They could have used WKNR. WJR, MOR as they were then, no doubt played the song eventually but we typically full service, stodgy MOR stations didn't tend to break hits.
The Guess Who would have made it without the Can Con requirements. So would have BTO, Lighthouse and Gordon Lightfoot. Some of the others wouldn't and ultimately didn't
ARSA has all the survey charts on this. "00-00" charts are year end charts. David has a link on World Radio History. Register and sign in for best results.
Frijid Pink (with the electrified remake of "House of the Rising Sun") used to play at a place near me in Ohio, around 175 miles from Detroit, but still within CKLW's strong daytime signal. I wasn't old enough to go of course.
If I'm not mistaken, Can Con hadn't taken effect when the Guess Who first hit it big in 1969. (They had also charted in the U.S. with a lesser hit and a different lineup in 1965, Shakin' all Over). Gordon Ligtfoot had also written U.S. hits dating back to the early 1960. So you are proven absolutely correct in their ability to succeed in the U.S. market. I also agree with you about BTO and Lighthouse.
I've had ARSA bookmarked for years. I think Ramblin Gamblin Man also was top five out near where I was on KIOA amd KSTT. (I think was probably before Bobby Rich became PD at the latter). I know we got a ton of requests for it on our college carrier current station, KOED (570). The copy we had was on Capitol. but I know Cameo-Parkway went bust in or around 1968.
WLS for the most part didn't jump on a record unless it looked like a big hit. They weren't as bad as WABC where Rick Sklar wouldn't play a record until it was about to be a major hit. WCFL wasn't as strict as they did play a broader list than WLS.
Can Con took effect in 1971, most of The Guess Who's big hits were in 1969 and 1970.
If you look at ARSA, WLTH, WNWC, and even 10 watt WMTH, where Harrison Ford's voice first graced the airwaves, it's claim to fame, often beat WLS and WCFL by a few weeks.
Yes, Sklar's effect at ABC was noticed more on WLS in the 70s as their music list got even tighter than it had been in the 60s.
For that reason, the overnight DJ I called at WLS (312-591-3089) in the late 1970s or early 1980s told me that the on air staff secretly called WLS the "World's Last Station". Many times, at smaller market stations, tracks were already heading down the Hot 100, and in the "Recent Recurrents" category when added at WLS. It must have been "Always and Forever" by Heatwave, that I told the Manager of the Carrier Current station at the University I was at, that WLS was playing it. One of the volunteer DJs at the tightly programmed, commercially run, carrier current station wanted to play it, and at that point, the manager said OK. He eventually became the PD of WGRD, and later was a station group PD for Clear Channel. He tried to make the carrier current radio station realistic, and a training ground for open air commercial radio, showing that radio was not all fun and games. So much for the fictitious movie version of KRML.
That was Sklar's philosophy. Don't play it unless it's already a hit. Compare WMCA and WABC charts from the 60s and you'll see
My theory is that early releases of certain artists, that peaked well outside the Top 10, were often played on just about every station except the ABC O and Os. OTOH, airplay on WLS and a few regionally influenced stations like WOKY and WGRD, could drive the "Shames" and the NC6 up to around #61 Hot 100.
I knew early on that WOKY had a playlist that was bigger than WLS and WCFL. But I didn't really grasp how tight those two were until I was in college and was within range of KIOA, KSTT, and WIRL. Along with three Storz stations that were a bit tighter than the three from the smaller markets. Although Storz' KOMA routinely incorporated a few monster country hits into their rotation. Usually one an hour....sometimes two....without any fanfare whatsoever. ("Stand By Your Man" and Skip a Rope" are a couple that come immediately to mind as fixtures on KOMA.
I did find the 3 Old WBDN Towers on an old USGS Map online. The towers look to be on a 10/190 degree orientation, and approximately 90 degrees apart. It was on the West channel of the mouth of the Ford River. If it had a typical pattern, it might have had a null toward Omena. I never heard it at Crystal Lake, though I did hear it near Petoskey with the old pattern.
I learned the same thing once I started listening to stations outside the Chicago market, except for WABC which was behind WLS.
"I Who Have Nothing" by Terry Knight & The Pack on WKYC spread from airplay on CKLW, heard well in Cleveland. Terry Knapp/Knight had been a DJ at CKLW. In fact, Terry had been a "Jack The Bellboy" at WJBK. He ran into a problem with the name Knapp when he was working under his real surname at WTAC, which could be heard somewhat in the Detroit Windsor area, so he had to change it to Knight. He was a childhood friend of Pat Bergin, who worked at several stations under various stage names, including CKLW as Dean Scott and CHUM and other stations as Scott Carpenter.
