Forum Chat: 8-16-03

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Topic: Memories of XHRM The Flash

From: Radiogeek500:

What are your memories of 92.5 the flash? Not very much with me, seemed like they were more new music then 91X to me. I do remember the 92/5 era better though. Michael Halloreen oversaw this and it was all over the highway even for Alternative radio and if I'm not mistaken this got the worst ratings I had ever seen for a 100,000kw signal from TJ. When Magic moved here, it got way better ratings. Of course, Michael is now overseeing KBZT 94.9 known as FM 94/9. So share your alt rock memories of 91X's bully.

Posted by: CHASE286

I remember that when 92.5 The Flash first came on, their format was for lack of a better term...."alternative/new wave oldies". You would groups like Depeche Mode, Naked Eyes, Bananarama, Wall of Voo Doo, and The Blow Monkeys. They would mix that up with rock stuff like The Police, some of Sting's older solo stuff, older U2 hits....you get the general idea. If you've ever heard Nina Blackwood's "New Wave Nation", that's pretty much what XHRM sounded like during it's early Flash days. There was one song in particular that seemed to get alot of airplay, Wall of Voo Doo's Mexican Radio. Great song, but it got old after a while. Then again, they are licensed to TJ so there ya go! Somewhere I have a profile aircheck of the station when it was nominated for Gavin's Large Market station of the Year. They didn't sound bad back then, but to listen for long periods of time, you had to either REALLY live the lifestyle or risk losing friends to insanity.

From Garrett:

Well,

Here is what I remember:

The R&B Hot 92.5 was known as "the Power Station," in 1989, when Lease Tennant Willie Murrows left, and began trying to compete with Q106. Yeah, they stood as much of a chance as a snowball in Mission bay in Auguest. Around 91, to differ theselves from Z90, they became "The Heat," and became more Urban, with a more Latin and African American focus demo. And thats pretty much where it stayed until about circa spring 1995. The station was being leased from the Mexican owners to C.Dennis Conner (I think that was his name). He was a businessman who owned The Charthouse, Hometown buffet, and Islands Restaurants. He found the station was losing millions of dollars, and had been in Bankruptcy. He immediately put Sherman Cohen in Charge of programming. Sherman flipped the station that spring to a new format, that was a hybrid Adult Alternative.

Really, what they were doing, was an Modern-Adult Top40 format, simlar to what would later be heard on Star. The station was renamed 92.5 The Flash, and the station started off playing Mostly 80's tunes. In fact, they were the first station to make 80's their focus. First dj's were Randy Dewitt, Kelly Klukaid, Sherman, and Jason Riggs came over from KCLX/KKBH FM.

The idea was "A friendly Alternative." 91X had something of a reputation in San Diego, as being ruthless against other radio stations, and sometimes, just in general; to Rebel was the order of the day at 91X. The idea at the flash was to give the listeners an alternative to all that, a station that was more interested in its listeners, than just being different.

And it did well, at leat for a short while. The logo was a yellow "92.5 The Flash" with a red bolt behind, centered, on a black background. Soon, billboards were all over Pacific Beach, sometimes, 3 or 4 on one block. The station even opened up their own Restaruant, named (what else?) "The Flash Cafe." 91X countered, with a billboard war, and then by wisking away the stations morning man, Bruce Wayne. At one point, (and nobody's ever heard this before), Nobel broadcasting even tried to shut the Flash down, by causing legal paperwork problems, claiming that XHRM's management did not have the proper authority from the FCC to broadcast from a facility norh of the US Mexican border, and 91X mangement tried to steal the lease agreement away from the Flahe's current management. The station was knocked off the air briefly, and Randy was forced to broadcast from the station's Tj broadcast Xmitter site.

I'm not sure what happened to change things behind the scenes. But about a year and a half or two years later, the station cleaned house. Kelly went back to Texas. Randy disappeared, until turning up in 1997 on Channel933 and Q106. The station began playing a more alternative rotation, similar to what was heard on 91X. On a morning in 1996, Halloran ran a stunt in the morning, in which the stations then Pd and morning jock, locked themselves in the studio, played heavy metal rock music and refused to come out, while another dj, who was supposedly there to switch the station to country, waited outside. The skit lasted most of the day, with the station taking phone calls from listeners worried about losing the Flash, and ending with the station's Mexican owner, Louis Donaldo Colosian, making a guest apparance, and stated "You have opened my eyes, I will not switch the station over to country."

Unfortunately, From that point on, things pretty much went down hill from there. It seemed that the "Flash" had lost much of its original focus, and was just another Alternative rock station, becoming "Real Radio," competing with the likes of Rock 105 and 91X. However, it still remained popular with some, simply because it was not part of the coporate JACOR name. However, the lease of 92.5 by JACOR put an end to this.

...and yes, after being let go, by the totaly inept management at Par Broadcasting, Karen K. was on the air at the Flash, briefly, until being rehired by Q106's new JACOR management.

