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Oldies stations from years ago

> You know, Dick Heatherton (WCBS afternoons 1972-1986) had
> even a better looking sister whose name is Joey.
>
>
> > I Know I'm Going To Hate Myself In The Morning But...
> >
> > I don't know who Bill Brown is, or was, but I know one
> thing
> > for sure- his mother sure did have a lovely daughter!
> >
>
OK, who's the father? I'm thinking "Ray". If so, is Dick actually his son aka Joey's brother?
 
I don't know, I just know who his sister is.

Dick Heatherton is from Connecticut. I don't think he lives there now.


> OK, who's the father? I'm thinking "Ray". If so, is Dick
> actually his son aka Joey's brother?
>
<P ID="signature">______________
[email protected]</P>
 
> Since the majority of oldies stations nowadays play hits
> from the '60s and '70s, what did "oldies" stations play back
> then? Were there even any oldies stations around? When did
> the first station like this pop up?
>
<smile> Hmmm...."back then..." Well, let me think. It seems that when we refer to oldies on this board we generally and predominantly refer to "rock and roll". Most would agree that rock and roll's birth on radio was circa 1955 or 1956 with Bill Haley and the Comets riff and rimshop heard 'round the world.

At that time, generally, radio - music radio - was pretty much all encompassing and eclectic. You had mix of Big Band artists, counry, rock-a-billy, novelty, blues, ballads, and emerging rock and roll together, even on the newly developing top 40 stations. You could hear Bing Crosby, Perry Como, The Ink Spots and Elvis on the same station. While amusing, sometimes irritating, and new voice of youth taking on its own character, the then contemporary stations were still parent friendly - they could hear their favorites still. They, therefore, were not as alienated from their kid music AND they got a sense for who their kids liked to listen to.

There was still sports, talk (much like today)...except modern radio - today's modern radio - excluding NFP or community radio limits itself to talk, sports, or muic...radio in the '50s had variety shows, still had some comedy programs and mystery "plays", adventure and other story forms, cooking etc. carrying over from the 1940s.

As a result, for the most part, I would suspect there was not the "need" for so-called oldies stations. Because, by our general definition of oldies today - rock and roll - there were no oldies. Our stations in Cincinnati that played top 40 of the day were WSAI and WCPO. At one time WCPO experimented with "color radio" - assigning each recording a color depending on how hot it was - red being very hottt and moving. The experiment did not last long before they resigned again to the top 1 - 40 syatem.

Now, the first "oldies" I heard were called "flasbacks" on WSAI in the mid 60s. It was usually on weekends and twice and hour they would play a flasback song to say '61 or '59 something like that.

Sooo, if we go by the widely accepted criteria oldies being only dating back to the birth of Rock and Roll, or generationally defined as, say 15 - 25years ago music, there were no "oldies" stations until, as most say, in the late 60s and mid-70s.

Besides the oldies stations we generally refer to on these boards, there are others (believe it or not, but dwindeling and often restricted to NFP or community radio, they are called "classical", "Big Band", etc.

There is some really great stuff from the '20s, '30s, and '40s, and even the 1800s. But we would never refer to those as "oldies" under the defining terms of oldies on this board. Most would say those are classical or big band or have no catagory at all for anything pre-'55. By that standard, to summarize, I don't see there was an identified need for specifically designated "oldies" format then - music was just part of radio then. Folks could finf their music by simply flipping the dial. And NOT ALL radio then was defined by music. Radio was eclectic from music to comedy to variety to mystery/adventure/suspense.

