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WHTZ 100.3 "Z-100"
FIRST ON AIR: August 2, 1983
TRANSMITTER SITE: Empire State Building
FORMATS: Top 40 1983-1993, modern (alternative)
1994-96, top 40 1996-present
NOTABLE PERSONALITIES: Shadow Stevens, Jack the Whack, Susan Lee
Taylor, "The Jammer", Scott Shannon, Ross Britian, Dr. Judy, Diane
Prior, Linda Energy, Elvis Durand, Spanky McFarland, Magic Matthew Allen,
Hollywood Hamilton, Adam Curry, Jim Elliot, Joe Joe Morales,
A BIT ABOUT Z-100: Folks must've gotten the shock of their lives at 6AM on
August 2, 1983. What was easy listening/jazz WVNJ-FM (V enjoy by
day, V-N jazz by night) had turned into what would become the revival of top 40
radio. Instead of a sleepy elevator Muzak selection, "Eye of the
Tiger" by Survivor from the movie Rocky II blared from the radio as
Z-100's first record.
Just a year earlier, WABC 770AM--the greatest top 40 radio
station of all time--left the airwaves. WXLO ("99X") was gone;
WKTU ("92 KTU") was knee deep in disco. WPLJ was still in its
album oriented rock format; the closest thing New York radio had to a current
hit radio station was WYNY ("97 WYNY") or WPIX ("PIX
102"). Both were programmed for a more adult oriented audience.
This left a gaping hole in the top 40 radio market--and
Z-100 was there to fill it. The station opened up in its first Arbitron
book as a disappointment--placing near the bottom out of all New York radio
stations. This prompted a Z-100 "Worst to First"
campaign. Z-100, giving away prizes to some who complied, called upon listeners
to help advertise the station via signs, bumper sitckers, T-shirts and the
like.
Perhaps taking a page from what made WABC the God of Radio
that it was, Z-100 built its success on fun jingles, upbeat air personalities,
and promotions, promotions, and more promotions.
The ploy worked nicely--Z-100 quickly became the most
listened to radio station in New York City. And it stayed that way...for
a while.
Competition for Z-100's listening audience was fierce.
In the early 1980s, WPLJ had changed from its album oriented rock traditions to
a top 40, competing head to head with the Z. The two fought head on for
capture of the top 40 market, but Z-100 always won the battle. The
competition was no secret--Z-100 would refer to WPLJ as "Xerox 95"
(suggesting the station ripped off Z-100's sound).
In 1984, WRKS ("Kiss-FM") was very heavy on rap
music, and the competition was evident in the sound of Z-100. When WQHT
("Hot 103/Hot 97") took to the airwaves, Z-100 was forced to add more
dance music to its traditional top 40 fare. Again, Z-100 took shots at
its competitor, running station IDs that claimed "less repitition than the
disco station".
Z-100 pleased the top 40 audience successfully until 1994
when the station jumped on the modern ("alternative") music
bandwagon. Madonna, Michael Jackson and Paula Abdul were replaced with
the likes of Pearl Jam, Soul Asylum and Nirvana. Z-100 seemed to have
grown up with Generation X, and changed with the tastes of the audience that
made it successful.
In 1996, a total of four stations were playing some type of
alternative music: WXRK, WNEW, WAXQ as well as Z-100. As newcomer WKTU
("The New KTU") was stealing listeners away from everyone, the glut
of alternative music became excessive. Z-100 moved back to a top 40
format slowly in 1996 and was a full-fledged hit radio station by 1997.
Today, Z-100 consistently ranks among the top five radio stations in New York
and is one of the most listened to radio stations in the world.
EACH ITEM UNDERLINED IS A SOUNDFILE. CLICK IT!!!!.
1983
See AIRCHECKS below and hear Z-100’s sign on
the very first day! August 2, 1983.
1984
One of Z-100's most innovative creations was
the Z Morning Zoo, done by Scott Shannon & Ross Britian 1983-89 and a
variety of people through the 1990s. The most short-lived was Steve
Choccraine, who lassted just a few weeks.
Here's a promo for the Zoo from the 1980s.
A Z-100 sweeper from the summer of '84 stating "The party never stops, weekends are
even better on Z-100" between "Farewell My Summer Love" by
Michael Jackson and Prince's "When Doves Cry". This is from the
first full summer of Z-100's life.
When Z-100 lost its hold on first place in
the spring Arbitron books in1984, it launched a "burst back to first" campaign in the spirit of the successful "worst to first" cause.
Here's a promo for it following "Electric Avenue" by Eddie Grant in
the summer of 1984
The 5 O'clock whistle has been
played every Friday by Z-100 for the last sixteen years. Here's Shadow
Stevens doing it in 1984.
1985
During the early days of Z-100, the station
allowed callers to call in and vote for their five favorite songs. On
alternate nights, listeners voted for their three favorite MTV videos.
Here's one such show with Jack The Whack in 1985. After Twisted Sister's
"I Want To Rock", a caller announces the night's #4 song "Rhythm of The Night" by DeBarge.
In 1985, Scott Shannon had a nationally
distributed but short-lived countdown show called "Rockin' America Top 30
Countdown". It was heard in the New York are on WMTR Morristown, NJ
(Am Stereo 1250) and of course Z-100. Here's two clips from the
countdown.
1986
Here's a Sonovox ID used frequently during that era
Lisa Taylor between
"Holiday" by Madonna and "Keep Your Hands To Yourself" by
The Georgia Sattelites
This ID was used quite a bit during the
1980s. It goes Rockin at the speed of light, the hot rocking Z-100
1987
By 1987, Z-100 was feeling the pressure from
crosstown rival dance music WQHT ("Hot 103"): An ID stating "Dance to the music" between
Bon Jovi's "Edge of a Broken Heart" and "Rock Steady" by
The Whispers helps show Z-100's willingness to program dance music.
