FM Stations in NYC in 1965

[Dick's History]

Yes, there were exceptions for daytime AMs, markets less than 100 thousand and some case by case ones for special programming.

The most interesting case was WPAT AM&FM in the New York metro where they taped one station and played it back later on the other.

Shadowcasting.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I know they were their sister station. My question was why they went off the air?

I think that perhaps your choice of words led to misinterpretation.

"Off the air" means no longer transmitting. I am guessing that you meant to ask when the rock format on WPLJ ended, which would be May 31, 2019.

 

[Dick's History]

WPAT, WQXR, WNEW, WVNJ, WNYC, WOR, WCBS, WABC and WNBC were all simulcasts of their more popular AM sister stations, so the fair comparison is to add the AM's and the FM's together to get each station's combined listenership.

Among the standalone FMs, WTFM surprises me. Back then it was either still transmitting from Queens (their tower could be seen from the Long Island Expressway near Utopia Pkwy, where the studios also were), or had recently moved to the Chrysler Building with a directional antenna to the east, so their signal was inferior west of the Hudson. And yet, 'TFM garnered a 1.7 as a semi-competitive standalone. (I know it was the FM station that played in my house, hour after hour, anytime my mom fired up the big, "But it's beautiful furniture! 🤣 " console radio in our living room.) That tells me they must have had a disproportionately high share of Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Nassau County.

WRFM was also a standalone, also playing beautiful music. Maybe they were still owned by Sonderling and were still transmitting from Woodside, Queens in those days. If they had already made the move to Empire, I'd have expected them to be doing much better.

WOR in those days was all-talk (except on weekends and a few records an hour during the Rambling with Gambling AM Drive show), so there was little benefit to listening to their FM simulcast, since their 710 AM signal was so strong, clean and dominant back then. WNBC was also largely talk, so ditto. But the other simulcasts were BM or classical, or in WCBS's case, a "Dead in the Middle of the Road" format which might have benefited a little bit -- like 0.4 share points -- from being on FM. But after the FCC issued its non-duplication edict in '65, and WOR-FM launched in the summer of '66, FM in NYC was literally off to the races.

WRFM FM had been Beautiful Music since 1957 with Classical and some talk programs evenings. Their signal had some strange coverage - you could get it in Eastern PA but not in some parts of NYC! When the Mormons bought it they took it to MOR and soon transmitted from the tower on I think the Empire State Building. In 1968 they hired a gentleman who had been at KFRE FM Fresno to restore Beautiful Music which he did along the lines of what KPOL in L.A. had been doing. A year later Marlin Taylor was brought in - Summer of 1969.

WTFM was stereo 24/7 from late 1961 and developed personalities to a greater degree than most Beautiful stations later did. Or WRFM had done. Early Continental music emphasis did not do well so did not last. But they had developed a decent local audience by mid 60s when the World's Fair set up in their neighborhood and did even better after they went to transmitting from the Chrysler Building. WPIX FM , programmed by Charles Whitaker and the announcers themselves from LP cuts and singles approved by Whitaker, was Beautiful Music but leaning toward MOR or as it was termed then Easy Listening - 30 % to later sometimes 40% vocals. They soon went to all stereo and led the NYC FMs for perhaps a year before the Drake-formatted WOR FM became dominant in 1968. I have written that what they did at WPIX was largely the inspiration for CBS's The Young Sound in 1966. By Fall 1970 Taylor's WRFM FM was #3 in NYC AM and FM.

 

[XCountry285]

WRFM FM had been Beautiful Music since 1957 with Classical and some talk programs evenings. Their signal had some strange coverage - you could get it in Eastern PA but not in some parts of NYC! When the Mormons bought it they took it to MOR and soon transmitted from the tower on I think the Empire State Building. In 1968 they hired a gentleman who had been at KFRE FM Fresno to restore Beautiful Music which he did along the lines of what KPOL in L.A. had been doing. A year later Marlin Taylor was brought in - Summer of 1969.

WTFM was stereo 24/7 from late 1961 and developed personalities to a greater degree than most Beautiful stations later did. Or WRFM had done. Early Continental music emphasis did not do well so did not last. But they had developed a decent local audience by mid 60s when the World's Fair set up in their neighborhood and did even better after they went to transmitting from the Chrysler Building. WPIX FM , programmed by Charles Whitaker and the announcers themselves from LP cuts and singles approved by Whitaker, was Beautiful Music but leaning toward MOR or as it was termed then Easy Listening - 30 % to later sometimes 40% vocals. They soon went to all stereo and led the NYC FMs for perhaps a year before the Drake-formatted WOR FM became dominant in 1968. I have written that what they did at WPIX was largely the inspiration for CBS's The Young Sound in 1966. By Fall 1970 Taylor's WRFM FM was #3 in NYC AM and FM.

What station is now WRFM -FM?

 

[K.M. Richards]

What station is now WRFM -FM?

If you mean what NYC station started as WRFM, that would be WWPR (Power 105.1).

If you mean where the WRFM calls are presently assigned, that would be a Class A signal on 103.9 in Drakesboro KY.

I would suggest better phrasing of questions in the future, so we don't have to guess at what you are asking.

 

[Weiserguy]

By Fall 1970 Taylor's WRFM FM was #3 in NYC AM and FM.

There was some dispute back then as to which station (WOR-FM verses WRFM) really was where in the ARBs, due to the potential for call letter misreporting. WOR-FM rebranded to WXLO ("99X") in '72, which eliminated any ambiguity. Later in the decade they requested the "WOR-FM" calls back, but that never got approved due to opposition from Bonneville (owner of WRFM back then) about re-introducing that same ambiguity.

 

[davideduardo]

There was some dispute back then as to which station (WOR-FM verses WRFM) really was where in the ARBs, due to the potential for call letter misreporting. WOR-FM rebranded to WXLO ("99X") in '72, which eliminated any ambiguity. Later in the decade they requested the "WOR-FM" calls back, but that never got approved due to opposition from Bonneville (owner of WRFM back then) about re-introducing that same ambiguity.

In my experience reviewing Arbitron diaries going back to 1970 when we actually looked at physical trays of diaries, there was not much confusion on call letters... if any. Confusion, and the development of attribution policies, came from things like station names and rounded dial positions and the writing in of air personality names.

 

[XCountry285]

If you mean what NYC station started as WRFM, that would be WWPR (Power 105.1).

If you mean where the WRFM calls are presently assigned, that would be a Class A signal on 103.9 in Drakesboro KY.

I would suggest better phrasing of questions in the future, so we don't have to guess at what you are asking.

Apologies.