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First FM-only Top 40 station in the US?

C

cd637299

Guest
What was the first FM station to take the plunge into Top 40 in the USA? (Of course, I do not mean those that relayed Top 40 AM stations, like a WABC-FM.)

I think some have said that my local WMYQ in Miami was, in 1971.

cd
 
Los Angeles had 102.7 KKDJ from "late" 1971 (according to the link below) playing Top 40 music on FM only. It was low budget and automated at first, but got better. KKDJ is most famous, of course, for merging with KIIS AM 1150 in 1975 to become the huge KIIS-FM, still a ratings leader to this day.

But I wouldn't be surprised if there weresome FM Top 40 stations in some markets that pre-dated these two.


http://www.vstudio.com/KKDJ.htm
 
Is it not true that WOR-FM began doing this in the mid to late 60's? I could be wrong date-wise, though.

Group One Broadcasting in Dayton, Ohio began "experimenting" with an FM Top 40 format in 1969, after flipping its AM station, WONE (yes, same call letters as the FM in Akron) to Country.

Originally, the station was run automated under PD Rick Stevens. He was told by the managers that their goal was to "cut into" the teen market dominated at the time by WING-AM, but not become so popular that the FM overtook, in terms of market and share, its sister country AM.

When Stevens departed, the programming reins were handed over the a man known in the Denver area well...Bill Struck. One by one, as billing improved, Struck added new live DJ's. At first, the shifts were 6 hours long, but eventually, a 6th full timer was hired, and shorter shifts were arranged. (The station had 2 overnight jocks initially, who both jocked most of the weekend shifts).

About this time, (around late 1970 or early '71) the station, at 104.7 Mhz renamed itself "WTUE". From there until August, 1975, WTUE was a formidable standalone Top 40 station, which eventually, tied WING in Women, 18-34...and was #1 with teens.

When the Top 40 format deflated by the mid-70's, the station flipped to AOR...and later Classic Rock. But, WTUE was certainly one of the first standalone Top 40 stations in America.

Of course, one could also argue that Dayton also had WDAO-FM at 107.7 in 1964. First programmed by Dayton's legendary Gene "By Golly" Barry (who made the original suggestion for the format change), WDAO was an Urban FM which made it a point to play a lot of pop crossover records for the time. The station probably rightfully should be considered an R & B or "Soul" station for its time, but the crossover 'DAO played at the time drew a good share of white teens to the station as well. And the jocks? Uptempo...top 40 jocks in every respect of the word. WDAO stayed as part of the radio landscape on FM till the early 80's, though it still continues today at 1210 AM (the frequency owned by WDAO's former sister station, WAVI.)

This probably means that Dayton, Ohio had far greater FM penetration than most markets by the late 60's/early 70's. Dayton probably had more teens listening to FM back then than you'd have seen in a lot of markets.
 
October 12th, 1966 at midnight, WRKO-FM 98.5 in Boston premiered "R-KO" (pronounced ARKO), an automated Top-40/oldies hybrid created by Mel Phillips. The station was owned by RKO General Inc.. The station commissioned Gates Radio (now known as Harris Corporation) to create a custom made automation system designed to run several reel tape machines, 2 "carousel" cart machines and "whatnot" to run the new ARKO-matic format. It quickly became the number one FM-only station in the market. It was basically a "test run" of the Top-40 format that would be premiering in March, 1967 on WRKO-FM's sister station WNAC/680. Eventually, WNAC became WRKO/680 on the AM side. WRKO-FM continued the ARKO-matic format from 6:00 PM until 6:00 AM and simulcasted WRKO-AM during the daylight hours of 6:00 AM through 6:00 PM.

The "ARKO-matic" format continues today on a modern version on WXRB-FM, 95.1 Dudley/Webster, MA.
 