Thank you for the posting,
and reading my rather lengthy opinioned response.
Take care,
Jim - DJJIMB
 
> Hmmm...."back then..." Well, let me think. It seems that
> when we refer to oldies on this board we generally and
> predominantly refer to "rock and roll". Most would agree
> that rock and roll's birth on radio was circa 1955 or 1956
> with Bill Haley and the Comets riff and rimshop heard 'round
> the world.
>
> At that time, generally, radio - music radio - was pretty
> much all encompassing and eclectic. You had mix of Big Band
> artists, counry, rock-a-billy, novelty, blues, ballads, and
> emerging rock and roll together, even on the newly
> developing top 40 stations. You could hear Bing Crosby,
> Perry Como, The Ink Spots and Elvis on the same station.
> While amusing, sometimes irritating, and new voice of youth
> taking on its own character, the then contemporary stations
> were still parent friendly - they could hear their favorites
> still. They, therefore, were not as alienated from their kid
> music AND they got a sense for who their kids liked to
> listen to.
>
> There was still sports, talk (much like today)...except
> modern radio - today's modern radio - excluding NFP or
> community radio limits itself to talk, sports, or
> muic...radio in the '50s had variety shows, still had some
> comedy programs and mystery "plays", adventure and other
> story forms, cooking etc. carrying over from the 1940s.
>
> As a result, for the most part, I would suspect there was
> not the "need" for so-called oldies stations. Because, by
> our general definition of oldies today - rock and roll -
> there were no oldies. Our stations in Cincinnati that played
> top 40 of the day were WSAI and WCPO. At one time WCPO
> experimented with "color radio" - assigning each recording a
> color depending on how hot it was - red being very hottt and
> moving. The experiment did not last long before they
> resigned again to the top 1 - 40 syatem.
>
> Now, the first "oldies" I heard were called "flasbacks" on
> WSAI in the mid 60s. It was usually on weekends and twice
> and hour they would play a flasback song to say '61 or '59
> something like that.
>
> Sooo, if we go by the widely accepted criteria oldies being
> only dating back to the birth of Rock and Roll, or
> generationally defined as, say 15 - 25years ago music, there
> were no "oldies" stations until, as most say, in the late
> 60s and mid-70s.
>
> Besides the oldies stations we generally refer to on these
> boards, there are others (believe it or not, but dwindeling
> and often restricted to NFP or community radio, they are
> called "classical", "Big Band", etc.
>
> There is some really great stuff from the '20s, '30s, and
> '40s, and even the 1800s. But we would never refer to those
> as "oldies" under the defining terms of oldies on this
> board. Most would say those are classical or big band or
> have no catagory at all for anything pre-'55. By that
> standard, to summarize, I don't see there was an identified
> need for specifically designated "oldies" format then -
> music was just part of radio then. Folks could finf their
> music by simply flipping the dial. And NOT ALL radio then
> was defined by music. Radio was eclectic from music to
> comedy to variety to mystery/adventure/suspense.
>
> Thank you for the posting,
> and reading my rather lengthy opinioned response.
> Take care,
> Jim - DJJIMB


****************************************************************


Nice post. It's an accurate description of radio as I remember it (I'm 55+). It's obvious that many of today's younger listeners don't understand stations like Chicago's WRLL. They complain about hearing "too many standards". The truth is, WRLL is NOT an Oldies station (even though they use "oldies" in their promos)............it's a '50s/early '60s Top 40 station. And the best part is that the station's PD says that he uses the local (Chicago) Top 40 charts as a basis for the station's programming.
 
