Welcome to 95wkaz.com .....

This project is still a works in progress.  If you have news, information or photos that you would like to contribute, please contact the Webmaster.  All information sent via US Mail will be returned to you.  If you're a former WKAZ staffer, we need to talk.  Please e-mail me at your earliest convenience.  I'm interested in old airchecks, station memorabilia, you recollections of the studios, other airstaff members, etc. to make this website more complete. Thanks !

RICK CALLEBS,    95 WKAZ Webmaster

About the website ...

The year is 1975. 

You are driving in the Kanawha Valley, tuning up and down the AM dial searching for a favorite song.  Right in the middle of your dial, stopping between the 9 and 10 marker (no digital readouts 25 years ago!), your car radio comes alive.  As Elton John's  "Crocodile Rock" fades out, the pounding intro of  "Born to Run" starts to play and the DJ's deep voice, heavy with mic reverb, adrenalin-pumped and almost SCREAMING under the music, blasts across your speakers:

' NINETY-FIIIIVVE ... DOUBLE-YOU ... KAY ... A ... ZEEEEE ..... CHAR-RLES-TONNN ..... IT'S FIVVVVVE O'CLOCK  ...  IT'S TIME TO ROCK .... BRUCE .. SPRING-STEEN ... '

If you hadn't heard the legal ID, you might mistake this station for KLIF in Dallas, WQXI in Atlanta or KCBQ in San Deigo.  The powerful booming signal, the great audio processing, the reverb, the jingles, the tight board operation and the way the songs and the announcer's voice just flowed together.  DJ's like Al Sahley, Bob Turley, Bill Blake, Super Duper Charlie Cooper, Lovell Webb, Loveable Sam, Barry Chase and Ric Robinson were household names in the Kanawha Valley.   The on-air energy, literally oozing from the metal radio towers in North Dunbar, was simply incredible.  WKAZ Radio was at Ground Zero in the pop culture of Charleston in the 60's and 70's.  If it was happening, 95 WKAZ was talking about it.  If it was on the charts, 95 WKAZ was playing it.

Charleston, West Virginia is one of those mid-sized radio markets that historically enjoyed a quality of radio you'd expect to find in a much larger metro area.   And up until the established dominance of FM radio in the early 1980's, WKAZ was always in the top of the stack.  From it's birth on February 16, 1957, 95 WKAZ became a Top 40 powerhouse from the early 60's through the late 70's, sharing the occasional spotlight with WCAW (before they became a country station) and WXIT.   The mid-70's radio battle between 95 WKAZ and 1490 WXIT was legendary.  Both stations were exceptionally well programmed, and the competition raised the bar for all Charleston area radio stations.

But by the early 1980's, the winds of change were in the air.  The success of FM Stereo was forcing formerly successful AM stations to make adjustments to remain competitive.  By 1982, WKAZ was automated.  And in 1983, it was all over.  Through a series of programming changes, AM 950 changed their call letters to WQBE and began simulcasting co-owned country music station WQBE-FM.

95 WKAZ officially ceased to exist. 

But in 1984, the legendary WKAZ call sign was reborn on AM 1300 (FM 105's sister station) in nearby St. Albans when they initiated their mildly successful urban/dance format.   The second incarnation of WKAZ would last only five years.  After going "dark" because of technical problems, AM 1300 returned to the air and changed call signs (back to WGKV, then finally to WCOZ) in 1988 with several format changes, and the WKAZ call remained out of service until being re-established in 1993 on FM 107.3 by the West Virginia Radio Corporation. In a wonderful but ironic twist, the current WKAZ Radio is an oldies station, playing the music from the 60's and 70's that established the call letters as a household word in the Kanawha Valley.

This website will chronicle WKAZ Radio AM 950 beginning in February 1957 and will include 'The All American' theme used in the late 60's/early 70's, and 'Real Rock 95' and 'The Rhythm of The City' themes in the late 70's.  We will also include the second and third reincarnations of WKAZ on AM 1300 as Urban/Dance 'WKAZ The Beat of Charleston', 107.3 KAZ-FM, and the current  'Sixty Eight KAZ'.  

In addition, history and souvenirs from WKAZ and other Charleston area radio stations will be featured, including a grid chart of the current AM and FM radio dials and a links page.