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WRNG-Ring Radio & other former stations

N

nativeatlanta

Guest
I going waaaay back on this topic. How long was Ring Radio on the air & who where some its hosts/djs? I think Boortz & Ludlow Porch worked there. What cause the demise of the station?

Also, back in 1989,who made the decision to flip Z-93 from Top 40 to classic rock & why? Also,the same year why did 94Q become Star 94?
I also thought 94Q was a successful station.
 
WCNN was 'Ring Radio' WRNG, Atlanta's first talk station where Neal Boortz and Ludlow Porch got their starts. San Francisco's Ron Owens was a host at WRNG in the '70s. call letters became WCNN in the early '80s when Charles Smithgall, III, took over the station when his father retired, marking the start of the slow death of one of Atlanta's most innovative stations. At that time, the station dropped its all talk format and began simulcast of audio from CNN Headline News cable channel. Smithgall III was quoted in the newspaper as saying he had tried out the format by covering his TV screen with a towel so that he could hear the CNN audio without the picture. (Apparently, he was unaware that he could just turn his back or turn the brightness down.) Converted back to talk with Ludlow Porch as station manager, then to adult standards "Stardust 680," to all news, back to CNN audio, to all sports, and now back to CNN audio. Once home of the Braves for a short time. Midwestern acquired WCNN from former Ring Radio, which is now defunct. However, the Ring Radio name is still used by Midwestern.

In its heyday, WRNG was also home to Bob Mohan (now at KFYI Phoenix), ultra-conservative Harry Davey (now at KGO San Francisco), Hank "the Prank" Morgan with sports, Ben Baldwin, the Don Hastings garden show, the female duo Mickie and Teddie, and Peg Nugent. Braves announcers Skip Caray and Jiggs MacDonald had their first radio Atlanta talk shows on Ring Radio. The station is licensed to North Atlanta, which no longer exists, if it ever really did, except in the eyes of the FCC. Efforts to change to Atlanta have failed many times.

Z-93 actually flipped from T40 to Churban (a programming mix of CHR & Urban) to classic rock. 94Q was a successful station. I believe the change to Star 94 happened with Gary McKee's exit from the morning show and other mainstay dj's eventually also leaving (Jeff McCartney, Craig Ashwood, etc). It was a reimaging of the station.
 
nativeatlanta said:
Also, back in 1989,who made the decision to flip Z-93 from Top 40 to classic rock & why? Also,the same year why did 94Q become Star 94?
Click to expand...

Z-93 was a pretty broad CHR until 1987, when it shifted more "hot", ID-ing as "Hot, New Z-93". (I assume it was a reaction to Power 99's debut - it seemed like they spent 1987 and 1988 counterprogramming each other.) Power 99 started shifting "hot" in the same period, and Z-93 reacted by almost out-urbaning it. By the end of 1988, Z-93 adding true hip-hop songs to rotation (Sir Mix-a-Lot's "My Posse's on Broadway" comes to mind). Honestly, by my own ears, it just sounded strange. I never saw numbers, but I assume Z-93's declined over those two years.

The '87 change also marked the end of Steve McCoy's long run at mornings at Z-93, with Randy Miller taking over. I can't say that Miller did badly, but it seemed to pale in comparison to the numbers that McCoy was getting. (Miller quit abruptly just before the format change, claiming that he didn't want to play "old music".)

At the same time, 96 Rock was adding more classic rock songs to their rotation. (I vaguely remember their tv spots with Paul Schaeffer hyping the addition of "classic" songs.) I think Z-93 saw an opening - there was still a local association with Z-93's run in the 70s, and no true classic rock station in town. It struck me more or less as a concession that Power 99 had "won" the CHR battle.

I would guess that 94Q flipped as a reaction what Z-93 and Power 99 were doing. Again, I didn't see numbers, but I would guess that 94Q's numbers were just okay - a loyal but not particularly large audience. 94Q always targetted older with their music mix, and Z-93 as classic rock was hitting that demographic specifically. Power 99 had gone more "hot", leaving a wide open gap for a "regular" CHR.

/as I remember it - could be wrong
 
Of course, there was also WRNG-FM which was a new set of calls for the old WCOH-FM from back in the late 40s. But I'll let "historybuff" tell that story. ;D
 
IIRC one of the main reasons 94Q crashed was due to Jazz Flavors. I loved Russ Davis' original Jazz Flavors "Sundaes on 94-Q" (so said my old poster). Recalling a conversation I had with WPCH-FM's Vance Dillard in 1990, "the problem is one of audience erosion. A CHR/AC listener tunes in during the day, and hears what they want. They tune in at night and hear Jazz. They either think the station is changing formats, or give up and tune to another station and never tune back"

I don't think that is it. Ironically, to this day, 94.9 still has "sounds of faith" on Sunday mornings, even though John Lauer who IIRC started that back in the 1970's and is long gone as is Jacor. So why did 94-Q die? I loved the station, I think their unique programming was what drew me to them. I remember not just Jazz Flavors, but Bob Bailey's "Saturday Morning Oldies Show". 94-Q also did awesome live remotes all over town. Anyone remember when Gary McKee did a live show from Pike Nurseries when they had a huge sale? So many people showed up traffic became gridlocked. APD had to call out their air unit to manage traffic. Who said no one listened to 94-Q?

