Radio This Week Back Then #22: June 16-22
Capital 95.8, Kiss 100, Virgin 1215 London; WPLJ and WHTZ New York; KEGL D/FW; WAAF Boston; KZBS and KJYO Oklahoma City; WSSX and WCOO Charleston; WZBQ Tuscaloosa
What was on the radio this week…back then. This is a weekly visit back to radio audio from this week in past years for those that enjoy radio history or those working in radio looking for promotional ideas, etc. 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!
With my trip to Ireland earlier this month, a couple of the editions of this “Radio This Week Back Then” series this month were a little briefer than usual while I was on the back roads of Ireland, so I am making up for that this week with an extra large edition of 13 new airchecks from the past. This week also pushes the total aircheck count past the 200 mark. Only a few couple thousand more to get through…
As hinted at last week, I was in London 30 years ago this week for a work trip, so I pulled in a few airchecks from that trip. 14 years ago this week, I was on a road trip across the South from Texas to Charleston SC. As well, I picked a couple of airchecks from that trip. In between, I pulled some other airchecks from the cassette vault from this week back then. So, here is the line up for this week…
London:
Top 40 Capital 95.8, June 20 1994 and June 22 1994
R&B Kiss 100.0, June 22 1994
Classic rock-adult hits Virgin 1215, June 19 1994
New York:
Top 40 WPLJ 95.5 “95.5FM Mojo Radio,” June 21 1991
Top 40 WHTZ 100.3 “Z100,” June 21 1991
Dallas/Fort Worth
Top 40 KEGL 97.1 “All Hit 97.1 KEGL, the Eagle,” June 16 1990
Boston
Rock WAAF 107.3 “107.3FM WAAF, Untamed Radio,” June 17 1991
Oklahoma City
Top 40 KZBS 98.9 “Z99,” June 21 1989
Top 40 KJYO 102.7 “KJ103, KJ103 Jamz,” June 21 1989
Charleston SC
Top 40 WSSX 95.1 “95SX, Hit Music Now,” June 16 2010
AAA WCOO 105.5 “the Bridge @ 105-5,” June 16 2020
Tuscaloosa AL
Top 40 WZBQ 94.1 “94-1ZBQ,” June 18 2010
During my stay in the UK, I made several airchecks of Capital FM. I just found them outstanding…and these airchecks still sound great 30 years later. So, here are two of them — one from the evening and one from late night. Capital was staffed on air 24 hours a day back then; surprisingly, according to its website, it is still staffed 24 hours a day today, a rarity in US radio these days.
Personality-driven with a lot of really good DJ talent, great production and imaging — I always loved Brian James’ voice for liners and the 95.8 Capital FM jingles were awesome — make for really good radio. In all the London airchecks this week, there are a number of breaks each hour on each station, but each one is typically about just 2 minutes, so there was never the feeling of having to sit through a 10-in-a-row marathon of commercials to get back to the programming.
Capital also had a lot of big competitions (contests) going on:
The Capital Payroll to win a Nissan Micra
A last minute trip to fly to New York on Friday afternoon, stay at the Parker Méridien near Central Park, go to Jon Secada concert, and fly back Sunday
Until this trip to London, I had no idea Nissan was pronounced differently in the UK (”ni-san”) than in the US (“nee-saan”). I’m pretty sure, the subcompact Micra could fit in the trunk of my Dodge Challenger, but it would also cost more than $120 to fill up a Challenger in the UK, and it is doubtful a Challenger would fit most London parking spaces, which is why they have a lot of subcompacts and not a lot of Challenges, SUVs, or trucks on their streets.
