A New Robert Murphy Website

[KlunkLetter]

Thanks to Chicagoland Media for providing the link.

http://www.murphyinthemorningradio.com/

 

[Kent Dorsey]

Thanks for the link Klunkletter

 

[Mike Sheridan]

A fun time in Charlotte radio to be sure!

 

[amos]

i'm not trying to take anything away from murph, i always liked him and was fortunate to have been in the studio with him a couple of times..

but his site talks about how when he came to town that big ways finally beat wbt. i'm pretty sure jay thomas had already beaten ty boyd before murphy came to big ways.

or is my memory that bad?

-amos

 

[vchimpanzee]

i'm not trying to take anything away from murph, i always liked him and was fortunate to have been in the studio with him a couple of times..

but his site talks about how when he came to town that big ways finally beat wbt. i'm pretty sure jay thomas had already beaten ty boyd before murphy came to big ways.

or is my memory that bad?

-amos

Don't you mean Bob Lacey?

 

[amos]

i don't remember what year ty boyd left and bob lacey started. i suppose lacey did come right after boyd.

the point i was making was that during jay's reign at the pd helm of big ways they beat wbt, at least i think they did. i'm sure ty boyd was doing mornings at BT during at least part of the time jay thomas was doing mornings at big ways. i remember a bit where jay called ty boyd on the hotline.

-amos

 

[Matt]

Actually, H. A. Thompson did mornings between Ty Boyd and Bob Lacey. When WBT went from MOR to Top-40, Boyd continued doing mornings for a year or so. Lacey started out doing the "Lacey Listens" talk show at night. When Boyd decided to move full-time to Television, Thompson was hired from WSOC (the old AM 930) to do mornings. About two years later, Thompson moved to his longtime midday slot and Lacey took over mornings.

That would put Lacey doing mornings around 1974 or so.

Later . . .

 

[vchimpanzee]

Actually, H. A. Thompson did mornings between Ty Boyd and Bob Lacey. When WBT went from MOR to Top-40, Boyd continued doing mornings for a year or so. Lacey started out doing the "Lacey Listens" talk show at night. When Boyd decided to move full-time to Television, Thompson was hired from WSOC (the old AM 930) to do mornings. About two years later, Thompson moved to his longtime midday slot and Lacey took over mornings.

That would put Lacey doing mornings around 1974 or so.

Later . . .

I don't recall WBT ever being top 40. They were very different from WAYS, or at least after WSOC went all-news they weren't too bad.

I read an article in my local paper in the 70s which said Ty Boyd cursed like a sailor to his bosses after the switch. He actually continued to work there after disapproving of the change that much?

 

[jtudor]

Thompson was hired from WSOC (the old AM 930) to do mornings. About two years later, Thompson moved to his longtime midday slot and Lacey took over mornings.

I don't recall WBT ever being top 40.

http://www.reelradio.com/ideas/index.html#wbtgmrh

According to this article written by Tom McMurray who ran the changeover of WBT from MOR to Top 40, It was indeed Top 40, and that is exactly how I remember it, and I listened every day when I was not on the air myself. Also according to this article and my memory H. A. Thompson was there from day one of the changeover.

 

[Matt]

Along with that story is an aircheck of Ty Boyd doing the Top 40 format that McMurray built. I do remember Boyd there after the switch, but not for more than a year.

Later . . . .

 

[amos]

i wish my memory was better with dates, etc.

but i'm pretty sure boyd was there after the switch, at least for a while as matt said. the bit with jay thomas calling ty boyd on the hotline must have been early in jay's time at big ways.

i know that (john?) kilgo did mornings at ways between jack gale and jay thomas. i think that jay got there in 71 or 72. not sure how long ty boyd was at wbt after that.

big ways had the Drake Chenault jingles, but jay went with the tm "shotgun." i'd sure like to find a copy of those old johnny mann jingles, as well as the "ways" shotgun. anybody? and i'd also love to see any pictures of the "blanchard" board -- the big ways console built in-house by c.e. jim blanchard -- with the entire top of the board being individual cart machines (and the program/audition switch started EVERYTHING)

 

[Matt]

i know that (john?) kilgo did mornings at ways between jack gale and jay thomas

That wasn't John, it was Jimmy Kilgo. John was there, as morning newsman on Big Ways, and Bob Quincy was the sports guy.

Jimmy Kilgo gave up Kilgo's Canteen and the weather gig on WSOC-TV to do mornings on WAYS, and barely stayed a year. He's a part of Charlotte radio/TV history that has never been well documented.

Later . . . .

 

[vchimpanzee]

Thompson was hired from WSOC (the old AM 930) to do mornings. About two years later, Thompson moved to his longtime midday slot and Lacey took over mornings.

I don't recall WBT ever being top 40.

http://www.reelradio.com/ideas/index.html#wbtgmrh

According to this article written by Tom McMurray who ran the changeover of WBT from MOR to Top 40, It was indeed Top 40, and that is exactly how I remember it, and I listened every day when I was not on the air myself. Also according to this article and my memory H. A. Thompson was there from day one of the changeover.

Well, by the time WSOC went all-news WBT did not sound like top 40 to me. WAYS was louder.

 

[jtudor]

I don't recall WBT ever being top 40.

http://www.reelradio.com/ideas/index.html#wbtgmrh

According to this article written by Tom McMurray who ran the changeover of WBT from MOR to Top 40, It was indeed Top 40, and that is exactly how I remember it, and I listened every day when I was not on the air myself. Also according to this article and my memory H. A. Thompson was there from day one of the changeover.