> > Hmmm...."back then..." Well, let me think. It seems that
> > when we refer to oldies on this board we generally and
> > predominantly refer to "rock and roll". Most would agree
> > that rock and roll's birth on radio was circa 1955 or 1956
>
> > with Bill Haley and the Comets riff and rimshop heard
> 'round
> > the world.
> >
> > At that time, generally, radio - music radio - was pretty
> > much all encompassing and eclectic. You had mix of Big
> Band
> > artists, counry, rock-a-billy, novelty, blues, ballads,
> and
> > emerging rock and roll together, even on the newly
> > developing top 40 stations. You could hear Bing Crosby,
> > Perry Como, The Ink Spots and Elvis on the same station.
> > While amusing, sometimes irritating, and new voice of
> youth
> > taking on its own character, the then contemporary
> stations
> > were still parent friendly - they could hear their
> favorites
> > still. They, therefore, were not as alienated from their
> kid
> > music AND they got a sense for who their kids liked to
> > listen to.
> >
> > There was still sports, talk (much like today)...except
> > modern radio - today's modern radio - excluding NFP or
> > community radio limits itself to talk, sports, or
> > muic...radio in the '50s had variety shows, still had some
>
> > comedy programs and mystery "plays", adventure and other
> > story forms, cooking etc. carrying over from the 1940s.
> >
> > As a result, for the most part, I would suspect there was
> > not the "need" for so-called oldies stations. Because, by
> > our general definition of oldies today - rock and roll -
> > there were no oldies. Our stations in Cincinnati that
> played
> > top 40 of the day were WSAI and WCPO. At one time WCPO
> > experimented with "color radio" - assigning each recording
> a
> > color depending on how hot it was - red being very hottt
> and
> > moving. The experiment did not last long before they
> > resigned again to the top 1 - 40 syatem.
> >
> > Now, the first "oldies" I heard were called "flasbacks" on
>
> > WSAI in the mid 60s. It was usually on weekends and twice
> > and hour they would play a flasback song to say '61 or '59
>
> > something like that.
> >
> > Sooo, if we go by the widely accepted criteria oldies
> being
> > only dating back to the birth of Rock and Roll, or
> > generationally defined as, say 15 - 25years ago music,
> there
> > were no "oldies" stations until, as most say, in the late
> > 60s and mid-70s.
> >
> > Besides the oldies stations we generally refer to on these
>
> > boards, there are others (believe it or not, but
> dwindeling
> > and often restricted to NFP or community radio, they are
> > called "classical", "Big Band", etc.
> >
> > There is some really great stuff from the '20s, '30s, and
> > '40s, and even the 1800s. But we would never refer to
> those
> > as "oldies" under the defining terms of oldies on this
> > board. Most would say those are classical or big band or
> > have no catagory at all for anything pre-'55. By that
> > standard, to summarize, I don't see there was an
> identified
> > need for specifically designated "oldies" format then -
> > music was just part of radio then. Folks could finf their
> > music by simply flipping the dial. And NOT ALL radio then
> > was defined by music. Radio was eclectic from music to
> > comedy to variety to mystery/adventure/suspense.
> >
> > Thank you for the posting,
> > and reading my rather lengthy opinioned response.
> > Take care,
> > Jim - DJJIMB
>
>
****> ************************************************************
>
>
>
> Nice post. It's an accurate description of radio as I
> remember it (I'm 55+). It's obvious that many of today's
> younger listeners don't understand stations like Chicago's
> WRLL. They complain about hearing "too many standards".
> The truth is, WRLL is NOT an Oldies station (even though
> they use "oldies" in their promos)............it's a
> '50s/early '60s Top 40 station. And the best part is that
> the station's PD says that he uses the local (Chicago) Top
> 40 charts as a basis for the station's programming.
>
Hey Fonz! Thank you for the nice reply. Sure wish we had a WRLL in this area (Cincinnati). Count yourself among the dwindeling number blessed with great music. Is there anyway I can access WRLL on-line?
Take Care,
Jim - DJJIMB
 
> >[ Nice post. It's an accurate description of radio as I
> > remember it (I'm 55+). It's obvious that many of today's
> > younger listeners don't understand stations like Chicago's
> WRLL. They complain about hearing "too many standards".
> > The truth is, WRLL is NOT an Oldies station (even though
> > they use "oldies" in their promos)............it's a
> > '50s/early '60s Top 40 station. And the best part is that
> the station's PD says that he uses the local (Chicago) Top
> 40 charts as a basis for the station's programming.]


