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Oldest and Continous TOP-40 station as of today.
- Thread starter e-dawg
- Start date
F
fred flintstone
Guest
Sorry, there is no longer any such format as Top 40 and hasn't been for some 20 years.
Maybe your question should be when did the last one die?
Maybe your question should be when did the last one die?
e-dawg said:
While there may be others, the longest running one that I am aware of is 100.7-WHYI Miami, Fl, which has been around
since at least 1973....
J
Johnny Morgan
Guest
WHOT/WHOT-FM in Youngstown, Ohio have been playing Top 40/CHR since the early 1960s. At the time the AM format moved to the FM, it was still the same ownership.
And Fred, despite your industry nudnik terminology "gotcha" ("there is no longer any such format as Top 40"), everyone discussing this seems to know what was meant by Top 40. So much for being an uber-industry guy. Insulation seems to be your worst enemy.
And Fred, despite your industry nudnik terminology "gotcha" ("there is no longer any such format as Top 40"), everyone discussing this seems to know what was meant by Top 40. So much for being an uber-industry guy. Insulation seems to be your worst enemy.
Johnny Morgan said:
Yeah, I remember when Jerry Starr and crew did that one very nicely for Myron Jones. 1330, with 500 watts day and 1000 watts nights.
Another older one is WKAQ in Puerto Rico. Set up by Mike Joseph in 1968, it moved to FM in the 70's and is still in the top 3 or 4 stations (out of 125) in the market and still high energy CHR.
I am not sure if there is 100% format continuity, but WAPE in Jacksonville was born as an AM Top 40 around 1958 or 1959, and is now an FM CHR.
Others I can remember that go back to the 60's are
KDON (now KDON FM) Salinas, CA
KRBE (now FM) Houston
WPGC DC (1580 was Top 40 in about 1958, I think)
J
Johnny Morgan
Guest
For my mind, and for that matter, most people, Top 40 and CHR are one and the same.
It's new popular music. Therefore, any Top 40 AM antecedent of a now-FM CHR is fair game.
It's new popular music. Therefore, any Top 40 AM antecedent of a now-FM CHR is fair game.
M
MN Maniac
Guest
WAPE "The Big Ape" in Jacksonville has to rank up there somewhere. Originally on 690AM then migrated to 95.1FM in the 1980s.
Hate to point this out, but in just about all of the stations mentioned, there are gaps in the station's histories where the station wasn't CHR.
An example is KDWB. There was a period of time from 1980 to 1984 where they were Album Rock and was no longer Top 40 by any means. That was why WLOL did very well in the market from the time when they've signed on in 1981, until they were sold by Emmis to Minnesota Public Radio in 1991. It took several years for KDWB to shake off the AOR image that they've made for themselves after going back to CHR (anyone remember "The New KDWB").
WAPE (AM 690) WAS Top 40 until 1981 when they went....*gasp*...Country, then....*gasp*(again)...Religion. The Kaplans still owned them at that point I believe and they were trying to get the 99.9 FM allocation for Palatka, FL so that they would finally have an FM sister for WAPE. Sadly, the deal fell through and WAPE was eventually sold to Statewide Broadcasting, which acquired the 95.1 FM frequency from the city of Jacksonville and WAPE-FM finally became a reality in early 1986.
WPGC-FM went downhill as a Top 40 in the early 80s and flipped to AC as WCLY (Classy 95) in 1984. The AM was doing Business talk, but wisely kept the WPGC call letters. The station was eventually sold to Cook Outlet Broadcasting, which brought back WPGC-FM in 1987 as a Dance/Urban Contemporary station. More info can be found here:
www.amandfmmorningside.com
KRBE-FM abandoned Top 40 in 1981 for AC and didn't come back until 1985.
Y-100 abandoned Top 40 in 1991 for AC and didn't revert back until 1995.
The only 2 stations that I can think of that deserves the title as oldest continually Top 40 in the country is:
WABB/Mobile, AL (Started on AM in the late 50's, then went to FM in 1981)
WNOK/Columbia, SC (Started on AM in the early 60's, then went to FM in 1975)
Robyn
An example is KDWB. There was a period of time from 1980 to 1984 where they were Album Rock and was no longer Top 40 by any means. That was why WLOL did very well in the market from the time when they've signed on in 1981, until they were sold by Emmis to Minnesota Public Radio in 1991. It took several years for KDWB to shake off the AOR image that they've made for themselves after going back to CHR (anyone remember "The New KDWB").
