bturner said:
I think you might be misunderstanding 'experimental'. I think it may have been intended as defining programming.
You're probably right. In that case, I take exception for different reasons.
In the late 1950s and early 60s, lots of FM stations simply provided background music for stores and offices.
SCA services kept many an FM alive. Some were operated by the stations, others were leased to branded services.
When rock came to FM is was pretty much experimental.
When the FCC mandated the end of simulcasting, owners who all along didn't want to give up the licences for fear that they might be of value sometime, tossed on nearly anything that wouldn't compete with the AM. Some duplicated the classical or instrumental formats of the independents, others played hard rock or "golden oldies" and, oddly, many caught on... quite by accident in some cases.
Those formats that were designed not to cannibalize the big AMs actually attracted audiences that were unimpressed by the very broad nature of MOR, Top 40 and the few other principal formats of the 60's. So the programming was accidental as opposed to experimental.
The need to independently program FMs under common AM ownership was viewed as an unwanted expense, so the opportunity was seized by a few to syndicate by tape a number of formats, including the earliest gold based AC (Drake-Chennault's "Hit Parade") and Beautiful Music (Shulke's SRP and others), to keep costs down. These efforts, often an improvement over home-grown FM efforts by the independents, also worked better than expected.
A few operators who had AMs with daytime or deficient signals actually improved the FM facility to fill in the gaps (WPGC was a nice early example) and became visionaries.
But these were not experiments.. they were reactions of owners, forced to create new programming, who wanted to do something that did not ding the AMs and was cheap.
Lots of FM stations DID NOT make money.
There we agree. But the independents, to stay on the air, were making a limited but adequate income. While in the period between 1948 and 1958, the total number of FMs went from near 1100 to under 700, from 1958 to the time of the simulcast prohibition the number doubled.
The ones that were a wash were the simulcast stations... a power bill, some tubes... but no benefit except to keep the license away from someone else.
I'd venture to say most operated at a loss or breakeven.
None were fabulously profitable, but there were plenty of examples of successful FMs on a more limited scale.
Sure, when KXTR went fulltime in Kansas City, I think it was morning man, Tom Green, that said they were doing really well because they were up to about 20 commercials a day. My Dad bought spots on WDAF FM for $3 each in 1968. I bet that rate was about 7% of WDAF's AM rate at the time.
The FM I worked at in 1960 could do logs months in advance, as there were no spots. But, like your WDAF FM, it was the sister station to a very successful AM. It was such a stepchild that it only operated 5 PM to 11 PM, Monday to Saturday until the FCC required more hours! There is no way that an FM could be successful that way, so in many cases there was no effort and no results.
I saw one small market station that used a small room with a turntable, microphone and homemade mixer. The AM jock would play album sides on the FM and when changing records, would read any commercials. An album might skip for quite a few minutes without a call to the station.
Another version of the "no effort - no gain" syndrome.
Few had FM radios back then...
I had a nifty AM FM portable in '59 that was not very expensive... while not found everywhere, there were many more FM radios than was thought. The FCC's 1967 action was a catalyst of sorts, and within a few years, FMs were climbing into the top positions in the ratings in many if not all the major markets.
