What do YOU think about the state of radio in Orlando....

[vadar]

BRH, great observations. Having once worked at Y106.7, and BJ 105 and then hangin around to work at Mix 105.1 I agree, I ABSOLUTELY miss Y106.7. XL will never be the great radio station on 106.7 FM. BJ 105 always sounded more polish and the execution of the format was flawless under the direction and leadership of the "Brian's".

Rick Stacy misses the 80's so much he went to work on the 80's on 8 channel for XM Radio. Check him out weekday mornings. Go Rick, you've seen and heard it all.

Where's Guy Zapolean when you need him.......... ;D

 

[bdpop]

Rick Stacy is also on WCBS-FM in New York.

 

[DIZ Guy]

Guy Zapolean......


KZZP......

That station was definately bad-ass....

 

[vadar]

Guy Zapolean, the dude in polyester suits. His brains were the driving force behind WNCI (the mothership at the time for Nationwide Communications) and their Orlando baby, WBJW/WOMX.

Guy, you dressing down for casual days now?

 

[austingrace]

to be honest. i think the best rap station in this area is 102 jamz. i looove the old school music they play at lunch time on week days. it's excelent. we need more of that on there. I really miss 95.3 party. that was a great station.

 

[thematt999]

How come it was possible in the past with a great station like WHLY "Y106", but not now?

Because the audience now is different from the audience then.

It seems like a lot of people on these boards just can't get over "the good old days" and don't realize that radio that worked then won't necessarily work now. It's the same reason TV commercials now are drastically different from TV commercials 10-20 years ago.

 

[TheMusicMan]

BRH, I really have to disagree about XL. From what I can tell, that station has made strides as of late, especially musically - the jocks are solid too. Not saying it's perfect, but miles better than they've been in the past.

 

[MusicDoctorRadio]

Hey Bill Cross, I used to listen to you every morning with Jeff Cohen on the old "Y-106 Breakfast Club" from about 84-86...

I always thought that you guys had the best morning show in Orlando back then and I also thought that 106.7 sounded the best that they ever had during that time....

Ahhh...the eighties....

Ahhh, yes..........the eighties.

We had Doc up here in Knoxville Tennessee at WOKI-FM (HITS 100) from 84 to 86.

He was more like Greaseman on the air back during those days.

 

[billcross]

HAHAHAHAHA....Rooster Rhoades....

I recall that he was the BJ-105 morning show from about 84-86 that was in competition with Y-106....

Rooster lasted less than one year, being at the station for a fraction 1985 & 1986.

I can't remember the first guy they brought in when Jeff & I beat them in the ratings. I do remember meeting him and he seemed pretty nice. Rooster was brought in as some "big market big gun" to put us in our place. His ratings sank even faster. I never met him, but Alan Spector & Darrell Hammond had some great stories about working on the show when he was the host (it was no picnic).

I came on to replace Rooster in April, 1986. About a year after I got there, we moved Alan out of the newsroom and made him the co-host and brought in my real good friend Carren Sheldon to be the newsperson. (BTW Carren is currently attending a seminary with plans to go into Christian ministry).

Y-106 was definately "Hot-Rockin' Flame Throwin' WHLY...Y-106" back in those days....

I recall that the station went downhill about June of 86' when it seemed to my young listening ears that all of the jocks that I liked vanished......and so did Casey Kasem on Sunday Mornings....

The true story of the demise of Y-106 is too long and really OT for this thread. In a nutshell, a new GM was brought in. He dismantled the air staff one piece at a time. I was the first one fired (probably because I would have made the most noise on somebody else's behalf if they had gotten fired). IIRC, Jimmy was the next to go, followed by Jeff and then Rick. So I was already over at BJ competing against Rick & Jeff for maybe three or four months or so.

Guy Zapolean, the dude in polyester suits.

Met with Guy several times during my tenure at BJ. Don't remember ever seeing him in polyester.

We had Doc up here in Knoxville Tennessee at WOKI-FM (HITS 100) from 84 to 86.

He was more like Greaseman on the air back during those days.

I used to be part of loose consortium of morning show guys who shared material back inthose pre-consolidation days. Doc was one of the key members of that group. You are correct, Doc was alot wilder in Knoxville than they ever let him be when he got the morning gig at XL.

