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16 years ago today: WCAU-AM goes off the air after 68 years

J

Jul

Guest
On this date back in 1990 (It was a Wednesday when it happened), a 68 year piece of Philadelphia radio history went off the air when CBS decided to end WCAU-AM 1210 and change to a oldies format with the calls WOGL-AM. A lot of people were fired as a result. Days Later WWDB 96.5 FM had several WCAU-AM hosts on to talk about WCAU-AM. The loss of WCAU-AM is still being felt to this day in my opinion. Your thoughts on what happened on that day 16 years ago? BTW If anyone has any audio from the last few months of WCAU-AM including the format change, please post it here.
 
It did not go off the air.
It change format and call letters.

WCAU died in 1976. What remained (after an abortive attempt at all news) was a POS, low class, second-rate station.
CBS had incompetent management and kept meddling in the station.
DB was kicking CAU's butt at the time.
AM was a wasteland. WFIL was simulcasting EZ101 because Jerry Lee couldn't find a buyer. The industry had not yet discovered syndicated talk radio (Rush "saved" AM radio in the following years).
The flip and firing was handled badly - just like when DB flipped later.
A big part of the problem is Philly has never been a good market for talk radio.

Julius, I think you're the only one who misses the post 76 CAU.
 
BTW If anyone has any audio from the last few months of WCAU-AM including the format change, please post it here.
 
Julius: that's the second time in less than 20 mintues that you have made a demand for airchecks of the old WCAU Radio. Asking once is more than enough. If someone has any airchecks, I'm sure they will help you. Stop trolling please. Also, I didn't know you could post airchecks on this board. Is that a new feature that we don't know about?
 
Julius May said:
ixnay said:
Well, 17 years ago was 1989, not 1990... ::)

ixnay
Click to expand...
just corrected it. Thanks. Anyone has thoughts on the end of WCAU-AM?
Click to expand...

Yes Julius , every one of us are mourning this event as were dressed in a black drag attire.
Also we will be mourning the we RI web site change in a few days due to your Penn Quakers post.
keep up the good work.
 
Shawn O'Domski said:
Julius: that's the second time in less than 20 mintues that you have made a demand for airchecks of the old WCAU Radio. Asking once is more than enough. If someone has any airchecks, I'm sure they will help you. Stop trolling please. Also, I didn't know you could post airchecks on this board. Is that a new feature that we don't know about?
Click to expand...
Sorry. I was sad to see WCAU go even though I didn't understand back then what happened because a lot was going on with my family, we moved into a shelter a few weeks before and on and on. For some reason I stuck with 1210 AM after teh change because I really liked the station and the songs they were playing. Now today, I still listen to the station even though they don't have a lot of local talk programs like WCAU did but I'm still loyal to the station.
 
Guys, seriously, lay off Julius. He has every right to request old airchecks. If you don't like what he writes, then DON'T READ HIS POSTS! It really is that simple.
 
Hy Lit Flips WCAU-AM to WOGL Oldies 1210

  On the aforementioned day at 1210/WCAU-AM, Steve Carver, the new GM for CBS Philadelphia called me early that morning and instructed to be at the station at 12:55pm. He said, I can’t tell you why, just be there and be ready for anything. I show up at the station and they inform me at that time that I was going on the air with a new format in 5 minutes, I had better hurry. He informs me that 1210 is going oldies as 'Oldies 1210' at 1 pm, and that my FM duties now include the AM. I hit the air waves at 1:00, not even CBS news aired on the top of the hour. We jumped out of the gate with 'Let the good times roll', by Shirley and Lee. I said "Hello everybody, we’re here to let the good times roll". I notice all the CBS brass from New York is in the hall. This was a mile stone because of the signal reach of the frequency and this was the first time that a lot of the Sound of Philadelphia flavor would be broadcast and heard beyond the Delaware valley.
  The phones lit up. The press showed up. Radio was changing. I still have that air check.
 
                           -Hy Lit
 
More Lit Spam.

One would think Hy Lit is the Forrest Gump of Philly Radio if RJ hadn't already taken that position.
 
Hey wait a minute, that's the spam I would like to read. How can you compare R.J. to Hyski.?
Keep on posting.
 
One Man's SPAM Is Another Man's Tasty Breakfast

Come on, Fred.

I respect your insight (even when I disagree) more than I do most of the drivel on any of the major message boards. I appreciate your knowledge and most of all, the fact that you're able to put a complete sentence together. (Personally, I feel the sharp increase in the number of incoherent posts represents a much greater threat to message boards than anything from Julius May, but that's not why I called.)

