FM Radios, Stations, And Formats In The 1960s

[davideduardo]

There were two very distinct periods for FM in the 1960s: Before 1966 and after 1966. Because before 1966, FM was a trademarked technology, licensed by the Armstrong estate. When the copyright ran out, and the litigation with RCA ended, then manufacturers were more willing to add FM to portables and other radios. Two other things happened at that time: The FCC came out with its non-duplication of formats rule, and manufacturing started to shift to Japan. That led to the rise of Panasonic and Sony.

Add in the slow but very passionate growth of FM stereo starting in '61. Coupled with the large music industry push of stereo LPs in the same era, there was quite a bit of material to encourage consumer demand and usage. While it was mostly in bigger orchestra instrumental music where the early mixes were intentionally done to emphasize instruments popping out of each speaker, it was enough to get FM stereo kick-started, moving to classical, jazz and even some dreadful big band re-recordings.

But there was an audience for FM among audiophiles and classical music fans prior to 1966. It led to the rise of magazines that catered to that audience, such as FM Guide and Audiophile. Some of this led to the rise of the home stereo movement that happened in the late 60s and 70s. The rise of FM ownership and the FCC rule led to new formats and more interest in FM.

Again, FM stereo began to be pushed in the early 60's in an attempt to further distinguish FM from plain old AM. In the first few years, growth was slow but it was not uncommon to have FMs start off with hours of stereo which were well promoted and often sponsored by record shops and home electronics dealers; some of those dealers would even hold "hear stereo live at Adams TV and Appliances today at 6 PM" events.

FM was also sustained in quite a few markets by the use of a sub-carrier for background music services. An early FM in Puerto Rico was WFID, which usually had no ads on the "public" signal but whose owner had a very profitable in-store music service where they installed the equipment and charged a monthly fee.

Outside the US, in Mexico City a large system of convenience stores similar to 7-11 owned an FM which ran no commercials but, instead, used the SCA for in-store broadcasting where vendors paid to have their brands promoted to the people already in the stores. Similarly, FM100 in Lima did not have on-air advertisers, but had a huge business selling SCA background music services.

The most unusual use of FM is likely the "buscasting" of the early 50's. As station owners looked for a way to monetize their FM investments, one company came up with a system that equipped city bus lines with receivers that played an "in-bus" format that used the captive rider audience as its selling point. That lasted for a number of years, in fact.

There were some groups who failed to see the wave coming. The one that stands out is the Washington Post group of radio stations. They owned WTOP-AM/FM in Washington. They decided there was no future in FM, and donated WTOP-FM to Howard University, a historically black college in Northeast DC. That station today is WHUR, which is consistently one of the top rated stations in town.

Another that abandoned or neglected FM was Storer, which even was slow to monetize its few remaining FMs when it was obvious that AM was in decline. And the passing of Todd Storz in 1964 seems to have distracted that company from developing any FMs in its key markets at a time when they could have just applied for licenses and gotten them "free".

But by the mid-60's, a lot of operators were saying "we have been trying to make this work for twenty years and it's going nowhere!" In fact, in 1950 there were over 1000 FM licenses or permits granted, yet by 1960 it was down to just over 600.

It was the new entrepreneurs like Jerry Lee and Saul Levine and Robert Conrad who came in without the 1940's perspective on radio and managed to make a bit of a profit as the band grew.

These, of course, are examples of owners and stations. There are many, many parallel cases of early FM "pioneers".

 

[TheBigA]

Add in the slow but very passionate growth of FM stereo starting in '61. Coupled with the large music industry push of stereo LPs in the same era, there was quite a bit of material to encourage consumer demand and usage.

But amazingly the record labels didn't really enlist radio until they saw the potential of AOR stations that started in 1970-71. That's when they thought about enlarging promotion to include albums to college radio and rock radio. Labels such as Columbia were satisfied to release Mitch Miller and Ray Coniff records for airplay on beautiful music stations during that period. But I think they mainly hoped it would get people to buy home stereos where they could listen to "long players" at home.

 

[TheBigA]

In the mid to late 1960s, I was told that Fisher Receivers and Tuners were the best, but quite expensive.

That was the thing: American made electronics were known as the best quality, but the cost prevented most people from buying them. You also had MacIntosh and several others who made high quality audio gear. But when the Japanese got access to the US market, we saw for the first time AFFORDABLE electronics that the middle class could buy. A family could buy a complete audio system with speakers for $100. Sears had some combo units as well at that time.

 

[Harvey_Dogg]

In central Indiana elevator music (easy listening) dominated the FM dial. But we had some unique stations. WNAP in Indianapolis mixed AOR with top 40. WNAP's on air guys had personality unlike AOR's in other cities. There was also WTLC an early Soul station.

Muncie Indiana also had three pirate radio stations run by high school kids. I enjoyed listening to them playing rock music in 1969. The owner of one of the AM's in town would find the pirates and get himself on the air with recorded liners.

 

[davideduardo]

But amazingly the record labels didn't really enlist radio until they saw the potential of AOR stations that started in 1970-71. That's when they thought about enlarging promotion to include albums to college radio and rock radio. Labels such as Columbia were satisfied to release Mitch Miller and Ray Coniff records for airplay on beautiful music stations during that period.

But that was because adults over 25 or 30 were perceived to be the ones who could afford LP records. 45's were specifically aimed at youth and Blacks, while the LP was for adult (white) consumers.

The Conniff / Mitch Miller era was pretty much the earlier 60's, before labels discovered that teens and young adults bought albums, too, if they were given some to buy. And remember, Miller was head of A&R at Columbia Records in that early 60's era and was quite resistant to new pop sounds; he was the "Sing Along With Mitch" guy from early 60's TV with the bouncing place marker on the song lyrics. And that was the sort of stuff the labels focused LP sales on.

