AM Top 40, The End

[radiorob2.0]

The WSGA link on the Class IV thread has an aircheck of the last day, September 7, 1982. The great majority of the Heritage Top 40's fell out of the format from 1980-1982. For instance.....

WABC 5/10/82 (Talk)
KHJ Fall 1980 (Country)
WFIL 1981 (Country)
WAKY Louisville 1982 (Oldies)
WIFE Indy Around 1981 (News)
WAPE Jacksonville Around 1982 (Country)
KGB San Diego (after a return to CHR) 1982 (News)

Of course, several of those mentioned became, "The Station that you grew up with has grown up with you!". However, a few like KHJ kept it going to the end.

Any others come to mind?

 

[gr8oldies]

CKLW limped along until 1984, when they went Music of Your Life
WLS gradually added talk elements before going full time talk in August 1989
WCFL, beautiful music in 1976
WMEE Ft Wayne, flipped the CHR format to FM in July 1979
WNDE Indianapolis, oldies in the early to id 80s, talk in the late 80s now sports
WLCY, Tampa, don't know exact date but flipped to news briefgly in early 80s, then simulcast Q105
WCSC Charleston SC, early 80s
WAAY, Huntsville AL was still CHR in 1985

 

[KeithE4]

From Phoenix:

The biggies, KRIZ 1230 and KRUX 1360, died in 1978 and 1976, respectively, although KRUX attempted a comeback between 1977 and 1981. It couldn't compete with the many FM rockers that were on the Phoenix airwaves by that time.

Others (Successor format in parentheses):
KTAR 620: 1970-1973 (News) - Now Sports
KUPD 1060: 1971-1980 (Urban) - Now Sports KDUS
KQXE 1310: 1976-1977 (Soft rock) but was revived as KZZP 1980-1990 (Adult Standards). Now silent.
KOPA 1440: 1978-1980 (Urban) - Now oldies KAZG

KUPD, KQXE/KZZP, and KOPA were FM simulcasts.

And (to stretch the topic a bit) there was one of the country's original "Progressive Rock" stations, KCAC 1010, that lasted from 1969-1971. They didn't last on 1010, being a low-powered daytimer, but the owner and programming ended up on failed Mesa country-music simulcast KMND-AM/FM, becoming KDKB-AM/FM 1510/93.3. The FM is still on the air as KDKB as an album rocker. The AM is business news KFNN.

 

[mleach]

WCAO, Baltimore went country in 1981 though they did kept many of the airstaff from their rock & roll days.

WPGC, Morningside/Washington went light rock in 1982 though PGC would come back in 1987 as an urban station.

WGH, Newport News/Norfolk switched to full service I believe around 1982. By 1984 calls would become WNSY but WGH/top 40 would be back by 1986 though it was a simulcast with their sister "97 Star WGH-FM"

WLEE, Richmond went music of your life in 1982

I have been told that Denver's KIMN 95's top 40 days had lasted all the way until 1988 even though by then Denver was already going through a CHR war on FM between KQKS "KS-104" and "Y108".

 

[michael hagerty]

In Los Angeles:

KTNQ in August, 1979 (to Spanish)
KHJ (as mentioned in the first post) in Fall 1980 (to Country)
KFI in 1983 (to Adult Contemporary)
KRLA in late 1984 (to oldies)...it had gone back and forth for years, but was Top 40 from 1978-1984.


In San Francisco:

KYA in November 1977 (to Adult Contemporary)
KFRC in August 1986 (to Adult Standards)...though you could argue that the end came earlier, with an A/C lean by 1984 and the "Game Zone" in '85.


In San Diego:

KCBQ in 1978 (to Adult Contemporary)
KMJC (Magic 91) in 1980 (to Christian)
KGB (as noted in the first post) in 1982 (to News)

In Sacramento:

KNDE in 1978 (to soft rock)
KROY in 1981 (to Adult Contemporary)


---Michael Hagerty

 

[Corky Marlowe]

CKLW limped along until 1984, when they went Music of Your Life
WLS gradually added talk elements before going full time talk in August 1989
WCFL, beautiful music in 1976

CK was a darn good nostalgia station in the mid-late 80's, IMO...Now it's one of the most dull, dreary news-talk stations around.

From about the time Larry Lujack retired in August of 87 to August of 89, WLS played everything but the kitchen sink, musically, along with the various talk blocks. Speaking of Uncle Lar, how many Chicagoans took his advice from the Day The Music Died on CFL to take their clothes off and get in the tub?

 

[firepoint525]

WMAK (AM 1300) here in Nashville was top 40 until sometime in the late '70s, when they went disco! In January, 1980, they went oldies, then sometime in the early '80s, they were sold, and became WNQM, Christian talk (Nashville quality ministries) and have been ever since.

