Word came in today that Apex Broadcasting station 96 Wave (96.1 FM) planned to switch formats this evening from whatever kind of “heavy rock” hybrid they’ve been tinkering with this year to an “Adult Hits” (a.k.a. “Variety Hits” or “Classic Hits”) format. Rumor had it they’ll be named (or nicknamed) “Chuck,” similar to other Adult Hits station around the country. Could this be the end of 96 Wave as Charleston has known it for decades?
Will they start playing the Bee Gees and Elton John next to Green Day and My Chemical Romance? Will Lancer, Wendy, Nick, Max, The Critic, other on-air talent be forced to spin John Mayer and Jefferson Starship? We’ll find out this week for sure.
** [only a few hours into the new “Chuck FM” format on Friday evening, it sounded like things zig-zagged from Poison to Dead or Alive to Robert Palmer to .38 Special to K.C. & The Sunshine Band to OMC to Elvis Presley, etc. … no jocks, no back-announcing, no explanations … all of the Wave information online has been deleted and replaced only by the image to the left]
*** [Tues. Sept. 4 — word also has it that most of the regular Wave DJs have either been dismissed entirely or elbowed over to new duties at Apex’s B-92 FM station. No word from Apex on their plans for their forthcoming Charleston frequency, 101.7 FM, due to launch in the fall or winter … stay tuned]
265 Comments
I heard that it will be going down today at 5PM, no more 96Wave!!!No more live jocks, just some guy named “Chuck”, another generic voice,for such a unique city.I bet Chuck records his stuff from some place like New York City,without ever once stepping foot in the, “Holy City”. Is this really taking place? How many of us have grown up with Wave? But really, how many of us have not even listened to Wave in the past year?
Isn’t it kind of funny that over a year ago 96Wave was featured in Rolling Stone magazine? And now they have to switch to an entirely new format of music?
Why would you change the format and kill an “iconic” Charleston staple? That just sounds like bad management,but hasn’t that been the rumor over at Apex Broadcasting for sometime now? Just about two months ago,they changed their upstart Charleston entertainment publication,Graffiti, to a music magazine-but with no real local articles.Some might consider it’s use better fit for packing material. They have made all of their morning shows,syndicated. What was their slogan for some time,”locally owned,locally operated”.Do some digging and you will find that Apex Broadcasting’s corportae office is in Alabama. That’s not local, and I even think Miss Teen SC can tell you that without looking at a map.
When somebody asked you,”what radio staions are cool, here”, the response was Wave. Wave played in just about every bar and cool hangout around town thru the 90’s and even up until about a year ago. They have had some real cool personalities; Stupid Mike,Dick Dale,Critic, Woody, Storm and Kenny.
The writing was on the wall when we all woke up one morning to heavy doses of “Free Beer and Hot Wings” ,Lancer, Wendy and Myspace Nick(who could forget Ballards back and forth with those immature kids- if you are in the public eye, you allow yourself to be judged by everyone,if you like it or not)followed up with, what some might say locally, a rip off of 98X.
I guess we lost 96Wave to the “man”. It sure does suck when those corporate bastards come in and screw things all up. Goodbye 96 Wave.You got me laid-on a few occassions after Wavefests, you got me good and drunk- a few times, you introduced me to some cool new bands(not of late though),we even got high together at the beach - a few times, you helped me through the late night cram sessions before finals- a few times, and you even helped me get some exercise on your “pub crawls” - a few times.
This feels like, when your parents get divorced. Hi son, let me introduce you to my new “friend”, his name is CHUCK. And all’s you really want to say is-” I don’t care who you are, you are not my Wave, you are just the station who is on my fucking preset one,now!”
Thanks again Apex Broadcasting for bringing so much joy to our lives since you have entered it.Please back up your bags and hop on I-26 west.And don’t stop till you hear your cousins mating call back in Bama.
I had my fingers crossed that it was just a joke,but it is a reality. Somebody should for sure lose their job over this decision. Their GM is listed as Chris Johnson. If this guy is responsible for the decisions that Apex Broadcasting has made(and I am sure he is being the GM) he should be forced to walk around downtown, as the people of Charleston tar and feather him. Please,please Apex Broadcasting pack your bags and get out of town and don’t leave anything behind. And take the dummie with egg on his face for thinking this was a good move.
Well at least the City Paper has found their sponsor for the next Gay issue.
“You know how I know you are gay? … You listen to 96.1 Chuck FM”
This has to be the most dissapointing and outragous stunt a radio staion has ever pulled. There was no warning at all, just got in my truck after work, and come 5pm there was a repeating long version of Charles in Charge. I hate you Apex, what you have done is ruin a legendary Charleston station. I will never listen to your station again, it has been removed from my presets all together. In the long run I know that doesn’t matter, but we already have stations in Charleston like “Chuck”, but there was no comparison to 96 wave. (other than dirt rock happy 98x). Give me back my Free Beer and Hot Wings, critic, and Wendy. This change in format doesn’t even make sense. How many years has this station been 96wave? Dear “Chuck”, I hope this station fails miserabaly. R.I.P. 96wave….the only station that came close to playing good music in “chucktown”.
Wow. It seems it really happened. Just tuned in today (Fri. Aug. 31) around 5:15 p.m. and heard Dead or Alive’s “You Spin me Right Round,” Poison’s “Nothin’ But a Good Time,” and OMC’s “How Bizarre” … and an an familiar voice saying “Ninety-six point one: Chuck F.M.” How bizarre.
It appears that this change was in result to the ratings for the station getting severely decimated (check http://www.radioandrecords.com/RRRatings/DefaultSearch.aspx and then type in Charleston in the search box)… from a 2.5 rating to a 1.4 rating… and “variety hits” as the format is called, seems to be all the rage now… so, we’ll see how long this lasts…
This is NOT funny.
Change it back.
Now.
R.I.P. Wave…Chuck just lost another long time listener here.
Is this all a big joke? What was that crap I just listened to coming home from work. I was expecting Wendy, Lance, the Critic, or even Uncle Miles to come on and have a good laugh telling me it was all a big joke. Reading this thread makes me sad. This can’t be true. Even after the last year when wave sounded more like 98x, it still was the best station in Chucktown (sorry bad use of words here). After listening to the filth that was on I changed it to 100.5 which is my third choice in radio and guess what? Cracker’s “Low” was on and many memories came ruching back to me. To hear Cracker you go to 96wave and the Windjammer. This is a disgrace! Nobody at the station knew about this? Wendy telling me that Flyleaf was playing at the Jammer in a few weeks, was all false? How long has Wave know about this? I want f’in answers and it better be on the web, b/c there is no way I am tuning into 96.1 Chuck. When friends from out of town used to come and visit me, I would play 96wave. I wouldn’t say anything for a few songs and 9 times out of 10 my out of town friends would say something like, “wow what radio station is this?” I was proud to have 96wave as my radio station. Now this Chuck is awful. I guess I should have gone to more 96wave outings. A SAD DAY in Charleston Indeed!
It doesn’t surprise me, but makes me sad, nonetheless. Not as a former Wave alumni, but as a Charlestonian. Wave was THE cool station for years, although admittedly, this hasn’t been true for some time. When they switched out bands like Drive by Truckers for bands like Flyleaf a few months back, Wave had become a shell of it’s former self.
