Anyone remember WFTQ?

[ssetta]

I just recently heard about this now-gone Worcester radio station called WFTQ. I think Don Kelley and Mark Lawrence who now work at WMJX used to work there back in the 80s. What type of station was it? Was it like a top 40 station or what? But I was asking about the song "Set the Night to Music" by Roberta Flack and Maxi Priest, which was originally done by Starship. However, I think the Maxi Priest version was more popular. But I talked to Mark the other day, and he told me that at WFTQ, they played the Starship version, and not the Maxi Priest version. And back in the 80s, people still listened to music on AM.

So, can anyone tell me anything more about this WFTQ?

 

[cheapman]

WFTQ, better known as 14Q was a Top 40 station in the 70's that mellowed a little and was basically A/C in the early 80's. It was 1440 on the dial and prior to then had been WAAB, which was the AM of WAAF. Studios were on Mechanic Street across from the common, but around 1982 both stations moved into some fancy new digs on Norwich Place. The AM transmitter was (and still is) in a residential section on the north side of Worecester. 14Q was a very popular music station in the late 70's and early 80's. I remember their bumper stickers were everywhere. Mark Lawrence was doing afternoons there when I was doing afternoons at WORC. That was in '82. The PD's name was Cliff something. And yes, there was still music on AM in that part of the 80's.

 

[Time Traveler]

WFTQ, better known as 14Q was a Top 40 station in the 70's that mellowed a little and was basically A/C in the early 80's. It was 1440 on the dial and prior to then had been WAAB, which was the AM of WAAF. Studios were on Mechanic Street across from the common, but around 1982 both stations moved into some fancy new digs on Norwich Place. The AM transmitter was (and still is) in a residential section on the north side of Worecester. 14Q was a very popular music station in the late 70's and early 80's. I remember their bumper stickers were everywhere. Mark Lawrence was doing afternoons there when I was doing afternoons at WORC. That was in '82. The PD's name was Cliff something. And yes, there was still music on AM in that part of the 80's.

WFTQ started in late 1977, returning Top 40 to 1440. Prior to that the station had been a weird mix of elevator music and news as WNCR. WNCR started operations in mid-1976. WNCR replaced talk station WAAB, which during the 1960s until 1971 or so, had been one of Worcester's two Top 40 stations, the other of course, being WORC....

 

[pqgeorge]

>>So, can anyone tell me anything more about this WFTQ?<<

Sure, no prob. WFTQ (formerly WAAB and WNCR, now WVEI) was Top-40 rocker at 1440 kHz. This was the second time Top-40 had been attempted on 1440. For many years, WAAB (later WFTQ) and WORC (1310 kHz) battled it out for Worcester's Top-40 audience. Finally, WORC took the crown in the mid 1970's and WAAB switched to all-news radio as WNCR (Worcester News Center Radio) in about 1975 or so. It was a disaster. Worcester was not big enough or not ready enough for a full-time all-news station. So, in around 1978, 1440 became WFTQ (14Q). It was an upbeat Top-40 rocker with an emphasis as a music station. It sounded really good. They really did it up on promoting it with bumper stickers, print and TV advertising (.... on Channel 27, of course). I actually listened to 1440 during it's WAAB days (back in 1970 or so) of all places in East Wakefield, NH..... yes.... in 1440/WJAB's backyard (Portland's Top-40 daytimer, co-channel to WAAB). As soon as 'JAB would shut down for the night, in came WAAB loud and clear some 100+ miles away from Worcester. It's funny that both Portland, ME and Worcester, MA had two Top-40 stations competing on the same frequencies 1310 and 1440 (WAAB-1440/WORC-1310 and WJAB-1440/WLOB-1310).

 

[cheapman]

That's interesting about the signal. I remember listening to 1440 out of Worcester while on vacation in Nova Scotia late at night. (Can't say for sure if it was WAAB or WFTQ at the time but it was playing music.) Obviously a strong night pattern to the northeast!

