1993 in Review (January 1, 1994)

1. Jeff and Jer continue their morning dominance on a new station...Q106, surely putting the nail in the coffin for the once-mighty B100 station that they had a contract squabble with. The ratings for Q106 has risen up since, while B100's faded. Jeff and Jer signed with Q106 in April.

2. Par Broadcasting, the company that owns Rock 102.1 and KGMG 1320, both in Oceanside, purchased Q106 and KKLQ-AM 600 in March. The sale, previously illegal until the FCC allowed the existence of duopolies, is the first of its kind in San Diego. The ruling gives Par two stations on the same band. Now tha tthe deal is complete, Par executives plan to give AM 600 its own signal in 1994.

3. To spark lackluster ratings, KCLX brought in the syndicated duo of Mark and Brian from 95.5 KLOS. They're a top-rated morning team in that city. They began their simulcasts via satellite on KCLX in October. Mark and Brian replaced Rumble and Thrower in the morning drive slot. Management moved the former morning men to afternoons.

4. KCBQ-FM changed its image with a new format. Miserable ratings made the once-proud KCBQ-FM a virtual non-factor in the battle for listeners. In January, Compass Radio Grouop of Washington, D.C., bought the AM/FM station for $12 million. In June, Rich "Brother" Robbin (who was not one of B100's Rich Brothers in the 80s), and "Shotgun Tom" Kelly came over from K-Best 95. Robbin instituted a new format called "Modern Oldies" on July 31st at noon, and hired new talent.

5. B100 was left in the cold when Jeff and Jer moved to Q106. The adult contemporary station took more than a month to hire a replacement team, but their choice was ill-fated: John Lander and Jools Brandt, arriving in June. Lander lasted about three weeks. B100 let him go after he enraged the Hispanic community with ethnic jokes. Now Brandt has teamed up with Larry Himmel.

6. XHRM-FM 92.5 transformed its format in June. Formerly known as "Hot 92.5" playing R&B and urban music, the station's owners needed to try a new format because their station's ratings tanked competeting with Z90 and paltry advertising revenue. The station became "92.5 The Flash" and the format became "pop alternative". Suddenly, 91X had some competetion for its audience. Mike Halloran referred to the station as "The Flush."

7. The country music station, KSON 97.3, helt its ranking as San Diego's most popular station, according to the Arbitron ratings. To boost its lagging morning ratings, KSON hired a new morning team over the summer. "The KSON Kids", Tony Randall and Kris Rochester.

8. Jammin' Z90 became a major player in the ratings battle, consistently improving its' numbers through the year. Most recently, Strategic Accuratings named the Top 40/Dance/Urban station number one overall in its summer book. Z90 went through three different morning shows in 1993, and hired a new program director, Steve Wall, in June.

9. News services, like syndication, became another way stations could cut costs in these lean times. The radio newscaster became a dinosaur for some stations. News services like Metro and Shadow made the Les Nessmans of San Diego almost obsolete. Stations jumped at the chance to save money by purchasing contracted news sports. In some cases, Sunny 103, for example, newspeople were laid off.

10. Conservatives, hungry for cannon fodder, got plenty when President Clinton took over the White House in January as right-wing radio roared to the top of the ratings. Rush Limbaugh's show became a fixture on both KSDO-AM 1130 and KCEO-AM 1000, and hundreds of other stations across the U.S. Right-wing TV commentator Pat Buchanan (KCEO) and Watergate crook G. Gordon Liddy (KSDO) joined Limbaugh and Roger Hedgecock (KSDO) on San Diego's conservative airwaves in June.