What Were The Best CCM Station's During the 80's?

[rbrucecarter5]

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.

If KSBJ's format is to your liking, then you might want to try XM/Sirius. Their CCM channel is pretty mellow like KSBJ. If you want to stream, KLTY is probably pretty similar, if they are too "hard" try KCBI. If you want something a bit harder, then try the different WAY-FM streams. They are far from being a homogenous network, some are pretty edgy, others play it safe.

The issue of royalties is going to hit a lot of ministries besides just KSBJ. So a more broadly based prayer is in order - frankly I wish the whole issue would go away - it is just one more way that the recording industry - slammed by years of people rejecting CD's that have just one good song on them - is trying to squeeze more money out of an outdated business model.

I just hope I can stream something good that is Christian in my car in a few years before the recording studio Nazis shut down all Christian streams completely through outrageous fees. I sure miss Power-FM. But with KSBJ grabbing up every open frequency here in Houston that might have gone to a ministry wanting to put Christian CHR or Christian rock on the air, it is very unlikely Houston will get a station for young people, young families, and young professionals any time soon. Maybe - KSBJ will take pity on the rest of us and put something for us on an HD-2 ----

 

[R.D.P.]

XM/Sirius Radio is a bit bland.  Their playlist is so predictable.  I can tune in and hear the same old thing, every other hour.  I usually don't listen when they're playing that "Cheesy Praise Music".  Like my good friend Derek Webb, I too detest Praise music.  Have no interest in it.  Would rather listen to Mr. Webb, instead.  His music has more meat to its message, than this repetitive Praise music that simply bores me now.

Wish I could add to the list of the best CCM stations during the 80s but I can't.  The stations we had, were mostly talk and had little to no music on them.  Even WDJC from B-Ham was too busy catering to the Health and Wealth Gospel, while playing some CCM and even Southern Gospel.  Glad that WDJC has gone to all CCM music.  Wish they would drop the Praise music though. They do play some harder music, at night.  Glad that they do it.  I'm also glad that this station plays the "Oldies" on Fridays too.  Most of the older songs do bring back some memories for me.

Speaking of Derek Webb, does anyone know when his new "Stockholm Syndrome" CD is going to come out.  Heard and read that INO had some issues with the content and is now delaying its release.  Is there any truth to this or is Mr. Webb putting on a stunt to get people interested in this new CD.  Whatever is going on, I still plan on getting this CD.  Like Mr. Webb and his no-hole barred approach to presenting the Word to God.  So what if some folks are offended by his delivery.

To Mr. Carter, I feel your pain.  Hope that Houston will soon get a Harder Edge CCM station real soon.  In a market that's bigger than mine, you would think that someone would give that format a chance and run with it.  I can understand why this format would never to come to small town America but Houston would be a perfect place for such a presentation, since the population is so big.

R.D.P. <><

P.S. Outside of WDJC, I have no other choices for Christian music, on the radio.  Glad that I have a music collection and several CD players that I can use, when I have a need for music.  Wish AFR and/or Moody would ditch the talk and go for more music.  I don't expect them too, in the foreseeable future.  May as well stop waiting for them to do it.  Even if they did go for more music again, the mature adults would get the most attention.  Us Derek Webb fans would more than likely be left out in the cold and forgotten about. So sad indeed. 

 

[anotherguyTN]

I've thought before that there is really no reason why Moody couldn't start a second network with CCM like AFR did, but it would probably as bland in its presentation as AFR was, and I get the impression that their attitude is that programs are more important than music and that someone else can do a CCM format. But then we've been through that topic before.

 

[R.D.P.]

That's so true Anotherguy.  Moody radio is a great example of what you're speaking about.  Our local station manager for WRNF 89.5 FM, just prior to signing this station on late 2007, said that people could download and/or get their music from anywhere.  Our middle name is "Bible" and we want more "Teaching" on here. 

Not to slam this local manager but some of us have a hard time getting the newer songs from Wal-Mart and/or One Way Book Store, since their music departments are so small and don't have much variety in them.  Some of us may not have the time and/or resources needed to download the music from the Internet.

Glad that Moody is here but wish they would adapt a new attitude and play more of the upbeat music.  However I won't hold my breath for that to happen, Mr. Cater.  If Preaching and Teaching pays their bills, then more power to them. 

R.D.P. <><



   

 

[rtetro]

My vote would be for WZZD in Philadelphia. The station took an AC approach to CCM and did extremely well in the ratings at the time. The station was run by Communicom Corp of America, which was owned by Ken Palmer - a well known face in the glory days of Top 40 radio (ie., KIMN, Denver). Ken was a real radio person who knew programming, promotions, and just about everything else that it took to make a successful radio station, even in the Christian realm.

All of WZZD's on-air, management, programming, promotions, and engineering people came from secular radio and had what it took to make the station sound great.

WZZD was much different from it's sister station, WWDJ in New York City. It was an entire different approach. Both worked well for their respectful markets.

