Re: Favorite former formats-stations
Trying not to duplicate Rockin Rob's list too much - some of his choices, plus...
AM
WFIL ‘Radio 560’ pre-Pop Explosion MOR (Phil Sheridan, Jim Gearhart, Al Meltzer)
WFIL “Philly 56 Country” with Dan (Dennis) Malloy, Barbara Summers, Mike Crossan
WFIL 1980’s Oldies format (after the failed Boss radio revival) with Joey Reynolds,
Harvey Holiday, Sarah Louise, Kevin Fennessey, etc.
WARM “the Mighty 590” top 40 from Scranton (came in here clearly in the old days)
WIP in the personality MOR days of Dick Clayton, Tom Moran, Tom Lamaine, etc.
WWJZ 640 in their original standards/big band format
WYIS 690 with a local daytime talk format of one-time WCAU hosts Ed Harvey & Donald Barnhouse
WOR 710 in the days of entertaining talk radio without callers - John A. Gambling, Peter Roberts, Bob & Ray,
Jean Shepherd, Ed & Pegeen Fitzgerald, Barry Farber, Gene Klavan, etc.
WABC Musicradio 77 – Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy, Cousin Bruce Morrow, Frank Kingston Smith, etc.
WTMR Radio 8 in the days of Tommy Roberts’ MOR (and horse racing) format (Ed Harvey, mornings)
WFLN 900 as a simulcast to the classical FM (the AM mono music had a different sound)
WDVT 900 as “Talk 900” with morning host PeterTilden in his first regular on-air shift
WTTM 920 as “Double T-93” Country
WTTM as a local talk station in the ‘90’s with only 2 regular callers, neither from Trenton
(an alchoholic-sounding man from Levittown & a guy from Roslyn, Montgomery County)
WPEN in the first days of 95-PEN the market’s first ALL oldies station
(with all out-of-town jocks - Loren Owens, Geoff Fox, Mike St. John, etc.)
WPEN in the standards ‘80’s with the best of the WIP jocks plus Grady & Hurst from their past
WIBG in the 1960’s Wibbage era (before WFIL’s competition) Hy Lit, Joe Niagara, Alan Dean, Bill Wright, Sr.
WIBG in the 1969-73 era of progressive personality top 40 (with Joey Reynolds, John Landecker,
Ed Richards, Hy Lit, Joe Niagara, Long John & Don Wade, Bill Gardner, etc.)
WNAR in the block-programmed era with shows like “SuperLou”
WNAR as easy listening “Good Music on AM”
WNEW 1130 from New York – MOR format similar to WIP but with a little ‘older’ sound like the
“Make Believe Ballroom” and “The Milkman’s Matinee”
WCAU “Radio 1-2-1” talk format with full time news department plus good local talk hosts like Joel A. Spivak
WBUD 1260 with the NBC “News & Information Service” 1976 national/local inserts all news format
WHAT 1340 & WDAS 1480 competing in the r&b/soul format with solid lineups of local jocks
WNJC 1360 “New Jersey Country” format & Gus Calley
WNPV 1440 – I agree the daytime full-service MOR years were their best on “The Sporty 1440”
WJJZ 1460 Country (with a Hank Williams tribute every New Year’s day)
WSAN 1470 Allentown’s 1970’s Progressive Rock on AM format
WJIC “Just Country” 1510 in Salem, NJ
WRCP “Real Country Power” on 1540 & 104.5, especially in the late ‘60’s-early ‘70’s with Bob Lockwood,
Joe Moran, Shelly Davis, Don Paul, Austin Culmer, Brad Bradley, Jerry Kline, Trish Hennessey, Alan Swan, etc.
WRCP “Philadelphia Gold Radio” with Ron Cade, Hy Lit, Tommy McCarthy, etc.
WSNI 1540 “All Beatles & Motown” format (when not simulcasting Sunny 104 and 1/2)
WPGR 1540 “Geator Gold Radio” Jerry Blavat & Armond plus an exile for Tommy McCarthy, Harvey Holiday until Solid Gold 102 came along in 1987, and the home of Sally Starr’s return to radio (she had started there in the WJMJ era).
WBUX 1570 in the 1960’s block programming era – top 40 (Bob Hamilton), country (Hugh Clinton),
plus the rev. Dr. Carl McIntire in morning drive, a half hour game show “The Auto race of the Air”, etc.
WBUX all-country format 1967-1969 – they switched just before WRCP – they had 4 daytime only jocks when they started, ended up with 2 shifts sign on-noon & noon-sign off
WEEZ 1590 country format 1965-early ‘70’s
WEEZ 1590 “People Power” talk format mid-1970’s until WWDB took all their talent in their 1975 startup
(Wynn Moore, Irv Homer, Ken Boehm in Your Home, etc.)
WCZN 1590 “Your Country Couzin” revived country format (with live concerts from Sunset Park)
FM
WIFI 92 pre “Hit Parade ‘70” with a suburban based format including high school sports sponsored by
“The Genardi Brothers” going into the area’s first Progressive Rock show Friday nights mid-60’s
WIFI 92 “Rock of the ‘80’s” format – Mel Toxic, Bill E., Moe Hawk, etc.
WMMR 93.3 “The Radio Station” Progressive Rock format from 1968 until John DeBella arrived
WNJO 94.5 “New Jersey Oldies” including Philly’s Mike St. John
WFLN 95.7 The classiest of Classical stations – even the commercials were classy
WWDB 96.5 “Jazz-Talk” in April, 1975 when they switched from jazz to talk – all the callers
were left-over listeners calling in to Sid Mark to talk about jazz (and the lack of it)
WUSL 98.9 “Continuous Country 99” (with Pat Winters, Juan Varlita, etc.)
WFMZ 100.7 “FM 100+” beautiful music format
WFIL-FM “Popular 102” soft MOR format (pre-WMGK & WUSL refining the format)
WIOQ as oldies “Solid Gold 102” – in the beginning of the 1987 war with WOGL they had the more local sound with Mike St. John, Harvey Holiday, Bob Pantano, Tommy McCarthy, etc. until they ended up on WOGL
WMGK “Magic 103” soft AC format – one of the first anywhere (with the windchimes between songs)
WIBF “104 FM’ as a local Jenkintown station playing Dixieland Jazz daytime, Country evenings in the 1960’s
WRCP country (see comments under 1540 AM)
WSNI “Sunny 104’ experiment by former WWSH’er Nelson Hobdell as PD with “beautiful country”
WSNI “Sunny 104 and ½” with a 1980’s oldies-based AC format with Hy Lit, Mike St John, Don Cannon, Tony Bruno, etc.
WSNI Sunny 104.5 as revived in 2002 – still the gold standard for all-Christmas music stations here
WDAS-FM “Hyski’s Underground” Progressive Rock format programmed by Hy Lit with Ed Sciaky, Michael Tearson, Joe Niagara, My Father’s Son, Harvey Holiday, etc.
WWSH “Wish” 106 beautiful music format with great liners (“A Wish to Build a Dream On, WWSH. FM 106, all music, all the time”)
WSNJ 107.7 as a local block-programmed station
Who am I forgetting?