What Stations Would You Describe As "Chicken Rock" In The 60s And 70s?

[Schroedingers Cat]

I think many stations in smaller markets tended to be "Chicken Rock" to widen appeal for sales, especially the Class IVs and Daytimers.

As far as major stations, and group owners, I would regard Westinghouse's WBZ, WOWO, and WIND as usually Chicken Rock. Also ABC's WXYZ Detroit from around 1970 until they went Talk. Any examples from smaller markets you can think of offhand? By the mid to late 1970s, most identified as Adult Contemporary, and their many 20 something listeners were growing into the format. The hard rock fans began moving to FM when the non duplication rules took full effect. Then FM rock really took off on February 14, 1971, when the ABC owned FMs all changed call letters and identity.

 

[KeithE4]

The only place I've ever heard/read the term "Chicken Rock" is on this board. I never heard the term either on the air or in describing any radio station at that time. What exactly is it? Top 40 without the psychedellic/early metal singles (for example, anything by Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix)?

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

Chicken Rock was a more or less derisive term used by full bore Top 40 and AOR competitors, usually. Today, it would be called Adult CHR or Hot AC most likely. I'd say 10% or so of the hardest rock wasn't played, and mellower tracks further down the Hot 100 took that 10% in their place. So maybe 3 tracks were different between the two.

 

[davideduardo]

The only place I've ever heard/read the term "Chicken Rock" is on this board. I never heard the term either on the air or in describing any radio station at that time. What exactly is it? Top 40 without the psychedellic/early metal singles (for example, anything by Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix)?

"Chicken Rock" was what modernized Top 40 stations were called when they tried to appeal to young adults who had grown up on Top 40.

For those not around during the 50's and 60's, we called Top 40 (today "CHR") rock or "rockers" back then.

But by around 1972 to 1973, many MOR stations saw their audience becoming very old. So we took out the crooners, the big bands, Sinatra and Andy Williams and played Jackson 5 and Fifth Dimension. We did not play hard rock, flower power songs, or R&B that was not "Motown" sounding.

Stations had more Top 40 formatics, and jingles that would have gone on a Top 40 station too.

The term was not used on the air, was not commonly used in the trades. It was a negative term that both Top 40 stations used to demean us and AOR stations used to make use seem artificial or plastic.

I was PD of one of the early AC stations, WERC in Birmingham. We were like an MOR in that we had adult jocks who did not scream but who talked about relatable things, particularly sports (our morning guy was the play-by-play announcer for the Crimson Tide). It was a fun station, as the format was new and we could laugh at the old farts at the MOR station and the teen songs and contests at the Top 40 station... even at the juvenile approach of our Top 40 competitor's morning guy who soon left town... a guy named Rick Dees!

 

[davideduardo]

Chicken Rock was a more or less derisive term used by full bore Top 40 and AOR competitors, usually. Today, it would be called Adult CHR or Hot AC most likely. I'd say 10% or so of the hardest rock wasn't played, and mellower tracks further down the Hot 100 took that 10% in their place. So maybe 3 tracks were different between the two.

It was a lot more. I'd say that the station I did in '72 did not play about 35% of what CHR WSGN played (and about 45% of what our own incipient Rock 40 FM did) and we played about 80% songs that the local MOR station did not play.

And in the middle, about 30% of the songs than nobody else played.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

ARSA has the Surveys that allow comparison. Percentages probably varied due to market factors and competition. If they wanted to go head to head, maybe 10%, but above 35%, I'd say it was really an MOR/AC station. 35% is 10 songs in a 30 song rotation.

 

[gar hi]

This is the first time I've heard the term 'Chicken Rock' but if it's the same thing as adult contemporary, I remember WABC went to a format something like that in it's final year of broadcasting music until that sad day in 1982 when they stopped the music and went to all talk.

That was considered the official end to the era of top 40 on AM even though other stations like WNBC and some other big stations in other cities continued to play music for much of the 80's.

Even in 1981, WABC had a talk show on at night with Dr. Judith Koriansky (don't know if that's the proper spelling) where people called in with personal problems and I had wondered if it was a sign that they were going to become an all talk station.

 

[Greg Strickland]

My interpretation of chicken rock is a station, usually in a smaller market, that would have liked to been the leading Top-40 station (now known as CHR), but the station could not bring itself to go all-in and do the format full throttle. The cause could have been the owner, general manager, sales department, staff fear of community reaction, one important jock who objected, clients, etc.

Essentially "radio sense" of the station staff told them the correct move was to go Top-40, but their anxiety and fear caused them to chicken out. I think there are situations where programmers know the best direction (and other staff members don't disagree), but the culture of the station prevents it from making the change.

Sometimes it is serious. In a small market not of interest to my employer, or anyone really, I know a small station that would logically go to a format that appeals to the largest population demographic in the county. However I know enough about the area to know that doing this could be a personal risk to the owner.

