Flippin' down memory lane

In radio's heyday, a format change was a huge event. Stations would, for example, play nothing but a ticking clock for days or weeks, keeping its listeners on edge about what will happen next. Nowadays, it seems that radio stations flip formats annually, so it’s no big deal.

Houstonist found a blog that documents the audio of some local radio format changes. There’s everything from the small format adjustments (“House Party becomes “Party 104.9” — yeah, that’s worth a press release) to a total flip (106.9 moving from religious to '80s music).

An interesting audio bite includes the Oldies and The Buzz switching frequencies. Both stations performed a mini “play,” transporting them to the other frequency. We didn’t say it was a good play.

The most interesting captured recordings are the sign-on of Mix 96.5 (which became the standard that other cities copied for their “mix” stations) and the oldest sound bite, when Easy Listening 92.9 became Houston’s largest Top 40 station of the '80s, 93Q (anyone remember John Lander and the Q Morning Zoo?).

Keep your old tape recorder handy for the next format flip.