Sunny Joe White, WXKS-FM Kiss 108 Medford/Boston | November, 1989

In the history of Boston radio, perhaps no other Program Director was as successful or famous as “Sunny” Joe White. Hired by Ritchie Balsbaugh to launch Disco “Kiss 108″ in 1978 from the ashes of Beautiful Music WWEL-FM 107.9, White took Boston’s first Disco station straight to number 1. By late 1979, as the Disco fad faded into oblivion, White took Kiss in a new direction, and by mid-1980, Kiss was straight-ahead Top 40, where it remains as of this writing.

Sunny Joe White’s success with Kiss 108 really is unparallelled, at least from a longevity standpoint. While the decade of the 70s saw WRKO as the mainstream Top 40 outlet, RKO never achieved the ratings or fame that Kiss did. At one point in the 1983, Kiss OWNED the CHR format in a four station race that included WHTT, WZOU, Kiss, and even for a time, WROR 98.5, which tried the format for a while in ‘83 before returning to AC.

But this ‘check is from 1989. While personnel changes and a loss of CHR competition would mark the 90s, Kiss is still going strong, in a mainstream battle between itself and crosstown WZOU Z-94. White, in addition to PD was also the night jock, in a position that he would hold a little while longer before a dispute with Balsbaugh would force him out in the 90s, only for him to wind up at Fairbanks’ WVBF.

Kiss really cooks here. White is returning from vacation and is having a lot of fun. The music rotation leans a bit more rhythmic, but the Rolling Stones make an appearance, as does Starship and a few other Rock dinosaurs.

Runs 7:09, scoped. Courtesy of Robyn Watts and “East Coast Airchecks”

Dale Dorman, WXKS-FM Medford/Boston (Kiss 108 FM) | May 1, 1999

What teens, do you suppose, knew that in 1999, one of their favorite DJs was in his 60s? Dale Dorman is now semi-retired and doing weekends at WODS, but at the time of this airchecks, he was at the tail end of a 20+ year run as the Afternoon Drive jock at Boston’s “Kiss-108 FM”.

Dorman is one of those jocks who made it big in the RKO chain of stations back when personality really mattered. Once the Morning Show host at WRKO in it’s top 40 heyday, Dorman also spent time doing West Coast top 40 at KFRC San Francisco in the late 60s, and after WRKO was the morning guy at Fairbanks’ WVBF in it’s “F-105″ incarnation.

Over 9 minutes scoped from the original 30, here’s Uncle Dave, STILL doing top 40 and sounding like he’s relevant and loves the music despite being generations older than his main audience. And perhaps the point of this is that great talent still commands an audience regardless of his or her age, and that just because a certain approach appears outdated, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still work. For radio management, there’s an obvious lesson in this. And you know what it is

QuickCheck: J.J. Wright, WXKS-FM Kiss-108 FM Boston | 1990

Thanks again to Robyn Watts for this four minute flashback to J.J. Wright’s afternoon drive show on Richie Balsbaugh’s ORIGINAL Kiss station (not Clear Channel’s copycats). Wright sounds great on this all-too-short recording. This is from an era of great sweepers and very tasty jingles. Wish there was more…

This tape is from one of many in a long series of “East Coast Airchecks” – a popular subscription aircheck service from that era.