I also remember "Hot new Z-93" in 1988. I had a long conversation with the PD at the time. I was in the 8th grade. He explained to me that "this is where top 40 is headed". I think he was a few years ahead of his time. That would have worked in the 90's, but Atlanta was ready for it. Z-93 lost most of it's listeners to Power 99 that year, and shortly thereafter, the Power 99 crowd defected to Star 94, and Power 99 became 99X shortly thereafter. Ironic isn't it now 99X becomes a CHR station again for the second time in it's life.

anyone remember WLTA "Light 100"? Then Warm 100, then WARM 99...
 
I could be wrong on this,did WLTA become KICKS Country?
 
Wbie was not Southern Gospel - it was country & western. It was certainly NOT the "uptown" version of modern country radio.
RNG Radio was supposedly, back in the day, the highest billing daytimer in the country. I also believe it was one of the highest rated "daytime only" stations in the country.
I remember visting the studios back in the early eighties. They were plush - Ward Beck consoles and a first class technical setup - the station had all the trappings of success.
As a geeky sidenote....WRNG used 2 ten thousand watt transmitters combined, and run beyond full tilt, to produce 25000 watts.(FM combined transmitters are common....it is very unusual to see AM transmitters combined) WRNG increased power to 50,000 watts when they moved to the present site which includes eight towers for night operation.
 
Tom, where were those studios located?

And I seem to recall that in the 70's, Ring Radio was an all-female (personalities) talk station. I wasn't in Atlanta at the time, but I seem to remember hearing about it. Is that correct?
 
In 1987 First media the owners of Z-93 we're starting to shop Z-93 and most of their stations
around for a buyer. John Young,who had been the PD of Z during its exciting heyday,decided to leave.
Power 99 stole Steve McCoy away from mornings,and thats when he first started working
with Vicky Locke who was doing news at Power 99.
Z-93 then brought in new management,in the form of a new GM and PD.(Paul Nugent and Bob Case) They turned it into
'Churban' format,and it was disastrous.They killed what Z-93 was.
The station sold to actaul Eskimos who had struck oil (true)
.Eventually flipping to various forms of rock,until CBS
bought it,which oddly enough has Dan Mason in charge.Dan was the orginal national pd for
first media when they owned it originally.
Of course Z-93 never was able to achieve success like they enjoyed in the 70's & 80's.
 
RoddyFreeman said:
Tom, where were those studios located?

And I seem to recall that in the 70's, Ring Radio was an all-female (personalities) talk station. I wasn't in Atlanta at the time, but I seem to remember hearing about it. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
WRNG's studios were in the area where currently a Kroger Store is, across the street from the Brookhaven Marta station.
There was an office park formerly where that shopping center now sits.
 
Thanks, George.

And a question to jinglemaker:

Weren't Z93's calls WZGC before First Media bought them? I'm pretty sure the GC stood for (former owner) General Cinema.

A friend tells me I'm flat-out wrong, that WZGC was named after (sister First Media station) WPGC in Washington. It was somewhat of a coincidence.
 
GeorgeAtl said:
RoddyFreeman said:
Tom, where were those studios located?

And I seem to recall that in the 70's, Ring Radio was an all-female (personalities) talk station. I wasn't in Atlanta at the time, but I seem to remember hearing about it. Is that correct?
Click to expand...
WRNG's studios were in the area where currently a Kroger Store is, across the street from the Brookhaven Marta station.
There was an office park formerly where that shopping center now sits.
Click to expand...

That would sort of explain why WCNN's/WRNG's city of license is the long-since-disincorporated city of North Atlanta...30019 (Brookhaven) roughly equates with North Atlanta's old city limits.
 
WZGC used to be WGKA FM ......owned by Ethal Holley. It was sold back in the early 70's and Ethal kept the AM(WGKA-AM 1190Khz) The FM used to be a similcast of the AM which was classical/arts until Joe weber bought it.
Ethal sold 92.9 for one million dollars! It was one of the first FM stations to ever be sold for over $1M according to Ethal.....he said he thought he had "robbed a bank!"
I actually maintained the oooold WGKA AM/FM automation system for a few months after the AM was sold. It was sad to see that piece of history thrown in the trash....
 
