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What Were The Best CCM Station's During the 80's?
- Thread starter Retro
- Start date
Had to be WCIE for me.. I would do summer missions in Tampa Bay and listened with a grin, as I hosted a CCM show when I returned to Indiana (on the mainstream station I worked for... They gave me the time after "The Larry Black Show" left the syndication and air, due to a robbery of Larry's studio in Nashville)... It spurred me into CCM and I did that Sunday AM show until I was hired to help buildout and jock at the first Way-Fm (WAYJ in Fort Myers)....Then back to Nashville with Way-Fm (WAYM)...Larry lost the stuff to a boogie man, and God gave it back many fold....
How many full-format CCMs were there in the 80s. I can't think of many that weren't at least half preacher shows. WXIR in Indianapolis was CCM but as far as I remember also carried a lot of talk/teaching. WCFY in Lafayette, IN, the former WAZY AM and now being LMAed as a talker was kind of a mellow CCM with a few programs, such as the mandatory Focus on the Family and Bob Larsen. Seems like WCFL had a lot of preaching, too.
I was exchanging playlists with both WCFY and WCIE.
It helped our local station hit the Arbs with a 1.9 and it received quite a few sales
and remotes. But we had a good bit of the preaching blocks to run like so
many others. And an owner who apparently liked talk better..so it didn't last.
It helped our local station hit the Arbs with a 1.9 and it received quite a few sales
and remotes. But we had a good bit of the preaching blocks to run like so
many others. And an owner who apparently liked talk better..so it didn't last.
WGSF 1210 was the best local CCM station Memphis ever had. They started out in 1988 with an inspo satellite feed during a big part of the day, but as time went on they went more CHR. Unfortunately they also depended too much on programs, and eventually changed to CNN news in late 1994. It was mainly because of WVIM 95.3 going to a CCM format, so WGSF's owners decided it was time to change. I wish they were still on.
I have to vote for WMER from Meridian, Ms and WTWZ from Jackson, Ms in the early 80's into the 90's. When I moved to Dallas, there was KPBC and another station out of Plano, Tx which was KXVI. In Dallas in the mid and late 80's was the beginnings of what we now know as KLTY. Then for the late 80's when I moved back to Mississippi in the late 80's there was WHJT-Alive 93.5
KCFO in Tulsa, OK was a great CCM station in the 1980s. They had great jocks, traffic, news and they billed well. It does not hurt to be in the "Buckle of the Bible Belt" either. I don't know why they eventually went away, unless the temptation to sell to the owners of KVOO was too great. In any case, the also-ran KXOJ (which I actually liked better, personally) became the top CCM in Tulsa. KCFO was almost entirely music-driven. They had ministry tapes run on their AM.
S
Stephen Young
Guest
103.9 WCRM in the NW suburbs of Chicago was my favorite CCM station in the early 80's. I think they played a few programs but they were mostly music including a "rock" show at night. It didn't have a strong signal and I really had to work to find the sweet spot each night when I would listen. WCRM was sold in the late '80's.
WCFL 1000 AM was good too. I could get that signal better but it was AM and they played a solid block of programs in the middle of the day and at night.
WCFL 1000 AM was good too. I could get that signal better but it was AM and they played a solid block of programs in the middle of the day and at night.
I am very biased in my opinion. As the original Program Director of WXIR Love 98 in Indianapolis, I believe Love 98/WXIR was one of the best CCM stations in the country the entire time it was on the air from Nov. 1980 to June 30, 2003, its last day as Love 98 before becoming Radio Disney. We were a commercial station with traffic reports, weather reports with a local TV personality, local news, concert promotions, State Fair promotions, regular remote broadcasts using the station van, station liners voiced by Jon Rivers back in 1981, free Listener Appreciation concerts sponsored by Compassion International in which over 500 children from around the world obtained sponsorships from Love 98 listeners, "All Praise Edition" Wednesday morning drivetime in which people called in to share what Jesus had done for them, DJ's who were free to say the name of Jesus on the air but not to preach a sermon, et cetera et cetera.
gr8oldies is right about the program aspect. Unfortunately we did have a couple of program blocks. We ran a block of teaching programs Monday thru Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. and most of Sunday morning. Eventually that evening block started at 7 p.m. We had an AM daytimer that we put these programs on but programmers were getting the response from their releases on WXIR, not the AM. It would've been nice to be music 24/7 with the features I mentioned above but it wasn't to be. Too much good direct response for the programmers which meant too much guaranteed revenue for the station and its non-Christian owners.
All of us who worked at WXIR had formerly worked in secular radio and were determined to make WXIR sound as professional as we could. Our owners did not want to subscribe to the ratings in all the time they owned WXIR so I have no clue as to how we did in the ratings.
gr8oldies is right about the program aspect. Unfortunately we did have a couple of program blocks. We ran a block of teaching programs Monday thru Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. and most of Sunday morning. Eventually that evening block started at 7 p.m. We had an AM daytimer that we put these programs on but programmers were getting the response from their releases on WXIR, not the AM. It would've been nice to be music 24/7 with the features I mentioned above but it wasn't to be. Too much good direct response for the programmers which meant too much guaranteed revenue for the station and its non-Christian owners.
All of us who worked at WXIR had formerly worked in secular radio and were determined to make WXIR sound as professional as we could. Our owners did not want to subscribe to the ratings in all the time they owned WXIR so I have no clue as to how we did in the ratings.
WMER was mentioned earlier. I could get them occasionally at night, and I'm not sure when they dropped CCM, but I don't remember it lasting for very long.