 

[FM AM]

Worcester County had some good Top 40 stations in the late 60s/early 70s. Along with 1310-WORC and 1440-WAAB, there was also 1280-WEIM, from Fitchburg...

 

[dhoule]

Hi,
Actually, I used to work there part-time for about 8 years. It was a great station. A little more history, between the WAABs Top 40 days and the WNCR all-day and beautiful music combo days, WAAB was a news/talk station with names like Forrest Sawyer, network anchor, and Bob Coxe, now of WSB Atlanta.

WFTQ, was (of course) "Worcester's Four Teen Q". It began with a similar sound to the late 70s, WNBC. More music, fewer commericals, no talkovers, short announcer talk, initially automated then live. By 1981, 14Q became 14WFTQ with more personality and a strong news and weather department. It became "Worcester's Weather station" and consistently beat out WTAG in the key 25-54 demo. The music became more AC based. The station carried Boston Celtics Basketball with Johnny and Glenn too.

Personalities at WFTQ included Chuck Nowlin (WZLX), Steve York (Oldies 103.3), Marc Laurence (Magic 106.7), Don Kelly (Magic 106.7 management), Cliff Blake (formerly ZLX, OKQ, and N.H. Public TV voice), David Bernstein (formerly of WBZ and WOR), and Mike Finegan (Oldies 103.3). I know there are more. Sorry, if I'm forgetting anyone.

Dave

 

[ssetta]

Hi,
Actually, I used to work there part-time for about 8 years. It was a great station. A little more history, between the WAABs Top 40 days and the WNCR all-day and beautiful music combo days, WAAB was a news/talk station with names like Forrest Sawyer, network anchor, and Bob Coxe, now of WSB Atlanta.

WFTQ, was (of course) "Worcester's Four Teen Q". It began with a similar sound to the late 70s, WNBC. More music, fewer commericals, no talkovers, short announcer talk, initially automated then live. By 1981, 14Q became 14WFTQ with more personality and a strong news and weather department. It became "Worcester's Weather station" and consistently beat out WTAG in the key 25-54 demo. The music became more AC based. The station carried Boston Celtics Basketball with Johnny and Glenn too.

Personalities at WFTQ included Chuck Nowlin (WZLX), Steve York (Oldies 103.3), Marc Laurence (Magic 106.7), Don Kelly (Magic 106.7 management), Cliff Blake (formerly ZLX, OKQ, and N.H. Public TV voice), David Bernstein (formerly of WBZ and WOR), and Mike Finegan (Oldies 103.3). I know there are more. Sorry, if I'm forgetting anyone.

Dave

This Cliff Blake person...is he the guy who did like the local sponsor announcements and stuff like that? Because I remember in the early 90s, Frisbee-Memorial Hospital's Birth Care Maternity Services was one of the local sponsors of Sesame Street for many, many years. I have a bunch of old tapes with it on it. And I recently saw Sesame Street on WENH, and that was still one of the sponsors, and it sounded like the exact same audio recording!

 

[chris560]

Remember it? I worked there! What a great place to learn this trade! I did overnights from April 1982 until somewhere in late 1983 or 4 (I can't remember anymore) Cliff Blake hired me, Cliff's a country record rep out of Boston now and I still see him once in a while where I am now. IF I'm not mistaken the thing started out as WAAB and YES! It was WAAF's Sister station. It was AM Stereo, one of the few Kahn-Hazeltine systems on the air. Gary Nolan did Mornings, Lorraine Leduc did mid-days, I THINK Cliff did afternoons and for the life of me I can't remember who did Nights. When I first got there we were still in the "Cocaine Realty Building" where our Control Room was directly across from the 'AAF Control Room. 'AAF's staff had Bob Rivers doing mornings & Harvey Warfield ran around the place like a mad-man for most of the day. I think Harv did afternoons then. We moved from that building to another around the corner which was a palace, the place was AWESOME and now when I build studios I use a lot of the ideas I got from that place. (The Engineer's name was Dominic Bordonaro - I promsie you I've spelt his last name wrong). What's funny about seeing this post is I'm packing up my home studio now to move to a new house and ran across a box filled with 'FTQ airchecks. Anyway, by the time I got there 14Q had been retired and it was simply 14-WFTQ ... Cliff did a great job programming it. He eventually left and went on to WZZK in Alabama and Dave Bernstein took it over, being moved from WAAF. I didn't hang out much longer after that! Dave was a great guy but I moved on to another station. Fun stuff!

