Retro Mid-60's AM Bandscans Sought

[Steve Green NEPA]

Approaching the soft part of the year for AM DX might be a good time to try a 'retro' (© Cyberdad 2017) post about what your early DX-days AM dial had to offer during the day.
Back when the dial was clearer.
Back when stations actually used call letters.
Back when your hair was short (or long).
Back when there were still analog radio dials. Back before you had frustrating dreams about working at a radio station and you were the only thing in the studio that worked.

It doesn't even have to be your own market. It could be one of your vacation trips when your Folks thought you, having barely escaped going to summer school in the first place, still might need therapy for spending an inordinate amount of time listening to a radio.

I'll ante up with Norfolk VA, summer 1963, from a family vacation stay at the cousins', off my small GE clock radio I'd brought along.

560 -- A weak WGAI from NC, just across the VA-NC border. I forget the format. Maybe C&W.
740 -- A semi-local WMBG from Williamsburg VA. Another unforgettable format I don't recall.
790 -- Local WTAR .... MoR ... CBS news .... Used the slogan 'Where it's so sooner done than told'.
850 -- Soul station WRAP .... Made our hometown WWRL sound white ... Urban stations would love those calls in '17
1050 -- Daytimer WCMS .... Tidewater's token station for cowboy records, lol. (Don't hit me; always liked C&W).
1140 -- WRVA Richmond sent a lot of their signal southeast from over 60 miles away from the little GE clock radio.
1230 -- WNOR Norfolk. T e r r i f i c Top 40 station at the time. I tried for (and got 'em) a few overnights in NYC.
1270 -- WTID .... What great call letters for the market (or any other seaside place) .... Adult/MoR is what they were.
1310 -- WGH Newport News .... WNOR's Top 40 rival .... A little too slick for my tastes at the time.... Good signal.
1350 -- WAVY, Portsmouth .... More Rosie and Frank and Four Freshman for the sizable naval-based crowd.
1400 -- WHIH, " .... " " " " " " " etc .... Wee signal .... Many formats since '63.
1490 -- WVEC, Hampton .... From what I recall, they were Beautiful Music .... Again, a third 'graveyard' freq.

You'll find that, notably, missing on the dial were subsequent piling-on/shoehorned local licenses to 670, 940, 1010, 1110, 1550 and 1600.

Thanks for your time and interest and .... (taps microphone .... can you people please try and stay awake? Even during this noisy summer DX season?)

 

[radioman148]

Great topic Steve. From the northern Illinois suburbs of Chicago this is the way I remember it circa 1962-63:

540 KWMT Ft Dodge, Ia days-weak CBK nights
550 KSD weak days nights mixture
560 WIND local
570 Paducah, ky nights
580 WILL good days
590 WKZO pretty good days, Omaha nights
600 WMT days, weak
610 sometimes WIP at night or WDAF fair/weak
620 all WTMJ
630 KXOK, CFCO weak days sometimes WLAP nights
640 WOI weak days, KFI WHLO at night variable
650 WSM nights
660 WNBC nights
670 WMAQ local
680 WPTF nights
690 Montreal nights
700 WLW weak days strong nights
710 WOR fair nights
720 WGN local
730 Mexico City nights sometime Montreal nights weak
740 CBL good nights
750 WSB good nights
760 WJR weak days, strong nights
770 WABC nights
780 WBBM local
790 Norfolk, va nights
800 CKLW weak days fair nights
810 WGY strong nights
820 WAIT local days, WFAA/WBAP strong nights
830 WCCO strong nights
840 WHAS nights
850 KOA good nights
860 Toronto nights
870 WKAR weak days, WWL strong nights
880 WCBS good nights
890 WLS local
900 CHML fair nights
910 WSBA York, Pa nights
920 WBAA Lafayette, in days, sometimes WOKY weak
930 WBCK weak days, WKY weak nights
940 CBM decent nights
950 WAAF local days, mixture nights
960 WSBT fair days
970 WHA weak days, WWSW weak nights
980 mix
990 WInnipeg decent nights
1000 WCFL local
1010 CFRB, WINS mixture at night with CFRB mostly on top
1020 WPEO weak days, KDKA strong nights
1030 WBZ strong nights
1040 WOI weak days, strong nights
1050 WLIP good days, Toronto & NY mix nights
1060 WHFB Fair days, WNOE fair-good fall sunsets, WRCV/KYW strong nights
1070 WKOW weak days, WIBC SS, others variable at night.
1080 WTIC, KRLD battle nights
1090 Saginaw, Mi weak days, KAAY strong nights, WBAL SS
1100 WTAM, KYW strong nights.