Critic was the station’s last saving grace (Bryant Stowe kept the old flame alive as well) and represented the last remnant of what Wave used to be.
No more.
Jack
This is bullcrap. I know Nick from 96 wave from High School, and he said that this isn’t a joke. He also said he didn’t even know until 10:30 am today. I don’t know, but I’ll be pissed either way…especially if it’s not a joke. What about Free Beer and Hot Wings? Those guys are awesome, and they BETTER not stop being an affiliate for them. What are rock fans going to listen to when F**k FM is playing Madonna…or Elton John?!?! 98x doesn’t come in on my radio, so I’m left out in the cold. OMG…the unimaginable horror! This is the worst decision in the history of this city. I’ve listened for a few minutes, and it’s already unbearable. I have not heard one single song that 96 Wave used to play…only old 70s and 80s “hits.”….and one Hootie and the Blowfish song. The only reason that I will ever listen to this station again, is if Free Beer and Hot Wings are still on. If not, then goodbye completely. Looks like I’ll have to buy an ipod and an ipod ready radio…or XM radio. Thanks a pantload, Chuck FM. Oh…and that’s possibly the worst radio station name I’ve EVER heard.
I agree with you Jack. No more Drive by Truckers, Widespread, Drivin and Cryin, etc. but what they wre currently palying is way better than 96.1 Chuck. You still got some occasioannal Beastie Boys, and Uncle Miles still has good stuff on the nineties at noon. Not to mentions Critics Choice on Sunday. A disgrace.
Lancer does the nineties at noon. My mistake.
It all started when Storm and Kenny were fired.
Amen Zachariah.
Don’t blame the crew, Nick.
First they got rid of the morning show without a note, then they phased out stupid Mike, then changed the format of the station from our favorite alt music to “rock”, thus removing some of the sweeter sounds we were accustomed to.
To do this to the public with nary a word to the masses who rely on 96 Wave to entertain them during the morning commute, the evening commute, and those of us who listen from work and at home is a tragedy. I honestly don’t know what to listen to. Certainly not another Apex station. The least they can do now is issue an explanation or apology. I thought that when they got rid of the morning show, and noone will publicly say what happened there, only that it was “unfortunate”.
When I was growing up I used to go play basketball at the school down the street from my house. This was always an interesting exercise as it combined the neighborhood populace of rednecks, frat boys, professional wiggers and other assorted suburban white teens in a united front against the hordes of the surperior black kids and middle aged gym rats that would swoop in nightly to show the kids how to properly “ball”. Eventually I would be partially responsible for the tearing down of this court, when I attacked Trey Demory with a baseball bat after he threatened my little brother, but that was many moons after this court became the first place I ever remember hearing 96wave.
In those days (I’m talking early 90s here) most mainstream music was atrocius. This of course is no different from now, excluding the fact that at the time the “kids” were convinced they were riding the “wave” of an emerging high art form known as “alternative”, which to be honest was less a genre, than it was an anti-genre, namely the alleged opposite of the previously mundane, quasi-pop, prog rock (is anything progressive good?) scene that had made Phil Collins an international superstar (for the time I will leave aside cock rock/hair metal, which was for the most part excellent and also had far more influence on “alternative” than the Cobains and Corgans of the world would ever willfully admit). At the forefront of this “wave” locally was..well..96wave.
As one of the younger amateur bball sensations, who for the most part was only interested in country, folk and a couple of punk bands I had stumbled upon by virtue of knowing the appropriate freaks in school, I was relatively unfarmilar with this grunge/alternative uprising…96wave changed this for me and forever changed music in my eyes. From the first time I heard the station I had found an apt enemy for my adolescent angst and contrived non-conformist nonsense. 96wave became my musical heresey..and God bless them for it.
Of course like all the best blasphemies, this was partially based on self denial. I loved Green River and Mudhoney from the first time I heard them. I hated Pearl Jam, but always thought it was neat that the Wave claimed they had played tracks from Ten before any other major station in the country (of course this was likely bullshit). When my evil comrade somehow used his connections at Cats Music to score a “select set” I just happened to be tuned into the hated station and enjoyed the Jim Carroll Band with approxiamately 500,000 other Charlestonians curious as to who David Gobert was.
There were antics galore. One time David and I called up 96wave and he threatened to torch himself on the frontsteps of his ex-girlfriends home if she didn’t take him back. Another time I called up to talk to The Critic and when the person working the phone asked me to hold I promised to burn down the building. Things like this seemed funny at the time (hell they still do). We were picking on the “alternative” station because we were too punk for our own good.
Years later this same station would host in house shows dedicated to local music and genres I was more receptive to. About ten years ago I tuned in one night and heard my friends in Unjust chatting with a dj. Though I missed the meat of it, the station also hosted my pal The Southern Avenger for nearly nine years, an unthinkable activity for most rock stations in the country. Even after the Avenger was let go and The Critic was purged, they had the bad fortune of hosting my old band The Cancer for an in studio event.
In sum 96wave was a great anti-hero for a little punk rock asshole. It was a worthwhile piece of garbage, on a shitstained campus of local media, that now has few fecal free locales. Raped by corporate nonsense, and foolish business decisions, the “local” of the station has been effectively stabbed to death in its bed..as of today it is literally not 96wave anymore..it is 96chuck, ironic because it is a totally unauthentic expression of Charleston at this point.
It makes me sad to think that other emerging punkers will not have such a fun target to blame for all of the towns musical ills, but what can be done? We won David…the king is dead..long live the technocratic, automative, soulless King.
8 months wiping chris j’s ball sweat….yea…you let Charleston down nick…..awesome that you didn’t see it coming….Wave has been dying a slow death for four years….and if you didn’t get it…you were the only one.
Ballard, wasn’t he the kid that tried to take you to task (unsuccesfully) a few months ago???
Interest of full disclosure, I worked for WAVE and now work for the compitition.
You have to be kidding. Chuck 96.1! WTF Chuck!! 96 Wave has been a part of Charleston as long as I can remember. I associate it with a lot of good times. It WAS Charleston for a long time and the source for some great music and events. Sorry to see it go. If it’s ratings that killed the Wave then Chuck should be gone in about 2 weeks. Who’s going to listen to that crap. Guess I’ll keep listening to my Sirius. Very dissapointed and sad.
Joel,
Nick didn’t let anyone down. The wheels were in motion long before he got there. Yes, Ballard was ultimately right during their little spat (today proved it) but there’s nothing dishonorable about loyalty for something you believe in, even in defeat.
I’ve got an office full of Confederate flags to prove it.
Nick threw his heart into making Wave work, and took the criticism personally. Haven’t we all done this at some point? We all believed in Wave ourselves, back in the day, didn’t we?
Glad to see your doing well Joel, as well as Bam Bam, Don and the other Wave alumni over your way.
Keep up the good work.
