I grew up in the DC area and was a daily listener to WHFS, probably the best "underground" station in the Mid-Atlantic region. Job relocation moved me to Raleigh in 1986, thus missing any of the WQDR vibe. I did, however, latch on immediately to WRDU and continued with said station until they were "converted". Enjoyed your article immensely and remember some of the DJs mentioned. And, in case you haven't read it, "There's Nothing Louder Than Dead Air" by Bob "The Blade Robinson" is a great recounting of a DJs life, including the aforementioned sign off.
Speaking of books, it goes without saying that "Have A Little Faith In Me" is also a great read!
Discovered QDR when I started at UNC-CH in '78, having previously lived in the radio wasteland of a relatively isolated WNC county. It and UNC's WXZC (which had started just the year before) did a lot to shape my musical tastes. One thing you didn't mention, despite there being an example on the 100 song soundtrack, was how truly catholic QDR could be. Yes, it was a rock station, but it'd also regularly play local artist Mike Cross, who was bluegrass/folk. To the point, that I recall his The Bounty Hunter being #1 on QDR, I think both for the single and its same named album. Despite the different genre, it worked, as it was great local music.
In '81 I moved up to New England, and later the mid-Atlantic. But with my family in NC, I'd drive down at least once a year. Each time I looked forward to when I would start being able to pick up QDR (Boston's WBCN was also an excellent station, but you never forget your first love). In December '84 I almost went off the road when "WQDR, 94.7 Country!" came out of the car's speakers.
Yep, I basically let the mixtape do the talking, but you're right, they were delightfully all over the map, and helped mold my boundless curiosity that persists to this day.
Mike Cross was one of the many local artists I discovered through QDR and it was specifically "Bounty Hunter" and "Nobby" that they played quite often that caused me to run out and buy up everything I could from him, usually at Schoolkids or at the Record Hole in Raleigh.
Btw, as it happens, I'm in the middle of continuing the WQDR tradition of playing the entirity of Jeff Wayne's Musical War of the Worlds double album (original version) on Halloween.
Well, this is certainly an unexpected pleasure. Among other things it reminded me of driving from Nags Head to Chapel Hill to visit my parents and listening first to K-94 (based in Moyock but serving Norfolk and the northern Outer Banks) and when that faded out, switching to a station in Farmville that served Greenville/Farmville/Kinston which I want to think was WRQR or WRQK, then finally to WQDR. No need for a tape in the cassette player of my old VW. Plenty of good rock on the radio. When I moved back to the Triangle I was working an early shift and listened to Pat Patterson, who I dimly recall did the morning drive time. I had been listening to his sly humor on WKIX-AM for years. After Pat retired I started listening to WXDU because they had two featured artists every night and it was a good way to find new music. When the great switch happened I was working in Wilmington where we had an alternative station called, oddly enough, The Penguin. Driving back to Chapel Hill one weekend I hit the preset for QDR and was surprised to find country music. I figured a new rock station would appear and, well, it didn't, really.
I worked sound production at various venues and came to know a number of the local bands. Ran into John Wheliss of Glass Moon a year or so ago and we had a fun catch-up conversation. Nestor Nunez lives in Miami and is still doing music, Dana Belzer of Single Tree as well. Rick Miller of The Dads, now known as Parthenon Huxley, lives in the DC area and still plays. Debra DiMilo lives in Raleigh (I think), Scott Verner of South Wing recently retired after a career doing PR. JK Loftin of Pegasus owns a recording studio in Wilmington. Bobby Doran, who played in countless bands in eastern NC and ended up as a studio musician in Nashville, passed last year of a heart attack.
One thing we talked about was the death of the music venue. Tom Haines, who ran The Attic in Greenville for ages, said the rise in the drinking age killed the clubs. You could make a living, he told me, selling beer to 18-year-olds. But without that income stream, you couldn't make enough money to turn the lights on and pay a band.