A sweeper from 1987: "Transmitting live from the top of the
Empire State Building. Hot rocking, flame throwing, Z-100". It's from the JAMS "Flamethrower" jingles
package. (Lifted from the Jack The Whack aircheck on December 28, 1987,
below).
Z-100 talking about "ten songs in a row
non-stop" between "We
Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" by Jermaine Stewart and "The
Final Countdown" by Europe
Sweeper stating "you're in the middle of ten strong songs in a row
on Z-100" between Squeeze's
"Hourglass" and Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" from the
summer of 1987
1988
Sweeper: Broadcasting live from the top of the
Gorilla Building in the summer of 1988. It bridges "Piano In the Dark" by Brenda Russell and
"Perfect World" by Huey Lewis & The News.
Following "Piano In The Dark"
(Z-100 liked that song at the time) is a quick Sonovox ID
1989
http://home.att.net/~tomasheski3/Z100Hotrocking.wav
1989 Hotrockin' Z-100 ID
JAMS sweeper from 1989: "Serving the Universe! Now live
from the top of the Empire State Building, Jo Jo Morales". This sweeper
was recorded at the beginning of the Top 100 of 1988 on January 1, 1989
1994
In 1994, Z-100 began its trek away
from 40 and to the modern rock format. Here's an ID for the station during that era
Another Z-100 ID from the '94 alternative era
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Below are "air checks",
actual recordings of the way WHTZ sounded. The air checks are
"telescoped", that is, with the music cut out so you can hear the DJs,
jingles, sweepers.
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WHTZ Z-100 Very first
day August 2, 1983 6:08 a.m.
The
beginning moments of one of New York Radio’s most storied stations! You’ll hear the transmitters tests just
before Scott Shannon officially signs the station on at 6:08 a.m. The very first songs Z-100 plays: “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, “Coming to
America” by Neil Diamond, The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” Stevie Wonder’s
“Do I Do”, “Our House” by Madness, “Der Komissar” by After the Fire, “Never
Gonna Let You Go” by Sergio Mendez, Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Coming Up
(Live at Glasgow),” “1999” by Prince, Rod Stewart’s “Passion,” “Puttin’ on the
Ritz” by Taco (which Z-100 played ad naseum in its early days),
Note the apologies for “not sounding loud
enough; listen to the first imager:
“Now, there’s a new way to spell ‘hits’”
Enjoy this 9 minute scoped aircheck of New
York Radio history.
Skinny Bobby Electric Lunch Early Summer 1985
A Z-100 "Electric Lunch" in 1985. At that
time, the station counted down the top five songs of the day. Skinny
Bobby counts down on "a beautiful Thursday". The #5 song is
"Heaven" by Bryan Adams. The aircheck breaks at the #4
song. Madonna's "Angel" is #3. Skinny Bobby talks about
news regarding Live Aid, a concert that went on simultaneously in London and
Philadelphia to help aid the homeless. The jock talks over the opening
notes of the #2 song "Hold Me" by Menudo. A sweeper shouting
"the hot rockin' Z The Flamethrower Z-100". The #1 song is
"A View To A Kill" by Duran Duran.
Note the reference to the "Live Aid" concert
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With the music in this
aircheck, you can really hear how Z-100 was feeling the heat from WQHT
("Hot 103"). "Pump Up The Volume" by M/A/R/R/S is
followed by "Fascinated" by Company B, Pretty Poison's "Catch Me
I'm Falling" and Michael Jackson's "Bad". All are dance
songs. Jack The Whack frequently uses the slogan "More Music,
Z-100" and talks about the Free Money Contest program and the Grammy
nominees from 1987.
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Jack The Whack December 28, 1987 (Part One)
Jack The Whack December 28, 1987(Part Two)
It's an early season
winter storm in New York, and Jack The Whack does a great job talking up the
excitement of the snowstorm. This aircheck represents about 40 minutes of
Z-100, therefore is broken up into two parts for faster
downloading. The check starts at about 8:55PM on that night and goes
right through Z-100's nightly "High Five At Nine". The aircheck
kicks off with Steve Winwood's "Valerie" and goes through the night's
five most requested songs: "Spotlight" by Madonna (#5) (a rare
album cut), "Faith" by George Michael (#4), "Push It" by
Salt-N-Peppa (#3), The Bangles "Hazy Shade Of Winter" (#2) and the
night's #1 song "Could've Been by Tiffany, which is the last clip of part
one.
In part two of the
aircheck is "Heartache" by Pepsi & Cherille, "(I've Had) The
Time of My Life" from the movie Dirty Dancing, and
"Honestly" by Stryper. The aircheck breaks for commercials (not
included here) and goes to a familiar "New York City Weather"
theme. There's a couple of great sweepers in this aircheck as well.
(Be patient--it takes a while to download!)
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Magic Matthew Allen Spring 1988
Magic Matthew Allen is
caught in this mini- aircheck including the five 'o clock whistle The
songs are "Da Butt" by EZ, "I Get Weak" by Belinda Carlisle
and a traffic report.
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http://home.att.net/~tomasheski4/z10088.wav
It's a warm mid-spring night in New York, and Jack the Whack
has callers help him count down the night's top five songs, which are:
"Supersonic" by JJ Fadd (#5), "Shattered Dreams" by Johnny
Hates Jazz (#4), "Angel" by Aerosmith (#3), "Dirty Diana"
by Michael Jackson (#2) and "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard
(#1). Note Jack the Whack pushing the Z-100 School Spirit contest, in
which the winning school gets to have Def Leppard perform at their school.
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MORE SOUND FILES COMING SOON!
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