Top 40 competitors

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Fri, 16 Jun 2006 13:38:54 -0400, David Tomm <nostaticatall@comcast.net> said:

> While much was made of the competition between WPOP and WDRC, there was 
> a second top 40 war from 1984 to 1993 when WKSS eventually flipped to 
> Top 40 and battled with WTIC-FM.

The same thing happened in many, if not most, markets around that
time.  In Northern Vermont, where I grew up, there were three[1]: WGFB
(99.9C Plattsburgh, "B-100"), WQCR (98.9C2 Burlington, "Q-99"), and
upstart WXXX (95.3A South Burlington, "95 Triple X").  B-100 was all
automated; Q-99 started out automated (it had previously had a
beautiful-music format as WJOY-FM) but added live jocks in about 1983
(I remember getting a class tour of the station around that time).
WQCR was the first to bow out, moving to AC around 1988 when they
upgraded to C1 facilities, and finally to country WOKO in 1990.  WGFB
held on with the automation until Burlington Broadcasters took it
modern (flanking their classic rocker WIZN [106.7C2 Vergennes]) under
an LMA.  That station was just sold by the Bissell family to Hall
Communications for $2.5 million.

-GAWollman

[1] Briefly four, but WXTY (103.9 Ticonderoga) was never a player in
the Burlington market, and Alan Chartock took it over in the summer of
1990.