There was a 1976 Bicentennial three-way turkey drop that went awry [don't they all????], and so all the Norfolk top 40 stations flipped shortly thereafter.MsMusicRadio said:
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AM Top 40, The End
- Thread starter radiorob2.0
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mleach said:
Methinks Gary Michaels was embellishing the truth a bit. WLPL went through a few formats during the mid and late '70s before becoming A/C "92 Star WYST" around 1980. Their shot at Top 40 wasn't very memorable (at least not for me!) and Baltimore was the kind of town that tended to have very loyal radio listeners, so WCAO stayed strong throughout the seventies. I think the only reason 'CAO lost out to B104 was the general trend toward FM for CHR by the early '80s.
mleach said:
WFBR was pretty much dayparted. Mornings you had Johnny Walker who was a Baltimore institution and tended to play more Top 40 stuff (which may be why your book shows WFBR as Top 40.) Middays were more A/C, and in afternoon drive you heard plenty of oldies. Bob Bolton had a feature called "Stump The DJ" where listeners would call in with a song title and Bob would try to identify the artist(s) who put the song into the Top 40. It always amazed me how he was very rarely stumped (of course I didn't know about Joel Whitburn then! ;D) Local talk at night, and I don't remember what was on overnight. May have been a national program (I believe WBAL carried Herb Jepko's Nitecaps.)
quadraphonic said:There was a 1976 Bicentennial three-way turkey drop that went awry [don't they all????], and so all the Norfolk top 40 stations flipped shortly thereafter.MsMusicRadio said:
Don't know about WNOR but Norfolk's WGH-AM stayed top 40 at least until the end of the 70's ( there is a late 1977 WGH-AM aircheck on airchexx.com and they were still top 40 at the time ). Sometime during the early 80's, WGH-AM went to a mix of AC and oldies ( very much like WTAR-AM 790 ) which lasted til at least the summer of 1983 as far as being under the "WGH" call letters are concered.
1350 was WKLX..Vartv.com says that format switch from top 40 to news/talk took place around 1975.
I think what killed WNOR, WKLX and later WGH-AM was WQRK-FM 104.5 ( Q 104 and a half ) which was top 40 in the 70s and early 80's. Of course WQRK would switch to WNVZ to become "Z104"in late summer 82 which began the second stage of top 40 on 104.5 in Hampton Roads.
Not to be left out Virginia beach had a top 40 in the mid 80s on 1550 WVAB-AM. How could they compete with Z104? They couldn't !!!
By the way, WYRE is still top 40 to this very day, according to Arbitron's database:
http://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=FA09&band=am&callLetter=WYRE
http://www1.arbitron.com/sip/displaySip.do?surveyID=FA09&band=am&callLetter=WYRE
boppinvinnieb said:
I have a feeling you and I may very well be the only two people on earth who can actually remember Bob Bolton on Baltimore's WFBR.
Seriously !!! ;D Some years back I saw a blog from either Bolton himself, maybe a family member that listed all the stations Bob was on including Fort Wayne's WOWO...however not a peep about him and WFBR even though by listening to an old WOWO aircheck..it was the same guy. Maybe Bob didnt like Baltimore. If true that is very similar to former WRC-TV/Sports Machine sports guy George Michael. George has no problem talking abut his days on Philly's WFIL or NYC's WABC but for some unknown reason he will NOT talk abut his Denver days when George was doing time at KTLK, KIMN 95 and even a short time at Denver's KLZ-TV ( KMGH ) channel 7.
Maybe George Michael didn't like his "Mile High" days.
M
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That's Dark, Johnny Dark!
boppinvinnieb said:
Assuming Gary was doing 7P-Mid on WLPL, he wasn't embellishing much at all. The nulls in WCAO's 4-tower rig northwest of Bawlimer conveniently excluded most of the city's suburban growth areas--that's what killed CAO for ANY non-ethnic format. It was, and still is, effectively a "daytimer" except in the city (and the Eastern Shore)! FWIW, in the early seventies (the era noted) I lived in one of those areas where WCAO was unlistenable at night and managed to find 92.3--and I don't recall there being any other Top 40 options.