More later if this thread catches on. Great idea Steve.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

Actually, Radioman, I'd been curious about what truncated variety of entertainment the AM dials offered back then, during daytime listening, to offer us young DXing pups. Lol -- SOME of the stuff doubtless made DXing teens flee elsewhere on the dial. But I guess I wasn't clear enough. Wouldn't've been the first time I was accused of that! I was merely suggesting that the relatively blank AM dials by themselves would have limited the choices for any 12- or 13-year old and that they'd try other things -- in between those local frequencies.

The limited AM entertainment and DX and curiosity at that age would have been as rewarding as it was compelling. Newspapers would list the stations on the dial. So would some gas station road maps!

And naturally, there were far fewer AM stations on the dial in the mid-60's. Heck -- in NYC alone by the late Sixties (southeast Queens was our den) there were new AM stations being prepared for a slice of Big Apple prestige on 1500, 1510, 1170, 1070, 1490, 910, 1300, 1510 (again), TWO on 1530, 1110, 940, 1160 -- I lose count

'What was on your AM dial in the first place': Those are the memories I'm trying to evince. That was what I was asking, a half-century plus later. 'What made your local-market AM dial force you to tune elsewhere, or try to tune there?'
There was no 'all-news', or all-sports, or adult-contemporary, or rap, or all-disco, or 'new wave', or political talk back then. If I'm not mistaken, there wasn't even a NOSTALGIA format then .... no Solid Gold, no Music Of Your Life, No Classic Rock.

 

[gr8oldies]

Let' go 1967 as clearly as I can remember it. My family first moved to Western Ohio that year.
540-
550-WKRC talk/MOR
560-WIND, Chicago
570 WKBN
580 WCHS, Charleston WV, full service MOR
590 WKZO, Kalamazoo MI, full serv.
600
610 WTVN, Columbus
620 WTMJ
630 WLAP and/or CFCO
640 WHLO more toward evenning
650 no WSM during the day
660-
670 WMAQ
680 WCAW
690
700 WLW with baseball, MOR and the 50-50 Club
710
720 WGN
730 WMGS Bowling Green OH, probably country even then
740 WNOP Jazz
750
760 WJR full service MOR
770
780 WBBM Newsradio 78
790 WAKY weak, toward sunset
800 The Big 8 CKLW
810 WATI, Idianapolis
820 WOSU
830
840 WHAS
850
860 WGOM
870 WKAR, Lansing (very weak)
880 WRFD, Columbus-Worthington
890 WLS, weak
900 WFRO, Fremont OH
910 WPFB, Middletown OH
920 WBAA or WMNI
930 WHON Richmond
940 WCIT, Lima, t40
950 WXLW, Indianapolis
960 WSBT South Bend
970
980 WONE, Dayton..MOR leaning top 40
990 WERK, Muncie very weak
1000 WCFL very weak
1010 WCSI, very weak
1020
1030
1040
1050
1060
1070 WIBC
1080 WMVR (super weak, highly directional north and east) Sidney Ohio
1090
1100
1110 WELX, Xenia OH
1120
1130
1140
1150 WIMA, Lima OH
1160 WJJD, Chicago, weak
1170
1180
1190 WOWO
1200
1210
1220 WERT, Van Wert OH
1230
1240
1250 WGL, Fort Wayne, MOR, talk
1260 WNDE Indianapolis
1270
1280 WONW Defiance OH-
1290 WHIO
1300
1310 WIFE, Indy
1320
1330
1340 WIZE or WLBC
1350 WCSM (local, MOR, Country, talk)
1360 WSAI (weak)
1370 WSPD, Toledo (weak)
1380 WKJG, Fort Wayne (became top40 WMEE in 1971)
1390 WTOO< Bellefontaine OH'
1400 WBAT, Marion IN
1410 WING, Dayton
1420
1430
1440 WPGW, Portland IN
1450
1460
1470
1480
1490
1500 WGIC, Xenia OH
1510
1520
1530 WCKY
1540 WADM, Decatur IN
1550
1560
1570 WPTW, Piqua OH
1580
1590
1600 WBLY Springfield OH or WARU, Peru, IN

