Birmingham lost a radio legend when WSGN left the air for good. It had held the same call letters for 53 years, and until February 1984 it had kept essentially the same format for 27 years. For anyone who grew up in Birmingham during the 60's and 70's, it was the soundtrack of your life.
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26 Years Ago Today...
- Thread starter Charles1
- Start date
I was thinking about the demise of WSGN the other day. The kids were in the car with each other in the backseat, and one of them was talking about some school assignment he had due on Apr. 26. I was thinking in my mind...why does that date sound so familiar? Then I remembered why.
I was listening when WSGN signed off on April 25. I listened to WSGN quite a bit growing up, with both the original AC/top 40 and the standards ("real music") formats. I wish I had recorded the sign off that night. I'm not absolutely sure, because it's been forever ago, but seems like Bill Blake signed the station off at midnight that night. Blake (Orlando Beavers) later moved to WLTB "Lite 99". He's still on Rock 99, or at least he was a few yrs ago, now going by just "Orlando".
I was listening when WSGN signed off on April 25. I listened to WSGN quite a bit growing up, with both the original AC/top 40 and the standards ("real music") formats. I wish I had recorded the sign off that night. I'm not absolutely sure, because it's been forever ago, but seems like Bill Blake signed the station off at midnight that night. Blake (Orlando Beavers) later moved to WLTB "Lite 99". He's still on Rock 99, or at least he was a few yrs ago, now going by just "Orlando".
Go to www.birminghamrewound.com. On the "This Month in History" page, there is a clip of the final 11 or so minutes of WSGN. I listened to it again tonight. Great stuff, but sad at the same time.
On Jon "Rock and Roll" Anthony's website www.jatampabay.com, there are quite a few clips from 'SGN and 'ERC from their glory days. Featured last week was a clip of the late Chuck McCartney from '76 on 'SGN.
On Jon "Rock and Roll" Anthony's website www.jatampabay.com, there are quite a few clips from 'SGN and 'ERC from their glory days. Featured last week was a clip of the late Chuck McCartney from '76 on 'SGN.
Thanks for the info. I just spent the last two hours listening to the WSGN sign-off as well as the other airchecks...some of which are for stations I was aware of, but had never heard, such as WJLN-FM 104.7 and WAQY "Wacky 1220" (the, what appears to be, now-defunct WAYE). I had never heard WERC during its top 40 days, so that was interesting, too.
WSGN and 'ERC were before my time, but it's always sad to think about the demise of good radio. But to be honest, there's a part of me that's glad it ended and didn't try to stay hip and get totally lost in the process, like so many heritage stations do.
Listening back on the airchecks, it's hard to believe such personality radio existed in Birmingham. By the time I got interested in this business of show, it was already declining into low bitrate computer-stored music, voicetracking and cost-cutting.
Listening back on the airchecks, it's hard to believe such personality radio existed in Birmingham. By the time I got interested in this business of show, it was already declining into low bitrate computer-stored music, voicetracking and cost-cutting.
Birmingham has been fortunate to have had some of the best mid-market talent anywhere over the years. Morning show legends in the 70's and 80's include TC and John Ed (WSGN, then WVOK, then WERC), Doug Layton and (fill in the blank, since he had several different partners) on WERC, Greg and Courtney on Kicks 106, Patti and the Doc on WZZK, and Mark and Brian on I-95. Afternoon and evening legends included Ron Carney on WAPI-AM (going back to the 60's on that one), Chuck McCartney, Amaysa Kincaid, Christopher "Super" Fox and Coyote J. Calhoun. The common theme to all of them is they knew how to entertain their listeners. Sadly, that is an art that is missing from this and other markets today.
I've never worked a day in radio in my life, but I've always been fascinated by the medium. Where once the entertainment factor of radio was what held its charm and appeal, now it's basically just background chatter for what's going on around us.
I've never worked a day in radio in my life, but I've always been fascinated by the medium. Where once the entertainment factor of radio was what held its charm and appeal, now it's basically just background chatter for what's going on around us.
According to his Wikipedia entry, it sounds like he is producing a band called Feeding Fingers. Can't say that I've ever heard of them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_J
BTW---check out the latest update to Jon Anthony's website. There's a clip from '75 featuring Coyote and Rich Ryder on 'ERC. It's hysterical!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_J
BTW---check out the latest update to Jon Anthony's website. There's a clip from '75 featuring Coyote and Rich Ryder on 'ERC. It's hysterical!
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