For Miami Radio History Buffs only!

[Mike Sheridan]

With all the skyscrapers popping up in Miami many of us knew it was just a matter of time the stately 710 Building on Brickell Av built for WGBS 710 would fall to the wrecking ball.

http://the305.com/2013/03/06/photo-miami-today-building-torn-down-in-brickell-710-brickell-avenue

 

[cd637299]

Hard to believe that the thing was erected only in 1963---it looked a lot older.

I have some 1961 airchecks of WGBS, where they mentioned a different address than 710 Brickell, and I was surprised.

I visited the building (talking to Arnie Warren & others) as a 13-year-old or so, as a school project. Glad that Mom & Dad didn't mind driving there from Hialeah!

I knew about Miami Today being there, nd also knew about a move....but no idea that the ball was comin' down.

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[Mike Sheridan]

Looking at the back issues of the Broadcasting Yearbook the old address for WGBS is given until about 1965 I believe. It's not that it was an old building rather the style was out of step with the kind of building you'd expect to see in Miami. It was New England styled architecture.

It was also storm proof with metal window shade style shutters that could be drawn in the event of a hurricane. The building also had a huge General Motors Diesel generator in the event of a power failure.

The 710 Building looked small but it was 3 floors and larger than it looked.

 

[Ai4i]

Dug out of the wreckage, wearing a "WGBS si, WAQI no" T-shirt, was the torn and twisted body of one Amos Ruttledge, who had been hiding in a closet for the last treinta años or so.

Glad that Mom & Dad didn't mind driving there from Hialeah!
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Glad that Mom & Dad didn't know about WHMS!

 

[cd637299]

Amos was real.....at least that's what the WGBS folk always seemed to say. I suppose that Arnie didn't want anyone watching while he did the show.

Oh Dad and I visited WQXK (then on 92.1) Hialeah (somewhere around W 23 St.) in 1974 while all they were doing was relaying WCMQ, then on 1220....the WCMQ-FM calls were still awaiting approval, I think. I felt that Miami waited longer than expected to have their first Spanish FM.

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[fybush]

Storer Broadcasting did not believe in regional architecture. Didn't matter whether the facility was in Art Deco Miami, old-line Boston or blue-collar Toledo - if George B. was building the studio building, it was going to be a red-brick Colonial. (Or at least the facade was; behind the scenes, once you passed through the wood-paneled lobby, it was run-of-the-mill industrial 1960s all the way.)

Atlanta was the only exception, and barely: for whatever reason, Storer painted WAGA's brick building white:

http://www.fybush.com/sites/2010/site-100521.html

 

[TheBigA]

Storer Broadcasting did not believe in regional architecture. Didn't matter whether the facility was in Art Deco Miami, old-line Boston or blue-collar Toledo - if George B. was building the studio building, it was going to be a red-brick Colonial.

Fascinating story, Scott. Wonder how many of those colonial buildings remain.

For WHN, I thought their studio was on Park Avenue near Grand Central.

 

[davideduardo]

Atlanta was the only exception, and barely: for whatever reason, Storer painted WAGA's brick building white:

George was probably influenced by Gone With the Wind.

WJW in Cleveland, on Euclid just east of the store that gave the famous actress her name, had the same colonial facade, from the moment Storer bought WEXL.

I never saw the WWVA building. I wonder if the "friendly voice from out of the hills of West Virginia" was also Yankee Colonial? And WMMN?

KGBS in LA was a converted funeral home, and had the normal funeral parlor "Faux Mansion" look to it. But the rear ground floor tilted... all the way to the drain where "fluids" could be collected. I am glad I never got to work in that building.

And, IIRC, the building at Kane Concourse on Bay Harbour Islands in NMB was also similarly out of place and inappropriately colonial. That location was also the crime scene when Storer bought his airline...

 

[fybush]

The Storer TV buildings that I know are still there, off the top of my head on a Sunday afternoon...

WSBK, Boston (which is no longer WSBK but has been extensively gutted and rebuilt for CBS Radio's four FMs)
WJBK, Detroit
WSPD-TV (now WTVG), Toledo
WSPD radio, Toledo
WAGA-TV, Atlanta
WBRC, Birmingham

I don't think WWVA ever had a custom-Storer building; hasn't it been operating from next door to the Capital Music Hall for decades now?

WHN apparently built a Storer-style Colonial lobby in their Manhattan studio space, which is long gone.

 

[jmtillery]

Storer Broadcasting did not believe in regional architecture. Didn't matter whether the facility was in Art Deco Miami, old-line Boston or blue-collar Toledo - if George B. was building the studio building, it was going to be a red-brick Colonial. (Or at least the facade was; behind the scenes, once you passed through the wood-paneled lobby, it was run-of-the-mill industrial 1960s all the way.)

Atlanta was the only exception, and barely: for whatever reason, Storer painted WAGA's brick building white:

http://www.fybush.com/sites/2010/site-100521.html

You have compiled an excellent historical account of these heritage stations. Thank you for posting the link. I've enjoyed reading the material and reviewing the photos.

 

[fybush]

You have compiled an excellent historical account of these heritage stations. Thank you for posting the link. I've enjoyed reading the material and reviewing the photos.

Thanks for the kind words! There's a lot more (over 20 years' worth now!) where that came from...some of it open to all for free, some specifically for subscribers. It's been quite the labor of love.

 

[lorenzod]

So, thats what happened to Amos!

 

[lorenzod]

Dug out of the wreckage, wearing a "WGBS si, WAQI no" T-shirt, was the torn and twisted body of one Amos Ruttledge, who had been hiding in a closet for the last treinta años or so.

Glad that Mom & Dad didn't mind driving there from Hialeah!
cd

Glad that Mom & Dad didn't know about WHMS!

So thats what happened to Amos.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Through my digging around the history books I verified what I had always heard WGBS started in 1939 as WFTL in Fort Lauderdale on 1400. They got approval to move to 710 with 10KW and in 1944 the station was bought by Storer and moved to Miami still using the WFTL calls. Sometime later they were changed to WGBS, not sure when. It had to be before the second WFTL 1400 signed on in 1946.

 

[Groove1670]

WGBS AND WIOD had FM's in 60's anyone care to share the story?

 

[Ai4i]

WJHR (96⅓) was the first commercial FM to be located on a TV tower.
WIOD-FM (97⅓) was on one of the two AM sticks.

They were both primarilly background music stations.

I remember when WGBS's STL failed, so they ran the AM audio to the FM station and picked it up with a simple FM radio at the AM transmitter site. Headphone earphone jacks work wonders in emergencies.

 

[Silkie]

Whammy in Miami - WAME

 

[cd637299]

WGBS AND WIOD had FM's in 60's anyone care to share the story?

My 1961 WGBS airchecks mention being on both AM & FM. No idea when WGBS 96.3 separated; when I bought my first FM radio in 1969, they had a nightly show called The Sounds of Jazz.

It became WJHR later in 1969 until WMYQ took over in 1971.

I dunno the whole story on WIOD-FM except I recall that if WIOD had 2 sporting events, the lesser would go to the FM. (Although the World Series is hardly the lesser against a regular season Dolphins game, I suppose contractually the Dolphins stayed on the AM.) 97.3 became WAIA "A1A" in 1973 with B/EZ (although I don't think WIOD-FM music was any different), then going MOR in spring '74 or so.

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