WRVQ

[MsMusicRadio]

Does anybody notice that one of Virginia's greatest radio stations is now basically a repeater?

 

[CHRles]

What exactly do you mean by that?

 

[rubberchicken]

I'm gonna guess she means its 80% out-of-town talent and/or voicetracked.
Sid, morning host, was let go this week. PD, afternoon guy Boomer was let go back in January.

Starting Monday, Elvis Duran's show takes mornings, Seacrest 10-2, Melissa Chase, formerly of the Sid & Melissa morning show, and the only local talent, from 2-7, T-Bag from 7-Mid, tracked from DC101.

Weekends? I'm not sure, but I know they had 2 veteran Q94 talents that they let go a few months ago that had something like 40 years there between them. And of course the legendary Kirby Carmichael was relieved of his overnight duties a few years ago.

Yeah, it's incredibly sad. CHR since 1972 on FM! One of the biggest flame-throwin' signals in America. Double Digit shares back in the day. Usually in the 4's now.
Q94 deserves better. CHR fans in Richmond deserve better.

Hey Cox, flip 103.7 to CHR and kick their keesters. WMXB really ain't setting the world on fire and hasn't been for some time!
Or 101.1 to CHR. As much as I like their take on Alternative better than 102.1, 102 is winning that battle.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I was there when WRVA-FM flipped. Over 30 years of Q Zoos. Jon Barry, Cory Deitz, Betty Boudine, Shotgun John, Slam Duncan, Kirby------------------------------forgot too many. A station too good for a small market. My daughter went to clubs in the Slip and met guys from Q. I guess you won't meet the present crew down there ever. Guess it's all but toast.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I left Richmond in 2001. There were still stations true to their heritage. WRVQ, WRVA, WTVR-FM, XL102, and WCDX I remember as the biggest. And K95. Are any of them even remotely what they were even in 2001?

 

[fortmill]

Dang, WRVQ was such a cool station in the 70s, 80s, and into the 90s. Started going downhill about the time CC got hold of them. Really hard to believe a 200kw heritage station like the Q would end up like this. IMO, Richmond used to be a really good radio town (as opposed to a terrible TV town), all the stations above, and others, going back to the AM days included. No more. I had a humorous debate with my step mother a while back about WRVA--she listens hours each day and has become a far right-wing idealoge. She would not believe that much of 1140's "local" news is outsourced to another city, Harrisburg PA, I think. I guess it's even worse now, with the latest round of cuts....

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I can remember when all 5 AM full-timers were 24/7. Odd for a town this size in 1971. I think Lou Dean was great overnights. God I'm old. I presume Bill Bevins is as close as it gets to a working radio legend and the heir to Alden Aaroe. Anybody remember Juan Condi, Philly Phil, and Mickey Spencer? I worked with them doing promotions on radio for city services. I forgot to add the superb utility guy, Bob-A-Lou to the Q cast of characters I remember.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Richmond has a great radio history , but this board just seems to lack the activity of Tampa or Pittsburgh. Even though those are larger places, I think Richmond measures up station for station. ( at least before the massive downsizing began industry wide)

 

[bk77]

I was there when WRVA-FM flipped. Over 30 years of Q Zoos. Jon Barry, Cory Deitz, Betty Boudine, Shotgun John, Slam Duncan, Kirby------------------------------forgot too many. A station too good for a small market. My daughter went to clubs in the Slip and met guys from Q. I guess you won't meet the present crew down there ever. Guess it's all but toast.

At the time WRVA-FM became WRVQ Q94, exactly how big was the Richmond radio market when it came to the ranking? How did they compare with Raleigh? Tidewater? Heck even Charlotte back then? Last I heard Richmond's rank is at #54. Not exactly a "small" market even though I have to admit the few times I had been to Richmond and checked out their radio scene within the last few years, Richmond does sound a lot like those in the 100-200+ range.

But then again the same can be said about San Diego, Kansas City, Charlotte and a number of other larger ( in some cases MUCH larger ) markets as well.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

I am not disparaging Richmond. I came from the Charlotte area where 24/7 was not all inclusive. I know that Charlotte had WAYS, but W-Lee was as good. WRVA matched WBT certainly. Back then, the only access I had to ratings were in the T-D or in Billboard. This forum or R&R did not exist for me. I think Richmond is a great town and I gave it 30 years of my life and 30 years of government service. Alan Keiper was City Manager when I arrived. I remember the first time I saw Robert C. Bobb with his Manny Ramirez dreds and checkered bell-bottoms. Not any place would take a chance on that . I remember when Kirby was on WANT and Don Dale "lost" the WTVR news van. Those were great days.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Tampa is in the Top 20 and except for non-commercial radio, EVERY station on the FM band is cookie-cutter corporate.

 

[rubberchicken]

Looks like the people of Richmond aren't happy. Came across this from VARTV:

Editor's note: We received a lot of emails over the weekend about the new "piped-in" personalities on Q94. Apparently, what aired over the weekend wasn't what Q94 listeners were used to hearing; the jocks and the music which leaned a bit more Rhythmic.

Melissa Chases's new shift is the only local presence on the station, that's 25 hours out of 168 total weekly hours...

For those who don't know, Clear Channel ran the same music log and generic jock voice-tracks on about 2 dozen of their CHRs over the weekend.

There is also an online petition to bring Sid back. Doubt it will work, but, here ya go:
http://www.rbr.com/radio/14379.html

Hello Cox. 103.7 or 101.1. CHR! Big hole, launch commercial free for a few weeks, hire a few old WRVQ jocks, slam them and say how they don't care about Richmond anymore and you do, be out on the streets everyday. You'll overtake them in 1 book, I bet!