 

[mleach]

From about the time Larry Lujack retired in August of 87 to August of 89, WLS played everything but the kitchen sink, musically, along with the various talk blocks.

Didn't NYC's 66 WNBC do the same as well during their last days back in 1988 just before the switch to sports talk WFAN?

I know about that late night show that WNBC did called "Time Machine" where they played classic rock & roll oldies but I can also remember during the summer of 88, in the early evening picking up WNBC down in Virginia ( still daylight ) hearing such "gems" as Bonnie Guitar's "Dark Moon", Julie London "Cry me a River"and Bread's "Baby I'm a Want You".

I really thought I was listening to some small station out of nearby Pennsylvania since at the time there were some AM stations there who really did throw anything on the air. But imagine my shock and surprise when I heard the announcer say "..WNBC NEW YORK' !!!

 

[landtuna]

KTKT "Color Radio 99" Tucson went to all news (no talk) April 10 1989 after 35 years T40.

Sometime later it morphed into a Spanish-language sports format featuring ESPN Desportes programming.

 

[mleach]

How could I forget Buffalo's WKBW 1520. Top 40 until around 1981/1982 then to a mix of AC and oldies with some talk thrown in. Of course by 1987 WKBW became WWKB and afterwards the live jocks didn't last very long on "KB" thus begins the game of musical formats on Buffalo's 1520.

I seem to recall reading on another site where as recently as 1986, WKBW radio was still very popular in Buffalo and it wasn't long after that when KB was sold. Maybe that change of calls from WKBW to WWKB more/less "killed" them?

 

[MsMusicRadio]

WMCA to talk in 1970

WINS to news in 1965

 

[davideduardo]

The biggies, KRIZ 1230 and KRUX 1360, died in 1978 and 1976, respectively, although KRUX attempted a comeback between 1977 and 1981.

KRUX went AC in late 1974.

 

[mleach]

WINS to news in 1965

Somewhat related to this but were there many stations like WINS who had got out of the top 40 game early on..say before 1966? Two I can think of was WMGM in New York City ( when they became WHN in 1962 ? ) and Baltimore's WITH which had left the format I believe by 1965.

I remember seeing those old b/w films from the late 50's of some jock at St. Louis' KWK breaking records on the air saying that KWK was through with rock & roll but as I understand it, rock and roll would return to KWK within a few years.

 

[TheBigA]

Don't forget WQAM Miami, which went country in 1980.

While in Miami, there was also WFUN 790.

 

[trusty]

Don't forget WQAM Miami, which went country in 1980.

While in Miami, there was also WFUN 790.

When did WFUN flip?

 

[anotherguyTN]

I had to look up the information, but WHBQ AM 560 in Memphis changed from top 40 to oldies in 1981. Since then it has gone to news/talk, back to oldies, and now to sports talk.

WMPS AM 680 in Memphis changed to country in 1978 after firing Rick Dees, which caused their ratings to go down, and has gone through several format changes, and is now WMFS AM and simulcasts ESPN radio with WMFS FM 92.9.

 

[TheBigA]

When did WFUN flip?

1976

 

[michael hagerty]

Somewhat related to this but were there many stations like WINS who had got out of the top 40 game early on..say before 1966?

In Los Angeles:

KABC in 1959 (after only a few weeks---back to MOR..they flipped to talk in 1960)

KPOP in 1960 (to easy listening as KGBS)

KDAY in 1962 (to MOR)


In San Francisco:

KGO in 1959 (like KABC, after only a few weeks---back to MOR)

KOBY in 1960 (to beautiful music)

KEWB in 1966 (to talk)


---Michael Hagerty

 

[TheBigA]

The amazing part about this thread to me is that so many people point to the Telecom Act of 1996 as the single thing that killed radio. Yet each and every one of these format flips happened long before the Act was even proposed. AM Top 40, as a cultural phenomenon, was over by the end of the 70s. It wasn't killed by consolidation or corporate radio. It was killed by the audience moving on to something else. It's the normal cycle of things. Nothing stays the same.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

1380 in Richmond was Top 40 as WMBG and then WTVR. It tried to compete with WLEE, but was not completely dedicated to the format having a talk block from 10AM to 1PM. They rocked at night, but gave up in 1973 and went country. Eventually the country migrated to FM, but again Roy H.Park screwed this up by robojocking from 7PM till 6AM which was unheard of at the time. They were beaten by suburban WKHK at some point I forget. Later WTVR FM became a fabulously successful AC , until CC messed it up with programming off their bird half of the day. It is still AC and gets good books, but it sounds like every other CC AC station. WTVR AM has religious programming of some sort and new calls.