When KLFM Long Beach CA signed on at 105.5 MHz in 1961, it was probably the first stand alone top-40 FM station in the country. They would last until 1966 when they went middle-of-the-road, changed the calls to KNAC and boosted the ERP from 330 watts to 2 kilowatts. They would start going progressive rock during the evenings beginning in 1967 and went full-time progressive rock in 1969.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBUE

WPGC-FM (95.5) has an interesting history worth noting. They began simulcasting their (daytime only) sister AM at 1580 beginning in 1960 and would sign on and off with their AM until 1964 when the FM would broadcast until midnight. WPGC-FM would go on to a 24-hour broadcasts beginning in 1968.
http://www.amandfmmorningside.com/


From what I've read, WOR-FM began broadcasting a free-form progressive rock format during the summer of 1966 and would segue to an adult-top-40 format in late 1967. After going through some changes, they would change calls to WXLO in 1972 and would adopt the handle "99X" two years later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRKS

WLPL (92.3) Baltimore began broadcasting a hybrid Rock/Top-40 format about 1969. By 1972 or so, they would go mainstream top-40 and would go through a number of transitions by the late 1970s and into the early '80s before changing their calls to WYST, their format to adult-contemporary and their handle to "92 Star" in 1981.
 
I dont remember,but my brain just turn a year older today.here in Connecticut I would like to mention in the 70's WDRC FM Hartford was playing Top 40 along with the AT40 with Casey Kasem.,WKCI,WKSS were playing beautiful music WIOF was country,WWYZ was easy listening tunes.Please correct me on this.
 
cd637299 said:
What was the first FM station to take the plunge into Top 40 in the USA? (Of course, I do not mean those that relayed Top 40 AM stations, like a WABC-FM.)

I think some have said that my local WMYQ in Miami was, in 1971.

cd
Click to expand...

WMYQ, and sisters WDRQ in Detroit and KSLQ in St Louis along with Mooney's WERC FM in Birmingham were among a wave of Top 40 converts from late '71 to early '72.
 
Here in Pittsburgh I am thinking it was WPEZ-FM 94.5 in the mid-70's. Their format almost mirrored 13Q, but relatively few people were listening to FM at the time. 96KX was another one around that time, but they kind of eased into it, continuing to simulcast WTAE-AM for much of the day.

I think a big barrier was the fact that FM radios did not become standard issue in cars until the late 70's.
I remember installing an FM converter in my '71 Pontiac, strategically positioned to kneecap me when
I went for the gas. Also the FCC's decision to discourage simulcasting, which is why 96KX was born.
 
In the past I have seen ads in old copies from the 60's of the Winchester ( Virginia ) Star newspaper for 102.5 WHPL-FM saying they were doing "The Hit Parade sound of Today in Stereo". One 1965 ad had showed a pic of the Beach Boys, Rolling Stones and Bobby Vinton..sounds like they were top 40 in 1965 to me.

By the 70's WHPL was WEFG and they went religious, today its country music WUSQ Q102. Number one in the market since 1982.
 
cd637299 said:
I think some have said that my local WMYQ in Miami was, in 1971.
Click to expand...
...for whatever it's worth, I started my broadcasting career doing kid voices on commercials for a local supermarket chain at the short-lived WNRR-FM 99.1 Neenah-Menasha, Wisconsin, in 1970. It was running a Top 40 format at the time...
 
Another pre-1971 FM Top 40 was WHFM in Rochester, NY. They were playing the hits (automated) at least as early as late 1968. The playlist was deep, and some billed the station as "progressive." It most certainly was not; it was just a hit station with a deep playlist of singles.
 
What about WRVQ "Q94" in Richmond VA. bet it was 71 or 72 at latest.
 
I'm surprised no one mentioned WNAP Indianapolis, on the air I believe 7-22-68. I can confirm WHFM was automated Top 40, I believe in 1967, with lots of PAMS jingles. Cris Conner or Big John should be able to confirm the WNAP sign-on.
 
MsMusicRadio said:
What about WRVQ "Q94" in Richmond VA. bet it was 71 or 72 at latest.
Click to expand...

Q-94 was definitely there by 1972 as we listened to it when we lived in that area back then.  Their format was top-40 with a rock lean.  IIRC, WLEE was the big dog at the time as AM was still king. 

