What radio stations do you miss?

[btmec]

I remember when my favorite 96X went country. I also listened to rock on KOFM. That is where I remember first hearing Queen and We Will Rock You.

[ManAboutTown]

I miss the old KOMA, back when they used to play classic '50s through the mid-'70s. Loved the old DJ's too.

I also miss 96X and hated when it went country, especially with that 48 hours (or however long it was) of them playing "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma."

I miss the old KOFM 104.1 too.

[bamarsha]

94.7 The Ref

V103 (103.1) could be included, since I can only listen under certain weather conditions, when my car if pointing the right direction, and the wind is carrying the radio waves to me... or something like that. (It hardly ever comes in clear or at all in NW OKC.)

[SoonerDave]

I miss the 1980s KTOK. All local talk radio. Great stuff.

[scottk]

I miss actual local, live, breathing person in the studio during the time you hear them, radio.

Earlier this evening in OKC, the hail storm moved through during rush hour, and you would have never known flipping through the FM stations in OKC. Driving on the freeway its easier to flip through FM stations instead of trying to pull up a local TV station radar or live stream to figure out where to go or if you need to pull over. The only weather alert over the radio I got was from 96.1 KXY repeating a weather radio alert with the robot voice and emergency tones.



I know in the past stations had the tendency to flip to the TV stations for tornado coverage, but I feel like this event could have easily been covered on radio too.

[Mountaingoat]

Thats why AM radios should be preserved in cars

[gjl]

Going way back to the late 60s maybe very early 70s is when I remember it. KWHP

https://www.facebook.com/KWHP97.7EdmondOK/

[baralheia]

94.7 The BUZZ (KHBZ-FM). In their heyday, they were comparable to Z104.5 The EDGE (KMYZ-FM) in Tulsa. Great Alternative Rock station. But then they format flipped to become "The Brew" - basically a KATT knockoff - and the branding was an instant turnoff. I never returned as a listener after that.

Also Smooth Jazz 97.9 (KTNT-FM). Dad used to listen to them all the time right up until they flipped to Wild 97.9 (KKWD-FM) and it was a nice change of pace when I tired of pop/top40 or rock.

[Urbanized]

KTNT didn’t switch directly from smooth jazz to Wild. For a while they tried a format called “The City” that was some sort of Ill-advised hybrid between smooth jazz and Magic 104. Meaning Boney James might be followed by Cher, which might be followed by Acoustic Alchemy, then Mariah Carey, then Craig Chaquico, then Madonna…it was absolutely awful. I was on the Jazz Station’s advertising staff at the time and my existing clients (plus the longtime, small but extremely loyal smooth jazz audience) were confused and upset by the change. It didn’t last long before they ditched it and switched to wild (which was targeting KJ103), but I had moved on by that point.

[scottk]

This is from okcradio.net

Previous Call Letters/Formats:
KKWD (Wild 97-Dot-9- CHR/Rhythmic – January 27, 2000-October 23, 2006)
KCYI (The City 97.9 – Smooth Jazz — February 1, 1999-(Jan. 27) February 18, 2000)
KTNT (Smooth Jazz 97.9 KTNT – Smooth Jazz — Dates Unknown)
KTNT (Smooth Jazz 97.7 KTNT – Smooth Jazz — April 1, 1988)
KKLR-FM (Solid Gold 97.7 KKLR – Oldies — ??-April 1, 1988)
KKLR-FM (Easy Listening 1984-??)
KKLR-FM (Country – August 2, 1979-1984)
KCFX (Disco – The City’s Fox)
KWHP (Began and in 1962 and named for William Haydon “Bill” Payne, who ran the station out of a house on the west edge of Edmond. It was top-40 formatted throughout most of its existence, with occasional attempts at AOR and Country)

[fromdust]

94.7 The BUZZ (KHBZ-FM). In their heyday, they were comparable to Z104.5 The EDGE (KMYZ-FM) in Tulsa. Great Alternative Rock station. But then they format flipped to become "The Brew" - basically a KATT knockoff - and the branding was an instant turnoff. I never returned as a listener after that.

Also Smooth Jazz 97.9 (KTNT-FM). Dad used to listen to them all the time right up until they flipped to Wild 97.9 (KKWD-FM) and it was a nice change of pace when I tired of pop/top40 or rock.

Wasn't it also 95x, I think that was the name in the mid 90's. It was such a badass station. I dropped the Katt so fast when they hit the air

[baralheia]

Wasn't it also 95x, I think that was the name in the mid 90's. It was such a badass station. I dropped the Katt so fast when they hit the air

I moved back to OKC in 2000 so 95x was unfortunately a bit before my time... but from what I've read, yeah, it was 95x for like a year and a half in the mid-to-late 90's, then flipped to adult contemporary for several years before flipping back to alternative rock in the early 2000's.