But I think they mainly hoped it would get people to buy home stereos where they could listen to "long players" at home.

And that was "big money" for kids, so they marketed to adults and labels programmed to them, too.

 

[Harvey_Dogg]

That was the thing: American made electronics were known as the best quality, but the cost prevented most people from buying them. You also had MacIntosh and several others who made high quality audio gear. But when the Japanese got access to the US market, we saw for the first time AFFORDABLE electronics that the middle class could buy. A family could buy a complete au dio system with speakers for $100. Sears had some combo units as well at that time.

RCA and Zenith made some really good AM FM table top radios in the 50's and early 60's.

 

[davideduardo]

That was the thing: American made electronics were known as the best quality, but the cost prevented most people from buying them. You also had MacIntosh and several others who made high quality audio gear. But when the Japanese got access to the US market, we saw for the first time AFFORDABLE electronics that the middle class could buy.

And the 60's was the decade when the Japanese went from cheap trinkets and a broad array of junk to the best electronics in the world and automobiles that changed the way the entire US auto industry worked.

 

[Harvey_Dogg]

And the 60's was the decade when the Japanese went from cheap trinkets and a broad array of junk to the best electronics in the world and automobiles that changed the way the entire US auto industry worked.

In the 60's Japan brought us many transistor pocket radios which resulted in a second golden age of radio as kids discovered rock and roll.

In the 70's Panasonic made the best portable radio I've ever owned. I still have my JVC tuner that could listen to Cleveland Ohio on FM in Indianapolis.

 

[davideduardo]

In the 60's Japan brought us many transistor pocket radios which resulted in a second golden age of radio as kids discovered rock and roll.

In most of the 60's I was in South America. American made radios and hi-fi systems were just not sold at all in the countries where I lived or worked; they were not well made and terribly expensive. For small radios and portables... and later in the decade cassette players... it was all from Japan. Console stereos and hi-fi units tended to be from Germany and Philips from the Netherlands.

On of the things I learned from a friend who did electronic servicing is that American electronics did not come with manuals and diagrams labeled in Spanish... the European and Japanese ones did.

 

[landtuna]

And remember, Miller was head of A&R at Columbia Records in that early 60's era and was quite resistant to new pop sounds; he was the "Sing Along With Mitch" guy from early 60's TV with the bouncing place marker on the song lyrics.

I remember Miller being well to the frantic side of disliking Be-bop/RnR. In fact, I remember some of those contemporaneous musicians calling "a roaring $%^&*" - a term with which I agreed.

 

[landtuna]

On of the things I learned from a friend who did electronic servicing is that American electronics did not come with manuals and diagrams labeled in Spanish... the European and Japanese ones did.

OTOH look what that did for your language skills!

 

[davideduardo]

OTOH look what that did for your language skills!

I could read basic... very basic English just before turning 4. I could not read Spanish at all until I was around 10 or 11, same time I learned basic French and Latin.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Salespeople in Stereo Stores in the early 1960s would use the track "Rock Island" from "The Music Man" to sell Stereos, because the voices were in one channel or the other, and quickly switched back and forth. Orchestras using two microphones to record symphonies obtained Stereo Ambience due to sound intensity and phase differences in each channel, but relatively small differences in intensity, rather than instruments being in one channel or the other. 1960s Popular Music and Rock and Roll used the individual recording tracks being in one channel or the other but not both (in many cases) to create an extreme Stereo effect, which could never be achieved in live concerts.

 

[TheBigA]

Popular Music and Rock and Roll used the individual recording tracks being in one channel or the other but not both (in many cases) to create an extreme Stereo effect, which could never be achieved in live concerts.

Keep in mind the pan pot in consoles didn't exist until around 1967. So everything was either hard left or hard right.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Keep in mind the pan pot in consoles didn't exist until around 1967. So everything was either hard left or hard right.

Seems like the Motown engineers found a way around that. They had some incredibly talented and creative engineers, such as the late Ken Sands. He used putting two tracks of non synched vocals and the rest of the tracks in one channel or the other, so that the Balance control could be used for Marvin Gaye to choose which vocal to use. Marvin Gaye listened to them in both channels with center balance, giving the varying echo effect on "What's Goin' On", and told Ken he wanted both vocals with the varying time shifts. Ken and Marvin had a big part of the Production, having been left on their own by Berry Gordy, who was not into the controversial nature of the lyrics of the song at the time.

Seems like Led Zeppelin and other hard rock groups were using rapidly varying channel shifts by the late 1960s, which some said was intentionally disorienting, kind of like what Leonard Kahn called "Platform Motion" with AM Stereo systems besides Kahn.

 

[TheBigA]

Marvin Gaye listened to them in both channels with center balance, giving the varying echo effect on "What's Goin' On", and told Ken he wanted both vocals with the varying time shifts.

What's Goin' On was 1971, so it's post pan pot era. But I agree with what you say about Motown engineers. They made a lot with a little. If you read George Martin's book he talks a lot about getting around the lack of pan pots at Abbey Road. They bounced a lot of tracks.

 

[TheBigA]

Seems like Led Zeppelin and other hard rock groups were using rapidly varying channel shifts by the late 1960s, which some said was intentionally disorienting, kind of like what Leonard Kahn called "Platform Motion" with AM Stereo systems besides Kahn.

There was a lot going on in those Led Zep records with phasing and time shifting. One example is Whole Lotta Love. They were done at Olympic Studios in London, where the technology was a lot higher than Abbey Road. Jimmy Page was a studio musician at both places and chose to work at Olympic.