Radio This Week Back Then #14: April 21-27
This week in radio back then...small market edition: Erie (WJET, WRTS), Abilene (KORQ x 2), San Angelo (KGKL, KIXY-FM).
What was on the radio this week…back then. If you enjoy these weekly audio rewinds, they take a lot of time to put together, so please do me a favor, subscribe, and share and pass it on. Thank you!
ICYMI, I posted about the debut of KZPS 92.5 Dallas/Fort Worth’s southern fried classic rock/Americana format from this week back in 2007 earlier this week.
For this edition, we visit 6 stations in three markets we have not visited yet on these weekly rewinds. This week gives us a chance to highlight small market radio audio and history, which often is lacking in online archives.
First up is Erie, the 183rd largest radio market these days according to Nielsen, and top 40 WJET 102.3 “Jet FM102” from this week in 1991 and one-time rival WRTS 103.7 “Star 104” from this week in 2007.
Second up is Abilene TX, which is no longer measured by Nielsen; it was the 229th largest market in 2022. For the Abilene visit, we listen in on top 40 KORQ-FM 100.7 “Q100” from this week in 1994 and then to top 40 KORQ 95.1 “Channel 9-5-Q” from this week in 2007. Despite the same call letters, the two stations are have always had separate ownership and are unrelated.
Last up is San Angelo TX, which is the 236th largest radio market in the US out of 243 markets Nielsen currently monitors and publishes ratings for. From the same Saturday afternoon this week back in 1994, we get to hear top 40 KIXY-FM 94.7 “Kixy” and rock KGKL 960 “Rock 96.”
Aircheck: WJET 102.3 “Jet FM102” Erie PA, April 23 1991
The WJET calls were long synonymous with the top 40 format in the Erie market. WJET 1400 was top 40 in the 1960s, 1970s, and into the mid-1980s, when the calls and format moved to FM sister WSEG 102.3. WJET began skewing modern rock in the mid-1990s and made the flip to a pop/alternative modern AC in 1999 that ended the run of the pairing of the WJET calls and a top 40 format.
J-Bo is the DJ for this Tuesday aircheck of Jet FM from 1991.
Styx/”Show Me The Way”
Mike + The Mechanics/”Word Of Mouth”
Wilson Phillips/”You’re In Love”
Kiss/”Forever”
Cheap Trick/”Can’t Stop Falling In Love”
Legal ID: WJET 102.3 Erie
INXS/”Devil Inside”
Mariah Carey/”I Don’t Wanna Cry”
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band/”Old Time Rock & Roll”
Rod Stewart/”Rhythm Of My Heart”
Kane Roberts/”Does Anybody Really Fall In Love Anymore”
C+C Music Factory/”Gonna Make Yoy Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”
The Tubes/”She’s A Beauty”
Profile
Aircheck: WRTS 103.7 “Star 104” Erie PA, April 25 2007
WJET was not the only CHR in the market that made it passed 30 years of broadcasting the hits. Star 104 just celebrated 30 years on the air as it dates back to early 1994, when it flipped from hot AC WMXE “Mix 103.7.” (With “Star 94.1” in the Atlanta market taking the WSTR calls in 1989 and thus unavailable for use here, reversing them - WRTS - kind of makes for call letters that infer “Star”…).
This aircheck is a Wednesday midday shift of “Erie’s #1 Hit Music Station” with DJ Baxter.
Paula DeAnda/”Walk Away (Remember Me)”
Creed/”My Sacrifice”
Ne-Yo/”So Sick”
Liz Phair/”Why Can’t I?”