 

[MusicDoctorRadio]

We had Doc up here in Knoxville Tennessee at WOKI-FM (HITS 100) from 84 to 86.

He was more like Greaseman on the air back during those days.

I used to be part of loose consortium of morning show guys who shared material back inthose pre-consolidation days. Doc was one of the key members of that group. You are correct, Doc was alot wilder in Knoxville than they ever let him be when he got the morning gig at XL.
[/quote]

So you knew about Doc back during his days as "Shotgun Stevens" when he did Nights at WOKI up here then. I've known him for 22 years now. Have followed his career since he left Knoxville back in '86. Lost touch with him for several years until I tracked him down back in 2005 while he was still doing mornings at "XL".

Yeah, Doc (Shotgun) use to have his begging and pleading lines, where he would have callers call up and beg for an album on the air. If you didn't beg hard enough, Doc (Shotgun) would insult and hang up on you. He also screamed in the mic quiet a bit, and made fun of the WOKI PD at the time (Jeff Jarnigan) and called him "Pig Virus" on the air for not giving him his name Jingle. The "On Air War" between Doc and WOKI's PD was a publicity stunt of course. Off the air, Doc and Jeff Jarnigan were good friends.

Then in late '85 Jeff Jarnigan left WOKI, and they hired a new PD by the name of, "Ron Harper". Doc and Ron hated each other from day one I remember. Both on and off the air. Ron Harper was someone who had absolutely no sense of humor. He could not deal with Doc's blue humor at the time. I remember Doc use to call Ron Harper, "Mr. Anarexia" on the air because he was so skinny. Doc also made a parody of the Dionne Warwick song, "That's What Friends Are For". Doc's version was called, "That's What Food Is For", and he dedicated the new parody to Ron Harper. If it hadn't been for Ron Harper, Doc would've probably stayed in Knoxville a little bit longer.

I also remember the publicity stunt Doc pulled up here when he locked himself in the control room back in January of '86, and played the same song 35 times in a row until station management supposedly showed up, kicked down the door, and threw him out of the building. A very similar stunt from the movie, "FM". After that, he wasn't on the air for a few days, and then two weeks later he was gone and doing mornings at 99.7 WDJX-FM up in Louisville, Kentucky, which was the last radio gig that Doc used the On Air name, "Shotgun Stevens".

For those interested, here are links to 3 of Doc's old airchecks from back in 1985 when he did nights at WOKI-FM up here in Knoxville.

http://www.esnips.com/doc/41aaeb2f-17e1-482c-b1d9-6672e4110919/1985_WOKIFMShotgunStevens

http://www.esnips.com/doc/3541251f-d3a9-4be3-afad-3be24ff87c52/1985_WOKIFMShotgunStevensDannyTheGeek

http://www.esnips.com/doc/35d6e284-...0f1/1985_WOKIFMJerryHowellShotgunStevensPromo

 

[vadar]

Blah, blah, blah, yes radio was so MUCH better in the old days. Get over yourself Matt, its a joke now and filled with all kinds of problems. I miss the hot rockin flame throwin Y 106!!!!

 

[johnsummers]

Hey Bill, regarding the guy who replaced Rooster......I worked there then and I don't remember who it was...(lol). I thought it was you....anyway, I'm glad Carren is doing well.....those three years ('86-89) were a blast.....top 8 at 8, Affection Connection, Darrell Hammond, ...that teen club on Colonial.....what was it...Skatz or Spatz....we had Sir Mix-A-Lot there....wow....

 

[kentraco]

It was Scatz, John.

 

[vadar]

didn't Rick Stone do live remotes from Scatz off of East Colonial and Bennett? Now look at it......Baldwin Park, yikes!!! Even the GM Rick Wienkauf made an appearance, didn't he?

 

[billcross]

Hey Bill, regarding the guy who replaced Rooster......I worked there then and I don't remember who it was...(lol). I thought it was you....anyway, I'm glad Carren is doing well.....those three years ('86-89) were a blast.....top 8 at 8, Affection Connection, Darrell Hammond, ...that teen club on Colonial.....what was it...Skatz or Spatz....we had Sir Mix-A-Lot there....wow....

