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40 years ago in 1979

Discussion pertaining to the Tri-Cities, Flint, Mt. Pleasant, and Bad Axe
matt1
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40 years ago in 1979

Post by matt1 » Wed Aug 28, 2019 6:02 am

Back on August 28, 1979 on Tuesday morning, W106 FM Album Rock became WIOG ROCK 106 FM & went from album hard rock to Top 40 hit station. W106 FM did NOT received that much listeners back then because 96 WHNN took over the radio ratings. W106 played Van Morrison's latest album "Into The Music" in its entirely & maybe played one more song then closed down shop. I did NOT heard about it until 11:00 at night August 28. WIOG used reel to reel tape during their songs back then until March or April of 1984 when DJ's took over!! One of their slogans was "Spread the word, the music FM is ROCK 106 WIOG" & "ROCK 106 WIOG with the best music". Another one was from early 1981 "At home, at work or in your car, ROCK 106 WIOG is everywhere you go". In 1983, the station change from ROCK 106 to HITS 106 including this one "Hit after hit after hit, we're HITS 106 WIOG" but still Top 40. WIOG played 2 brand new songs in a row & then played classic songs 2 or 3 songs in a row.



CK-722
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by CK-722 » Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:07 am

Also, coming up soon, 40 years since WDZZ 92.7 completed construction with TL an SL on Genesee Towers. The antenna was already up, and testing began around the end of August, 1979. Kept watching the mast from across town and one day, the three bays were up. The original application was about one mile North of the site licensed in 2009.

http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/c ... r_id=80689


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tvbobn
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by tvbobn » Wed Aug 28, 2019 2:49 pm

If you're going to talk about WIOG back in the day, you can't leave out Foxy101 of the discussion.

We built WFXZ Foxy101 and turned on the transmitter in fall 1983. At that time WIOG was a class A FM station running reel to reel tapes from a Top 40 music service. I was told the AM guys watched until at least (not one) two reels had played before they would go into the other room to change the tapes. Very poor operation, but the station had fairly good ratings. During the one rating period, they did almost no advertising for WIOG.

We promoted and gave away tons of stuff from concert tickets, vacations that covered the world, motorcycles and a brand new Pontiac Trans Am. Even though we had top sounding air staff, JAM jingles and a great on air sound, we were a small operation compared to the deep pocketed WIOG operation. We did end up with a 7.1 rating at one point!

Once Foxy101 came along with live DJ's 24/7 the manager at WIOG was scared and went into action. It wasn't long before WIOG went live. They started advertising with billboards everywhere. Prizes were continuously given away. They started giving away thousands and thousands of dollars during the rating period. Sometimes $10,000 at a time, just for knowing the amount when the would call you. It amounted to around $100,000 total per rating period.

In 1986, Booth Broadcasting bought WGER 102.5 and switched WIOG CHR format to 102.5 and it's 86,000 watts! With the big money giveaways, they basically bought the book. Top 40 (now called CHR) WIOG was number one even in 54 - 65 age group!

After they stomped on us we made a change from "Hot Rockin' Foxy101 to country music. Which lasted a year, then we switched back to CHR before selling out to the owners of WKQZ. They switched it to Soft Rock and 101 fell out of the rating book completely!

Funny thing, one of the guys from our morning team left Foxy101 moving on to several other stations, then actually ended up back in the market doing mornings at WIOG. He's still in the market today doing mornings. Some of our other people moved on to bigger stations around the country, including one that's been in Detroit for years. Foxy101 had a remarkable air staff for a small station!


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Ed Joseph
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by Ed Joseph » Wed Aug 28, 2019 3:46 pm

I remember when 106.3 was WSBM! I believe they used Drake's automation package.


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CK-722
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by CK-722 » Wed Aug 28, 2019 5:07 pm

I remember that every few tracks, a vocal was inserted that sang "Hit Parade".

Drake Chenault Hit Parade.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfmm_s0YQsQ

Not much to this demonstration though.

It's amazing that Foxy 101 was able to pull a ratings coup with 3 kW way out on Whitefeather Rd. I still see the tower from I-75.


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CK-722
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by CK-722 » Wed Aug 28, 2019 5:44 pm

WWWS 107.1 made a sizable dent in the WAMM 1420 ratings back beginning in 1968, but it wasn't until WDZZ 92.7 came on the air that they gave up on R & B and went MOYL as WFLT. WWWS was much closer to Flint, and had a higher tower/lower ERP from a tower out near the WKNX/WJMK 1210/1250 array, just on the other side of the river. The signal was a lot stronger to the South than WIOG, but the WWWS audio was horrible the first few years due to using a phone line studio transmitter link and bad equalization.


