Dayton Top 40 Radio in 1976

[callletters]

Did anybody anywhere listen to anything, ever, at all, besides Q-102?

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Did anybody anywhere listen to anything, ever, at all, besides Q-102?

I know Q-102 was much better back then, and radio receivers were much better as well. But why would Q-102 have been that popular in Dayton? Or is this like how in the late '80s when WLAP-FM Lexington became popular in Cincinnati because of Q-102 chasing away any listeners who were older than 10?

I'm pretty sure that Kiss 96 was one of the top 40 leaders in Dayton in the early '80s, because they had that Hamilton/Dayton/Cincinnati top-of-the-hour ID. But their tower was much closer to Dayton than Q-102's was.

 

[One Who Knows]

Some Dayton teens did pay some attention to Q in the 70's - remember...the Dayton market was pretty much Top 40-less for a while. WTUE flipped to album rock. Yeah, WING was still Top 40, but moving in the direction of a more A/C sound. Until 103.9/WDJX came on the air, there were a couple of years Dayton was "in the void", so to speak. And I think that caused some teens to channel up to Q.

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Was WOKV ever a factor?

Yes, I know that nobody even in Cincinnati remembers them, but they were quite influential in the late '70s as Cincinnati's 'American Top 40' affiliate.

 

[callletters]

I confess, I didn't find out about WOKV untill late "77 or early '78. I was mostly referring to the abundance of automation you could get from Kettering. WGIC, WSAI FM and WBLY FM.

American Top 40 is another interesting story. I first discovered it in December of 1973 on WNCI in Columbus. WNCI is a great station. It had both a local and a national countdown at that time, and has more than twice the power of WTUE. It is ever so hard to recieve though, so I didn't spend a lot of time listening to it.

I can't remember now how much of AT 40 I heard on WSAI. I give most of that credit to 101.3

 

[NoWayNoCC]

Also, I'm pretty sure that in the early '80s, Kiss 96 doubled as the 'AT40' affiliate for both Cincinnati and Dayton. I didn't know Kiss 96 ever had 'AT40' until years and years later though, because they never advertised that they had 'AT40'.

By 1983 though, Q-102 had 'AT40'.

 

[callletters]

The first recollection I have of 96.1 is as an AOR Station in 1979. They were also the first station I remember to carry a Dick Bartley oldies show in 1982.

 

[alans613]

Not sure when they picked it up, but Z-93 did start airing AT40 sometime in the mid-80s and ran it until the end of the Shadoe Stevens era. They then ran Casey's Top 40 for its entire existence, 89-98.
WNCI still runs AT40 8 AM-Noon. Seacrest sure is no Casey Kasem by any means though! ;D

 

[radioboymark]

I started at Q102 in 1976 and went full time in 1977 as the all night guy, moved to middays later (and sorry I ever left). Dayton was a BIG Q 102 market south (Kettering) and North (Vandalia). I know because I did school dances in both of those places in 77-78. The big signal beamed into the southern suburbs easy, and seems to skip over the center of town and barrel into the northern suburbs.

 

[callletters]

My only regret about 1976 is that I never once tuned in to Wolfman Jack on Q-102! His show was even mentioned in the Dayton Daily News. To make up for it, I did eventually buy "Hit the Road Jack" by the Stampeders, as an oldie.

I am stunned to read that WNCI still runs AT40. Did they ever quit? I would love to have heard their local 50 song countdown more often, but I would've had to quit school. It aired Fridays at noon. ;D

 

[osurickbee]

I was in high school in Eaton in 1976, and remember the Q being very popular. In reference to another thread, I also remember 'TUE switching from top 40 to AOR (T-105). I called in a request for "Lizzie & the Rainman" and the bemused jock said (politely) something like "We don't play that kind of music anymore" LOL!

 

[callletters]

I think I was in Katmandu at the time.

 

[gr8oldies]

WDAO may have been Dayton's default top 40 at the time, even though it wasn'ttop 40.

 

[kirkiefan]

WING was still Top 40 in 1976. Kirkie was beginning to mellow out a bit though..not as wild and crazy as he was with his telephone put ons. Ken Warren returned to WING that year to do afternoon shift there,previously he did half of the mid day shift (with Lou Swanson doing the first half) in 1964 before Bob Holiday came on at 3pm.

Gordy Price did graveyard shift and weekends there that year as my memory serves me. Dave Brennan (previously with WPTW...long hair and all) also did weekends.

By 1979 it became A/C as "Adult Radio 1410 WING"

 

[gr8oldies]

I was at IBS (now ICB) in the summer of '75 and IIRC correctly WING had become hot A/C and was running oldies with the late Gene Barry in the evenings. Course I've slept since then....

 

[One Who Knows]

WDAO may have been Dayton's default top 40 at the time, even though it wasn'ttop 40.

Actually, WDAO at that time was closer to Top 40 than you might think:

Heard back then: "Some Kind Of Wonderful" by Grand Funk. "Minute By Minute" by the Doobie Brothers, and so forth. That was WDAO's secret: play the mainstream urban crossover hits (Think: Temps and Tops, Ohio Players, etc.), mix in the notable urban hits (Parliament, Funkadelic, Lakeside, Slave, etc) and add a touch of Top 40 white crossover songs. (Grand Funk, Doobies, etc.)

 

[gr8oldies]

I can remember when I was at IBS, Al Morgan came to speak to us and told us about WTUE's efforts to attract women (this was just before the flip) by giving away a diamond ring. He mentioned that WTUE always played the top 5 soul songs because WDAO was suh a force in the market. Needless to say, August came and the format was flipped to appeal to 18-24 year old males.

I'd love to hear an old WDAO airfcheck from around that time, and love to see one posted on reelradio.

 

[microbob]

I remember when WDAO became WWSN Sunny 107.7 and how sad I was. Even though I did not live in Dayton, I could listen to them easily in Northern Ky and prefered WDAO to WBLZ at the time which was CHRUrban before they became what is now WGRR.

 

[callletters]

WBLY was automated top 40, but you had to listen to Smilin' Bob in the morning.

 

[callletters]

It was the FM of course.