I WAS the guy who replaced Rooster. Nothing wrong with your memory.

DIZGuy had posted that he thought Rooster was at BJ from 1984 to 1986. I corrected him, pointing out that Rooster was only there for a part of 1985 and early 1986 (less than 12 months total). I went to BJ in March of 1986.

I was trying to remember the guy who was there before Rooster.

I never worked that teen club - I think it was off Colonial, but I remember promotions at J.J. Whispers and the "Bunch for Lunch" promotion (we ate very well on that!) as well as the waterslide marathon we did at Wet n' Wild.

 

[DIZ Guy]

I believe that Barry Michaels was at BJ-105 before Rooster Rhoades...

The Affection Connection.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Hey Bill, maybe you can clear this up for me...

I remember during 85-86, the morning show from BJ was simulcast on 950AM. That AM frequency called itself "BJ-105", but from 10am-6am they did not simulcast 105.1 FM, BUT, had their own jocks, and tended to have more of a "Rock 40" format. I also recall that their signal as very strong ( I recall listening to them on my walkman at Daytona Beach). They even had their own Top 30 countdown that aired Sunday afternoon. I recall that the station disappeared at the end of the summer of 86'...

You know what I'm talking about????

 

[MusicMan11]

950 am was the old WLOF signal. I thought the simulcast started much earlier than 85-86, perhaps, 81 or 82? i remember the first guy who simulcasted on that signal was Scott Walker. some of the wlof jocks from that day were tc dooley for one - chris kampmeir now of clear channel orlando, at least he was there when i left orlando in 2000.

i could be mistaken about the year. When WLOF quit simulcasting BJ, they became WCOT elevator music station.......

 

[tanner]

I thought BJ 105's sister AM was 1440 AM.

 

[billcross]

I believe that Barry Michaels was at BJ-105 before Rooster Rhoades...

While Barry was there, he was not the guy who IMMEDIATELY preceded Rooster. I can't think of the guy's name. He was brought in after Jeff & I started making inroads on BJ's ratings. His big bit was a soap opera parody he called "Geek Beach" and he had a black character he called "O. Lando, the Duke of Division Street."

(And of course, all of us had "Hiney Wine" imposed upon us by TPTB. I quietlly stopped running the Hiney Wine stuff shortly after I got there and initally got in big trouble with Weinkauf. Fortunately, the ratings kept going up, so I was able to ditch it permanently.)

Hey Bill, maybe you can clear this up for me...

I remember during 85-86, the morning show from BJ was simulcast on 950AM. That AM frequency called itself "BJ-105", but from 10am-6am they did not simulcast 105.1 FM, BUT, had their own jocks, and tended to have more of a "Rock 40" format. I also recall that their signal as very strong ( I recall listening to them on my walkman at Daytona Beach). They even had their own Top 30 countdown that aired Sunday afternoon. I recall that the station disappeared at the end of the summer of 86'...

You know what I'm talking about????

Sort of. Yes, we were simulcast on 950AM. I'm not sure what they did after our morning show. If the programming varied from what we were doing on FM, then it was probably some kind of satellite programming because there was no local air staff for WLOF in those days.

AM ownership shifted quite a bit in those days. I think 1440 started out as the sister station to WORJ (Ultiamtely becoming "Pride" when the FM became "Joy").

And of course 740AM was the birth of Real Radio as the people who owned that signal and the FM signal starting simulcasting AM talk on FM as a cheap alternative because they were planning on selling all their stations and didn't want to undergo the expense of fielding an FM staff and format.

Ironically 740AM caught on like wildfire on FM and evolved into Real Radio. Originally, Clive Thomas & Mark Daniels were just as much a part of the air staff as Jim Phillips. I was brought in to do mornings there on a temporary basis after they canned Thomas and were negotiating with Howard Stern.

 

[bdpop]

WBJW was originally on 1440am up until around 1975 when it became all news station WNBE. WWQS-FM became BJ105 starting around the summer of 1974. WLOF was aquired later by the owners of BJ105 around 1980, I believe. At that time 1440 was religious station WAJL. This was all a long time ago, so my memory is kind of fuzzy.