Multiple "Formats" on 1 Station (depends on time of day/week)

[kfbkfb]

The first case of this I've heard of was WHB AM in the 1960s (before I was listening to the radio), they changed from Top 40 music to talk/call in radio at 10PM, currently, KPRS FM changes to "the quiet storm" of music for late evening and some overnight.

WBBM AM newsradio plays old radio shows for an hour overnight and WLS AM sometimes has their "rewind weekends" when they switch to music.

Is this concept growing or declining?


Kirk Bayne

 

[Kelly A]

The first case of this I've heard of was WHB AM in the 1960s (before I was listening to the radio), they changed from Top 40 music to talk/call in radio at 10PM, currently, KPRS FM changes to "the quiet storm" of music for late evening and some overnight.

WBBM AM newsradio plays old radio shows for an hour overnight and WLS AM sometimes has their "rewind weekends" when they switch to music.

Is this concept growing or declining?


Kirk Bayne

Back in the 40's through 60's, when there were fewer stations on the air, existing stations served a much wider demographic spread. That, and like TV later became, listening to the radio was 'appointment listening'. AM stations now only have an aging audience who probably remember those days, wanting to relive them. Doubt it makes the station much advertising revenue, but makes for inexpensive filler programming in between their regular paid lineup during weekday hours.

 

[b-turner]

What is called 'block programming' was popular in the early days of radio when there were fewer stations. I recall as a kid living in the Midwest that it was common for small town stations to have blocks of country music and perhaps an hour of two of Top 40 hits in the late afternoon. Frequently country stations had a short block of gospel music at some point in the morning. Some stations even had a block of beautiful music for the evening dinner hour.

As the number of stations grew, it was the thinking that listeners wanted consistency, so stations stuck with one format. That did not mean there were not 'specialty shows' such as perhaps an hour of older songs (I knew a top 40 that did an oldies lunch hour). Stations frequently 'dayparted' to match the music to the age groups typically listening during that time frame. For example, I was the program director in a small town at a top 40. Our morning drive was much more adult contemporary than top 40. Our middays had more older songs up to about 15 years old mixed in. Evenings were very hit oriented and late night much more rock influenced. In fact, when I first arrived, the station played country music until 9am weekdays and then played classical from 8 until 10pm Sunday evening. This mostly applied to smaller markets where a station had to attract a bigger percentage of the total potential audience. With that said, I recall KLIF in Dallas in the early 1970s sounding much more adult contemporary in middays than at any other time with certain rock tunes hitting the charts restricted to after about 4pm.

I recall WHB going talk at 10pm, I think, for an hour or two. KLIF in Dallas had a Sunday night talk show about 10pm. It might have been something they did to fulfill their 'percentages'. Prior to 1981, each radio station had to declare to the FCC they promised to dedicate a percentage of their broadcast day to non-entertainment programming. A license could be challenged if a station had a poor record of non-entertainment programming. This non-entertainment was News, Sports, Agricultural, Religious, Educational, Public Affairs, Other (and I might be missing one or two). While the minimal requirement was 8% for AM and 6% for FM stations, just doing the minimum was typically not done because more looked best in the eyes of the FCC. It may very well be the talk shows were labeled Public Affairs, placed at a time when it didn't hurt their youthful demographics but brought a level of entertaining programming to their older end of the audience outside music. You sure weren't running a 10pm talk show to make a ton of money, even then.

I doubt we are seeing a trend in doing this. If anything it might be limited to once or twice a week at times of lower listening patterns.

 

[gr8oldies]

The first case of this I've heard of was WHB AM in the 1960s (before I was listening to the radio), they changed from Top 40 music to talk/call in radio at 10PM, currently, KPRS FM changes to "the quiet storm" of music for late evening and some overnight.

WBBM AM newsradio plays old radio shows for an hour overnight and WLS AM sometimes has their "rewind weekends" when they switch to music.

Is this concept growing or declining?


Kirk Bayne

There's been no WLS Rewind weekend since 2007 that I recall.

Dayparting is nothing new. I worked at an AM/FM combo which did full service adult contemporary during the day and Country at night in the 80s.

 

[K6JHU]

Student run college stations and LPFMs. Many of them are still like that. Whoever is on gets to do what they want. And don't forget Pacifica.

 

[michael hagerty]

When I started at KIBS in Bishop, California in 1971, it was the only radio station in a town of 3,500 people and it felt the need to be all things to all people, so it was block programmed:

6:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m. Country music.