>
> [Hey Fonz! Thank you for the nice reply. Sure wish we had a
> WRLL in this area (Cincinnati). Count yourself among the
> dwindeling number blessed with great music. Is there anyway
> I can access WRLL on-line?
> Take Care,
> Jim - DJJIMB]



YES.......www.realoldies1690.com
 
> > >[ Nice post. It's an accurate description of radio as I
> > > remember it (I'm 55+). It's obvious that many of
> today's
> > > younger listeners don't understand stations like
> Chicago's
> > WRLL. They complain about hearing "too many standards".
>
> > > The truth is, WRLL is NOT an Oldies station (even though
>
> > > they use "oldies" in their promos)............it's a
> > > '50s/early '60s Top 40 station. And the best part is
> that
> > the station's PD says that he uses the local (Chicago)
> Top
> > 40 charts as a basis for the station's programming.]
>
>
> >
> > [Hey Fonz! Thank you for the nice reply. Sure wish we had
> a
> > WRLL in this area (Cincinnati). Count yourself among the
> > dwindeling number blessed with great music. Is there
> anyway
> > I can access WRLL on-line?
> > Take Care,
> > Jim - DJJIMB]
>
>
>
> YES.......www.realoldies1690.com
>
OR . . . http://ccdig.liquidviewer.com/wrll
 
Speaking of jingles, does any one have a copy of the WMOD jingle. Sounded like Big Ben then the call letters.
Yes, WMOD was the only station that I listened to while serving in the Air Force from '70 thru '72 Va.
They would really play songs that were not heard on the other stations, and I really wish I'd taped some of
them along with the Jock's doing their themes etc.

Hmmmmm!! Those were the days..
 
And remember, when Drake programmed WUBE in the late sixties, they also had their Million Dollar Weekends, which played late fifties and early sixties sounds. The signal was bad, but the music was GREAT!
 
FRR said:
And remember, when Drake programmed WUBE in the late sixties, they also had their Million Dollar Weekends, which played late fifties and early sixties sounds. The signal was bad, but the music was GREAT!
Click to expand...

I listened daily to 1360 WSAI (Cincinnati) and 1410 WING (Dayton) back then. WUBE was a no-go where I lived due to their 1kw signal. I managed to catch it for the first time while on a Boy Scout campout near Liberty in far-east-central Indiana in the summer of ’67... What a wonderful station! I remember them playing the Everly Brother’s “Bowling Green” (which WSAI did not).

“A man from Kentucky sure is lucky... (with) those girls down in Bowling Green”... “Dangerous Dan” brought that one back as a frequent play on the reincarnation of WSAI on 1530 as “Real Oldies” in ’04. That song barely made it inside the Top-40... Interesting that Drake permitted it to spin there.
 
On Friday of this week, XM will feature WING for 5 hrs from 4-9PM as they do every week with a different station from the sixties. Hipporadio, you may want to catch it if you have XM.
 
FRR said:
On Friday of this week, XM will feature WING for 5 hrs from 4-9PM as they do every week with a different station from the sixties. Hipporadio, you may want to catch it if you have XM.
Click to expand...

THANKS FRR! I can hear "The 60s on 6" via my DirecTV service. I'll look forward to the "High-flyin' WING" tribute. I'm sure that Kirkee will be in the mix... "You've been put on the Steve Kirk Show... HA Cha-Cha-Cha-Chaaaa" ;D
 
The first oldies stations I heard were W4 (WWWW) in Detroit and WGAR in Cleveland, both in 1970. W4 played all oldies, while WGAR played about 80% oldies and 20% currents. W4 jocks included Detroit legends Tom Clay and Robin Seymour, while WGAR had Imus in the morning and Norm N. Nite was on late nights.

In 1971 WJR-FM launched an automated oldies format (California Radio) which forced W4 to switch from oldies to rock. Also that year, there was an excellent oldies station in Toledo called WGLN-FM.

In 1972, JR-FM started mixing currents with the oldies and that's when WHFI-FM went all oldies as "Old Gold." A year later they changed their call letters to WHNE and became Honey Radio. In 1974 they began simulcasting on 560 AM with the new call letters WHND. Oldies disappeared on the FM side shortly thereafter, but WHND continued with the format into the 90s.

Also in '72 while on vacation I heard Chicago's oldies station at the time, WIND.
 
Therad, I was going to mention Honey Radio but you beat me to it!

OT, but do you know when WJR-FM went from the oldies/currents mix to Beautiful Music, which they remained until they became Hot Hits WHYT in 1982? I know it was Beautiful Music by 1974, because an Ann Arbor radio station list from that year lists them as B/EZ.

