Indicators of format change, radio

[radiotvnut]

Back in the '80's, there were a couple of smooth jazz/easy listening stations that my parents listened to. One was WHER 103.7 out of Hattiesburg and the other was WLIN 95.something out of Jackson. I think WHER dropped the format sometime in the early '90's, switched call letters, was sold a time or two, and now plays hard rock/heavy metal music. I think the old WHER call letters are now used by a Hattiesburg station at 99.3 that plays classic country. I think WLIN was sold in the late '80's and was turned in to a top 40 station. There was also a station in Atlanta, WPCH, that was an easy listening station that we would listen to when we'd visit relatives there. When we all went to SC a few months ago, we found an easy listening station there that sounded like what I remember hearing back in the '80's. That was the first time I've heard such a station in over 20 years.

As far as stations changing formats, the ones around here usually give no warning. It's one format one day and another format the next day. WYLS is an excellent example of this. They had local veteran DJ's that played a nice variety of old music that the FM stations wouldn't touch. At the end of one broadcast day, the new owner called a staff meeting, informed the DJ's that they were changing to black gospel the next day, and that their services were no longer needed. The DJ's didn't even have a chance to inform their listeners what was about to happen or to say goodbye.

The only exception would probably be WMOX, a local AM station that went on the air in '46. They were a rock station during the '60's and most of the '70's. They changed to country in '78 with some rock and pop music on the weekends. I remember one weekend program called "vaults of gold" that played oldies from the '40's through the '70's. Around '89-'90, they started carrying Rush Limbaugh. Over the next few years, they continued to replace the music with more and more talk shows and I knew at any moment that the music could soon end. Finally, in the mid '90's, all music was discontinued and they announced that they were now 100% news/talk. I guess you can say that I saw that format change about 5 years before it happened. And, I don't see the format changing back to music any time soon, if ever. In fact, I was complaining to someone I know who works there. I was told that back in the early '90's, their ratings were in the tank and it was either switch to a format that would sell or go belly up.