WINX did this as a semi-stunt to attract a buyer. It worked, as the station ended up in the hands of a Hispanic radio operator. Then, there's the Dan Vallie-consulted Z104. Who knew it was the first LGBTQ+-driven Top 40 station, as Bonneville (and the LDS Church) highly influenced the programming and that meant no rap and more dance product based on Dupont Circle sales trends.
I had completely forgotten about Bonneville's CHR rules. Living in Dallas, they did the same thing -- on another top 40 also branded with "Z" -- a decade earlier. Losing ground in a three-way CHR race, Bonneville's KAFM 92.5 rebranded as "Z92.5" in 1986 (calls changed to KZPW, but changed quickly to KZPS after crosstown KZEW complained). At the time in the local Dallas paper was an article that also mentioned it would not be playing songs that didn't align with the LDS values. It was a flop...about 3 months later, they shifted towards AC, added jazz -- it became a mess until they finally killed it and flipped it to classic hits in the fall of 1986.
WINX did this as a semi-stunt to attract a buyer. It worked, as the station ended up in the hands of a Hispanic radio operator. Then, there's the Dan Vallie-consulted Z104. Who knew it was the first LGBTQ+-driven Top 40 station, as Bonneville (and the LDS Church) highly influenced the programming and that meant no rap and more dance product based on Dupont Circle sales trends.
Thanks for the additional background on WINX.
I had completely forgotten about Bonneville's CHR rules. Living in Dallas, they did the same thing -- on another top 40 also branded with "Z" -- a decade earlier. Losing ground in a three-way CHR race, Bonneville's KAFM 92.5 rebranded as "Z92.5" in 1986 (calls changed to KZPW, but changed quickly to KZPS after crosstown KZEW complained). At the time in the local Dallas paper was an article that also mentioned it would not be playing songs that didn't align with the LDS values. It was a flop...about 3 months later, they shifted towards AC, added jazz -- it became a mess until they finally killed it and flipped it to classic hits in the fall of 1986.
Thanks for reading the post and commenting!