99.7 WMC-FM
Rob Grayson: 45 Years in 5 Minutes
Description by Steve West I don’t know if this was intended to be a demo or not, but longtime Memphis radio personality Rob Grayson recently put together this really fun piece, condensing his radio career down from his early radio beginnings in the 1970s right up to just about current, as of this writing. While there’s really no way to include all the great moments in someone’s career, this one leaves us begging for more. Here’s hoping Rob sends us some more of this awesome radio candy! And yes. It really does only run about five minutes! #1605
Steve West Last Show, WMC-FM Memphis | October 30, 2005
Date of Recording: 10.30.2005 Station: 99.7 WMC-FM Memphis, Tennessee, USA Format: Hot Adult Contemporary Featured Air Personality: Steve West Contributor: Steve West It’s another WHATEVER WEEKEND, here on FM 100! Comments: FM 100 was the culmination of a career to me. True, I was only full time there for one Summer, but the station’s reputation, the life, the energy… the whole aura that surrounded this station put me in a trance from the first day I entered the building. I can’t say why I hold such an emotional attachment to WMC-FM. I will say that this particular evening was the last time I was on major market radio, the last time I got to interact with callers or really be myself on a commercial radio station. Given my feelings toward this station, and Memphis, T...
Steve West on WMC-FM 100 Memphis | August 28, 2005
Just a few days before the cataclysmic landfall of Hurricane Katrina, I was enjoying doing another “Whatever Weekend” show on FM 100. Its funny how fate works. I never thought to record this particular evening and never had a recording of it, yet it’s one of the best from all my years in radio. Then owned by CBS (now Entercom), WMC-FM was HOT! Trying hard to maintain a decent lead over crosstown WMBZ (the Buzz), which was in it’s death throes, PD Lance Ballance pushed the music envelope right to the edge with these “Whatever Weekends” – CBS’ (Infinity) answer to the emerging “Jack” variety hits format. At the time of this recording, I was at the end of a 4 month run as the weeknight host while they looked for a replacement to the ...
Garner Miller, 99.7 WMC-FM Memphis | June 11, 2006
Well, after three attempts to write the description for this aircheck, perhaps your webmaster will get it right. This recording is probably the best way to celebrate the life of Garner Miller. It is the first of many we’ve obtained, and it certainly won’t be the last one we post. You’ll notice right off the bat that Garner is getting off to a slow start. But that was Garner. Real. Genuine. Warm. And she came across that way on the air. She could be pretty edgy though, and one never knew what she’d say into an open mic if prompted. About this aircheck: This starts with the Top of the Hour Legal ID and jingle, promptly at 8:00pm and time for the “Top 8 at 8” countdown. We hear the whole countdown plus a couple extras to bring the aircheck up to about 8:43p...
QuickChexx: Rob Grayson, WMC-FM 100 (99.7) Memphis
While this was submitted without a date, something tells me that it was recorded sometime around the 2006-07 timeframe, likely just after your webmaster left the station – and Memphis – for good. Here’s another glimpse into FM-100’s “Whatever Weekend”, a take on the once wildly popular ‘Jack-FM’ format. Really, just a retro 80s/90s classic hits weekend format which included a few currents and recurrents, this part-time Jack-ish format worked very well, and for all I know, might STILL be on the air. Rob Grayson is one of our most recent contributors, who has opened our time portal to the mid 1970s so we can hear what RKO General’s WHBQ sounded like in its prime. He also has other airchecks here that we’d like you to check out. Now,...
Steve West, 99.7 WMC-FM Memphis | May 7, 2005
It’s a “Whatever Weekend” on FM 100! WMC-FM (CBS, inc) had its answer to the “Jack-FM” craze which saw the demise of such legendary stations as WCBS-FM New York and others (fortunately, that was a short lived debacle). Most weekends in 2005 saw the HotAC ratings leader essentially flip to a Classic Hits station, pretend that the jocks were pulling all the music themselves off CD, Vynl and… whatever (didn’t we WISH!). Well, it seemed to work. We, on this heritage airstaff, had a LOT of fun with this format, made easier by then PD Lance Ballance, whose sense of humor and skill in navigating the shark, er, suit-infested waters of 1060 Union Avenue kept most of the heat off at least some of us on-air types. This was my second show on FM 100 after leavi...
Tripp, (99.7) WMC-FM 100 Memphis | May, 2006
Courtesy of one of our great site supporters, AircheckDownloads.com, here’s a capture of one of your webmaster’s friends from Memphis! Tripp (Hurst) is still heard on the Memphis Airwaves, although not at FM 100. WMC-FM, since being acquired by Entercom has pretty much replaced much of the heritage staff since this recording. Much of WMC-FM’s heritage comes from its years as a CHR station. Scott Shannon launched the Top 40 era at this station prior to launching WHTZ “Z100” New York, and the station was red hot CHR into the 1990s before slipping back into HotAC. This recording shows the high-energy approach to “FM 100’s” Adult format, much of the forward momentum programmed in by PD Lance Ballance, who was formerly in California at KBIG. But g...
Henry Nelson, 99.7 WMC-FM 100 Memphis | July, 1992
“…FM 100 Plays Memphis’ Best Music!” It’s been a long time since the CHR incarnation of “FM 100” was launched by Scott Shannon in 1982. Ten years later, WMC-FM had morphed into a more adult station. With it’s HotAC format firmly established, it was still an 80s-sounding hip station with a heritage jock lineup. Henry Nelson made himself a household name in Memphis while at WHRK “K-97” several years prior. Among the stations Nelson has been at over the years, WEGR “Rock 103” and of course, WRBO “Soul Classics 103.5” where he remains today. Nelson donated this ‘check to the site a long time ago. Listen as FM 100 plays the hits of the Summer of ’92. There are no jingles in use at this time, but the ...
Melody Meadows, (99.7) WMC-FM 100 Memphis | November, 1997
Going through some tapes I had laying around the studio, I ran across this unmarked c90 that I apparently picked up while living in Millington, TN. This is Melody Meadows who had already moved on to greener pastures when I arrived to work at FM 100 in 2005. UPDATE: We found Mel, she’s at 1070 WDIA, one of the nation’s legendary Rhythm & Blues stations, and incidently, one that consistently ranks in the top 5 stations in Memphis (routinely beating out most of the city’s FM stations – of ANY format!) WMC-FM was at the time of this recording, still co-owned with WMC-TV 5 and News/Talk 790 WMC AM by Raycom Media. It would be sold a year or two later (if memory serves, the sale went through in either late 2001 or early 2002) to Infinity Broadcasting / CBS Radio. It&...