However, I think your most recent comment equating Sam and Hy Lit with SPAM is terribly shortsighted.

The Lit post above regarding what happened at City & Monument 16 years ago today was a trillion times more informative and relevant to this discussion than at least a half-dozen of the posts in this very thread. And to compare anything from Hy Lit on his worst day to RJ is nonsensical bunkum.

I still find the 1990 blowup of WCAU to be a major milestone in the history of Philadelphia radio-- a turning point, if you will, that made just about everyone in the industry take notice of just how mismanaged the CBS Radio Division was at that juncture.

WWDB was not kicking WCAU's buttocks at the time, either in terms of ratings or revenue. It's my understanding WCAU's billing was about on-par with WWDB's, and in ARB the former had actually beaten WWDB in its final full book (Spring '90) not just in 12+ but in all decent demos. Take away Sid Mark (not that one should, but just for the sake of discussion), and WCAU's revenue would have dwarfed that of WWDB's.

The biggest problem for WCAU was overspending, and a complete lack of vision for the direction in which AM radio was going. By mid-1990, most radio companies (and there obviously were a lot more of them then) realized the importance of syndication to major market AM radio-- quality syndication, that is (Rush Limbaugh) -- as well as a need to move away from non-political talk. The CRD saw none of this, and New York refused to listen to what more prophetic voices in Bala Cynwyd had to say.

Not to mention, there was no need for the bloated news staff at WCAU considering the station was airing just a few minutes an hour of local headlines toward the end.

As great as it was to hear Hyski on-the-air fulltime again in 1990, I think we can all agree "Oldies 1210" was perhaps the stupidest idea in the history of Delaware Valley radio at the time (The State of Delaware's takeover of WAMS to broadcast outdated road closures at taxpayer expense now wears that crown, in my opinion.)

While it was still rather misguided, WCAU was definitely headed in the right direction on the morning of August 15, 1990. Or at least, "righter" direction. It could have been salvaged, and had it been, WPHT would be a much more valuable property today.
 
Sam:

I'd like to hear that aircheck. Any chance you can get it in mp3 format? I'll post it on my site for others to listen to if you can find it

Paul
 
I remember August 15, 1990 well. That night, the Phillies' Terry Mulholland pitched the first nine inning no-hitter in the history of Veterans Stadium. That was the first Phillies game on the new "Oldies 1210 WOGL." The next day's Inquirer and Daily News were full of news on the demise of WCAU as well as Mulholland's gem. A huge news day to be sure.
Someone in an earlier post mentioned AM in 1990 as being a wasteland. To an extent that was true, although WPEN was pulling in high ratings and was fifth or so in the market. They were still a big band/nostalgia format at the time, and they featured popular DJs Ken Garland and Joe Niagara. Also, WIP's morning show of Angelo Cataldi and Tom Brookshier was starting to create a buzz, and the sports format was coming into its own. Eskin was doing afternoons and I always listened to Bill Campbell. KYW was then and now the news center on your dial. I think KYW was actually better in 1990. At the time I didn't realize how wretched things were at WCAU. They had Tony Bruno, Clark DeLeon, and Frank Rizzo. They seemed like they could generate ratings. I read somewhere that AM on the whole was getting something like 20% of all listeners in 1990. Back in 1990 I mostly listened to WMMR and Eagle 106. Outside of WIP, WPEN, KYW, and WCAU, I don't know what else was on AM in 1990.
I remember that WOGL-AM originally simulcasted Don Cannon's FM show in the morning. Throughout its run as an oldies station, lots of DJs went through there, including Hy Lit, Bob Pantano, Harvey Holliday, Rod Carson, Ron Cade(who hosted the last show on WOGL-AM in March 1994), Brian Murphy, and Bill Wright, Sr.
Originally, Oldies 1210 simulcasted WOGL-FM all weekend for the first few years, then switched to a syndicated sports talk format on weekends (a portend of things to come). They did play music at night (no info-mercials like WPEN), so at least they were "sort of" committed to the format. They kept the Phillies and Temple football and basketball during those years.
Oldies 1210 rang up some of the worst ratings in Philadelphia history. It amazed me how a 50,000 waat station could pull in such lousy ratings. The oldies programming wasn't that bad, although by 1994 music on AM had long since become obsolete. It's ironic how 1210 evolved back into a news talk station over the years. WPHT is probably a better station today than WCAU was in 1990.
 