Jack
I wonder if there will be any local jocks on the air at all — or will it all be piped-in/pre-recorded. That’s the econo way, for sure. What will become of the syndicated morning show? And the Sunday morning and evening specialty shows? And the live remotes from the local bars and clubs? This is all pretty damn weird. What a bummer. I think I’ll put another early-era R.E.M. album on the home turntable and crack open another microbrew…
Ballard,
No DJs, other than the occasional chiming in by “Chuck,” (some voice-over guy, somewhere). No more morning show. No more remotes. No more Sunday specialty shows (Critic and Cutting Edge).
Enjoy your beer.
Jack
So much for an icon.
When my husband was transferred w/his job, one of the things that upset me was that I had to leave 96 Wave, the station I have listened to since I was old enough to set the dial myself. Sure, I found other stations at our other homes, but none had the same feeling to me as the Wave. I’ve always just felt like 96 was a little more casual, grass-roots, comfortable than the other stations. Even lately, as they have kind of lost that, they have still seemed more laid back than other stations overall. As soon as my husband was able, he passed up a major promotion so that we could move back home. Sure, it wasn’t just for the radio station, but the first thing I did as we hit Charleston on 26 as we came home was reset my radio to 96 Wave. It just felt like home, it felt “right”.
I have three small children now, and I always just kind of assumed that they, too, would be listening to 96 Wave one day. It’s the only station they know, and we regularly rock out in the car and dance (at the command of my two-year-old) to the songs. My husband will occasionally try to change it to talk radio (YUCK!), but he is met with strong resistance, as we all yell out “NOOOOOOOO!” Now, when he tries to change it, I guess we’ll have to let him. What else is there to listen to?
I guess I’m just glad I got a Zune for Mother’s Day. Looks like it will be getting more use than I thought it would! I work in my car in the mornings, though, and I will seriously miss Free Beer and Hot Wings. I love those guys!
This is crap. Apex, you SUCK!
WOW!
What a friggin kick to the groin section. I just thought they were slowly getting things back to normal, guess not. That was one thing I used to always brag about too. “Yea man, we got a great radio station in Charleston, they play The Replacements and turn around to play Zeppelin! Dammit! Well, thanks to everybody who has supported LESLIE there!
Sadler
The people in charge obviously had no idea how to format the music. I was just telling my wife last night after coming back from Greenville how I got to hear rock again while I was up there. I miss the old wave, but even the most recent wave was better than listening to obscure hard rock on 98. This truly sucks. 96 had gone through lulls in music quality in the past, but they always came around. The new ‘be all things to everyone’ station sucks. Have the guts to pick a format. Of course I still won’t listen unless they bring back the wave.
Obscure hard rock on 98X?
Yeah, like that obscure band, Disturbed… They’re just like the Maltese underground metal scene but American.
i don’t even know what to say! the wave has been a mainstay in my heart for years! i moved to memphis early this year, and anytime i felt lonely, i knew i could just tune into the wave on the web and make everything alright again. but now?
oh wave…
you got me through hard breakups. we got through all night school projects. we went to parties. you helped me meet girls. you gave me so much great music! we had concerts! and the salads…oh, the salads!
WHO ELSE IS GOING TO PLAY “BITCHIN CAMARO”?!? NOBODY!!!
oh my…i think i’m getting choked up about this.
our time together was too short…
I stopped listening as much when Storm and Kenny were fired. I didn’t understand then how in the world they could destroy the best morning show that there ever was. I still listened to the Critic though. The OLD Wave introduced me to bands I might not have heard of otherwise. *sigh* This is really sad.
this is awful.
I was having the worst week ever and I’ve always turned to 96 Wave to help me unwind for ten years now. Imagine my horror as I drove down the highway during rush hour in the rain and heard a twenty minute loop of the theme song to Charles In Charge. I nearly rear ended a Jeep Liberty when I realized what was going on. And then I started crying, no lie. This is the worst idea ever. How original that they played “Take This Job and Shove It” when it hit five PM (this last comment of course is sarcasm in its sincerest form).
Can’t believe it…I grew up listening to the wave and enjoyed all the cool concerts like wavefests and birthday bashes and the many live feeds from the bars, etc…
96.1 “upchuck” FM
Blast I meant most sincere form. I’m so pissed off about this that it’s mucking up my grammar.
What the hell are we supposed to listen to now?! This new “CHUNK FM” is crap!If I wanted to listen to the 80’s, 90’s, & today…I’d listen to The Drive at 100.5. Wave was the only station in Charleston worth listening to. So glad I have XM radio in the car…but what about the long days at work? Wave was the only thing that got me through with any sanity left.
Charleston radio officially died today at 5 pm. Why can’t someone with money and vision just buy a radio station here in town and program it with creativity, vision and originality. Ever listen to KHUM out of Eureka California? Also the public has a right to vote on FCC licenses. Perhaps a grassroots movement could be started to revoke Apex’s license for 96.1. Worse comes to worse you could find out who’s advertising on “Chuck” and call those advertisers and tell them that you and every single person you know will not patronize their business because they advertise on a crappy radio station.
Reggie you are a genius. Let us start a revolution.
For anyone who has ever lived in Charleston, there was something uniquely “ours” about 96 Wave. When I moved to Charleston a few years ago to start my career, I remember the fact that 96 Wave helped develop the local music scene more than any commerical station I had ever seen. Bands like Jump Little Children, The Working Title, The Films, Slowrunner, Cary Ann Hearst, etc. all felt welcome there. Over the years there have been some great people that I’ve had the pleasure to deal with from Dave Rossi, The Critic, Wendy, Lance, Bryant, and many more I’m forgetting right now. Without these people and the cause of that station, a lot of younger bands wouldn’t have had an outlet to get their music heard to an audience outside of a small gig at Cumberlands or The Village Tavern.
Like any business, Wave did their share of things that frustrated a lot of bands (their fight over the past few years with The Music Farm - which had seemed to have been repaired recently), switching to a slightly more nu-rock format, etc., but all in all I don’t think anyone really saw this coming.
Charleston has really lost something special with the Wave being no more. However, there are plenty of people that are still working to make Charleston a great place to experience live music. We should still be happy to know that there are such solid people laying the foundation for the Charleston music scene when people like Bobby Ross, Jimbo Webb, Trey Lofton, Amy Hutto, Mike Allen, Ballard Lesemann, and Devin Grant are around and working their asses off to make things better in that town.
I guess satelite radio is the way to go now. At least you can hear an uncensored Howard Stern. By wave thanks for the memories you will be missed
This has got to be one of the most depressing things I’ve heard in a while. I grew up with 96 wave, I even continued to listen online when I went to college because no stations in the area even compared to it. I noticed it slipping over the past couple of months as they played more mainstream rock, but I never though I’d come to this. They’ve got this same crap up in Myrtle Beach, but its “Bob FM”. No requests, no talking except for traffic and commercials, and absolutely no soul. Just unadulterated corporate radio. I might just have to visit Charleston to drop a duece on their door step. This blows.
I have owned a Sirius player for the last two years and up to the point where 96wave fired Storm and Kenny, I listened to their morning show and 90’s at noon every day at work, but now it’s either my Sirius player or my ipod. It was only a matter of time for the station to close it’s doors, you’d have to be a complete moron not to have see the writing on the walls. Come on, Free Beer and Hot Wings, what a complete waste of time, I’ve heard better stuff on podcast’s, they really did suck a$$.
