. Gary Blake, who had programmed WAEZ Tri Cities, was the PD. They never really had too much success (because of a somewhat limited signal, even though, I thought they sounded better than "Star" at the time). Anyway, after Hot AC and CHR, they went to a Sports format as "the Team". Then, South Central picked up the 106.7 signal and revived the Hot AC format and the "Mix" name again. It was "Mix 106.7" for a month or two and then became a simulcast as "Mix 95.7 and 106.7". They then dropped Hot AC for the second time and went oldies as "Oldies 95.7 and 106.7". This was their most successful format, but South Central decided to go after younger demos and flipped the stations to the satellite version of "Jack FM" a couple of years back. They are still currently "Jack FM" (www.jackfmknoxville.com), although ratings have been the worst they have ever had in any of their formats. (But, since it's satellite, I guess it's cheap, and that seems to matter more now days). Anyway, they still broadcast on both 95.7 and 106.7, but they only identify on the air now as "95.7 Jack FM". (The 106.7 signal is not mentioned except for the top of the hour legal id).

If you ask me, this station is ripe for a format flip again. I think they should consider a return to Hot AC. Currently there is a huge hole in between CHR WWST and gold leaning AC WJXB (95.7's sister station). I think either 95.7 or Journal's crosstown 80's station, WMYU "93-1 the Point" (www.thepoint931.com), should go Hot AC. Both stations are currently floundering at the bottom of the ratings.

 

[CHRles]

Was in Chattanooga again yesterday. Was going to head over to Charlotte for the weekend, but with all the severe thunderstorm warnings and what had happened in Atlanta I decided to stay in my nest on Saturday.
Anyways, Chattanooga was fun as usual. Drove to Signal Mountain, then proceed downtown - went to the Hunter Museum to look at some fine art, then walked a good 4 miles along River Park (great urban park!). There's always something to do in that town, and of course I made sure to listen to 96.5 The Mountain as much as I could. It's great to have a CHR in that town, but I think one of the Country stations should flip to Triple A or Modern Rock - it's obvious just by walking around Broad and Main streets, thhe art district, and drivinng up to Signal and lookout mountains that there's an audience for that type of music.

 

[jsu5381m]

What time does Dawson McAllister Live come on 96.5 The Mountain?

 

[RMarino]

If you ask me, this station is ripe for a format flip again. I think they should consider a return to Hot AC. Currently there is a huge hole in between CHR WWST and gold leaning AC WJXB (95.7's sister station). I think either 95.7 or Journal's crosstown 80's station, WMYU "93-1 the Point" (www.thepoint931.com), should go Hot AC. Both stations are currently floundering at the bottom of the ratings.

Hot AC would be a good move for 95.7/106.7 since it would protect B97.5 if they program it correctly. But Hot AC won't happen again at 93.1 because it would be competing with their own Star 102.1 which is setting itself as the perceived Hot AC. I believe Journal wants those 25-54 numbers from 102.1 not 93.1. The Point is just there to stay out of the way and play defense.