WGBS 96.3 Question 66-69 Young Sound Format.

[Stuart Elliott]

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When I signed off 96X "Part I" in Febuary 1981, we were at 96.3  When I signed on WCJX "96X Part II" in June of 1985, we were still at 96.3  We did not change the frequency to 96.5 until the beginning part of 1986. I'm not sure which month, but I believe it was in the first quarter of the year.  I ran a spoof promo saying we were signing off the frequency again.  Where the posts that say it wasn't until after it became Power 96 when the frequency changed, I don't know, but that time frame is incorrect.

I remember both Days (sign off and sign on very well)  I remember hearing the sign-on while driving south on the newly-opened link of I-95 between Ft Pierce and Palm Beach Gardens.  WCJX started with a top 16 playlist -- how long did that last before it was expanded?
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ai4i-It was called "The Super 16"....So you always knew where your favorite song was.  WDAE-We ran it from our sign on June 15th, 1985 pretty much through October of the same year.  Not long after we played our very first commercial.  It was during the Mid-Day show with Linda St. James. When she stoped the music to run the first spot, we were joking on air that I tabulated approximately 44,000 songs were played without commercial interruption, that the competition could never match that. Unlike other stations changing format, we started from scratch.  No listeners.  So we ran the Super 16 to attract a audience.  Our first book was a 2.0 share overall and I was #2 in teens 6-10 PM only second to Paco at Y-100...at that time Teens were where the advertisers placed their money. The whole idea from the beginning was to evolve into a more traditional Top 40 which we did....until Power 96.  That is another story already covered in a thread a few years back......

[WDAE-FM101]

Thanks for the update.\

[radiosanchez]

As to 96.3 vs 96.5, that was an interesting 12 months or so in 1985.  I wanna say (because I am not sure) that they started (as WCJX) on 96.5 with lower power, because the station in Jupiter (WKSY at that time?) was still on 96.7.  It had to move for 96.5 to upgrade.  WCJX was temporarily back on 96.3 with the full power (again I am not 100% here), and then once WKSY moved (I think to 99.5), WCJX went back to 96.5.

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When I signed off 96X "Part I" in Febuary 1981, we were at 96.3  When I signed on WCJX "96X Part II" in June of 1985, we were still at 96.3  We did not change the frequency to 96.5 until the beginning part of 1986. I'm not sure which month, but I believe it was in the first quarter of the year.  I ran a spoof promo saying we were signing off the frequency again.  Where the posts that say it wasn't until after it became Power 96 when the frequency changed, I don't know, but that time frame is incorrect.

Now I'm really going crazy.......Could have sworn the change of frequency at 96 did not happen until after it became Power 96....I seem to remember a Herald article where Greg Reed was interviewed about the move up the dial.....I also seem to remember the TV ads which Power ran at the time were re-edited and it was Tanner that said "Now! on 96.5 FM".  Also promos featuring Jerry Clifton's signature voice saying "now we're Power 96--and a half".  I want to say (as I remember it), that the change happened sometime spring '87.

I actually liked the "Super Sixteen".....'85 was a good year for music, so hearing all that stuff over and over was something this 9 year old enjoyed (nobody plays the "Wham Rap" anymore). 

I believe the  move to 96.5 had been in the works for a very long time before, as a Vane Jones log I have from 1979 lists WMJX (incorrectly, of course) on 96.5, and also, while the 'new' 96 signed on at 96.3, the loooong list of new applicants to the frequency that appeared in Broadcasting Magazine also specified 96.5.

Also, when 96.3 signed back on in '85, COL was Miramar, not Miami.....

[RadioGuy2004]

Didn't WXDJ 95.7 play a part in this too?

[DDV49]

My memory isn't exactly clear as to the dates,but I believe WMYQ lost their FCC license in the late 70"s. The station was re-born as WCJX, but I'm not sure is it was on 96.3 ro 96.5.They ran there top 16 long enough to unload it at a nice profit. 

[Stuart Elliott]

My memory isn't exactly clear as to the dates,but I believe WMYQ lost their FCC license in the late 70"s. The station was re-born as WCJX, but I'm not sure is it was on 96.3 ro 96.5.They ran there top 16 long enough to unload it at a nice profit. 

Your memory is ok.  We were told in mid to late January 1981 that we had until April and we'd be gone.  Since the decision was firm from the FCC, Charter Broadcasting (Our then parent company) decided not to drag it out and February 14 was the last night.  Wodlinger Broadcasting spent 2.6 Million...paying off others who wanted the frequency and in June 1985 we signed back on as WCJX (CJ is for Constance J. Wodlinger...Mrs. Owner) and we kept 96X because research showed that it was still a viable name.  And we did sign on at 96.3.

As for the "Super 16". As I explained above, unlike a station changing format, we started from zero...static.  It was a way to build listeners.  The plan to "unload" the station was all along...we as employees were just never told.  Even those of us in management.  That's the nature of the business.  Beasley-Reed purchased the station for 10.4 Million.  You have to give credit to the Wodlingers. 8 Million profit for less than 6 months work.  Only in radio.....