May 29, 2020
Which radio station from any era, would you like to see a behind-the-scenes “Last Dance” documentary style piece on and why?
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JB King, KLUC: KMEL/San Francisco in the early 90s. R Dub! Z90: Okay, so I have a shameless plug here. In 2011 I produced a documentary for Tucson’s Power 1490AM. It ended up getting picked up at over 20 film festivals around the world and even copped a few awards. You can see the movie on YouTube by searching for A.M. Mayhem – The Story of Tucson’s Power 1490. To answer the question, I would LOVE to see an actual movie-movie (non-documentary) that told the story of Power 1490…with actors, etc. How cool would that be?
Rich Davis, KDWB: I’d have to go with KDWB in the 90’s and my twelve-year run at The River in Nashville. When I was here in the 90’s, we literally had one of the best Top 40 staffs probably of any station I’ve ever worked at. Dave Ryan with Angie Taylor in mornings, Jon London did part of the mid-day show and I did the other part (not that I’m great), Michael Knight did afternoons. Tone E. Fly did nights. Zany K did late nights. That staff was just incredible. Everywhere you looked we had the best talent. Tone E. Fly alone was one of the best night guys in history, and I would just want to hang out in the studio and watch him do his show…he was amazing. Rob Morris was the PD and he was the one that hired me for APD/MD/mid-days. During my 12-years in Nashville we had a great team. We not only enjoyed working together, we all hung out together. Literally there’d be like eight of us go to lunch every day. The camaraderie and chemistry were awesome there.
Rob Roberts, Cox Media Group: 89 WLS in the 70s. Rod Phillips, iHeartMedia: Selfishly, I’ll take KISS107, worst to first in less than two years and forced the competition to flip to Hot AC. Turn of the century success for us and a great radio run with a great group of folks.
Scotty Finck, Hollywood Records: Isn’t the answer All of Them! Start with the staffs, from the management to the Personalities. The promotions. the music. the artists. the competition. The drive to win. The drama! Every station has the breadth of that story to tell. And yes, KHJ, KROQ, Z100, KIIS and WBRU would be a great place to start. That’s right…long live WBRU! Todd Lyons, KATS: 96.5 KXRX/Seattle under the leadership of Brew Michaels. |
Erik Bradley, B96: 106.1 KMEL San Francisco from the Keith Naftaly and Hosh Gureli days. It was single-handedly the most compelling and well programmed radio station that I’ve ever listened to in my lifetime.
Java Joel, WAKS: KFRC/San Francisco, the Gerry Cagle years (1981-1984) and Kiss 108/Boston – the Sunny Joe White-era (1981-1989-ish). If the movie is half as much fun as those stations sounded, they would be box office smashes! (Runners-up: KROQ/Los Angeles, the early years and the Marc Chase-era of WFLZ, The Power Pig!). Toby Knapp, WASH: That’s tough… I’d say there are THREE series I’d want to see… DROPPING BOMBS ON BAYSHORE… The outrageous birth and totally true – and uncensored – story of WFLZ Tampa Bay’s POWER PIG. SERVING THE UNIVERSE… The Worst-To-First Launch of Z100/New York. WELCOME TO THE MOTHER SHIP… How PIRATE RADIO laid SIEGE to the City Of Angels. Heather DeLuca, WSJO: Ohhhh, this is a TOUGH one. Most of me wants to say WNBC in the early 80s when Howard Stern was there (even though we got a bit of that in Private Parts). But, locally I could go WMMR in the late 60s, WCAU Hot Hits in the early 80s, Y100 in Philly in the mid 90s. And, of course, I’d love to have been a fly on the wall during the hay day of Boss 97/Atlantic City.
Rick Vaughn, KENZ: The crew that signed on Power Pig. It got me real excited about radio. Back then I had a subscription to California Airchecks and had that stuffed mailed to me in the Northwest when I was just starting out. WFLZ was amazing back then. MJ and BJ were great, and the imaging of that station with the irreverence and attitude, it was just a different approach for a CHR, and they just crushed it.
Dom Theodore, Radio Animal Media Strategies: Music radio WLS from back in the day! So many great personalities and stories from that era. Mark Medina, Z100: Z100 mid-90s. Kobe, @kobeontheradio: Definitely WAPE in the 60s. I’ve heard stories!
