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Z-93 WZZR

jackshell

jackshell

Back when I was a teenager in the late eighties, we lived in South Florida along the Treasure Coast, and there was a killer new CHR station at 92.7 called Z-93 that debuted when I was in junior high. I recall it having a great airstaff, a killer sound overall, and it quickly became my favorite station. However, it only lasted a couple or three years before flipping to AOR as 92-7ZZR. What happened there? I thought it was a much better station than 95.5 WOVV was at the time.

Can anyone refresh my memory as to who the airstaff was on this station and where everyone went?

Just curious.

If this should be on the Florida board and not this one, I apologize.

Thanks
 
The station is currently WZZR 94.3 REAL RADIO all talk.

WOVV 95.5 has been WLDI - Wild 95 5 for the past 10 years as the current CHR station for the Palm Beaches and Treasure Coast.
 
jackshell said:
However, it only lasted a couple or three years before flipping to AOR as 92-7ZZR. What happened there? I thought it was a much better station than 95.5 WOVV was at the time.

Can anyone refresh my memory as to who the airstaff was on this station and where everyone went?
Click to expand...

Wow....Glad I'm not the only one that remembers....I live (lived) in Miami, and actually heard it here too quite a bit, static and all. That was before we had pirates on 92.7. I discovered it in the Spring of 1989 and it lasted until Fall 91 when they pretty much imported the entire staff of Rocker WAKS "Kiss 103.7"/Ft. Myers when it became CHR B-103 (GM Molly Beard, Love Docs and all, which, in turn had been the entire staff of Ft. Pierce's WKGR/98.7 earlier)

Bill Sheridan was the PD of Z-93...He went up to PA when the station flipped and I think is still up there..What other names can I remember....Leseee..Hamp Elliott who's still up in the Treasure Coast did mornings...Christie Banks is probably the one name who 'made it big'....As I recall she was the only holdover from CHR when the station flipped to Rock. Lots of jingles.....The legendary 80s CHR vo guy Mitch Craig was the station's initial voice, but they went to someone less aggressive towards the end....

I also remember them starting off rather aggressive on new tunes (one of the first places I heard Martika) but by early '91 they were skewing more adult. One day sometime in September or October of '91 I tuned them in and they were playing Christmas music...2 'unidentified' men were on....They were the Love Docs stunting...And the rest, as they say, is history.
 
I remember Hamp as the morning news man. There was an original morning man named Marc something or other who did a "Z Morning Zoo" with a female partner named Sally something or other. But thanks for reminding me of the other names. Hamp is at WGYL in Vero, a station my father worked at back in the 80s. Glad to know someone else out there also appreciated "Laser Hits, Z-93" as much as I did. I wish I had recorded some airchecks, because it just had an incredible, hot sound, that really moved me as a teen. I distinctly remember the flip to AOR under Molly Beard's direction, and liking the new station, but being sad that my fave top 40 station had been replaced.
 
jackshell said:
it just had an incredible, hot sound, that really moved me as a teen.
Click to expand...

Something else that came to mind after I made my first post....WZZR/Z-93 was the first non-Hispanic station outside of Miami that I heard play the "Lambada", and in a rather heavy rotation IIRC (not sure if anyone will admit to remembering that song, haha).
 
I know it's been a while since the original thread was last posted... but in case you're wondering...

Mark Sinclair was morning drive with Hemp as news.
Bill Sheridan did afternoon drive.
Bobby Willis was evenings.
Danny Collins did overnight and swingshift.
Panama Jack (that's me) was part timer who did overnights and swingshifts. I also drove that big van around everywhere pulling people over if they had a bumper sticker giving away prizes. Ahh good times.
 
Growing up in western Lake Worth, 92-7 'ZZR never had a good signal. It was always static-filled. It seems that he current incarnation of 92.7, The Wave, has a signal that is even worse. Nonetheless, I was too young to remember WZZR's CHR days.

It is too bad that 'ZZR didn't give the CHR format more time to develop. Does anyone remember when WOVV went AC, when it first became Star 95.5? That would have been a good time for some CHR competition. At the time, I was forced to listen to Power 96, the only CHR-like station in our area.
 
radiosanchez said:
Something else that came to mind after I made my first post....WZZR/Z-93 was the first non-Hispanic station outside of Miami that I heard play the "Lambada", and in a rather heavy rotation IIRC (not sure if anyone will admit to remembering that song, haha).
Click to expand...

I recall a programmer telling me, a few years ago, and with pride, that they had been the first person in the US to play the Lambada.

I wudda' kept it to myself.
 
ScottBurns said:
Growing up in western Lake Worth, 92-7 'ZZR never had a good signal. It was always static-filled. It seems that he current incarnation of 92.7, The Wave, has a signal that is even worse. Nonetheless, I was too young to remember WZZR's CHR days.

It is too bad that 'ZZR didn't give the CHR format more time to develop. Does anyone remember when WOVV went AC, when it first became Star 95.5? That would have been a good time for some CHR competition. At the time, I was forced to listen to Power 96, the only CHR-like station in our area.
Click to expand...

No, ZZR's signal wasn't good, but I managed to listen to it down here in Miami despite the weak signal....I actually discovered it while tuning around the dial in Key Largo, believe it or not.

WOVV first became "Star 95.5" and used the slogan "Superstars of the 80s and 90s". Must've been like 92 or so...IIRC they had already been *kinda* dancing back and forth between more and less adult versions of CHR....I remember them having used rather "in your face" Mark Driscoll imaging in mid-90 and then suddenly retracting to a more adult stance in their liners, already, before they flipped to "Star".
 
That's amazing that you picked up 'ZZR in Key Largo. Then again, anything is possible with all that salt water around. There are many Fort Myers stations that I have picked up while driving through the Keys.

WOVV's use of the "Star" moniker debuted sometime in 1992. I believe they stayed an AC station until Kurt Kelly was shown the door as PD. By December 1993, they retained the "Star" moniker but had clearly moved in a CHR direction. Once Neil Sullivan was at the helm, Star clearly moved in a more Rhythmic CHR direction. Doctor Mix even had mix shows during his night shift. We all know what happened after that. In late 1995, the longtime CHR experiment was over at Star/WOVV, and a three-year Country disaster, in which the station was trying to compete with Heritage station WIRK (along with good-signaled WKIS, especially in Southern Palm Beach County).
 
I listened to the station in Miami in the 90's, when static was not so bad, after WSHE changed format.
They started the top of hour with something like: "This is a Southern Star Communications station. 92.7 WZZR. Fort Pierce, Stuart, West Palm Beach. 92.7". In the mornings, the moniker was "While all the other guys are doing the talking, we're doing all the rockin'. Z Z R". It was a good AOR station.
 
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