Radio Days, Part 2: 1980-89......
Jan. 25th, 2006 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1In which I continue my history with local radio.
In 1980, a new station signed on: WZIR (or "Wizard"). They played a lot of rock and new wave. One of their lead on-air personalities, or a member of station management, was Gary Storm. He was a wild man. They had an in-studio cat, a wekly program called "Signals from Space" whererin they played a lot of space music, and Dr. Demento (although the 2-hour show was split in to two 1-hour segments across consecutive evenings). Sadly, the station didn't last long -- 1-2 years at most.
In 1981, I received a boom box as a high school graduation gift. And I started listening to the local NPR affiliate, WBFO (88.7), which was based at my soon-to-be school, SUNY/Buffalo. Also in '81, jazz fans in Buffalo lost WADV as the station changed its format from jazz to country (and had a new set of call letters). But I was only a spratic listener.
And so in the meantime, my attention (and my antennae) went from 97 Rock to WNYS (top-40 FM radio) to WBUF (easy listening). Then in 1984, another new station signed on. WRXT (at WZIR's old home on the dial at 98.5). They were more progressive and played some obscure hits. A tape I have of that era contains "New Chautauqua" by Pat Metheny, "What Is Love?" by Howard Jones, "Walk Through The Fire" by Peter Gabriel, "Wouldn't It Be Good" by Nik Kershaw, and "Modern Day Delilah" by Van Stephenson. Once of my fraternity brothers worked in their sales department. The morning DJ, Tim Rose, came from England, and brought several old Sonovox recordings and IDs from Radio London to use as sounders. Again, this station didn't last long either -- 1-2 years later, it was a top-40 station.
I said goodbye to top-40 radio forever in 1986 when Rock 102 played Janet Jackson's "Nasty" three times.....in the span of four hours. Talk about a short playlist!
At the recommendation of another fraternity brother who was heavy into 80s dance music (so much so that he was our DJ at parties), I tried out CFNY (102.1). The station was based in Toronto, and thanks to Lake Ontario, the signals came in loud and clear into the Buffalo metro area. This was a radio lover's dream station! A long playlist, obscure songs, and DJs who knew their stuff. They played a lot of the hits and artists that were popular in England (and/or Canada) but had little or no popularity in the States. A tape from that era includes "Didn't You Kill My Brother?" by Alexei Sayle, the 12" dance-mix version of "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" by Boys Don't Cry (months before it became a minor hit in the US), and a song by The Box about the trial of Elizabeth du Moutrier (I don't know the name of the song; it's in English and the chorus goes "Walking, walking, on the tightrope of insanity / Walking, walking, on the verge of losing mind"). Their tagline was "The spirit of radio", from which I'm quite sure Rush used for their song of the same name.
In 1987, I had a brief flirtation with smooth jazz and new age music, as "The Wave" made its debut at 107.7. I really enjoyed listening to this station. I thought, "This is the type of station I'd be listening to at work once I start working full-time. This says 'success'!" Once again, this station didn't last, and was gone in about a year.
Some of these stations are still around, like WBFO. But most of them no longer currently exist in the original form. CFNY is now "The Edge" and plays progressive and alternative rock. My beloved WKBW became WWKB and went all-talk. I can probably still pick it up at night since they had a strong enough signal.
Next: Moving to Dayton, WTUE, WVXU, The Fox, WOXY, The Wave (again), ZLR, WYSO, and MAX-FM.
In 1980, a new station signed on: WZIR (or "Wizard"). They played a lot of rock and new wave. One of their lead on-air personalities, or a member of station management, was Gary Storm. He was a wild man. They had an in-studio cat, a wekly program called "Signals from Space" whererin they played a lot of space music, and Dr. Demento (although the 2-hour show was split in to two 1-hour segments across consecutive evenings). Sadly, the station didn't last long -- 1-2 years at most.
In 1981, I received a boom box as a high school graduation gift. And I started listening to the local NPR affiliate, WBFO (88.7), which was based at my soon-to-be school, SUNY/Buffalo. Also in '81, jazz fans in Buffalo lost WADV as the station changed its format from jazz to country (and had a new set of call letters). But I was only a spratic listener.
And so in the meantime, my attention (and my antennae) went from 97 Rock to WNYS (top-40 FM radio) to WBUF (easy listening). Then in 1984, another new station signed on. WRXT (at WZIR's old home on the dial at 98.5). They were more progressive and played some obscure hits. A tape I have of that era contains "New Chautauqua" by Pat Metheny, "What Is Love?" by Howard Jones, "Walk Through The Fire" by Peter Gabriel, "Wouldn't It Be Good" by Nik Kershaw, and "Modern Day Delilah" by Van Stephenson. Once of my fraternity brothers worked in their sales department. The morning DJ, Tim Rose, came from England, and brought several old Sonovox recordings and IDs from Radio London to use as sounders. Again, this station didn't last long either -- 1-2 years later, it was a top-40 station.
I said goodbye to top-40 radio forever in 1986 when Rock 102 played Janet Jackson's "Nasty" three times.....in the span of four hours. Talk about a short playlist!
At the recommendation of another fraternity brother who was heavy into 80s dance music (so much so that he was our DJ at parties), I tried out CFNY (102.1). The station was based in Toronto, and thanks to Lake Ontario, the signals came in loud and clear into the Buffalo metro area. This was a radio lover's dream station! A long playlist, obscure songs, and DJs who knew their stuff. They played a lot of the hits and artists that were popular in England (and/or Canada) but had little or no popularity in the States. A tape from that era includes "Didn't You Kill My Brother?" by Alexei Sayle, the 12" dance-mix version of "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" by Boys Don't Cry (months before it became a minor hit in the US), and a song by The Box about the trial of Elizabeth du Moutrier (I don't know the name of the song; it's in English and the chorus goes "Walking, walking, on the tightrope of insanity / Walking, walking, on the verge of losing mind"). Their tagline was "The spirit of radio", from which I'm quite sure Rush used for their song of the same name.
In 1987, I had a brief flirtation with smooth jazz and new age music, as "The Wave" made its debut at 107.7. I really enjoyed listening to this station. I thought, "This is the type of station I'd be listening to at work once I start working full-time. This says 'success'!" Once again, this station didn't last, and was gone in about a year.
Some of these stations are still around, like WBFO. But most of them no longer currently exist in the original form. CFNY is now "The Edge" and plays progressive and alternative rock. My beloved WKBW became WWKB and went all-talk. I can probably still pick it up at night since they had a strong enough signal.
Next: Moving to Dayton, WTUE, WVXU, The Fox, WOXY, The Wave (again), ZLR, WYSO, and MAX-FM.
