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Drake Vs. Sklar

Weiserguy said:
I met Bruce one night, up at WCBS-FM, while visiting with a friend who used to have the shift immediately following his. Bruce is a genuinely nice person. I brought my fiancé (at the time, my wife now) with me, since she'd never seen a radio station. Bruce was super nice with her, not just in a cursory way to be polite. As a longtime radio geek, I knew his audience loved him, but I saw one-on-one just why they do.

Bruce did write the intro to Sklar's book, but he also wrote an autobiography of his own, also in the eighties. If you can find it in a library, it's worth your time. I don't know if it's still in print, though there's always Amazon to try.

The reverb was not under the control of the jock, the plate reverb unit was out at the transmitter in Lodi (NJ), wired into the audio chain. Except during news blocks and special breaking news coverage, the reverb was always on. Interestingly, back in the mid '60s, some of the programming used to be simulcast on WABC-FM, and they got a feed from the board before the reverb. It was a much cleaner sound, befitting the better fidelity of an FM signal, but it was lacking that distinctive sound.

The Schickhaus Meats campaign was always a little schlocky, but it was just one ad campaign that ran on the station. (If you want to hear what great talent can do with mediocre ad copy, find an aircheck of Dan Ingram doing a live read of a Schickhaus spot. He frequently ended them with the line, "Schickhaus, the most carefully pronounced meats in the world.") Many ads were quite sophisticated. As one example, go onto Youtube and search for Shaeffer Beer's radio spots from the '60s or '70s. Same basic music, same tag line, but recorded by some of the greats from the jazz world: Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, as well as pop artists of the day. These ads also aired on WABC.

Yes, they had a low TSL, but they also had a phenomenal cume. In some ratings books, their cume was at or near 5 million listeners! I defy you to find any station, anywhere in this continent, with anything approaching that level of listeners.
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EXCELLENT post, thank you Weiserguy ! Really enjoyed reading about Cousin Brucie and the explanation of the reverb. Also, I found an unscoped aircheck of Dan Ingram, who does a great job -- very high energy ! You're right about the Schaefer Beer ads, which are much more sophisticated. Here's one with Lena Horne, who really swings into the melody. Great commercial. Thanks again. :)

 
Daryl Lynn, thanks s much for that aircheck from 1974. I've never heard that one before and I found it fascinating on a number of levels.

For anyone who remembers Cousin Brucie's Saturday night shows - they were loaded with solid gold. It was practically every other song to include songs from the early 60s and even 50s at times. This was still true in the early 1970s. Obviously, by the mid 70s, the FM challenges especially with the teens was being felt even at WABC. And so this aircheck was far different and more contemporary as I remember the program.

I noticed the aircheck was from July of 1974. Cousin Brucie left WABC after 13 years the following month. In Rick Sklar's book that has mentioned in this string, Rick expressed concern that Brucie wasn't as engaged with his show as he should have been. I don't see that in this aircheck at all. Brucie is not phoning it in. By this time he probably knew he was on his way out to WNBC and maybe he was content with his decision and perhaps that's why he sounds so relaxed and into the program.

One slight correction about the number of songs WABC played by 1975 and in fact beyond. WABC put up quite the fight as FM gained its share of the audience while eroding AM. WABC played at least 6 songs at the top of the hour. Yes, you are correct in there were 3 stopsets as I remember it outside of morning drive.

In much I've read over the years, WABC sounded like an FM in that the focus was more music and less commercials. When Cousin Brucie's replacement, George Michael. joined the station in September 1974, Rick eliminated the 20 minute news block that began around 5:55 PM and ended at 6:15 PM - the start of the Brucie show for a long time. That news block included Howard Cosell and sports. It all got reduced to around 5 minutes. George Michael's show started at 6 and usually with a long music set. The fight was on.

