Radio This Week Back Then #17: May 12-18
KKBQ “93Q” and KRBE Houston, WPLY “Y100” Philadelphia, KWSS San Jose, WBJW “BJ105” Orlando, KQKQ-FM “Q98-5” Omaha, WAAL Binghamton
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!
Happy weekend! This week brings 7 more audio flashbacks to what was on the radio this week in years past. Cued up on the virtual tape deck is a top 40 face-off between 93Q and KRBE Houston from the same day in 1991, “the News Sound of Y100” Philly from 1994, top 40 KWSS San Jose from 1985, top 40 BJ105 Orlando near the end of its run in 1989, “modern hit music” KQKQ-FM “Q98-5” Omaha, and a small market visit to Binghamton NY for top 40 WAAL. All are pretty good…but KRBE, WPLY, and KWSS get the top prizes this week for me. Leave a comment on your picks for the best of the week.
Top 40 KKBQ-FM/AM 92.9/790 “93Q” Houston, May 12 1991
Top 40 KRBE-FM/AM 104.1/1070 “104 KRBE, Hits. Without The Hype” Houston, May 12 1991
Top 40-modern rock WPLY 100.3 “the New Sound of Y100” Philadelphia, May 14 1994
Top 40 KWSS 94.5 San Jose, May 15 1985
Top 40 WBJW-FM/AM 105.1/950 “BJ105” Orlando, May 16 1989
Modern AC KQKQ-FM 98.5 “Q98-5, Omaha’s Modern Hit Music Station” Omaha, May 18 2011
Top 40 WAAL 99.1 Binghamton NY, May 13 1991
“93Q” Date: Sunday, May 12, 1991 (Mother’s Day) Format: Top 40 DJs: Chris Kelley and Susan Wise
About This Aircheck
This is near the end of 93Q’s days as a top 40 outlet. Three months from when I taped this aircheck on a trip to Houston, they shifted to a temporary top 40-rock hybrid as “93Q, Houston’s Rock Hits” in mid-August. About a month later, the pair flipped to soft/classic country “92.9 Easy Country.” The 93Q name would be back less than a year later as the short-lived “92.9 Easy Country” brand was nixed in favor of hot country “93Q Country, Houston’s Fresh Country Hits.”
Been There, Done That: Fashion and entertainment often repeat themselves. A-list pop music queen makes a concert movie flick? Taylor Swift did that last year and raked in the cash for her “The Eras Tour” movie. This week back in 1991, 93Q’s weekend contest was getting tickets for Madonna’s “Truth Or Dare” flick, which became the highest grossing documentary at that time. That’s no longer the case. Adjusted for inflation, Swift’s concert movie hauled in about 4x as much box office as Madonna’s documentary. However, Madonna’s was groundbreaking at the time — it got an R rating for the enormously controversial openness on the LGBT members of her tour, something rarely seen on TV or movies to this point.
Nelson/”More Than Ever”
Legal ID: KKBQ-FM 92.9 Pasadena-Houston/KKBQ 790 Houston
Dead Or Alive/”Brand New Lover”
P.M. Sampson/“We Love To Love”
The Cure/”Close To Me”
Tesla/”Signs”
Stevie B/”Love And Emotion”
Hi-Five/”I Like The Way (The Kissing Game)”
Cetu Javu/”Have In Mind”
The Escape Club/“I Will Be There”
Depeche Mode/”World In My Eyes”
Amy Grant/”Baby, Baby”
Salt-N-Pepa/”Do You Want Me”
Mariah Carey/”Love Takes Time”
R.E.M./”Losing My Religion”
Linear/”Don’t You Come Cryin’”
Legal ID: KKBQ-FM 92.9 Pasadena-Houston/KKBQ 790 Houston
Black Box/”Strike It Up”
Erasure/”Oh L’Amour” (remix)
Paula Abdul/”Rush Rush”
Soho/”Hippy Chick”
Eon/”Spice (Original Mix With Notes)”
New Order/”True Faith”
Related
See RTWBT #2 for a February 8, 1988 aircheck of KKBQ-FM/AM. Other posts with Houston airchecks are here.
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Today, KKBQ is still country “93Q.”
“104 KRBE, Hits. Without The Hype.”
