AUDIO: 77 WABC Flips From Music To Talk Radio - May 10, 1982

[DToTheJ]

Hard to believe it'll be 43 years since WABC made the switch to its current format. I don't need to wax poetic about the glory days of Musicradio 77 but with the emergence of FM, WABC tried to make things work but inevitably, they couldn't. So they had Dan Ingram and Ron Lundy do a special show looking back at the station's heyday and sign off the music format with John Lennon's "Imagine." The talk format would commence at high noon on that day. You'll hear the aforementioned Ingram and Lundy show, along with some Ross and Wilson; the flip to talk radio and the first roughly 15 minutes of the new format.

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[Seltzer]

I always felt if they had moved WABC over to the FM..at the time....WABC FM with all the 770 jocks, music radio could have continued for maybe another decade. There may never had been a Z100. But WPLJ was a hugely successful Hit based Album Rock station at the time. Always preferred them over NEW-FM. WPLJ eventually went CHR but Larry Berger helped lead to the demise when in 1983 he felt the need to start playing Michael Jackson and Prince records...mixing them in with the album rock material.

 

[JMC7982]

I always felt if they had moved WABC over to the FM..at the time....WABC FM with all the 770 jocks, music radio could have continued for maybe another decade. There may never had been a Z100. But WPLJ was a hugely successful Hit based Album Rock station at the time. Always preferred them over NEW-FM. WPLJ eventually went CHR but Larry Berger helped lead to the demise when in 1983 he felt the need to start playing Michael Jackson and Prince records...mixing them in with the album rock material.

It was much too late for any of that in 1982. WABC switched formats in early 1981 from Top 40 to AC/talk. Even if they had made the switch in 1978 it wouldn't have worked. WXLO (99X) was an established FM station, good jocks, I liked the AOH concept (Album Oriented Hits), but the station was unable to withstand Disco92.

When commenting on the PLJ format switch Berger mentioned the fact that the average song played on the station prior to the switch was 11 years old, he didn't feel the album format had a future. I don't think he was the right man to successfully pull off the top 40 shift.

 

[luperm]

Back in 1982/1983, WYNY sounded the closest to a CHR as anything on NY radio at the time. It wasn't until Z100 signed on that things really changed and woke up a relatively sleepy dial. By the time the early 80s rolled around, the jocks on WABC just sounded old.

 

[alok]

Remember when WABC stopped playing RnR and went talk, there was going to be SUPERADIO (I think that is what it was going to be called), a satellite delivered service featuring all the old WABC DJ's, the hope was radio stations around the country would pick it up.
It never happened.

 

[JMC7982]

Back in 1982/1983, WYNY sounded the closest to a CHR as anything on NY radio at the time. It wasn't until Z100 signed on that things really changed and woke up a relatively sleepy dial. By the time the early 80s rolled around, the jocks on WABC just sounded old.

I remember the had a local countdown show hosted by Bill St. James on Saturday mornings. The station was also the home for Dick Clark's national countdown show. The station had a good sound in those days, but in my opinion they played too many oldies.

 

[JMC7982]

Remember when WABC stopped playing RnR and went talk, there was going to be SUPERADIO (I think that is what it was going to be called), a satellite delivered service featuring all the old WABC DJ's, the hope was radio stations around the country would pick it up.
It never happened.

Super Radio was ahead of the curve thinking with a behind the curve implementation plan. In addition to Lundy and Ingram some of the other air personalities were Jack Spector, Bob Dayton, Larry Lujack Jay Thomas. Ron and Dan were north of 45, Jack was in his mid 50's who starts a CHR format with personalities like this. The demo tape was similar in style to the failed WABC sound of 1980, so why would anyone sign up for the service. If I remember correctly only four stations expressed an interest, the launch date moved from July of 82 to January of 83 before the plug was finally pulled.

 

[alok]

Super Radio was ahead of the curve thinking with a behind the curve implementation plan. In addition to Lundy and Ingram some of the other air personalities were Jack Spector, Bob Dayton, Larry Lujack Jay Thomas. Ron and Dan were north of 45, Jack was in his mid 50's who starts a CHR format with personalities like this. The demo tape was similar in style to the failed WABC sound of 1980, so why would anyone sign up for the service. If I remember correctly only four stations expressed an interest, the launch date moved from July of 82 to January of 83 before the plug was finally pulled.

Yes, from what you said, now I recall more on why it did not happen.

Was not aware of Jack Spector, Larry Lujack, being part of it.

Thanks.

 

[Weiserguy]

Bruce Bison was also supposed to be a M-F presence, and Dr. Don Rose (at that time, KFRC AM Drive) would have had a weekend shift. I think Lujack and possibly Spector were also slated to start out on weekends so they could continue on their M-F stations. None of them were exactly geriatric, but their styles were really of the 1960s/70s, and would have sounded increasingly dated as the '80s sound (e.g., Z-100) evolved.

 

[CentralFL]

When

It was much too late for any of that in 1982. WABC switched formats in early 1981 from Top 40 to AC/talk. Even if they had made the switch in 1978 it wouldn't have worked. WXLO (99X) was an established FM station, good jocks, I liked the AOH concept (Album Oriented Hits), but the station was unable to withstand Disco92.

When commenting on the PLJ format switch Berger mentioned the fact that the average song played on the station prior to the switch was 11 years old, he didn't feel the album format had a future. I don't think he was the right man to successfully pull off the top 40 shift.

When WPLJ flipped from rock to CHR in 1983 they had a lot of the same jingles as WABC had in their final years. Almost a continuation of WABC with a gap of a few years. At one time they were WABC-FM.

 

[Always interested]

WPLJ was the Number 1 Rock Station for six years prior to flipping to CHR. Did WAPP And Z100 have anything to do with that ? By December of 1983 Carol Miller moved to WNEW FM. Meg Griffin left WNEW In January of 1984 & Carol Miller Took her time slot. I often wonder 💭 if Management liked Carol Miller Better ?or Did Meg leave for another reason ?