Radio This Week Back Then #30: August 11-17
KKBQ “93Q” Houston (1986, 1991) and 1996 airchecks of WFNX Boston, CHOM Montreal, WPRO-FM “92 Pro FM” Providence, and WXXX “95 Triple X” Burlington
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, those working in radio looking for promotional ideas, or stations looking to re-find lost audio of their heritage. 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!
In this week’s end of the week rewind…
Houston | KKBQ-FM/AM 92.9/790 “93Q” (1986, 1991)
Boston | WFNX 101.7 (1996)
Montreal | CHOM 97.7 “Chom 97.7FM, Montreal’s Rock Station” (1996)
Providence | WPRO-FM 92.3 “92 Pro FM” (1996)
Burlington VT | WXXX 95.5 “95 Triple X” (1996)
As I profiled the beginnings of KKBQ last month, this week back in 1991 marks the beginning of the end of 93Q’s top 40 run. This week back in 1996, I did a very long road trip all around the Northeast, so I pulled a station from a few of the stops along the way — Boston’s WFNX, Montreal’s CHOM, Providence’s WPRO-FM, and Burlington’s WXXX. A super busy week also means less verbiage on each aircheck than usual…
Last month, I profiled the beginnings of KKBQ with the July 1982 format change from AC KULF 790 to top 40 “79Q” that later became “93Q” with the addition of the FM simulcast. This week gives us a listen to the mid-point and final days of 93Q’s top 40 days.
13 August 1986, Top 40
At this point of the summer of 1986, the CHR battle was between KKBQ and KRBE 104.1. A third entrant was about to enter as AOR KSRR 96.5 “97 Rock” would soon flip to top 40 KKHT “Hit 96.5,” but it would also quickly exit as KKHT shifted to AC in 1987, only to re-enter the CHR race as dance “Energy 96.5” in 1989…and exit again in 1990 leaving again KKBQ and KRBE.
17 August 1991, First Day With “Houston’s Rock Hits”
In the early 1990s, Houston radio stations seemed to enjoy faking out listeners with format changes that just existed to fill time. Dance KNRJ 96.5 flipped to modern rock “96.5” in the summer of 1990 for about a month before flipping to hot AC KHMX “Mix 96.5.” KNRJ’s new owners had requested the KHMX calls before modern rock format took the air…so it was clear, except to the audience, that this was just filler.
KKBQ did its own fake-out this week in 1991 with the shift from mainstream top 40 to “93Q, Houston’s Rock Hits.” Much like KNRJ the summer before, it was not long before the local papers were writing up this was also just filler for a new country format soon to debut. Sure enough, “92.9 Easy Country” debuted a month later on 19 September. “Easy Country” was not a success and KKBQ would shift to hot country “93Q Country” to bring back the 93Q brand. The 93Q brand has now existed far longer under a country format than it did as a top 40 outlet.
I ended up recording the temporary rock 40 format a few times. Up first is the first day.
Bonus: 20 August 1991
Technically, this falls out of the August 11-17 date range for this week, so consider it bonus as this was a couple of days after the aircheck above.
Related: Boston
For three decades, the 101.7 spot on the Boston dial was the spot for alternative rock, and almost all of that time was under the WFNX calls. WFNX was one of the earliest commercial modern rock outlets and rather well regarded as it had been independently owned and operated and unafraid to be a bit adventurous with its playlist. Its run ended in the summer of 2012 after its sale to iHeart Media resulted in a format change to adult hits. Since 2014, the frequency has been home to country WBWL “101.7 the Bull.”
For this 1996 aircheck, there is quite a bit of songs from local acts and acts not widely heard on other modern rock stations around the country.
CHOM began experimental broadcasts in July 1963 and formally signed on as classical CKGM-FM on 16 September 1963. On 28 October 1969, CKGM-FM flipped to progressive/underground. The now very familiar CHOM call letters came in 1971. Like many 1970s progressive outlets, it evolved to AOR.
Many stations featured this week have longevity in common, and CHOM is one of them. It has had some variant of rock since the late 1960s through today (progressive, AOR, years with a classic rock lean).
There are medium and large market CHRs that have now passed the four decade mark of being in the format — WHTZ 100.3 “Z100” New York, KRBE 104.1 Houston, WXKS-FM 107.9 “Kiss 108” Boston to name a few. Earlier this year, WPRO-FM hit the 50th year mark as a top 40 outlet. The top 40 heritage extends even further back if you include sister WPRO 630’s top 40 era.
Last up is another CHR that has a long tenure in the format as WXXX is today just a few months shy of hitting 40 years. It took 30 editions to get an aircheck that has one hit wonder and short-lived cultural phenomenon “Macarena” on it. Sorry.
Station Profile
As always, the logos and other intellectual property belong to the stations. The recordings were made from over the air broadcasts.