Date: Sunday, May 12, 1991 (Mother’s Day)
Format: Top 40
DJs: Robert O'QuinnAbout This Aircheck
After recoding the 93Q aircheck above, I popped in a new tape and rolled on rival KRBE. A little over two months before this aircheck, on March 1, KRBE dropped its “Power 104” handle in favor of just “104 KRBE” with the slogan “Hits. Without The Hype.” Their explanation is at 14:11 into the aircheck below … basically, it was no amped up DJs, no jingles, no talking over the intros and back ends of songs, now announcing all the songs, etc. Other changes included a new morning show led by Paul Barksy, formally of top 40 WYTZ 94.7 Chicago. As well, KRBE’s then co-owned AM at 1070, was recently back to simulcasting the FM as it dropped the Satellite Music Network’s hard rock “Z-Rock” feed (changing calls from KKZR back to KRBE in the process).
Swing Out Sister/”Breakout”
After 7/”Nights Like This”
Depeche Mode/”Policy Of Truth”
Mariah Carey/”There’s Got To Be A Way”
Dead Or Alive/”Brand New Lover”
Tevin Campbell/”Round And Round”
Seduction/”(You’re My One And Only) True Love”
UB40/”Here I Am (Come And Take Me)”
Phil Collins/”In The Air Tonight” (remix)
Jesus Jones/”Right Here Right Now”
Keedy/”Save Some Love”
Legal ID: KRBE-FM/AM 104.1/1070 Houston
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark/”Pandora’s Box (It’s A Long, Long Way)”
Bobby Brown/“My Prerogative”
Amy Grant/”Baby Baby”
Maxi Priest/”Close To You”
Paula Abdul/”Rush Rush”
Enigma/”Sadeness (Part 1)”
Cathy Dennis/”Just Another Dream” (remix)
Roxette/”Joyride”
R.E.M./”Stand”
Related
Here are other posts with KRBE airchecks including ones with the previous “Power 104” branding and the soon-to-be evolution to top 40-modern rock days.
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Today, KRBE is still top 40. Former AM sister is now conservative talk KNTH “1070 the Answer” under different ownership.
"The New Sound of Y100" Date: Saturday, May 14, 1994 Format: Top 40-modern rock DJ: Jim Kelly
About This Aircheck
At the time of this aircheck, WPLY was several months into “the New Sound of Y100” as it moved from a traditional hot AC at the end of 1993 to a pop/rock/alternative hybrid. Musically, all the R&B crossovers were removed and the playlist leaned rock, particularly the more pop alternative acts.
In a later profile of WPLY in the August 12, 1984 Radio & Records, then-PD Garett Michaels described Y100’s presentation as “anti-80s” in sound, meaning, listeners would not hear “hyped jocks, sweepers with stutter/laser effects, top 40-like jingles.”
“Instead, the jocks are personable, using non-traditional sounds like test tones, white noise, and other MTV-like effects, with some elements of KROQ [106.7 Los Angeles] and [modern rock] WNNX [99.7 Atlanta] included in our production elements.”
For the playlist, 100 recent gold titles were in the library plus some songs from MTV’s early- to mid-1980s era — like Alphaville below — “that are the soundtracks to 18-34’s youth.” As profiled in RTWBT #5, musically, Y100 was similar to what WHTZ 100.3 New York and KRBE 104.1 Houston were doing at the same time in their markets; stylistically, it was more similar to KRBE.
Counting Crows/”Mr. Jones”
Gin Blossoms/”Found Out About You”
U2/”Pride (In The Name Of Love)”
Frente!/”Bizarre Love Triangle”
Legal ID: WPLY 100.3 Media-Philadelphia
Depeche Mode/”People Are People”
Jimmy Cliff/“I Can See Clearly Now”
REM/”It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”
Melissa Etheridge/”Come To My Window”
Big Mountain/”Baby, I Love Your Way”
Alphaville/”Forever Young” (remix)
Madonna/”I’ll Remember”
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Today, 100.3 is home to adult R&B WRNB.
“94.5 KWSS” Date: Wednesday, May 15, 1985 4:05PM Format: Top 40 DJ: Steve Taylor
About This Aircheck
This aircheck is about two years into KWSS’s run on 94.5 and targeting San Jose with top 40. Prior to January 1983, 94.5 was home to the legendary progressive country/bluegrass/folk (and some raunchy jokes as well) KFAT “K-Fat” for 8 years. Apparently, the owners then wanted the call letters KPIG. KFAT’s legacy lives on somewhat with the present day Santa Cruz/Monterey/Salinas area KPIG 107.5 “K-Pig,” which did get those calls when it signed on in 1987.
As this is 1985, which was a pretty strong year for top 40 music, this is a pretty good aircheck in terms of the quantity of songs still rotating on classic hits stations.