It is also worth pointing out that WHND continued to sound like a "first generation" oldies station until the very end (which came in about 1994 when the station went Spanish; it's now a religion-talk station owned by Crawford). They played lots of deep cuts and pre-Beatles and very limited post-1965. www.whnd.org is a tribute website run by an Email penpal of mine who was a devout Honey Radio fan.

In Ann Arbor, Clear Channel brought back the "Honey Radio" name and WHNE calls (the WHND calls now belong to a public radio station in Sister Bay, WI) in 2002 to AM 1290. Playlist-wise, the "new" Honey Radio focused on 1955-1970 mostly, not nearly as deep as the original Honey or as WSAI was with its Real Oldies approach, but still with a good quotient of "oh wow" songs. The station has since become WLBY, an Air America affiliate.

In regard to oldies on Top 40 stations, of course, The Big 8 CKLW, while not all-oldies, did the Million Dollar Weekend thing and released several oldies albums. Many Top 40 stations in the 60s and 70s released oldies albums - WKNR Keener 13 had its "Keener Gold" collections as well.

Going farther back to the late 50s/early 60s, WJBK had special jingles to introduce oldies ("Flashbacks" as they called them), and I've read that Joel Sebastian on WXYZ had a weekend all-oldies show called "Movin' Memories."

Also, Detroit in the late 70s had Tower 92 WTWR (now WMXD), which was sort of an Adult Top 40/Oldies hybrid.

I believe Detroit's first "second generation" all-oldies station was WKSG-FM (Kiss 102.7), which lasted from about 1984 to 1991. 93.9 in Windsor also made several attempts at oldies during this time, twice as CKLW-FM (with formatics that recalled its AM sister, the Big 8) and once as CKMR "More 94." But WOMC 104.3 went oldies in 1989 and trounced them both, and has been oldies since. Recently CKLW's sister station, CKWW 580 AM "Motor City Favorites", went from Gold-Based A/C to oldies of the 60s and 70s, and sounds great. Also there's CFCO 630 AM in Chatham, Ontario, which has been playing oldies since about 1991 or 1992 and can be heard easily in the Detroit area.

There is still one oldies station in the Detroit area reminiscent of the "first generation" approach, and that is WPON 1460 AM in suburban Walled Lake (Oakland County), which has a playlist very similar to the old WHND, including deep cuts, minor chart entries, and Detroit-only hits. They also stream, at www.wpon.com. However, they also run a lot of ethnic programming, especially on weekends.
 
djvinnerj2 said:
Our stations in Cincinnati that played top 40 of the day were WSAI and WCPO. At one time WCPO experimented with "color radio" - assigning each recording a color depending on how hot it was - red being very hottt and moving. The experiment did not last long before they resigned again to the top 1 - 40 syatem.
Click to expand...

Wow...being a former resident of Cincinnati, I do remember WCPO and their "color radio". Very cool that you mentioned this...
 
Eli Polonsky said:
In Boston, the original WROR 98.5 FM became the first full-time commercial oldies station in 1973, riding the 50's nostalgia wave spawned by the movie "American Graffiti" and the TV show "Happy Days". They played hits from the mid-50's to the very early 60's. This was the period when many oldies stations first debuted in many cities.
Click to expand...

Actually 1260-WEZE beat WROR by a few months, when they flipped to Oldies in November, 1972. WROR went all 50s, Oldies around March, 1973. Personally I much preferred WEZE's 50s to early 70s approach at that time, with live jocks too. WROR was automated. In October, 1973, WCOP-FM also jumped into the full time Oldies battle, doing automated 50s-70s Oldies. During this period, WEZE (Z-1260) started mixing in some currents, going a little more head to head with WRKO and WMEX. Eventually, WCOP-FM abandoned the format by late 1974, and flipped to Country, and WEZE went automated easy listening in 1975.
 
Z 92.9-Z 93" in Atlanta was also one of the first oldies stations in the early 1970`s. They were programmed by Boss radio legend Bill Drake.
 
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