K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Yes, he certainly could. He has as much access to worldradiohistory.com as anyone else.
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Anyone listening to the yacht rock weekend on klos
- Thread starter hotpatrick2004
- Start date
Yes, he certainly could. He has as much access to worldradiohistory.com as anyone else.
Does he get paid for his columns or not?
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I presume he does, or he wouldn't still be writing them after all these years.
It wasn't just public protest. (although the protest was sizeable) It was the money. At the time, there was more money in classical than rock music. Especially in Washington. The number of corporate CEOs who funded classical music in DC (the symphony, opera, and everything else) was sizable. It was never going to happen. Plus at the same time, you had local owners who had the same idea about rock radio.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Another factor to consider is the fact that WPGC/1580 already had inroads on FM, due to having simulcast its top-40 format on 95.5 since the format's inception in 1959. "W-Rock" would have had an extreme uphill battle, especially since Drake's programming tactics were becoming well-known by that time.
That's what I was thinking about, plus Jake Epstein had already had success with the rock format on WHFS. He even hired Murray The K from New York.
Not only were Drake's tactics well-known, but by the 70s, they had become obsolete.
The big move for WPGC was the lift in power and height in 1969. @Huff can give the ratings story, but it quickly decimated Top 40 leader WEAM and was an nearly example of how the format could bring big FM numbers.
It wasn’t the money. Top 40 would have outbilled classical, but General Tire, already in some doubtful regulatory issues, did not want to kill the favorite station of DC movers and shakers. They really feared the negative publicity.
OK, it was both. WGMS was one of the few stations given an FCC waiver for format duplication.
Instead of RKO, NBC took WRC top 40 in DC. In the Spring 1974, WRC had a 5.3 which was the highest ratings the 980 frequency had scored in years. The WPGC simulcast had a 7.5. But NBC pulled the top 40 plug on WRC when they started their ill fated all news NIS format.
Seems like NBC could never commit to doing top 40 completely right. WNBC exhibit A. It appears they let Bob Pittman do what he wanted with WMAQ’s country format as he had great success and I guess KNBR did ok in the 70s but NBC was definitely no ABC or CBS or RKO or Metromedia when it came to understanding radio in the 1970s.
Probably a good thing they never owned their affiliate KFI in Los Angeles. KFI had decent ratings until they lost Dodgers baseball in 1973 (I think) but then definitely underperformed for the rest of the decade especially for a station with the best signal in California if not the Western U.S. But I’m sure if NBC had purchased instead of Cox, it would’ve have been a disaster.
Seems like NBC could never commit to doing top 40 completely right. WNBC exhibit A. It appears they let Bob Pittman do what he wanted with WMAQ’s country format as he had great success and I guess KNBR did ok in the 70s but NBC was definitely no ABC or CBS or RKO or Metromedia when it came to understanding radio in the 1970s.
Probably a good thing they never owned their affiliate KFI in Los Angeles. KFI had decent ratings until they lost Dodgers baseball in 1973 (I think) but then definitely underperformed for the rest of the decade especially for a station with the best signal in California if not the Western U.S. But I’m sure if NBC had purchased instead of Cox, it would’ve have been a disaster.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Not exactly accurate. NBC had changed WRC-FM's calls to WKYS in 1974 while continuing its Beautiful Music format, then moved the WRC format to WKYS as NIS took over the AM.
https://www.worldradiohistory.com/h...BC-IDX/75-OCR/1975-04-28-BC-OCR-Page-0014.pdf (lower left corner of the page)
At one point, they had Howard Stern, Don Imus, and Wolfman Jack. But the fact of the matter was that radio audiences had already started to migrate to FM, and it didn't matter what companies did on AM anymore. That was the case in NY, DC, LA, and ultimately everywhere.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Just about every analysis I have read of why the News and Information Service failed referenced NBC's inability to sign very many major market affiliates, and apparently a lot of the declining stations thought NBC wasn't being serious because they put NIS on their O&O FMs everywhere but DC.
In fact, WRC was the only NBC O&O where the format worked, ratings-wise. If they had done the same thing in New York, Chicago and San Francisco -- moving the AM music formats to the FMs and replacing those with NIS on the AMs -- it would likely have given them more credibility with potential affiliates.
WKYS was never a real top 40, so it would be very inaccurate to say they moved the AM format to FM.
They were an early version of Urban Contemporary. Billboard called them Disco in 1975 and they were called “Disco Stereo 92KYS.” In a lengthy interview with R&R in 1975, Bob Henabery the consultant who put the station on the air calls it disco but says they play some non disco. He said they would play Elton John but not Helen Reddy.
Not everywhere, WLS had a 7.9 as late as 1979, second behind only full service WGN.
I would argue AM top 40 was still viable in the early 1970s.
In the spring 1973 book
WABC was number 1 with an 8.6
KHJ had a comeback after the failed album cut experience and was also number one with a 6.3
WLS had a 7.3 and WCFL had a 7.2 and were number two and three behind WGN
WFIL had a 9.5 and was number two
KILT had a 10.6 and was number one
KJR had a 12.8 and was number one
WDGY had a 9.9 and KDWB had an 8.8, number two and three behind WCCO
KCBQ had a 10.5 and was number one.
WHBQ had a 13.6 behind only WDIA and the other AM top 40 WMPS had an 8.3
WMAK had a 20.9 and was number one
WKTQ in their first book as a brand new AM top 40 in 1973 had a 15.3 behind only KDKA, beating KQV which had a 6.2
I don’t think the failure of WNBC was because of FM
You're right...it was because of WABC AM. I think they came close in one book.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
While that did happen not long after the move, it is true that the original WRC format was simulcast on WKYS and then continued, however briefly.
The way you originally phrased it implied that the simulcast never happened, nor that the Disco Stereo format was essentially a modification of the original WRC format ... which was at least close enough to top-40 as was WNBC.
Yes, NBC simulcasted the WRC AM top 40 on the FM for exactly one week.
But I would still argue the new WKYS disco format was not a continuation of WRC, but a brand new format developed for the FM by Bob Henabery.
None of that though really has anything to do with my point that NBC didn’t know how to do top 40 and WNBC especially underperformed through various formats for 30 years until the network got out of radio.
Even Bob Pittman who had great success at NBC with country at WMAQ in Chicago didn’t do much for WNBC.
But I would still argue the new WKYS disco format was not a continuation of WRC, but a brand new format developed for the FM by Bob Henabery.
None of that though really has anything to do with my point that NBC didn’t know how to do top 40 and WNBC especially underperformed through various formats for 30 years until the network got out of radio.
Even Bob Pittman who had great success at NBC with country at WMAQ in Chicago didn’t do much for WNBC.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
And none of that really has anything to do with what I thought we were discussing in this thread, so ... whatever.
But Pittman could not beat a bad-signal AM in Pittsburgh with a full signal FM in Top 40.
There are some who think that Pittman "fell upwards" during most of his career.