Now, an aircheck that’s so short if you don’t turn up the volume, you’ll miss Randy Rust saying “We Only Stop The Music Once An Hour”. In ’93, this CHUrban station was so full of Hip Hop that you had to love it to keep the station locked in. Considering the growing number of Hip Hop fans who frequent this website, it only seems natural that the next era of ‘classic’ radio would be the 90s. By then, radio was very fragmented as it is today.
Baltimore’s Rock fans would turn to WIYY “98 Rock” back then, but CHR fans really had nowhere to turn, as the combined Baltimore/Washington market’s two true CHR stations had flipped previously (‘Q107′ WRQX was already HotAC “Mix 107.3” and 95.5 WPGC had already flipped to Urban.). Course, there was Soft AC in the market (about to be made softer by the then future flip of “Variety 104.3 WVRT to “Soft 104.3” WSSF, which would brand itself ad the “Barbara, Barry and Neil station before eventually flipping to Classic Hits as WOCT, the Colt…
The Baltimore airwaves seemed always in flux in 1993, but WERQ turned out to be an Urban mainstay in the city, as 92Q is STILL Jammin’ today!
Courtesy of California Aircheck
92Q was the former WLPL, an early FM Top 40 that was dominate in the 70s, but was force out of the format by the dramatic rise of WBSB (B104) in the early 80s. In 1981, WLPL became AC WYST (92Star) in 1981 and tried every variation of AC before the station was blown up for CHR-Rhythmic as 92Q in the Fall of 1991 with the WERQ call letters in place that November. Initially, 92Q was Dance-leaning when it first signed on (with a sound close to WIOQ/Philly), but gradually added more Urban and Hip-Hop tracks into the format. By 1995, 92Q was fully Urban and, along with their sister Urban AC WWIN, was the one-two punch that killed off longtime Urban WXYV in 1997. This aircheck was recorded when 92Q was still CHR-Rhythmic.