Z Rock
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"Z-Rock" was a nationally syndicated radio network based out of Dallas, Texas, USA, in the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s that played heavy metal and hard rock music. The format was one of ABC Radio Network's 24-hour satellite formats (formerly Satellite Music Network). Z-Rock debuted on Labor Day 1986 and is credited with being the first nationally focused radio station/network. In March 1990, Z Rock was nominated for Billboard Awards, the only fulltime hard rock/metal programming ever nominated in the history of Billboard magazine. After several changes in personnel and programming direction, the network was discontinued on December 31, 1996.
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[edit] Some of the stations that carried the "Z-Rock" format included:
Original affiliates that carried Z-Rock around 1986-88. Back then Z-Rock programming was dominated by underground heavy metal music (Pre-Lee Abrams era).
- 106.7 FM WZRC (Z-Rock 106.7) Chicago, IL *1st Affiliate: Launched Labor Day 1986
- 107.3 FM WCZR Elyria (Cleveland), OH (now WNWV)
- 105.3 FM WCXT Hart Mi.86-87
- 1410 AM WKTH Grand Rapids Mi.88-90
- 1070 AM KKZR Houston, TX
- 1460 AM WFYV Jacksonville, FL
- 1410 AM WKTH Grand Rapids, MI
- 94.5 FM KZRK Dallas/Fort Worth, TX 1987-89
- 760 AM KSJL (now KTKR) San Antonio, TX
- 1590 AM WZRX Jackson, MS 1987-88
- 950 AM KZOW Minneapolis, MN (now KTNF)1988-90
- 1010 AM KZRC Portland, OR 1988-1994
- 1390 AM KDZR Denver, CO 1988-89
- 1550 AM KZQQ West Valley City ,UT 1988-89
- ???? AM K??? Billings, MT
- 1310 AM KIVA Albuquerque, NM 1988-91
- 1450 AM KTZR Tucson, AZ 1988-89
Stations that carried Z Rock after 1989. Gold and Platinum based Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.
- 1330 AM WDLZ Flint, MI, c. 1989-90 (formerly and now WTRX)
- 1340 AM WLAV Grand Rapids Mi.
- 1030 AM KBZR Kansas City, MO 1989-93
- 560 AM KLZ Denver, CO
- 770 AM WWZR Ft Myers, FL
- 1340 AM KMTW Las Vegas, NV
- 1440 AM Portland, ME
- 1590 AM KZOK Seattle, WA
- 107.5 FM KZZF Fresno, CA
- 1480 AM WZRC New York, NY
- 610 AM WROQ Charlotte, NC
- ??? AM Charleston, WV
- 92.1 FM WTZR (now WQFM) Moyock, NC (Norfolk/Chesapeake, VA)
- 100.1 FM KZAK Reno, NV 1990-1995
- 103.5 WDRK Panama City, FL (now WAKT)
- 105.9 KVOL-FM Lafayette, LA (now KFXZ-FM)
- Linesville PA
Stations that carried Z-Rock after 1991-92. Format was more commercial by this time.
- 980 AM KMZZ Minneapolis, MN
- 99.1 FM KDZR Dallas/Ft Worth, TX (early '90s)
- 106.9 FM KKZR Houston, TX
- 102.7 FM WDZR Mt. Clemens (Detroit), MI, early and mid-1990s (now WHTD)(Offices were in Troy,MI)
- 105.1 FM KZRQ Albuquerque, NM 1991-1996
- 100.3 FM KZRX Phoenix, AZ
- 102.3 FM WZRQ Clifton Park, NY (now WKKF)
- 103.1 FM WRZR (early 90s) Johnstown/Columbus, OH
- 107.9/103.1 FM KZQQ Salt Lake City, UT 1992
- 95.3 FM/1320 AM KZZK Eugene, OR 1991-95
- 96.5 FM WZRZ (originally WZRQ) Hamilton/Cincinnati, OH 1991-92
- 99.5 WRNO New Orleans, LA 1991-92
- 93.7 KKZN Lafayette, LA 1992-93 (now KRDJ)
- ??? FM Honolulu, HI
Stations that started Z-Rock after 1993. Format was heading towards Modern Rock.
- 98.9 FM KUTZ (now KHHL) Austin, TX
- 93.3 FM WBWZ New Paltz/Poughkeepsie (Now Star 93.3)
- 95.1 FM WZZT - Morrison, IL
- 106.1 FM WRZK (Z-Rock 106) Tallahassee, FL
- 103.1 FM WPBZ West Palm Beach, FL 1994-95
- 103.9 FM KNJY Spokane, WA 1994-96
- 107.9 FM KZRK Amarillo, TX 1994-96 (Now known as Rock 108)
- 106.7 FM KRQR Chico, CA (Currently 106.7 Z-Rock)(The station that actually purchased the logo & programming library when the format was discontinued)(The last REAL Z-Rock)
- 98.7 FM WXZR East Lyme, CT
- ???? FM WTZR Scranton, Pennsylvania
- 101.9 FM KZTR Franklin/Bryan/College Station, TX
Other cities that carried Z-Rock at some point: Albany GA, Deming NM, Champaign IL, La Crosse WI, Watertown NY, Kenia AK and probably a few others.
[edit] Airstaff
Original crew: Rockin' Randy Davis, Wild Bill Scott (OM/PD), Boobie Bondage, Killer Kilpatrick, Shelly Steele (Hammer), Tracy Barnes, Madd Maxx Hammer, Pat Dawsey. Steve Show, Matt Wolfe (production)
2nd crew: Dave Bolt, Crankin' Craig, Tracy Barnes (OM/PD), Crazy Mike Paine, Pat Dawsey, Madd Maxx Hammer, Steve Show, Scorchin' Scotty, Matt Wolfe (production), Major Danger, Weekends.