Unfortunately for Michaels & WLPL, they were a few years ahead of the curve. If WLPL had been able to maintain their Top 40/CHR format a few more years and been in position when FM swept AM out the door, they would have undoubtedly been considered pioneers... "legendary"... and if they'd played their cards right thereafter, 'LPL could have been huge--instead of just a footnote in Baltimore radio history. As it was, they flipped to AOR by the mid-seventies... then AC as WYST in 1981... and WERQ in 1991.
But the Top 40 version of WLPL that Gary Michaels remembers was real. And, yeah, in big chunks of Greater Baltimore at night in the early seventies, it was the only game in town.
NoWayNoCC said:
Having been away from the area for the past two decades I can't say firsthand, but according to Wikipedia WYRE is nowadays a Spanish station.
Being a 250 watt daytimer in Annapolis they were never a serious contender in the Baltimore ratings, but I listened occasionally, if for nothing more than a change of pace. They were pretty good! I still recall the slogan, "You're wired all day to WYRE!"
TheBigA said:
WCAO built a new antenna array a few miles from the old one, and may have been off the air for a few days during the switch. But I think that was sometime in the late '80s. I don't remember hearing about them being off for any extended periods of time.
WCBM went dark for several months back around 1986 or 87 because of financial issues. Could that be what you're thinking of?
amfmxm said:
Wow, I've been wracking my brain and I just don't remember WLPL being Top 40! But let me qualify that by saying that I was just a kid in the late '60s and early '70s, and pretty much listened to what my (much) older brother listened to. And, of course, what mom listened to (WITH). Honestly, I don't think we even owned an FM radio until probably 1975! That's when I really started paying attention for myself what was on the radio. Where I grew up (Catonsville/Arbutus) I could hear WCAO just fine. I know 'LPL tried a couple of different formats before finding moderate success as 92 Star. (Somewhere in this world I have an aircheck from 92 Star's first days, and the legal ID was still WLPL!)
WITH-FM tried Top 40 a couple of times but never had any success. Of course there was WPGC, but they were playing to the DC market. For some reason I primarily remember WLPL being an "underground" AOR format, along with WKTK. WPOC was Country; WRBS was Christian; WBKZ was some form or another of A/C; WBAL-FM was Classical (later 98 Rock) as was WCAO-FM (later Disco V-103); and WLIF and WMAR-FM were Beautiful Music. That's how I remember the FM dial circa mid to late '70s.
UPDATE: After a bit of research I find that WLPL's Top 40 "heyday" was in the early '70s, so I stand corrected. :-[ There are a couple of good airchecks of Top 40 WLPL on reelradio.com.
boppinvinnieb said:
Speaking of Baltimore's WMAR-FM..when did they go CHR? Me thinks this happened in the summer of 1983. At the time I was living in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia ( Winchester ) and even though the Baltimore FM stations didn't come in very well there except for 98 Rock, we still got all of the Baltimore TV stations ( WMAR, WBAL, WJZ and WBFF ) on cable there at the time, actually WBAL and WJZ is still on cable in that region while WMAR was dropped some years back mainly due to Winchester,VA getting their own ABC-TV affiliate, anyway somewhere in my collection of tapes I think I still have a commercial for "Hot Hits 106 WMAR-FM". How did WMAR do against B104? And what about Frederick's Z104? Didn't they get some numbers out of Baltimore back in those days?
mleach said:
Hot Hits 106/WMKR pulled 3's & 4's against B104's 7's & 8's--so they had an audience, but really didn't hurt The B much, at all. The switch to Mix in '86 actually helped B104 shoot to it's all-time high #2 ranking in 1987 with a 9 share (just behind WLIF), but then--interestingly enough--Mix 106.5 started to eat into BSB's upper end--Women 25-44--while 102.7 was attacking the younger end and B104 was toast by '91.
No, Frederick's Z104 never showed in Baltimore. For one thing, their 350 watts ERP from up at Braddock Heights barely covers (most of) Frederick County. For another, Baltimore's 104.3 and Havre de Grace's 103.7 basically block out 103.9 on the ol' radio dial in-and-around Charm City.
In Oklahoma There was a 4-way Top 40 war in OKC in the late seventies between FM's KZUE and KOFM and AM's WKY and KOMA.
WKY was the #1 station for decades until morning jock Danny Williams retired from the station (after 20+ years) to do full-time TV in 1979. The station started losing listeners quickly and 930 wound up being an Oldies station by 1980, then Talk-News... and a bunch of other formats. Now Oklahoma's first radio station is playing Mexican music. Danny later returned to radio on country KEBC, and then worked for Oldies KOMA AM/FM until he retired about 2 years ago.
