With the emergence of grunge in the 90s, rock radio was evolving into a fragmented landscape. Alternative rock splintered off to become stand alone radio stations, while mainstream and classic rock radio were left to figure out (1) IF they should be playing both classic rock AND new rock and (2) HOW to introduce new music to their audience without pissing off their long time listener base, who may not care about new music. They either let their upper demo drop off for a younger one or they age with their listeners. Sitting on the fence was where many stations landed…until rap rock. Kansas and Korn, nope.
100,000 watt blowtorch, 105.7 WAPL was at this crossroads and in 1999, parent company Woodward Communications took the opportunity to aquire 94.7 WGBM…The Mustang, a 6,000 watt classic country station and strategically flip it to a new rock format. This would serve younger rock listeners in the radio landscape and protect WAPLs upper demographic, effectively squeezing those stations that sat on the fence. “Razor” and “Cutting Edge” were the perfect buzzwords to reflect the kind of music The Razor would be playing.
WZOR, Razor 94.7 signed on the air, February 28th at 9:47am with Nine Inch Nails “Head Like a Hole,” followed by 94 days of nothing but Razor Rock.
Razor’s first Edgefest was an all ages, local band event with 2 stages (one that was rather unstable) and a tattoo bus at Memorial Park in Combined Locks. Our most recent Edgefest was in 2020 with Korn, Breaking Benjamin and Bones U.K. at the Resch Center.
Ryan’s Ballroom in Combined Locks would hold many early Razor shows and hosted our first iteration of Local Edge Live. Drowning Pool, Sevendust, Nonpoint, Machine Head, Rob Zombie, Seether, Megadeth and so many others played there on their way up. During one Local Edge Live night, we rolled up with Vinnie Paul and Dimebag Darryl in their Damageplan tour bus and people lost their minds! One of the coolest nights ever… Dimebag eventually passed out the bus, but Vinnie hung around until everyone got a chance to say hey.
2000 also marked the first year of the Extreme Razor Fan Contest. “How can we engage our fans to listen at specific times during the day to help increase our ratings, when we don’t have any money to buy prizes?” “Record labels send us their artist/band cds, promoters give us concert tickets to give away. Sometimes we get autographed guitars ‘n stuff. How ‘bout that?” The Extreme Razor Fan Contest, born of necessity and still going strong today as one of our most well branded promotions.
Razor has had many bumps along the way. We purchased brand new equipment for our broadcast tower that would increase our wattage for better coverage of the market, i.e. we could reach more listeners. We’re talking tens of thousands of dollars. The secured shed holding this new equipment was set on fire by the adolescent minions of Dr. Chaos, who was later sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit terrorism for storing cyanide next to a Chicao subway, plus multiple felony counts of arson, vandalism and trespassing. And, although we have zero proof, the timing was impeccable for South Park to introduce “Professor Chaos”, played by the lovable character, Butters Stotch! Razor was knocked off the air for two weeks.
Razor was slowly gaining traction in the marketplace, but the General Manager asked (what felt like once a week) “should we blow up Razor and change the format?” No. Stay the course. Passion will prevail.
The mainstays on the station for a number of years have been Roxanne Steele, Pete Burns and Cutter. Roxanne is now behind the scenes, Pete is still in the moshpit and Cutter rocks you every afternoon from 3pm-6pm. Our most recent addition to the on-air lineup is Kaytie, far more than a token rock chick.
Lots of different people contributed to the Morning Razor, from The KIDD, to Mike Prell, Driver and several others before we settled into the Free Beer & Hot Wings Show. Love those guys!
In June of 2018, Razor 94.7 picked up a second frequency and began simulcasting at 104.7 to reach Oshkosh and southern Appleton fans. They rebranded as Razor 94.7|104.7.
The voices you hear on Razor 94.7 | 104.7 may change over the years, but the music is still the Cutting Edge of Rock. And there’s NO WAY we would still be on the air if it wasn’t for our amazing fans! Here’s to 21 more!
#IAmRazor,
Roxanne Steele
