Remembering former radio stations that introduced you to great artists

[MWmetalhead]

My contribution to this new topic:

92.3 WNTX in Allegan, MI, with studios in Kalamazoo, known as "92.3 Radio X."

The station was on the air from summer 1995 until spring 1997. It then became classic rock as WZUU.

Its 860 watt signal carried remarkably well. It was unusual in that reception was crappy on some car radios in my neighborhood (including my own) yet perfectly acceptable indoors. Even came in decently on my Walkman!

Anyway, this station introduced me to each of the following artists for the first time:
Bush
Bad Religion (very first song I heard upon stumbling upon the station for the first time was 21st Century Digital Boy)
Jewel
Oasis
The Ramones
Soul Coughing
Live
Garbage
The Presidents of the United States of America

Radio X's life span was criminally short. WGRD had the big name morning show and a decent sized following in the Kalamazoo market at the time. WKLQ was in a weakened state as it was in rebuild mode following defection of the Q Morning Zoo to GRD. It, too, would flip to Alternative (for a very short time) in 1997. Radio X went away just weeks after that move by WKLQ.

Radio X had iffy reception on car radios in the GR area; oddly, I often got splatter from WGHN-FM on the car I drove while in high school. Loved listening to Radio X at home, though.

[yankeesprings]

Remembering In 1969 as a 10 yr old boy 1340 AM WLAV is where I first heard of Frijid Pink and Iron Butterfly. At 10 yrs old I couldn't get enough of The House of The Rising Sun Frijid Pink version, and In A Gada Da Vida by Iron Butterfly.
Then a few yrs later at 12 yrs old WZZM FM was the next radio station to listen to.
So if I am accurately recalling my youth over 50 years ago in 1969 I listened to 1340 AM WLAV (John Leader) as a DJ?
And around 1971-72 I listened to WZZM FM (Rick Becket) as a DJ?
Around 1980 or thereabouts The Fox 101 with DJ Patty Haze was very good for a short while before it was flipped or so at least all of my friends and Co-Workers thought so.
I apologize ahead of time if my accuracy as a listener from a long time ago is a little off.

[Tabooma]

Patti Haze was not on The Fox 101 (WFFX). When Dave Logan (LAV-FM's first morning host when the station went full-time AOR in 1974) left in the mid-'70s, PD Ed Buchanan hired Haze to replace Logan. Haze went to Chicago a couple of years later and was replaced at LAV by Tony Gates.

Regarding The Fox 101, perhaps yankeesprings is thinking of Karen Vanee, who also did mornings.

[RockerTim]

Great topic!
I can still remember hearing Tom Petty as a kid on Rock 95, WRNF? 95.3 out of Whitehall or Muskegon in the early 80's.

I can't remember any specific artists, but when Z-Rock was on 105.3 for a short time in the 80's, it gave me my fix of heavy music and language that would cause the FCC to have a seizure these days. 105.3 was also good as X-105 for mainstream and classic rock - my dad listened to that station. Could listen to that station all the way into Grand Rapids. I can still hear the slogan - X105 is WCXT - Hart, Ludington, Muskegon, Grand Rapids (in a rock radio announcer voice).

93.7 was a great rock station - what were the call letters in the 90's? Was it Dave Conrad that was on there when they played rock? Seems like there was a another Dave - Dave "the beef" Wellington?

94.5 WKLQ in the 90's was fun. Dave and Allison, Aris, the Q morning Zoo, Andy O and the out of control Saturday Night show - Pantera and Prong for the ride home after a Saturday night at Berlin Raceway.

104.5 when it was still the New Sunny FM out of Muskegon and they played all sorts of stuff. I can remember hearing Welcome to the Jungle in 1987 on the new music shootout thing they did at night for new music. They also played the live version of Knockin' On Heaven's Door from the Marquee Club that was basically a bootleg at that time. I have still have the cassette from when I taped it off the radio back then. While listening to them at work, I called in and won a trip into the "prize closet" for knowing the lyrics to U2's Pride (in the name of love) and picked the only good disc they had - Bush's first album.

In the mid 90's, I think it was 97.5 out of Muskegon that played 70's stuff. It was kind of fun to hear some disco/oddball type stuff on there just for something different.

What was the station out of Grand Haven a few years ago - 92.7? Was his name Jesse Bruce? His show - out of the basement or something - he would play some really good deep cuts of classic rock.

When was that 92.5 The Outlaw first out? Had to share a radio at work when that station first came out. They played the old school, real outlaw guys like Waylon, Willie etc. Then they started branching out into new stuff.

[TC Talks]

We've gotten this far without mentioning Aris Hampers or Steve Aldrich? Granted, most of the stuff they brought to the airwaves was label tripe, they did come up with surprises now and then. Aldrich knew his shit when it came to alternative and UK stuff.

Otherwise WCBN Ann Arbor was probably the most original station breaking new stuff.

These days, WYCE is your only real option.

[Doktor No]

1969 or 1970 WLAV FM had a syndicated show with Brother John playing , I'll call it San Fransico sound/underground what we would now call AOR. Brother John Rydgren was his name. Under the label Love Radio and used a bit from the Association tune Love. Good stuff IMHO, well before WLAV FM came about. And I have mentioned it before WXTO at Aquinas and WGVU out at Allendull. Ed Buchanan was at XTO. Both 5 or 10 watt stations. Got them both though in the south end of Wyoming, Kelloggsville to be more precise.