Diddy (Featuring Keyshia Cole)/”Last Night”
Legal ID: WRTS 103.7 Erie
KT Tunstall/”Black Horse & The Cherry Tree”
Akon/”Don’t Matter”
Nelly Furtado/”Say It Right”
DHT/”Listen To Your Heart”
Fergie/”London Bridge”
Kanye West/”Gold Digger”
Daughtry/”It’s Not Over”
Gym Class Heroes/”Cupid’s Chokehold/Breakfast In America”
Natasha Bedingfield/”These Words”
Nickelback/”Rockstar”
Jesse McCartney/”Beautiful Soul”
Hinder/”Better Than Me”
Rihanna/”Umbrella”
The Fray/”Over My Head”
Profile
Aircheck: KORQ-FM 100.7 “Hit Radio Q100” Abilene TX, April 23 1994
KORQ originally signed on the air Monday, September 2 1974 as an automated easy listening/beautiful music outlet as the FM counterpart to KWKC 1340. It moved to soft rock “Q100” in 1979. In the spring of 1993, it flipped to top 40 as “Hit Radio Q100,” which is the era when I recorded this aircheck on a road trip. The top 40 format lasted a couple of years as it reverted back to AC. In September 1999, it flipped to KHYS “Kiss,” ending the run of the KORQ calls on 100.7.
The KORQ calls got picked up the following year by cross-town competitor KATX 96.1, which flipped to ABC’s then-new 45+ soft AC “Memories” format as “Memories 96.1 KORQ.” In September 2002, that station flipped to top 40, recombining the KORQ calls with the top 40 format. In 2004, KORQ 96.1 and its sister AC KNCE 95.1 “K-Nice” swapped formats, with 95.1 becoming top 40 KORQ “95Q.” An aircheck from that 3rd FM frequency to have the KORQ calls is down below in the next section.
Back to 100.7: Dan Cole and Mark Sheridan are the DJs for this late Saturday afternoon audio. If you recognized the “Neon Moonlight” tune, you should be on “Name That Tune.” I don’t remember it, and it took a while to figure out what it was as even Shazam gave up trying to ID that tune. This incarnation of top 40 under the KORQ calls is pretty rough; the 95.1 incarnation below is much more polished.
Salt-N-Pepa (Featuring En Vogue)/”Whatta Man”
Tears For Fears/”Break It Down Again”
General Public/”I’ll Take You There”
The B-52s/”Love Shack”
The Scorpions/”Under The Same Sun”
Rosco Martinez/”Neon Moonlight”
Legal ID: KORQ 100.7 Abilene
Soul Asylum/”Runaway Train”
Color Me Badd/”Choose”
Pet Shop Boys/”Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money)”
Tom Cochrane/”Life Is A Highway”
Enigma/”Return To Innocence”
Kris Kross/”Jump”
Profile
Aircheck: KORQ 95.1 “Channel 9-5-Q” Abilene TX, April 22 2007
As noted above, this is the 3rd FM home to the KORQ calls in the Abilene market as AC KNCE 95.1 and KORQ 96.1 swapped calls and formats in 2004. The calls and format would move back to 96.1 in September 2012, and 95.1 would become country KABW “95-1 the Wolf,” its present day format.
Kid Cruz is the DJ for this Sunday afternoon aircheck. Unlike the Q100 incarnation above, 9-5-Q has a much more polished sound and imaging.
Fergie (Featuring Ludacris)/”Glamorous”
The Pussycat Dolls (Featuring Timbaland)/”Wait A Minute”
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus/”Face Down”
Akon/”Don’t Matter”
Pink/”U + Ur Hand”
DHT/”Listen To Your Heart”
T-Pain/”Buy U A Drank”
Gwen Stefani/”The Sweet Escape”
Jay-Z/”Can I Get A…”
Carrie Underwood/”Before He Cheats”
Shakira & Beyonce/”Beautiful Liar”
Legal ID: KORQ 95.1 Baird-Abilene
Justin Timberlake & TI/”My Love”
Nelly Furtado/”Say It Right”
Cassie/”Me & U”
Kelly Clarkson/”Never Again”
Baby Boy Da Prince (Featuring Lil Boosie)/”The Way I Live”
Profile
Aircheck: KIXY 94.7 “Kixy, 94.7 KIXY” San Angelo TX, April 23 1994
Despite the small market size, KIXY has been a pretty good sounding CHR and often the #1 station in the market, vying with country KGKL-FM 97.5 for being the most listened to station. The market, much like most markets, has seen a number of additional signals come on the air through new allotments or nearby smaller stations upgrading and covering the city. As such, it often still leads the market, but by lesser margins with more and more signals carving up the radio audience. In less crowded days, for example, it had a 28 rating in Spring 1991 in the Arbitron 12+ ratings.
