Radio in 1967

[MsMusicRadio]

Used to visit the area then and I wonder if anybody recalls the radio stations then including jocks and formats. Thanks

 

[duke]

Very exciting time for Syracuse radio back them.

Many wicked excellent personalities especially notable was "Sweet dick" Burch on WHEN iirc. He was an entertaining Howard Stern type...many others too.

Sweet Dick was a personality that was way before his time, very clever, a master of the double entendre.

 

[therealjm12]

Actually, Sweet Dick came to Syracuse radio in the 70's, first at WHEN, later at WNDR.

If you look at the bottom of the Syracuse/Utica main page, you 'll see a thread I started last summer about CNY radio in 1967.

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=194938.0

 

[Kevin Twomey]

Hello Jim...Didn't "Sweet Dick" leave WHEN and continue his journey to Chicago @ WMAL? I think he did PM drive...very low mode of his show for the Windy City. If I remember, there was a short stop at WNDR...could be in error there...before the W1DR positioning...I recall the "Where is Sweet Dick and when is he coming back" thing...Pete M. for a while and then Phil Markert's first morning show swing thru...I recall that KUKU during time checks and his "Instant Replay Show on Saturdays...most early bits replayed during 9 to 10 AM and then the Saturday show. He really lit up the phones @ WHEN with the Deep Throat movie promotion...it's been almost 40 years...a bunch of former WHEN staffers still in the market...maybe someone can shed more light on this...Best...Kevin T.

 

[duke]

Thanks therealjm for pointing out that previous thread, it did tweek my memory some. Back then everyone was listening to AM, our home didn't even have a FM radio.

 

[Bob1370]

Wow, Sweet Dick Burch...he made an impact for a while in '72 and '73 at WHEN, but he broke not one, but two contracts in a single year.

First he jumped his WHEN contract, IIRC in the spring of '73, for more money at WNDR.

Then he bailed out on WNDR a few months later when NBC O&O WMAQ offered him a job there, thinking he'd do for them in Chicago what Don Imus was doing for them at WNBC in New York. At the same time, maybe to keep collecting WNDR's money and maybe to avoid yet another lawsuit, he tried to double-dip and fulfill his WNDR contract by voicetracking his show for 'NDR and continuing to collect their money, while doing the live show in Chicago. (It had to be one of the first voicetracked shows in upstate NY in 1973-74, and it SOUNDED taped--I don't know where he cut the voicetracks, probably at WMAQ, maybe at home, but I heard he was somewhat spotty in supplying them and a lot of older jokes kept getting recycled whenever the new break tapes were slow in arriving). I got to Syracuse during the late summer of '73 just after Burch jumped WHEN, and in the halls at 980 James St. they couldn't mention his name without attaching a cussword, until the fall '73 book came out--and we found out how little had really been lost.

Turns out all that turmoil only worked out for Sweet Dick's bank account. 'NDR didn't get great numbers once it became known around town that his show was canned goods, and he didn't score well at 'MAQ against veteran Chicago personalities like Wally Phillips, Fred Winston and Larry Lujack. He didn't put a dent in either WGN, WLS or WCFL. Meanwhile back in Syracuse, Phil Markert--who was definitely live and increasingly uninhibited--was pulling numbers every bit as good and better than Burch did for WHEN right from the start, and kept on building.

WHEN ended up getting the best of the bargain when all was said and done.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Was WOLF competitive on a weaker signal?

 

[therealjm12]

In 1967, I believe WOLF was automated "beautiful music". Not really a player in the market. Drake top 40 came along a couple years later. In the 70's WOLF was a major player despite a limited 1,000/250 DA. Just goes to show you that good programing can overcome such obstacles.