rjc
New Member
Posts: 34
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Post by rjc on Nov 6, 2008 16:18:28 GMT -5
I'm bumping this thread. Any "radio rivalries" to add to the mix? ;D
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Post by johntravolta on Nov 10, 2008 0:24:50 GMT -5
WRKA vs. WKXF circa 1989??
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Post by greghahn on Dec 16, 2008 17:42:09 GMT -5
WRKA vs. WKXF circa 1989?? I was working at WRKA in 1989, and I don't remember that one. Wasn't WKXF an Eminence station? There was no rivalry there, at least none that we were aware of.
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Post by greghahn on Dec 16, 2008 18:45:03 GMT -5
WRKA vs WVEZ was a HUGE rivalry that started in the early 80s and continued until 1999 when Cox bought WVEZ. This wasn't just an on-air rivalry. It extended to sales and everything else.
It may have started in the Spring of 1984, when WRKA was the #1 station in Louisville. When that book came out the owners of WRKA immediately started seeking a stronger signal. They started negotiating to purchase WVEZ, and by 1985 had signed an agreement to do so, and spin off the 103.1 signal to another buyer. (At that time, you couldn't own two FMs in the same market, so 103.1 had to be sold.)
The WRKA station van was repainted, "FM 107 WRKA" and thousands of dollars worth of stationery and business cards were printed with the same logo. But when they went to the closing in early 1985, the buyers of the 103.1 signal announced they didn't have the money! The deal promptly fell through.
We tried again to buy that property in 1988 or 89, this time with 790 AM. I got a phone call one day from our GM (Mike Kirtner) saying that he was taking the president of our company (long before Cox) to the airport and they stopped by WAKY's site on the way and he got his car stuck in the field! They were out by the east tower in a Lincoln Town car, stuck in the mud.
I had to drive the van over there. The two of them took the van to the airport and left me to get a tow truck for the Lincoln. I was friends with Jerry Shea, the CE of WAKY and WVEZ at the time, and here I was stuck in the mud in the middle of his antenna array! Somehow I got that car towed out of there without him finding out about it. (And I guess the transmitter neighbors didn't notice the WRKA van driving in and out.)
WRKA went oldies in 1989 as a direct result of WVEZ dropping it's "Format 41" format and going live in direct competition with WRKA's Hot AC format. I know, I was there.
Through the years there was always something going on between the two stations. It ended after Cox purchased WVEZ in 1999 and moved the two into adjacent studios in 2000. A major topic of discussion that year was how we could make the two morning shows get along!
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