I had an email conversation with Ted Gioia about this - we both mourned the clubs and their impact. For the NC area I listed The Attic (now a private club), the Subway, the Pier, The Opry House, the Town Hall, the Cat's Cradle (still limping along), The OZ, the Atlantis, and even The Jewish Mother in Norfolk. For a few bucks you could catch bands on the rise like Romeo Void or REM - and veterans like NRBQ.
Which is a long way of saying there was an exciting and vibrant music scene in NC and WQDR was an important part of that. Thanks for the reminder.
Just now seeing this comment and I fully agree about the drinking age being raised being the main cause. The last time I was at the Attic was to see Dan Baird on his first solo tour with Slim Dunlap playing lead. It was fantastic. Raleigh still has the PourHouse and Chapel Hill still has the Cradle, but yeah, the scene is nothing like it used to be. We still got the memories, though.
Here in Ontario quite a few of our rock/mixed-format stations have started adding country to their playlists in some horrible attempt to play “something for everyone”. It makes for virtually unlistenable radio, it’s like eating a bowl of cereal and then suddenly uncovering a big old turd at bottom of the bowl. Bleccccchhhhhhhh
Terrific article Michael, so much great historical info and stories - I *love* the one about the guy just resigning on air!
It's hard to overstate how important FM rock radio was to those of us 'of a certain age.' Growing up in the NYC area, for me it was WNEW FM - from about 1969 until I came west in '74 it was absolutely amazing - Dave Herman, Jonathan Schwarz and especially Alison Steele were my sources for learning about new music, and the freedom they had to display their own tastes and play a wide range of styles was educational indeed. Their voices on the air were so familiar to me I felt like they were my friends - I listened to 'The Night Bird' (Alison Steele) pretty much every night when she came on at 10:00, often staying up into the wee hours to catch her entire shift.
One thing I remember loving is that WNEW would occasionally live-broadcast entire concerts, most memorably a Grateful Dead show from the Felt Forum in December 1971. It was a typically long and meandering Dead show (though a great one!) and except for an occasional station ID there were *no interruptions* - no commercials, and no attempt to fill the almost-dead air during the Dead's long tuning breaks between songs.
A year or two later there was a live Allman Brothers broadcast on New Year's Eve. I was at a house party where several radios in different parts of the house were cranked up providing the party vibe and again, occasional station I.D.s but no commercials for several hours! Hard to believe in this day & age.
WPLJ was also great during that era, but WNEW was my fave. I still enjoy some 'alternative' listener-supported stations like KBCS and KEXP, but they're not quite as free form as the original FM rock stations - and commercial radio, imo, has pretty much gone to hell in a handcart. Thanks for nothing, Clear Channel.
“Growing up in the NYC area, for me it was WNEW FM - from about 1969 until I came west in '74 it was absolutely amazing - Dave Herman, Jonathan Schwarz and especially Alison Steele were my sources for learning about new music, and the freedom they had to display their own tastes and play a wide range of styles was educational indeed. Their voices on the air were so familiar to me I felt like they were my friends - I listened to 'The Night Bird' (Alison Steele) pretty much every night when she came on at 10:00, often staying up into the wee hours to catch her entire shift.”
YES‼️ I remember just how much I loved Alison Steel’s show!
It was a terrific radio station, I remember such good times with that station playing in the background…
It was a magical time that, unfortunately, has gone the way of the dinosaur. Maybe podcasts and this little platform here is the modern equivalent, where we can share tastes, ideas, obsessions, and whatnot. But there was something special about sitting up late at night - or driving down the highway - listening to a live voice transmitting from a tower somewhere straight to you, exposing you to exciting new sounds and experiences, letting you know you're not alone and that there was an entire undiscovered world just waiting to be explored.
I loved Alison Steele and I've grown up hearing about WNEW, WPLJ, and all those storied, legendary stations and jocks. Great times indeed!
Love this post! It reminded me of the great "progressive" rock stations here in Chicago during the 1970s. The deep cuts they played were always great to hear! I also completely agree with you that it's hard to find stations that play new music by older, established artists. I'm convinced there is an audience out there for new stuff from Bonnie Raitt, The Stones, Stevie Nicks, etc. Heck, this year even Lenny Kravitz, Fastball, and Pet Shop Boys released some really good music that I'm sure even some of their most loyal fans don't know exists! Right now it's all about streaming so getting the word out about the many cool tracks by these artists is rough in a competitive field but I'm convinced the audience exists!