 

[charlestondxman]

I wasn't alive during this time, but Charleston had comparatively few stations during this time period. As late as 1961, Charleston had just 5 AM stations.

WPAL 730, the "black" station in town, was a 1kw daytimer. Then you had nothing local till 1250, WTMA, which was a top 40 powerhouse even then. 1340 WOKE was a locally owned MOR/religious/sports format by a guy named Harry Weaver, who owned the station until 1994. 1390 was WCSC, which owned the leading TV station in town, Channel 5. They were old-line MOR. 1450 was WQSN, an independent 250 watter.

That was it here. Older friends of mine told me about how well-listened WAPE 690 was here, especially in the mid 60s through the 70s. It would beat a couple of the locals in the ratings, and a lot of the teenagers at the time listened to them. Jacksonville's AMs still come in now, with more noise, but in the 60s they probably came in much better daytime.

630 (then WSAV) also had a listenership here. People still listen as WBMQ today.

 

[Ai4i]

Older friends of mine told me about how well-listened WAPE 690 was here, especially in the mid 60s through the 70s.
It would beat a couple of the locals in the ratings, and a lot of the teenagers at the time listened to them.

The APE was a great station for a market of their size or any size, and with a great day signal.
"Five Hundred Miles of Music" was the station I listened to the most from the University of FL, Gainesville, FL.

 

[cyberdad]

I second Radioman. Great idea, Steve! And since I'm only about 30 or so miles west of him, his bandscan would be similar to mine. So....I'll just post a few differences.....

540; WYLO (northwest of Milwaukee) was either already up and running or about to launch as a 250-watt daytimer. Signal for me was fair.
580: CKY more often than not at night. Alltime great top 40 station.
610: WIP was elusive for me. But WDAF from Kansas City was fairly reliable
630: CFCO was even more elusive for me than WIP. I think they were 1kw nights at that time. KXOK, however was fairly reliable. Sometimes WLAP would be in
690: Usually Montreal. Sometimes KGGF around sunset on day pattern/power
790: Usually, if anything could emerge from WBBM splatter it would be CKSO
850: KFUO was fairly common at sunset before they signed off (5lw from St. Louis)
860: KOAM Pittsburg, KS (10kwD/5kw nights directional from near Joplin, MO) Similar to KFUO, Common at sunset. Vanished with night power/pattern)
870: I could only snag WKAR on really clear, cold winter days or sunrise/sunset
910: Sometimes a very very weak WSUI days, KLCN (Blytheville, Ark from time to time before signoff 5kw daytimer about 60 mi north of Memphis.)
920: Opposite of Radioman. Weak WOKY days with WBAA sometimes in the background. WOKY actually got stronger on night pattern/power, which was aimed at me. CKCY was still strong enough at night to break through once in a while.
930: Nights I used to hear WLBJ from Bowling Green, KY quite often. WTAD occasionally.
940: WMIX from Mt. Vernon, IL at Sunset/Sunrise
950: WAAF here was fair at best. 1kw ND daytimer from Chicago's south side. "Daddy-O" Daylie made it worth the effort. (If you could figure out when he was on!)
960: The only time I heard WSBT here was at sunset before they went to their night pattern.
980: WONE was fairly common at night.....and top 40.
1040: Unless there was a secret arrangement of some sort that I didn't know about, WHO was what was on 1040, while WOI kept to itself on 640.
1070: WKOW actually had a listenable signal here daytime, but if you were listening on a car radio, WIBC would occasionally break in
1080: I'd get a weak WPOK from Pontiac, IL daytime. while what was left of KRLD and WTIC fought it out at night. KRLD got the better of it.
1090: WMUS from Muskegon, MI at sunrise, WGLC Medndota, IL weak during the daytime, KAAY strong at night.

