Talk:Z Rock

Okay, this one's gonna take some time. First off, I got rid of the modern rock redirect. The two have nothing in common.

So, anyone remember the old Z Rock radio network? Add your info to the article. --Fightingirish 01:49, 25 July 2006 (UTC)

Z-Rock was part of an automated delivery format. The main source of programming came via satellite to a local station. That station would have a "carousel" that had a type of 8-Track cartridge arranged in a circular rack. When a button was pushed in the studio in Texas, they would be triggering a tape in the radio station's local carousel. These tapes were commercials and the local station ID liners & promos.

These automated formats were popular with stations looking to cut costs on their AM stations. I went to work for one of those stations back in 1989, WGRD FM/ WKTH AM, in Grand Rapids, MI. Besides being hired to oversee the sales & marketing of this format on their AM station, I became the local "personality", Dr. Richard Cranium (The Z-Rock Maniac!), PhD.

The Z-Rock formant was the brain child of Lee Abrahms, the creator of the "Album Oriented Rock" format. He created a format with Z-Rock where instead of knowing every song, you knew every artist playing. This led to deeper cuts on albums you wouldn't ordinarily hear on the radio. "If it's too loud, you're too old!" Z-Rock...The loudest station in the nation!

(Sorry, Z-Rock existed for 2 years before Lee Abrams ever became involved. Credit goes to Robert Hall, Satellite Music Network's VP of Programming)

Lee Abrams took the format and made it relevant and turned it from an unlistenable format to a format that spoke to a generation. under previous management the format filled time on AM radio with automation systems. Lee Abrams brought the format to the fore front and made it sellable to owners with FM stations and a force to be reckoned with. Lazy heritage rock stations all over the country took their cues from Z-Rock. It changed FM rock radio as we know it. Robert Hall was not known for his "imagination" or Pioneering spirit. that's why guys like him hire guys like Lee Abrams. (Sharkmann)Zrockshark 05:40, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Sharkman drinking alot of the Abrams Kool-Aid. Lee never knew Def Leppard from Slayer. Ask around who guided the reformating. You'll become enlightened. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.71.58.105 (talk) 04:45, 23 April 2014 (UTC)

Does this tie-in to the Z-Rock rebroadcast by AFN Iraq? (4 April 2007, 3.35p Iraq time)

What I remember of Z-Rock was:

They used to use the tag they were out of San Antonio, TX. Yes, the Z-Rock 50 was every Sunday. There was a Z-Rock 1000 once a year that counted down the all time greatest rock songs.  Mandatory Metallica was at midnight on either Fridays or Saturdays. Once a month they had "Too Much..." Which played for either 1 hour or 3 hours songs from a preselected rock band. Also on Sunday nights I remember the syndicated show of "Modern Rock Live".  There was one time they did "Too Much Metallica" which they played the whole Binge and Purge box set. If I remember any more, I'll edit. I listened to them out of Schenectady, NY which was 102.3.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spin23 (talk • contribs) 06:52, 12 February 2017 (UTC) 

Mandatory Metallica

As I remember it, Mandatory Metallica wasn't a "program" on z-rock, it was a promise they made to their listeners that they would play at least one Metallica song every hour, and the prefaced such songs with the declaration, "Mandatory Metallica!" Anyone else remember it that way? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.250.69.218 (talk) 15:31, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

I didn't remember it being every hour, I just remember hearing "and now, here's your Mandatory Metallica" nearly every time i listened to old 94.5 Z-Rock. :) Eaglizard (talk) 18:51, 23 January 2010 (UTC).

I don't know. WKQQ uses the phrase from time to time as if the invented it.