Sirius XM's Deep Tracks would play new stuff by older artists occasionally, and it is a wonderful station, but XM also has separate channels for classic rock and classic vinyl. The old AOR stations had all these mixed together. I wouldn't mind hearing "More Than A Feeling" if I knew I was going to hear The Stones' "Sway" or the Moody Blues' "The Story in Your Eyes" next, followed by a newer Bob Dylan track. I agree - the audience is out there.
My father managed a prog station in Chicago, late '60s-early '70s. He had all kinds of Big Names in and out of there but only had kind words for Janis and Elton.
Mike: one of the best-written and most accurate summations of the long strange Raleigh-Durham rock radio journey. Thanks for this, and especially for that SoundCloud link to that 1983 NYE mixtape from QDR! I had completely forgotten about that. Even though I was at QDR in those days, credit must be paid to the late great Rich McTighe, who apparently crafted that piece. What a mind-blower!
I enjoyed this a lot, having lived in North Carolina from 1993 to 2001 after leaving Texas. I didn’t extensively follow the consolidation that was going on at the time, but found myself moving farther away from commercial radio because it had become so damn generic. Now I look for the AAA formats when I’m in a new place, and even those are a mixed bag.
If you’re so inclined and have the chance, give a listen to The Corner (106.1 FM), a AAA station in Charlottesville. I like their eclectic mix quite a bit.
I grew up in the DC area and was a daily listener to WHFS, probably the best "underground" station in the Mid-Atlantic region. Job relocation moved me to Raleigh in 1986, thus missing any of the WQDR vibe. I did, however, latch on immediately to WRDU and continued with said station until they were "converted". Enjoyed your article immensely and remember some of the DJs mentioned. And, in case you haven't read it, "There's Nothing Louder Than Dead Air" by Bob "The Blade Robinson" is a great recounting of a DJs life, including the aforementioned sign off.
Speaking of books, it goes without saying that "Have A Little Faith In Me" is also a great read!
Many thanks!
And yes, I've read Blade's book. Still, I'm tempted to answer with, "Read it? I lived it!" :)
You may enjoy viewing this documentary (if you haven't seen already):
https://www.pbs.org/show/feast-your-ears-the-story-of-whfs-1023-fm/
I haven't - thanks for the tip. I'll check it out!
Discovered QDR when I started at UNC-CH in '78, having previously lived in the radio wasteland of a relatively isolated WNC county. It and UNC's WXZC (which had started just the year before) did a lot to shape my musical tastes. One thing you didn't mention, despite there being an example on the 100 song soundtrack, was how truly catholic QDR could be. Yes, it was a rock station, but it'd also regularly play local artist Mike Cross, who was bluegrass/folk. To the point, that I recall his The Bounty Hunter being #1 on QDR, I think both for the single and its same named album. Despite the different genre, it worked, as it was great local music.
In '81 I moved up to New England, and later the mid-Atlantic. But with my family in NC, I'd drive down at least once a year. Each time I looked forward to when I would start being able to pick up QDR (Boston's WBCN was also an excellent station, but you never forget your first love). In December '84 I almost went off the road when "WQDR, 94.7 Country!" came out of the car's speakers.
Yep, I basically let the mixtape do the talking, but you're right, they were delightfully all over the map, and helped mold my boundless curiosity that persists to this day.
Mike Cross was one of the many local artists I discovered through QDR and it was specifically "Bounty Hunter" and "Nobby" that they played quite often that caused me to run out and buy up everything I could from him, usually at Schoolkids or at the Record Hole in Raleigh.
Btw, as it happens, I'm in the middle of continuing the WQDR tradition of playing the entirity of Jeff Wayne's Musical War of the Worlds double album (original version) on Halloween.
Ha! Good idea - I may through mine on tonight, too!