I was a true faithful listener too, I remember all the “FREE” WaveFest’s, back when all you had to do was go to one of the pig’s and get a couple free tickets for you and your friends. Back when Hootie played every year, even though they sucked we embraced them because 96wave gave them a chance. My 96wave favorites were Cracker, 7mary3, Cowboy Mouth, Drivn’ and cryn’, Jump little children, and Better then ezra.
Here’s to a lost era of ROCK!!!!! Cheers!!!!
If you want good music, you might as well get either XM or Sirius. It’s really the only way to go, it really is worth the money you pay every month!!!!
Good bye 96wave, HELLOOOOOO CRAP, or I mean Chuck….
I grew up listening to 96wave. The first time I ever heard weezer was on the cutting edge. As much as I’ve hated the last year or so of 96 wave, I could still tune in on sundays and hear the critic playing appleseed cast, ryan adams, or the desendents. What a horrible state of affairs we have been reduced to if THE local radio station isn’t at least presided over by live dj’s. I am no fan of the majority of 96wave’s previous playlist, but at least there were a few diamonds in the rough.
Does this change elude to Charleston’s horrible taste in music, or what “the industry” thinks we should be listening to.
I am terrified at Charleston’s future taste in music.
At 5pm, August 31st came the end of an era in Charleston. It seems that while we try to preserve other historical icons in the Holy City, the respect that is due to preserve what was built up over the years by Woody, Danny V, Uncle Miles, The Critic, & Dave Rossi (along with plenty of others) has been swept under the corporate rug to be lost forever. No longer does APEX care of what the listeners truly want. It’s been coming for years now and those who got out with some sort of warning were the lucky ones.
I have had the pleasure of growing up & living in this fantastic city for over 17 years, and visited for years before then. 96WAVE has been #1 on my radio dial, even through the bad times. Wavefests & Birthday Bashes were a staple in my life… Hell, I can’t even begin to count all of the acts that I have seen over the years thanks to the WAVE. I remember the start of Hootie… Edwin being played the first time thanks to Uncle Miles… Cowboy Mouth’s birth into the welcoming arms of Charleston from New Orleans (thanks to Hootie)… Blue Dogs… Diesel Brothers… The Fire Apes… The Working Title… And of course Jump, Little Children was always one of the most entertaining shows you could see… all because 96WAVE shouted their support from their soapbox in West Ashley for them all over the years.
The Critic with his crass humor & skewed view of the world was always some of the funniest commentary on radio anywhere. Uncle Miles & Danny V were the backbone of the Wave… Others came & went, but they stayed loyal. You could always count on them for honest opinions, good times, & those voices that could strike you to your core. Woody was a god for having the vision of this station & letting everyone pretty much run rampant with their creativity.
Dave was a saint for trying to bring Wave back to the glory days, despite the city thinking he was the anti-christ for some of his decisions, people forget that he wasn’t deciding off of his own personal actions, he had a boss he had to answer to, just like 99% of the rest us in the working world.
I have been friends with some of these people for years now and have had some of the most fun in my life because of them. I remember seeing Danny V the night that he “left” the Wave for good, we all sat upstairs at Club Habana & drank to the legacy that he was leaving behind & to the best future for him in his endeavors that he was heading into… It was a shell shock for a man who gave 15 years of dedication to be let go and I shed a few tears the last night I saw him before he moved to California.
When Uncle Miles was shifted over to COAST (now B92.5) it was just as disheartening. But ever the utmost loyal friend, he moved over to the new sister station for the good of APEX. Then of course COAST changed to B92.5 & Uncle was pushed out the door. I was outraged! No more Uncle Miles on air, at all?!?! It was blaspheme to Charleston radio! 96 finally wised up & brought him back to the airwaves, but unfortunately never to enough airtime that he truly deserved. The Wave was continually changing and it seemed to not be for the better (but once again, not the programming directors call, he answered to GM’s who answered to the owner).
Thank God Howard Stern didn’t last too long… The Critic was great in the morning, but when Dick Dale came in, a whole new door was opened up to Charleston mornings. Stupid Mike was introduced & we fell in love with him. Upon Dick’s departure came the a.m. show hurricane that we all loved, known as Storm & Kenny Z. That was some of the best years of mornings here. Stupid Mike flourished, the Southern Avenger who had his unforgettable & smokin’ hot right hand lady Miss Jackie, gained more momentum, the Traffic Fairy was many a Charleston man’s fantasy, and all of the other chaotic characters that cracked us up were always looked forward to by dedicated fans. But the powers up above pushed down the order to clear out our beloved band of misfits and practically all of them disappeared.
Stupid Mike stayed with the station a little longer… Thursday nights out at Reds with Uncle Miles & S. Mike were so much fun. Wild Wings downtown with Dave Rossi were always entertaining, and any time the Critic was out in about in town always ensured a good time. I loved Bam Bam… He was the breath of fresh air that really enjoyed his late night slot on the weekends and we all loved him even more for it. Then the firings started… Good-bye Bam. Then S. Mike was let go… The Critic was practically MIA and Dave left for bigger & better things. Carly came in… and left. Wendy was great and Nick was a pleasure to meet when he accompanied Miles to Reds on Thursdays, before they pushed Miles to just Saturdays.
These last few years slowly showed the demise of our once infallible 96WAVE… Wavefests & true Birthday Bashes (sorry, but the Vans tour doesn’t count!) slowly faded out over the years… Local bands got less access to airtime… Remotes weren’t what they used to be… The entrance of Free Beer & Hot Wings was like the apocalypse of local radio. (A Michigan based morning show in the South?! Whoever decided on that one should be taken down to Waterfront Park, tied to the pineapple & given 50 lashes!) The personalities that we grew up with & loved were being picked off one by one like they were at a shooting range. I found myself only listening to Wave randomly in the evening, on Saturday’s with Miles, and Sunday’s to catch the Critic. My iPod became my saviour, loaded up mostly with artists that had been introduced to me on the airwaves of 96.1.
So now we should all mourn the loss of an irreplacible love. One that will never be able to have another even come close to the magnitude that was Wave in it’s prime.
Good-bye to the station that got me through many nights of studying… That was there for me for all the days on the beach at IOP… That was my 1st station ever programmed into my cars… To the station that brought me all of the artists that will forever fill my head with memories of some of the greatest concerts I have ever gone to… That I played during my “first time” so my oldest sister upstairs couldn’t hear us… WAVE will forever be associated with some of the greatest memories I’ve had here in the almost 2 decades of being a loyal listener.
You leave a hole in our souls APEX. You have lost hundreds, if not thousands of listeners who will never even pause over your “Chuck” station or any other stations of yours on the radio dial. You will never hold our respect again and we will not pity you when you finally wise up and fold up shop here to leave with your tails between your legs since you slowly killed all that was musically righteous in Charleston. Your exit will be a celebrated event to us.
Thank you for everything that the true 96.1WAVF gave to me over the years. I’ll always remember the great times with the fondest of memories. WAVE, your time has come to break on the Charleston shores for the last time, you will be missed.
Oh god! I go to FN NYC for a few days and The WAVE finally crashes.
As a native Charlestonian, I listened to that station forever. I liked it so much I walked to it after class in high school every day. I pulled the longest internship ever…..
