Young Country's demise

[Jay Walker]

As an aside, I never really understood getting rid of 94.9 a full class C, and keeping 107.5 a C-3. I assume it had to do with the service contour calculations involved in the market share formula? I'm sure David Eduardo will know better than I how the mechanics of consolidation worked at that time so hopefully he will chime in...

It was purely a business decision. Signal contours weren't a factor. The story I heard was that Salem wouldn't even buy 107.5, let alone swap 1190 for it. CBS was hellbent on making sure whatever station it spun off wasn't going to compete with it. That limited what they could do. The only potential buyers that fit that criteria and could afford any of their stations were Salem and HBC, which still hadn't officially been given the green-light from the FCC.

That makes sense...
I always wondered, but since I was too low on the food chain, as a lowly engineer, I was not privy to that information.

 

[Jay Walker]

2) What was the moniker and calls for 94.9 as "Old Country" - I remember the Boot billboards but not much else. Seems like the 94.9 was the ol' country format round the same time, yes?

Actually the "logo" for KSNN Sunny 95 was a cactus (the "Y" in Sunny) with a cowboy hat hanging off of it. I still have a couple of t-shirts from my days as the morning show host.

The reason for Sunny 95 was as a flanker to attract upper demos and to be sold in combo with Young Country. The programming philosophy was a "Country A/C" presentation musically with the currents and the re-currents. The oldies went back towards the mid 70's. A/C crossover hits from artists like Lee Greenwood, Kenny Rogers, B.J. Thomas, Ronnie Milsap etc.

There was a "Classic Country" show as well that I hosted called "The All Request Solid Gold Country Saturday Night". Musically that show was oldies from the Honky-Tonk era from the late 50's through the "Country Pop" mid 70's era. It was a fun little station while it lasted...

 

[ChaseW]

I remember Sunny 95 That was a station that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to when I used to live in Dallas. Great music and everything.

 

[Holstead]

KQZY used an EV re/20 as the main mic, and a Sennheiser MD441U as the guest mic. As you walked in, you went through a news booth, that was equipped with the biggest Autogram dial pot console I ever saw, but it was rarely used.

Coolest studio I ever worked in. Wind did sway the structure, and more than once the observation deck was closed due to high winds.

When I was there, the HOTTEST song was "Smooth Operator" by Sade.

 

[JRZFM100]

As you walked in, you went through a news booth, that was equipped with the biggest Autogram dial pot console I ever saw, but it was rarely used.

Coolest studio I ever worked in. Wind did sway the structure, and more than once the observation deck was closed due to high winds.

When you said observation deck, that brings back one very specific memory. On the interior hall leading from the elevator to the outside, there was an original IBM-PC or PC-XT (w/20MB Hard drive I'm sure) which seemed to serve as the light controller for the ball exterior, as the vintage 1985 (RGB?) IBM monitor displayed a 2-D of the ball with the changing ball lighting patterns visible on the monitor.

That's funny! An IBM PC. First place I ever saw an IBM-PC was in Music Director's office at Z-100 NY, running Selector circa September 1983.

Z-100 music department would put promo discards outside their back door for the staff to take home. I looked thru the stack one day and saw a Reba McEntire 45 with full color picture jacket; I said, who the @#$%^ is that red head? Who???

 

[JRZFM100]

Z-100 music department would put promo discards outside their back door for the staff to take home. I looked thru the stack one day and saw a Reba McEntire 45 with full color picture jacket; I said, who the @#$%^ is that red head? Who???

Speaking of country music in NY, well it was relegated to 1050 WHN for years. FM tried and failed, first with WKHK: KICK-FM. One of the most famous TV commercials for KICK was an animated Mount Rushmore singing Alabama's Play Me Some Mountain Music. Can't find that right now (nothing like that probably ever aired in Texas, I'll bet!) but here is an early KICK-FM commercial showing New Yorkers trying to enjoy country. This was a very "instructional" video for NY'ers... this is country music and this is how to use it! Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46ReAaiZqVY

 

[Kent]

Speaking of country music in NY, well it was relegated to 1050 WHN for years. FM tried and failed, first with WKHK: KICK-FM. One of the most famous TV commercials for KICK was an animated Mount Rushmore singing Alabama's Play Me Some Mountain Music. Can't find that right now (nothing like that probably ever aired in Texas, I'll bet!) but here is an early KICK-FM commercial showing New Yorkers trying to enjoy country. This was a very "instructional" video for NY'ers... this is country music and this is how to use it! Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46ReAaiZqVY

The Mount Rushmore commercial came from a national ad agency. First commercial station I was ever at (KWEN Tulsa as an intern) ran that commercial in the early 80's, too!

 

[TheBigA]

The Mount Rushmore commercial came from a national ad agency. First commercial station I was ever at (KWEN Tulsa as an intern) ran that commercial in the early 80's, too!

Yep...another scene showed a guy in the shower singing the Mac Davis hit "It's Hard to Be Humble." Saw it in several cities.

 

[Robert Bass]

Does anyone have pictures of the KOAX/KQZY/KRSR/KYNG studios? I used to have a KOAX photo, but lost it when the hard drive crashed.

R

 

[317C50KW]

I want the "earbuds" they were using in that "Kick-FM" commercial! ;D