Radio This Week Back Then #71: June 1-7
CHR CHOG “AM640” and hot AC CHUM-FM Toronto, rhythmic CHR KQPW “Power 102” Fresno and KWWV “Wild 106” San Luis Obispo, AAA KPIG-FM Monterey/KPYG San Luis Obispo
What was on the radio this week…back then. This is a weekly visit of 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! A searchable and sortable index of all the audio is located on the Aircheck Index page.
This week:
Toronto | top 40 CHOG “AM640,” hot AC CHUM-FM “104.5 Chum FM” (1992)
Fresno | rhythmic top 40 KQPW “Power 102” (1991)
San Luis Obispo | AAA KPYG (KPIG-FM relay) “K-Pig,” rhythmic top 40 KWWV “Wild 106”
Happy reading and listening!
Related: Toronto
After a quarter century playing country, CFGM flipped to top 40/rock CHOG “the Hog” on 29 June 1990. It shifted to mainstream top 40 the following year. It would drop the “Hog” monicker in 1992 and start the transition to a rhythmic top 40 approach before flipping to talk in October 1995.
Aircheck
At the point of this aircheck from June 1992, “the Hog” branding had been phased out (though the first listener call makes a “640 the Hog” reference) in favor of “AM640, the New Beat Of Toronto.” The playlist had also started the evolution to more dance and rhythmic product.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Related: Toronto, 104.5 Toronto, CHUM-FM
Shifting to AC in the mid-1980s, CHUM-FM has been running some form of AC for four decades now. It shifted to its present day hot AC format in 1990.
Aircheck
This aircheck is from early into CHUM-FM’s hot AC days — PM drive from Friday 5 June 1992.
Audio
Aircheck Log
Related: Fresno
Presently regional Mexican KLBN “La Buena,” this aircheck comes from its brief days as rhythmic top 40 KQPW “Power 102.”
KQPW launched right after Christmas 1990 with a bunch of staff coming from crosstown rhythmic top 40 rival KBOS-FM 94.9 “B95.” From the 11 January 1991 Radio & Records1…
Spanish KQOQ [sic]/Fresno flipped formats to Dance CHR as KQPW (Power 102) (12/28), and hired crosstown B95 GM Ed Prince, GSM Ron Flores, PD Jeff Davis, Promo Dir. Rick McNeil, and seven other B95 staffers! Don Kelly consults.
Following the raid, B95 upped Nat'l Sales Mgr. Dwayne Murray to GM and MD Don Parker to PD.
Aircheck
This aircheck comes from five months into KQPW’s run.
Audio
Aircheck Log
I was driving up the California coast with a stopover in San Luis Obispo back in 2008. The great KPIG-FM 107.5 in the Monterey/Salinas market has been running a relay in SLO on KPYG 94.9 now for about two decades, which is where the source of this aircheck comes from.
At this point in 2008, KPIG-FM actually had a network of stations all over northern California. The local stations, like KPYG, inserted their own local ads, but otherwise simulcast the main KPIG-FM signal. The relays in 2008, aside form KPYG, are referenced at the end of the aircheck:
KPIG 1510 Piedmont/San Francisco
KZAP 96.7 Paradise/Chico
KNRO 1670 Redding
Aircheck
Audio
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Presently, KWWV is a clustermate to KPYG in the San Luis Obispo market. It originally signed on in 1986 as a class A on 106.3 as KWSP, upgrading and moving to 106.1 in 1994. In the 1990s, it ran various satellite-fed formats (WW1 soft AC KWEZ “Easy Mix 106,” then Jones Radio Networks’ classic country format, and then ABC’s Real Country). The KWWV calls and top 40 format came in late 1999, when the intellectual property was relocated from the weaker 99.7 signal in the market to the stronger 106.1 facility.
Aircheck
This aircheck comes from the evening shift.
Audio
Aircheck Log
As always, the logos and other intellectual property belong to the stations. The recordings were made from over the air broadcasts. Similarly, other data (charts, ratings, etc.) belong to their respective owners.
“Street Talk,” Radio & Records, 11 January 1991. Archived at https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Archive-RandR/1990s/1991/RR-1991-01-11.pdf