Well, by the time WSOC went all-news WBT did not sound like top 40 to me. WAYS was louder.

I agree about WAYS, but unfortunately where I was working when the change to top 40 happened, I could not pick up WAYS. The 5kw signal even on 610 just didn't make it into the mountains at Sparta, but BT's 50kw signal boomed in.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I don't recall WBT ever being top 40.

http://www.reelradio.com/ideas/index.html#wbtgmrh

According to this article written by Tom McMurray who ran the changeover of WBT from MOR to Top 40, It was indeed Top 40, and that is exactly how I remember it, and I listened every day when I was not on the air myself. Also according to this article and my memory H. A. Thompson was there from day one of the changeover.

Well, by the time WSOC went all-news WBT did not sound like top 40 to me. WAYS was louder.

I agree about WAYS, but unfortunately where I was working when the change to top 40 happened, I could not pick up WAYS. The 5 kw signal even on 610 just didn't make it into the mountains at Sparta, but BT's 50kw signal boomed in.

WFNZ, the former WAYS, is directional. The Observer reporters always blame the 5 kw signal for the problems, but a 5 kw signal goes much further at 610 than at, say, 1580. And that made the directional pattern necessary, and that's why they have always had problems.

 

[jtudor]

I don't recall WBT ever being top 40.

http://www.reelradio.com/ideas/index.html#wbtgmrh

According to this article written by Tom McMurray who ran the changeover of WBT from MOR to Top 40, It was indeed Top 40, and that is exactly how I remember it, and I listened every day when I was not on the air myself. Also according to this article and my memory H. A. Thompson was there from day one of the changeover.

Well, by the time WSOC went all-news WBT did not sound like top 40 to me. WAYS was louder.

I agree about WAYS, but unfortunately where I was working when the change to top 40 happened, I could not pick up WAYS. The 5 kw signal even on 610 just didn't make it into the mountains at Sparta, but BT's 50kw signal boomed in.

WFNZ, the former WAYS, is directional. The Observer reporters always blame the 5 kw signal for the problems, but a 5 kw signal goes much further at 610 than at, say, 1580. And that made the directional pattern necessary, and that's why they have always had problems.

The average listener, and that will include all newspaper reporters does not understand directional antenna systems, and will avoid discussing them when it comes up to avoid confusion on thier part or the part of others.
You are most correct about the distance the signal will carry. But was / is the 610 signal directional during the day? I know they were at night, but directional daytimers are much more rare than those with a directional pattern at night.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I don't recall WBT ever being top 40.

http://www.reelradio.com/ideas/index.html#wbtgmrh

According to this article written by Tom McMurray who ran the changeover of WBT from MOR to Top 40, It was indeed Top 40, and that is exactly how I remember it, and I listened every day when I was not on the air myself. Also according to this article and my memory H. A. Thompson was there from day one of the changeover.

Well, by the time WSOC went all-news WBT did not sound like top 40 to me. WAYS was louder.

I agree about WAYS, but unfortunately where I was working when the change to top 40 happened, I could not pick up WAYS. The 5 kw signal even on 610 just didn't make it into the mountains at Sparta, but BT's 50kw signal boomed in.

WFNZ, the former WAYS, is directional. The Observer reporters always blame the 5 kw signal for the problems, but a 5 kw signal goes much further at 610 than at, say, 1580. And that made the directional pattern necessary, and that's why they have always had problems.

The average listener, and that will include all newspaper reporters does not understand directional antenna systems, and will avoid discussing them when it comes up to avoid confusion on thier part or the part of others.
You are most correct about the distance the signal will carry. But was / is the 610 signal directional during the day? I know they were at night, but directional daytimers are much more rare than those with a directional pattern at night.

Yes, WFNZ is most definitely directional during the day. I think WSJS at 600 in Winston-Salem is one reason.

Roanoke has a station at 610 too.

I lived northwest of Charlotte and recall not getting a good signal, so there's something going on it that direction too. When I was in high school west of Charlotte, a lot of the kids were fans, but I think the signal there was good. .

Here, due east of Charlotte, I pick up WFNZ perfectly day and night. Yet some people in Charlotte, I read, can't pick it up at night. While people in Myrtle Beach can.

 

[jtudor]

Directional signals can be so funny. When I worked nights at WMNC, there were people who could see our towers and could not get a listenable signal, yet we boomed into Myrtle Beach nightly.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Thompson was hired from WSOC (the old AM 930) to do mornings. About two years later, Thompson moved to his longtime midday slot and Lacey took over mornings.

I don't recall WBT ever being top 40.

http://www.reelradio.com/ideas/index.html#wbtgmrh

According to this article written by Tom McMurray who ran the changeover of WBT from MOR to Top 40, It was indeed Top 40, and that is exactly how I remember it, and I listened every day when I was not on the air myself. Also according to this article and my memory H. A. Thompson was there from day one of the changeover.

I didn't read this at home but I sent the link in an email to myself and just read it at a library. Fascinating. I put some of the information in the Wikipedia article, but I left the format as is because that's what I've always heard. Furthermore, WBT's own site says it was "adult contemporary" station of the year in 1976. The change in format would have to be explained.

While looking for sources for other information in the article, I found a bunch of good stuff which I also added.