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Overview of the events of 1993 in radio
The year
1993 in radio
involved some significant events.
Events
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- January
- The
Quad Cities
' KSTT call letters are retired as 1170 AM is given the new call sign KJOC, reflecting that station's all-sports format. The station has been simulcasting
WXLP
's FM signal for the past four years, although its sports programming has been steadily increasing during this time.
- WPAT
and
WPAT-FM
Paterson, NJ
/
New York City
quietly complete their evolution from
Beautiful Music
to down-tempo
Adult Contemporary
, still known as Easy 93.
- 4 January ?
WOWF
/Detroit officially complete their flip from Top 40/CHR to
talk
as "Wow FM."
- 6 January ? After 5 days of
stunting
with all-
Garth Brooks
music, rhythmic CHR-formatted
WMXP
/Pittsburgh flips to country as "K-Bear", WKQB.
- 10 January ?
Denver
gets its second local country outlet when
KDHT
completes its move-in to the market and flips to "Big Dog 92.5."
- 15 January ? KONC/Phoenix flips from classical to modern rock. A few weeks later, on 1 February, cross-town rival KFMA flips to beautiful music.
- 25 January ? After stunting with all-
Elvis
music for 3 days, Top 40/CHR-formatted
KFXD-FM
/
Boise
flips to adult contemporary.
- 26 January ?
Toronto
got its first country-formatted FM station when
CISS-FM
signs on the air.
- February ? KZKZ/
Ft. Smith
flips from album rock to gospel, while KTEZ/
Lubbock
flips from beautiful music to country.
- 2 February ? Pittsburgh picks up its third country outlet, as
WORD-FM
's former 104.7 frequency flips from religious programming and became "Rebel 104.7", WXRB.
- 5 February
- WODZ
/Memphis flips from oldies to country as "Froggy 94", WOGY.
- Top 40/CHR-formatted
KXXR
/Kansas City changes call letters and rebrands as KISF, "Kiss 107.3."
- 7 February ?
KLZR
/
Lawrence, Kansas
flips from satellite-fed Hot AC to modern rock
- 15 February ? WXQL/Jacksonville flips to Urban AC
- 19 February ?
KBEQ
/Kansas City drops its top-40 format of 20 years as "Q-104" to go country as "Young Country 104." It will initially be simulcast on KBZR 1030, which has been airing
Z-Rock
. The "Q-104" handle will return a few years later, but the format will remain country.
- 23 February ?
KZGZ
(9.75 FM) in
Agana, Guam
signs on the air for the first time. The first format is
rhythmic top 40
music as "Power 98".
- March
- After 40-plus years in its hometown,
KFMH
(99.7 FM) moves its studios from
Muscatine, Iowa
to
Davenport
.
- Cleveland-based Malrite Communications announces it will merge with Shamrock Broadcasting. The merger will be completed in August.
- 8 March ? KKNB/
Lincoln
signs on with a modern rock format.
- 10 March -
- 12 March ? After 10 years in the Top 40/CHR format (with a few moniker and format modifications), WEGX/
Philadelphia
becomes
smooth jazz
-formatted
WJJZ
. Three days later, struggling
AC
WKSZ
fills the format void by flipping to "Z100." However, due to the presence of nearby
WHTZ
in New York (which is also located on 100.3 FM), the "Z100" moniker will be modified to "Y100".
- 2 April
- 5 April
- 19 April ? WAQZ/Cincinnati flips from album rock to modern rock.
- 30 April ?
Virgin Radio
, originally called Virgin 1215, is launched nationally in the United Kingdom on 1215 kHz at 12.15pm by
Richard Branson
. It subsequently becomes the most listened-to online radio station in the world.
- 11 May ?
CHR
-formatted
WZOU
/
Boston
shifts to
rhythmic CHR
as "Jam'n 94.5", WJMN.
- 28 May ? At 4 PM,
WOWF
/Detroit drop their 5-month-old talk format and flip to country, becoming one of the first "Young Country" stations.