 

[radioman148]

A couple of corrections thanks to Cyberdad's memory being better than mine:

540--before WYLO I could hear KWMT during the day, weak but steady.
Yes 1040 was WHO not WOI--and 1090 was Muskegon, Mi, not Saginaw. I don't think I ever heard Mendota on 1090.\
980--I did hear WONE at night often--I had forgotten about it.

Speaking of WAAF the guy I liked was Jerry Layton--he was quite funny. Do you remember him Cyberdad?

 

[gr8oldies]

Steve, I think contrary to some areas, most if not all of today's local and regional dial was in place by the mid and late 60s in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. There was a big construction boom for AM directionals (some with weird patterns) around 1963-64. I don't have the air dates handy, but from my list above I recall WMVR, WELX, WGIC, WERT, WCSM, WADM and WPTW would not have been built by 1960.Today, except for calls and formats that have changed, the dial remains mostly intact. WMVR signed off the AM several years ago after a tornado blew the towers dows, 1110 is now WGNZ and now has 5000 watts, and almost everyone has some form of night power.
Before all the local daytimers came on, the number one station had to be WOWO, followed by WLW. I imagine WIMA did OK too.

I can give you a different area. We took vacations in Fremont, Michigan from 1968-1970. I can't give an extensive bandscan but here's what I have and what I listened to.
590 WKZO, didn't really listen but I remember the billboard "For the next 300 miles, WKZO"
720 WGN I'm sure it was there but I didn't listen to it
770 WABC Yes it was there and rocking at night
800 CKLW. Opposite scenario from home; The Big 8 was strong at night in Fremont, very, very weak during the day. Amazingly enough, my parents had it on for a substantial part of the trip. Neither could have been considered top 40 fans.
830 WCCO. I'm sure it was this that was touting their "3 Day Weekend"
890 WLS. Listened some at night, my parents had it on in its strong signal area on the way back
920 WOKY. Discovered the second year we were at this lake resort and what I listened to all week during the day.
1000 WCFL. Not real strong day, Good at night.
1190 WOWO. Strongest signal back home, barely perceptible by day in that part of Michigan but strong at night
1410 WGRD, Grand Rapids. I thought it sounded a little like CKLW (right after CKLW had ditched most of the Johnny Mann jingles), indeed it was Fake Drake. I gave this station a good "share of ear". After sunset, WGRD would sign off and WING, Dayton would come in
1500 WDEE I remember tuning past this once.
1550 WSHN Fremont MI. Local station with a "community service" talk show, MOR music, a half hour of rock and roll in the afternoon and miscellaneous. The first year I was there with a really bad transistor radio it was all I could get in the daytime.

 

[radioman148]

I'm going to continue with my portion of the bandscan above. Although it may not have been exactly what Steve was looking for, some of us liked the idea of posting a scan of your local dial from whatever years you became an avid MWDXer. In my case, 1962-63. My location near north Chicago burbs.