“95.8 Capital FM” Date: Monday, June 20, 1994 7:55PM Format: Top 40 DJ: Neil “Doctor” Fox
Capital was big and some Capital DJs went onto bigger things. Morning man Chris Tarrant would go on to host the original “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” on ITV that spawned versions in 100 countries. From this aircheck, Fox would go on to be a judge, alongside Simon Cowell, on ITV’s “Pop Idol,” that spawned “American Idol” in the US. After a long run on Capital, he moved to AC Magic 105.4, but his career got derailed after getting into legal jeopardy when he was arrested but later acquitted. Much better times back then on this audio…
Big Mountain/”Baby, I Love Your Way”
Let Loose/”Crazy For You”
Maxx/”Get A Way”
Pet Shop Boys/”Absolutely Fabulous”
Guns N’ Roses/”Sweet Child O’ Mine”
Roxette/”The Look”
Roachford/”Cuddly Toy”
Chaka Demus & Pliers/”I Wanna Be Your Man”
Ace Of Base/”The Sign”
Gloworm/”Carry Me Home”
Degrees Of Motion/”Do You Want It Right Now”
“95.8 Capital FM” Date: Wednesday, June 22, 1994 10:13PM Format: Top 40 DJ: Martin Collins
Collins’ show followed Fox’s on Capital’s schedule back then. As is often the case, there are songs on this aircheck that were hits in the UK but not in the US. I always thought Wet Wet Wet’s remake of The Troggs’ “Love Is All Around” was really under appreciated in the US. It charted at #1 for 15 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, still the 3rd longest streak of any song on that chart. I only heard it on a few US outlets (I remember KKRZ “Z100” Portland playing it on a trip there also in 1994), but it failed to crack the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100.
At the top of the 11PM hour on the aircheck is a newsbreak. “North Korea has formally agreed to freeze its nuclear program” is a headline that hasn’t aged well in 30 years. As noted in the post on my trip to Dublin two weeks ago, newsbreaks still are a thing outside morning drive on top 40 outlets across the pond.
Bon Jovi/”In These Arms”
Wet Wet Wet/”Love Is All Around”
Youssou N’Dour (Featuring Neneh Cherry)/”7 Seconds”
Sophie B. Hawkins/”Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover”
Juliet Roberts/”Caught In The Middle”
Raze/”Break 4 Love”
Prince/”The Most Beautiful Girl In The World”
Jon Secada/”Eyes Of A Fool”
Robert Palmer/”Girl U Want”
Let Loose/”Crazy For You”
Divinyls/”I Touch Myself”
Steve Winwood/”Valerie”
Cyndi Lauper/”Time After Time”
Dawn Penn/”You Don’t Love Me (No No No)”
Janet Jackson/”And On And On”
East 17/”Around The World”
U2/”One”
Guns N’ Roses/”Patience”
Foreigner/”I Want To Know What Love Is”
“Kiss 100” Date: Wednesday, June 22, 1991 Format: Rhythmic DJ: Max LX
This aircheck is from Kiss’ rap show. Between a lengthy “Rap Report” and in-studio interview with rapper Jeru The Damaja, there is not a lot of songs played on this audio. What rap is played is unedited versions that would not have made it unedited on US outlets.
Main Source/”Set It Off”
IQ Procedure/”Big It Up”
Jeru The Damaja/”Come Clean”
Jeru The Damaja/”D. Original”
Jeru The Damaja/”Brooklyn Took It”
“Virgin 1215” Date: Sunday, June 19, 1994 8:23PM Format: classic rock-adult hits (“classic album tracks and the best new music”) DJ: Gary King, Tommy Rivers
Virgin 1215 was a little over a year old at this recording. It launched at 12:15PM on April 30 1993 on the national AM frequencies that were once home to BBC Radio 3.
The format was to be a national one programmed to fit somewhere between top 40 BBC Radio 1 and traditional classic hits outlets. Virgin calls it “classic album tracks and the best new music” on the aircheck. It certainly does not fit tidily into any format classification we use in the US…a wide variety from the previous 25 years to the present with some pretty lesser played album tracks. It is kind of like an obscure rock version of an adult hits/”Bob FM/”Jack FM” outlet, only that it predated those by 8 years.
Virgin would change ownership a few times. It was rebranded as “Absolute Radio” in 2008. The 1215 signal and the other AM stations relaying it around the UK no longer exist. Last year, in early 2023, the AM signals were shut off and Absolute Radio moved to becoming a digital DAB-only outlet.
