ROCHESTER RADIO 1967 - Only 12 stations in town........

[Mark Giardina]

Mark, have you ever given any thought to working on the assignment desk at a Rochester TV station? TV stations usually need street smart news people who know the city. I know other radio news hounds who have gone that route. Just a thought.

Actually many years ago I applied for such a job at Channel 8. However the salary was less than I was making at public radio, if you can believe that. And considering the turn over of personnel at 8, I think I made the right decision in not accepting the job.

To be honest, I doubt any TV station would want me because I'm considered too old and fail to meet their EOE quotas. Besides radio is where I like to be. But again there are few if any radio news positions open these days. So I guess I will stay where I am and do what I do. Who knows eventually someday I might get back into the business if
more stations opt to go local, as some experts predict the trend will be. Either that or when I reach retirement age I could work part-time in broadcasting.

Thank you for the suggestion however. It is much appreciated.

 

[Mark Giardina]

I'll add to the cheers for WAXC. It was an exceptional Top 40 radio station.

Enough of the WSAY posts. What I'd really like to hear and read more about, especially from you Rochester radiophiles, is WHFM. As a lad living in Lancaster-Near-Marilla, that station was one of my favorites. Top 40 hits in FM stereo. And the signal came in gangbusters on the family's Sansui receiver.

I once had a tour of the WHAM-WHFM studios. It seemed like WHFM was in a studio the size of an airplane hangar. There was a stand-up operation with a board, mic, two turntables and cart machines in a massive room. You coulda put the Count Basie Orchestra in that room!

When WAXC was beginning to slide and went to WWWG, I thought it would have been cool if WHFM had adopted the WAXC call letters and moved the whole shootin' match to FM. Hey, I was a kid. What did I know. BTW, 3-W-anything call signs are stupid. 3-W-E, 3-W-G, 3-W-S, 3-W-D-40...

Need more Q !

Well hopefully I can answer some of your questions about WHFM since I worked there in the mid to late 70s.

You are correct that the studios for both WHFM and WHAM at 350 East Avenue were huge. But they were designed that way, like many old-time stations, that once broadcast live music or did their own local production of programs.

WHFM had potential under one of the first PD's at the station. Darn I can't remember the guy's name, but he was the one who turned the station from an automated operation into a live top 40 station. Paul Barsky was one of the announcers during the time I worked at WHAM/WHFM.

Unfortunately the PD who made the station sound great either left or was let go by the owner I believe and another person was brought in. This fellow would play songs that nobody was familiar with and the ratings tanked. Eventually he was let go and the station went all automated shortly before I left WHAM/WHFM.

Since then FM 99, as it was called back then, has undergone numerous format and ownership changes, along with call letters. Today I have no idea what FM 99 is called or what music they play.

 

[Bob1370]

"Larry, what about Springer Jones? I think he started at WAXC before moving over to BBF. I heard he's dead now. True?"

Sure hope not...Springer Jones (real name Steve Reeder, sometime airname Steve Springer) was a schoolmate of mine at Aquinas in the late 60s, we were together at WAXC in late '77-early '78, later went to BBF and still later, WHFM. Up to just a few years ago he was doing air shifts over at 98PXY when it was part of the CBS cluster. Lost touch with him in recent years, but last I heard he was alive and well. Anyone know the latest about him?

 

[Call Me Sherlock]

Bob, like you I lost touch with Steve over the years. But, I do recall hearing several years ago that he had passed away. He was a talented, good guy and much to young to die when he did.

 

[cee]

Lost touch with him in recent years, but last I heard he was alive and well. Anyone know the latest about him?

Sadly, I first heard about his passing about 11-12 years back. That's when I heard about it. Yes, he was a great dj and a very nice guy who gave me some good tips when I was starting out.

Since then FM 99, as it was called back then, has undergone numerous format and ownership changes, along with call letters. Today I have no idea what FM 99 is called or what music they play.

I remember them as a personality oriented Top 40 station in the early-mid 70s and then they became semi-automated sounding as "M99" around 74(IIRC they had a dj named JJ Lucifer) and then gradually became more live DJ oriented. After that I lost track for awhile. In the 80s they became Country KC99, then Classic Rock WKLX, then Oldies WKLX, both live and satellite automated, then live oldies again around the time Entercom took over as 99BBF and then, in 2000, they became 98.9 The Buzz. 99BBF became 93BBF and with it's (at that time) really crappy signal, lost most of it's audience, followed by most of it's airstaff and is now Fickle 93.

