I made a road trip from Southwest Michigan down to Indianapolis over the weekend, and had some thoughts on WSMK and WZPL:
WSMK* - two questions:
1) I noticed that this station is calling itself simply "99.1" now. A thread on this site from March 2008 (http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=94543.0) and Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSMK) indicates that the station was once calling itself "Movin' 99.1". Does anyone know when this change occurred?
2) Also, the aforementioned thread on this site indicates that the station uses the Waitt Radio Networks "Movin" format. Is this still the case? The Waitt site (http://www.wrnonline.com) and the Waitt Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waitt_Radio_Networks) make no mention of this format still being in existence. If it's not Waitt, does anyone know if it's another satellite service, or locally programmed? It's a very unfocused but entertaining approach to Rhythmic AC...musically, it's one of the most enjoyable stations in the format I've ever listed to. Here are some songs I recall hearing (not in this order) -
Haddaway - What is Love
Usher - OMG
Britney Spears - Womanizer
Luther Vandross - Power of Love
Midnight Star - No Parking on the Dance Floor
Prince - Kiss
Crystal Waters - 100% Pure Love
Lady Gaga - Alejandro
...plus numerous songs from multiple rhythmic genres that I didn't recognize.
* - Yes, I know this is technically a Michigan station, but I think my chances of getting info are much better on this forum than the Michigan one (which has 197 total posts, compared to 21,000+ here!)
WZPL:
This is such a strange station. At times, it sounds more like a 90's-style Modern AC (not in terms of playing 90's music, but playing comparable contemporary music). Yet, I still heard songs that I wouldn't expect to hear on a Hot AC or Modern AC -- such as Katy Perry's "California Girls" (the "rap" version with Snoop Dogg included - the "non rap" version would make more sense for the station), "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha (now a recurrent, yet I heard it twice in a 4-hour span), and also Ke$ha's "Your Love is My Drug".
I also found it interesting that they sometimes identify themselves as "Z99.5 WZPL" instead of "Z99.5". I'm guessing the mention of those WZPL call letters was valuable in the diary era, but it may not be as important once PPM becomes currency (in September, right?) But don't get me wrong...I used to live in the area back in the late 80's and early 90's when they were "99 and a half, WZPL"...and so hearing "WZPL" brought back great memories of the station at that time.
WSMK* - two questions:
1) I noticed that this station is calling itself simply "99.1" now. A thread on this site from March 2008 (http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=94543.0) and Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSMK) indicates that the station was once calling itself "Movin' 99.1". Does anyone know when this change occurred?
2) Also, the aforementioned thread on this site indicates that the station uses the Waitt Radio Networks "Movin" format. Is this still the case? The Waitt site (http://www.wrnonline.com) and the Waitt Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waitt_Radio_Networks) make no mention of this format still being in existence. If it's not Waitt, does anyone know if it's another satellite service, or locally programmed? It's a very unfocused but entertaining approach to Rhythmic AC...musically, it's one of the most enjoyable stations in the format I've ever listed to. Here are some songs I recall hearing (not in this order) -
Haddaway - What is Love
Usher - OMG
Britney Spears - Womanizer
Luther Vandross - Power of Love
Midnight Star - No Parking on the Dance Floor
Prince - Kiss
Crystal Waters - 100% Pure Love
Lady Gaga - Alejandro
...plus numerous songs from multiple rhythmic genres that I didn't recognize.
* - Yes, I know this is technically a Michigan station, but I think my chances of getting info are much better on this forum than the Michigan one (which has 197 total posts, compared to 21,000+ here!)
WZPL:
This is such a strange station. At times, it sounds more like a 90's-style Modern AC (not in terms of playing 90's music, but playing comparable contemporary music). Yet, I still heard songs that I wouldn't expect to hear on a Hot AC or Modern AC -- such as Katy Perry's "California Girls" (the "rap" version with Snoop Dogg included - the "non rap" version would make more sense for the station), "Tik Tok" by Ke$ha (now a recurrent, yet I heard it twice in a 4-hour span), and also Ke$ha's "Your Love is My Drug".
I also found it interesting that they sometimes identify themselves as "Z99.5 WZPL" instead of "Z99.5". I'm guessing the mention of those WZPL call letters was valuable in the diary era, but it may not be as important once PPM becomes currency (in September, right?) But don't get me wrong...I used to live in the area back in the late 80's and early 90's when they were "99 and a half, WZPL"...and so hearing "WZPL" brought back great memories of the station at that time.