 

[Signpost]

Cliff Blake was at WOKQ in NH for awhile..

Also should point out that Paul Dowd - now known as Jay Beau Jones - was a jock on 14Q in the '70's - i believe he was still in high school at the time.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

It was AM Stereo, one of the few Kahn-Hazeltine systems on the air.

It was eventually switched to Motorola C-Quam later on, when that was declared the USA standard (by the time that the mode was unfortunately already a dying form). Last time I was in the Worcester area with an AM stereo radio about a year and a half ago, WVEI still had the C-Quam AM Stereo carrier and pilot on, although it's a straight rebroadcast of a mono parent station (WEEI).

In this area, the only other station that I knew of that broadcast in Kahn-Hazeltine AM Stereo was 1510, as easy listening WSSH-AM in the late 80's. It went back to mono after that through various other short-lived formats, then was switched to C-Quam AM Stereo in the mid-90's when it went contemporary Christian as WNRB. It was finally switched off a few years later when it went sports talk, which would eventually become the current format.

At night, we could also hear Kahn-Hazeltine AM Stereo on the old classical 1560 AM WQXR from NYC, which stayed with that system until C-Quam became the mandated standard. After finally dropping classical, their AM Stereo was shut off. After a brief Adult Standards format, it became a Radio Disney affiliate.

 

[Jack Ruby]

Hi,
Actually, I used to work there part-time for about 8 years. It was a great station. A little more history, between the WAABs Top 40 days and the WNCR all-day and beautiful music combo days, WAAB was a news/talk station with names like Forrest Sawyer, network anchor, and Bob Coxe, now of WSB Atlanta.

Just taking a stab at this, but didn't Bob Sawyer also work there???

 

[dhoule]

Bob Sawyer did work at WAAB as a talk show host and he did a part-time gig at WAAF. Unfortunately, I heard that Bob has had some problems in the last 15 years or so. (also, in an earlier post I referred to WNCR as all-day and beautiful music, that should read "all-news and beautiful music").

WAAB Schedule in 1974

6-9 All-News Morning Journal with Bob Coxe, Dave Brown, and Bob Morgan on Sports
9-12 Bob Coxe
12-1 All-New Midday Journal featuring Paul Harvey
1-4 Bob Sawyer
4-6 All-News Afternoon Journal with Geoff Metcalfe, John Stoberski, and Aviva Diamond. Bob Morgan sports
6-8 Let's Talk Sports with Bob Morgan
8-11 Ron Parshley
11-12 CBS Radio Mystery Theatre
12-6 Skip Quillia

 

[Cary Pall]

I still have some 14Q bumper stickers. I used to work across the hall at WAAF (in the beautiful Cocaine Realty Building). Cliff Blake was the PD. Gary Nolan is another 14Q alum that hasn't been mentioned up to now. Gary was later PD of WLTE in Minneapolis and worked at WLTW in NYC. I believe he is now programming the AC in Ft. Myers. And Dave Bernstein is now the programming guy for the new owners of Air America.

 

[Rashaad]

I remember 14Q! They had Paul Stevens doing nights and Jimi Bruce did an All Night Flite from midnight to six a.m. late seventies - early eighties. Creative stuff!

 

[argytunes]

I go back to the days (late 70s/early 80s) when WFTQ was WAAB! Dave Brown, Bob Coxe, Bob Sawyer, Bob Morgan, Skip Quillia...and quite an interesting collection of shows. Having been an airpersonality for WAAF (both stations were owned by George Grey at the time)....I still have several of the promos that originally aired on each station.

On WAAB...it got to the point where the NEWS became THE MOOS! [Air personalities became used like cattle and several of "the cows" ended up leaving!

argytunes