I hung around tell they gave me a job.
I worked there for like 7 years…
I molded my musical ear… It changed my life… It paid my bills… It opened so many doors… It filled my belly… It made me friends… It got me drunk… It clothed me… It got me laid… It got me into shows… It got me back stage… It gave me records…
I will never be able to say how much it affected my life….
Crap!
Radio in the Corporate US sucks!!!!
I haven’t been an active listener for a long………time.
Charleston has lost an Icon.
Trust me. I’ve been to ever state in the union. They just don’t make um like 96wave.
R.I.P.
My you live on in the hearts and memories of all who loved you.
Ben the Intern
WTF????
To the owners of Apex Broadcasting…
Have you lost your mind?
You have destroyed a Charleston landmark….
Remember the Wave Worthy Music you used to play?
You’re not worthy now…
Shame…shame…shame…
Bryan freaking Adams! What the F!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is truly a sad day for Charleston. As a child growing up in the early 90’s amongst the tobacco fields of lower Florence County, I remember climbing onto my roof and much to my parent’s disdain, fashioning a crude radio antenna from Tinfoil and coat hangers so that I could pick up the static laden strains of The Cutting Edge. 96 wave was the college radio station for a child living in a town full of tasteless rednecks. Fugazi, Dead Milkmen, The Clash, Cracker, Violent Femmes…all thrown in the mix together… 96 wave was my escape. The voice of all that was cool that could just barely be pulled from the air waves and assure me that there were other people like me on the other end of highway 52 and that one day I would be able to join them. After finally escaping and arriving in Charleston in ‘97,
96Wave, though through much better reception proved to be all that I had perceived it to be, and became the soundtrack to my self discovery during those first blissful years of college emancipation. Charleston of all places is one that has realized that there is real value in resisting change. Our entire economy is built upon it. 96Wave had remained constant and unique for many years and had really become something special…something to be proud of… something that well…sounded like Charleston.
Wow, you boys fu*ked this one up good. Whats next? Filling Ft. Sumter in with concrete in order to make a landing pad for the private chopper’s of rich Yankee transients? Like my grandfather always said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Up until a few years ago…96Wave wasn’t broke…but some ass threw a monkey wrench in the gears and began the process of breaking it down with the into up “nu metal” and syndicated programming. When it was obvious that this decision was a very poor one, the simple solution was to go back to the original format before it was too late…but no.
Fu*ck the Chuck, you will die a quick death, you fat greedy ol’ bastard.
The new music “format” is positively schizophrenic. I’m still in disbelief this morning.
… isn’t this switch one of the last signs of the Apocalypse? Fantastically awful idea, and you can bet your ass I’m not going to listen to Chuck. Don’t we have enough stations that are already like that? Did we have to get saddled with another one? Who does a girl have to kill around here to get this fixed and fixed fast?
I just heard their new promotional commmercial in which they claim to have ignored the voices of “the suits” and embraced the music that Charlestonians asked for?! Seriously, what can we locals do about this?
Just a shame…
There must be something we can do. It may not resurrect the Wave, but maybe at least let Apex know we’re pissed and we won’t listen to their stations anymore. I liked the idea of calling the sponsors who played ads on the station to tell them we won’t buy their products anymore, but that would require actually listening to the crap they’re playing… can anyone find an email address to someone in charge over at Apex? Or a phone number? I’m thinking a lot of people will call/write if we can spread it around.
I, like the rest of y’all, tuned in and without any warning discovered a randomn, dissynchronized mix of noise loosely referred to as music. Quite disheartening since I live just far enough out of town that I can’t pick up the wave and look forward to its soothing sound every weekend when I return to Charleston. “Chuck” is, well, a poorly designed canned experiment. I will not listen to it, though I will tune in occasionally to see if someone has come to their senses. (I have tried calling 843-972-wave, but surprise, no one is answering.) I for one will protest. The purpose of a radio station is, like any other business, to make a profit, and if enough people tune out and complain ratings will drop. Ratings drop and so do add revenues and this will get the gm’s attention like nothing else. So I say, don’t listen, but contact the station and let them know what a poor choice this was. I for one will not let go of an old friend so easily.
Farwell old friend, til we meet again…
Yet another reason I’m happy I never became a YOUNG REPULICAN. I could’ve spent my whole life thinking that censorship and communism was “good for the community”. These were problably the same f’in poeple that voted for the smoking ban…does anyone remember when Charleston celebrated the harmony of DIVERSITY in culture????? Starting to look pretty boring around here, if you ask me.
I’m living in Madison, WI right now and have experienced this same type of format. WCHY or “Charlie” is an Entercom (big conglomerate almost as bad as Clear Channel) station. Their tagline, too, is “We play everything.” From what I’ve heard, it’s reasonably successful from an advertising revenue standpoint but ranks really high in the Arbitron ratings which is all radio station general managers care about. They’re able to take these ratings and tell potential advertisers that they’re so great and tons of people listen to their station so they should advertise with them. But in reality, Arbitron is just awareness not actual listenership. You’ll know it’s Arbitron time when you see a lot of radio station billboards around town. They’re trying to get you to think of them first when Arbitron asks you about radio stations. When I was working in Charleston, I had one GM of a broadcasting company (not Apex) tell me, “I don’t care if people listen. I just want them to put us down in the Arbitron book.” There was an on-air personality in the room at the time. His facial expression was priceless. My point here is that general managers and sales managers care very little about content or music and all about awareness and ratings. Because that’s what drives advertising which drives the bottom line.
Here’s some info for Apex:
843-972-1100
2294 Clements Ferry Road
Charleston, SC 29492
Under advertising on their website, Walt Rosen is listen as the 96Wave contact. His number is 843-972-1112. His email is walt@apexbroadcasting.com. This guy could be the advertising sales manager or just the guy that takes the call-ins. Just ask to speak to the sales manager for 96Wave. In a comment above, someone mentioned that Chris Johnson is the general manager. So you could call him, too. I think your best bet is talking to the sales manager though. He’s the guy that’s going to understand that a lot of people are pissed about this change and that it might affect ad sales. If enough people start calling, they’re going to start screening. Always act like you’re a potential advertiser until you get to the person you want to talk to.
And since a lot of these suits aren’t in the office on weekends, you should innundate their voicemail boxes now. You should be able to get through relatively easy by a company directory or receptionist. Come Monday morning, they’ll have to sift through a ton of angry voicemails.
What they really aren’t understanding is that 96Wave was a Charleston institution to a lot of people, a landmark on the radio dial. Most business owners would kill to have that kind of status. From an advertising standpoint, they should have sold it as that and not based on ratings.
Yeah, this is bullshit. Why would ANYONE choose to listen to a generic brand radio station, owned by Coporate America, over the original and LOCALLY-owned (used to be at any rate) 96Wave. I seriously can’t believe that Charleston got screwed this way, without any warning. I really hope there is enough backlash that F**k 96.1 crashes and burns hard here.
Jackie,
Your probably right. Probably starting spewing off at the mouth when I should’ve just chilled out….keep it avenger style
Fuck you Chuck FM. Everyone should organize a mob and burn the APEX broadcasting place down. Fucking assholes, why not take down B92.5 or 98X or god damn magic 101.7… wow how fucking ignorant.
