Here is a summary of the ratings from the Spring 1976 Arbitron book from Jim Duncan's American Radio.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Chicago ratings Spring 1976
- Thread starter davideduardo
- Start date
I understand how WIND did quite well up against the 50 kW stations with its 560 kHz dial position and Directional Antenna. WAIT is also understandable for being the only AM station with a high age demographic format and solid North side signal from Elmhurst.
Very true. They were at the top for several years in the 50s and 60s when they had Howard Miller.
WAIT, after having their APP for 5/1 U2 turned down, had the help of Ramsey Clark in 1970 to try to preserve WAIT's dibs on 820 if they ever broke up the Clear Channels, which they soon did. The 4 tower array, which is not described at this link, went up circa 1980, at the Elmhurst site. I would assume the precedents were eventually relevant, though denied at the time, even for the case represented by a former Attorney General.
WAIT had a good daytime signal. I could hear them driving east of Chicago to the Ohio state line. This was during their 5KW daytime only days in the 60s.
I guess that great WAIT daytime signal is why they always had such great ratings in the 1960s and 1970s.
WNUS full time at 1390 which was also beautiful music in the 1968-1974 years never came close to WAIT ratings even when 820 had to sign off at like 4:30 in the winter.
WNUS full time at 1390 which was also beautiful music in the 1968-1974 years never came close to WAIT ratings even when 820 had to sign off at like 4:30 in the winter.
1390 always had signal problems. When they were WYNR in the early 60s they tried to compete with WLS, but their signal limitations never gave them much of a chance.
The WGES...WGRB pattern has a narrow major lobe. By the time you got to the Southeast part of Chicago near the Lake, you were into a null area. Because it was way up the dial, it didn't reach the parts further North well.
WGRB_AM_LD.gif
WGRB_AM_LD.gif
Last edited:
They were quite strong in the NWC/ORD area. On my first trip to the Area in 1962, I kept switching between WLS and WYNR to hear my favorite songs twice an hour, on an old small tube table radio they had.
My favorites were "Big Girls Don't Cry' and "Gina". I have a vague recollection that a 19 year old Chuck Harder may have been the fill in DJ on WYNR Thanksgiving evening.
I'm sure WLS and WYNR were playing nearly identical tracks at that point.
WLS_1962-11-24_1.jpg
Last edited:
In the Northern suburbs in 1962-63 the WYNR night signal suffered from cancellation a great deal of the time. Dick Kemp who was the night jock would mention how many more records he played each hour than Dick Biondi on WLS. Biondi's show was loaded with commercials because of his very successful ratings. Biondi later got angry with WLS for loading up his show with so many non music items.
Over the years on my visits, I remember WYNR...WVON...WGRB coming in OK, but noticeably weaker than WLS. I was always surprised that WVON 1450 had a decent signal there, even at Night.
Years ago, I estimated the 1390 signal in the 60068 Zip Code to be 6.3 mv/m, and that was based on a signal meter on a Sony Portable. I was shocked to see what V-Soft Zip Code said-virtually the same.
It blasted in to Northern Wisconsin and the Michigan Upper Peninsula at night! Still does as WGRB.
They probably still blast into the Western UP and Wisconsin, however, fairly recently, WLCM 1390 Holt, MI (Lansing, MI Area) went on with 4.5 kW Night into a 4 tower slight dogleg endfire array aimed North. Within minutes of turning it on, they had heard it in Finland, as I gave the DXers a heads up about it. WGRB is usually just a mess now in the Northern Lower Peninsula and the Eastern UP at Night. The 5 kW Day facility from WLCM remains just SW of Charlotte, the original City of License. I used to listen to Dusty Radio 1390 during CH and sometimes all Day in the Winter when I was in the Straits Area. It's a pest in Scandinavia. As I recall, they heard WGES...WGRB once in Helsinki on an average stock radio, barefoot, during unusual propagation conditions, years ago.
FCCInfo Results
FCC Info is a Radio and Television Station Search Engine provided by Cavell, Mertz & Associates, Inc.
fccinfo.com
Last edited:
This jogged my memory. I heard WGRB on either the Iceland or Norway Arctic SDR either this past winter or the one before (I forget which).
Fast folrward, and I was hearing an American 1390 on the Iceland receiver just this past week. Definitely not WGRB, but it faded before I could ID it. Perhaps it was WLCM. I'll certainly spend some time on 1390 in coming days on those far north SDRs and be anxious to see what turns up. WRIG from Wausau, WI is also on 1390 and aims a lot of signal north, but I've never heard it on the Arctic SDRs.
I also heard WGRB on the Arctic SDR, in 2019-2020.
As did I. I was amazed.
I haven't been getting anything on the Arctic SDR this season so far. Anyone else having any luck with it?
- Status