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Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Discussion pertaining to Lansing, Jackson, Owosso, and all areas from Alma to Hillsdale
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MWmetalhead
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Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Post by MWmetalhead » Sat Jan 28, 2023 5:59 am

They scored an impressive 3.8 share in the just released fall book.

That is easily the highest AQH share for 92.1 FM in twenty years.

My 92.1 (an awful sounding station), 92X, The Ticket, whatever the country station was called, and the abysmal Fuel FM never scored such a high share.



billmich88888
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Re: Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Post by billmich88888 » Mon Jan 30, 2023 10:58 am

WGOR - The Ape



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Colonel Flagg
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Re: Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Post by Colonel Flagg » Mon Jan 30, 2023 12:59 pm

billmich88888 wrote:
Mon Jan 30, 2023 10:58 am
WGOR - The Ape
"The Ape 92" appeared around the time I was leaving Lansing in the rear view mirror, for the last time. I remember turning on the kitchen radio in our nearly empty house in Okemos, thinking, WTF is this?!!! Ape was definitely during the fad known as "Rock 40". I don't know if Ape was one of Chuck Dees' creations, or somebody else.

WLNZ, "Lansing's All New Lazer" was the greatest station to occupy the frequency. Stu Schader the Space Invader, and Bob Watts were great, and it was just the right mix of AOR, New Wave, and hard rock. Kent Burkhart was one of the partners in The Lazer. Art Morrison was the imaging voice for Lazer, and I believe for "The Ape 92" as well.

The Edge lasted a lot longer, but I was not around for The Edge, and only heard it passing through.

I've really lost count on how many formats have been on the 92.1 frequency in St. John's. It was already a growing list when The Lazer appeared, in 1985. I rolled tape on The Lazer regularly, it was that good. I'll have to find that stuff...One of our vehicles had an AM only radio in it. I could hear Lazer on 1580 as long as the sun was up. :smokin

Yep, another "back in my day" story by Colonel Flagg 🤣


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MWmetalhead
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Re: Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Post by MWmetalhead » Tue Jan 31, 2023 7:22 am

Lazer sounds like an intriguing station for the era it was on the air.



ChrisWL1980
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Re: Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Post by ChrisWL1980 » Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:36 pm

I believe it was Chuck Dees who took WLNZ from AOR to CHR in 1988 or so, dropping "Lazer" in favor of "Digital Hit Radio, Z92" with (it appears) a fully automated presentation. I found this blurb in the August '88 issue of Radio World on WorldRadioHistory.com:
"Let's see... there's the station that just said the heck with it and did away with DJs entirely. WLNZ calls itself America's first 'Digital Hit Radio.' The Lansing FM says it has no talk, no jocks. And if that's not enough, the station also calls itself 'Lansing's Flamethrowing Terminator.' Now there's a station I don't want to get in the way of."
IIRC the change to "The Ape" came about a year later and accompanied a shift to a more Rhythmic/Rap playlist a la WHYT in Detroit. Problem was Power 96.5 came on the air about that time, and Ape couldn't withstand the competition and flipped to New Age/Jazz sometime in '91 or '92.



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Calvert DeForest
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Re: Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Post by Calvert DeForest » Wed Feb 01, 2023 12:19 pm

92.1 has gone through many incarnations over the years. I was there during the original K92 Country format in the 80's when the studio was still located on Parks Road south of St. Johns (the current WWSJ Joy 1580 studio). By the time it switched to the WLNZ Lazer format the FM studio had relocated to the DeWitt Shopping Center with the AM studio remaining where it is now. Chuck Dees did a stint as PD for K92 a couple years before returning to run the "Zero Talk" CHR format at Z92. If I recall Kent Burkhart was involved in the latter format as an investor and consultant. The Lazer was a reference to music played from CD's, although in reality it was mostly dubbed from CD's to carts. There was also a short-lived Smooth Jazz format in the mid-90's. This one had live jocks as where the second Smooth Jazz format in the early 2000's was satellite-fed.

Q106 was the first station in the market to go with the Rock 40 concept when they launched in the early 80's. It propelled them to #1 12+ in one book as they had no real competition until WVIC relaunched CHR as "The New 95FM" a year or two later.


Shortwave is the ORIGINAL satellite radio.

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MWmetalhead
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Re: Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Post by MWmetalhead » Wed Feb 01, 2023 5:56 pm

I believe WLAV's Rob Brandt was part of the smooth jazz format at 92.1 circa 1994, if I remember correctly.



ChrisWL1980
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Re: Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Post by ChrisWL1980 » Wed Feb 01, 2023 6:28 pm

Did some research and pinned down the date for the changeover from WXMX (Smooth Jazz/NAC) to The Edge as May 7, 1993. WXMX probably lasted about a year, a year and a half, and was not a ratings success.
I believe the second try at SJ/NAC (on 92.7 - later 92.9 - WJZL) used the Jones Radio Network SJ format at first, then switched to the more pop-sounding, less esoteric Broadcast Architecture feed when the JRN format was discontinued. 92.9 The Breeze up north was also a JRN station early on as was (I believe) the earlier Coast FM.



Greg Buben
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Re: Congrats to Stacks 92.1

Post by Greg Buben » Wed Feb 01, 2023 7:56 pm

The last on line Nielsen radio ratings has the wrong formats for both Stax 92.1 and WLMI. Between this mistake with the
two weak stations between the non commercial band and B-93 as well as no participation in the ratings from the Mac
Donald stations the Lansing area book can't be considered accurate past the markets top five listed stations. Also they
don't have WLNZ part of the "Michigan Radio" stations from WUOM in Ann Arbor. They still say Lansing Community College.



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