Live down in Beaufort, and just tuned in to 96 Wave. Hall and Oates was being played, and thought maybe it was interference from another station due to the bad weather. Not so. 96 Wave was probably one of the best stations in the southeast, possibly even in the US.
They played “Mandy.”
Craziness.
HOLY FUCK!! Talk about the day the music died, this is a travesty.
Wake up people! Sadly, this is the same corporate takeover that we are allowing to detract from every part of our lives. They smash creativity and rip away any fragmented portion of cultural uniqueness.
I will miss the WAVE as much as all of you.
It was a romance.
So many years…go out with a wimper???? Hope Critic finds a good place, great Dj dying breed. Remember FREE WAVE FEST????
I woke up this morning hoping that the demise of Wave was something I might have imagined last night in a dream. Alas, I’m awake and have that horrible sensation in the pit of my stomach that the demise is in fact a reality.
It’s safe to say that Wave shaped my teenage years. And quite a few of my friends too. During my insomniac youth I would listen to Danny V “The Duke of Darkness” in the wee hours of the morning comforted by the fact that someone else was awake like me! I fell in love with Green Day, the Offspring, and Nirvana and tattooed their symbols on my notebooks and chuck taylors. I bought way too much flannel and inspired by Cobain’s lyrics shaved part of my head (now THAT was a mistake!)
The Cutting Edge taught me to dig deeper and look beyond the top selling alternative bands and I found the love of my life (Braid). I developed a mad teenage crush on the Critic through that show and was way too embarrassed to tell him about it even though we worked together up until last January. And Wave gave me the balls to join my college station at USC (long live WUSC at least) and do an incredibly dorky but awesome afternoon show with my best friend. I got to interview William Goldsmith and Jeremy from Sunny Day Real Estate, meet Pat Smear, and finally return to Charleston to work for my favorite radio station and acheive my life long dream of being a DJ on 96 Wave. I took the crappy shifts, did the receptionist gig there for a year (talk about hellish), and finally settled in as Apex Broadcasting’s Production Director for a solid couple of years….but I’d be lying if I didn’t say I felt the shift coming…most strongly when Storm and Kenny were fired in March 2006 while they were on vacation. How civilized. And then I had to watch my friend and confidante Bam go. And there were small signs before this. I cried in a production studio when Uncle Miles was first let go. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Danny V. And finally I missed Dave so horribly when he left that I started looking for a new job myself leaving the only career I had thus far ever known. I couldn’t believe how shocked some people were when I turned in my two weeks notice this past January. Could they not see how unhappy I was?? Don’t get me wrong-I loved my coworkers new and old–some very chill people. But the only way I could describe it was that I had the distinct feeling of being on a sinking ship..and I either had to jump off or go down with it. Well folks, the ship has finally sunk, and I’m sure as hell glad that I jumped when I did.
R.I.P. Wave-so long and thanks for the memories.
p.s. if you DO call Apex this week-please consider the receptionist. whoever is answering the phone up there did not make this decision, that person is just trying to make a meager living and TRUST ME (I speak from experience) it is going to be a rough week to be answering to angry listeners. He or she will probably be able to help the more calm callers than the ones who call just to scream and cuss him or her out.
I have to laugh and cry at the same time. 96Wave has sucked for at least 6-7 years now, ever since Atom and The Critic were canned from their morning show. I haven’t listened regularly to 96Wave in years and frankly, their demise due to low ratings was self-inflicted and self-deserved.
At the same time, it was still a Charleston icon and probably the lone FM holdout of “independent” radio. It’s sad to see a Charleston institution go down like this only to be replaced by the most offensive of formats, robo-programming. Bleah.
I just moved to Charleston from Augusta a few weeks ago. On clear nights I would tune my car stereo to 96.1 to hear good music. This was after a corporation destroyed our greatest alternative rock station (Channel Z) and left us with nothing. I may have only been here a few weeks, but I’ve been a 96 Wave fan for the last 10 years. Its reach was beyond Charleston. I can’t believe this has happened…..
seriously, what the hell is this new shit? honestly, ive listened to 96 wave since i was 8. now we are subject to corporate takeover. 96 wave was the definition of unique and stood out here in charleston. this will not last too long, so im not sure why i am upset. it is just the end of an era! f*ck chuck!!!!!
Got to talking to an Apex employee last night and that person said everyone is “crushed” by this move. This person said, things have been shady around there for a while. He said the ones who made this decision are:(this person emailed me their contact info.)
Chris Johnson- General Manger, 843-972-1105, cmjohnson@apexbroadcasting.com
Brian Taylor- Operations Manager and Program Director of B92, 843-972-1136
John Hakim- 96 Wave Sales Manager, 843-972-1149, jhakim@apexbroadcasting.com
Everyone can bitch and moan all they want, but it won’t change anything. According to this person these guys have their heads up their asses. The best way to make a statement is to not buy advertising from their company on any of their products(Chuck FM, B92, Star 99.7, Heaven 1390 and Graffiti Magazine). This company needs to go away for the way they have treated the people of Charleston. Don’t threaten the company with violence, because that is illegal. The only way to stop the wrong doings of this company and it’s management is to not support them with your money. There are many other advertising outlets in the area- Citadel Communications, Clear Channel, Kirkman Broadcasting, The City Paper, Preview (The P&C), West of and the TV Stations. If you or any of your friends spend money with Apex, have them stop right now! Don’t play Apex radio stations … EVER! If you hear one, turn it! When their ratings drop just like Waves did, their national advertising money will stop coming in. And then the fat cats at Apex corporate in Alabama will have to sell the company. Yes it is a long drawn out plan, but it is the only way to truly make your point.
DON’T EVER SUPPORT ANYTHING THAT APEX BROADCASTING/PUBLISHING ATTACHES THEIR NAME TO…
I moved to Charleston shortly before the Wave came on the air. I later left for the Northeast and recently moved back. Not many stations elsewhere compared to the Wave. I grew up on them - all through the school years. Now they have been replaced with a generic station that plays annoying music that I was glad to see go away after its first time around. I’m sorry if I am offending the three or so people who actually find this new format listenable. I hated those songs in the ’80s & they hold no nostalgia for me now. When I flipped on 96.1 in my car this morning I felt like I was at work listening to the crappy, bland “adult hits” station a co-worker plays at her desk. Great. Now she’ll have more stations to torture us with. Great idea to change format, Apex. Why be original? Start playing today’s version of the crap AM of the ’70s. Nice. If anyone out there actually likes this new station, I’d like to pay for his or her psychiatric evaluation myself.
The number for Apex broadcasting is 972-1100.
Call early, call often.
I moved to Charleston in 92 and have been a fan of 96wave ever sence. I moved to Hilton Head and then Columbia where I could still pick up 96 wave on the radio, it was fuzzy but thats all I would listen to. I was very pissed when I turned on the radio today and heard this crap. They played the perfect music for Charleston, folly, down town, mt.pleasant, and west ashley. I refuse to listen to this new “chuck” crap. If they don’t change it back they will loose a lot of listeners. I am in my 20s and I know people teen to 40s that listen to Wave. Why would you screw with something with that wide of a listener base just to give Charleston yet another crappy “adults hits” station. That is going to take away half of their listener base.
