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Questions about WNBC's Early Ratings as WNNNNNBC

Steve Green NEPA

Steve Green NEPA

Seeing an old NY Daily News Sunday feature -- the 'Changing Scene' ones in their Sunday paper -- I harkened back to another series of moves and was wondering how much of a ratings impact that a certain sequence of radio upheavals had.
In late 1971 Don Imus started doing mornings at WNBC. His competition, iIrc, was WABC's Harry Harrison, WOR-FM's Jimmy King, WMCA's new dial-talk venture, and different-demo WOR's John A. Gambling plus Gene Klavan at WNEW 1130. (WCBS-FM was not to start Solid Gold until July of 1972.) Erasing any initial impact of just about any new 'start', where did Imus show in ratings after a time of settling in? Does anyone here recall?
Howard Stern joined WNBC with his bookended afternoon show in 1982, after Imus had returned a few years before, following a stint in Cleveland. The two were air personalities for three years together at WNBC. Where did the 12+ ratings and the usual breakdowns settle then? Anyone know?
 
I can't remember actual numbers, maybe Huff can grab them from his immense database. But what I recall, Steve, is that (a) WABC was not much affected by the new competition, and wouldn't be for another half dozen-or-so years, (b) WOR-FM held its own and continued to siphon off audience from the AM dial, (c) WNEW-FM, WPLJ (until very recently WABC-FM) and the pre-oldies WCBS-FM held onto the chunk of college-aged "avant-garde" listeners, (d) and the stations that catered to the more mature listeners were probably thrilled to lose the competition from WNBC in their target demos. Imus attracted some new listeners, but probably not much more than the shift to "shock" cost the station in the early years of its new direction.
 


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