93.7 K-Rock History

93.7 Pittsburgh WRKZ (June 2004- April 2007)

In 2004 when Clear Channel yanked Howard Stern from their stations, including fellow Rock station 105.9 The X WXDX-FM, WBZZ station manager Keith Clark and other station officials decided to flip the station’s format after 23 years, and not only pick up Howard Stern (which they saw as a golden opportunity to improve their ratings) but unveil a new rock format to compete with Clear Channel’s other rock stations.

So on June 30, 2004,former station WBZZ’s on-air talent gathered to say goodbye to Pittsburgh, thanking them for their support throughout the years. And with the flip of a switch, WBZZ was no more, putting an end to a legacy and a birth to a new format and a new call sign, WRKZ. They failed.

It is worth noting that WRKZ, while branding itself "K-Rock", aired up to 10 hours of talk radio a day at one time (counting the morning show). Wanting more music and less talk, Pittsburgh radio listeners eventually abandoned WRKZ for WDVE and WXDX.

It should also be noted that former WBZZ morning personalities have split up, but all are still on the air in Pittsburgh. John Kline (who left the station before the format flip, is now on WZPT with former WBZZ personality ‘Bubba.” Both are part of the morning show. Shelly Duffy, is now on WRKZ sister station, KDKA AM 1020 and is part of the morning show as well. And Dave Cook is still at 93.7, but has his own show in the afternoon at WRKZ. "The Ron-Man" who was the weekend/swing jock also moved to WRKZ holding down the same position, but using the name Kravin.

Ratings for 93.7 improved after the switch, but began to decline before Howard Stern's departure for Sirius satellite radio.

After the demise of Howard Stern on FM Radio, the station had David Lee Roth as his replacement. However, due to low ratings, Roth was replaced by Opie and Anthony less than three months after Roth's debut.

On Monday, August 21st, 2006, it was announced on Philadelphia's WYSP, that afternoon drive host, Kidd Chris, would begin syndication to 93.7 on Monday, August 28th. On March 19, 2007, K-Rock dropped The Kidd Chris Show.

On April 2, 2007, K-Rock became 93.7 The Zone. The station, although not carrying the "Free FM" name in its branding, is considered a Free FM station.

93.7 K- Rock Videos






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93.7 K-Rock ID