 

[bk77]

Looks like the people of Richmond aren't happy. Came across this from VARTV:

Editor's note: We received a lot of emails over the weekend about the new "piped-in" personalities on Q94. Apparently, what aired over the weekend wasn't what Q94 listeners were used to hearing; the jocks and the music which leaned a bit more Rhythmic.

Melissa Chases's new shift is the only local presence on the station, that's 25 hours out of 168 total weekly hours...

For those who don't know, Clear Channel ran the same music log and generic jock voice-tracks on about 2 dozen of their CHRs over the weekend.

There is also an online petition to bring Sid back. Doubt it will work, but, here ya go:
http://www.rbr.com/radio/14379.html

On a similar note a LOT of people in Winchester, VA arent happy at all at what Clear Channel did in that market. Part of their cuts, Clear Channel gave the ax to Chuck Carroll ( afternoon jock at country WUSQ Q102 ) and WFQX 99.3. The Fox's Elwood King ( Ben Gates ) who ran the board for John Boy & Billy and did a number of other shifts for WFQX as well. Both guys had been with their stations for over 15 years. Plus Elwood King is legally blind and over the years a lot of people looked up to him as a role model for the blind so the firing of him really did come as a shock to many.

This past weekend was the Apple Blossom Parade in Winchester and as usual both Q102 and The Fox were in it. However this year as both stations were doing the thing along the parade route, many many people not only booed them in support of Chuck and Elwood but a few people held signs saying "Clear Channel Sucks" and "Bring back Chuck and Elwood..or else". My cousin works for a local Winchester car dealership and after being Q102 sponsors for over 25 years, now they are seriously considering dropping their ads on the local Clear Channel stations including Q102 because of those cuts.

And I doubt they would be the only ones.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

If you read the AC board, CC is doing the same thing with the same music on loads of stations. I would not expect Cox to act on this. Living in Cox Country, I can see that they run the most bland stations in the Southeast. They did pick up Bubba from CC, but they then put him on multiple stations. CBS fired some very popular people from WRBeeeeeeQ. Cox had plenty of places to plug them in on very similiar formated stations, but didn't pick up a one.

 

[mleach]

Looks like the people of Richmond aren't happy. Came across this from VARTV:

Editor's note: We received a lot of emails over the weekend about the new "piped-in" personalities on Q94. Apparently, what aired over the weekend wasn't what Q94 listeners were used to hearing; the jocks and the music which leaned a bit more Rhythmic.

Melissa Chases's new shift is the only local presence on the station, that's 25 hours out of 168 total weekly hours...

For those who don't know, Clear Channel ran the same music log and generic jock voice-tracks on about 2 dozen of their CHRs over the weekend.

There is also an online petition to bring Sid back. Doubt it will work, but, here ya go:
http://www.rbr.com/radio/14379.html

On a similar note a LOT of people in Winchester, VA arent happy at all at what Clear Channel did in that market. Part of their cuts, Clear Channel gave the ax to Chuck Carroll ( afternoon jock at country WUSQ Q102 ) and WFQX 99.3. The Fox's Elwood King ( Ben Gates ) who ran the board for John Boy & Billy and did a number of other shifts for WFQX as well. Both guys had been with their stations for over 15 years. Plus Elwood King is legally blind and over the years a lot of people looked up to him as a role model for the blind so the firing of him really did come as a shock to many.

This past weekend was the Apple Blossom Parade in Winchester and as usual both Q102 and The Fox were in it. However this year as both stations were doing the thing along the parade route, many many people not only booed them in support of Chuck and Elwood but a few people held signs saying "Clear Channel Sucks" and "Bring back Chuck and Elwood..or else". My cousin works for a local Winchester car dealership and after being Q102 sponsors for over 25 years, now they are seriously considering dropping their ads on the local Clear Channel stations including Q102 because of those cuts.

And I doubt they would be the only ones.

Ok about Elwood King & WFQX....yesterday I found this from August 1995 ( Northern Virginia Daily Newspaper) at the Winchester Handley Library in their archives in reguards to Elwood King ( then known on the air as Al-Gee )..from Virginia House of Delicates..republician..Beverly Sherwood..

"..as you may know..the current WFQX overnight radio announcer is Tad Pole...well you should know and as a parent who allows their children to listen to WFQX is that Tad Pole is HIV positive. I feel that by allowing such a person to be on the radio in the Shenandoah Valley is not only is an insult to Christian parents who watch out for the morals our of community but could very well be a threat to local radio listeners because he has the HIV virus. I feel that it is in the best interest of those who listen to the radio..and for their health...that WFQX radio station would fire Tad Pole in favor of a more family friendly radio announcer. We do not need sex perverts on the radio here. May I suggest that WFQX would replace Tad Pole with Al-Gee? That would be the right and Christian thing to do...I must protect the radio listeners of the Northern Shenandoah Valley from HIV and AIDS...."

A few days after this appeared in the Northern Virginia Daily newspaper..WFQX DID fire Tad Pole in favor Al-Gee who a year or two later would re-named himself as....Elwood King.

Ok..could it be one of the reasons why Clear Channel had fired Elwood King was due to this? Using "budget cuts" as a reason to close a chapter on infamous valley radio history? for which WFQX really never did not get over? Hopefully Sherwood had since changed her minds on those how had/have HIV and AIDS since that 1995 statement.

...now back to Richmond's WRVQ Q-94...and what this thread was all about....

 

[MsMusicRadio]

As I said about WRVQ, Cox has no history of hiring other companies cast-offs except for BTLS. The typical Cox station might have two live people daily if even that. Cox is really big on robojocks and vt'ing in house so a station could have 2 jocks with nine hour shifts. Cox is not coming to the rescue by recreating personality intensive CHR in Richmond.

 

[blue67ccm]

Then why do I hear Jason Paige on Cox?