Ten Great Radio Battles Of The ’80s and Early ’90s

Whatever CBS’ newly launched CHRs may do in Los Angeles and New York, they’ve had the additional effect of reigniting broadcasters’ interest in radio battles beyond their own backyard — no small accomplishment in these dismaying times. The WHTZ (Z100) vs. WXRK (Now 92.3) battle isn’t just the first time in a while that the out-of-market PDs I talk to have wanted to discuss what’s going on in New York radio, it’s also the first time in a long time that so many have obviously made the effort to listen themselves.

WXRK and KLSX (Amp 97.1) Los Angeles have given the format battle new currency after 10 to 15 years of relative dormancy, during which the best way to dismantle a competitor wasn’t to out-program or out-promote them, but just to buy them and fire everybody, even if they were winning. (Or particularly if they were winning.) All of which got me thinking, of course, of other format battles that were particularly influential for me.

A lot of what we remember as “radio battles” are revealed over the years to be merely attacks from which an incumbent station never recovered. WRBQ (Q105) Tampa’s response to “Power Pig” WFLZ, in retrospect, looks pretty typical – a few months of refusing to budge followed by a period of overreaction. During the first phase, it was much more exciting as a radio person to hear WFLZ. Then it was exciting to hear Q105, but for the wrong reasons.

So here are ten great format battles – some well-known, many less so. It’s hard to pick only ten, of course, so here’s the criteria:

* I kept my list to the ’80s and early ’90s – after I started to understand what I was hearing on the radio; before the implosion of Top 40, consolidation, and the backlash from the ugly tenor of some battles put a damper on format wars. That, of course, leaves out most legendary AM Top 40 battles and a lot of today’s best format wars. But I’m still interested in hearing your thoughts on all eras.

* The stations had to remain evenly matched for at least a year or so, which rules out some exciting format launches like KPWR (Power 106) Los Angeles, WMZQ Washington, D.C., and WBZZ (B94) Pittsburgh where the competition didn’t immediately rise to the challenge.

* The list is limited to markets that I lived in, visited regularly, or at least had a regular aircheck connection in. So no WLOL v. KDWB Minneapolis, although it would likely be on many of your lists. And there’s a lot from great radio markets like Detroit and Houston. But I lived in L.A. at the time and none of its battles made the list.

* It wasn’t my intent, but the list here ends up leaning heavily on CHR, Urban (or something in between). Might have just been a function of my own listening habits in my 20s, but the ’80s also weren’t a great time for Rock radio in general.
Some radio people remember radio battles for the on-air attacks – or the off-air ugliness in the station parking lot – they engender. Mine are as much distinguished by their on-air and promotional energy, and by the musical changes they sparked.

Sins of omission are inevitable here, and apologized for in advance; (I didn’t try to name every great jock who came through a station, for instance.) The list is chronological:

1) Houston’s five-way CHR battle of spring 1980 (and, to an extent, the whole market). There was KRBE, a ’70s high-energy holdover under Clay Gish where the band Kiss was still a core artist. (Not a bad thing.) KRLY was evolving from Disco to Top 40 and doing one of the first “outrageous stunt” contests. The new KFMK was an unusual mix of CHR and Urban AC. There was also KAUM and KILT-AM, both in their last year as Top 40. It was also a time of incredible musical cross-polination. Country KIKK played “Fire” by the Pointer Sisters. Urban KMJQ (Majic 102)–itself a dynasty at that time–played “Ride Like the Wind” by Christopher Cross.

2) WRQX (Q107) vs. WPGC Washington, D.C., between winter ’80 and ’81 – Q107 had debuted a year earlier, but finally caught fire in 1980 as a “Rock 40” outlet under Alan Burns. They were pitted against WPGC, a relatively low-key CHR (like most) in the late ’70s that stepped up its energy level under one Scott Shannon, matching Q107’s unusual night jock Uncle Johnny with a then little-known Don Geronimo. Then in 1981, Q107 segued to AOR for a year and WPGC went AC and suddenly D.C. had no Top 40 station.

3) WBLS vs. WKTU (and WXLO) New York in late ’80 – “Disco 92” ‘KTU barely had time to enjoy its stunning market upset of 1978-79 when Frankie Crocker came back to WBLS and cemented its “what will they play next” reputation. (It’s during that time I remember hearing both the recently mourned John Lennon and the just-exploding Bruce Springsteen in WBLS’ music promos.) Crocker was the definition of swagger–25 years before it became a buzzword–but WKTU had its own. (The liners called it “Number One on Earth.”) WXLO was the third Urban that couldn’t get traction during this time, but it still had unusual, interesting imaging. When Don Kelly and Barry Mayo converted it to WRKS (98.7 Kiss) the next year with similar music to its rivals but a more codified presentation, the battle would take another turn.

4) Detroit’s four-way Urban FM battle in 1982-83 — WGPR was rough hewn but the home of the Electrifyin’ Mojo, who outdid Crocker for eclecticism and made the B-52’s a core Urban artist in Detroit for several years. WDRQ usurped them first under PD Brian White and MD Lisa Orlando, then WJLB, which had been on FM for a few years, finally got itself together under new GM Verna Green and PD James Alexander and urged listeners to “tune up” from 93.1 to 97.9. In between there was WLBS–first a WBLS clone and then an Urban/Alternative hybrid! And, in the background, a CHR battle between Paul Christy’s WABX, Mike Joseph’s WHYT and Pat Holiday’s CKLW–which got off six more good months as an AM music station.