 

[The Voice of Reason]

Don't forget AP All-News Radio, 1995-2005 (RIP.) It was a damn fine service. I had firsthand experience with the old NBC "NIS" (news and information service) which only lasted a couple of years, 1976-78. There was no comparison. WYSL was fortunate to have AP ANR during 9/11. I think our coverage kicked butt in the market.

Unfortunately AP was taken over in 2004 by radio-hating Tom Callahan, who whined to me that "we only have 48 ANR affiliates." So I said: go out and affiliate more stations then. See? This is the USA. If you don't have what you want, you have the opportunity to go out and get it - that's how this country works. This rather obvious advice was lost on him.

Tom thinks that it's a far better business model for AP to be in the business of sending news to cellphones. What a doofus.

The first time I heard your station Mr. Savage is when you carried AP news. You see my job requires me to travel, and I am (admittedly) a news-junkie. The format you had is exactly what I wanted to hear, and I was deeply saddened when AP news went by the wayside. It would be nice if there was a similar service available to radio stations today. From what friends tell me the closest thing is CNN news. However I've heard stations carry CNN and wasn't impressed with their product. I will admit that I am not a fan of talk shows, either liberal or conservative, therefore I find myself having to listen to NPR more and more. It is unfortunate that more commercial stations rely on talk formats rather than try all-news. But I understand the expense involved in such a format, thus is one reason many AM stations have decided to air syndicated talk shows.

 

[Mark Giardina]

I remember them as a personality oriented Top 40 station in the early-mid 70s and then they became semi-automated sounding as "M99" around 74(IIRC they had a dj named JJ Lucifer) and then gradually became more live DJ oriented.

Good old JJ. I remember he use to crank up his headphones so loud that one could hear him through both closed doors to the studio. I used to say to him that if he didn't turn the volume down on his headset, he would eventually lose his hearing. I wonder what every happened to JJ?

There was a story going around WHAM when I was there about Foster Brooks. Years ago, before the public was even aware there was FM, Brooks reportedly opened the mic and said a curse word just to see if anyone was listening. Nobody called to complain.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Steve Reeder

Bob, like you I lost touch with Steve over the years. But, I do recall hearing several years ago that he had passed away. He was a talented, good guy and much to young to die when he did.

It appears that Steve passed in 1994, but I don't know the cause. I knew Steve when he was at Buffalo State, and just getting started in Rochester radio, and I also lost track of him over the years. I'll echo Sherlock's sentiments - he was a talented, good guy and much to young to go.

 

[Bob1370]

Re: ROCHESTER RADIO 1967 - Only 12 stations in town........Steve Reeder...

"It appears that Steve passed in 1994, but I don't know the cause. I knew Steve when he was at Buffalo State, and just getting started in Rochester radio, and I also lost track of him over the years. I'll echo Sherlock's sentiments - he was a talented, good guy and much to young to go."

That's terrible to hear. 1994...wow, that's a longer stretch since he'd been heard here in town, than I'd remembered. Time's rushing by so fast.

Seems like only the day before yesterday that we were all trying (unsuccessfully for the most part) to stay out of trouble with the priests at Aquinas, and only yesterday we were both part of WAXC's last months as a CHR station. Steve was indeed a good guy and a talented one, who really deserved to hit the big time--if he passed 14 years ago, he must have been only 41 or 42 at the time. Tragic...

 

[Savage]

Maybe Sherlock can chime in on this one. How many of you remember the incredibly annoying practice at WBBF, back in its heyday, of cueing past the intros of hit songs, simply rolling the record from when the vocal began?? IIRC this practice continued from the early to late 60s.

I'm sure it was done "for time" to accomodate the station's incredibly commercial-packed and cluttery format, which I recall actually clocking on one weekday afternoon in 1968 at 23 minutes, 40 units. Not counting: sports updates, news, stocks, promos and jingles and so forth. Most readers here will be interested to learn the the AFTRA contract at WBBF actually compensated the jocks for every spot which aired within their shows, live or recorded, done by that jock, somebody else or an agency. I think it was 55 cents per spot. The "talent fees" comprised a significant part of your paycheck.

From a listener's perspective it was very frustrating to hear "My World Is Empty Without You" by the Supremes or "Black Is Black" by Los Bravos with their energetic, dramatic intros lopped off, just so The Beehive could squeeze in one more Pepsi or Fred Walker Ford spot.

 

[yugoidar]

Wow!  Yeah, I remember a lot of commercials on 'BBF back then. Didn't the NAB have a code of some sort that members had to abide by to keep their membership?

 

[Bob1370]

"Didn't the NAB have a code of some sort that members had to abide by to keep their membership?"