 

[xmusicmatt]

I just hope I can stream something good that is Christian in my car in a few years before the recording studio Nazis shut down all Christian streams completely through outrageous fees. I sure miss Power-FM. But with KSBJ grabbing up every open frequency here in Houston that might have gone to a ministry wanting to put Christian CHR or Christian rock on the air, it is very unlikely Houston will get a station for young people, young families, and young professionals any time soon. Maybe - KSBJ will take pity on the rest of us and put something for us on an HD-2 ----

You should check out my online station, It's in the itunes tuner "XMusicOnline.Com" It's a CHR/Rock Mix. There ocassionaly is an AC song but I am very selective in what I program.

 

[ECRadioGuy]

I heard WCIE on a vacation to FL when I was a kid and it was a great station. However, a station that was not mentioned but I think should be was 105.3 and later 107.1 WXRI in the Norfolk, VA market. It was owned by CBN but had very good presentation and a good music mix. They were also (I believe) the first station to play wall-to-wall Christmas music from Thanksgiving to New Year's (it was all types too).

 

[Ibeenallover]

Heh... a friend of mine just introduced me to this site. Finally! A central site where I can catch up on all the insider muck of Christian radio! IF any of you remember me (Dave Irelan), gimme a shout. I'm an old-school Christian radio vagabond: started my career at WIBI in Carlinville IL back in 1979 the summer before my senior year in high school, and from there wandered over to sister station WBGL in Champaign-Urbana, and on to post-WQFL station WNDZ up in the south Chicago suburbs, did some sales for WQFL/Rockford and KADI/Springfield, MO, filled in for Jim Darling at KSBJ while he was recovering from a heart attack, and then on to KRDS-AM/FM in Phoenix, KCBC in central California, and a PM Drive stint at KLZ/Denver. I also did some part-time work at WNDA for a year or so in Huntsville, AL. My last CCM radio gig was at WFIX-FM in the Muscle Shoals quadroplex in NW Alabama. So, anyone recognize the name here?

Anyway, back on topic.

There was also KYMS-FM in Orange County, California. I never got to hear it myself, but KRDS-AM/FM in (more or less) the Phoenix metro area were sister stations. KYMS had a (relatively) long history as a CCM trend-setter. The owner wound up selling KYMS due to financial problems in his real-estate development business during the time I worked for KRDS, and then sold off the KRDS duo sometime in 1995 after I left. KRDS-FM was a dinky Class-A FM with a transmitter site out of Wickenburg, AZ some 60 miles northwest of Phoenix, so it was always a stretch to call it a "Phoenix metro" station. But from what I recall, good ol' K-Love bought a station out of Casa Grande (to the southeast of Phoenix on the same channel, hence KRDS' signal limitations), and then came to some sort of deal for the KRDS-FM signal to go dark so the Casa Grande signal could expand. But I never knew the details of all that for sure. All I know is it was a blast rocking out to stuff like Mark Farner's Christian-lyric remake of "Some Kind Of Wonderful" and all the other stuff.

 

[MightyFrenchman]

Heh... a friend of mine just introduced me to this site. Finally! A central site where I can catch up on all the insider muck of Christian radio! IF any of you remember me (Dave Irelan), gimme a shout. I'm an old-school Christian radio vagabond: started my career at WIBI in Carlinville IL back in 1979 the summer before my senior year in high school, and from there wandered over to sister station WBGL in Champaign-Urbana, So, anyone recognize the name here?

Hello Dave. Your name sounds familiar but I don't know you. I'm several years older than you but I recognize the call letters & towns of the first 2 stations where you worked. My hometown is Decatur, Illinois, just 45 minutes from Champaign Urbana where WBGL is. I graduated from SIU Carbondale in 1976 with a degree in radio-television. My wife & I met at SIU & both of us became Christians while students there. Of course Carbondale isn't far from Carlinville. I once went to the IBI campus for an Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship fall retreat. CCM had a big influence on my taking "religion" seriously, particularly an outdoor concert with Ron Salsbury & the J.C. Power Outlet at the SIU Student Center. I became a born again Christian thru Inter-Varsity about a year & a half later. My "bio" is on page 1 of this topic. Good to "meet" you Dave!

 

[Tyke]

The ones that stood out to me were KYMS-FM in SoCal, WCRM-FM in suburban Chicago (maybe the best fulltime CCM-based album rock station I ever heard, with only 1-hr. of talk with Swindoll and Dobson), WCBW-FM in St. Louis, KBRN-AM in suburban Denver, and the early days of WAY-FM in Ft. Myers, Florida.

I just found an online station with a very wide format that's a great mix of new and old. It's The Spirit, and you can listen to it at www.kezk.com. It looks like it's the HD2 station for CBS-St. Louis AC station KEZK-FM. It has a great audio player that also lets you access all the CBS markets by city and by format, along with all the AOL and Yahoo! stations. It's much easier to navigate than Clear Channel's player or any others that I've listened to.

