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Radio Wars--The History of Rock and Roll in Indianapolis

If you'd be so kind, drop a post here when it starts showing...this is a must see if it's anything like the youtube cut.
 
Awesome link,, Id love to see that,, I loved Chris Conner and the old WNAP back in the day.. I dont remember the AM stations cause they didnt really put a good signal into Martinsville on the primitive AM radios I had at the time.. I only remember WNAP as a Rock top 40 from the 80s cause im not that old,, but Id love to learn more about the History of the station from 68- onward as a Rock station.. As i remember WNAP had the most awesome Sound Quality,, and I think they had more ERP back then because I could pick up the signal alot farther alot clearer than the WNOU and WIBC days,, Speaken of WIBC,, i dont remember them ever being a top 40,, ive only read about it,, but would love to know more,, when did they switch to all talk,, i remember in the 80s that they played a few AC songs once in awhile,, but it was still mostly talk. I also remember when WZPL was Kiss 99 with a mix of Dance and Rock,,, was much better than when they switched to The Apple I think sometime in 1984.. I also have read about Q-95 when they used to be TM Stereo Rock,, Im too young to remember that as well,, would love to read more about it though.. ;)
 
I spoke with the producer of the movie last night, and at the current moment they are working out details for it to air on WFYI-Channel 20. They still want to work on a theatrical release and down the road a DVD, but as you can imagine, the red tape that is involved.
 
I'd like to get a copy of this when aired by WFYI. Remember both Mike Griffin & Chris Conner when they were jocks @ WJVA South Bend prior to their move to Indy. Both class entertainers when they worked at 'JVA in the mid 60's. Conner pictured on the music surveys with a black & white checkered sports coat! Trailer shows he still has a flair for style.

Regards,

RememberWHEN
 
bigtime said:
No matter how good it may be, hard to imagine much of an audience for a theatrical release.
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Sadly, I totally agree.
 
jmrabold said:
I spoke with the producer of the movie last night, and at the current moment they are working out details for it to air on WFYI-Channel 20. They still want to work on a theatrical release and down the road a DVD, but as you can imagine, the red tape that is involved.
Click to expand...

I'd love to have a copy of the DVD. I remember the WIFE-WNAP wars quite well. Hopefully they'll include WXLW and WNDE as well.

But a theatrical release? I don't know if there are enough folks in the Indy area that are old enough to remember this since it was 40 years ago.
 
I am only assuming, but IF it goes to a theatre, I am thinking something very local..like at the State Museum or the arts theatre at keystone at the crossing...just my so called educated guess
 
Wish I'd purchased a copy of the WIFE jingles when Ken R had them for sale. I did however get the WNAP series, Electronic Moma! Can't wait to see this! Anyone know if there's any air-checks of Bill Baker from the old WIBC days? I knew of a guy who would help him and Jim Sheldan at the sock hops.
 
I would love a copy of the NAP jingles if thats something you are making available
A year or so, XM radio did a recreation of WIFE on their 60s channel for about 6 hours. I have a copy of that. Full of old airchecks and jingles...you do have to deal with the XM jock who also tries to recreate the Jack Armstrong feel, but its worth a listen
 
I purchased a ton jingles from Ken R when they sold them, but I bought many of them on DAT tape and they didn't survive the great flood of June 2008.
I do have a copy of a few of the original WIFE jingles, the complete PAMS Solid Rock ("The Rock of Indiana") and the TM shotgun "Right-On-WIFE", but sadly the rest are gone.
I would kill for a copy of the WXLW jingles from PAMS (the original Motor City Music package).
I can still remember them coming out of a top of hour newscast: "Capitol city weather then the Music Machine remembers Stevie Wonder from 1968, [forecast] right now it's 71 degrees at Super XL, excelling for you David Greer Radio Nine News" followed by the jingle then a hunk of B2B hits.
Shirk did the WABC format better than WABC.
The best radio in America was in Chicago (WLS/WCFL) but close behind was Indy in the 60's and 70's.
It's no wonder I'm in my 50's and still live for my airshift.
 
jimbo700 said:
II do have a copy of a few of the original WIFE jingles, the complete PAMS Solid Rock ("The Rock of Indiana") and the TM shotgun "Right-On-WIFE", but sadly the rest are gone.
I would kill for a copy of the WXLW jingles from PAMS (the original Motor City Music package).
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Hey Jim -

I may have a clean copy of exactly what you are looking for! Just send me a PM.

