who copied who: B-98.5 Atlanta...B-98.5 Little Rock

[MRFLASHPORT]

I almost thought I had too much to drink after shooting my wad at the craps' table at Harrah's Tunica when I got in my car in the Veranda Hotel parking lot, turned on my JVC and heard "the best mix for your workday", same playlist, and same voiceovers..until the station ID'ed as KURB-FM Little Rock.

Granted, Little Rock is a long haul from Tunica. But it was solid driving into Memphis, then got covered up by a station calling itself "Z-98" playing a REALLY good classic rock (think old school 96 Rock!) station out of Tupelo, MS. Good morning tropo no doubt. But it's so flat out there FM goes for miles unlike it does here.

It just reminded me how cookie cutter corporate radio is now. WSB-FM Atlanta is a Cox station. KURB-FM Little Rock is owned by Cumulus.

Other than that, you could cut and paste calls, and it's the SAME STATION.
So who copied who?

http://www.b98.com/

 

[gregg75]

Does appear to be much the same.

"Somebody got some splain' to do," said Ricky Ricardo.

 

[DToTheJ]

It's times like this I wish the "caller10" character was active so I can find out what it sounds like with an Arkansas accent.

 

[Scholar Brad]

Having lived in the Rock for three years working for Alice 107.7/B98.5 when it was Citadel, B98.5 was started in 1991 when they retired the KZOU Zoo98 dynasty. Jon Matthews, the voice for both, came on line before 2007.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I listened to B98.5 in Little Rock while driving through the area a couple of years ago. At least at that time, the imaging on that station was done by Jon Carter and Buffy O'Neill, the same voices heard on B98.5 FM in Atlanta.

When Bob Neil was CEO of Cox Radio, the Cox AC's--Crater96 in Honolulu, Warm in Tampa, etc., all sounded virtually the same.

 

[jabba17]

Having lived in the Rock for three years working for Alice 107.7/B98.5 when it was Citadel, B98.5 was started in 1991 when they retired the KZOU Zoo98 dynasty. Jon Matthews, the voice for both, came on line before 2007.

WSB-FM started using the B98.5 moniker in the first half of the 1980s. I won't repeat the WSB 99FM/Warm 99.7 story that begat B98.5 unless someone wants to hear it again.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Having lived in the Rock for three years working for Alice 107.7/B98.5 when it was Citadel, B98.5 was started in 1991 when they retired the KZOU Zoo98 dynasty. Jon Matthews, the voice for both, came on line before 2007.

WSB-FM started using the B98.5 moniker in the first half of the 1980s. I won't repeat the WSB 99FM/Warm 99.7 story that begat B98.5 unless someone wants to hear it again.

Actually, WSB-FM was 99FM until 1987, when Nick Trigony and Bob Neil came in. That's when it was switched to B98.5. I was told this by a Mr. K. McCoy.

 

[jabba17]

Having lived in the Rock for three years working for Alice 107.7/B98.5 when it was Citadel, B98.5 was started in 1991 when they retired the KZOU Zoo98 dynasty. Jon Matthews, the voice for both, came on line before 2007.

WSB-FM started using the B98.5 moniker in the first half of the 1980s. I won't repeat the WSB 99FM/Warm 99.7 story that begat B98.5 unless someone wants to hear it again.

Actually, WSB-FM was 99FM until 1987, when Nick Trigony and Bob Neil came in. That's when it was switched to B98.5. I was told this by a Mr. K. McCoy.

Are you sure? 99.7 had already been Power 99 for a year or so by that point.

 

[uglyredhonda]

Having lived in the Rock for three years working for Alice 107.7/B98.5 when it was Citadel, B98.5 was started in 1991 when they retired the KZOU Zoo98 dynasty. Jon Matthews, the voice for both, came on line before 2007.

WSB-FM started using the B98.5 moniker in the first half of the 1980s. I won't repeat the WSB 99FM/Warm 99.7 story that begat B98.5 unless someone wants to hear it again.

Actually, WSB-FM was 99FM until 1987, when Nick Trigony and Bob Neil came in. That's when it was switched to B98.5. I was told this by a Mr. K. McCoy.

I may be completely talking out of my arse, but I vaguely recall a gap between the WARM debacle and the adoption of B98.5, where WSB was identifying as "WSB 98.5". (They used to have a jingle for "WSB 99 FM" - then remade the jingle to "WSB 98 point 5".)

I do remember they had an on-air contest to "name the station". I remember being underwhelmed when they announced the winner as B98.5, since that seemed like a mind-numbingly obvious choice. (I was in middle school at the time.) I assumed that the brass had made that decision before the contest started, then picked a winner from the pool of people who suggested it.

I'm guessing you're both right - they probably switched to WSB 98.5 after the court case (1985), then adopted B98.5 in 1987. (But that's relying on my memory being correct.)


Btw - the WARM/WSB court ruling is on Google, and is kind of an interesting read:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2891202764511483457

 

[jabba17]

"At the hearing defendant demonstrated on a portable radio that stations located at 98.5, 99.1, and 99.7 MHz could all be heard in Atlanta. It is theoretically possible, although unlikely, that other stations with frequencies of 98.7, 98.9, 99.3, or 99.5 could be licensed to broadcast into the Atlanta area."

98.9?

And I can pick up WCON 99.3 just fine. Certainly no worse than 99.1 out of Macon.