September 25 Radio History

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➦In 1933...Tom Mix was heard for the first time on NBC Radio. His show ran until June,1950.

Here's the Tom Mix tie-in to the call sign of Hubbard Radio's WTMX Chicago.

WKBI AM in St. Marys PA went on in 1950. This was the first of a group of stations that would become the Allegheny Mountain Radio Network headed up by Cary Simpson. In 1966, WKBI-FM went on the air Licensed to Ridgeway, Elk County PA's County seat.

In the 70's WKBI-FM changed formats from Top 40 to Country and at that time changed call letters to WTMX in honor of one of Hollywoods early famous cowboys of the silver screen, Tom Mix. Mix was born in Southern Elk county.

WTMX would become WKBI-FM again in 1983.

In Chicago, WCLR changed it's call sign to WTMX in 1989.

(H/T: Jim Linn Jacksonville.)

➦In 1967...Bob  Hall, Host of Music Til Dawn on WCBS 880 AM passed away.  "Music Till Dawn" premiered on April 13, 1953. WCBS announcer Bob Hall was the model for hosts on that program around the nation.



➦In 1975...While performing "Lonely Teardrops" onstage at the Latin Casino in Cherry Hill, NJ during a Dick Clark oldies revue, Jackie Wilson collapses from a heart attack, bashing his head on the stage and lapsing into a come from which he will remain until his death in 1983.

Video features Wilson on the TV Show Shindig with Billy Preston on the keyboards.

➦In 1976...Frampton Comes Alive!  by Peter Frampton stood alone at the top of the album chart for the eighth week.  Silk Degrees from Boz Scaggs was a strong second with Linda Ronstadt's Hasten Down the Wind close behind.

The self-titled Fleetwood Mac was now moving back up after 61 weeks of release.

The rest of the Top 10:  Wild Cherry, War with their Greatest Hits package, Spirit from John Denver at #7, Spitfire by Jefferson Starship, All Things in Time by Lou Rawls at #9 and Chicago X.

➦In 1978…Radio actor (The Shadow, The First Nighter Program, Heartbeat Theater) Bret Morrison died following a heart attack at the age of 66.

➦In 1989...Jacor launched "Power 93: the Power Pig" in Tampa.

A year earlier, Jacor Broadcasting bought WFLA-FM 93.3 and its sister station, WFLA-AM 970, and switched the FM’s format and calls to oldies WFLZ “Z93.”  The format lasted only about a year.

After a weekend of stunting, including an hour of an urban contemporary micro-format, WFLZ would flip to Top 40 on September 25, 1989 at 8:15 AM to compete against local CHR Q105 (the first song under the new format was "Cold Hearted" by Paula Abdul). The station became "Power 93" or "The Power Pig", and aggressively targeted Q105 with promotions such as handing out "Screw The Q" t-shirts at various on the street events.

The station took over first place in 72 days and became one of the most legendary radio stations of all time.

Power Pig WFLZ #1

The first full-time Power Pig on-air lineup in October 1989 included Dr. Don Carpenter and the “Three Little Pigs” – Jack Harris, BJ Harris, and PD Marc Chase – on the morning show. In middays was long-time Tampa radio vet Dave Mann; afternoons were led by former Q105'er Jon 'Rock N Roll' Anthony, and nights were hosted by Tim and Tom. The original Beaver Stevens held down 10pm-2am, and Russell ‘The Love Muscle’ handled overnights from 2am-6am. The Pig continued its double-entendres on the weekends, too, with Hot "Dickie" Damn, Booger, Hardin Long, Jason (Mason's illegitimate son) Dixon, Jomama Johnson, Boner, and Brian Christopher.

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Ratings for “The Power Pig” took off with listeners 12+ and 18-34 who bought specially-designed T-shirts imprinted with “Screw the Q” on them from the station’s pink-colored mobile unit dubbed “The Pig Van.”  Lawsuits ensued and, in the end, Q105 took quite a beating and switched to country in 1993. In 1995 WFLZ dropped its aggressive approach and re-imaged itself more mainstream Top 40 as “93.3 FLZ The New Music Revolution” and, in 2000, “The #1 Hit Music Channel”.


➦In 2001…XM Satellite Radio began fulltime operations. It was set to officially launch on September 12, but due to the September 11 attacks, the kickoff was postponed to the 25th.

➦In 2003...Bob Murphy broadcast his last MLB NY Mets radio broadcast

➦In 2005…Longtime radio favorite in Seattle (KOL, KJR) and Chicago (WLS, WCFL), Jerry Kay died at the age of 67.

➦In 2010…Radio-TV show announcer (Amos 'n Andy, The Adventures of Frank Race, Dr. Christian, The Sears Radio Theater, Stars over Hollywood, The Golden Days of Radio, The World Tomorrow, The Red Skelton Show, Highway Patrol, The George Gobel Show, Mackenzie's Raiders) Art Gilmore died at age 98.

➦In 2013…News correspondent (CBS, NPR, CNN) Lee Thornton, the first African American woman to cover a regular White House beat for one of the big three broadcast networks, died of pancreatic cancer at 71.