Well, this is certainly an unexpected pleasure. Among other things it reminded me of driving from Nags Head to Chapel Hill to visit my parents and listening first to K-94 (based in Moyock but serving Norfolk and the northern Outer Banks) and when that faded out, switching to a station in Farmville that served Greenville/Farmville/Kinston which I want to think was WRQR or WRQK, then finally to WQDR. No need for a tape in the cassette player of my old VW. Plenty of good rock on the radio. When I moved back to the Triangle I was working an early shift and listened to Pat Patterson, who I dimly recall did the morning drive time. I had been listening to his sly humor on WKIX-AM for years. After Pat retired I started listening to WXDU because they had two featured artists every night and it was a good way to find new music. When the great switch happened I was working in Wilmington where we had an alternative station called, oddly enough, The Penguin. Driving back to Chapel Hill one weekend I hit the preset for QDR and was surprised to find country music. I figured a new rock station would appear and, well, it didn't, really.
I worked sound production at various venues and came to know a number of the local bands. Ran into John Wheliss of Glass Moon a year or so ago and we had a fun catch-up conversation. Nestor Nunez lives in Miami and is still doing music, Dana Belzer of Single Tree as well. Rick Miller of The Dads, now known as Parthenon Huxley, lives in the DC area and still plays. Debra DiMilo lives in Raleigh (I think), Scott Verner of South Wing recently retired after a career doing PR. JK Loftin of Pegasus owns a recording studio in Wilmington. Bobby Doran, who played in countless bands in eastern NC and ended up as a studio musician in Nashville, passed last year of a heart attack.
One thing we talked about was the death of the music venue. Tom Haines, who ran The Attic in Greenville for ages, said the rise in the drinking age killed the clubs. You could make a living, he told me, selling beer to 18-year-olds. But without that income stream, you couldn't make enough money to turn the lights on and pay a band.
I had an email conversation with Ted Gioia about this - we both mourned the clubs and their impact. For the NC area I listed The Attic (now a private club), the Subway, the Pier, The Opry House, the Town Hall, the Cat's Cradle (still limping along), The OZ, the Atlantis, and even The Jewish Mother in Norfolk. For a few bucks you could catch bands on the rise like Romeo Void or REM - and veterans like NRBQ.
Which is a long way of saying there was an exciting and vibrant music scene in NC and WQDR was an important part of that. Thanks for the reminder.
Just now seeing this comment and I fully agree about the drinking age being raised being the main cause. The last time I was at the Attic was to see Dan Baird on his first solo tour with Slim Dunlap playing lead. It was fantastic. Raleigh still has the PourHouse and Chapel Hill still has the Cradle, but yeah, the scene is nothing like it used to be. We still got the memories, though.
Here in Ontario quite a few of our rock/mixed-format stations have started adding country to their playlists in some horrible attempt to play “something for everyone”. It makes for virtually unlistenable radio, it’s like eating a bowl of cereal and then suddenly uncovering a big old turd at bottom of the bowl. Bleccccchhhhhhhh
The playlist is killing me - total vintage QTR. Glass Moon!!
The original playlist is on Apple Music and over 500 songs, but Spotify only let me upload 200 of them. Here's the link to the Apple one:
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/qdr/pl.u-pMPXjTGAZoBr
Wow fantastic read!
Terrific article Michael, so much great historical info and stories - I *love* the one about the guy just resigning on air!
It's hard to overstate how important FM rock radio was to those of us 'of a certain age.' Growing up in the NYC area, for me it was WNEW FM - from about 1969 until I came west in '74 it was absolutely amazing - Dave Herman, Jonathan Schwarz and especially Alison Steele were my sources for learning about new music, and the freedom they had to display their own tastes and play a wide range of styles was educational indeed. Their voices on the air were so familiar to me I felt like they were my friends - I listened to 'The Night Bird' (Alison Steele) pretty much every night when she came on at 10:00, often staying up into the wee hours to catch her entire shift.
One thing I remember loving is that WNEW would occasionally live-broadcast entire concerts, most memorably a Grateful Dead show from the Felt Forum in December 1971. It was a typically long and meandering Dead show (though a great one!) and except for an occasional station ID there were *no interruptions* - no commercials, and no attempt to fill the almost-dead air during the Dead's long tuning breaks between songs.
