I LOVE this article. I didn't get into radio and really understand formats until after the show was done, but I did watch the show during its original run, and even then, in my youth, I thought it was weird that Johnny Fever had a completely different playlist than Venus did. But then years later, Triple A appeared in my hometown, and I decided that's what WKRP was... a little bit of almost everything!
One of the most notable examples of country music being played on WKRP In Cincinnati was Hoyt Axton's "Della and The Dealer" and there were some Progressive FM Freeform stations that played Hoyt's music as well as commercial country stations. In the jazz fusion days, there were also bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever and Weather Report that were huge album sellers and on Progressive FM stations. Plus, stereo FM back then was mostly on high end models of hi-fi receivers from companies such as Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood, Onkyo, etc. (many of these receivers still attract big bucks in the collectors market since most receivers these days have radio tuners that aren't very sensitive or strong and focus on the A/V functions) and higher end models of consoles, not as much in cars unless they hooked up an adapter that converted their AM radio to FM mono and very few transistor radios had FM at the time. Jon McLaughlin who was the leader of Mahavishnu Orchestra even played in Santana for a time. Mahavishu Orchestra's Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire albums are a must hear for fans of the era and both sold huge at the time and remain available on CD and in the digital world.
Your mention of 94Q is interesting--first and foremost that WQXI AM 790/FM 94.1 was the inspiration for WKRP in Cincinnati.
At the show's premiere, 94Q was a "Rock 40" station; playing a mix of poppy album rock and Top 40. Later (around 1980) 94Q "aged with the boomers" and went hot AC.
WQXI AM stuck to its top 40 lane before switching to oldies, although over the years they did simulcast some dayparts.
In the 70s, WQXI had a contest called the "Summer Jam" which was snippets of 6 songs crammed together. So the show got the Contest Nobody Could Win from Quixie as well.
Regarding Jazz Flavours (yes, that was the correct spelling), when 94Q flipped to Star 94, Blum insisted that Jazz Flavours remained even though part of the purpose of the flip was to dump it and lean in a more top 40 direction, because sales were so good.
I grew up in Atlanta and 79 WQXI was the reason I fell in love with radio at age three! As I got older, 94Q was a big part of my youth, from Gary McKee (RIP) in the morning to listening to Jazz Flavours at night while doing homework (and wishing I was one of the yuppies at Ruperts). I remember when the station flipped from 94Q to Star 94.. and fell from 9th to 12th place in the Arbitron ratings. Thanks for sharing the station history!!!
Since you know the context, 94Q originally slotted in between Top 40 Z-93 and AOR 96 Rock, with a mix of both top 40 and AOR.
One problem 94Q had with the move to AC is that the old Beautiful Music stations (WLTA 100, WPCH Peach 95, and WSB-FM Beautiful 98) were all doing the same. Add in the two Gainesville move-ins (Fox 97 and Lite 106), and there were 6 stations in the AC space at one point. Eventually 99.7 went Top 40 (Power 99), 106.7 went country (Y106), and 97.1 went oldies, and that space lightened up a bit. At the end of the decade moving back in a pop direction meant that 94Q didn't have to compete with Peach and B98.5 so much anymore, but now had to compete with the buzzsaw that was Power 99. Not until Power 99 flipped to 99X did Star 94 have a lane all to themselves.
I LOVE this article. I didn't get into radio and really understand formats until after the show was done, but I did watch the show during its original run, and even then, in my youth, I thought it was weird that Johnny Fever had a completely different playlist than Venus did. But then years later, Triple A appeared in my hometown, and I decided that's what WKRP was... a little bit of almost everything!
One of the most notable examples of country music being played on WKRP In Cincinnati was Hoyt Axton's "Della and The Dealer" and there were some Progressive FM Freeform stations that played Hoyt's music as well as commercial country stations. In the jazz fusion days, there were also bands such as Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever and Weather Report that were huge album sellers and on Progressive FM stations. Plus, stereo FM back then was mostly on high end models of hi-fi receivers from companies such as Pioneer, Sansui, Kenwood, Onkyo, etc. (many of these receivers still attract big bucks in the collectors market since most receivers these days have radio tuners that aren't very sensitive or strong and focus on the A/V functions) and higher end models of consoles, not as much in cars unless they hooked up an adapter that converted their AM radio to FM mono and very few transistor radios had FM at the time. Jon McLaughlin who was the leader of Mahavishnu Orchestra even played in Santana for a time. Mahavishu Orchestra's Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire albums are a must hear for fans of the era and both sold huge at the time and remain available on CD and in the digital world.
Your mention of 94Q is interesting--first and foremost that WQXI AM 790/FM 94.1 was the inspiration for WKRP in Cincinnati.
At the show's premiere, 94Q was a "Rock 40" station; playing a mix of poppy album rock and Top 40. Later (around 1980) 94Q "aged with the boomers" and went hot AC.
WQXI AM stuck to its top 40 lane before switching to oldies, although over the years they did simulcast some dayparts.
In the 70s, WQXI had a contest called the "Summer Jam" which was snippets of 6 songs crammed together. So the show got the Contest Nobody Could Win from Quixie as well.
Regarding Jazz Flavours (yes, that was the correct spelling), when 94Q flipped to Star 94, Blum insisted that Jazz Flavours remained even though part of the purpose of the flip was to dump it and lean in a more top 40 direction, because sales were so good.
I grew up in Atlanta and 79 WQXI was the reason I fell in love with radio at age three! As I got older, 94Q was a big part of my youth, from Gary McKee (RIP) in the morning to listening to Jazz Flavours at night while doing homework (and wishing I was one of the yuppies at Ruperts). I remember when the station flipped from 94Q to Star 94.. and fell from 9th to 12th place in the Arbitron ratings. Thanks for sharing the station history!!!
Since you know the context, 94Q originally slotted in between Top 40 Z-93 and AOR 96 Rock, with a mix of both top 40 and AOR.
One problem 94Q had with the move to AC is that the old Beautiful Music stations (WLTA 100, WPCH Peach 95, and WSB-FM Beautiful 98) were all doing the same. Add in the two Gainesville move-ins (Fox 97 and Lite 106), and there were 6 stations in the AC space at one point. Eventually 99.7 went Top 40 (Power 99), 106.7 went country (Y106), and 97.1 went oldies, and that space lightened up a bit. At the end of the decade moving back in a pop direction meant that 94Q didn't have to compete with Peach and B98.5 so much anymore, but now had to compete with the buzzsaw that was Power 99. Not until Power 99 flipped to 99X did Star 94 have a lane all to themselves.