Russ Cassidy, WCMS “FM 100” Norfolk Va | February 17, 1988

100.5 WCMS Country Classics AM 1050 FM Station of the Stars Joe Hoppel Russ Cassidy Norfolk Virginia Beach Hampton Roads Barnstable Citadel Entercom The Maxx Rock Alternative WGH Eagle" title="100.5 WCMS Country Classics AM 1050 FM Station of the Stars Joe Hoppel Russ Cassidy Norfolk Virginia Beach Hampton Roads Barnstable Citadel Entercom The Maxx Rock Alternative WGH Eagle

…FM 100 WCMS, Your Station Of The Stars!

In what might just turn out to be the only remaining aircheck of the old WCMS (AM 1050, FM 100.5), here’s a recording I made while living in Portsmouth, Va. I was stationed in Norfolk during the years 1985-1988, much of that time in the Naval shipyards in Portsmouth. WCMS was the leading Country music station in those years. Other stations came and went. For a time, there was WKEZ “Keys Country” at 94.1 on the Penninsula. Then, I think around 1987 there was WSKX, “Kix 106” on 106.9 in Suffolk. WKEZ lasted for a while. 106.9 did not. As I recall they went Classic Rock. The Norfolk market is much changed these days with the main Country station being WGH 97.3. WCMS no longer exists (but the call letters are in use at 94.5 in Hattaras, NC). Back in ’88, WGH-FM was a huge Top 40 station.

This is about WCMS. 100.5 had a great lineup in 1988. A very stable airstaff as I recall. Joe Hoppel was the longtime morning show host. Russ Cassidy had middays for much, if not all the time that I was stationed in Norfolk. I don’t recall the pm drive host nor the evening host, but I believe, again, that the staff was very stable. During this time, the station was an AM/FM simulcast from dawn till dusk. WCMS AM 1050 was a daytime only operation and went off the air at night to protect AM 1050 in New York City (primarilly).