And I do have some compilation airchecks from WFBQ during the TM Stereo Rock days, circa 1974-1976, if anyone is interested. I'm still on the hunt for the great TM Pacific and Southern jingles that WFBQ used during that period (Yes - Q-95 had jingles...."Rock N Stereo....WFBQ!"). I also remember the "Right on WIFE" PAMS jingle from the Shotgun package, but I would also love to find copies of the Thunder Productions (William B Tanner) "Music People" jingles that WIFE used from 1974-1976, before they moved to the PAMS 46 package. WLS had used these as well, at least for a short period of time during 1974-1975. They always played the top of the hour ID from that package ("Music Radio...W-I-F-E...Ind-ia-NAP-olis!") Those of you that listened then may also remember that they used a "hybrid" weather jingle during that period of time. They spliced the first half ("W-I-F-E") from the Music People package with the second half ("Indy Weather") from the PAMS Solid Rock package which they had used during '72 and '73. I also have a few airchecks from that period as well from WIFE.

The period from 1974-1977 was a great time in Indianapolis top 40 radio history with WIFE, WNDE, WXLW, WNAP and WFBQ all going to war with each other. Great memories!
 
With all due respect, the Indianapolis market never saw anything like the pitched battle between WAKY-AM and WKLO-AM in Louisville from 1958-1983, with R&B daytimer WLOU-AM joining in, skewing WAKY and WKLO playlists more towards R&B/Soul ttham most Top 40 lists. In fact, Bartholomew County was in the Louisville ADI then, with significant listening to the Louisville stations in what are now the southern counties of the Indianapolis ADI...WAKY even hit the book in Vigo County (Terre Haute) during daytime power and pattern!

That war was all-out, with excellent programming, production, and personalities. PAMS (WAKY/WKLO) and Pepper-Tanner (WLOU) made a mint on jingles for these stations! It was once said that, at the height of this war, that a spot on any one of the three stations' surveys influenced stations from Fort Wayne to Atlanta.

A friend of mine, a former engineer from WLS-AM in Chicago, said that the Louisville stations' playlists were must-read material there by programmers at WCFL, WLS and WVON, seen as a "fail-safe" list for breaking music in the Southeast.
 
The King Bee said:
With all due respect, the Indianapolis market never saw anything like the pitched battle between WAKY-AM and WKLO-AM in Louisville from 1958-1983, with R&B daytimer WLOU-AM joining in, skewing WAKY and WKLO playlists more towards R&B/Soul ttham most Top 40 lists. In fact, Bartholomew County was in the Louisville ADI then, with significant listening to the Louisville stations in what are now the southern counties of the Indianapolis ADI...WAKY even hit the book in Vigo County (Terre Haute) during daytime power and pattern!
Click to expand...

We listened to WAKY in Bloomington as well. In fact, I thought they were better than WIFE. They had a great signal, unlike WKLO which suffered from too much WIBC splatter during the day (neither could be heard at all at night).

Some other mid-market Top-40 battles back in the '60s were KRIZ vs KRUX in Phoenix and WOKY vs WRIT in Milwaukee.

My guess as to why Indy didn't have anything similar at the time was because WIFE and WNAP were fundamentally different stations musically. Even during the day, when WNAP would play more commercial rock, they were more adult than the bubble-gum pushers on 1310. I left the area a few months after WXLW and WNDE joined the fray in late '72 or early '73, so I don't know how much of a war there was between those two and WIFE. I preferred WNDE as far as AM rockers went, but they had signal problems in Bloomington - weak (worse than WIFE) on my home radio during the day, inaudible at night. If you wanted rock on AM at night, you had the half-a**ed attempt at Top 40 on WTTS or the blowtorches in Chicago, Windsor, and NYC.
 
the youtube trailer said coming in the summer of 2010...has this been released?
Grew up in Columbus, Indiana--1960 through 1972 and was a devoted WNAP fan. Chuck Riley's voiceover on "The Wrath of the Buzzard" still gives me chills. Any info on viewing the entire Radio Wars video would be appreciated
 
^WIBC for years used chuck riley`s station id on the hour.even for a while when it switched to fm.they don`t use that anymore.
 
WNAP seems to be a favorite for many of us who grew up in the 70's, yet I can't recall them ever being a ratings leader in the market. I know they did well in the demo, but WIFE/WIRE/WIBC were the dominate 12+ leaders throughout most of WNAP's legendary era. It certainly never came close to the market dominance of WFBQ and WFMS in later years. Even WZPL had a short reign as the 12+ champ in Indy (I think in '90).
 
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