KKLQ (Q106) – San Diego – 7/29/98 – Various Personalities (Farewell Tribute)

Notes:

• Much of the information shown below is taken from this Q106 tribute site.
• Another aircheck from this same day/weekend of specialty programming can be found at THIS link.

In the late 80′s and early 90′s, San Diego’s Q106 was one of the top stations in America, offering a Rhythmic-leaning Mainstream CHR format that fit the San Diego market perfectly. Q106 enjoyed a run of at least 12 straight Arbitron books (the site linked above claims 16) as the #1-rated station in America’s Finest City.  It was owned by Edens Broadcasting, making it a sister to Y95 (KOY-FM) Phoenix, Q105 (WRBQ) Tampa Bay, and Q94 (WRVQ) Richmond, VA.

However, by the early to mid 90′s, due to a combination of competition from newcomer Jammin’ Z90 (XHTZ), format changes, and ownership changes, the station went into decline.  In the mid-90′s, Q106 was sold again to Jacor (now Clear Channel) and then to a company who flipped it to a Spanish-language format in August 1998.

A few days before Q106 signed off, it aired the farewell programming highlighted on this aircheck.  This is one of the best tributes I’ve ever heard, as it highlights some of the best air talent (including their top memories of the station), jingles, sweepers, promotions, and music from the station’s 11-year run.

Included are promos redirecting listeners to Channel 933 (KHTS), which had become Q106′s sister station (and presumably one of the final reasons for its demise).  As heard on the promos, Channel 933 had begun adding rock-oriented selections to its Rhythmic-heavy playlist; an aircheck from Channel 933′s Dance-leaning early days can be heard here.

EDIT: Below is a link to an article from the LA Times dated 10/7/88.  The wording implies that it (meaning the Summer ’88 book) was the first time Q106 finished #1 in the ratings:

http://articles.latimes.com/1988-10-07/entertainment/ca-3450_1_san-diego-radio

**Please note that this aircheck was recorded from Q106’s low bit-rate webstream (which was the norm in 1998). A higher-quality aircheck from this same day/weekend of specialty programming can be found at THIS link. **