Interestingly too, if no one mentioned this earlier, WABC had a sweeper jingle that was identical to 99X (WXLO). From all I read, 99X moved away from "The Drake Sound" in 1974. I remember these jingles from 1975. Not sure who copycatted who but they were pretty much the same.

By 1975, WABC was loaded with promos. The station did not utilize telephone contests in its heyday because as Rick explained it, there were so many calls it sort of blew out the circuits. Imagine. Anyway, like so many did at the time there it was 212-550- WABC. Where commercials once played, it seems contests replaced them.

Anyway, this is a fascinating string and a good discussion. I actually loved Rick's style of radio but I also liked Drake's too.
 
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I'd like to correct a misstatement I made in the prior post. Daryl Lynn would be correct in that in 1975 there was typically 3 songs in a row that played. It wasn't until at least 1977 where a top of the hour six-song set played.

Regarding promotions, Rick Sklar was quite creative. That aircheck talked about the "$25,000 Button." As someone who experienced all of that, there were good numbers of people who wore that button in public places for the chance to win prizes. In Rick's book, he does mention that that contest help deliver an uptick in ratings.

And in 1974, with FM ascending, seeing an increase in ratings on an AM hit music station was something to brag about.
 
John FL said:
Regarding promotions, Rick Sklar was quite creative. That aircheck talked about the "$25,000 Button." As someone who experienced all of that, there were good numbers of people who wore that button in public places for the chance to win prizes. In Rick's book, he does mention that that contest help deliver an uptick in ratings.
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Actually, a lot / most of the WABC promotions were based on successful promotions in smaller markets. I think that the station and Rick did the same thing with contests as they did with music: wait till it is proven in smaller markets and then do it on WABC.

The "wear a button" or pin contest was done in a lot of high "people traffic" markets where a similar bumper sticker promotion would not be as effective. Since the survey area for Pulse and Hooper was limited to Manhattan and the Boroughs and parts of close in counties, NY listeners that might be called would just as likely not use a car to commute, so buttons beat bumpers.
John FL said:
And in 1974, with FM ascending, seeing an increase in ratings on an AM hit music station was something to brag about.
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Remember, the ascent of FM had as much to do with signal as with new formats and better sound. After about three decades of going nowhere, many FMs had not maximized power and height. It took a while for those stations to become competitive, particularly in New York City which had 3 1-A non-directional 50 kw AMs and 5 other 50 kw fulltime (but directional) stations on AM.
 
Sklar understood quite well that listeners came for the hits, and the entire family could listen to WABC. HOA, and later Harry Harrison were perfect for AMD and didn't rely on gimmicks or innuendos. Competitor WMCA was a darned good station, but wandered into deep weeds with their playlist. Sklar played the hits, over and over, and over. To hear Hello Dolly by Louis Armstrong every hour was something radio people detested. But the people who mattered most loved hearing the song (Super Hit One..Hit One..Hit One...). Sklar knew WABC's rating strength came from a King Kong cume... and he delivered it.
 
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DrAkbar said:
Sklar understood quite well that listeners came for the hits, and the entire family could listen to WABC. HOA, and later Harry Harrison were perfect for AMD and didn't rely on gimmicks or innuendos. Competitor WMCA was a darned good station, but wandered into deep weeds with their playlist. Sklar played the hits, over and over, and over. To hear Hello Dolly by Louis Armstrong every hour was something radio people detested. But the people who mattered most loved hearing the song (Super Hit One..Hit One..Hit One...). Sklar knew WABC's rating strength came from a King Kong cume... and he delivered it.
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"MCA was a darned good station indeed, Mitch Reed worked there before he came out here to the West Coast.
 
DrAkbar said:
Sklar understood quite well that listeners came for the hits, and the entire family could listen to WABC. HOA, and later Harry Harrison were perfect for AMD and didn't rely on gimmicks or innuendos. Competitor WMCA was a darned good station, but wandered into deep weeds with their playlist. Sklar played the hits, over and over, and over. To hear Hello Dolly by Louis Armstrong every hour was something radio people detested. But the people who mattered most loved hearing the song (Super Hit One..Hit One..Hit One...). Sklar knew WABC's rating strength came from a King Kong cume... and he delivered it.
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Quick question- What did Mr. Sklar contribute to the composition of HOA's 'Hello Again' song? Was it lyrics, melody?
 