KOMA held onto for a little while longer.. devolving to AC into a mostly Oldies station by 1981. In 1982 they became "KOMA Country".. and then MYOL in 1985.. In 1988 1520 became "Oldies KOMA" and even wound up in the Top 10 in the late 80's until they added an FM Simulcast in the early 90's.
In Tulsa both KAKC and KELI were being attacked by KTFX-FM aka "Superfox 103" in 1977-8.
KAKC dropped Top 40 in January 1978 for MOR.. which didnt help ratings.. then they were sold off to christian broadcasters in 1980 and later became KCFO-AM. The KAKC calls were later picked up by 1300 for ABC Oldies in the mid 80's.
KELI hung onto Top 40 until 1981.. when they also devolved into an AC/Oldies mix.. then to news talk. KELI staged a little comeback as CHR "14-K - 92-K" in 1983-4.
And just for the record KSWO 1380 in Lawton was still running Top 40 until around 1983-4.
WKY was the #1 station for decades until morning jock Danny Williams retired from the station (after 20+ years) to do full-time TV in 1979. The station started losing listeners quickly and 930 wound up being an Oldies station by 1980, then Talk-News... and a bunch of other formats. Now Oklahoma's first radio station is playing Mexican music. Danny later returned to radio on country KEBC, and then worked for Oldies KOMA AM/FM until he retired about 2 years ago.
KOMA held onto for a little while longer.. devolving to AC into a mostly Oldies station by 1981. In 1982 they became "KOMA Country".. and then MYOL in 1985.. In 1988 1520 became "Oldies KOMA" and even wound up in the Top 10 in the late 80's until they added an FM Simulcast in the early 90's.
In Tulsa both KAKC and KELI were being attacked by KTFX-FM aka "Superfox 103" in 1977-8.
KAKC dropped Top 40 in January 1978 for MOR.. which didnt help ratings.. then they were sold off to christian broadcasters in 1980 and later became KCFO-AM. The KAKC calls were later picked up by 1300 for ABC Oldies in the mid 80's.
KELI hung onto Top 40 until 1981.. when they also devolved into an AC/Oldies mix.. then to news talk. KELI staged a little comeback as CHR "14-K - 92-K" in 1983-4.
And just for the record KSWO 1380 in Lawton was still running Top 40 until around 1983-4.
KILT 610 in Houston (which once was part of the McLendon Empire) went Country in 1980 or '81. It is now a Sports station.
"KRUX went AC in late 1974"
I lived in Phoenix from 1973-1977 and I don't remember KRUX ever being AC. I know that right before KRUX went all-news for about a year in 1975, they were definitely Top-40 and being programmed by John Long and Christopher Haze. I worked at KRUX when they returned to Top-40 in 1976. Actually, the PD, Richard Ruiz described the format to me, as mass appeal rock. It was Top-40 in every way as far as delivery, but we did play the album version of the hits on many occassions, and we did have a rock leaning. While KRUX never returned to the success it once had, we were making steady gains in the ratings. At the time, there were at least 5 Top-40's in the market, KRUX, KRIZ, KUPD-AM & FM (simulcast), KBBC-FM, plus KQXE claimed to be Top-40, but to me sounded more like an adult oriented Top-40/Hot AC hybrid. When KRIZ dropped Top-40 in 1978, for a Christian format (new owners), they were actually still #1 in Phoenix.
I lived in Phoenix from 1973-1977 and I don't remember KRUX ever being AC. I know that right before KRUX went all-news for about a year in 1975, they were definitely Top-40 and being programmed by John Long and Christopher Haze. I worked at KRUX when they returned to Top-40 in 1976. Actually, the PD, Richard Ruiz described the format to me, as mass appeal rock. It was Top-40 in every way as far as delivery, but we did play the album version of the hits on many occassions, and we did have a rock leaning. While KRUX never returned to the success it once had, we were making steady gains in the ratings. At the time, there were at least 5 Top-40's in the market, KRUX, KRIZ, KUPD-AM & FM (simulcast), KBBC-FM, plus KQXE claimed to be Top-40, but to me sounded more like an adult oriented Top-40/Hot AC hybrid. When KRIZ dropped Top-40 in 1978, for a Christian format (new owners), they were actually still #1 in Phoenix.
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