5) Toronto’s AM Top 40 battle of the early ’80s – It’s still a touchstone for most Canadian broadcasters today. CHUM (Rock 40, like WLS Chicago, but maybe even better in 1981) and CFTR (more mainstream and doing the then-mind-blowing “Commercial Free Sundays”) get the attention. But I always thought nearby CKOC Hamilton was even hotter.

6) Houston’s AM Top 40 battle of summer/fall ’82 between John Lander’s KKBQ (79Q) in a six-month sneak preview of what was to come on AM and Clay Gish’s short lived but no less interesting KYST. R&R obligingly printed both listen lines.

7) Country KILT vs. KIKK-FM Houston throughout the ’80s — At a time when Country was finding its place on FM with a very AC-like presentation, the Houston stations at least enlivened it with great voices and great competitive marketing. More CHR-flavored Country stations in the late ’80s like KMLE Phoenix, KCYY (Y100) San Antonio, and WYAY/WYAI (Y104/Y106) Atlanta took the format to a new place, but this is the one that gave the format its excitement until suddenly Country format battles were everywhere, and often as fierce as CHR wars.

8) WQUE (Q93) vs. WYLD New Orleans in the late ’80s – When a Churban station came to town in that era, the heritage Urban FM didn’t always recover. WYLD did more than that under PD Ron Atkins — ultimately recapturing the lead until a duopoly sent them to Urban AC. It was Atkins’ musically aggressive tenure that prompted then Q93 consultant Jerry Clifton to remark that while anybody could tighten the list, very few people could expand it and find 50 records that deserved to be on the air.

9) WHYT vs. WDFX (the Fox) Detroit in the late ’80s/early ’90s – Okay, so having been in Detroit on the day that “Step by Step” by New Kids on the Block came out seems like a barren source of amusement now, but these two stations made it seem like a big deal then. For a few years, both stations sounded like a throwback to Motor City CHR of 15 years earlier (not surprisingly since former CKLW PD Bill Hennes was involved), each fighting to get the new novelty/reaction record on first. (The war finally ended when WDFX went more adult and, as I remember, decided to let WHYT have “Your Mama’s On Crack Rock” by Disco Rick & the Dogs to itself.)

10) WHTZ (Z100) vs. WPLJ (Mojo Radio) in the early ’90s — Z100 vs. WPLJ was a classic grudge match of almost a decade’s duration but its most intriguing incarnation was its last. Scott Shannon returned to New York, dug in the crates and filled Mojo with Jack-like segues between lost ’70s and ’80s titles and today’s reaction records. (I can’t remember whether I actually heard Grand Funk and the K.L.F. together, but I do remember that they were both there for a moment.) Z100 responded immediately, going for its “oh wow” records and becoming “The New Sound of Z100.” Neither bucked CHR’s decline for long. WPLJ went Hot AC shortly thereafter and Z100 might as well have for a year or so.

Only a lack of space and/or wanting to stick to those battles I observed more closely excludes the following:
* WBCN Boston’s surprise early ’80s resurgence against “Kickass” WCOZ by sacrificing only a little of its eclecticism;
* KDWB vs. WLOL Minneapolis — Two well-matched stations that launched many careers. But I only heard them at Conclave time;
* WIOQ vs. WOGL during Philly’s oldies explosion of 1987-88;
* WIOQ (Q102) vs. WEGX (Eagle 106) a year later in a mini-version of the Tampa battle;
* KMEL vs. KYLD San Francisco in the late ’80s/early ’90s;
* KZZP, KKFR (Power 92) and KOY-FM (Y95) Phoenix from the same time;
* WXKS (Kiss 108) vs. WZOU Boston, also late ’80s/early ’90s;
* KMJK (Majic 107) vs. KKRZ (Z100) Portland, Ore., around 1984;
* Urban WGCI-FM Chicago vs. WBMX (and even, for a while, WJPC-AM) throughout the ’80s;
* Baton Rouge, La.’s three-way Urban battle of the mid-’80s;
* KKBQ (93Q), KRBE, and KNRJ (Energy 96.5) in the late ’80s when Houston became an Alternative hotbed and stations were battling to be first with the new Depeche Mode record (or even the new song by Celebrate The Nun);
* KKBT (the Beat) Los Angeles vs. KPWR (Power 106) in the early ’90s;
* WZOU vs.WXKS (Kiss 108) Boston in the late ’80s/early ’90s as Steve Rivers and Sunny Joe White traded places;
* WGH vs. WNVZ (Z104) Norfolk, Va., in the late ’80s — Somehow included John Mellencamp’s grandma singing on one of the promos meant to characterize the rest of the market as too old. But also one that got ugly enough to end up in court.

I’ve started off the comments section with the help of KSCS Dallas APD/MD Chris Huff, Hispanic Market Wekly’s Adam Jacobson, and Hz So Good author Rich Appel. And now it’s time for you to pick your battles. (And no need to limit yourself to the ’80s and ’90s, just because I did.)