To me, they sound like an adult hits CCM station, and I've heard them play some mainstream artists like U2, Robert Randolph, The Fray, Lifehouse, Mat Kearney, and others. And they play some really good oldies that I haven't heard in a long time, like Daniel Amos, Randy Stonehill, Parable, The 77's, Sweet Comfort Band, and others.

 

[GeneSavage]

I throw in another vote for Love 98, KCFO... they were a 100KW commercial powerhouse & kicked the crud out of KXOJ (even though they were more mellow).

Indeed the lure of life on a beach was too much for the owners, and so after about a decade (in 1987) they sold to KVOO.

Love 98's shadow was so large in the Tulsa market that when an AM station (1530 KXTD) came on a couple of years later with CCM, their slogan was "the station you've been waiting for!" If they could have been Love 98, they would have been!

...It was a directional AM daytimer from out of town, and died a horrible death.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

rbrucecarter5, thanks for bringing up KSBJ. I'm aware this thread isn't particularly about KSBJ,

If KSBJ's format is to your liking, then you might want to try XM/Sirius. Their CCM channel is pretty mellow like KSBJ.

It's been a long time since this thread began - but I thought I would add KSBJ to the list of great CCM stations in the 80's. With true CHR in the mix, shows like the Rock of Love, and later their Christian oldies show, it used to be quite creative and a great CCM station. As I have discovered recently, they have wimped out to praise and worship. But a nod to the great station they used to be is definitely in order.

 

[MightyFrenchman]

I throw in another vote for Love 98, KCFO... they were a 100KW commercial powerhouse.

I never got to hear Love 98 KCFO but my general manager in Indianapolis had! He was so impressed with KCFO that when we launched our commercial CCM
station WXIR in 1980 at 98.3 on the FM dial, guess what our name was? That's right, Love 98 Indianapolis! Nobody remembered our call letters WXIR but everybody knew Love 98. And "Love 98" continued until June 30, 2003.

 

[richllewis]

I just remembered a station in Jackson, Ms called WJXN, During the 70, 80's and 90's they did both inspirational christian music and teaching and preaching music. The AM is now dead and the FM of the late 90's and 2000 was taken over by an outfit in Memphis and once was black gospel called magic 100.9. But after a while they became K-Love. And in honor of the Colonel as WJXN-AM was called, they even kept the FM's call letters, WJXN-FM Another station I remember is WKKE. It was doing contemporary Christian music in the 70's. What was WKKE is now WJNT doing talk.

 

[richllewis]

I just remembered a station in Jackson, Ms called WJXN, During the 70, 80's and 90's they did both inspirational christian music and teaching and preaching music. The AM is now dead and the FM of the late 90's and 2000 was taken over by an outfit in Memphis and once was black soul called magic 100.9. But after a while they changed to K-Love. And in honor of the Colonel as WJXN-AM was called, they even kept the FM's call letters, WJXN-FM Another station I remember is WKKE. It was doing contemporary music in the late 70's. It is now WJNT doing talk.

 

[anotherguyTN]

I mentioned WGSF 1210 in Memphis earlier, and got to thinking about some of the other stations that were in the Memphis area from the late 70's until K-LOVE became the only option for CCM radio.

There was also WMSO, that started on 1590, then moved to 630, and eventually 640, from the late 70's to 1986. They had what was probably the best signal of any AM CCM station in Memphis when they were on 630 and 640. When they had music it was great, but they were hampered with too many dollar a holler type programs. They eventually sold to Bott Broadcasting, who is paid programming, but at least for the most part it was better quality programs, and it still is today.

When WMSO was sold to Bott and became WCRV there were a lot of disappointed and angry listeners who wanted CCM back, but Bott wouldn't budge. Looking back I know the previous owners really deserved more of the blame for selling out to a group that had no intention of keeping a CCM format, and that Bott knew nothing about doing a CCM format. It was almost two years later in late 1988 before WGSF 1210, who I mentioned earlier, brought back a CCM format. The previous owners of 640 made up for their mistake though in the late 90's when they started WYLT 94.9, which eventually became the first K-LOVE station in Memphis in 1999.

There was also KSUD 730, which had been a Southern gospel station and gradually changed to CCM in the late 80's and early 90's. Here again, the music was good when they had it, but there were too many programs of the dollar a holler type. They also had an FM station on 94.7 for a short time in the late 90's, but sold to K-LOVE in 2000. The FM station became the second K-LOVE station in Memphis. The AM station was changed to more classic CCM and programs so as not to be in direct competition with K-LOVE until 2003 when it eventually was changed to K-LOVE as well. In 2005 730 was sold and became a sports talk station, which it still is today.

There was also WVIM 95.3, which changed to CCM in 1994 and caused WGSF to change formats. They were unusual in that they had a normal CCM format in the daytime and Spanish language Christian programming at night. With K-LOVE coming into Memphis they eventually sold and became an oldies and eventually country format.

In some ways I miss CCM being on AM radio because at the time there were no CCM stations in other parts of west TN where I lived, and I could get the AM CCM stations out of Memphis. There are FM stations and translators throughout the area now and I'm thankful for that, but I miss the AM CCMs out of Memphis.