This is a sample of Saturday night high-energy mixshow programming from the late 1990’s, as broadcast on one of America’s legendary CHR stations.
Generally speaking, at least in the U.S., the larger the market, the less interesting (musically) the radio stations become. Fortunately, towards the end of the 90’s, Z100 — a heritage Mainstream CHR in Market #1 — was an exception to this rule. While the station’s music mix was perhaps not quite as diverse as it had been two years prior, it still stood out among its peers.
This is a sample of late night, high-energy mixshow programming from the late 1990’s, as broadcast on one of America’s legendary CHR stations.
Recorded around this time of the year, 22 years ago, this is a sample of what is/was probably America’s best-sounding major market CHR.
30 years ago today, New York’s Z100 hit the airwaves for the first time. According to the station’s Wikipedia page, within 74 days, the station had climbed from last place to first place in the ratings. On this aircheck, you will hear Z100 celebrating this remarkable feat. Please visit our sister site, Airchexx.com, for a more detailed tribute to this legendary CHR station.
Many thanks to Rory Francisco for contributing this aircheck and the detailed description below! 1998 was a great year for Top 40 music and Z100’s renaissance after their ill-fated “alternative” years (late 1993 to mid 1996). Z100 veteran Kid Kelly was hired back as the night DJ in the fall of 1997, replacing Lukas (who went to late nights at Z100 for a few months and then left to do mornings on KDND Sacramento). Kid isn’t quite as high energy as he was in 1990 (search YouTube for “Kid Kelly Z100” for that incredible video aircheck) but still had very much the same sound as he did in Z100’s pre-alternative days.