QuickCheck: 105.7 WQSR Baltimore | November 1987
Here’s another example of a great sounding Oldies station. I’m convinced that when the Oldies format really got going in the 80s, programmers really tried to re-create the old top 40 format, at least in the station imaging.
Much like WCBS-FM New York, WQSR tried mixing old and recurrents together and the result really was quite good. Would it work today? Probably not, considering that the difference in music styles is far too wide now to try. Imagine the Beatles into Nelly… yeah, wouldn’t work now.
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WQSR moved from 105.7 (licensed to Catonsville,Maryland just outside of Baltimore) to 102.7 (licensed to Baltimore and BTW a much better signal) in 2001.
Can someone please fix the link to this file so we can hear it. This link hasn’t been working since it was posted.
Okay, it works now. Sorry bout that… but folks, if something is broken I can’t fix it if I don’t know about it.
“if something is broken I can’t fix it if I don’t know about it.”
Dude, I emailed you months ago, through the email address on the main page.
As of noontime on 5/4/2005, WQSR went to an all automated format they call “JACKfm”. Their new slogan is “Playing what we want.” They have fired all the on-air staff including Steve Rouse and company, Bob Worthington, and Johnny Dark. As for the slogan, I would think that a radio station would play what the listener’s want, not just what they want. Oh well, eighteen years is a pretty good run for a station.
Specifically, the WQSR move from 105.7 to 102.7 happened in September 2001.
The oldies format as we’ve known it for the last 20 years or so is being flipped to other formats by their respective owners all across the country. The reason is quite simple: Music from the 50s & 60s is now serving a demo that advertisers no longer believe have the income or will to purchase things anymore. In short, we’re talking retirees.
That’s not to say that people don’t still enjoy the music. Problem is, wheras in the 80s and even to some extent, the 90s, pop music was still rock-based, today’s music and today’s culture simply can’t relate to the music that much of the nation’s Oldies stations are/were playing. It’s akin to nostalgia stations in the 80s & 90s. The viable end of stations’ which played music from the 40s really hit by about 1988 or so, when most WWII era listeners were in their 60s. True, some remain even today, but consider that anyone who remembered the music of, say, Glenn Miller is now probably 80+, likewise, anyone who remembers actually hearing Elvis when his music was new in the 50s & 60s is pushing 70+, and the Beatles, 60+.
That’s why the Oldies stations are dying out very quickly.
Luckilly for you all… we have the stations that played the music of these Oldies stations when it was new TOP 40 right here, the way you remember it.
I was checking out the website to see what had happened to my radio station. When I got into the car the other day and did not hear the familiar sounds of Rouse and Company I thought my kids had been playing with the radio and changed my station. When I made sure that it was on the right station I wondered if I was having a “senior” moment and could not remember the station numbers. I realized that I had everything right and something was wrong with my station. Maybe the station owners need to realize that people listen for the music AND the radio personalities. Can anyone tell me where Rouse and Company, Bob Worthington and Fast Jimi Roberts have gone to? That station now has my ear!!!
WQSR moved from 105.7 to 102.7 on the weekend of September 8-9, 2001. They were broadcasting on 102.7 & 105.7; however, on the 105.7 they were playing liners, overtop of the music, maybe every 30-45 seconds, redirecting listeners over to the new 102.7.
On September 10, 2001 they started their first full day on 102.7. I remember it so clearly because I was listening to WQSR on September 11, 2001 just prior to the terrorist attack, when the guest (I forget who now) was joking with Rouse that they were back to Show #2. Minutes later, Rouse announced that a plane had hit the WTC and that they would go directly to the news following traffic. That was before it was obvious yet the magnitude and exactly what had occurred. One of those things I will never forget.
I miss WQSR very much. The personalities, especially Bob Worthington who not only was very creative on the air, but had the best voice of any dj in town. The folks at infinity made a big mistake.
I have been a dedicated listener to Rouse and Company for many years, now I feel my morning is incomplete. It’s liking going without coffee! If music was what I wanted to listed to I would have been listening to music. I feel the station has made a big mistake! I have removed 102.7 from all my radios memories!
I searched for a long time for a station that played a great combination of 70s rock hits and 70s old school R&B, and I was thrilled when I found WQSR in the summer of 2004! No one plays those tunes and did it in a way that talked about the context of the times. I loved all the DJs, and wondered why other stations just did stale song-only formats instead of the College of Musical Knowledge, the yearbook that Johnnie Dark did, the Frog Song and all the great requests — that they actually played!! And in a timely fashion too!! I was shocked and saddened to learn about JACK-FM, and that this is a nationwide movement where they’ve fired other DJs (like Cousin Brucie at WCBS, which had a similar playlist). The sad part about the whole thing is, not all the fans are “retirees” — I’m 39 and made a special effort to tune in from 50 miles away. This is a sad day when some big corporate entity makes our community radio station (if I can call it that, living in Arlington, VA) into some 1984-like station that plays the same songs everywhere, instead of reflecting the wishes and interests of the people in the immediate area. Viacom and Infinity, for shame!!
I HAVE CHANGE TO XMRADIO FOR OLDIES FROM THE 50 60 70 80 ALL SOUNDING GOOD I DO MISS STEVE AND COMPANY I HOPE THAT THE ASS THAT CHANGED THE STATION GET FIRED AND THAT THEY ALL COME BACK