You still see some Rock acts on Top 40 radio today like Panic At The Disco!, Fallout Boy, and other acts that appeal to teens like Twisted Sister once did.
I'd compare the sound of WMMS in the 80s maybe to the current sound of 93.7 STW in Wilmington, Delaware:
http://www.mediabase.com/mmrweb/AllAccess/Stations.asp?c_let=WSTW-FM
The playlist of WMMS in early January of 1988 was as follows:
1) John Cougar Mellencamp "Cheery Bomb"
2) Whitesnake "Is This Love"
3) INXS "Need You Tonight"
4) Whitney Houston "So Emotional"
5) George Michael "Faith"
6) Bruce Springsteen "Tunnel of Love"
7) Prince "I Could Never Take The Pkace of Your Man"
8 ) Icehouse "Crazy"
9) Eric Carmen "Hungry Eyes"
10) Michael Jackson "The Way You Make Me Feel"
11) Heart "There's The Girl"
12) Bangles "Hazy Shade of Winter"
13) Men Without Hats "Pop Goes The World"
14) The Cure "Just Like Heaven"
15) Paul Carrack "Don't Shed A Tear"
16) Michael Bolton "That's What Love Is All About"
17) George Harrison "Got My Mind Set On You"
18) The Kane Gang "Motortown"
19) Def Leppard "Animal"
20) Foreigner "Say You Will"
21) Elton John "Candle In The Wind"
22) Fleetwood Mac "Everywhere"
23) New Order "True Faith"
24) R.E.M. "The One I Love"
25) Sting "We'll Be Together"
26) Cher "I Found Someone"
27) Stevie Winwood "Valerie"
28) Belinda Carlisle "Heaven Is A Place On Earth"
29) Bourgeouis "Tag I Don't Mind At All"
30) The Hooters "Karla"
31) Tiffany "Could Have Been"
32) Europe "Cherokee"
33) Mick Jagger "Throwawy"
34) U2 "In God's Country"
35) The Alarm "Rain In The Summertime"
36) Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes "I've Had The Time of My Life"
Again, very Adult friendly, and definitely more then just rock oriented. Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Michael Bolton, Elton John, New Order, Prince, Tiffany, George Michael. All alongside different shades of Rock - U2, Def Leppard, R.E.M., Mick Jagger, INXS, Europe, The Cure, and Heart.
In fact, most AOR stations at the time were adult leaning as well, and their currents were for the most part NOT Hard Rock. Rather it was about new releases from the likes of Bruce Springsteen. There were some Hard Rock stations in places like San Antonio, L.A., maybe Salt Lake City. There were actually CHRs, like 97.1 The Eagle Dallas or Star 97 Norfolk, that played more Hard Rock in rotation then most Rock stations. Of course, one of the big supporters of Hard Rock at the time was MTV.
You also had the Z-Rock stations, but most of them weren't big in the ratings. Also remember that as big as Metallica is today on Rock radio, in 1988 most Rock stations weren't playing them, not even "One". It became a hit mainly due to the song's popularity on Dial MTV. Most Rock stations finally started playing Metallica during the ultra-successful Black album. All of a sudden it became cool to play Metallica's back-catalog anthems like "Master of Puppets" and "Fade to Black".
Most Hard Rock leaning stations didn't really take off until the 90s. Most SUCCESSFUL Hard Rock stations didn't materialize until the mid 90s when Active Rock was all the rage - Active Rock based its playlist on the harder Grunge acts, on a playlist that was more current-based then other Mainstream Rock stations, but usually not as current intensive as Modern Rock stations.