As Jackie mentioned in an earlier post the WRNG call letters were, for a time, assigned to 96.7 when that frequency was still licensed to Newnan. WCOH FM dates back to the 40's, first on 92.3 and then at 96.7. In late 1982 owner Dallas Tarkenton changed the calls to WRNG and branded the station "Ring Radio 97". In early 83 WRNG FM became an affiliate of Jones Satellite's Star Station format. The WRNG calls would remain at 96.7 until the station was sold in the spring of 1985. The station went dark for about 6 months until the new owners led by Reagan Henry built a new tower north of Newnan. The station signed on from this site as WBUS "The Bus" with studios in a trailor at the base of the tower. They didn't even have a phone at the trailor in the begining! Was home to some big name Atlanta talent for a few months. Mike Roberts and Carol Blackmon were among the Bus jocks. I know because I visited the trailor during this time and met them. The class A signal didn't cover Atlanta and the Bus, well it ran out of gas by early 1986. After running a sattellite delivered old school R&B format for a time as WWER, Dallas Tarkenton regained control of the signal in 1987. The studios were moved back to the WCOH AM facility in Newnan and had a 13 year run as Magic 96.7 WMKJ. The COL was changed to Peachtree City in the early 90's but the transmitter remained north of Newnan near Madras. By 2000 Clear Channel had purchased the Newnan group and moved the transmitter to Tyrone. After several format changes since then of course this frequency is home to "The Legend".
 
llewow said:
WCNN was 'Ring Radio' WRNG, Atlanta's first talk station where Neal Boortz and Ludlow Porch got their starts. San Francisco's Ron Owens was a host at WRNG in the '70s. call letters became WCNN in the early '80s when Charles Smithgall, III, took over the station when his father retired, marking the start of the slow death of one of Atlanta's most innovative stations. At that time, the station dropped its all talk format and began simulcast of audio from CNN Headline News cable channel. Smithgall III was quoted in the newspaper as saying he had tried out the format by covering his TV screen with a towel so that he could hear the CNN audio without the picture. (Apparently, he was unaware that he could just turn his back or turn the brightness down.) Converted back to talk with Ludlow Porch as station manager, then to adult standards "Stardust 680," to all news, back to CNN audio, to all sports, and now back to CNN audio. Once home of the Braves for a short time. Midwestern acquired WCNN from former Ring Radio, which is now defunct. However, the Ring Radio name is still used by Midwestern.

I understand the original WRNG transmitter site is the present tower being used by 970 and 1190. Our company has a 680 in Sylva, NC. It and WRNG were engaged in a long legal battle during the 1960s over a power increase for WRNG and the move of the Sylva station to 680. I have a lot of engineering records on WRNG. Did it once operate a two tower directional at the old site. I have a copy of the application but wonder if it ever was built?

There is severe signal overlap between WCNN and the Sylva,NC station which operates 1KW day and 250 watts night, 2 tower directional nights only.

In its heyday, WRNG was also home to Bob Mohan (now at KFYI Phoenix), ultra-conservative Harry Davey (now at KGO San Francisco), Hank "the Prank" Morgan with sports, Ben Baldwin, the Don Hastings garden show, the female duo Mickie and Teddie, and Peg Nugent. Braves announcers Skip Caray and Jiggs MacDonald had their first radio Atlanta talk shows on Ring Radio. The station is licensed to North Atlanta, which no longer exists, if it ever really did, except in the eyes of the FCC. Efforts to change to Atlanta have failed many times.

Z-93 actually flipped from T40 to Churban (a programming mix of CHR & Urban) to classic rock. 94Q was a successful station. I believe the change to Star 94 happened with Gary McKee's exit from the morning show and other mainstay dj's eventually also leaving (Jeff McCartney, Craig Ashwood, etc). It was a reimaging of the station.
Click to expand...
 
I understand the original WRNG transmitter site is the present tower being used by 970 and 1190. Our company has a 680 in Sylva, NC. It and WRNG were engaged in a long legal battle during the 1960s over a power increase for WRNG and the move of the Sylva station to 680. I have a lot of engineering records on WRNG. Did it once operate a two tower directional at the old site. I have a copy of the application but wonder if it ever was built?
Click to expand...

I was told by the CE at Clear Channel that the tower now used by 970 and 1190 off Lenox Road (behind Cheshire Bridge) was the same tower used by the 25KW daytime 680. I don't believe there was ever a second tower.
 
Yes....the Lenox Rd site was the original 25,000 watt site for WRNG and is, to this day, controlled by the owners of the 680 Khz.(The Dicky brothers)
It was never a 2 tower site. The daytime 50,000 watt signal is mildly directional protecting Sylva, to the northeast.
I didn't know you owned the Sylva station Art! That is beautiful country up there. I had a childhood friend who lived in Bryson City....I spent a lot of time up in those parts. I remember Cullowhee(Western Carolina University) had some mighty pretty mountain girls....
 
I run my production/imaging company out of Franklin, NC and have to pass along some mighty sincere kudos to Art Sutton and the engineer at WRGC. It is one of the best technically sounding AM stations i have ever heard. It sounds so close to Fm you actually have to check to see what station it is. Outstanding! I have often wondered how WRGC came to be in the forst place what with WPTF and thier 50kw signal in Raleigh and WCNN's 50kw in Atlanta (errr..NORTH Atlanta at that) really a shoehorn allocation. There was an application in the works to move WRGC (Sylva) to 540khz with 5000watts. Would be an awesome signal. What has become of that Art?

Jeff Laurence
[email protected]
 
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