820/570 Share Time

[ropertex]

With all due respect due Mr. Wawro, I can assure you the first day of WFAA/570 and WBAP/820 was Friday, May 1, 1970.

I remember maybe August of 1970 when I was 10 WBAP's switch to country music. My Dad took me to a concert with free hot dogs on Broadcast Hill around that date, with many stars. I had (at one time, I think) Connie Smith's and Tommy Cash's autographs on a paper plate.

 

[ropertex]

Found this page from Billboard online

http://www.frankcoins.com/wbap.jpg

 

[unclepudd]

Can somebody tell me what a typical announcement was (verbatim, if possible), right before each station swapped frequencies?

cd

On the air you would have heard "This is WFAA/820 Dallas this is WBAP 820 Fort Worth". Same thing but backwards if you were listening to 570.

If you were in the studio: "This is WFAA 820 Dallas this is WFAA 570 Dallas."

Due to the wiring setup it was possible for BOTH stations to be on the same frequency at the same time during change over. There was a little game played by announcers when the other station was running late. You could start your ID early, switch then start a record with a long instrumental intro under the other guy. If it were done correctly the switch was seamless on the station you were going to but left a little dead air on the one you had just left. It also resulted in the other guy having to move real fast when he would hear it. The guy with the dead air always got the blame since listeners couldn't know the exact time. This was especially true when the WBAP Farm Report would run over in the mornings at 6:30.

After Amon Carter moved KGKO (?) 570 to DFW the transmitter was located on the west side of New York Avenue in Arlington which was in the middle of nowhere back then. Therefore 570 was licensed to Fort Worth. One old timer told me their ID was "This is WFAA 570 Fort Worth with transmitter in Arlington, a broadcast service of the Dallas Morning News ." In Dallas WFAA had studios for each frequency. One studio was in the lobby of the Baker Hotel while the other was across Commerce Street on the second floor mezzanine of the Adolphus. At change time the announcer would sign off one frequency then haul it across Commerce to the second floor of the Adolphus to sign onto the other. There is no record of any announcer having been run over on Commerce although the old timer said there were a few close calls.

The reason Mr. Carter brought 570 to the area was radio had blossomed to the point of making money and both stations wanted to be on the air all the time. Before that when there was only one frequency each station would broadcast only a few hours each day and everyone was happy..

It wasn't as bad as it sounds except the ratings services rated the frequency instead of the station. You had two sets of jingles and 820 was NBC with news on the hour while 570 was ABC Entertainment News on the half hour.

The switch during the NBC World Series also went flawlessly. Since the 10 second hourly ID from NBC was fairly exact in timing you would hear "This is WBAP 820 Fort Worth this is WFAA 820 Dallas". Before you switched you would punch up NBC and fade up the crown noise as you switched. One station would go from music to the world series and the other would do the opposite. The listeners didn't seem to mind, especially if you attempted to explain it to them.

For many years the problem was that both properties wanted 820 and neither wanted 570. Nothing was going to happen since 820 was the favorite of Mr. Ted Dealy who originally brought it on the air. It was his baby and he would have never let go of it. During the close of the 60's all parties involved, except Mr. Dealy, realized 570 had a great signal and cost less to operate. The planning of DFW Airport also was an influence since the Grapevine plant would have to be moved and a 5,000 watt transmitter would cost a lot less than a 50k. The seller of 820 could also make a lot of money from the sale of their half. Nixon was president and, along with Newton Minnow of the FCC, was giving broadcasters misery, especially conglomerates (Newspaper owned AM/FM/TV properties). This was the era when The Star Telegram lost WBAP-TV/AM/FM, The Times Herald lost KRLD-TV/AM/FM and the Dallas News operated WFAA-TV/AM/FM on 90 day telegrams of authorization from the FCC until circa 1978.

Mr. Dealy died in October 1969 which drove the final nail in the coffin of WFAA 820 (no pun intended). The deal was done and James Moroney, chairman of the DMN radio division, returned from Fort Worth with a check for 3 1/2 million dollars and clear title to 570. Rumor had it that WBAP 820 was such an unexpected success that they paid off their note in a very short time. Shortly afterward whatever has been on 570 has not been a major player in the market.

There was a little known ploy which was said to have been used by the "Belo Boys" after Mr. Dealy died to push the deal on the Carter people of Fort Worth to buy out 820.

WBAP-TV was NBC television as was 820 radio. WFAA-TV was ABC television as was 570 radio. KTVT-TV (once KFJZ-TV) was an independent and owned by Farmer-Stockman. KTVT badly wanted a network and was rumored to have had a lot of political sway with some FCC people at a time when the government was trying to bust up conglomerates. It has been said that someone in Dallas : managed to convinced the Carter folks in Fort Worth that if they sold their half of 820 (NBC) and kept 570 (ABC) then NBC might see it as a slight to them which could result in NBC-TV moving from WBAP to KTVT-TV channel 11.

 

[Huff]

WBAP-TV was NBC television as was 820 radio. WFAA-TV was ABC television as was 570 radio. KTVT-TV (once KFJZ-TV) was an independent and owned by Farmer-Stockman. KTVT badly wanted a network and was rumored to have had a lot of political sway with some FCC people at a time when the government was trying to bust up conglomerates. It has been said that someone in Dallas : managed to convinced the Carter folks in Fort Worth that if they sold their half of 820 (NBC) and kept 570 (ABC) then NBC might see it as a slight to them which could result in NBC-TV moving from WBAP to KTVT-TV channel 11.