Anyways, by mid 1988 WMMS was a bit more Hard Rock friendly, but only because it was all over the charts, and all over Top 40 radio. Its core sound was still the same. Here's the playlist from early July:
1) Robert Plant "Tall Cool One"
2) Cheap Trick "The Flame"
3) INXS "New Sensation"
4) Bruce Hornsby & The Range "The Valley Road"
5) Def Leppard "Pour Some Sugar On Me"
6) Eric Carmen "Make Me Lose Control"
7) Lita Ford "Kiss Me Deadly"
8 ) Michael Jackson "Dirty Diana"
9) Poison "Nothin But A Good Time"
10) Steve Winwood "Roll With It"
11) Terrence Trent Darby "Sign Your Name"
12) Rod Stewart "Lost In You"
13) Midnight Oil "Beds Are Burning"
14) Ziggy Markey "Tommorow People"
15) Hall & Oates "Everything Your Heart Desires"
16) Aerosmith "Rag Doll"
17) Sade "Paradise"
18) Richard Marx "Hold On To The Nights"
19) Jane Wiedlin "Rush Hour"
20) Boz Scaggs "Heart of Mine"
21) The Church "Under The Milky Way"
22) Henry Lee Summer "Darlin Danielle Don't"
23) Prince "Alphabet Street"
24) Belinda Carlisle "Circle In The Sand"
25) Van Halen "Black & Blue"
26) Chicago "I Don't Want To Live Without Your Love"
27) Gloria Estafan & The Miami Soundmachine "Anything For You"
28) Breathe "Hands To Heaven"
29) Cher "We All Sleep Alone"
30) Michael Bolton "Wait On Love"
31) Scorpions "Rhythm of Love"
32) Climie Fisher "Love Changes Everything"
33) Elton John "I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That"
34) Moody Blues "I Know You're Out There Somewhere"
35) Eurythmics "You Have Placed A Chill"
36) Contours "Do You Love Me"
37) Joan Jett & The Blackhearts "I Hate Myself For Loving You"
38) Tracy Chapman "Fast Car"
So moving on to January of 1989 where we can finally see it more clearly that WMMS was trying to become a Top 40/Rock station. Less Currents, it held on to certain songs a lot longer as evidenced by the Joan Jett and G N'R songs found at numbers 22 and 24, and Hair bands are all over the place from Poison to the female act Vixen, to Cinderella, Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses, and White Lion :
1) Poison "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"
2) Chicago "Look Away"
3) Vixen "Edge of a Broken Heart"
4) Eddie Money "Walk On Water"
5) Van Halen "Finish What You Started"
6) Cinderella "Don't Know What You Got Till It's Gone"
7) Def Leppard "Armageddon It"
8 ) Georgia Satellites "Hippy Hippy Shake"
9) Phil Collins "Two Hearts"
10) Bon Jovi "Bad Medicine"
11) Guns N Roses "Welcome To The Jungle"
12) Joan Jett & The Blackhearts "Little Liar"
13) White Lion "When The Children Cry"
14) Rod Stewart "Forever Young"
15) Randy Newman "It's Money That Matters"
16) Ivan Neville "Not Just Another Girl"
17) Steve Winwood "Holding On"
18) Bangles "In Your Room"
19) Bon Jovi "Born To Be My Baby"
20) Pat Banatar "All Fired Up"
21) Annie Lennox & Al Green "Put A Little Love In Your Heart"
22) Joan Jett & The Blackhearts "I Hate Myself For Loving You"
23) Sheriff "When I'm With You"
24) Guns N Roses "Sweet Child O Mine"
25) Maxi Priest "Wild World"
26) Rod Stewart "My Heart Can't Tell You No"
27) Cheap Trick "Ghost Town"
28) Eddie Brickell & The New Bohemians "What I Am"
29) Robbin Zander & Ann Wilson "Surrender To Me"
30) U2 "Angel of Harlem"
By mid 1989 WMMS had significantly cut down its playlist of Currents. It only played about 20 in regular rotation. Here's the playlist from early July:
1) Fine Young Cannibals "Good Thing"
2) Richard Marx "Satisfied"
3) Tom Petty "I Won't Back Down"
4) Elvis Costello "Veronica"
5) Cyndi Lauper "I Drove All Night"
6) Stevie Nicks "Rooms On Fire"
7) Doobie Brothers "The Doctor"
8 ) Bangles "Be With You"
9) Warrant "Down Boys"
10) Rod Stewart "Crazy About Her"
11) Paul Mccartney "My Brave Face"
12) Bon Jovi "Lay Your Hands On Me"
13) Cinderella "Coming Home"
14) Love And Rockets "So Alive"
15) Peter Gabriel "In Your Eyes"
16) Henry Lee Summer "Hey Baby"
17) The Cult "Fire Woman"
18) Great White "Once Bitten Twice Shy"
19) Don Henley "The End of the Innocense"
Also in light or "extra" rotation were songs like Winger's "Heading For a Heartbreak", White Lion "Little Fighter", and U2's "All I Want Is You".
WMMS was an all-out Rock station in the 90s, but was it hard rocking? Here's a sample hour of Middays at WMMS from May of 1991:
The Who "Who Are You"
Steve Winwood "Valerie"
Doobie Brothers "Dangerous"
Rush "Fly By Night"
Mark Cohn "Walking In Memphis"
Eric Clapton "I've Got A Rock & Roll Heart"
Cinderella "Heartbreak Station"
The Repacements "Where It Began"
Jethro Tull "Aqualung"
ELO "Evil Woman"
Since this post started in reference to Pittsburgh's current Top 40 station, I'd be happy to post old playlists from B-94 at this time.
