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WKZV

"They could have thrown KEG parties."

At the time I was there, I produced a set of jingles based on the theme "Stop sipping tea and tap the Keg!". That was when WTAE was the top MOR station that used slogans like "Take tea and see". They never got on the air.

I had a local beer distributor signed up for a series of commercials for the weekend based on "Tapping the Keg". It was a complex deal, with the beer distributors sharing costs with local bar owners who were booking live bands. We'd list three or four bands that were playing at which bars, with the listing sponsored by the distributor, and the distributor using co-op money from the beer companies plus a kick-back from the bar owners. No specific brand of beer would ever be mentioned in the ads, just copy like "the XYQ band is tapping a keg at the ABC bar on Jefferson Avenue". The station management turned it down.
 
Re: WNUF

Bill Alexander said:
in the late 70s - early 80s they dropped the Big Band format and created a format with out Disc Jockey. The gimick was the listener was programing the station by making their request.
Click to expand...
Classy 101, best described by it's nickname: "Lassie 101."
 
Classy 101, best described by it's nickname: "Lassie 101."


That's the one! WWCL. Remember the ads? "You're building Classy 101!"
 
"Classy 101, best described by it's nickname: 'Lassie 101'."

Because the signal was a dog. (And continued to be until it was later moved, as Mix Jamz, to the Channel 53 tower in 1990.)

"That's the one! WWCL. Remember the ads? 'You're building Classy 101!'"

Does anyone really believe that they are "building" these radio stations? They may have some input, but to suggest something more has always seemed disingenuous to me. The listeners know better - and "Classy" had been decided from the get-go.
 
Jim Trefney said:
;D"2 Letter Radio...KX!! ;D (love it!)
Click to expand...

They used the same sweeper at 96KX in Denver. Got it on a reel somewhere.

Actual on-air break, coming out of Paul Revere and the Raiders the other day:

"I know all about 'Kicks' - I worked there!"

Hopefully, both of my listeners were amused by this historic in-joke reference.

;D
 
My God, is that "The" Ken Hawk that I used to work with?

Sure is Bill. How are ya?
 
"That's the one! WWCL. Remember the ads? 'You're building Classy 101!'"

Does anyone really believe that they are "building" these radio stations? They may have some input, but to suggest something more has always seemed disingenuous to me. The listeners know better - and "Classy" had been decided from the get-go.

A good point, Clarke. But I think the average listener knows better now. I'm not so sure about back then. As an example, do you remember the year that (WHYW) Y97 signed on? I think it was '82. They gave away $100,000. People called and believed that they had a chance at this. Then they pulled that thing in the middle where they claimed the phone company was complaining about their lines being jammed, so they had to take caller 97, rather than listener info like they did from every caller at the beginning.
 
Can someone answer this question for me...did WKEG go dark once or twice in its existence? I know it went dark at least once, but some say twice. Who can shed light on this and what happened?
 
kenhawk1160 said:
A good point, Clarke. But I think the average listener knows better now. I'm not so sure about back then. As an example, do you remember the year that (WHYW) Y97 signed on? I think it was '82. They gave away $100,000. People called and believed that they had a chance at this. Then they pulled that thing in the middle where they claimed the phone company was complaining about their lines being jammed, so they had to take caller 97, rather than listener info like they did from every caller at the beginning.
Click to expand...

I was working at 96KX in 1982. The day of that contest, we couldn't get an outside line, and all the secretaries and support people were calling Y-97 trying to win the money, which was when I knew the damn contest was working. I don't know the truth or otherwise of the phone company telling them to hurry it up, but it definitely did shut down the phone service for a large number of people, so perhaps they indeed did.
 
Here's the alphabet soup: 96KX, WHTX, B94, KZZP, KRQ, WHTZ, 98PXY, WJJJ, 3WS, KHB and KFB (and that's just the short list). Opinions expressed on this board are my own (not anybody else's) and are NOT intended as professional radio advice unless you want to pay me for them. Void where prohibited.

You left out "Licensed drivers only".
 
Radio_Realist said:
Here's the alphabet soup: 96KX, WHTX, B94, KZZP, KRQ, WHTZ, 98PXY, WJJJ, 3WS, KHB and KFB (and that's just the short list). Opinions expressed on this board are my own (not anybody else's) and are NOT intended as professional radio advice unless you want to pay me for them. Void where prohibited.

You left out "Licensed drivers only".
Click to expand...

I ran out of characters. :mad:
 
[A good point, Clarke. But I think the average listener knows better now. I'm not so sure about back then. As an example, do you remember the year that (WHYW) Y97 signed on? I think it was '82. They gave away $100,000. People called and believed that they had a chance at this. Then they pulled that thing in the middle where they claimed the phone company was complaining about their lines being jammed, so they had to take caller 97, rather than listener info like they did from every caller at the beginning.
[/quote]

That is absolutely true... one of my best friends was part of the staff there at the time.
 
I just stumbled across this account of the history of the stations at 1110 AM.

http://www.danceage.com/biography/sdmc_WKZV

WKZV is a 1,000 watt, two-tower directional, daytime-only AM radio station in the Pittsburgh radio market, licensed to Washington, Pennsylvania. The station was among a round of daytime-only AM stations in the tri-state area that were granted applications for operation back in 1968, a time when FM started gaining momentum among its static-laden counterpart. Known then as WKEG, the station was first believed to have signed on the air in August of 1968 with a full-service format of middle-of-the-road, country, and polka music. Unknown delays pushed the actual sign-on date to the summer of 1970. For many of its early years, the station operated out of a trailer at its transmitter site about two miles north of Washington just off Interstate 79. Managing to survive a "Johnny-come-lately" image of having to live in the shadow of WJPA-AM/FM, its well-marketed crosstown competitor, WKEG maintained its original owner for less than a year, when DiLeLo Broadcasting sold the station to Nascone Enterprises in the middle of 1971, which operated the station until 1987 when it was purchased by Ferguson Broadcasting. The new owner, William Ferguson, changed the station's format to adult contemporary, delivered via satellite through the Transtar Radio Network. Unfortunately, the station ended up going dark (off the air indefinitely) in two years. The station was then purchased for $100,000 by JJG Communications, a group headed by John Loeper, the former general manager of WKEG's main competitor in Waynesburg, WANB-AM/FM. JJG made another go of the station, this time with a news/talk/sports format, also mostly via satellite. The station failed again, and was off the air by October 1991. The station made another return to the air in the spring of 1992 with a new set of call letters, WKZV "KZ Country" and another new owner, U.S. North Broadcasting Company, Inc. The station was purchased by U.S. North for $100,000, as it was by its former owner. Despite their best efforts and considerable investment in studio overhauls, the station was headed towards the brink of financial ruin once again until a little over a year later, when local Polka musician and disc jockey Mike Panjuscek and another investor, Helen Supinski, bought out the interests of the three minority doctors who had headed U.S. North Broadcasting Company for $267,000. Panjuscek immediately trashed the satellite-delivered country music format and hired two local announcers, each working half of the broadcast day. Panjuscek also shifted the format to more of a classic country sound, with special emphasis on local country music artists and those on independent record labels. The name of the licensee was later changed from U.S. North to My-Key Broadcasting, but maintained the same ownership. The station still continues to operate under this format and ownership today, managing to survive three multi-station conglomerates that dominate Pittsburgh, with two of the three owning high-powered country-formatted FM stations.
 
I just stumbled across this account of the history of the stations at 1110 AM.

I read it and I thought...wait, this sounds familiar. Oh...that's why. I wrote it! :D
 
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