Who says small market radio was boring?
Contributor Ray Bozzanca recently sent this (in two parts) that he received on reel from the subject of this aircheck, Bill Houston. Among the great things that this shows, AM Stereo sounded great (and so did the processing – someone should congratulate whomever was CE at the time!), and local HotAC radio sounded good even on AM!
This is obviously 1986, and I’m guessing Wintertime, since there is a live PSA for ‘Tax Forms’ read by Bill Houston. And, “We’ll find out where Dan Seals is…” said in a promo for the upcoming syndicated Charlie Tuna show should clue us in on the year, as “You Still Move Me” was a big Country Crossover in ’86.
I’m guessing that this station was aiming its programming toward the greater Waterbury market, as Naugatuck is a medium sized town just 6 miles south of the Waterbury metro. Interestingly enough, Waterbury had two major FM outlets and is served well by the Hartford big signal FMs. In 1986, WWYZ (the former WATR-FM) was still doing Soft Rock, along with “Magic 104” WIOF and both still had a presence in Waterbury. The AMs were still prominent: WWCO and WATR. This station was trying and we certainly give them credit.
This station went through many changes in the years following this aircheck. Its been Spanish for a long time, and the Call Letters have been WFNW since 1989.