[Doktor No]

1969 or 1970 WLAV FM had a syndicated show with Brother John playing , I'll call it San Fransico sound/underground what we would now call AOR. Brother John Rydgren was his name. Under the label Love Radio and used a bit from the Association tune Love. Good stuff IMHO, well before WLAV FM came about. And I have mentioned it before WXTO at Aquinas and WGVU out at Allendull. Ed Buchanan was at XTO. Both 5 or 10 watt stations. Got them both though in the south end of Wyoming, Kelloggsville to be more precise. https://www.google.com/search?q=Brother ... TuMmY,st:0

[Doktor No]

https://www.google.com/search?q=Brother ... AMlH8,st:0

[Doktor No]

Yeah, I'm 71 and thats what I listened to.

[Doktor No]

https://www.google.com/search?q=Brother ... AMlH8,st:0 25 minutes worth for what it's worth.

[MWmetalhead]

93.7 was a great rock station - what were the call letters in the 90's? Was it Dave Conrad that was on there when they played rock?

WJFM. "Classic Rock J-F-M". They flipped to Country as WBCT in early 1993, I believe.

My Dad listened to them a ton, both as a classic hits and as a classic rock station.

Dave Conrad worked at WJFM and survived the flip to Country.

Seems like there was a another Dave - Dave "the beef" Wellington?

He did middays at WKLQ for a time. He went on to work at several large market rock stations, including but not limited to DC101 in Washington.

[ChrisWL1980]

The Love format was an ABC corporate product. WXYZ-FM (WRIF) in Detroit, WLS-FM in Chicago and WABC-FM (WPLJ) in NYC also aired it. In fact, I believe Arthur Penhallow got his start in Detroit as a local personality on XYZ-FM's version, staying on as the station transitioned to all local programming and became WRIF.
I thought it was only on ABC O&Os (like KGO-FM in the post), but I guess they offered it to network affiliates as well (WLAV was one at the time if I'm not mistaken).

[TC Talks]

93.7 was a great rock station - what were the call letters in the 90's? Was it Dave Conrad that was on there when they played rock?

WJFM. "Classic Rock J-F-M". They flipped to Country as WBCT in early 1993, I believe.

I was in the room at the Ann Street studios when they made the flip. We all went drinking at the bar in the Holiday Inn afterwards. John France was a neighbor (and a nut job). His French wife was pretty hot.

July 24, 1992, the classic rock format was dropped for country, and WJFM became WBCT as "B93".

[weathernut]

Great topic!
I can still remember hearing Tom Petty as a kid on Rock 95, WRNF? 95.3 out of Whitehall or Muskegon in the early 80's

Yes, WRNF. I visited their studio several times during their tenure as a kid. It was on the corner of blank Road and White Lake Drive.
I can't remember any specific artists, but when Z-Rock was on 105.3 for a short time in the 80's, it gave me my fix of heavy music and language that would cause the FCC to have a seizure these days. 105.3 was also good as X-105 for mainstream and classic rock - my dad listened to that station. Could listen to that station all the way into Grand Rapids. I can still hear the slogan - X105 is WCXT - Hart, Ludington, Muskegon, Grand Rapids (in a rock radio announcer voice).

I thought their slogan was HART, Muskegon, Ludington, Grand Haven?

93.7 was a great rock station - what were the call letters in the 90's? Was it Dave Conrad that was on there when they played rock? Seems like there was an another Dave - Dave "the beef" Wellington?

94.5 WKLQ in the 90's was fun. Dave and Allison, Aris, the Q morning Zoo, Andy O and the out of control Saturday Night show - Pantera and Prong for the ride home after a Saturday night at Berlin Raceway.

KLQ was by far my favorite radio station in the 80s. They played a lot of different tunes that Sunny FM did not play Kon Kan, Living in a Box, Michael Morales, just a name a few. I won quite a few contest on KLQ and even drove my moped from Whitehall down to the peoples building in downtown Grand Rapids to pick up a cassette.

104.5 when it was still the New Sunny FM out of Muskegon and they played all sorts of stuff. I can remember hearing Welcome to the Jungle in 1987 on the new music shootout thing they did at night for new music. They also played the live version of Knockin' On Heaven's Door from the Marquee Club that was basically a bootleg at that time. I have still have the cassette from when I taped it off the radio back then. While listening to them at work, I called in and won a trip into the "prize closet" for knowing the lyrics to U2's Pride (in the name of love) and picked the only good disc they had - Bush's first album.

In the mid 90's, I think it was 97.5 out of Muskegon that played 70's stuff. It was kind of fun to hear some disco/oddball type stuff on there just for something different.

What was the station out of Grand Haven a few years ago - 92.7? Was his name Jesse Bruce? His show - out of the basement or something - he would play some really good deep cuts of classic rock.
I believe you’re thinking of 92.7 WVAN out of Saugatuck. I would listen to that station too before 92.5 in Newago came on the air and blocked it out.

When was that 92.5 The Outlaw first out? Had to share a radio at work when that station first came out. They played the old school, real outlaw guys like Waylon, Willie etc. Then they started branching out into new stuff.

[Trophyhead]

For the sake of accuracy, the WJFM switch to B-93 was in July '92. The first Birthday Bash would have been in '93.

I was working in Cadillac in the mid 80s and enjoyed the reach of WCXT's signal, you could get it from Traverse City to South Haven. When they went "Z-Rock," I took a crash course in Speed Metal and with an afternoon jockette named "Boobie Bondage," you got an idea they were having a good time with their work.