WIXX and WAHC appeal to the boom box crowd Once the domain of national rock band. lately metro clear-channel I radio been AMs, suppose that formats, defecting power most the Top to towers ancient the 40, sudden, FM and has of WIXX market of stereo boom boxes for white kids and the almost complete death of monophonic singles are album cuts, very few commercials obvious reasons. Transmitters at and left-wing subversive commenWIXX, Green Bay, and WAHC, tary. WBAY broadcast a safe two Oshkosh are two in the Fox Valley out of three of those elements. area trained on this newly-equip- It evolved through a no-liveped audience.
deejay period in the 1970s, into Of course, now the format is "Wisconsin and Michigan's Fine called "contemporary hit radio," Rock and now "WIXX, not to be confused, as I did last The Hot FM." In other words, month, with "adult contemporary CHR; even though it still sounds radio." WAHC management pretty ACR to me. claims the CHR label in Oshkosh, assigning ACR, correctly, to the WIXX 10T EARWAVES By Joe Kowalski The song list is fairly limited but to extremes. And the announcers are pleasant but not overbearingly so. I'd bet it's popuin Green Bay dentists' offices. The morning speaks -constructed English sentences, a rarity anywhere in Bay electronic journalism.
SuPER crosstown -FM. The distinction is more often demographic than musical, of particular interest to advertisers. WIXX has a long, checkered history as a rocker. It began around 1970 (with the call letters WBAY- not FM) as a sort of mild underground station, an alternative to kids whose parents wouldn't allow them lar to tune in to Milwaukee feisty young WZMF. clear, What distinguished those early rock FMs were long stretches of Green 'Legal Eagles' gladdens By BOB THOMAS may call old-fashioned, in that it Just when you thought that has a sprawling cast, well-crafted sophistication had vanished from script, sharp dialogue and a happy the silver screen, along comes ending.
Naturally, Reitman can't "Legal Eagles" to gladden the escape his past, and he provides heart and charge the intellect. explosions, fires and car chases. It surprisingly comes from Ivan But all seem applicable to the plot. Reitman, the filmmaker who pro- The script by Jim Cash and Jack ved with "National Lampoon's Epps Jr. (from the story they Animal House" (as producer) and wrote with Reitman) evokes "Ghostbusters" (as producer- memories of the 1949 classic, director) that excess can bring "Adam's Rib." Debra Winger success.
plays the Katharine Hepburn role "Legal Eagles' presents another as the attorney dedicated to defenside of Ivan Reitman, who also ding her clients against heavy directed Meatballs' and odds. Robert Redford subs for "Stripes." He has produced and Spencer Tracy as the accomplishdirected a film that some critics ed prosecutor who opposes her. -Retlaw 5 THEATRE -FREE PARKING AFTER 5 P.M.Matinees Matinees $2.00 -Downtown Macy Street Ramp $2.00 Just Across Street From Reflow SHOWING 921-0280 "TOP GUN" 9:10 (PG) "LEGAL EAGLES" (PG) "BACK TO SCHOOL" 9:10 (PG-13) "FERRIS 9:00 (PG-13) "KARATE KID PART 11" 9:10 (PG) SUNDAY MATINEES ALL SEATS $2.00 88 Summer When Oshkosh's WAHC switched from easy listening in 1983, "the plan was simple," says station literature. "Give those listeners the hits and nothing but the hits." So help them God, they did. Listeners desperately seeking Madonna's "Live to Tell" need never buy the platter.
They can overdose on it at their leisure by tuning in to "SuperHit 97." And how, aside from dialing to the vicinity, does a youngster know he has found SuperHit 97? By waiting five to 180 seconds. If the word-root "super" comes out of the box, he has arrived. WAHC's local news moves keep pace. The hourly "Bannerlines" is 15 seconds news, 10 seconds sports and five seconds weather. Except for the artists' names, veteran rock radio lovers will be struck with the deja vu of a station like WAHC.