Reed Phillips, Sun Media-Paducah, KY: Growing up in Kansas City, I would love the history and inside details of KQRC and how it’s gone on to perform with the same morning show for 20+ years. |
Jagger, WKSS: I like to see a deep, deep, deep documentary about the original launch of Z100 back in 1983 with Scott Shannon when he was on his “worse to first” crusade. It would be really interesting to see what the radio landscape was like before that initial run and two years later after they conquered the market. I’m sure there’s a lot of video coverage from that period. I’m sure Art Vuolo was all over it. That launch led Z becoming one of the most successful CHR stations in America and one that I was very proud to be a part of for a long time. Josh Wolff, WAEB: Pittsburgh’s legendary Rock station WDVE. They’ve been doing it for fifty years and they still dominate! It’s an amazing station.
Justin Chase, Beasley Media Group: I have two. KFRC during the “Boss Jocks” days. It was before my time, but I’m from Northern California and I got to hear a bunch of airchecks from that era from friends. I just thought it was brilliant. Also, I have to mention Power Pig in Tampa. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during that period of time when they were having that war with Q105. I’ve heard some great stories from Dom Theodore about those days, he was there. He has some great stories and tape from some of the antics Power Pig would pull off. Matt Johnson, KSLZ: Jerry Clifton era, Y100/Miami. I’ve heard so much about their legendary battles during his time there. Jon Zellner, iHeartMedia: I grew up listening to 99X, WABC, WNBC and WPLJ so any of them would be fascinating for me.
Valentine,WBHT: KIIS/LA pops into my head first, and then a second, that’s more personal, would be Y100 Miami.
John Perry, WIIL: AM1000 Chicago – 1988-1995ish. |
Frankie V, KSSX/KHTS: KISS 108 in Boston! Growing up in Boston listening to that station. Trying to sound like the personalities on that station when I dreamed of working in radio. Then getting to be on the air there on and off since 2004…. It is truly one of the most historic and legendary stations ever. I think all jocks, new and old, should see the background of how it was built and continues to flourish!
Orlando, WLLD: If I could see a Last Dance type of look, it would be the classic KROQ craziness because I heard true rockstar stories about the STAFF and WBLS for one reason, Frankie Crocker! The Jordan of Urban music and connecting with the audience.
Dan Hunt, WWPW: JAM’N 94-5/Boston in the late 90’s…. Favorite radio station on all time and reason I got into radio.
Mike “OD” O’Donnell, WKRZ: Definitely KISS 108/Boston of the eighties. All of air-personality heroes were on-air during that era. It was the station I grew up with, and inspired me to want to pursue a radio career. I was always a big fan of Matty’s, but Dale Dorman in afternoon drive was really my inspiration and one of the main reasons I got into radio.
Mark Adams, KYLD/KIOI: WNBC-AM. Howard. Imus.
Adam Rivers, WKCI: Q102/Philly and The Freak Show. When I was young I could hear them while vacationing on the Delaware beaches.
Jammer, WEZB: 97.5 PST (WPST)/Trenton, Hot Hits (98 WCAU-FM) and, Power 99 (WUSL)/ Philadelphia. Each had a different slice of the pie at their monumental height.
Jeremy Rice, WBLI: I’d do the people I grew up with: Howard Stern, Rick Dees, Scott Shannon, Casey Kasem, Mike and the Mad Dog…and as far as a radio stations, WBLI and WBAB!
Alex Tear, SiriusXM / Pandora: WDRQ, Movin’ the Motor City like Detroit moves the world…this is 93.1 D R Q! Such a unified, talented, creative and driven group. Not only a legendary team, but a great family. I’m especially proud of the many talented disciples who continue to shape our industry.
Tommy Chuck, WFLZ: The Power Pig – WFLZ! We might have to air the program in safe harbor hours though.
Randi West, WRMF: I’m going to go with my alma mater G105 in Raleigh because there were some real interesting things that went on back in the day, and the amount of talent that went through that building on to other things, it would be good to have a retrospective of those folks and the people who walked the halls.
Max Volume, KOZZ: Definitely KPPC/Pasadena. Early 70s featured the likes of the Firesign Theater doing the morning show! That’s why I got into radio. The frequency 106.7 became the “World Famous KROQ.“Next Week’s Question Of The Week:
How are you dealing with the reopening of your communities with your listeners, are you actively embracing and promoting this concept on-air?
e-Mail your responses to: jodorisio@deanemediasolutions.com or bburke@deanemediasolutions.com
