Celebrated Mississippi creator, restaurateur and grasp chef Robert St. John will seem at Duling Corridor this Saturday, Aug. 13, to average a panel dialogue about Jackson’s fabled radio station WZZQ.

The dialogue might be half of what’s being known as a “WZZQ Listener Occasion” sponsored by Cue Burn Movies, LLC. The movie firm is producing a documentary concerning the rock station which broadcast from 1968 till 1981.

“I used to be honored to be requested — it’s a privilege,” stated St. John of his deliberate participation. “I used to be within the radio enterprise earlier than I received into the restaurant enterprise and WZZQ was a station I at all times seemed as much as — it was only a pinnacle for music,” he stated.

Though St. John grew up in Hattiesburg, he stated that didn’t cease him from listening to WZZQ as a youngster.

“I needed to get the antenna positioned excellent however I used to be capable of pay attention at evening — so I heard a whole lot of Perez,” St. John stated.

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Perez Hodge is likely one of the few unique WZZQ announcers nonetheless working in Jackson radio — at the moment as a producer of the Gallo Present at Supertalk Mississippi. He and St. John might be joined at Saturday’s panel by former WZZQ program director Curtis Jones (identified on-air as “Sebastian”), former announcer Bruce Owen, former information anchors Invoice Ellison and Lamar Evans, and Sam Adcock, the son of former WZZQ music director David Adcock.

Doorways will open at 10 a.m. Followers and former listeners are inspired to deliver tales, pictures, flyers, bumper stickers and every other memorabilia they might have linked to the station.

“We gained’t take away any of the objects — we are going to simply scan them and provides them proper again,” stated Ann Ford of Cue Burn Movies, producer of the documentary. “We may also have cameras arrange and can encourage everybody to inform their WZZQ tales. WZZQ constructed a group of listeners, and the undertaking can be incomplete with out their voices.”

The panel dialogue might be held from midday till 2 p.m. and afterward there might be an extra hour for folks to share objects and tales. 

WZZQ’s historical past as a rock station started with what was often known as WJDX-FM working from a tiny room contained in the WLBT constructing on Jefferson Road. Two males, Phil Seymour and Fred Mitchell, who had been uncovered to pioneering free-form stations like KSAN in San Francisco, approached station administration about attempting an identical format in Jackson. 

WZZQ is born

WJDX-FM on the time operated as a simple listening and classical station, producing little in the best way of both listenership or promoting. So, with little to lose, the station’s proprietor, Lamar Life Insurance coverage, gave Seymour and Mitchell the inexperienced mild.

Owen, who started working there in 1969 remembers the most important drawback early on was getting a gentle provide of latest music.

“I might typically should drive to New Orleans the place the report firms had places of work and I might come residence with a trunk stuffed with albums,” Owen stated. “Finally, they put us on their mailing lists.”

Because the station grew, so did its viewers. By 1973 new studios had been constructed on Beasley Highway and the station’s name letters have been rebranded as WZZQ. 

“We performed music from all over — nation, jazz, rock, blues and folks. So there have been so much if totally different types,” stated Jones, who joined the employees in 1972. “Our philosophy was to show folks about good music. That may not have been the neatest factor to do at a business station nevertheless it appeared to work.”

The trick for DJ’s was to make all of it match collectively, so the power to create “units,” or teams of songs that someway associated to 1 one other, was a prized expertise.

As David Adcock wrote in 1981, “We have been at our greatest after we may create an entire emotional expertise — one with a starting, a center and an finish. At ZZQ nobody track stood alone. It acquired its significance from what got here earlier than and what adopted after.”

By the mid ’70s the station’s attain had turn out to be immense. A July 4, 1974, free live performance sponsored by WZZQ introduced a staggering crowd of younger folks to the reservoir’s Lakeshore Park to listen to “Let’s Eat,” and “Larry Raspberry and the Highsteppers.”

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“That was a lot enjoyable — we estimated about10,000 folks have been there and Larry Raspberry was simply nice,” Owen stated.

‘Free the Rock’

The rising viewers additionally meant that station managers, ever aware of rankings, additionally began paying extra consideration. The free-form “play something” format progressively gave solution to a extra tightly formatted rotation of songs, intently tied to nationally revealed AOR or album-oriented rock charts.

The tighter format didn’t sit nicely with a few of the station’s extra diehard followers. By 1980 flyers have been posted round Jackson urging listeners to “Free the Rock” by writing protest letters, however the effort appeared to have little impact.

Then in 1981, rumors started circulating that Lamar Life, which had misplaced its license to function flagship TV station WLBT a decade earlier, was able to name it quits within the broadcasting enterprise. And the seemingly purchaser? A rustic radio station proprietor and promoter from Little Rock named Kerby Confer.

For about two weeks on the very finish, administration once more relaxed the foundations, primarily letting DJ’s play what they needed. The “new Q” was once more sounding just like the “previous Q.” Station supervisor Marshall Magee and Program Director Dave Perkins stated the change would enable these “completely devoted, devoted listeners to essentially benefit from the station.”

Then on July 2, 1981, the hammer fell, ending with a “loss of life set” of songs late into the evening that included “Station to Station” (David Bowie, 1976) and “The Dying of Rock and Roll” (Todd Rundgren, 1975). The ultimate track was “The Finish,” a haunting 12-minute rock ballad by the Doorways written by lead singer Jim Morrison in 1966 about his breakup with an ex-lover. 

“This was WZZQ Jackson,” got here the ultimate, curt announcement earlier than the transmitter was turned off. Individuals cried.

WZZQ is lifeless

WZZQ was formally lifeless, however its legacy lived on in fascinating methods. Notably, Adcock created a vastly well-liked Sunday morning radio program known as “Tunes Til’ Two,” largely paying homage to WZZQ’s halcyon days. Adcock died in 2001, however in recent times his son, Sam Adcock has carried the custom ahead on radiofreejxn.com that includes each new content material and recorded tapes of his dad’s unique exhibits from the Nineties. 

Ford, who’s directing the movie, stated she received the concept throughout an informal dialog with Ellison, who’s a neighbor.

“We began speaking about ZZQ and Invoice stated, ‘Any person ought to make a documentary,’ and he was proper,” Ford stated.

She might be joined by producer Robbie Fisher and director of pictures Don Warren in finishing the ultimate edit. The Magnolia Impartial Movie Competition is serving as a fiscal sponsor.

The occasion and documentary are being made potential by a grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council, by assist from the Nationwide Endowment for the Humanities.

Admission Saturday is free however attributable to restricted seating tickets should be ordered upfront by eventbrite.com.

Hyperlinks to tickets and additional info could also be discovered at fb.com/WZZQtheMovie. Individuals unable to attend who would nonetheless prefer to take part are invited to contact Ann Ford by zzqdoc@gmail.com. 

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In case you go

Occasion: WZZQ Listener Occasion, permitting followers of the previous station to share recollections and memorabilia with documentary filmmakers.

Date: Saturday, Aug. 13, 2022

Location: Duling Corridor, 622 Duling Ave., Jackson, 39216

Instances: 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. with a panel dialogue moderated by Robert St. John from Midday till 2 p.m.

Tickets: Out there on a restricted foundation at no cost by eventbrite.com. For hyperlinks and extra info go to fb.com/WZZQtheMovie.