Harold Faltermeyer/”Axel F”
Madonna/”Angel”
REO Speedwagon/”Can’t Fight This Feeling”
Duran Duran/”A View To A Kill”
Bryan Adams/”Heaven”
‘Til Tuesday/“Voices Carry”
Prince & The Revolution/”Raspberry Beret”
Wham!/”Everything She Wants”
Billy Idol/”Eyes Without A Face”
Cyndi Lauper/”The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough”
The Power Station/”Some Like It Hot”
Legal ID: KWSS 94.5 Gilroy-San Jose
Journey/”Lights”
Don Henley/”All She Wants To Do Is Dance”
REO Speedwagon/”One Lonely Night”
Bryan Adams/”Run To You”
Tears For Fears/”Everybody Wants To Rule The World”
Madonna/”Crazy For You”
Patti LaBelle/”New Attitude”
Mary Jane Girls/”In My House”
Simple Minds/”Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
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Presently, the station is country KBAY “Bay Country.”
"BJ105" Date: Tuesday, May 16, 1989 Format: Top 40 DJ: Travis McKay
About This Aircheck
This is near the end of the run of top 40 “BJ105,” as after a decade and a half playing the hits, it would flip to hot AC WOMX-FM “Mix 105.1” four months later. Interestingly, BJ105 was still a strong performer in the ratings in its final year, regularly outpointing then-rival WHLY 106.7 (which itself would rebrand as WXXL “XL106.7” the following year). In its final appearance in the then-quarterly ratings, BJ105 had a large lead over WHLY.
Gina Go-Go/”I Can’t Face The Fact”
Bon Jovi/”Bad Medicine”
Real Life/”Send Me An Angel”
Legal ID: WBJW-FM/AM 105.1/950 Orlando
Michael Damian/”Rock On”
Jody Watley/”Real Love”
Book Of Love/”I Touch Roses”
Bobby Brown/”My Prerogative”
Living Colour/”Cult Of Personality”
Sleeze Boyz/”Robocop”
Elvis Costello/”Veronica”
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Presently, 105.1 is still hot AC WOMX-FM.
“Q98-5, Omaha’s Modern Hit Music Station” Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 6:27PM Format: Modern AC
About This Aircheck
For most people in the Omaha area, the 98.5 signal is most tied with the “Sweet 98” brand from its nearly two and half decade run as a top 40 outlet. In 2004, the top 40 format and the brand came to the end as KQKQ-FM shifted to modern AC “Q98-5” playing “Modern Hit Music.” This aircheck is from the middle of its Q98-5 run as it rebranded back to the “Sweet” brand in 2017. It remains hot AC “Sweet 98.5” today.
Adele/”Rolling In The Deep”
Panic! At The Disco/”Ready To Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind)”
Kings Of Leon/”Use Somebody”
The Script/”For The First Time”
3 Doors Down/”Let Me Go”
Plain White T’s/”Rhythm Of Love”
Stone Sour/”Hesitate”
Colbie Caillat/”I Never Told You”
Legal ID: KQKQ-FM 98.5 Council Bluffs IA-Omaha NE
Mumford & Sons/”Little Lion Man”
B.o.B. (Featuring Hayley Williams)/“Airplanes”
The Black Keys/”Tighten Up”
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Today, KQKQ-FM is hot AC “Sweet 98.5.”
"99.1 WAAL, the Hot FM" Date: Monday, May 13, 1991 1AM Format: Top 40
About This Aircheck
Outside around 8 years playing the hits, WAAL (including its WKOP-FM days) has had some sort of rock format over the last 55 years or so. This aircheck comes from its CHR days primarily branded around the WAAL calls and “the Hot FM” slogan. Although there is one “whale” reference on the aircheck, the return of the “the Whale” as its primary brand would come in 1993 when it first shifted to top 40-rock and then later that year all the way to rock.
Def Leppard/”Rocket”
Legal ID: WAAL 99.1 Binghamton
Rod Stewart/”Rhythm Of My Heart”
Rey/”Love Don’t Come In A Minute”
The Black Crowes/”She Talks To Angels”
Amy Grant/”Baby Baby”
Aerosmith/”What It Takes”
Color Me Badd/”I Wanna Sex You Up”
Taylor Dayne/”Heart Of Stone”
Roxette/”Joyride”
Madonna/”Crazy For You”
Sweet Sensation/”Hooked On You”
Poison/”Something To Believe In”
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Today, WAAL is classic rock “99.1 the Whale.”
As always, the logos and other intellectual property belong to the stations. The recordings were made from over the air broadcasts.