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matt1
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by matt1 » Wed Aug 28, 2019 7:35 pm

The last time that I heard the same announcer since August 28, 1979 was in March of 1984 when he said "That's Quiet Riot "Bang Your Head" (edited version) NOW "Stuck On You" by Lionel Richie" but that was it. That same announcer said "That's Marvin Gaye" (BUT did not say "Sexual Healing" when it was a big hit in late 1982). WIOG also played "Hot Tracks" in April & May of 1984 including a album track from RUSH "Grace Under Pressure" among others!! That same announcer was also on stations in Steubenville, Ohio & Johnstown, Pennsylvania (NOT sure the call letters). There was also a different announcer on a Country station in Greensburg, Pennsylvania (also used reel to reel tape) in the Summer of 1981!!



HGR1290
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by HGR1290 » Wed Aug 28, 2019 7:37 pm

Ahh yes, that fine WWWS audio, sounded almost like it was double pre-emphasized, it was really bright and very thin sounding.

WSBM, I thought that was the TM 'Stereo Rock" format(Tapes) before they became WIOG, running beautiful music in the mid 70s.



tvbobn
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by tvbobn » Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:41 pm

HGR1290 wrote:
Wed Aug 28, 2019 7:37 pm
Ahh yes, that fine WWWS audio, sounded almost like it was double pre-emphasized, it was really bright and very thin sounding.

WSBM, I thought that was the TM 'Stereo Rock" format(Tapes) before they became WIOG, running beautiful music in the mid 70s.
From Wikipedia:

From the 1970s until September 1986, WIOG operated on 106.3 MHz licensed to Saginaw. 106.3 FM signed on in 1969 as WSBM, featuring a MOR/adult contemporary music format. Later in the 1970s the calls became WIOG (the calls resembled the number "106," as in its dial position) and the format shifted to AOR. In 1980, with the addition of some disco records to its AOR playlist, WIOG moved to a Top 40 format, eventually taking on the name "Hits 106" and becoming one of the most popular radio stations in the market.


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matt1
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by matt1 » Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:20 am

Wikipedia got it wrong, WIOG debuted as a Top 40 station on August 28, 1979 'Nuff said!!



CK-722
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by CK-722 » Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:56 am

Except for Formats, I now use the History Cards for up to circa 1980 for reliable information. Wikipedia is often not a reliable source. The first few pages have the call letter changes, ownership and transfer of control, SL, and TL locations. The next few pages have the frequency, AM power, and FM ERP changes. They take a while to load, but if you want reliable information, go right to the source. FCCdata.org has the more recent changes, with permits and licenses. Wikipedia is very often incomplete. ARSA is a reliable source for format changes for Top 40, R & B, and CW if there are surveys available. Some have current on air personnel at the time shown.


Is THAT where they got the idea for the 486-SX?

Same (x, y, z), different (t)

Your bullet missed my trial balloon.

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CK-722
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by CK-722 » Thu Aug 29, 2019 1:06 am



Is THAT where they got the idea for the 486-SX?

Same (x, y, z), different (t)

Your bullet missed my trial balloon.

RTN Price. Not guaranteed. As of 12:30, 157.71 Down 0.22.

Artificial Intelligence is a Child that needs a Parent to guide it through.

tvbobn
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by tvbobn » Thu Aug 29, 2019 11:33 am

matt1 wrote:
Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:20 am
Wikipedia got it wrong, WIOG debuted as a Top 40 station on August 28, 1979 'Nuff said!!
I have to agree with your post. I don't remember any of the music services having a "reel to reel" AOR format. I don't know for sure what they were exactly in 79 into the 80's, but by early 83, they were Top 40. As I mentioned above, the AM staff weren't happy about changing the FM reels, so it wasn't a great on air operation!


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Deleted User 24

Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by Deleted User 24 » Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:29 pm

They really screwed over a former colleague of mine. She was an excellent AOR jock who moved from the Lansing area to take a job at WIOG. They switched formats and canned her within a month.



matt1
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Re: 40 years ago in 1979

Post by matt1 » Thu Aug 29, 2019 1:14 pm

Also former WHNN's Guy Perry was a DJ on WIOG in 1982 when he announced the group or artist & song title!! I was at Martin Chevrolet with my late dad when I was at the car in Shields when I heard it!!



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