Excitable jocks jabbering through as much of a record's instrumental intro (and fadeout) as humanly possible. Call-in requests, contests, commercials and jingles nearly colliding with one another. We "WOKY in Milwaukee" oldsters can now appreciate the bizarre craftsmanship of this time-tested style, without having to take it seriously. Not that I'm never tempted to beat the re-dial buttons off these 14-year-olds trying to guess, for example, "the Super band from the 1960s once known as The Quarrymen." It would hardly be sporting. heart minutes.
GENERAL CINEMA THEATRES FOREST MALL CINEMA 921-3000 755 WEST JOHNSON STREET Cinema General MATINEES BARGAIN $2.50 ALL SHOWS BEFORE 6 P.M. EVERYDAY SYLVESTER STALLONE COBRA They came to SpaceCamp with the dream of becoming astronauts. they were launched into space. SPACE CAMP PC Daryl Hannah takes over for Judy Holliday as the ditsy beauty accused of murder. The difference in "'Legal Eagles," though, is that Redford and Winger are not married, and they end up on the same side of the case.
The movie opens in the 1960s, when a famed New York artist dies in the fire of his studio. His small daughter is rescued, but his valuable paintings were presumably destroyed. "Legal Eagles," a Universal Picture, is rated PG for language and excitement. Running time: 114 550 650 800 1000 1300 1600 WIXX-FM Frequency: 101.1 Broadcast Power: 100,000 watts. Broadcast Day: 24 hours.
Ownership: Midwest Communications, which owns other stations in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, including WGEE-AM the same building. National News: UPI wire and audio. Local News Coverage: Green Bay emphasis with Upper Valley "crime and Weather: Frequent updates of Channel 11's Brad Spakowitz's twice-daily live appearances. Sports: Scores, some detail and sound bites; year-round Packer news. Music Format: Contemporary Hits on the Yuppie-lush side.
"Young oldies" and hits just off the charts thrown mixed in for variety. Tips from lifestyle reporter Mike Carruthers mornings and noon hours. Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" show Sunday evenings. On-Air Personnel: Moderate "personality" style quite tolerable. Current Contests: Bumper sticker spotting promo with tight, 15-minute call-in deadline.
"Brainbender" lyric test, identical to WFON's "'Lost Lyrics." "Secret Snippet" is similar, using a few seconds of the actual recording. Upcoming Promotions: A guest deejay contest is about to get underway. Later this week, a bus trip to Ski-Brule. Call-in Phone Numbers: Green Bay 455-1011, Appleton 733- 4881. WACH-FM Frequency: 96.7 mHz.
Broadcast Power: 3000 watts. FM Broadcast Day: 24 hours. Ownership: Cummings Communication owner of WNAM, Neenah-Menasha. National News: No feed. Local News Coverage: Hourly deadlines except on the night shift.
Weather: Day's forecast. Sports: Scores, trades. Music format: Contemporary Hits. Tight rotation of "louder," teen-target tunes predominates. "Rock Over London," (with Genesis and Bowie interviews scheduled soon), Saturdays 11 p.m.
"Super Gold Electric Lunch Hour" oldies as requested, weekdays 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. "High Five" (most requested) tunes counted off at 9:30 p.m. On-Air Personnel: Appropriately manic for the format. Super Jocks, Super Hits, Super Gold, SuperHit 97 Time, SuperHit 97 Temperature.
Current Contests: Super Softball Giveaway through mid-July, during which the SuperHit 97 Van delivers soda, t-shirts and pizza certificates to area ballgames in progress. Just concluded are the Super Shopping Spree ($10,000 for keeping track of a lucky phrase) and a Father's Day promo called, believe it or not, "SuperDads." Upcoming Promotions: Neenah-Menasha Community Fest, July 3 to 5. Lip-synch contest with three age classes. Later, with WNAM, a numbered "Ball Drop," featuring prizes for kids and young teens. Call-in Phone Number: Oshkosh, 233-3030.
Sunday Xtra Published every Sunday and distributed to 26,500 homes in the Fond du Lac market by The Reporter, 33 W. Second Fond du Lac, WI 5.4935. Thomas Guenther Editor Bekki LaPine Sales Manager Phone 922-4600 for information concerning submission of editorial copy, advertising rates, or to report a delivery problem. The Reporter.