This got me thinking about how some AM stations in smaller cities in the South made an attempt at a CCM format in the late 80's or early 90's but failed after a few years. I know that WJAK 1460 in Jackson, TN, WPAD 1560 on Paducah, KY, and 1060 in Tupelo, MS (I can't remember the call letters.) all made attempts. In all the cases it was several years before there would be another station with a CCM format in the areas, mostly from when satellite networks like K-LOVE came in in the late 90's or 2000's. I figured WMER fell in the same category.
I can also remember getting WCFL at times. They also seemed to be a CCM station that didn't last long. Believe it or not, there was a short period in the 80's that KAAY 1090 in Little Rock carried CCM at least at night before they went to being a Dollar a Holler station.
This got me thinking about how some AM stations in smaller cities in the South made an attempt at a CCM format in the late 80's or early 90's but failed after a few years. I know that WJAK 1460 in Jackson, TN, WPAD 1560 on Paducah, KY, and 1060 in Tupelo, MS (I can't remember the call letters.) all made attempts. In all the cases it was several years before there would be another station with a CCM format in the areas, mostly from when satellite networks like K-LOVE came in in the late 90's or 2000's. I figured WMER fell in the same category.
I can also remember getting WCFL at times. They also seemed to be a CCM station that didn't last long. Believe it or not, there was a short period in the 80's that KAAY 1090 in Little Rock carried CCM at least at night before they went to being a Dollar a Holler station.
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
skippertthomas said:
I came in on the tail end of WCIE's great period, unfortunately after the "raid", but still a pretty decent station even though they had their slow music period in the evenings that I tuned out.
Believe it or not, KSBJ had a period greatness in the early 80's - very creative stuff like "The Rock of Love", a genuine Christian rock show. A few years later, they had a Christian oldies show. Both long gone - KSBJ just a shell of its former greatness. I wasn't in Houston to hear about what happened to those excellent shows - but I know there were frequent Bill Gothard seminars in the area. No doubt somebody complained somewhere - that KSBJ was too creative, too edgy, too much fun. OK kids, we have to take our spiritual medicine now. I am back in Houston - KSBJ is not even on my presets. That wimpy CCM on satellite is better. How I wish KSBJ would use an HD-2 channel for something more creative! Now THAT would prompt a whole lot of people down here to actually buy HD radios in their car, including me!
rbrucecarter5 said:
KSBJ does do Christian Rock on Saturday nights 9pm-12mid on their "lightforce" show. I know its not like what you state they did in the past but its something at least..
Maybe if they eventually launch an HD-2 stream they can put lightforce 24/7 on there. Dallas is lucky to have a Christian rock station! Would be nice if Houston had something (and every other market)
R
rbrucecarter5
Guest
xmusicmatt said:
Thanks for the heads-up! I'll be listening and tell the youth group about it, too! At least for a few hours they have a Christian station.
Funny you mentioned Tupelo. In the nineties American Family Radio was started with one station and a satellite uplink and the second station was WQST-FM in Forest, Ms. During the nineties AFR had a station that was CCM within the station group in Tupelo.As for K-LOve, the only stations was Translator stations in Meridian and Oxford and whatever came out of Memphis. Jackson, Laurel-Hattiesburg, Greenville, Starkville, and the full power station in Meridian Came much later about 2004 or 2005. AFR was what replaced the CCM station attemted in the 80's.
I neglected to say that the AFR station that replaced the station in Tupelo was called the Jesus station.
The first AFR station at Tupelo was WAFR and when it had music it was at best inspo/light AC, but they did have more CCM and Christian rock on Saturday nights. Jackson, TN was also one of the first places to have a translator and I got to hear them at that time. They added the second station, WAJS, which was all CCM, in the late 90’s, and it was also about that time that they dropped the Christian rock on weekends on WAFR. That eventually became a CCM network that existed until AFR recently changed all their CCM stations to their new talk network.
AFR’s CCM network had a decent mix of music, but they always treated it like it was an afterthought for what to do with a second station in area. They didn’t do anything to differentiate it from the regular AFR network and had it too much of an “older” sound between the music. Over time though AFR's regular network has become more AC CCM and networks like K-LOVE, WAY-FM, and Air 1 are available in more areas, so AFR having a CCM network is probably not as necessary now.
AFR’s CCM network had a decent mix of music, but they always treated it like it was an afterthought for what to do with a second station in area. They didn’t do anything to differentiate it from the regular AFR network and had it too much of an “older” sound between the music. Over time though AFR's regular network has become more AC CCM and networks like K-LOVE, WAY-FM, and Air 1 are available in more areas, so AFR having a CCM network is probably not as necessary now.
rbrucecarter5 said:
rbrucecarter5, thanks for bringing up KSBJ. I'm aware this thread isn't particularly about KSBJ, but would anybody else that comes to this forum, would you please keep them in your prayers? I say that because effective this coming Monday, their stream will be shut down. The only other alternative for those who don't live in the Greater Houston area is through Sky Angel IPTV Radio on Channel 225. Of course, I was born in 1988, so I didn't start listening to AM/FM radio until the '90s. For anyone who wants to get back to the topic at hand for those who were listening during the '80s, please go ahead. Thank you.
WAJS was what I was thinking of when I did remember it as the Jesus Station. Going back to the 90's I remember a station out of Laurel that played CCM. They played for a little while and then went bankrupt. It was WJKS and had John Rivers do the Station ID's and had Buster Wilson (now with AFR) as the lone man on the station. They were carrying a satellite distributed thing out of Minneapolis most of the time. Another station that played CCM was WYJS out of Jackson. It went CCM for a while and then drifted from one format to another.They now play Black Gospel qas WOAD. This was about the time WHJT started as Alive 93.5. As for WTWZ, it played CCM through the 80's into the 90's and when WHJT flipped to Alive 93.5, WTWZ went to Christian Country, then to Bluegrass.
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