Prince/”The Most Beautiful Girl In The World”
Robert Plant/”Big Log”
Sting/”Fields Of Gold”
Dire Straits/”Industrial Disease”
Primal Scream/”Jailbird”
Chris de Burgh/”Love’s Got A Hold On Me”
Phil Collins/”We Wait And We Wonder”
Susan Vega/”Luka”
Hall & Oates/”Private Eyes”
Stilskin/”Inside”
Crowded House/”Better Be Home Soon”
Elvis Costello/”13 Steps Down Lead Down”
Guns N’ Roses/”Since I Don’t Have You”
The House Of Love/”Beatles And Stones”
Rochford/”Lay Your Love On Me”
David Bowie/”Life On Mars?”
Richard Marx/”Silent Scream”
Peter Gabriel/”Lovetown”
Steve Miller Band/”Rock’n Me”
The Beach Boys/”I Get Around”
Bon Jovi/”Keep The Faith”
The Pretenders/”Night In My Veins”
Across the pond to New York gives us our first time to face off top 40s WPLJ and WHTZ on this weekly aircheck rewind. A few months prior to these airchecks, WPLJ announced that Scott Shannon would be back on the air in New York – after his West Coast stint at top 40-rock KQLZ 100.3 “Pirate Radio” Los Angeles -- as PD and morning host on WPLJ, taking on his former home of WHTZ. On April 2nd, WPLJ started using the “Mojo Radio” brand. WHTZ responded, on the aircheck following WPLJ’s, with billing itself as “The New Sound of Z100” and only two stopsets each hour outside mornings. Musically, the two were fairly close with imaging and the DJs the main distinction between two good sounding CHRs.
“95.5FM Mojo Radio” Date: Friday, June 21, 1991 8:25PM Format: top 40 DJ: AJ Hammer
This aircheck was recorded on the same Friday night following taping the WHTZ one below. With the rebranding, the WPLJ calls are hidden except for the mandatory legal ID, which is quickly squeezed between two ads. WHTZ, of course, one the long time CHR battle as WPLJ would shift to hot AC 8 months later after this audio in February 1992.
WPLJ is also the 5th station we have put up an aircheck on that no longer exists due to it later being sold to Educational Media Foundation to become a relay of its K-Love contemporary Christian format. From previous editions, K-Love also displaced top 40 WABB-FM 97.5 Mobile, top 40 WPFM 107.9 Panama City, classic rock KJXJ 103.9 Bryan/College Station, and from last week’s edition, AAA KPRI 102.1 San Diego. Unlike those others, the WPLJ calls remain on 95.5 in New York despite the change to K-Love. A 6th station to be lost to K-Love is featured later on below…
Back to 1991, both CHRs were sounding good this Friday evening. Z100 typically outshined WPLJ in their 9 year battle, but I’d give WPLJ the slight edge on this night as the more high energy and fun sounding CHR.
LL Cool J/”Mama Said Knock You Out”
Cynthia/”Dreamboy/Dreamgirl”
Extreme/”More Than Words”
C+C Music Factory/”Here We Go Let’s Rock & Roll”
Amy Grant/”Baby Baby”
The KLF/”3AM Eternal”
Legal ID: WPLJ 95.5 New York
Def Leppard/”Armegeddon It”
Seduction/”Two To Make It Right”
Salt-N-Pepa/”Do You Want Me”
DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince/”Summertime”
“Z100” Date: Friday, June 21, 1991 7:15PM Format: Top 40 DJ: Kid Kelly
This is the third time WHTZ has made it to the weekly Radio This Week Back Then editions. See the archives for the previous ones and background on WHTZ.
The Black Crowes/”Hard To Handle”
Rhythm Syndicate/”P.A.S.S.I.O.N.”