A year or two later there was a live Allman Brothers broadcast on New Year's Eve. I was at a house party where several radios in different parts of the house were cranked up providing the party vibe and again, occasional station I.D.s but no commercials for several hours! Hard to believe in this day & age.
WPLJ was also great during that era, but WNEW was my fave. I still enjoy some 'alternative' listener-supported stations like KBCS and KEXP, but they're not quite as free form as the original FM rock stations - and commercial radio, imo, has pretty much gone to hell in a handcart. Thanks for nothing, Clear Channel.
“Growing up in the NYC area, for me it was WNEW FM - from about 1969 until I came west in '74 it was absolutely amazing - Dave Herman, Jonathan Schwarz and especially Alison Steele were my sources for learning about new music, and the freedom they had to display their own tastes and play a wide range of styles was educational indeed. Their voices on the air were so familiar to me I felt like they were my friends - I listened to 'The Night Bird' (Alison Steele) pretty much every night when she came on at 10:00, often staying up into the wee hours to catch her entire shift.”
YES‼️ I remember just how much I loved Alison Steel’s show!
It was a terrific radio station, I remember such good times with that station playing in the background…
It was a magical time that, unfortunately, has gone the way of the dinosaur. Maybe podcasts and this little platform here is the modern equivalent, where we can share tastes, ideas, obsessions, and whatnot. But there was something special about sitting up late at night - or driving down the highway - listening to a live voice transmitting from a tower somewhere straight to you, exposing you to exciting new sounds and experiences, letting you know you're not alone and that there was an entire undiscovered world just waiting to be explored.
I loved Alison Steele and I've grown up hearing about WNEW, WPLJ, and all those storied, legendary stations and jocks. Great times indeed!
Love this post! It reminded me of the great "progressive" rock stations here in Chicago during the 1970s. The deep cuts they played were always great to hear! I also completely agree with you that it's hard to find stations that play new music by older, established artists. I'm convinced there is an audience out there for new stuff from Bonnie Raitt, The Stones, Stevie Nicks, etc. Heck, this year even Lenny Kravitz, Fastball, and Pet Shop Boys released some really good music that I'm sure even some of their most loyal fans don't know exists! Right now it's all about streaming so getting the word out about the many cool tracks by these artists is rough in a competitive field but I'm convinced the audience exists!
Sirius XM's Deep Tracks would play new stuff by older artists occasionally, and it is a wonderful station, but XM also has separate channels for classic rock and classic vinyl. The old AOR stations had all these mixed together. I wouldn't mind hearing "More Than A Feeling" if I knew I was going to hear The Stones' "Sway" or the Moody Blues' "The Story in Your Eyes" next, followed by a newer Bob Dylan track. I agree - the audience is out there.
Thanks for reading!
My father managed a prog station in Chicago, late '60s-early '70s. He had all kinds of Big Names in and out of there but only had kind words for Janis and Elton.
What station was it??
102.7 WGLD
Did that eventually become WCLR? Can’t remember all of the stations from the time!
I do not know.
Mike: one of the best-written and most accurate summations of the long strange Raleigh-Durham rock radio journey. Thanks for this, and especially for that SoundCloud link to that 1983 NYE mixtape from QDR! I had completely forgotten about that. Even though I was at QDR in those days, credit must be paid to the late great Rich McTighe, who apparently crafted that piece. What a mind-blower!
High praise indeed! Thank you for the memories and for the kind words...and all hail Rich McTighe for his nimble razor!
I enjoyed this a lot, having lived in North Carolina from 1993 to 2001 after leaving Texas. I didn’t extensively follow the consolidation that was going on at the time, but found myself moving farther away from commercial radio because it had become so damn generic. Now I look for the AAA formats when I’m in a new place, and even those are a mixed bag.
If you’re so inclined and have the chance, give a listen to The Corner (106.1 FM), a AAA station in Charlottesville. I like their eclectic mix quite a bit.
Thanks for the tip - I'll check it out!