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770 WABC Number 1 ?

TheBigA said:
Maybe the reason he invested is because he's tired of seeing great radio stations get sold to K-Love.
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The first question I'd ask is whether either Soros or his son even know what K-Love is. I doubt that they do.
 
Weiserguy said:
...was given his walking papers by his PD Rick Sklar.
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I'm not sure if the history of this is correct. I've heard that Scott Muni was tired of Top 40 radio's repetition. There's the tale that having to play "Hello Dolly" by Louis Armstrong every 90 minutes when the song was #1 was what made Muni quit. But hey, you know what Top 40 radio is before you get evenings at WABC. Perhaps Muni threatened to quit and Rick Sklar didn't do much to convince him otherwise.
 
Gregg. said:
I'm not sure if the history of this is correct. I've heard that Scott Muni was tired of Top 40 radio's repetition. There's the tale that having to play "Hello Dolly" by Louis Armstrong every 90 minutes when the song was #1 was what made Muni quit. But hey, you know what Top 40 radio is before you get evenings at WABC. Perhaps Muni threatened to quit and Rick Sklar didn't do much to convince him otherwise.
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Read Sklar's book. Yes, Scott had become frustrated with having to keep playing Hello Dolly every hour or so and got in Rick's face about it -- not for the first time. Rick considered the way Scott did it insubordination and fired him. Rick was both a company man and a bureaucratic infighter, so he undoubtedly had discussed the problem and how to deal with it with his own boss(es). When Scott pushed one too many times, the hammer came down.

Neither of these gentlemen are around anymore, so they can't be asked for clarification (unless you want to attempt a seance).

I can tell you this firsthand from chatting with Scott a couple of years later. He was not heartbroken about getting let go from WABC. He had become involved -- part ownership, IIRC -- in a Manhattan nightclub called The Rolling Stone. Not being tied down to that 7-10pm shift on WABC and having more time to devote to his investment was not the worst thing in the world at that time for him. It also freed him up to be available when WOR-FM came calling a year later, which led to WNEW-FM, and eventually WAXQ, stations and formats that gave him immensely more on-air freedom, and notoriety as a musical expert.

Keep in mind, the music world was starting to change radically in the five years between the launch of WABC and when he joined WOR-FM. He was able to be in on the infancy of a new and more interesting form of Rock.
 
Weiserguy said:
Neither of these gentlemen are around anymore, so they can't be asked for clarification (unless you want to attempt a seance).
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TheBigA said:
View attachment 9633

So the station took the action, and Scott was out of a job.
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Is it possible that the incident described in Sklar's book happened to coincide with Muni's contract options coming up? I have no empirical knowledge of the timeline.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Is it possible that the incident described in Sklar's book happened to coincide with Muni's contract options coming up? I have no empirical knowledge of the timeline.
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Me either, but what I get from Sklar's book is he really liked Morrow, and saw him as a good promoter for the station. Moving him to 7PM and taking over the TV show was all good for Sklar.
 
TheBigA said:
Me either, but what I get from Sklar's book is he really liked Morrow, and saw him as a good promoter for the station. Moving him to 7PM and taking over the TV show was all good for Sklar.
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I would never claim to be good friends with either gentleman, but I have met and chatted with both of them. My take is that, for Muni, it was more about the music, and for Morrow it was the showmanship. Muni wanted to play interesting new music, to break new artists or groups, to have relationships with people who were going to move the art forward. Having a radio show was the avenue to accomplishing those goals. But for Morrow, the connection was more with the audience, and largely has been for 65 years. The kids from the late 50's/early 60's became the young adults of the 70's, and he moved with (some of) them over to WNBC. Then, after a hiatus, he was on CBS-FM as they segued into middle age, then Sirius as they all entered their senior years, and now he's still communing with some of the remaining listeners back on WABC. The music was the vehicle, never the end purpose. Very different philosophies. I have little doubt that if Scott hadn't had that stroke and he was still alive and well in this decade, he'd still be trying to break new music and tell his audience about it.
 
The handwriting was on the wall for Muni the day Sklar arrived at WABC. Rick had already worked with the very ambiguous Morrow who at that time was working the less prestigious 10pm to midnite shift. Cousin Brucie was I'm sure lobbying every chance he got for the much higher profile early evening slot. The move was made and let' face it, Morrow at that time was a major upgrade over the more subdued Muni so the move made complete sense.
 


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