7:00 a.m.-7:30 a.m. ABC Network News, local news, Paul Harvey News and Comment. The block included school lunch menus.

7:30 a.m.-9:00 a.m. Country music.

9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. "Coffee With Virginia" (upbeat middle-of-the-road (MOR) music---Herb Alpert, Andy Williams---along with recipes and household hints. They called it a "Woman's Program")

10:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. "Radio Bingo". Exactly what you're afraid it is. Listeners would go to the Ben Franklin store every week for a new set of bingo cards and for an hour every weekday, some poor dope (often me) would be going "B-9, I-15" on the radio for a full hour.

11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. MOR music.

12:00 p.m.-12:30 p.m. ABC Network News, local news, Paul Harvey News and Comment.

12:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. MOR music.

5:00 p.m.-5:30 p.m. ABC Network News, local news, Paul Harvey News and Comment.

5:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. MOR music.

6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. "Dinner Hour". Could be Classical, could just be soft instrumental.

7:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. Top 40 Monday-Thursday, album rock Friday and Saturday.

We signed off at 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday and at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday. Sundays were religion and public affairs programming from 7:00 a.m. (an hour later sign-on than the other days) to noon, and MOR from noon to 7:00 p.m.

In the fall of 1974, I helped a friend launch an FM competitor and we were Adult Contemporary, live in the morning and automated the rest of the day. By summer of '75, KIBS dumped block programming and went Country.

 

[michael hagerty]

By the way, this wasn't limited to small market radio. From 1971 (ish) to 1973, KFI in Los Angeles played MOR from 6:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., Big Bands from 6:00-10:00 p.m., Country from 10:00 p.m. to midnight and Jazz overnights. They called it "Total Spectrum Radio". And for decades, Dick Sinclair did a weekend Polka show for several hours.

 

[vchimpanzee]

In the 70s WBT Charlotte switched from a mix of middle of the road music and full service programming to adult contemporary music, though some could argue the music was Top 40 at first. At night there was country music for truckers since the signal could be heard all up and down the East Coast.

One small AM station where I live as recently as the 90s played oldies in the morning then had some kind of religious program, and then big band music from 11 to Noon, and a mix of news, Paul Harvey and easy listening music from Noon to 1. I think there may have been a talk show in there somewhere. And then it was all sports talk for the rest of the day.

 

[michael hagerty]

In the 70s WBT Charlotte switched from a mix of middle of the road music and full service programming to adult contemporary music, though some could argue the music was Top 40 at first.

In the 70s, Adult Contemporary was Top 40, minus the five or six hardest records, with Gold that went back five years further and jocks who were a little more relaxed. But only a little. They'd have been fine doing middays on a Drake Top 40 in 1969.

 

[b-turner]

I recall an FM in Dallas that operated 6am to Midnight. 6am to Noon was ministries and gospel music. Then at noon it was Easy Listening (not quite beautiful music and not quite MOR). At 6pm it was Top 40. I listened frequently in the evening because the station had very few commercials and no news breaks. The thing I thought odd was there was no reference to the Christian programming in the morning or any evangelizing during the top 40. I now when the station signed on the idea was the hope the listener to the music programming might 'hear life changing words' on the station which meant listening in prior to noon. If memory serves my right it was 102.9. The timeline was early to mid-1970s. The station had been KEIR (operating 9 am to 11pm except Sunday) featuring students of Elkins Institute but Elkins moved to 91.7, apparently selling 102.9. Maybe the calls were KDTX.

 

[AKDXer]

WLCN in Lincoln, Illinois does this. Country during the day, syndicated Classic Rock experience format at night...

 

[michael hagerty]

I guess XERB in the 60s and 70s fit that description, too. Paid preachers and horse racing during the day, sometimes a DJ, sometimes not, sometimes playing R&B, sometimes playing oldies. And Wolfman Jack at night---who, during his six years there, went from gutbucket R&B to an R&B-heavy Top 40 to an oldies-heavy R&B.

 

[kfbkfb]

WLCN Home Page

WLCN is two radio stations in one, giving listeners Today’s Best Country from 4 A.M. until 6 P.M. when the FIX 96 Classic Rock Experience is on the air from 6

www.wlcnonline.com

^^^
..all-important disposable income demographic: male and female listeners from the age of 22 through 65...


Does WLCN have some "secret formula" in their programming for listeners over 49?


