Farewell 107.1 KISS-FM

[Mr. Jones]

http://www.x1063.com/main.html

[fearpeddler]

simulcast?

[genlock]

One less hard drive and sat-rcvr to feed.
Apparently not enough sales to support a single station.

[Cameron]

Wow...and I thought the Oldies 92.7 debut from the Huntington studios was poorly-executed.
"X-1063 and K-107.1 The Tri-State's Twin-Rockers"?
Someone at the Aloha Station Trust rode the positioning-statement short-bus to school.
106.3 off air feed to 107.1 is clipped to damn-near mono.
107.1 is fed from Catlettsburg and 106.3 is out of the big blue box.
(...and static-rds reads, "Kiss-107").
Other than that it looks well-planned.
http://www.1071kissfm.com/main.html

[Bar Rat]

I wondered just how long KISS would last around here. I got my answer.

Two things added together -- the format didn't fly and the listeners it did garner came straight from WKEE. So it's a move to boost WKEE. And the folks in Ironton were pissed off when KISS was put on the air anyway, so it's an appeasement tool there as well.

[Lee]

Wasn't X106.3 simulcast on 107.1 during it's infancy?

[The Interpreter]

Yes...including right before KISS-FM started up...

Earlier, 107.1 was Music With Love...WMLV

[Lee]

Yes...including right before KISS-FM started up...

Hmmm...I thought 107.1 changed to Classic Rock The Fox...then KISS.

[Bar Rat]

I might be wrong, but I think the satellite that KISS replaced was on 106.3 and 107.1, then the Blue Box took WAMX live, and left the satellite on 107.1 until the decision was made by out-of-towners to put KISS on the air.

[genlock]

I am sure that every move was taken after complete discussion, much contemplation and
thorough planning. That is the way American business works to succeed.

[Bar Rat]

I am sure that every move was taken after complete discussion, much contemplation and
thorough planning. That is the way American business works to succeed.

There wasn't a whole lot of planning that went into the decision to go to KISS. A dinner meeting at Rocco's was all that took!

[The Interpreter]

As opposed to the decision to end the simulcasting of WVHU on WIRO....

[genlock]

You have to look at the big picture, going forward into a new paradigm.

[Bar Rat]

As opposed to the decision to end the simulcasting of WVHU on WIRO....

That was probably someone saying "OK THATS ENOUGH BEGGING YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SPORTS STATION!"

I'll leave the identities to your imagination.

[RadioGeek]

As opposed to the decision to end the simulcasting of WVHU on WIRO....

That was probably someone saying "OK THATS ENOUGH BEGGING YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SPORTS STATION!"

I'll leave the identities to your imagination.

I assume you're talking about Paul Swann and I'm about 99% sure that while he did want a sports/talk station he didn't want it on 1230. I thought the smarter move would have been to leave the WVHU/WIRO simulcast in tact since it was well known and pair WTCR-AM with WZZW-AM. That would also provide an east/west market coverage.

Back to the topic at hand, I wonder why they chose a different image for 107.1. K? Why not just do X1063-1071?

[cgarison]

Back to the topic at hand, I wonder why they chose a different image for 107.1. K? Why not just do X1063-1071?

The corporate overlords at CC do not want you to think that they are playing another stations material on another stations frequency. The work as hard as hell to make Elvis Duran sound like the show is being produced in Philly when we all know it is coming from WHTZ-FM in NYC.

[StopSet]

The Planet was kicking too much ass in Ironton

[Lee]

The Planet was kicking too much ass in Ironton

[Hoosier Daddy]

107.1 started as an automated country station under the loving hand of Kenneth Auble.
A huge powder blue automation machine was built into the wall of the house that served as studios and offices for Big I Radio.
The automation jocks were Chris Lane and Davie Lee, if I recall correctly.
They worked six hour shifts around the clock. Lee from 6am to Noon and again from 6pm to midnight.
Lane was on the air from Noon til 6pm.
On Saturday and Sundays, they flip-flopped. Lane did sign on to noon and 6pm to midnight.
Both of the Big I stations went off the air from midnight to 6am.
Huge reel to reel tapes contained all the music.
Duplicate tapes existed for each of the canned voice jocks
Peel off dots designated which "announcer" was on the air. A red dot was for Mr. Lee. Green for Mr. Lane.
IDs, promos, etc. were all appropriately marked with the same color dot system.
A huge cart machine automatically cycled every 60 seconds, giving a time announcement.
This was only heard over the air when the automation recognized a need for a time announcement.
The timing circuitry (also built by Auble, I believe) just kept things where they should be.
Ken Auble personally calibrated the time function every day and monitored it from his home.
The WIRO jock had to load up the reels every six hours and change the carted promos, station IDs, and drop-ins.
It was important that the right "jock" be on the air at the right time.
The WIRO control room had a 107.1 speaker and a homemade panel of control buttons designed and installed by Mr. Auble.
The AM jock had to "bring together" the AM and FM stations several times a day for Mutual News.
A short country instrumental, also on its own cart deck, fired at two minutes prior to news.
The AM jock backtimed WIRO into the news and monitored the Mutual cue tones.
At the appropriate time, the AM jock flipped an audio switch on the Gates console,
diverting the FM audio source from the automation equipment to the AM console.
At the same time, you hit a legal ID announcing "Big I Radio, WIRO/WITO Ironton".
Pot up Mutual News which ran over both stations for about two and a half minutes.
Punch a button to reset the automation on the FM and wait for the ready light.
Get a jingle ready for the AM side and cue up a record.
Get up, stretch your legs, pee, recheck the automation manually by walking into teh next room and reset if necessary.
Be ready to go when you heard "...I'm John Smith ... Mutual News...<bee-doop>"
Flip the switch. Separate the AM and FM stations again
Launch the automation machine with your right hand while you fire the jingle on the AM side with your left hand.
Then slip-cue the record off the tail end of the jingle and you're up and running again.

This was a beautiful piece of choreography using somewhat primitive technology.
The surprising thing was how seamless it was to most listeners.
People actually called the radio station asking to make a request or talk to the DJ on the automated FM side.

Rod Willis or Rick Mayne should remember these days very well.

Ken Auble remains one of the best mom-and-pop owners of any radio station anywhere and anytime.
He did so much with so little and was always so proud of his stations and how they served the Ironton area.
Sad to see how neglected and forgotten both those stations have become.

[Hoosier Daddy]

In any case, 107.1 started as WITO "Country Heaven 107".
When Roger Ashworth bought into the station, they ended up changing calls to WMLV.
FCC records say this happened on July 15, 1985.
The station changed from country to a Lite Lite Lite Adult Contemporary format.
Think: Delilah on Thorazine.
Carpenters, Air Supply, Anne Murray, et al.
Next FCC change was January 6, 1997, when the calls became WFXN ("the Fox")
WBKS was born on February 15, 2003.

If my memory serves me correctly, 107.1 was "Kiss" before the February 15 callsign change.

WAMX 106.3 obtained their present callsign on January 6, 1997.
Before that, they were (surprise!) WFXN, an action approved by the FCC on December 23, 1994.
And prior to that, the station held both the WZZW and WZZW-FM calls starting on October 15, 1993.

106.3 was WAEZ as of March 15, 1985. They ran a "beautiful music" format as EZ106 for a while.
The station signed on as country music WNST-FM, a full simulcast of WNST 1600 in Milton, in the late 70s.

Formats don't exactly follow callsign changes. And 106.3 and 107.1 were both probably "The Fox" (Classic Rock) at one time or another.

If anyone else can help, have at it ...