To connect this to engineering- in that era in small markets and towns traditional MOR stations could have been on more powerful signals on lower frequencies. The new Top 40 format was likely to be adopted by smaller signals at the top of the band. This could have been part of the motivation to use more aggressive audio processing, to make a little signal sound big.

Established MOR stations had everything to lose, and a tiny signal at the top of the band had nothing to lose.

 

[davideduardo]

This is the first time I've heard the term 'Chicken Rock' but if it's the same thing as adult contemporary, I remember WABC went to a format something like that in it's final year of broadcasting music until that sad day in 1982 when they stopped the music and went to all talk.

It was an early and negative term for what became A/C. Some were more current based, others were predominantly gold but with a lot of currents, too.

That was considered the official end to the era of top 40 on AM even though other stations like WNBC and some other big stations in other cities continued to play music for much of the 80's.

Top 40 per se never ended, although the stations moved to FM or FMs replaced them. Top 40 was renamed CHR by R&R when that magazine wanted to establish differences between it and Billboard on one side and the tip sheets like Hamilton, FMQB and Gavin on the other side.

 

[davideduardo]

My interpretation of chicken rock is a station usually in a smaller market, that would have liked to be the leading Top-40 station (now known as CHR), but the station could not bring itself to go all-in and do the format full throttle. The cause could have been the owner, general manager, sales department, staff fear of community reaction, one important jock who objected, clients, etc.

I disagree, although there is some base in the small market stations that would not play "hippie" music. Among the early "chicken rockers" were WGAR in Cleveland, a 50 kw clear channel which Lund programmed with about half gold. Then there was WJDX in Jackson with Bill Tanner and WERC in Birmingham with me and we did more Top 40 mechanics and rotations, but lots of gold, too. All around 1972... Tanner went off to join Heftel in Pittsburgh while I went to LA with KWKW along with KENO and KTKT.

Essentially "radio sense" of the station staff told them the correct move was to go Top-40, but their anxiety and fear caused them to chicken out. I think there are situations where programmers know the best direction (and other staff members don't disagree), but the culture of the station prevents it from making the change.

Yes, in small markets or where the clients were still suffering from the mid-50's rejection of rock and roll. But the early 70's saw lots of true early AC stations that played The Morning After and Michael singing about a rat.

Sometimes it is serious. In a small market not of interest to my employer, or anyone really, I know a small station that would logically go to a format that appeals to the largest population demographic in the county. However I know enough about the area to know that doing this could be a personal risk to the owner.

A lot of those did close to AC in adult hours, and added back Jefferson Airplane after 6 PM.

 

[Greg Strickland]

Yes, please disagree. Your radio experience is much wider than mine. I am remembering first hand observation of small market behavior in the south in the late 60's and early 70's. What I heard coming in at night from large markets was different.

But, I suppose actions of small market radio station owners and managers at that time may have reflected the attitudes of the time.

From my childhood and early teenage years I remember racism, sexism, hate, intolerance, anger towards long-haired hippies and anyone who had different viewpoints. It was a pleasure to get to a larger market with diversity of culture and ideas.

And speaking of small town America, looks like this storm will come ashore in NE North Carolina and dissipate. Many people live in trailers in that area. I hope no one is hurt.

 

[radioman148]

I think many stations in smaller markets tended to be "Chicken Rock" to widen appeal for sales, especially the Class IVs and Daytimers.

As far as major stations, and group owners, I would regard Westinghouse's WBZ, WOWO, and WIND as usually Chicken Rock. Also ABC's WXYZ Detroit from around 1970 until they went Talk. Any examples from smaller markets you can think of offhand? By the mid to late 1970s, most identified as Adult Contemporary, and their many 20 something listeners were growing into the format. The hard rock fans began moving to FM when the non duplication rules took full effect. Then FM rock really took off on February 14, 1971, when the ABC owned FMs all changed call letters and identity.

WMAQ was chicken rock in the early 70s

 

[cyberdad]

WMAQ was chicken rock in the early 70s

I was going to say WMAQ was the very definition of "Chicken Rock" for the Chicago market in the late '60s and early '70s. They called it the Q format. WCFL and WLS playlists without the harder stuff. A few oldies mixed in, but not many. WIND was basically the same playlist with some Sinatra, Tony Benett, Peggy Lee, etc. mixed in. But basically if you liked Tony Orlando, Tony Orlando. The Carpenters. and Tom Jones, WMAQ was the go to for you.

I spent a few months in 1971 at a small station in Minnesota where the playlist was the entire current Billboard AC chart. A;so a few oldies mixed in. About as "Chicken" as you could get.

 

[davideduardo]

I was going to say WMAQ was the very definition of "Chicken Rock" for the Chicago market in the late '60s and early '70s. They called it the Q format. WCFL and WLS playlists without the harder stuff. A few oldies mixed in, but not many. WIND was basically the same playlist with some Sinatra, Tony Benett, Peggy Lee, etc. mixed in. But basically if you liked Tony Orlando, Tony Orlando. The Carpenters. and Tom Jones, WMAQ was the go to for you.

