I realized a dream and spent two weekends at 2517 East Mount Hope in July 1995. On July 8th, The Cat gave way to Buzz 95:

http://min.us/mblrPFXisx

I remember! I remember them playing a sounder either before the switch TO the Cat or AFTER the Cat, but I can't remember what it was...I DO remember listening to it for an extended amount of time though

I have an aircheck of the format switch to Buzz 95. I'll post it when I get a chance.

BTW, Cal wanted me to let you all know he is enjoying his much-deserved retirement sipping non-alcoholic Margaritas on the beaches of Jamaica.

Cat got hit by a Mack.

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TONY: I'm back on the wagon again!

The Cat borrowed some gimmicks from B93, such as the "no talk triple play."

Bumper Morgan did the voiceovers as I recall, which was rather unusual for a Country-formatted station.

I *do* remember being pissed when I heard Country instead of Top 40 music on 94.9 FM!

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Dave & Chuck are two no-talent hacks.

I got damn good at aiming my antenna at home to pick up WKFR after that. I grew up listening to Top 40 on WVIC, and all of a sudden they took *my* station away! 101.7 was a horrible substitute.

Thankfully, time passed, my musical tastes improved considerably, and I discovered 92.1 The Edge. I was similarly peeved when they took that station away from me in 2003.

I thought 92-1 The Edge sounded awesome its last couple years on the air, and overall, was a better product than Q106 at the time. The numbers The Edge pulled on that lousy signal were impressive. Nothing since has come close.

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Dave & Chuck are two no-talent hacks.

I remember listening to Loveline on The Edge back in the day. That was a great program - like Dr. Ruth on steroids, and funny.

Are you talking about Pete "The Cat" Flanders? I'm not in the Lansing area, however a station I worked for in the 80's carried his show on Sunday nights via the Michiagn Radio Network out of Milan. It was great oldies, we had him do a sock hop event once.

CHR was trending down by the early 90's, and Country was trending up. Not that WVIC should have flipped (I would have ridden out the storm, but I wasn't the guy in the big office with the big bucks). Mac tried his hand at Country too (1992-95), but just couldn't get that "hot" sound that The Cat eventually delivered. It was a Country format with CHR delivery and imaging, and the format being as popular as it was at the time, I can see why it posed a credible threat to WITL. I don't think The Cat would have ever overtaken Wittle, but it certainly would have taken a sizable chunk out of their younger demos had it continued, at least until the "Hot Country" craze started to subside around 2000 or so. Of course, we'll never know what threat WJIM-FM would have posed if they had executed their switch to Country (which was planned for Labor Day weekend 1995, but WIBM beat 'em to the punch, so 97.5 flipped to the Oldies format that 94.1 abandoned), but it's all a moot point, as Mr. Liggett ended up purchasing WITL and WVIC two months later.

A program director I once worked for told me that to challenge an incumbent country station, plan on it being a 4 year project, given the high TSLs and core audience loyalty to their particular country station. This is why stations like WMUS and WKCQ stay viable for 30-40+ years. To unearth something with those kind of roots is a major undertaking. WITL has been in the format since 1964...it is simply the country station in Lansing/Mid-Michigan. It's like the cold war...you'll spend millions of dollars and burn through talent to the point a war doesn't matter anymore.

The Cat was a little different. My theory is Bob Goodrich and Mike St. Cyr wanted to force a sale of their stations to MSP (I think that was the company that owned WITL), and everything was in play at the time. That's why the Cat and the challenge to WITL came to be. If I'm wrong, someone correct me.

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TONY: I'm back on the wagon again!

WITL Is way better than 92.1 shit country.

Echoing Tony Clark- I heard same rumor that Goodrich was trying to force a sale as well....They had some crummy commercials on tv that looked like someone just used their camcorder....

never forget clock radio going off to some annoying 'cat' sounder followed by 'wild country.' I was in shock....I had heard that WWDX 92.1 EDGE had caught up or surpassed WVIC in a couple of key demo's just prior to the switch...

I liked the BUZZ and believe that the ratings were decent....Advertisers were not sold on the demographics which led to the switch to Classic Rock

From listening to 92.1, my guess is that they have no intention of taking on WITL. Their focus appears to be on Clinton county, as it should be, seeing as that's where their transmitter is located, and they're pumping out 6KW as opposed to Wittle's 50KW. There are a lot of local merchants here who probably can't afford Wittle's rates and don't need the extra coverage area, as where WQTX would fit their needs just fine.

I worked for 92.1 in the early 80's, when the goal was to take on WITL, and that was a pipe dream. hard as we tried. The Cat was the closest threat I've ever seen to Wittle, not just because of the way the format was executed, but because of the signal as well. We tried at Kix 94, and although the programming execution was stellar out of the gate, the signal coverage, likewise, just wasn't on our side.

And yes, I also heard that Bob Goodrich approached MSP about buying WVIC when it was still CHR, but they didn't bite, so Bob forced their hand by going head-to-head (and he had the open checkbook to do it).

I was shocked that both 92.1 The Edge and Q106 were each able to outlast Buzz 95.

I was quite surprised they didn't go full blown Classic Rock at the time, since WMMQ was still located at the flea powered 92.7 frequency.

Of course, when WMMQ upgraded to 94.9, life remained miserable for Q106. I recall their ratings bottoming out around a 2.9 share before they finally grew a pair, started rocking much harder and became "new 106." Cheesy name, but the station sounded great and the ratings improved quickly.

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Dave & Chuck are two no-talent hacks.