Color Me Badd/”I Wanna Sex You Up”
Warrant/”Blind Faith”
The Cover Girls/”Funk Boutique”
Extreme/”More Than Words”
LL Cool J/”Mama Said Knock You Out”
Legal ID: WHTZ 100.3 Newark-New York
Guns N’ Roses/”Sweet Child O’ Mine”
Corina/”Temptation”
Bryan Adams/”(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”
“All Hit 97.1 KEGL, the Eagle” Date: Saturday, June 16, 1990 (afternoon) Format: Top 40 DJ: Evan Mitchell
If this were a tweet, I would have to add the hashtag #NotMyEagle on it. KEGL was my top 40 station during high school, but starting in the second half of 1989, it started shifting away from its long-time rock-leaning approach. Much more typical of how KEGL used to sound before this was covered in the 1987 D/FW dial scan I did earlier this year. The more mainstream top 40 format continued until June 1992 when the brand was relaunched. The audio of that “Eagle” brand relaunch — the first of three attempts to restart the brand — is in this Substack post from April.
As such, there is still a lot of core artists and songs of the old KEGL, but peppered in is tunes like “Step By Step” and “The Girl I Used To Know” that make me sad to ever have heard on KEGL. Points off as well for running a liner that this is the “weekend party Eagle” over a Rod Stewart ballad, because nothing says party like getting your groove on to “Downtown Train.”
This aircheck is from a late Saturday afternoon. The weekend contest was a “Free Money Weekend” where, each hour “dawn to dusk,” a caller would win $100.
Heart/”I Didn’t Want To Need You”
Phil Collins/”I Wish It Would Rain Down”
Michael Bolton/”How Can We Be Lovers”
Mötley Crüe/”Home Sweet Home”
Brother Beyond/”The Girl I Used To Know”
Whitesnake/”Here I Go Again”
Aerosmith/”What It Takes”
T’Pau/”Heart And Soul”
Poison/”Unskinny Bop”
Roxette/”Listen To Your Heart”
Billy Idol/”Cradle Of Love”
New Kids On The Block/”Step By Step”
Tesla/”Love Song”
Taylor Dayne/”I’ll Be Your Shelter”
Depeche Mode/”Enjoy The Silence”
Rod Stewart/”Downtown Train”
Janet Jackson/”Alright”
Aerosmith/”The Other Side”
Through 21 previous editions, I had not yet put up some Boston radio, so it was about time to get one aircheck up. Like WPLJ above, the long time WAAF brand was lost to a sale to EMF; it is now K-Love relay WKVB for the Boston market.
“107.3FM WAAF, Untamed Radio” Date: Monday, June 17, 1991 9:46AM Format: Rock (Rock 40) DJs: Greg Hill, Mark Razz
The sale and format change to K-Love in 2020 ended a 50 year run of WAAF with some form of rock programming, dating back to its switch to progressive rock in 1970. This aircheck is from its “Untamed Radio” era than ran a couple of years starting in 1989 when the playlist was adjusted to more current rock as a rock 40.
From the September 8 1989 edition of industry trade Radio & Records on WAAF’s “fine-tuning” of its format at this time…
The changes occur as WAAF - Worcester's top-rated station - assumes a more current-intensive Rock 40 direction under consultant John Gorman. [GM John] Sutherland characterized the new approach, which is aimed at improving the station's slumping Boston ratings, as "fine-tuning" rather than a full- fledged format shift.
"It's important to remember that WAAF has a 20 -year heritage as a New England rock station," Gorman continued. "I don't want any mixed signals from this thing. We are going with a tighter list, and we'll be more current, but our core artists will remain rock artists. You'll still hear the Who, Stones, and Led Zeppelin. It's not that dramatic a change."
The Cars/”Bye Bye Love”
Legal ID: WAAF 107.3 Worcester-Boston
Extreme/”Hole Hearted”
Cheap Trick/”Can’t Stop Falling Into Love”
Guns N’ Roses/”You Could Be Mine”
Billy Squier/”She’s A Runner”
Warrant/”Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
White Lion/”Love Don’t Come Easy”
Motley Crue/”Without You”
Dire Straits/”Walk Of Life”
Onwards to Okhahoma City and another CHR face off with KZBS and KJYO from a Wednesday night this week back then. This is the first time listening to KJYO here; Z99 appeared early on with a 1990 aircheck in one of the first editions earlier this year.