Stations

Moved from article space to talk for discussion: is this material useful or does it just pad the article and make it long? RJFJR (talk) 17:32, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Original affiliates that carried Z-Rock around 1986–1988. 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/Muskegon, MI 1986–1987
• 1410 AM WKTH Grand Rapids, MI 1986–1990
• 1070 AM KKZR Houston, TX
• 1460 AM WFYV Jacksonville, FL
• 94.5 FM KZRK Dallas/Fort Worth, TX 1987–1989
• 760 AM KSJL (now KTKR) San Antonio, TX
• 1590 AM WZRX Jackson, MS 1987–1988
• 950 AM KZOW Minneapolis, MN (now KTNF) 1988–1990
• 1010 AM KZRC Portland, OR 1988–1994
• 1390 AM KDZR Denver, CO 1988–1989
• 1550 AM KZQQ West Valley City, UT 1988–1989
• 1490 AM KBSO Billings, MT
• 1310 AM KIVA Albuquerque, NM 1988–1991
• 1450 AM KTZR Tucson, AZ 1988–1989

Stations that carried Z Rock after 1989. Gold and Platinum based Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

• 1330 AM WDLZ Flint, MI, c. 1989–1990 (formerly and now WTRX)
• 1340 AM WLAV Grand Rapids, MI
• 1030 AM KBZR Kansas City, MO 1989–1993
• 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 1990–1993
• 107.5 FM KZZF Fresno, CA
• 1480 AM WZRC New York, NY 1990–1993
• 610 AM WROQ Charlotte, NC
• ??? AM Charleston, WV
• 92.1 FM WTZR (now WHBT-FM) Moyock, NC 1990–1991 (Norfolk/Chesapeake, VA)
• 100.1 FM KZAK Reno, NV 1990–1995
• 103.5 FM WDRK Panama City, FL (now WKNK)
• 105.9 FM KVOL-FM Lafayette, LA (now KFXZ-FM)
• Linesville PA

Stations that carried Z-Rock after 1991–1992. Format was more commercial by this time.

• 980 AM KMZZ Minneapolis, MN
• 99.1 FM KDZR Dallas/Ft Worth, TX 1992–1995 (now KFZO)
• 106.9 FM KKZR Houston, TX 1992–1995
• 102.7 FM WDZR Mt. Clemens (Detroit), MI, early and mid-1990s (now WDKL) (Offices were in Troy, MI)
• 105.1 FM KZRQ Albuquerque, NM 1991–1996
• 100.3 FM KZRX Phoenix, AZ (Carried only in overnights and weekend slots)
• 102.3 FM WZRQ Clifton Park, NY 1991–1996 (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 1991–1995
• 96.5 FM WZRZ (originally WZRQ) Hamilton/Cincinnati, OH 1991–1992
• 99.5 FM WRNO New Orleans, LA 1991–1992
• 93.7 FM KKZN Lafayette, LA 1992–1993 (now KYFJ)
• 98.5 FM Honolulu, HI

Stations that started Z-Rock after 1993. Format was heading towards Modern Rock.

• 98.9 FM KUTZ (now KUTX) Austin, TX
• 93.3 FM WBWZ New Paltz/Poughkeepsie (Now Z93)
• 95.1 FM WZZT Morrison, IL
• 106.1 FM WRZK (Z-Rock 106) Tallahassee, FL
• 103.1 FM WPBZ West Palm Beach, FL 1994–1995
• 103.9 FM KNJY Spokane, WA 1994–1996
• 107.9 FM KZRK Amarillo, TX 1994–1996 (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
• 92.1 FM WTZR Scranton, PA
• 101.9 FM KZTR Franklin/Bryan/College Station, TX
• 105.9 FM WHZT (now WGKC) Champaign, IL

Other cities that carried Z-Rock at some point: Albany GA, Deming NM, La Crosse WI, Watertown NY, Kenia AK and probably a few others.