WPPCProductions said:
I dont remember,but my brain just turn a year older today.here in Connecticut I would like to mention in the 70's WDRC FM Hartford was playing Top 40 along with  the AT40 with Casey Kasem.,WKCI,WKSS were playing beautiful music WIOF was country,WWYZ was easy listening tunes.Please correct me on this.
Click to expand...

They did, but as a simulcast to WDRC-AM.  They actually simulcasted the AM's top 40 format until 1967, when they broke away for stand-alone music as per the "limited simulcasting" rules of the day.  Which meant that there still was a lot of simulcasting during that period.  It was a format that would probably seem odd to us now, with a mix of top 40 music (with a more AOR presentation style), some progressive music shows, and simulcasts of the AM's top-40 format.    And yes, I do remember hearing AT-40 on that station back in the early 70s. The FM finally went AOR in 1973 - though it has gone through a number of formats since then.  Can't remember that well, but wasn't AT-40 still aired on the FM - even with the AOR format in place?
 
OldNumber7 said:
Another pre-1971 FM Top 40 was WHFM in Rochester, NY. They were playing the hits (automated) at least as early as late 1968. The playlist was deep, and some billed the station as "progressive." It most certainly was not; it was just a hit station with a deep playlist of singles.
Click to expand...

If we're including automated formats, we should probably include the Bill Drake programmed Hit Parade ('68, 69, etc.) stations. The format began in 1968 on multiple FM stations throughout the country. I guess you could say KHJ-FM 101.1 in Los Angeles was the flagship station. It probably also ran on KFRC-FM (106.1) in San Francisco. I don't know what stations ran it in other parts of the country.

It was automated, but all songs were back-announced (pre-recorded, obviously) by the KHJ-AM jocks (the Real Don Steele, etc.). The station even supplied automated time-checks. Very advanced for its time. It's hard to remember, but it may have been a slightly softer version of Top 40 - I don't recall hearing any hard rock on the station. But certainly 90% of the Hit Parade playlist was also heard on KHJ AM.
 
cd637299 said:
Hitparade (1 word actually) is indeed soft-rock. They threw in things like "No Time" by the Guess Who, but it was mainly for adults.

More at www.drakechenault.org

cd
Click to expand...

The original Hit Parade '68, '69 and '70 was almost exclusively aired on RKO General FM stations who already used Bill Drake and crew on their commonly owned AM stations like WROR(FM) (sister to WRKO) in Boston, KHJ-FM (sister to KHJ) in Los Angeles, KFRC-FM in San Francisco and others. It was so widely accepted that it was eventually aired on other FM stations around the country. Some stations later tweaked their Drake/Chenault contracts to modify their playlists to switch to "Solid Gold Rock and Roll" (75/25 ratio with oldies having the upper hand on the music) or with a more softer approach with Drake/Chenault's "Comtempo" series (the format that was the original Hit Parade).

Drake/Chenault really knew the business well. If you used a Drake/Chenault format at the time, it was more than likely one of the better stations in the market, either AM or FM.
 
I loved Hitparade, but I noticed that while some affiliates ran songs with Billy Moore's voicetrack 100% (i.e, his announcement on every song), some others did not....which had me thinking that the latter stations intentionally decided to stray from full Hitparade/Contempo, depending on the song.

WKRG-FM Mobile AL was a full-fledged Hitparade station!

WAXY 105.9 started HP in the Miami area in 1971 I think ("Hitparade '71"), but I was not sure when they ended it....I know they were our first all-oldies station around 1973, with TV ads featuring a Fonzie-like dude in a leather jacket. RKO General mighta bought it in '71.

Semi-OT....There seems to be a Drake-Chenault-esque Country format, used by 106.9 Bluffton SC/Savannah (Country 106.9). Any idea what is the syndicator?

Also, some CCM Christian stations have a similar style to D-C, with a lady's voice tagged onto each song, as if the voice is "phasing" (e.g. as in "Listen to the Music" by Doobie Bros. or "The Big Hurt" by Toni Fisher...phasing reference per a Whitburn Hot 100 book. Any idea there?

Same goes with the new 93.1 in South Jersey (I forget the calls), soft AC/standards.

[What was this thread title again? Oh well.] cd
 
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