The "problem of definition" here is the fact that this format sort of evolved, starting around when we had the Summer of Flower Power and "... if you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair".

Some stations leaned on gold Top 40 songs. Others on the crooners of the 50's that you mention. Some rotated songs the same way the Top 40 stations did, others slowed down the currents and filled with more gold.

By around 1972, the stage was set for a slightly shorter playlist in which the funky soul and harder rock was eliminated. The rotations were more in the 3 hour to 4 hour on the biggest currents instead of the WABC "every 90 minutes" for the top song. Gold was more recent but not predominantly Englebert and Tom Jones.

The first I saw of the version of "Chicken Rock" that became today's AC was around 1972. As I mentioned, Bill Tanner and I in Jackson and Birmingham did a personality rendition of a format that had these characteristics and which sounded very much like AC stations of today, right down to the short, highly melodic jingles.

The older audience found that the traditional MOR stations were disappearing in that decade, and the older listeners went to Beautiful Music stations, while the younger ones went to the evolving AC stations or solid gold based ones.

I spent a few months in 1971 at a small station in Minnesota where the playlist was the entire current Billboard AC chart. A;so a few oldies mixed in. About as "Chicken" as you could get.

And there is where the differences lie. Smaller stations didn't get record service, so they subscribed to providers who sent the music based on Billboard. And stations read Billboard because it was cheaper than the other music publications and it paralleled everything from American Top 40 to those music services.

In the bigger markets, AC evolved differently, being less tied to Billboard / Cash Box and more to strategies of fitting in between Beautiful Music, Oldies and Top 40.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

The artists changed too, from circa 1970 to the 1980s, from hard rock to nearly AC. A good example is Foreigner, going from "Hot Blooded" to "Waiting For A Girl Like You". Mark Farner wanted to take Grand Funk Railroad in an AC direction, but particularly Don Brewer was opposed to it, and the group split up over it. WXYZ noted in playing it that "Bad Time" was a big step in that direction, but it never materialized much further. Mark had correctly realized that AC would be more commercially viable.

 

[KeithE4]

I was going to say WMAQ was the very definition of "Chicken Rock" for the Chicago market in the late '60s and early '70s. They called it the Q format. WCFL and WLS playlists without the harder stuff. A few oldies mixed in, but not many. WIND was basically the same playlist with some Sinatra, Tony Benett, Peggy Lee, etc. mixed in. But basically if you liked Tony Orlando, Tony Orlando. The Carpenters. and Tom Jones, WMAQ was the go to for you.

No wonder they went country. WMAQ in that era was awful. They thought they could compete with not only WLS, WCFL, and WIND, but IIRC, WDHF had gone Top 40 by that time as well, signalling the beginning of the end for AM rock.

"WMAQ is gonna make me retch!"

 

[gar hi]

The artists changed too, from circa 1970 to the 1980s, from hard rock to nearly AC. A good example is Foreigner, going from "Hot Blooded" to "Waiting For A Girl Like You".

That's a good point.

Other good bands such as Journey and REO Speedwagon who rocked in the 70's got mellow in the 80's.

Maybe AC became a trend in the 70's because of all the artists who played that kind of music like Bread, Seals and Crofts, England Dan and John Ford Coley, Stephen Bishop, Dan Fogelberg.

One of my favorite songs, Baby Come Back by Player, I think could be considered AC and it has the quintessential sound of 70's pop.

 

[Greg Strickland]

David that is an excellent and thorough comment you posted timestamped at 3:48 AM

My earlier comment was about the psychology of being Chicken Rock, based on what I observed in my narrow world at that time.
I did not intend to hijack the thread.

On the professional side, music, audiences and formats evolve.

 

[cyberdad]

And there is where the differences lie. Smaller stations didn't get record service, so they subscribed to providers who sent the music based on Billboard. And stations read Billboard because it was cheaper than the other music publications.....

The guys who ran the station weren't exactly cheap. At least not by small market standards. They were making money hand over fist. But they were pretty clueless about the music. I was the only place where I ever got fired. I'm sure part of it...if not most of it....had to do with nt 22-year old self asking too many questions management couldn't answer. As long as they were making money, priority #1 was staying within their comfort zone.

 

[Schroedingers Cat]

I remember listening to WMAQ in the late 1960s to early 1970s. They started adding some Talk shifts in the early 1970s. A lot of AC stations were adding Talk. WTRX hired a man named Wally Kennedy, who parlayed an appearance as a WLS Teenage Guest Disk Jockey, into a short gig at WEAW, and then to WTRX. He did a short Talk show during his shift, and then went from 7 PM to Midnight with Talk. Kennedy was from Chicago, and may have gotten the idea from WMAQ doing Talk and AC. He left in the late 1970s for WSB, and then to Philadelphia.