At this time, both Z99 and KJ103 mixed in quite a few songs from the mid-1980s in their playlists. By that 1990 aircheck, Z99 was starting its evolution more towards a rhythmic and dance lean.
Also in that 1990 aircheck of Z99, the DJs were Eric Mitchell in studio and Cliff Davis on remote. On these airchecks from the summer of 1989, Davis is the DJ on Z99 and Mitchell was the competition on KJ103.
Some weeks it is interesting how a song will randomly appear across airchecks from different years and markets. This week, Foreginer’s only #1 hit on the Hot 100, “I Want To Know What Love Is,” was played on one of the 1994 Capital 95.8 airchecks above and is on this 1989 Z99 aircheck. As it hit #1 in 1985, it wasn’t charting this week in either aircheck’s time period…
“Z99” Date: Wednesday, June 21, 1989 8:12PM Format: top 40 DJs: Cliff Davis, Brenda Bennett (remote)
Eric Carmen/”Hungry Eyes”
Great White/”Once Bitten Twice Shy”
Whistle/”Right Next To Me”
Aerosmith/”Rag Doll”
Bobby Brown/”On Our Own”
Foreigner/”I Want To Know What Love Is”
Love And Rockets/”So Alive”
Poison/”I Won’t Forget You
Martika/”Toy Soldiers”
Bryan Adams/”Heaven”
John Parr/”Naughty Naughty”
Neneh Cherry/”Buffalo Stance”
“KJ103, KJ103 Jamz” Date: Wednesday, June 21, 1989 9:25PM Format: top 40 DJs: Eric Mitchell, Ronnie Rocket (remote)
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Still in the format today, KJYO’s top 40 format now dates back 41 years to January 1983. At this point, KJ103 was also phasing in the use of “Jamz” in the branding — “KJ103 Jamz” in this aircheck and later, much to any English teacher’s chagrin, “KJ103, where KJ stands for Kontinuous (sic) Jamz.” It seemed like odd branding as probably no one was thinking “K” stands for “continuous.” Actually, the call letters stood for “K-Joy,” the early 1980s branding of the format before KJYO flipped to top 40.
De La Soul/”Me Myself And I”
Winger/”Heading For A Heartbreak”
Prince/”Batdance”
Martika/”Toy Soldiers”
Scorpions/”Rock You Like A Hurricane”
Bon Jovi/”Lay Your Hands On Me”
Legal ID: KJYO 102.7 Oklahoma City
Robert Palmer/”Simply Irresistible”
Tone Loc/”Funky Cold Medina”
Bobby Brown/”Every Little Step”
Poison/”Fallen Angel”
Milli Vanilli/”Girl You Know It’ True”
“95SX, Hit Music Now” Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 Format: Top 40 DJ: Jiggy
Capital 95.8, WHTZ, and KJYO above all had their beginnings in the 1980s and have had an uninterrupted, continuous run as top 40 outlets through today. 95SX is also top 40 today and dates its origins to the early 1980s. Unlikes the others, WSSX had its CHR run interrupted as it followed the path of many top 40s in the early 1990s and evolved to hot AC, even shedding the “95SX” brand for “Mix 95.1” in 1993. WSSX reverted back to top 40 and the “95SX” brand in 1995.
This aircheck from 2010 finds them using the tag “Hit Music Now” where it previously used “Charleston’s Hit Music Channel.” As well, imaging includes listeners identifying themselves and where they are from and that “I am 95SX.” Musically, 95SX is really pop-driven and upbeat with a lot of remixed versions of the hits.
Times have changed from the 1990s era airchecks above — you can text your song requests to 95SX on this audio rather than having to write a letter and put it in the mail to send it to a post office box.