Spencer….AMEN!!! You are totally right!! Don’t support APEX in ANY WAY!!! Let them die the slow painful death they deserve. No threats, no pickets…just let them suffer.
Well, to be honest. The only reason I listend to 96 Wave in the last few months was because of the Free Beer and Hot wings show. We should have know since Wavfest went by the wayside, that the station was in peril. The lack of “New/Original, Wave Worthy” music latley was also a clue. Rockers unite. Dont let the same thing happen to 98X. At least they support local and regional music and dont hide what they are about.
Listened a cpl of times today trying to guage how bad 96 WAVE has destroyed what was once “Charleston’s Best Rock”
Horrible…just horrible
Read my blog…
96 Wave you will be missed. Taylor, Todd, The Critic and occasionally Bill Walsh. Those were the days. Stevie Ray Vaughan in the early days. Meat Puppets, Cracker, Wave Fests. The station had a great run. So many memories for so many folks. Sorry to see it go.
Dont forget guys: If you call dont do it Monday. No one will be there (well, no one but me).
Call Tuesday.
I can’t believe its gone…I just can’t….
I posted a blog on my band’s MySpace. You can see it here if you want.
Just let me say this…my dreams of hearing my band on 96 Wave have been completely destroyed.
Thanks APEX…you assholes!
SAVE THE WAVE…I propose this..All loyal Wave listeners go to the studio on tuesday morning and offer the management this…give US 72 hours to have a “begathon” to raise the ad money they would have gotten in six months to show that we love this station, If we don’t they keep it and we’ll shut up, If we do the Wave is back. I am a former broadcast DJ, I’ll stay on the air for 72 hours straight, I’ve done it before. My air name was Wesley Stewart, I worked for WRBQ in Tampa, and WVGN In the Virgin Islands. Let’s band together and get OUR station BACK!
I’ve lived in Charleston for years and went to Wando High School and am now at College of Charleston. I always listened to the 96Wave and used to tell all my college friends from out of state that Wave was the best station around. What happened? No warning, nothing. I’m driving to work to a local restaurant that always had it blaring in the kitchen and I get Chuck??? No thanks… I hope the rest of Charleston is as irritated and pissed off as my friends and I are. Chuck won’t last so just bring back the Wave. I don’t care what the rest of the country is listening to. Charleston wants 96Wave.
Don’t waste your time doing something like that. Having worked in that building for sometime(along with hundreds who have come and gone because it is so poorly run,just check the turnover rate),you know what an awful person Chris Johnson is along with his lackies Bryan Taylor, and Walt Rosen(alledgelly). These guys don’t care about the people of Charleston,at all(alledgelly). These guys lie to everyone all the time(alledgelly). And all do unethical things all the time(alledgelly) Knowing the type of person Chris Johnson is, he would call the cops from his office and never once have the balls to face anyone. CMJ, is hated by everyone who works in that building! Everyone makes fun of him all the time, he has no respect in that building from any employee. What needs to happen, is that the owner Dean Pearce needs to step in and “blow out” his management.He needs to know that those guys have ruined his name and company in this market. Johnson,is a terrible GM who can not make a decision on his own, he is easily influenced by others opinions and is always looking for a scapegoat(alledgelly).You can count on it that they most likely blamed Dave for this(alledgelly),but he is the one with the knowledge of music and visions of great radio.Those guys-Apex management- have to listen to some consultant in LA-Yeah the same consultant who Storm and Kenny sent a demo to to help them get a better job and he sold them out to Johnson and Rosen,whose egos are so big that they said “f” them and that led to their firing… not ratings(alledgelly)
These guys are going forward and don’t care about Charleston,never did and never will. Like it was said before,when you see an apex ad rep coming your way- shut the door. Don’t support them by spending money with their company.They for sure only want money and don’t care if a business does well.Their modo is “F” everyone, we are Apex, we know what we are doing and everyone else is a bunch of dumb redneck hillbillys from the backwards south(alledgelly).If you don’t spend money with us, you will fail and if we don’t get it all, that business gets the “asshole” tax(alledgelly).Any who has ever worked in sales at Apex can concur with that statement from CMJ.
I’ll miss u WAVF.
bye bye 96.1, screw apex
I just threw up a little. I, too, thought it was some sort of anomaly on the airwaves, that maybe I was picking up some station from Savannah or something on the way home that had a stronger signal due to electromagnetism or some such drivel. Chuck-FM is yet another pre-programmed canned feed of generic/safe audio fecal matter. It’s in the same vein as other pre-formatted crap that gets mass-fed to the American Sheeple under names like Steve FM and Jack FM. No real dj’s, no local flavor, and no effing personality or souls.
When I moved to the Charleston in 1992 after a stint in the Army, I listened to 96 Wave for the 20 months I lived here. When I moved back in 2000, my radio seldom veered off 96 Wave. It was like coming back to an old friend. However, in the past seven years I found less and less real alternative music & just a paltry setlist culled from Billboard’s Top 40 Modern Rock Chart.
Once they went with those douchebags Free Beer & Hot Wings, and playing crap like Metallica and Nicelback, I knew things were in sad decline. That and 1994’s Seattle Grunge every 15 minutes; ie: every hour I could count on hearing a song each from Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, and the ever-present and overplayed Nirvana.
Every so often they’d throw me a bone like U2 or REM, but seldom any decent classic alternative from acts that pioneered alternative like The Cure (Just Like Heaven was the sole offering), New Order, or Depeche Mode (except for the occasional spin of Personal Jesus). Acts that are stil putting out relevant material 25 years after they started on college radio get ignored in favor of Emo Crap like 30 Seconds to Mars or The Used.
RIP, 96 Wave…..we’ll miss you. To paraphrase The Push Stars: We’ll put the keg on your coffin and think of you every so often….
makes me glad i went for Sirius radio…rip 96 wave
SO SAD…….
This makes me so angry, it’s as if I woke up and my past had been erased. I remember first hearing the roar of the ocean at 96.1 and wondering what the heck that was all about. I recall a time when I was transferred with my job to NC. I was homesick and miserable, and straining to pull the sound of something familiar through my radio. The moment I heard Taylor and Todd and the Critic, no matter how far away I was at the time, I was home already. 96Wave has been my constant friend all that time.
It is a shame when corporate stooges destroy something they aren’t even worthy to listen to, much less profit from. It would be nice if for a change, the indignation that is shared would actually be sustained and lead to something substantive. We put up with so much crap and just take. We complain, but do nothing. Yes, they are a large corporation (relatively speaking), but they aren’t invincible. Surely there must be a good idea out there, a silver bullet of some sort, that can kill this beast. I really wish grassroots mattered. I wish we could do something to tell them in no uncertain terms that we have had enough of corporate thinking and greed-fueled motivations. There are some things that matter more.
how sad. wave was the only station i listened to. everything started going down hill when storm and kenny were fired. now this?!