1110-WMBI Local, nights KFAB weak, WBT strong at SS.
1120-KMOX strong nights
1130-WCAR weak days, nights WNEW weak, WDGY SS (WISN was still on 1150 at this time)
1140-WRVA strong nights
1160-WJJD local days, KSL fair nights
1170-WWVA weak nights
1180-WHAM strong nights
1190-WOWO fair/good days, weak nights
1200-WOAI fair/good nights
1210-WCAU good nights
1220-WLPO weak days, WGAR weak/fair nights
Remembering the GYers & upper frequencies are much tougher as I didn't spend much time there then.
1230-WJOB-fair days-nights a mess.
1240-WSBC,WEDC, WCRW sharing days, a mess with one of those in there weak at night
1250-WEMP weak days
1270-WWCA weak, fair days
1280-Aurora, Il weak days
1300-WTAQ OK-fair days, weaker at night
1330-WEAW strong days, GYer nights
1370-WGRY weak days
1390-WGES/WYNR good days, fair nights
1410-WRMN fair days
1420-WIMS weak days
1430-WEEF good days. (WEEF signed on in 1963 and I spent alot of time visiting their studios on summer afternoons)
1440-WROK weak days
1450-WVON fair days-weak mess at night
1490-WOPA fair days
1500-KSTP fair most nights
1510-WLAC good nights
1520-KOMA fair/good nights. (Only heard WKBW a couple of times)
1530-Cincinnati good nights
1540-KXEL-good nights
1560-WDXR-WQXR fighting it out at night. Neither usually strong.
1570-WBEE weak days-CFOR fair nights, XERF sometimes battling.
1590-WNMP strong days
1600-WCGO weak days

As usual Cyberdad who lived not too far away, feel free to help jog my memory on any of these or some I may have forgotten.

 

[mimo]

I wasn't alive in the 60's but I'd like to share a 1984 AM band scan from Kenora, Ontario with notes. Gives you an idea of what AM was like in a somewhat isolated small town a couple hours east of a major city, and how much quieter the band is now.

580 CKY Winnipeg Top 40 then, Frequency is silent as they moved to FM.
630 CKRC Winnipeg country then, Frequency is silent as they moved to FM.
680 CJOB, Winnipeg, AC with a mid day talk show. Now all talk
990 CBW Winnipeg, CBC radio then as now
1050 CKSB St. Boniface, French CBC then, Frequency is silent as they moved to FM
1220 CJRL, Kenora, Top 40 then, Frequency is silent as they moved to FM
1290 CFRW Winnipeg, Top 40 then, Sports now.

Only 3 of those AMs survive today.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Those areas where you mention in Michigan, and I'm sure other states, that most radios won't pick up anything much but the local 1000 watt Class D Daytimer in the Daytime, could have a Log with a large number of stations with a 20-30 foot 300 ohm twinlead vertical with the leads twisted together, and a one transistor tuned frequency preamp. In rural areas, away from electrical interference, you could hear signals down the 50 uV/m range quite well.

You left off what was probably the second strongest signal near Fremont, WMAQ/WSCR.

Here's what I heard quite well near there, just a few miles further inland, that might surprise you.

540 WYLO...WAUK
560 WIND
570 WMAM
580 WILL before WTCM moved to 580
600 WTAC/WSNL (old 1/0.5 U3 facility)
620 WTMJ
630 CFCO
670 WMAQ/WSCR
680 WDBC
690 WATO
710 CHYR
720 WGN
760 WJR
780 WBBM
790 WSGW
800 CKLW
810 WJPW
820 WAIT...WCPT
850 WKBZ
860 WNOV
870 WKAR
890 WLS
900 WATC...WSNQ
910 WFDF
920 WOKY
930 WBCK
940 WIDG
970 WKHM
980 WAOP
1000 WCFL...WMVP
1060 WHFB
1080 WOAP
1090 WMUS
1110 WJML
1150 WCEN
1160 WJJD...WYLL
1170 WLKE
1190 WOWO
1210 WKNX
1220 WBCH
1230 WJEF...WTKG
1240 WATT
1250 WEMP
1260 WJBL
1270 WMKT
1280 WFYC
1290 WHGR
1300 WOOD
1310 WCCW
1320 WILS
1330 WHBL
1340 WLAV
1360 WKMI
1370 WWAM
1380 WPLB
1390 WCER...WLCM
1410 WGRD...WNWZ
1430 WION
1440 WBCM
1460 WBRN
1470 WKMF...WFNT
1480 WMAX...WGVU
1510 WJCO
1520 WKJR
1550 WSHN
1590 WGRY
1600 WTRU

 

[cyberdad]

@ SC: Were you able to hear WKZO at that location? I'm also wondering what, if anything, you could hear daytime on 1130.