Eminem/”Not Afraid”
B.o.B (Featuring Hayley Williams)/”Airplanes”
Ja Rule (Featuring Ashanti)/”Always On Time”
Cascada/”Evacuate The Dancefloor”
David Guetta & Chris Willis (Featuring Fergie & LMFAO)/”Getting’ Over You”
Legal ID: WSSX 95.1 Charleston
B.o.B (Featuring Bruno Mars)/”Nothin’ On You”
Taio Cruz (Featuring Ludacris)/”Break Your Heart”
Drake/”Find Your Love”
Rihanna/”Rude Boy”
David Guetta (Featuring Akon)/”Sexy Bitch”
Katy Perry (Featuring Snoop Dogg)/”California Gurls”
Justin Bieber (Featuring Usher)/”Somebody To Love”
Iyaz/”Replay”
"105-5 the Bridge, the Bridge @ 105-5, the Sound of Charleston, Quality Rock, True Variety” Date: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 Format: AAA DJ: Kate MacNeil
AAA as a format still struggles to get a foothold on the commercial part of the dial. Even in the bigger markets, WXRT 93.1 Chicago and WXRV 92.5 Boston are the only commercial AAA outlets in the top 10 largest markets. So, Charleston market listeners are lucky to have WCOO, now in the format for 20 years. It and sister rocker WYBB 98.1 “98 Rock” are owned by LM Communications, which owns about a dozen stations across several states.
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Grace Potter & The Nocturnals/”Tiny Light”
Sheryl Crow/”Shine Over Babylon”
Talking Heads/”And She Was”
Mike Doughty/”(You Should Be) Doubly Gratified”
Counting Crows/”Mrs. Potters Lullaby”
Bob Marley & The Wailers/”Exodus”
Robert Francis/”Junebug”
Van Morrison/”Days Like This”
Ryan Shaw/”Nobody”
“94-1ZBQ” Date: Friday, June 18, 2010 Format: Top 40 DJ: Geller
The long road trip return from Charleston to Texas had a stopover in Tuscaloosa as the midway point to spend the night. So, I rolled the tape on a couple of stations including WZBQ.
Having lived most of my life in Texas, “The Golden Triangle” always meant the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange. Upon listening to WZBQ, who includes “The Golden Triangle” in their legal ID, I learned that Mississippi has its own Golden Triangle of Columbus, West Point, and Starkville. Although it primarily targets Tuscaloosa, licensed to Carrollton AL, WZBQ’s tall tower is betwixt Tuscaloosa (32 miles to the east of the tower) and Columbus (27 miles to the northwest of the tower) across the state line.
The WZBQ-FM calls and top 40 format were originally on 102.5 Jasper AL. That facility was upgraded to add coverage to the much larger Birmingham market to the northeast in the early 1990s. WZBQ would change formats briefly to oldies and then, via a LMA-to-buy with AC WMJJ 96.5 Birmingham, it flipped to country WOWC “Wow FM” in 1994. It moved in-market to Birmingham via city of license change to Pelham AL in 2008 and is presently country WDXB “102.5 the Bull.” With all those changes, the WZBQ calls ended up on 94.1 in 1995. With the call change came a format change to the present day top 40 format.
Travie McCoy (Featuring Bruno Mars)/”Billionaire”
Taio Cruz (Featuring Ludacris)/”Break Your Heart”
Jason Derulo/”Ridin’ Solo”
Katy Perry (Featuring Snoop Dogg)/”California Gurls”
Paramore/”The Only Exception”
B.o.B (Featuring Hayley Williams)/”Airplanes”
Michael Bublé/”Haven’t Met You Yet”
Usher (Featuring will.i.am)/”OMG”
Kesha/”Your Love Is My Drug”
Jason Derulo/”Watcha Say”
La Roux/”Bulletproof”
Train/”Hey, Soul Sister”
Legal ID: WZBQ 94.1 Carrollton-Tuscaloosa-“The Golden Triangle” MS
Rihana/”Rude Boy”
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus/”Face Down”
As always, the logos and other intellectual property belong to the stations. The recordings were made from over the air broadcasts.