This has got to be the worst thing that has happened to Charleston in a looong time. I have been listening to this station since ‘86, and I feel as if a part of my childhood, college years, and adult life has now been ripped away from me. The new Chuck or UPCHUCK as I call it, SUCKS! The music is horrible, and if they get rid of Free Beer and Hot Wings, there might be rioting. My wife and I were rolling out to IOP and I thought this was a joke, aparently not. Rolling to the beach with the windows down blaring 96 Wave and listening up for the surf report is no more. 96 WAVE you will be surely missed. RIP.
Christian Adams
98x rock on. Bye 96 wave you are cool and stil in my ears you are. Now 98x will live in all charleston people. UP YOUR’S CHUCK>:
RIP 96 Wave
Von
Oh no! where’s the critic? My Sunday morning tradition? Life will never be the same. Sorry, but Bad Girls (yeah, just checked, that’s what’s playing now)is NOT a replacement. I will miss you 96Wave!
96Wave sucked anyways. Storm & Kenny sucked. Free Beer & Hot Wings REALLY sucked. And in recent memory, 96Wave has sucked. They’ve sucked for at least half of the last decade. And 96 Chuck sucks even more.
Heard the news last night, I had stopped listening with the last format change , except for Critic on Sunday mornings. We were fortunate to have a station like the Wave for as long as we did. Look at the stations in nearby Raleigh-Durham. They all suck except for the college stations and have since the late 80’s when classic rock programming destroyed rock radio.
Wavefest ‘97 will always rank up there as one of my all time favorite concerts, despite the chilly weather. Jeff Tweedy introducing Jay Bennett like it was gonna be Jay Farrar joining him on stage was classic. That guy from Cowboy Mouth climbing the scaffolding… Hell, I’m gonna go put my bootlegs of that Wavefest on the stereo right now and send The Wave off proper like. Thanks for some great memories.
I never take the time to make public comments about a radio station, but I never thought 96Wave would be killed! Does anyone know what happened to the Critic and his Sunday morning show? I’m disgusted and I agree with all those who feel 96Wave was dying over the last four years. They continued to separate themselves from the local scene and Free Beer and Hotwings just made it worse. Charleston needs good alternative radio. Hopefully CofC students decide to take on the cause and create a quality college station. That was 96Wave’s niche.
I hate APEX.
So long old friends.
I have listened since I was in middle school. My brother and I would listen to storm and kenny on the way to school. I was already missing the 96 wave I knew when they got rid of those guys. Another iconic era of charleston is gone. I’m so sad right now
This must be a joke. I am so disappointed. The LAST thing Charleston needs is another generic, crappy, lifeless radio station. 96 Wave was the only thing that saved Charleston from being completely unoriginal. Has anyone started a petition???
Let me start off by saying that I loved 96wave and I’m sad to see it go, but APEX is a company who was called by the owner’s of 96wave to unload the radio station they couldn’t salvage. It’s been through numerous hands, each making dumber changes than the last. It never made any money, and lost almost all of its awesome content! APEX will only be here until they can negotiate with another company to buy or trade the station. Then, fingers crossed, they will make that station a rock station, and it will be the best ever!
My point… Chuck won’t be here forever. Yay! And maybe we’ll have a great radio station that can be the next “wave” of great music and great djs that we can all come together to support!
Whatever the numbers might say, this was a bad business decision. If they saw that their ratings were dropping after previous more subtle changes in their format, they should have wised up then and changed it back. The downhill slide really accelerated after the end of Storm and Kenny, and continued with their further ill-advised content changes, and yet they obstinately continued to ruin a good thing. I think simple stubborness and ego is to blame here. I have to think that a devoted, albeit niche, audience would have to be better than a potentially (but probably not) larger audience of a more general composition that can simply turn the station whenever a commercial comes on because the same stuff is playing on every other station. I would leave Wave on, even during commericals, because I didn’t want to miss what was up next, in addition to wanting to hear about products and activities of local concern — especially the ones with which the Wave staff were involved. Secretive underhanded actions seem to be the order of the day over at Apex, as evidenced by the firings of Storm and Kenny, and epitomized by Friday’s disaster. I knew the last nail was in the coffin when, on Saturday afternoon, I heard a song from the musical Grease. I can hear crap on any other station. My personal feelings against what I feel is a betrayal of many devoted listeners are going to prevent me from ever listening to crap on Chuck, even if that’s all there is. Even if their format becomes more palatable over time, a lot of people will never tune back into 96.1 because of how they feel about all this. I went for months without hitting my #1 preset after the loss of Storm and Kenny. I am now changing it to 98.1 or 100.5. If the owners of the Bridge at 100.5 have any sense, they will try to pick up some of the lost Wave listeners by splicing in some of what has often been locally characterized as “Wave music” to their playlists. I suppose I still have my CD’s but I will have to work harder to find out what ones to buy now that I won’t be exposed to the best new music on the 96 Wave.
this is not ” a field of dreams ” if you change it they will listen…..wwwz was cutting edge in the 70’s and early 80’s until 95sx came storming in and forced the top 40 into our ears and urban contemp. took over at 93.1 does it all come down to money? if their margins don’t suit the brass then the format must be wrong, drive cross country and you will hear from shore to shore in 99% of markets the same stuff in the same package under different call letters….
corp. america just cares about the bottom line and Apex is not like their name, they will never see the top of the book in this market.
Wow….
Jackie texted me Friday to let me know what was afoot. For all the listeners out there that are outraged, I’m with you. I was a listener as well, going back to the early 90’s when I got back from three years in the army in Europe. But like my buddy Ben the Intern (read his post a ways back above, as it sums it all up quite well), I took my love of 96 Wave a bit further. I sweated it out as an intern for 6 months, and then, wonder of wonders, I got a gig as an overnight weekend DJ. It was and still is, the most fun I’ve ever had working. It really wasn’t work to me. I spun CDs, talked about music, went to remotes and concerts, and had a blast from age 22 to 28.
I ultimately left for a job at Jacor, which almost immediately became ClearChannel (yeah, yeah, I know…) and then got out of radio a few years later after trying both corporate rock and talk stations. Nothing compared to the social and musical education I got at Wave. Woody, Dave, Danny V, Miles, Jude, Holly, Blaze, Rod, Atom, Critic, Richard, Rob, Storm (pre-Storm & Kenny), and the other part timers such as Ben (who helped me get my internship), Mary Katherine, Lona, and others, all shaped who I am. Scary, I know. Oh, and I won’t get into the craziest bunch of salespeople ever thrown together.
I could list a hundred different moments here that made my Wave tenure great, but suffice to say that Charleston has never had a radio station like Wave, and nothing will replace it.
R.I.P. WAVF, Hana-hana-hana-hana-hana-hana-hana-hana-hanahan, Charleston.
My stero was only on one station ,96.1, for the past two years. I turned it on and Jimmy Buffet was playing, not to dis the legend but its deffinatley not what I want to hear. I want to hear The White Stripes, Buckcherry, Parramore, Flyleaf, and lots of the other 96 wave music.
If people of the Charleston area wanted to hear the music thats playing on 96.1 they would turn the station to 96.9 or 105.5.
This new “chuck” thing needs to go. immediatly.
Eric,
The Bridge at 1055…..105 .5
I can’t say it any better than the posts above. The downturn started with the betrayal of the Storm and Kenny Show…&#