@ mimo: As some of those here are aware, I have a little bit of experience with Kenora myself. On some of my sales trips, I had to travel from Winnipeg to Duluth, and Kenora was a handy place to spend the night. Anyway....I seem to remember hearing CFOB there daytime before before they left the AM band. They were 1kw on 640. Also did you ever hear either the Winnipeg area 810 or CJRL's sister station in Dryden, ON on 800? Offhand, I don't recall either of those myself. Just wondering. And now that I think of it, I'm also wondering if the 1250 from Steinbach, MB could make the daytime hop to Kenora. 10kw IIRC.

 

[gr8oldies]

Very interesting! i wasn't DXing to the point that I did a complete bandscan. The transistor radio I took the first year was pretty deaf. I had better transistor radios the other 2 years. Most daytime reception was pretty fringe as I recall...at least of any station I would have sought out for the hits. I've not been back there since 1969 or 1970

 

[cyberdad]

I'm going to continue with my portion of the bandscan above. Although it may not have been exactly what Steve was looking for, some of us liked the idea of posting a scan of your local dial from whatever years you became an avid MWDXer. In my case, 1962-63. My location near north Chicago burbs....

....As usual Cyberdad who lived not too far away, feel free to help jog my memory on any of these or some I may have forgotten.

Let's see here, from 30 or so miles west of you (daytime unless otherwise noted)

1150: WISN 24/7. Very tough to pull out of WJJD splatter daytime, but alone on top at night with a fair signal
1220: WKRS (Waukegan, IL). Fair at best. WLPO underneath. Most of WKRS signal goes north. But the null in my direction is less severe than the null to the south. Meanwhile WLPO is oriented east-west, which would seem to explain why they'd be on top for you.
1230: WCLO (Janesville, WI), WJOB underneath
1260: WEKZ (Monroe, WI 1kw ND) weak
1290: WMIL (Milwaukee, 1kw ND) weak
1310: WIBA (Madison, WI) Fair at best 24/7
1320: WILS (Lansing, MI) Fair-Good nights. Blank daytime
1330: WEAW doing battle with WRRR (Rockford, IL) Two signals of fairly equal strength
1340: WJOL (Joliet, IL) weak with an even WRIT (Milwaukee) underneath
1370: WGRY/WLTH Barely audible
1380: WBEL, Beloit, WI (5kw DA-N) fair days, disappeared completely at night....when KWK (St Louis) would take over
1400: WRJN, (Racine, WI.) fair. I'd think this one would be doable at your location
1420: Blank (no WIMS)
1430: WEEF Weak. WCMY, Ottawa, IL sometimes underneath. At night WIRE (Indianapolis) and WIL (St Louis) would duke it out. KELI (Tulsa) would sometimes also surface
1460: WRAC, (500w ND) weak
1480: WGSB, (Geneva, IL 1kw oriented NE-SW) Fair 24/7 (except that they signed off at 10pm). Cubs sportscaster Jack Brickhouse was the owner (well, legally his wife owned it)
1550: WMIR, (Lake Geneva, WI (1kw directional e-w), weak.
1570: WBEE fought it out with WFRL (Freeport, IL). Similar to the "battle of 1330" except involving weaker signals. At night, XERF was fair at best, but usually owned the channel. Sometimes CFOR or CHLO came through or even rose to the top. More commonly CFOR.
1600: WMCW, Harvard, IL 500w ND, fair. No trace of WCGO