Hey Paul, I will have to get in to Hy’s archives and dig it up and transfer it to MP3 for ya, as all his WOGL air checks are on cassette. Wow, cassettes, remember them? Actually, Hy has air checks of practically all his WOGL shows, 16 years of them. In fact, when The AM flipped, he was working 7 days/week on the air, both AM & FM. Even when the AM went sports as 1210/WGMP, and actually a little before, he continued to work the FM 7 days/week for something like 7 or 8 years. So there are alot of tapes. Fortunately, I think they are all labeled properly, at least I hope so. As soon as I dig up the one in question and transfer it, I’ll zip you an audio file e-mail and you can post it.
 
Sam Lit said:
Hey Paul, I will have to get in to Hy’s archives and dig it up and transfer it to MP3 for ya, as all his WOGL air checks are on cassette. Wow, cassettes, remember them? Actually, Hy has air checks of practically all his WOGL shows, 16 years of them. In fact, when The AM flipped, he was working 7 days/week on the air, both AM & FM. Even when the AM went sports as 1210/WGMP, and actually a little before, he continued to work the FM 7 days/week for something like 7 or 8 years. So there are alot of tapes. Fortunately, I think they are all labeled properly, at least I hope so. As soon as I dig up the one in question and transfer it, I’ll zip you an audio file e-mail and you can post it.
Click to expand...
That would be cool to hear airchecks from the first few days of WOGL-AM but I'm also very interested to hear how WCAU-AM sounded in the last few weeks.
 
I also remember August 15, 1990...although until now I hadn't remembered the exact date.

There are a couple of interesting aspects of the whole event/ era that have gone unmentioned in this thread.

WCAU Daytime Line-UP as of the switch to Oldies 1210: (from memory)

6-10: Tony Bruno
10-1: Dominic Quinn
1-3: Clark DeLeon
3-6: Frank Rizzo

Dominic Quinn was the last live local host on WCAU...it switched to Oldies after the completion of his program. He described the new format after his return to WWDB as, "vaporized Rock N' Roll," and said that a monkey could do the job of a disc jockey.

Dominic Quinn of course was the morning man on WWDB for years. The reasons for his departure were not mentioned on 96.5 at the time. All I remember hearing was Eddie Bruce saying, "Dominc Quinn is no longer with the station."

After the deminse of WCAU-AM, Dominic Quinn returned to WWDB to host Saturday and Sunday mornings, but I never knew what the reasonings were for his departure and how/ why he was able to return to WWDB.

Can anyone clarify?

Another interesting aspect of the time was all of the music that was still readily available on AM in 1990.

Back then, we had FOUR oldies stations in Philadelphia!

1) "Philadelphias' Only Oldies Station on FM...Oldies 98"
2) 560 WFIL had returned to the airwaves as Famous 56.
3) The Geator and gang on 1540 WPGR.
4) And of course, Oldies 1210 WCAU.

Back then, there were also quite a few other outlets for AM Music in the area...

950 WPEN
1290 simulcasted 95.9 WJBR
1310 WSSJ
1350 WHWH
1490 WBCB
1570 WBUX
(640 WWJZ in Jersey hadn't yet premiered)

While it is true that Oldies 1210 didn't do very well in the ratings, you have to remember that we did have three other oldies stations to listen to at the time...and back then WOGL-FM played more of what we would classify today as "Real Oldies."

If people believe there is an FM alternative, than they will choose it every time.

The playlists between the two stations were similar, but Oldies 1210 focused more on the Golden Decade and in particular was more experimental with some of their selections, while 98.1 played Beatles, etc. in addition to real oldies.

One of my favorite features of Oldies 1210 was "Fifties Friday," and it was on that station that I first heard the record, "Rocket 88" from 1951 by Jackie Brenston, the song many argue was the very first Rock N' Roll Record.

I saw Brusstar post that Oldies 1210 was one of the biggest mistakes. (He actually used the word "stupidest.") Unfortunatley for him, that isn't a word. If he believes that it was one of the "dumbest" ideas, than I would appreciate some clarification. If his reasonings were because of the other three oldies stations than I'll cut him some slack, but the way he seemed to dismiss the format seems to indicate he believes that a switch to Oldies was a bad idea in and of itself. If this is the case, I couldn't disagree more. It lasted four years, which is a lot longer than many other stations/ formats in this town, and back in 1990, the boomers were still spending like drunken sailors!

I have always thought that if WFIL, WOGL-FM, and WPGR hadn't existed, Oldies 1210 would have gained many more listeners and many more people would have appreciated the great station that it was.

Compared to the sewer of what is Philly Radio today, I don't think I'm alone in saying I wouldn't mind having it back on the air.
 
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