WJDX-AM

[beachguy3b]

Very well said. In their music days, WJDX had a national reputation for excellence to go with that big 620 signal. I visited the station circa 1974. Impressive facility operating with precision and perfection.

.....And a great listen!

I think that was more true before the walkout. The Bill Tanner era was superb. Those that followed were less so.

 

[tzbarber]

Very well said. In their music days, WJDX had a national reputation for excellence to go with that big 620 signal. I visited the station circa 1974. Impressive facility operating with precision and perfection.

.....And a great listen!

I think that was more true before the walkout. The Bill Tanner era was superb. Those that followed were less so.

I hope I and the others weren't too much of a disappointment. Thanks for shooting down the memories.

 

[church key]

Tim,

I think we did pretty well from 1974 on. Biggest ratings ever with "Burt & Kurt....best billing in the stations history....yea, we did o.k..........Tanner laid a great foundation and we proudly built on it!

 

[tzbarber]

Tim,

I think we did pretty well from 1974 on. Biggest ratings ever with "Burt & Kurt....best billing in the stations history....yea, we did o.k..........Tanner laid a great foundation and we proudly built on it!

In 1977-78, Billboard Magazine recognized 62JDX as one of the Top Five radio stations in the country for market size, but what did they know? We had 40 shares in mornings 25-54. Freaking 40's. Listeners obviously didn't notice that the talent pool dried up in 74.

I'm just picking, now. Like I've said before, I was in hog heaven just having the privilege of steering the starship briefly before chasing the sales bucks. Was in the building for 17 years. Learned a lot. Met a lot of good people.

 

[flytrap]

to this 12 year old in 77, it sounded fine to me. One of the best and tightest sounding stations around. I was still listening to it long after most of my friends had moved to 94TYX. When the simulcast with 96.3 started I knew it was finally over. It was no longer 62JDX it was just another "mixwhatever" FM.

 

[MarkInTheDark]

JDX was a cool station, audio quality and tight board work was always top of the list back in those Tanner days. Running a tight board was part of the fun of doing a show. It really surprised me when I later worked at WRNO/New Orleans, how that station was such a weak operation, compared to WJDX and WZZQ. It was like getting a call from Santa Claus when Tanner called me in New Orleans and asked me if I'd come work with the rest of the gang in Miami!

 

[beachguy3b]

Very well said. In their music days, WJDX had a national reputation for excellence to go with that big 620 signal. I visited the station circa 1974. Impressive facility operating with precision and perfection.

.....And a great listen!

I think that was more true before the walkout. The Bill Tanner era was superb. Those that followed were less so.

I hope I and the others weren't too much of a disappointment. Thanks for shooting down the memories.

Sorry dude, but I was there before you- I was part of the replacement staff. And the station was never as good as in the Tanner days.

 

[DeadElvis]

Pardon me for sounding like the crazy old man at the end of the street yelling "Get off my lawn" to neighborhood kids. But...

Does EVERY mention of WJDX, no matter how tangential, have to turn into a unending colloquy of the long-ago greatness of 620?

Just wondering. Now, GET OFF MY LAWN!

DE

 

[tbarber]

No DE,

I think this thread started out with the present day reality that WJDX generally sucks... and then you work backwards to a time where it sucked less, then a little, was kind of mediocre, pretty good, and then really rocked. The argument mostly lies around where along that timeline certain people's memories are... for me, I think a great time was the early to mid 70s... then it began to slide ... it really was reaching the edge in the early 80s... then by about 85... poof it was gone. And it has coasted in never never land ever since.

I will say however that our memory of what we thought our standards were... and actually were can be quite different.

I was fortunate as a kid to sit behind the control board in the midst of the decline.. and pretend I was one of those great jocks that preceded me. Although I didn't possess the natural talent, I approached the opportunity with respect and awe. It built a great framework of which I still use today.

 

[jboyd]

Exactly. I witnessed the same type decline at WWUN. I guess the old axiom is true..."every dog has his day" JBI

 

[tzbarber]

Exactly. I witnessed the same type decline at WWUN. I guess the old axiom is true..."every dog has his day" JBI

The thing is, for those of us still in the business, we have to ask ourselves if our own stations are on the decline now? The greatness we remember from stations that have faded away should teach us to never stop working to keep what we have.

By the way,DE, I had 20 shares at night in Jackson, so I'm gonna remember those days for a long time. Radio was really fun back then.

 

[jboyd]

Precisely...TZ. I guess I have gone overboard in trying to prevent that and remain revelant in my small cluster... to the market. Some radio "friends" brand me "Old Fashioned" for my program decisions. So be it and good luck to ya'... JBI

 

[HAS99]

Seems I had 60's and 70's at nite when WWUN began.
Rebel was an also ran following the moment the first
Pulse's and Hooper's came in. The Candlestick Park tornado put us
on the CBS Radio network, as they had no affiliate at the time.
And radio was really fun to be in then.

 

[jboyd]

You had to be there at the beginning...care to identify?

 

[HAS99]

J B,
I was. Along with Bob Furlow, Bill Cutforth, Jerry Thomas?? (CRS
can't remember his real name) and Tim.
Am Harold Stanton
Have my own tech consulting bidnezz for the last twenty+ years.
Live just outside Hattiesburg.
Best to all.......

 

[jboyd]

Amazing...I remember you well and wish you well,,,,memories...JBI

 

[beachguy3b]

The argument mostly lies around where along that timeline certain people's memories are... for me, I think a great time was the early to mid 70s... then it began to slide ...

Exactly. It wasn't that what followed was necessarily bad when Ron Grantham came in, and Bob Burton followed Ron; it's that it was not the incredible station that it was before.

 

[beachguy3b]

Exactly. I witnessed the same type decline at WWUN. I guess the old axiom is true..."every dog has his day" JBI

The final few years for 1590 as WWUN were painful at best.

 

[HAS99]

{Exactly. I witnessed the same type decline at WWUN. I guess the old axiom is true..."every dog has his day" JBI}
{The final few years for 1590 as WWUN were painful at best. }
When Big Gene decided that Bill Cutforth was "passe" and then brought in the basically
infamous "Jimmy Rabbit" to turn us to the Drake-alike I knew it wouldn't be too long.
As Cowboy Maloney said many times, "there was magic in WWUN" and there really was.
The personality each brought to their shift was the magic. You can't get it in 5 seconds or
less. You just can't.

 

[TinElLay]

Thanks for the kind comments about WJDX in the early 70's. Within a year, many of the people who left WJDX with me in 1974 had reassembled in Miami at Y-100, where we met up with great jocks like Don "Cox on the Radio" Robert W. Walker, Kid Curry, etc. We combined much of what had been learned at WJDX, and before that, KNOE-FM/Monroe, with the amazing talents of Cox, Walker and others. Eventually Jim Reihle, Cramer Haas, Dave Dunaway, Mark Shands, and Jay Marks, all WJDX alumni, became Y-100, and after that, Power 96.