Back in the 80s, Sklar appeared at I-95/WINZ-FM/Miami (Rhythm Crossover Top 40), we met with him in the GM office and he asked about songs we played that were not yet on the national music charts, artists like Miami Sound Machine and some of the other huge club songs of Miami that had become total hits, for South Florida. He seemed to question those tunes...
 
BLA said:
Quick question- What did Mr. Sklar contribute to the composition of HOA's 'Hello Again' song? Was it lyrics, melody?
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HOA came back to WABeattleC from WMCA, and was an accomplished radio host and singer. The song "Hello Again" was co-written by HOA. And the music by Frank DeVol, aka Happy Kyne of The Mirthmakers as featured on Fernwood 2nite. For your dining and dancing pleasure, let's strike up the band and say Hello Again to the Morning Mayor:
 
TheBigA said:
I think HOA predated Sklar at WABC.
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DrAkbar said:
HOA came back to WABeattleC from WMCA, and was an accomplished radio host and singer. The song "Hello Again" was co-written by HOA. And the music by Frank DeVol, aka Happy Kyne of The Mirthmakers as featured on Fernwood 2nite. For your dining and dancing pleasure, let's strike up the band and say Hello Again to the Morning Mayor:
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Oops- Maybe Sunny Skylar? I need my glasses checked.
 
DrAkbar said:
HOA came back to WABeattleC from WMCA, and was an accomplished radio host and singer. The song "Hello Again" was co-written by HOA. And the music by Frank DeVol, aka Happy Kyne of The Mirthmakers as featured on Fernwood 2nite. For your dining and dancing pleasure, let's strike up the band and say Hello Again to the Morning Mayor:
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Look closely at that label. The song was co-written by HOA and S. Skylar. Last name is one letter off from Sklar. That's probably where the misunderstanding came from.

BigA is right, HOA was onboard when WABC launched the Mike Joseph format in December 1960. Rick Sklar didn't get hired (as Promotions Director, BTW) until WMGM became WHN in summer of 1962, 18-or-so months later.
 
A reminder that Drake was booted as consultant from KGB in San Diego in January of 1972, after losing the fall 1971 book to former KGB PD Buzz Bennett at KCBQ.

And he was gone from RKO in May of 1973. Anything from there through mid-late 1977 at KHJ, KFRC, WHBQ, WXLO and WRKO was Paul Drew, who did significantly better in all those markets than Drake had done in his last two years with RKO.

After that point, Drake was only consulting KIQQ, Los Angeles (until 1977) and KYNO, Fresno. Drake’s focus shifted primarily to the Drake-Chenault automated formats and Drake did not consult a major station until 1982, when he re-tooled his “Hitparade” format as a live Standards format for KMPC, Los Angeles. Ten years later, he consulted KRTH, and based that on much of what was Jacobs’s work at KHJ (constant contests, the Big Kahuna and, for years, a daily winner of a trip to Hawaii.
 
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I remember being hired to do the P.A. system for a DJ convention in San Clemente around 1970. Buzz Bennett insisted on changing the EQ until it sounded really weird to me. But he was the boss - the guy who made KCBQ sound great.
 
BLA said:
Quick question- What did Mr. Sklar contribute to the composition of HOA's 'Hello Again' song? Was it lyrics, melody?
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I was living in New York when WCBS-FM did its first Radio Greats Reunion Weekend in the 80's. HOA told a story about how Sklar disliked "Hello Again" and said to HOA, "We're going to need to do something about that song." HOA said he protested, and Sklar said, "Okay. Just keep it short."
 
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