WAPE (AM 690) WAS Top 40 until 1981 when they went....*gasp*...Country, then....*gasp*(again)...Religion. The Kaplans still owned them at that point I believe and they were trying to get the 99.9 FM allocation for Palatka, FL so that they would finally have an FM sister for WAPE. Sadly, the deal fell through and WAPE was eventually sold to Statewide Broadcasting, which acquired the 95.1 FM frequency from the city of Jacksonville and WAPE-FM finally became a reality in early 1986.
WPGC-FM went downhill as a Top 40 in the early 80s and flipped to AC as WCLY (Classy 95) in 1984. The AM was doing Business talk, but wisely kept the WPGC call letters. The station was eventually sold to Cook Outlet Broadcasting, which brought back WPGC-FM in 1987 as a Dance/Urban Contemporary station. More info can be found here:
www.amandfmmorningside.com
KRBE-FM abandoned Top 40 in 1981 for AC and didn't come back until 1985.
Y-100 abandoned Top 40 in 1991 for AC and didn't revert back until 1995.
The only 2 stations that I can think of that deserves the title as oldest continually Top 40 in the country is:
WABB/Mobile, AL (Started on AM in the late 50's, then went to FM in 1981)
WNOK/Columbia, SC (Started on AM in the early 60's, then went to FM in 1975)
Robyn
KDWB started on 630 AM back in 1959. They began simulcasting at the current 101.3 FM in September 1976, when they bought rival WYOO (U100, another Top 40 station). In the early 80s, they flipped the FM to album rock for a few years, then back to Top 40 around 1983 or so. 63 KDWB was still Top 40 at the time, but were getting clobbered by WLOL, so they flipped 101.3 back to the simulcast. Soon, the AM flipped to oldies, followed by country years later (picking up the WDGY call letters from 1130 when they flipped to KFAN), then a simulcast until they went dark when the land that the tower sat on was slated for commercial development. The AM came back a few years later, still with the WDGY calls, and is now airing a Spanish-language format.
KDWB at 101.3 is still CHR, and combined with 630, this would mark 47 continuous years or so as a Top 40.
KDWB at 101.3 is still CHR, and combined with 630, this would mark 47 continuous years or so as a Top 40.
J
Johnny Morgan
Guest
I think WHOT AM/FM-Youngstown has KDWB beat by 4 years. According to this history (http://www.nrcdxas.org/articles/whot.txt), WHOT was Top 40 as early as 1955, on a daytime facility at 1570 (later 1330, and 101.1 FM). That would put Myron Jones near the front of the pack, along with Todd Storz and Gordon McLendon as pioneers in Top 40 radio.
It's still around, 51 years later, with a direct lineage back. In fact, Jones owned the stations until the mid-90s.
It's still around, 51 years later, with a direct lineage back. In fact, Jones owned the stations until the mid-90s.
Joe Jock said:
63 KDWB didn't flip to oldies until about a year after their FM went back to Top 40. So, between the two signals, KDWB has consistently carried the format.
semoochie said:
By today's standards, virtually all Top 40 stations from the early 80s sound pretty AC. I think it was mostly the product. That, and the fact that many Top 40 stations changed format around this time. By 1983 or so, rap, dance and heavy metal started getting more Top 40 airplay.
I think the "Hot Hits" stations around this period changed the format considerably. Much more upbeat, and geared toward younger listeners.
JeeperOne
Banned
Hi everyone:
KS-107.5 here in Denver would have to rank up there pretty high on the list. While not a migrator from AM nor the "tiger" of Denver radio (that would be KIMN duirng its days on AM 950), 107.5 has played Top 40 music in its many lives since at least the mid-1970s (Anyone here in Denver remember the old KPPL-FM on 107.5 ?).
Cheers
KS-107.5 here in Denver would have to rank up there pretty high on the list. While not a migrator from AM nor the "tiger" of Denver radio (that would be KIMN duirng its days on AM 950), 107.5 has played Top 40 music in its many lives since at least the mid-1970s (Anyone here in Denver remember the old KPPL-FM on 107.5 ?).
Cheers
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