There was a station in the Va Beach/Hampton Roads area that carried it I believe. I remember them debuting Alice in Chains, something to do with a "I'm in the corner and not getting up until you play this song" type phone promo. Sounds dumb through the lens of time but... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.141.17.182 (talk) 05:31, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

I recommend putting this back into the article as it goes with Z-Rock being a national network, unheard of at the time, and a precursor to current satellite radio, and also shows the reach that the network had through the dozens and dozens of affiliate stations that carried the programming. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Radioist (talk • contribs) 11:25, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

How about we just say that instead of a very long list of stations? RJFJR (talk) 15:08, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

1st Satellite Superstation

Citation in Lee Abrams bio at http://www.digitalhollywood.com/%231MediaSummit/MediaSummitTuesdayEight.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by Radioist (talk • contribs) 18:27, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

That link appears to be a bio from a conference session. In my opinion, that fails WP:SPS, as such bios are almost always supplied by the speaker himself/herself. As it says in that portion of the policy, "if the information in question is really worth reporting, someone else is likely to have done so."

However, that is my opinion only. It might be a good idea to ask over at WP:RSN and see what kind of consensus emerges. In fact, I'll go do that right now. SlubGlub (talk) 19:46, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Whoops, I should have searched the WP:RSN archives first. This topic has come up before. The resolution was: "Only really a source in terms of WP:SPS. Claims regarding notability or the importance of the subject probably shouldn't be cited to a conference biography. Protonk (talk) 13:52, 7 October 2008 (UTC)"

So, basically, a conference bio of Lee Abrams should not be used to establish notability or importance of Z-Rock. Again, "if the information in question really is worth reporting, someone else is likely to have done so" (per WP:SPS).

The relevant discussion is available at Wikipedia:Reliable_sources/Noticeboard/Archive_20#Is_a_bio_in_a_conference_program_a_reliable_and_independent_source.3F. If you think that the issue discussed there is not quite the same thing as what we see here, by all means, start a new thread about WP:RSN. (It really isn't exactly the same thing--there, the question is should you cite a conference bio to establish the notability or importance of the biographies subject, while here it is should you cite a conference bio to establish the notability or importance of an entity for which the subject worked--but I think the answer is self-evidently the same. Again, if you disagree, by all means, start a new discussion at WP:RSN.) SlubGlub (talk) 20:16, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

wait a second...

I thought this station was still going? I list to this station all the time--The other shadow 21:19, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Disappointing article

I gotta say, this article is REALLY sad. I mean, as I remember (as mentioned above), Z-Rock was an astonishing new idea at the time, and the fact that it featured the brand of hard Heavy Metal that it did had a LOT to do with the increasing prominence of that genre. I don't think Pantera would have gone anywhere without their local support at Z-Rock, but somebody would probably argue that. Anyway, I remember Z-Rock being incredibly influential and that everybody talked about it. I remember talking to friends in other cities in the late '80s and thinking "wow, they're listening the same radio station I am!" (although that wasn't strictly true, it was as close as it would come until the big wave of satellite radio and the internets.

But this article doesn't reflect any of that. I mean, don't get me wrong: I'm not even a fan! (I was very much into alt-rock and what passed for 'punk' at that time, Husker Du and REM and shit.) I rarely actually listened to zrock. But even I remember it as being a pioneer in a big way. However, I am prevented from fixing this article, because I am too lazy to find cites for any such stuff. Maybe an actual zrock fan will do that. :) Eaglizard (talk) 19:00, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

I'll take a look at it later. I came to Z-Rock late after I moved to Houston (KKZR I think) in ~1991. I remember Dave Bolt and the "Z-Rock 50" countdown of the top 50 songs. I forget though--was that every week? Anyway I still have some clips and images somewhere. If I dig them up I'll post a link. Angelo (talk · contribs) 20:06, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

I have to agree. Zrock is the first place I heard Alice in Chains "Man in the Box". That was life changing at the time. Sometime in late 1990 before Pearl Jam, before I heard Nirvana. I wish someone with good information good add to this page. It truly was the only place to hear good music when the world was much larger.

ZROCK - Bulgaria

The article mentions nothing about Z-rock Bulgaria which is a national radio station currently in operation in Bulgaria. http://www.zrockbg.com/ This is rather confusing.

Correction:

No big deal, but in 1989 WWZR was 90 (something...98.9?) in Port St Joe/Panama City (FL) — Preceding unsigned comment added by BeachCrawler (talk • contribs) 15:34, 9 April 2015 (UTC)