3rd crew: Dave Bolt, Pat Dawsey, Madd Maxx Hammer, Crankin Craig, Jason Lee Tipton:The Tiptonizer, Wipeout, Matt Hobley- A.K.A.Sharkmann, Ward Cleaver, Matt Wolfe (sound designer/Imaging)
Last Crew: Dave Bolt, Crankin Craig, Ward Cleaver, Matt Wolf, Wipeout, "Loud" Debi Dowd, Matt Hobley- A.K.A.Sharkmann, Jim Coda, Chaz, Pat Dawsey (OM/PD), Matt Wolfe (production). Lee Abrams (Managing Director)
[edit] Programming
- "Blistering Leads" Focused on guitar breaks and heroes.
- "Mandatory Metallica" premiered in November 1986; The original all-Metallica feature copied by stations nationwide.
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- "The Mighty Met": similar program; half-hour to an hour of Metallica songs (perhaps the most popular band on the network) aired Saturday nights.
- "Nationwide Mid-day Requests": A daily all request show.
- "Z-Rock 50": weekly countdown of the networks top rock tracks aired Sunday nights. (Sometimes aired on non-affiliates.)
- "Z-Rock 1000": end of year countdown of all time "greatest" rock songs with songs from the previous year included. AC/DC's "Back in Black" and Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train" would typically have the top spot.
- "Headbanger's Heaven": The very heaviest metal including demos and imports hosted by Crazy Mike Paine. Featured thrash, speed, death, and power metal genres as well as several world premieres, contests, and interviews.
- "Coast to Coast Concert Series": Over 50 live broadcast concerts featuring many of the genre's top names, including Metallica.
- "Wounded Radio": Sunday night show featuring heavier rock music hosted by Sharkmann.
- "US240": Saturday night all-request show spanning 240 minutes (4 hours) Originally hosted by Sharkmann
- "Back-Rockwards": Nightly phone-in contest to guess identity of backwards played song (song was played in its entirety with random noises played over it).
- "Fast Forward": Similar to Back-Rockwards, but with the song played forwards at about 10 times the speed.
- "Bad-Ass CD Side": Weekly playing of half of an entire CD. Was notably promoted by saying, "Bad-ass CD half, is grammatically correct, but 'Bad-Ass CD Side' Sounds Cooler!"
- "Too Much": one Saturday each month would give about four hours playing songs from a select artist. Eventually "Too much" would become a daily mid-day show with one hour of music from any artist sometimes featuring deep album cuts.
- "Old Stuff for an Hour": Sunday morning classic rock show. Hosted by Crankin Craig.
- "New Stuff for an Hour": Also hosted by Crankin Craig, this show featured new music.
- "Your Stuff for an Hour (later Two Hours)" Also hosted by Crankin, this was an all request show.
- "The Nightly Nuke": 'Nuking' of one of two popular hit songs (decided by phone-in votes). After the song was 'nuked' (i.e. an explosion was played a few seconds into the song) the sound clip of Charlton Heston from Planet of the Apes screaming, "You Maniacs! You blew it up! Oh, damn you all to hell!" was played.
- Z-Rock RIP News. News bits presented in conjunction with RIP Magazine.
- Z-Rock news, commentary and opinions originally hosted by Boobie Bondage and heard in each daypart. The news went through several names and hosts: The Dirt (w/Steve Show), The Mud (w/Michelle), The Sludge with Sharkmann, The Drudge (not related to the internet news site) and just The News (both w/Loud Debi Dowd).
From 1989-1991 the network also produced Z-Rock Magazine, available free in all network affiliate cities.
[edit] Trivia
- The band Dream Theater gained its popularity through Z-Rock affiliates. In fact, Z-Rock stations were the only mainstream radio stations that played Dream Theater's music.
- Z-Rock was one of the first FM radio networks to make widespread use of sound clips from other sources.
- Z-Rock was famous for the slogan "If it's too loud, you're too old!" and variations thereof. It also used to mock classic rock programming, then say "Who cares?! Z-Rock RULES!"
- Other slogans were "Flip us on and flip them off", "We don't brake for wimps" and "If you're not crankin' it, you must be yankin' it!"
- The 8-note guitar riff used just before Z-Rock went to commercials was the first part of the song "House of 1,000 Pleasures" by Japanese band Ezo.
- The Z-Rock 50 countdown would often also be played on various non-Z Rock stations across the country and is still being produced by ABC Radio today, mainly for AFRTS but also still available for commercial radio stations.
- Rock, be rocked, or step aside!
[edit] Z-Rock today
Some bits and pieces of Z-Rock are still in existence today. When the Z-Rock radio network was shut down by the end of 1996, affiliates were free to adopt the Z-Rock name and/or imaging, some of them are still using it today:
- KRQR 106.7 in Chico, California, streaming online at http://www.zrockfm.com
- WXZZ Z Rock 103 in Lexington, Kentucky
- WTZR-FM Z Rock 99-3 in Elizabethton, Tennessee
- WZJO-FM Z Rock 94-5 in Dunbar, West Virginia
The old Z-Rock can now be found on the web at [hardradio.com http://www.hardradio.com]
A fully moderated, 24-hour modern rock radio stream is still being produced for AFRTS and is available on the digital AFN satellite lineup (with AFN Uninterruptable Voice, besides the Pentagon Channel, the only unencrypted offering on the European AFRTS Hot Bird transponder).
The weekly, four-hour modern rock chart program Z-Rock 50, currently hosted by Brian Curry, is also still part of Z-Rock. It is currently also part of AFN The Eagle (Sundays 5pm - 9pm CET) and because of that can be heard in many locations throughout Europe and the Middle East. The program is also available to other broadcasters worldwide from ABC Radio Networks International.
