WWFF 93.3 Huntsville - Stunting

[RadioZack]

I remember the sign-on for "The Wolf" well. It was nothing big, because we had to move the transmitter from Elora, TN to Drake Mountain in Huntsville and that took MUCH longer than anyone had anticipated, thanks to some politicking by Clear Channel (WWFF rents tower space from WDRM -- yep, they're both on the same stick).

We ran the station in the studio without transmitting it for several days just to get the kinks worked out, so the logs were being produced about a week in advance of the launch.

So, after running a loop telling the WHRP listeners that their favorite station was now exclusively on 94.1, we shut off the transmitter in Elora and turned on the one in Huntsville. Once we turned it on, we ran a one-hour loop of movie scores for a day (calling it "Movie 93.3"), then went silent for a few hours. We had our staff meeting, and when it came time for Matt Michaels (original program director) to make his presentation, he said, "It's ready to go." Our GM said, "What's stopping us?" Matt said, "Nothing. It's ready to go." The GM said, "Why aren't we on the air yet?" Matt: "I'm waiting on you to give us the signal." GM: "Okay, let's go." So, we all marched down to the studio and basically just pressed the PGM button on the board. The first song on the station was "Our Song" by Taylor Swift, only because that was the song that was on the log for that time of day (around 10:15am on a Monday). There was no big produced launch or anything. We just started playing country music as if we always had. It was quite underwhelming. But the circumstances were presented that way because of the transmitter move.

[RollTide]

Yea I always thought it was really funny that 93.3 was moved to WDRM's stick and then they went country! Thanks CC for the tower space. Now shove it up your a**! LOL! That is strange though that there was no introduction made on the air when the sign on happened. Cumulus never seemed to sink any real money into The Wolf. I think that was one of the reasons for its failure because if you are going to make a dent in WDRM you have to sink some real money into the budget to do it.

[RonM]

As predicted.....it's Journey 93.3!!

[RollTide]

Yep. 9:33am on the dot. Journey 93-3 is born...

Yawn... snooze... snore...

I found it really hilarious that they said on the sign on "You can finally stop flipping your dial around. You finally have a station playing only 80s and 90s." Who's flipping their dail around trying to find 80s and 90s??? You can find 80s and 90s on half the stations heard in Huntsville!! I told my friend yesterday that I'd bet them money the first song they play is Journey's "Don't stop believing". I guess I just won that bet. How predictable! The only good I see that might come from this is all the old junk being pulled off of WZYP but they've been that way for so many years now, I won't hold my breath for fear I'd die before it happened!

[jay]

Oh....it gets even better!   The launch playlist was pulled from the archives in Atlanta:

12:03 p.m. Journey “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” (1981)
12:07 p.m. Madonna “Holiday” (1984)
12:12 p.m. Michael Jackson “Rock With You” (1980)
12:15 p.m. Bon Jovi “Living on a Prayer” (1987)
12:19 p.m. Lenny Kravitz “It’ Ain’t Over Til It’s Over” (1991)
12:23 p.m. Simple Minds “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (1985)
12:27 p.m. Pat Benatar “Love is a Battlefield” (1983)
12:32 p.m. Matchbox 20 “3 a.m.” (1998)
12:36 p.m. Animotion “Obsession” (1985)
12:40 p.m. Billy Idol “White Wedding” (1982)
12:44 p.m. Annie Lennox “Walking on Broken Glass” (1992)
12:48 p.m. The Cars “You Might Think” (1984)’
12:51 p.m. Ace of Base “All That She Wants” (1992)
12:55 p.m. Hall & Oates “Kiss on My List” (1981)
12:59 p.m. TLC “Waterfalls” (1995)
1:03 p.m. Was (Not Was) “Walk the Dinosaur” (1987)
1:06 p.m Seal “Crazy” (1991)
1:11 p.m. Don Henley “Boys of Summer” (1984)
1:15 p.m. Alanis Morrisette “You Oughta Know” (1985)
1:20 p.m. Toto “Africa” (1983)

[RadioZack]

I don't live in Huntsville anymore, but I'd listen to the station just for the JAM Skywave jingle package.

[Nate Wesley]

Oh....it gets even better!   The launch playlist was pulled from the archives in Atlanta:

12:03 p.m. Journey “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” (1981)
12:07 p.m. Madonna “Holiday” (1984)
12:12 p.m. Michael Jackson “Rock With You” (1980)
12:15 p.m. Bon Jovi “Living on a Prayer” (1987)
12:19 p.m. Lenny Kravitz “It’ Ain’t Over Til It’s Over” (1991)
12:23 p.m. Simple Minds “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (1985)
12:27 p.m. Pat Benatar “Love is a Battlefield” (1983)
12:32 p.m. Matchbox 20 “3 a.m.” (1998)
12:36 p.m. Animotion “Obsession” (1985)
12:40 p.m. Billy Idol “White Wedding” (1982)
12:44 p.m. Annie Lennox “Walking on Broken Glass” (1992)
12:48 p.m. The Cars “You Might Think” (1984)’
12:51 p.m. Ace of Base “All That She Wants” (1992)
12:55 p.m. Hall & Oates “Kiss on My List” (1981)
12:59 p.m. TLC “Waterfalls” (1995)
1:03 p.m. Was (Not Was) “Walk the Dinosaur” (1987)
1:06 p.m Seal “Crazy” (1991)
1:11 p.m. Don Henley “Boys of Summer” (1984)
1:15 p.m. Alanis Morrisette “You Oughta Know” (1985)
1:20 p.m. Toto “Africa” (1983)

Here's how much of a radio geek I am--someone recorded the launch of Atlanta's "Journey" to MP3, and I could easily confirm the first three songs because I still have it somewhere on my music player. 

Did they they have Randy Jackson record a short welcome? That was one neat wrinkle they had for the Atlanta launch. 

[jamiestarr]

The jingles are probably the coolest thing on the station for us radio geeks. This format is oldies for generation X. Jan Jeffries probably thinks it's an AMAZING format because he "invented" it . The sad thing it could probably get pretty good ratings if Cumulus would invest in it. LIVE jocks, freshen the music by moving titles in and out, BIG promotions, community involvement. Have special features, theme weekends and just be a FUN radio station. This won't happen of course. Maybe one local person and the rest syndicated or virtual DJ's. 350 hits that will never change. They should've called it "Boogie 93".

[BamaWOLF]

hm, yea i'll just keep listening to WBPT fade in and out in the car, thanks anyway cumulus.

[Zach]

Just for the record, they had the same exact playlist today when i100 in Pensacola flipped to Journey today, too. It did include Randy Jackson minus the Atlanta references.