During their first several years on the air, the network affiliations of WBAP-TV 5 and WFAA-TV 8 followed the network affiliations of the radio stations. Therefore, if you were watching Channel 8, you could be watching ABC programming one hour, then NBC the next, depending on which channel WFAA radio was broadcasting at the time (570/ABC or 820/NBC), and the same for Channel 5.

The television arrangement evolved and tended not to be followed exactly, and what resulted was a hodge podge of scheduling. One night NBC programs would be on Ch. 5, and the next night they’d be on Ch. 8. There were several exceptions that evolved over the years, including the “Today Show” (NBC), which ran every morning on Ch.8. Some mornings Ch. 5 would run it as well, some mornings it wouldn’t. Since ABC was a much weaker network in the 50s, the station not carrying NBC would sometimes run syndicated or local fare instead of the ABC programming – even in prime time. (DuMont programming was also an option that aired in some time slots prior to that network’s 1955 demise.)

Initially the networks begrudgingly went along with this because they did not want to create anymore disharmony between WBAP and WFAA than already existed. However, the explosion of television in the mid-50’s - especially prime-time viewing - made the TV situation much more pressing than the radio split. The only winner in this situation was KRLD-TV Channel 4, which by virtue of the confusing nature of Channel 5 and 8’s schedules, and CBS’s stronger prime time, had runaway ratings.

With much network pressure, WBAP and WFAA finally relented and became single-network TV affiliates. On October 28, 1957 WBAP-TV became the full-time NBC affiliate and WFAA-TV became full-time ABC for the market.

 

[jd]

KTVT-TV (once KFJZ-TV) was an independent and owned by Farmer-Stockman.

Sorry, but I don't remember hearing anything about that. I do recall that Channel 11's Dallas studio (and sales office) on North Central was once shared with offices for the Farmer-Stockman magazine. KFJZ-TV was sold to a consortium known as NAFTI in 1960 and to Gaylord in 1962.

KTVT badly wanted a network and was rumored to have had a lot of political sway with some FCC people at a time when the government was trying to bust up conglomerates. It has been said that someone in Dallas : managed to convinced the Carter folks in Fort Worth that if they sold their half of 820 (NBC) and kept 570 (ABC) then NBC might see it as a slight to them which could result in NBC-TV moving from WBAP to KTVT-TV channel 11.

That's very interesting, and who knows, it could have happened just like that. Just to be clear, you're talking about sometime after the early 1960's, right? An earlier story (maybe a cover story) went more along the lines of coverage, that is, the folks at NBC told Amon Carter that he'd better get improved Dallas coverage just like Channel 11 or they'd yank their affiliation. That supposedly occurred around 1960 and within a relatively short time WBAP-TV began operating from Cedar Hill.

 

[MikeShannon914]

KFJZ-TV was sold to a consortium known as NAFTI in 1960 and to Gaylord in 1962.

Actually, it was NAFI Telecasting, which was the parent company of Chris-Craft at the time. NAFI stood for National Automotive Fibers, a major manufacturer of automotive floormats. The company's chairman of the board was no other than Bing Crosby.

As well, 11 was supposedly the frontrunner in taking the local NBC affiliation in 1995 when KXAS was rumored to be considering taking on CBS after KDFW announced it was switching to Fox.

I think the Farmer-Stockman Magazine was part of Gaylord's portfolio and just shared the building with KTVT's Dallas studios, which opened in 1966.

 

[jd]

Pardon the typo and thanks for the info. It was NAFI [Telecasting], I now see, and maybe television wasn't their thing. They bought it for $4M and sold it two years later to WKY-TV System, Inc. (Gaylord) for $800,000 and assumption of $3M in debt.

As well, 11 was supposedly the frontrunner in taking the local NBC affiliation in 1995 when KXAS was rumored to be considering taking on CBS after KDFW announced it was switching to Fox.

That's a whole other story. You have to wonder how serious KXAS was about switching to CBS, but then again, the whole idea of Channel 4 going with Fox was a real shocker. It took most people a long time to get used to the big switch (and I'm not sure my parents ever did).

I think the Farmer-Stockman Magazine was part of Gaylord's portfolio and just shared the building with KTVT's Dallas studios, which opened in 1966.

You're right. After doing a little digging, I can see the Gaylord connection now: WKY-TV, the Oklahoma City Oklahoman and Times newspaper along with the magazine (oh, and WTVT Tampa, too).

 

[unclepudd]

Thanx guys! You have some darn good information from some darn good memories/researchers here! Someday we must discuss the tower at Cedar Hill which was designed by RCA in 1954 for 4,5 & 8 but had to be redesigned as the candelabra design to accommodate each tower at the same height because no one wanted to be below the others.

jd, what you are saying about the channel 5 coverage could be true. I recall when 11 built the "tallest tower in Texas" on highway 67 and never understood why it was so important that they did it at that time. This happened sometime in the 60's. Remember in the "old days" Dallas and Fort Worth were treated as separate markets which was another consideration for the 820/570 split. I heard more that once that "570 covers Dallas so why should we worry about the rest of the United States with the 820 signal." I recall when Dallas radio listeners either couldn't receive or didn't care about KFJZ or KXOL. The same was true in Fort Worth with KLIF and KBOX in Dallas. In those days with their power and tower locations and the AM radio receivers being what they were might also be the answer.

I do recall that there was a big emphasis on carrying all network spots regardless of whether we were on 570 or 820. There was definitely something going on with the networks and the local radio and television affiliates.

 

[dfaulkner]

Outstanding Thread !