Kirk Bayne

 

[davideduardo]

I guess XERB in the 60s and 70s fit that description, too. Paid preachers and horse racing during the day, sometimes a DJ, sometimes not, sometimes playing R&B, sometimes playing oldies. And Wolfman Jack at night---who, during his six years there, went from gutbucket R&B to an R&B-heavy Top 40 to an oldies-heavy R&B.

And around 1973 or 1974 Teddy Fregoso leased the daytime hours of 1090 and the calls changed to XEPRS. "Radio Express" was all Spanish, and became the home of many personalities who went on to be major stars in LA Spanish language radio, including Amalia Gonzalez, Carmen González de la Vega, Miguel Alonso, Freddy Morales, Rubén Valentín, Eduardo Díaz Montoy, Miguel Reyes, Adrián López, Eduardo Distel, Pepe Barreto and quite a few others.

They were all on in daytime hours, while at night the Wolfman reigned along with paid infomercials later at night. Eventually, Fregoso acquired the rights to all 24 hours and the station went all-Spanish.

But for quite a few years, the contrast of Mexican music and DJs in the daytime and the Wolfman at night was as "dayparted" as you could get!

 

[davideduardo]

..all-important disposable income demographic: male and female listeners from the age of 22 through 65...

The "all important" demos are 25-54, 18-49 and 18-34. The 55-65 group you mention seldom gets bought by advertiser who use ratings as an element of the buying formula.

A station in a small market is not going to be worried about ratings, though. They don't sell that way.

Does WLCN have some "secret formula" in their programming for listeners over 49?

The station is in a very small market area, with less than 50,000 persons in the 60 dbu coverage area. So a "split personality" is not unusual, although that combination is rather extreme!

 

[michael hagerty]

And around 1973 or 1974 Teddy Fregoso leased the daytime hours of 1090 and the calls changed to XEPRS. "Radio Express" was all Spanish, and became the home of many personalities who went on to be major stars in LA Spanish language radio, including Amalia Gonzalez, Carmen González de la Vega, Miguel Alonso, Freddy Morales, Rubén Valentín, Eduardo Díaz Montoy, Miguel Reyes, Adrián López, Eduardo Distel, Pepe Barreto and quite a few others.

They were all on in daytime hours, while at night the Wolfman reigned along with paid infomercials later at night. Eventually, Fregoso acquired the rights to all 24 hours and the station went all-Spanish.

But for quite a few years, the contrast of Mexican music and DJs in the daytime and the Wolfman at night was as "dayparted" as you could get!

The call letter change was in 1971. Wolf bailed in 1972 for KDAY.

 

[davideduardo]

The call letter change was in 1971. Wolf bailed in 1972 for KDAY.

You are right. Fregoso took over daytime hours approximately in 1971 and switched to Spanish. Unfortunately, there is a lot of urban legend "facts" about the Wolfman, ranging from XERB being 250,000 watts and XERF 500,000 to date and airtime inaccuracies.

Amalia González began at XEPRS in early and Wolfman was still there in evenings; when she moved from traffic to on-air, her show ended and Wolfie began. The transition was seamless since it was all done on tape from Rosarito. That would put the departure from XEPRS almost simultaneous with the filming of Graffiti.

 

[TheBigA]

Is this concept growing or declining?

We've been discussing this on the Dallas board, where it appears that the Mavericks basketball play-by-play will be moving to the city's only rock station The Eagle. This will mirror something iHeart has done in Cleveland, where WMMS is the official station of the Indians baseball team. In NYC, the all news station WCBS breaks format for NY Mets games.

There are many examples in history but one that comes to mind was with NY's beautiful music station WVNJ. When the city's only commercial jazz station flipped to country, WVNJ brokered its evening show to Les Davis (a DJ at WRVR), who played jazz at night. They became "W-V-N-Jazz." Of course all that changed when the station was sold, and it became Z-100.

 

[anotherguyTN]

A lot of CCM stations had different formats depending on the time of day, especially locally owned ones, and some still may be doing that. In Memphis WMSO 630/640, KSUD 730, and WGSF 1210 in its later CCM years had times during the day with preachers, some of which were the dollar a holler type. In some cases you could hear CCM at one minute and then be hearing some anti-CCM preacher 5 minutes later. Also WVIM 95.3 would run Spanish language Christian programming at night.

If you were lucky enough to have a CCM station that was mostly music, some of them would go AC during the day and play Christian rock nights and/or weekends.

 

[b-turner]

With stations like KSUD 730, mentioned above, were like a station I managed. The music was just to fill unsold time. We always had some afternoon slots open each weekday, not so much in the morning.