- 3 June ? Atlantic Ventures, Stoner Broadcasting and Multi Market Communications all merge to form American Radio Systems, consisting of 16 stations in 7 markets.
- 9 September ? Cox and CBS make a swap involving the Dallas and Tampa radio markets. Cox receives AOR WYNF 94.9 "95 YNF" in Tampa from CBS to pair with its WWRM "Warm 107.3", while CBS receives KLRX "Lite 97.9" in Dallas from Cox to pair with its KTXQ "Q-102." KLRX flips to classic rock as KRRW "Arrow 97.9" on 15 October (becoming the second station to use that branding), while Cox moves the "Warm" format from 107.3 to 94.9 and launches 1970s hits WCOF "107.3 The Coast."
- 10 September ? CBS installs the very first 70s-based
classic hits
-formatted "
Arrow
" station on
KCBS-FM
/Los Angeles, who drop their 4-year old
oldies
format.
- 22 September ?
WLUP-AM
/Chicago moves their comedy/talk programming over to
their FM sister station
, and flips to
sports talk
as WMVP.
- October
- Memphis gets its sixth urban-formatted station when WOGY-AM drops the simulcast with
its FM sister station
and flips to urban oldies as "The Juice", WJCE.
- Carl Hirsch launches his new radio group venture, OmniAmerica Communications.
- 11 October
- Westwood One announces it will acquire Unistar Radio Networks for $101.3 million; in addition, Westwood One will sell a 25% equity stake to
Infinity Broadcasting
for $15 million.
- KPOI/Honolulu flips from album rock to modern rock.
- 25 October ?
Smooth jazz
-formatted
KHIH
/Denver flips to religious programming; the format void will be filled by AC-formatted
KHOW-FM
a few days later.
- November
- WWKS
/Pittsburgh flips from classic rock to hard rock.
- Booth American Company and Broadcast Alchemy announce plans of a merger, with the newly combined company getting 11 stations in 7 markets and $160 million. In addition, Metroplex Communications will merge with Clear Channel, a deal worth $53 million.
- 10 November ? KQBR/Sacramento drops country for
smooth jazz
- 12 November ? After 23 years in the country format,
KLAC
/Los Angeles flips to Unistar's
adult standards
"AM Only" format.
- 15 November ? Top 40/CHR-formatted WYAV/Myrtle Beach flips to
classic rock
, and became an affiliate of
The Howard Stern Show
.
- 19 November ? The "Arrow" format is expanded to two adult contemporary-formatted stations in two markets; in Washington, D.C.,
WLTT
adopts the format, while in Houston,
KLTR
flips to the format four days later.
- 16 December ?
96WEFM
begins broadcasting in
Trinidad and Tobago
.
- 31 December ?
RIAS Berlin
closes down following
German reunification
.
Debuts
[
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]
November
[
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- 1:
Flagler College
's
WFCF
/88.5 begins broadcasting with a 12-hour-per-day schedule and a power level of 6 kilowatts (later to be upped to 10 kW)
Endings/Closings
[
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- Bill Ballance
retires from radio after more than 50 years in the industry.
- DZCA 1170
finally ends due to lack of funding.
[1]
April
[
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- 28:
Salty Brine
, longtime morning host at
WPRO
does his last program on that station.
September
[
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- 3 ? Final broadcast of Unistar's "Solid Gold Country," a five-day-a-week country gold program, after 10 years, the last 8-1/2 of which were as a daily one-hour program. The final show's topic spotlights songs from award-winning albums.
- Final broadcast of
Bit, byte, gebissen
, a German program on computer topics, produced by the
Bayerischer Rundfunk
(Bavarian Broadcasting).
Births
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Deaths
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]
- 25 November: Harry Elders, 84, American radio actor and announcer.
[2]
- 28 November:
Garry Moore
, 78, American entertainer, game show host and comedian.
[3]
- 28 December:
William L. Shirer
, 89, American war correspondent.
See also
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References
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