KIXY signed on January 13 1967, as KWFR-FM, the FM simulcast to top 40 KWFR 1260, because, from the article below, “a radio without an FM dial is going to be hard to find in a few years.”
As KWFR was an AM daytimer at the time, the new 94.7 facility was able to continue the top 40 programming on the air after sunset. The KIXY calls came to 94.7 on February 23 1970. The KWFR calls live on in the market via co-owned classic rock KWFR 101.9.
For this aircheck, Jimmy Jam is the DJ on this Saturday afternoon audio. Brian James is the imaging voice. All around, it’s pretty solid for an extremely small market outlet.
George Michael/”Father Figure”
CeCe Peniston/”I’m Not Over You”
Prince/”The Most Beautiful Girl In The World”
Jodeci/”Lately”
The Proclaimers/”I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Zhané/”Hey Mr. DJ”
Babyface/”And Our Feelings”
Robin S/”Show Me Love”
The Bar-Kays
/”Freakshow On The Dance Floor”
Legal ID: KIXY 94.7 San Angelo
All-4-One/”So Much In Love”
The Cranberries/”Linger”
Profile
Aircheck: KGKL 960 “Rock 96” San Angelo TX, April 23 1994
On the same road trip, I recorded the KIXY audio above, I recorded this aircheck.
There is not much in the way of imaging and not even a DJ for a Saturday afternoon, but there is some small radio market quirky and obscure song choices. Plus, there was the novelty that launching new top 40 and AOR outlets had largely vanished from most AM facilities in the US by this point.
KGKL is currently the oldest station in the city, but it was actually San Angelo’s second radio station, signing on in December 1928 at 1370 kHz. The days of two local stations only lasted a couple of months.
The city’s first station was KGFI 1360, which was moved 150 miles from the small West Texas town of Fort Stockton to San Angelo the year before in July 1927. KGFI moved from 1360 kHz to 1310 kHz in 1928, before KGKL signed on at 1370 kHz.
The local paper reported a few weeks later on February 10 1929 that KGFI had been sold and would be moved again — 320 miles away to Corpus Christi on the Texas Gulf Coast. It wasted no time, as it became the AM outpost of The Corpus Christi Times newspaper two months later at 1500 kHz on the evening of Friday, April 26 1929. KGFI is now the present day news/talk KKTX 1360 in Corpus Christi.
Fast forward a few decades to this aircheck, KGKL had shifted from soft AC to AC in mid-October 1990 and that AC format gave way to this rock format at 2PM on January 22 1992. It would survive until KGKL flipped to classic country on February 5 1996, as its last music format. KGKL flipped to conservative talk in May 2004 and is sports/ESPN today.
Bonnie Raitt/”Love Sneakin’ Up On You”
The Pretenders/”Back On The Chain Gang”
Bruce Cockburn/”Listen For The Laugh”
Drivin N Cryin/”Around The Block Again”
Lita Ford & Ozzy Osbourne/”Close My Eyes Forever”
Possum Dixon/”Watch The Girl Destroy Me”
The Moody Blues/”Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)”
Candlebox/”Far Behind”
Legal ID: KGKL 960 San Angelo
David Lee Roth/”She’s My Machine”
Melissa Etheridge/”All American Girl”
Phil Collins/”Take Me Home”
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As always, the logos and other intellectual property belong to the stations. The recordings were made from over the air broadcasts.