FM
102.7 KIIS-FM – L.A. – July ’93 – Whitney Allen, John Murphy, Rick Dees
“It’s 7 O’Clock on the West Coast at KIIS…K-I-I-S, FM & AM, Los Angeles”. Voiced by the late and great Brian James, that’s one of my all-time favorite legal IDs, and many variations of it are heard on this compilation from the Summer of 1993. At this time, in celebration of Independence Day, KIIS had a very amusing “Red, White and Balls Weekend” promotion that included liners such as “dangle your balls from your rearview mirror” and “just make sure your balls are visible.” At a time when many CHRs struggled to find success with the increasingly polarized nature of the format, KIIS elected to mix in a number of hits from years past – the station’s slogan at the time was “The Best Hits of the 80′s and 90′s.”
KLAZ (105.9) – Hot Springs, AR – June 1997
“Central Arkansas’ 100,000 watt hit music superstation” This is a brief sample of “Central Arkansas’ 100,000 watt hit music superstation” during surprisingly progressive mixshow programming.
WPLJ (Mojo Radio 95.5 FM) – New York – 6/21/91 – AJ Hammer
**New York City’s 95.5 WPLJ will end its current programming format at 7pm EDT today (Friday 5/31/19), following a sale from Cumulus to Educational Media Foundation. We will be featuring airchecks of this longtime CHR/Hot AC station from the past 30+ years throughout this week.** Per Wikipedia – as a final attempt to find success with the CHR format, WPLJ rebranded as “Mojo Radio” in April 1991, shortly after hiring Scott Shannon as morning show host. Four months later, the station began shifting towards Adult Top 40; by February 1992, it had evolved to Hot AC and began calling itself simply “95-5 PLJ”.
WPLJ 95.5 – New York – 2/25/02 – Jaime Lee
**New York City’s 95.5 WPLJ will end its current programming format on Friday 5/31/19, following a sale from Cumulus to Educational Media Foundation. We will be featuring airchecks of this longtime CHR/Hot AC station from the past 30+ years throughout this week.**
WPLJ 95.5 – New York – 9/19/11 – Race Taylor
**New York City’s 95.5 WPLJ will end its current programming format on Friday 5/31/19, following a sale from Cumulus to Educational Media Foundation. We will be featuring airchecks of this longtime CHR/Hot AC station from the past 30+ years throughout this week.**
WPLJ 95.5 – New York – 2/11/95 – Tony Banks (Valentine’s Dedications)
**New York City’s 95.5 WPLJ will end its current programming format on Friday 5/31/19, following a sale from Cumulus to Educational Media Foundation. We will be featuring airchecks of this longtime CHR/Hot AC station from the past 30+ years throughout this week.** Courtesy of the now-defunct mp3airchecks.com, here’s a sample of New York’s longtime Adult CHR/Hot AC, recorded on the weekend before Valentine’s Day in 1995.
WPLJ (The All New ‘PLJ – Power 95) – New York – 1990 – Greg Thunder
**New York City’s 95.5 WPLJ will end its current programming format on Friday 5/31/19, following a sale from Cumulus to Educational Media Foundation. We will be featuring airchecks of this longtime CHR/Hot AC station from the past 30+ years throughout this week.** Courtesy of the now-defunct mp3airchecks.com, here’s a sample of New York’s WPLJ during as days as “Power 95”, but after the station adopted a lean towards more adult-oriented, pop/rock hits. Interestingly, the station also used “Musicradio” (made famous by WABC-AM) and “The All New PLJ” as supplementary monikers. Visit Wikipedia for more information on the history of this station.
WPLJ (Power 95) – New York City – 10/28/85 – Fast Jimmy Roberts
**New York City’s 95.5 WPLJ will end its current programming format on Friday 5/31/19, following a sale from Cumulus to Educational Media Foundation. We will be featuring airchecks of this longtime CHR/Hot AC station from the past 30+ years throughout this week.** Here’s a sample of WPLJ couple of years after it entered the CHR format, and within the first year of calling itself “Power 95”. Visit Wikipedia for more information on the history of this station.
WBBM-FM (B96) – Chicago – Memorial Day 1996 (5/27/96) – Julian Jumpin’ Perez, Tim Spinnin’ Schommer, Candi, Brian Middleton, Bobby D (mixer)
During a significant portion of the 1990′s, B96 offered a dance music-heavy format focused on currents — making it one of the very few major market, full signal commercial stations in the U.S. to find success with that formula during that decade. This montage, recorded at the peak of that era, is a great example of why dance radio fanatics held the station in such high regard. The aircheck was recorded in the midst of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls 1996 playoff run, preceded by a record-setting 72 win regular season. It includes several references to the team and a variation of “The Roof is On Fire” by To Kool Chris, titled “The Bulls Are On Fire”. Special thanks to Steven Ratz, formerly of Dance Music Authority (DMA) Magazine, for contributing this aircheck.
KZZP – Phoenix – 2/19/99 – Phil Steiner
During the 80′s, KZZP 104.7 FM in Phoenix was one of the most successful Mainstream CHR stations in the country. According to the station’s Wikipedia page, it “produced a long list of future stars in the radio business”, and offered a music mix that was adventurous for a Top 40 station. However, a combination of changes in personalities, management, and overall pop music tastes led to the station’s downfall (in April 1991). Five years later, owner Nationwide Communications brought KZZP back to the airwaves with a Modern AC format, making an attempt to appeal to the listeners who grew up with the station as a CHR. The station performed well, ranking #1 in key demos by 1998. However, by that point, Jacor (now Clear Channel) had taken ownership of KZZP along with KGLQ (96.9). On Labor Day We...
KMVA (Hot 97.5) – Phoenix – 8/20/12
Since October 2006, about 18 months after moving from Flagstaff, AZ to Dewey-Humboldt, AZ (in order to better cover the Phoenix market), 97.5 FM has programmed many variations of uptempo formats targeted at adults. It started with MOViN’ 97.5, which launched as a Rhythmic AC but evolved to a Hot AC/Adult Top 40 format. By the end of 2010, the station rebranded as Hot 97.5 but generally kept the same format. It flirted with a Dance-leaning approach early in the decade before returning to Adult Top 40. This aircheck appears to have been recorded somewhere in the middle of that most recent transition. The station began simulcasting on KEXX (now KZON)/Gilbert in January 2014, and now calls itself “Hot 97.5 & 103.9”. Many thanks to Steven Ratz for contributing this airchec...
WBBM-FM (B96) – Chicago – 12/31/95 – George McFly & Frankie Hollywood Rodriguez (Top 96 of ’95)
During a significant portion of the 1990′s, B96 offered a dance music-heavy format focused on currents — making it one of the very few major market, full signal commercial stations in the U.S. to find success with that formula during that decade. This aircheck, recorded at the peak of that era (and 18 years ago tonight), is a great example of why dance radio fanatics held the station in such high regard. You’ll hear the end of the “Top 96 of 1995” year-end countdown, followed by an outstanding montage counting down the final 3 minutes of 1995, leading into 1996. The hosts are longtime station personalities George McFly and Frankie “Hollywood” Rodriguez. And at the end of this aircheck are snippets of programming that aired prior to the aforementioned countdow...