[btmec]

Are there any DJs you miss?

I miss Cindy Scull. She is in the DFW area now. I loved her voice. She had a perfect female radio voice.

I don't miss Mark Shannon of KJ103. In 86 I hit him after he grabbed me and knocked me down one late night at Frontier City. It was a high school night around midnight and he wanted to talk to someone for their remote and thought he'd try to be funny. All I knew was someone knocked me down and at 16 I wasn't going to let it go without a fight. Well, he got me kicked out of the park even though everyone there was saying it was his fault cause he started it. I never liked him much anyway so the punch was worth getting kicked out.

[Jeepnokc]

Are there any DJs you miss?

I miss Cindy Scull. She is in the DFW area now. I loved her voice. She had a perfect female radio voice.

I don't miss Mark Shannon of KJ103. In 86 I hit him after he grabbed me and knocked me down one late night at Frontier City. It was a high school night around midnight and he wanted to talk to someone for their remote and thought he'd try to be funny. All I knew was someone knocked me down and at 16 I wasn't going to let it go without a fight. Well, he got me kicked out of the park even though everyone there was saying it was his fault cause he started it. I never liked him much anyway so the punch was worth getting kicked out.

Although pretty recent....Jack and Ron

[Mr. Blue Sky]

I moved back to OKC in 2000 so 95x was unfortunately a bit before my time... but from what I've read, yeah, it was 95x for like a year and a half in the mid-to-late 90's, then flipped to adult contemporary for several years before flipping back to alternative rock in the early 2000's.

It was actually 96x and it was KXXY, now branded as Country 96.1 KXY. 96X was an AOR progressive rock format which lasted about four years from 1978-1982. Great mascot, too - The Blue Walrus. Before that it was an automated (on reels before satellite) pop-rock station branded on-air as KickSee96 (phonetically). Some really good people went through 96X, including the walking radio encyclopedia and all around great guy Fred Hendrickson, who sadly passed three years ago RIP, Fred.

[ManAboutTown]

It was actually 96x and it was KXXY, now branded as Country 96.1 KXY. 96X was an AOR progressive rock format which lasted about four years from 1978-1982. Great mascot, too - The Blue Walrus. Before that it was an automated (on reels before satellite) pop-rock station branded on-air as KickSee96 (phonetically). Some really good people went through 96X, including the walking radio encyclopedia and all around great guy Fred Hendrickson, who sadly passed three years ago RIP, Fred.

Fred was a really nice guy and had a great radio voice!

[baralheia]

It was actually 96x and it was KXXY, now branded as Country 96.1 KXY. 96X was an AOR progressive rock format which lasted about four years from 1978-1982. Great mascot, too - The Blue Walrus. Before that it was an automated (on reels before satellite) pop-rock station branded on-air as KickSee96 (phonetically). Some really good people went through 96X, including the walking radio encyclopedia and all around great guy Fred Hendrickson, who sadly passed three years ago RIP, Fred.

Nah, I'm talking about 94.7 KNRX-FM - aka 95X. Signed on July 8, 1996 with an alternative rock format, and went off-air November 7, 1997... according to Wikipedia, at least, and confirmed by the cited sources in the article.

[LovableGoober]

The original KATT. Back when you could hear Joni Mitchell and Black Sabbath back to back. With real DJ's, real concert promotions and not a lot of repeat songs. You could listen to them all day and never hear the same song twice.

[baralheia]

The original KATT. Back when you could hear Joni Mitchell and Black Sabbath back to back. With real DJ's, real concert promotions and not a lot of repeat songs. You could listen to them all day and never hear the same song twice.

Along this line - the thing I miss from local radio more than anything else is local control over programming decisions. The big media conglomerates centralized that control over the last couple of decades and in my opinion that has been one of the biggest contributors to the decline of terrestrial radio. For just one example - remember when stations like the BUZZ and the KATT showcased local talent? AFAICT, outside of independent stations, that kind of thing just doesn't happen anymore and it's sad.

As I grow older, I've found that I've become less and less interested in these homogenized corporate radio stations and prefer listening to the smaller guys whenever possible - either via FM or streaming. My favorites are Z104.5 The EDGE (KMYZ-FM Tulsa) and 95 WIIL Rock (WIIL-FM Union Grove/Chicago, IL).

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Nah, I'm talking about 94.7 KNRX-FM - aka 95X. Signed on July 8, 1996 with an alternative rock format, and went off-air November 7, 1997... according to Wikipedia, at least, and confirmed by the cited sources in the article.

Sorry about that! I honestly didn’t know about KNRX using the ‘X’ branding for that year or so and just assumed you must have been thinking about the old legendary 96X. I learn something new at this forum all the time. Thanks for the correction!

I agree with you completely. Deregulation, corporate consolidations, and no interest in radio truly being local, have just about put the nail in the coffin of terrestrial radio.