WZPL has now been doing CHR in one form or another for nearly 30 years. They have moved in rock and adult leaning variations at times, but they have remained a CHR at heart the entire time. This far excedes the runs of WNAP & WIFE (under 20 years each). A few other CHR's in Indy have come and gone in less than 10 years.
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WZPL sets record?
- Thread starter flip23
- Start date
The IU Campus radio station in Bloomingdale started out as WQAD in Wright Quad signed on Jan 3 1963 and is now WIUXLP. Became WIUS is 1967, then WIUXLP on January 9 2006. I Guess January is a good month for starting radio stations in Bloomington.
The station has had the same format now as then-CHR/AOR.
Could not use WIUS as it is in use at Western Illinois University's FM station in McComb, Il. Guess WIUM was already used by the schools other FM station.
50 years is a loonnggg time.
The station has had the same format now as then-CHR/AOR.
Could not use WIUS as it is in use at Western Illinois University's FM station in McComb, Il. Guess WIUM was already used by the schools other FM station.
50 years is a loonnggg time.
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Lamont Lester
Guest
japman said:
I don't know. IIRC, that frequency probably hadn't played a lot of Sayer in a couple of years. For the 18 months prior to the switch to the "Apple," that frequency was "99 the new WIKS." C.C. Mathews programmed and E. Alvin Davis consulted "chicken rock" trying to copy the success they'd had with Louisville's KJ-100. It never quite played out as well at WIKS. No matter how great C.C. and E's WIKS sounded, the disco programming that launched WIKS into the Indpls market was too well remembered. The signal from that Greenfield tower was way too scratchy. Besides that, E. and owner Cecil Heftel wanted C.C. to move to Cincinnati to launch "95 the new W-Lite."
WIKS/WZPL GM Ken Wolt and newly hired PD Gary Hoffmann don't get anywhere near the credit they deserve for that change to the "Apple." Simple but masterfully executed rollout and pure Hoffmann promotional genius. That bumper sticker promotion was the best ever witnessed for a new launch in Indpls radio. In just a few months those stickers seemed to appear on every car, truck, bicycle, toy wagon and motorcycle bumper. All backed by the mighty power of Papa Heftel's money.
The air staff was mostly held over from WIKS including Commander Hutch in mornings. Hoffmann got them focused on the new goal. They were tight, bright and compelling. As I recall, the only new hire was in middays with the addition from Lafayette of Don Payne. Don was also chief engineer and had the daunting task of not only first moving the frequency from the old Greenfield tower to Post Road, but also to then move the studios from a converted chicken hatchery in Greenfield to the old home of WISH TV and WIFE radio on Indy's North Meridian Street. I so miss Don Payne.
The hidden weapon in that rollout was the tower site move. You could finally drive that stretch between the north and south splits on I-65/70 downtown without 99.5 fading completely. You could finally hear it near that northwest side Washington and Pike township tower farm. 99.5 was finally a fully competitive Indianapolis signal. And did it ever scare the pants off the rest of us. They may have never topped Gary's Place and 10-7-Oh, but WZPL skyrocketed none the less. Even though I worked elsewhere, I was proud of the success my Greenfield hometown frequency was having. And at the same time I wanted to find the way to beat those ZPL numbers back down to reality.
I'm maybe the only person who has jocked for all three sets of calls on the 99.5 frequency...WSMJ, WIKS and twice at WZPL. I am so proud to have been part of that WZPL heritage and history. Happy 30th.
And by the way, J.R. Ammons has ZPL sounding great right now.
I remember Charlie Quinn (Philly, Pheonix, Evansville) telling me of having to walk out to the transmitter shack, to take the three hour transmitter readings in the ol' WSMJ days..... Asher was great in his days.. Smash has done well in St. Louis and still the smiling friend that is so missed in most radio... My generation's version of WABC's "Cousin Brucie"... APPLE... Great radio! By the way, almost '38' years of CHR/Top-40 style of radio is still in the College-Coal Mine-Corn Belt area of Southern Illinois (and now SE-Missouri, too)... 'CIL-FM/101.5 Carbondale, IL...
WZPL may also have set a record for fewest 12+ rating points in the last 10 years for an Indianapolis class B FM.
I've heard that they do pretty well in the young women demo, so Entercom probably isn't complaining too loudly.
I've heard that they do pretty well in the young women demo, so Entercom probably isn't complaining too loudly.
Da' Station with Da' Babes! 99 and a half 'ZPL! Who needs a WIFE? Who needs a NAP? Maybe you're too old! Ha! ;D
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Lamont Lester
Guest
skippertthomas said:
Lorelei. That was a WIKS thing. We used her for the first Kiss 99 tv spot after her success at co-owned WLUP/Chicago. I seem to recall WNDE also using her at one time. Met her at a station client party. TV cameras, makeup and "wardrobe" can do absolute miracles. Silk purse. Sow's ear.
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Lamont Lester
Guest
radiorob2.0 said:
Interesting find. The date says 1979. Jim King had replaced Ron Jordan. But I thought Ken Cocker replaced Barry Chase in the fall of 78 and Jeff Lucifer was gone early in 1979. Wheeler and O'Brien? How many PD's did they survive at WNDE? And when did Hatfield leave for Louisville?
Cocker was out at NDE and available for the rollout of Kiss by April of 79. Anyone have a date on when Don Geronimo took nights at WNDE? I could be wrong (not that I'll admit it much) but I'm guessing this Lorelei TV spot was more from sometime in 1978.
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Lamont Lester
Guest
flip23 said:
Yet, that's Brother Barry Chase on the TV spot with a 1979 date. Lucifer and Cocker (along with Jordan and Hatfield) were both part of the new staff that replaced the one that "resigned" in early 77. Cocker left for WMET/Chicago in Jan 78. Fired at MET and back at NDE by the early fall of 78. Fired at NDE by early 79. As for Don Geronimo, he'd moved from WNDE to Kiss 99 by August 79 and was gone and on his way to D.C. by November 79.
TheProToolsParadox said:
The Olivia Newton-John song was very late 78/early 79.
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Lamont Lester
Guest
radiorob2.0 said:
Thanks radiorob2.0! I'm paying too much attention to the jocks, not enough attention to the hits. Great catch. So was Brother Barry Chase back in early 79? Or was someone else using that name? The one thing I did notice about the music was how AC it was sounding. I am more than convinced that this is early 79. And as I looked over what I wrote earlier I realized that Geronimo did afternoons at WNDE. Could be wrong and was. I am forgetting way too much of this stuff. :-[
From the order of jocks on the spot it sounds like Barry Chase was doing nights. That shift had been done by Ken Cocker, then Bear with the Hair, followed by the brief return of Cocker. If Barry Chase did come back to replace Cocker in '79 it must have been for a very short time. The station slogan appears to be "something special", whatever that was supposed to mean. 1979 was the year p.d. Dave Parks left and was replaced by the much hated Bill Garcia. Garcia didn't last long. That's the year when that station began to fall apart and drift towards AC mediocrity.
Dear God, I wish my teeth were fixed!.... :-X
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