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

cyberdad, I forgot 590 WKZO. I was coming up with the Log off the top of my head. I remember being amazed at how well I could listen to WTAC, WIND, WLS, and WCFL. If you don't know the History, WTAC was once owned by Chess Records. They thought that 600 would also have close to a 1 mV/m M-3 predicted signal into Detroit, but there is a bad patch of sandy, gravelly, rocky soil in between, so it didn't work out. So they sold WTAC, and soon bought WHFC/WVON Cicero! As I have mentioned before, a lot of personalities who worked in Flint early in their careers later worked in Chicago, including Bob Dell (DelGiorno) at WIND, WAIT, and WKQX, Bill Hennes at WMAQ and WKQX, and John Landecker and Jim Hampton at WLS.

gr8oldies, almost all stations except the locals are below 0.5 mV/m in that area in the Daytime. Actually, Fremont may actually be a little better than further inland. But I remember stopping at a County Park about 25 miles North of Muskegon with my Sony CF-450 with a Signal Strength meter. The Muskegon area stations were all below 0.5 mV/m from my estimation, crossing an area that the recent WAIT...WCPT application shows as 0.1 mS/m, whereas WMAQ, WTMJ (5 kW then), WGN and WBBM were all in the 1-2 mV/m range from my estimation, mainly passing across much better TL site area conductivity and Lake Michigan. V-Soft and Rich may dispute this, but I think West Michigan is even less than 2 mS/m there, and Lake Michigan is probably more than 8 mS/m (Canada uses 10 mS/m for their side of the Great Lakes). The problem too with the V-Soft Zip Code is that it uses inland coordinates, not the shoreline.

 

[cyberdad]

Thanks, SC. I knew about WTAC as a local legend. But I didn't know that the Chess Brothers had owned it. I knew they had WVON, and eventually, they also wound up with WSDM-FM (97.9, now WLUP) in Chicago. WSDM was quite successful, at least by 1960s standards for FM, with jazz music and an all-female on-air staff. "Girls and all that jazz".

As for the WTAC alums... I once technically worked with Bob Del Giorno. It was at Mal Bellairs' WIVS. He was coming and I was going. He was out at WIND (or WAIT, I forget which), and took a brief gig with Mal. Meanwhile, I had been in sales at WIVS and had taken a similar job at Ed Walters' WYEN. 1978 or thereabouts. So the upshot was while Bob Del Giorno and I were on the same staff, I never met him. I mostly worked out of my home, and IIRC, Bob was "phoning in" the morning show.

As you may know, Bob retired a couple of years ago following a long, long, run at WWL. I never met him there either, although I knew people at WWL. Most notably their TV News Director in the early 1990s.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Oh, one more thing, these are the facilities in use in the late 1970s, and stations on the air then. Also WATO should read WAGO.

 

[charlestondxman]

As for the WTAC alums... I once technically worked with Bob Del Giorno. It was at Mal Bellairs' WIVS. He was coming and I was going. He was out at WIND (or WAIT, I forget which), and took a brief gig with Mal. Meanwhile, I had been in sales at WIVS and had taken a similar job at Ed Walters' WYEN. 1978 or thereabouts. So the upshot was while Bob Del Giorno and I were on the same staff, I never met him. I mostly worked out of my home, and IIRC, Bob was "phoning in" the morning show.

As you may know, Bob retired a couple of years ago following a long, long, run at WWL. I never met him there either, although I knew people at WWL. Most notably their TV News Director in the early 1990s.

He was the morning host at WWL for a long period of time. I remember listening to him in the early 2000s back when I started listening to skywave. He retired in 2012.

 

[cyberdad]

Oh, one more thing, these are the facilities in use in the late 1970s, and stations on the air then. Also WATO should read WAGO.

I presumed that. Before WMAQ/WSCR turned on their iboc on 670, I used to sometimes hear just a whiff of a carrier on 690. I could never ID it, but WAGO was naturally the most likely suspect. The 690 day signal effectively dies between here and Milwaukee.