The station is promising a nostalgic, exciting trip down memory lane.
Here are some things to know about the station’s history in Dayton.
Goodbye WJAI
At noon on Sunday, March 25, 1984, WJAI Radio, which played classic “nostalgia” music, switched over to WGTZ, which promised “adult contemporary hits.”
The change was made due to low ratings for WJAI and research that showed the Dayton area was in need of a good contemporary hit music station.
The newly dubbed “Z-93” was aimed to bring in teens and adults 18 to 35 who were interested in listening to Top 40 and rock and roll hits.
The new station kicked off by playing “Eat It!” by “Weird” Al Yankovic and then 10,093 songs, (about a month’s worth of music) without commercials.
On-air talent
While most of the WJAI staff remained after the 1984 change, one notable addition was made.
John King, a WING Radio personality, who later became operations manager for WING and WJAI, was picked to hold down the 6 to 10 a.m. weekday drive-time spot at WGTZ.
Kim Faris took the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. slot, John Robertson was on the air from 2 to 6 p.m. and Ron Scott was on the microphone from 6 to 10 p.m.
For late-night, Don Shannon was on from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Dee Campbell from 2 to 6 a.m.
Marita Matray read the news until leaving the station in 1990.
In the early 1990s, Gretchen Corbett hosted the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Lost ’80s Lunch show.
In 1996 WGTZ added a new host for its 7 p.m. to midnight show, Zannie Knigtz.
In 2000 WGTZ officials announced that Kim Faris was leaving the morning show to become the station’s PR coordinator, but that decision was soon reversed so that Faris could remain in the air.
Over the years, other morning show co-hosts included Sean Roberts, Alan Kaye, Dr. Dave, Joe Mama, Jeff Wicker, Jack Pohl, Rob Haney Jim Wheeler.
Credit: Lisa Powell
Credit: Lisa Powell
Top of the charts
By 1990, WGTZ was topping the charts in Dayton, attracting 11 percent of local listeners.
“We’re on top again because we execute what we say we do quite well,” said David Leonard, WGTZ’s vice president and general manager at the time. “We’re playing music that’s popular ... music a lot of people are buying and listening to.”
Stunts and humor
In 1992, complaints from a Beavercreek church caused the removal of several Z-93 billboards which said “Beavercreek’s Social Action Committee has declared Z-93 morally unsafe - Erlene Hummer, vice chairman.” The church group encouraged advertisers to boycott the station.
Credit: Skip Peterson
Credit: Skip Peterson
Other stunts included:
— “Win a Private Eye,” in which an area woman won the services of a private investigator, who, station officials said, discovered the woman’s boyfriend was cheating on her.
— “The Breeder’s Cup,” in which a group of married couples competed for prizes by trying to be the first to get a “positive” pregnancy test.
— The station paid for an engaged couple to cancel marriage plans, elope to Las Vegas and get married on Valentine’s Day — a promotion that got Wall Street Journal coverage.
Fly 92.9
In November 2007, after 23 years as a Top 40 station, Z-93 became Fly 92.9 and flipped to Variety Hits or what was known as “Jack” radio. Jackfm was a format that played songs from several genres and time periods. It’s new slogan became “playing what we want.”
By then radio listeners, especially young rock music fans, were starting to migrate to streaming audio and MP3 players such as iPods.
Internet stations and satellite radio were new platforms that also stole audience market share.
The move was an attempt to reach a broader, older audience and move away from it’s audience completion with Hot 102.9.
The change helped increase ratings right away. WGTZ had fallen to No. 9 in market share before the format switch. A few months later they had jumped back up to No. 2.
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