Thats how I remember it.

I also remember Cohen going to KKOS, which moved to Mt. Soledad, and became KUPR 95.7, moving down the dial from 95.9, but keeping the same city of license. Cohen went there, only to be replaced by... Mike Haloran. And it does seem like every station Haloran has been in charge of, has in some way tried the same "independent radio" concept, putting a "/" between the frequency (example: 95/7, 92/5, Premium92/1, and now FM94/9).

-Garrett

Posted by: The Ant Farmer

> What are your memories of 92.5 the flash?

Alright, here's my perspective, but first on someone else mentioning when 92.5 was The Power Station...I'm not sure if they were trying to emulate the popular Power 106 (105.9) from L.A. (a station I listened to the most in 1999, among other LA stations) but the treble was awfully high and the presentation was embarrassing during "The Power Station"'s range. When Z90 came along with its better-sounding churban mix in 1990, it got listeners from Q106 and 92.5, and 105.9 amongst those in San Diego, and Z90 was an instant hit once it signed on in April 1990. I listened to that aside of 91X most of the time.

Fast forward to July 1993. By then, Q106 dumped rap, and 92.5 before the format flip to The Flash dropped rap around the same time, leaving Z90 (and Power 106) as the only stations in the region playing hip hop and rap music.

So 92.5 flipped (July 5th?) to The Flash, playing pop mixed in with alternative such as Hadaway's "What Is Love" (think of the Roxbury Guys from SNL bobbing their heads to the beat while trying to be hip in the club scene), Ace of Base, Sarah MacLachlan, Tori Amos, and past classic new wave oldies. I remember reading an article in the Oceanside Blade-Citizen (before it merged with the Escondido Times-Advocate) written by Ken Leighton about 91X allegedly pasting 91X stickers on the 92.5 Flash van or other kinds of vandalism I can't verify reading a long time ago.

The one bright spot on The Flash was a Saturday night mix show called The Flash Zone playing club versions of alternative rock hits.

When the inept Sherman Cohen left the Flash in 1995, to ruin the homey style of KKOS into the "Raah, music first" KUPR, Bryan Jones was brought in to program the station. I thought that was the best era of The Flash until he was fired in late 1996 when the new programmer turned it into a grunge, techno hard rock, piece of junk that was as unlistenable as 91X was at the time in 1997. Meanwhile, fed up with both stations (91X fired Halloran in 1996), I switched to Star, which played the pop alternative hits I wanted to hear such as Chumbawamba and other stuff, and Channel 933 and Z90 which competed with each other with a mix of urban and dance mix hits, while both 91X and 92.5 floundered, each giving alternative rock a bad name here. Even Radio Disney on 710, when it once played funny kids music, was a treat every once in a while.

Then in 1998, New Years Day, Halloran was brought in, and he flushed The Flash handle and called it 92/Five, mixing in swing rock such as Cherry Poppin Daddies, which was the rage of the moment, threw in stuff not normally associated with alternative rock such as Johnny Cash and Dwight Yoakham, and other stuff. Ratings still tanked faster than the Titanic. Meanwhile at 91X, Bryan Schock replaced another programmer (a Jacor import whoever that was) and brought the ratings of 91X back up, while Star was having some of its highest ratings at the time, taking listeners from 92.5 when it abandoned its pop adult alternative (it's not AAA like the late KSCA and Channel 103.1 were from LA) years before.

Then in September 1998, phase two of the Jacor switcheroo happened when it took over 92.5 and moved "Magic" there after stunting with a loop of four alternative rock songs for a week or so. Jacor reformatted 95.7 into a Mix format to compete with Star and returned Dave Smiley to mornings there after Jacor got rid of Q106 to Heftel (now HBC) in a divesture. What a messy switch it was. Channel 933 began to sound like crap when it folded Q106's hot AC format into it, just when Jacor had a fairly good format, they ruin it with slow love ballads.

So much for innovations in radio. Meanwhile, Internet radio was picking up steam and it was just the beginning of what is now MP3 file trading that would do their part to steer disenfranchised radio listeners, fed up with the Jacorization of music, to new sounds they would have heard on The Groove, Flash, and KKOS, if they still existed, only they're in MP3 files.

d.t.

Ted Letiner To Return to XPRS 1090 (Aug 15, 2003)

Leitner will work 10 a.m.-noon on Padres game days or 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on nongame days, starting Sept. 2.

"Let's face it, the man's a star," said John Lynch, general manager of The Mighty 1090. "We think we have a strong lineup already, but he certainly adds to it."

Leitner worked at KFMB television and radio for 25 years but parted ways with the company recently.

He has been one of the radio voices of the Padres for the past 24 years and will make the move with the team when it changes stations next season, moving from KOGO (600) to 1090. The Padres' job in itself didn't assure Leitner of a job at 1090.

Read more about it in NC Times.

Satellite Update 8-13-03!

External News 8-13-03!