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Revisting 1960-1975 Atlanta Radio

T

taylorengineer

In another thread the writer reminisced about the "good 'ol days" when Dr. Don Rose did mornings on WQXI.
The Georgia Radio Hall of Fame website has airchecks from this era including one of Dr. Don back in the late 60's.
Now I grew up in that era and I remembered these guys as media megastars.......
Listen to the aircheck. He was really, really bad....at least on that day! I can't believe that was a major market morning show....he just was really not that good! The Bobby Harper bit from WIIN was equally as doltish....how is it I remember his Lavern bits as wonderful when most were really awful?
These "stars" would not survive 5 minutes in today's enviroment. I know it was a different time but I, for one, think we have improved the business of radio tremendously since those days. Top 40 radio was rampant with many "personalities"saying some incredibly stupid stuff.
Go to the website and take a stroll down memory lane. Then tell me if the Morning Mess, The Bert Show et. al. doesn't sound a little better......
 
Somewhat agree, but give me the good ole days of Top 40. And, yes, it was definitely a smaller market and a different time.
 
When I was growing up in 1950s & 60s, the guys on Quixie and WPLO (when it was a rocker) were my idols.
I listened to the radio literally hours a day and when I got my first reel to reel I began recording all of the
jocks that I loved to listen to. Today, I go back and pull out these old air checks and I cringe at what I
used to thing was "great" as these people, just about all of them, are simply terrible.
I guess during those early years there was nothing else to compare the Atlanta market with and therefore
we just assumed that our stations were the tops. As radio has gotten more sophisticated so has those
who were, and are, on the air. I would venture to say that today's good, average jock is surperior to those
on top of the pile four decades ago.
 
Before making that generalization, I would suggest going to old Y-100 airchecks of Bill Tanner, any of the old WHBQ Memphis stuff, or any of the old Musicradio WABC tapes and listening to other markets about that same time period.

I would even take the old Storz WQAM and stack it next to 'QXI, see what comes out in a comparison.

There is something about Atlanta radio that it never has seemed as polished or produced as other markets, but those other markets might bring some pause for thought.
 
In defense of the old Atlanta jocks I will say that as a kid everything seemed bigger - faster - shinier back
then. I remember Red Skelton, who was my favorite of all television comedians, when I look back at his
old shows and movies, they don't strike me that way any longer. All in all, I guess the old guys from the
50s & 60s weren't so bad for their time.....our tastes have just changed over the last 40 years.
 
I listened to John "Records" Landecker, on WLS, every night back in the late 60's. I wonder if I listened today would I still think he was great?
I listen to Bob Hope, Jack Benney, George and Gracie, Jackie Gleason today and still think they were great. I would give anything to have grown up in that era of radio....and for that matter, America. American culture was at it's pinnacle in the 30's and 40's. Television really did ruin radio....it was the death of radio as medium of imagination and fantasy. Music radio was/is the biggest waste of spectrum imaginable.
I wonder if the internet is going to "ruin" radio again......? Maybe this time it will change for the better!
 
In addition to the stations suggested by Mr. Bill, there's KHJ, KFRC, WFIL, CKLW, WLS and more. You can hear them all at www.reelradio.com (for a small fee).

As far as Dr. Don Rose, I never heard him on WQXI. But I'm very familiar with his work on WFIL and KFRC, and I think he was one of the 3 best top-40 morning men ever.

A lot of personalities in the 60's and 70's had a passion that you don't hear much of today.

What has improved, in my opinion, is that programming has become a science...much more research based than back then. And programming's a lot more complicated today, with the proliferation of so many formats.
 
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