NAB standards before the deregulation age called for a maximum of 18 minutes an hour (30% of the broadcast hour) for commercial material. Infomercials were verboten...not just according to NAB standards, but actual FCC rules banning "program-length commercials" of more than 5 minutes in length for either radio or TV, excepting paid political broadcasts during the period from nomination to election day, which could be any length under the feds' interpretation of the First Amendment but rarely if ever lasted more than a few minutes.

In practice, stations rarely even hit that 18 minute limit. At WBEN we would stop at 15 minutes per hour in drive time, 12 minutes per hour max in other dayparts, not because we couldn't sell more, but because we figured listeners wouldn't accept any more. And we limited stop sets to 2 minutes in length (no more than 4 :30s, 2 :30s and one :60, or 2 :60s back to back). WKBW had a similar spot limit back in the day for the same reason--an assumption that the audience's patience had its limits. I assume WGR did likewise.

WAXC in Rochester in 1977-78 rarely ran much more than 12 minutes per hour even in drive times IIRC, and I don't remember WBBF being all that much more heavily spotted than WAXC. If Larry White is lurking, perhaps he can enhance our collective memory about Rochester's top radio stations and their spot loads, back in the day...

 

[Savage]

No, I'm referring to the era when BBF was "the only game in town" except for the few hardy souls who braved Be Big Be A Builder and the endless smorgasbord of Jerry Jacks on WSAY. In other words long before WAXC existed. The competitive situation for BBF changed radically with the debut of continuous automated Top 40 on WHFM in the spring of 1968.

Yeah, I know about the NAB code and Good Programming Practice. The problem with that was the NAB didn't have uniformed Commercial Content Police to drop by and give John Sayre a ticket when the spots got too thick. Back in the day stations routinely ignored the NAB 18-minute guideline. I recall commercial loads of 24 and even 25 minutes on WENE at the station's high-water mark in 1968-69, same for WENY Elmira.

In fact: I know this is going to set off the BS alarm for some readers, but it is absolutely, utterly true. Merv's WENE sister station, WMID Atlantic City, had an FCC waiver as a "resort area licensee" so it could exceed commercial limits. And, boy, did it. We would run...hang on....50 minutes of spots an hour. The music was edited down to fit on :70 carts. You'd play about four abbreviated songs an hour - the rest was news, weather and spots.

(Incredible as it seems, the answer to the obvious question, "who the hell would listen to that?" was...just about everyone. All stations in the 4-station market did the same thing. Some people on the Boardwalk would try to get WIBG or WFIL on their transistors, but the dominant station, with about a 40 in the Pulse ratings, was WMID...commercials and all.)

 

[yugoidar]

Thanks guys.  You both have better info than I did about the NAB code. Gee, today most stations would probably fit comfortably within the limits of the code.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Bob, they weren't the only ones. In the early '70's a friend of mine worked as a board op at WLTO in Miami, a little daytimer that was programmed for the growing Cuban population. They played one song followed by what seemed like 15 spots. It kept my friend very busy loading up the old Spotmasters hoping the carts would cue up quickly. Carts? Actually some of them were old consumer 4-track tapes!

WLTO had to have board ops because the Cuban announcers couldn't get Third Class FCC licenses. What a neat little station, those folks could really party, the food was great!

 

[Mike Sheridan]

Thanks guys. You both have better info than I did about the NAB code. Gee, today most stations would probably fit comfortably within the limits of the code.

Except they cram it all into two really long spot sets. I really hate that. Don't even think about tuning into a music station at :52.

 

[Call Me Sherlock]

Maybe Sherlock can chime in on this one.  How many of you remember the incredibly annoying practice at WBBF, back in its heyday, of cueing past the intros of hit songs, simply rolling the record from when the vocal began??  IIRC this practice continued from the early to late 60s.

I'm sure it was done "for time" to accomodate the station's incredibly commercial-packed and cluttery format, which I recall actually clocking on one weekday afternoon in 1968 at 23 minutes, 40 units.  Not counting: sports updates, news, stocks, promos and jingles and so forth.  Most readers here will be interested to learn the the AFTRA contract at WBBF actually compensated the jocks for every spot which aired within their shows, live or recorded, done by that jock, somebody else or an agency.  I think it was 55 cents per spot.  The "talent fees" comprised a significant part of your paycheck.

From a listener's perspective it was very frustrating to hear "My World Is Empty Without You" by the Supremes or "Black Is Black" by Los Bravos with their energetic, dramatic intros lopped off, just so The Beehive could squeeze in one more Pepsi or Fred Walker Ford spot.

To the Bobs (Savage and Smith)...

I really don't remember cutting off the beginnings of tunes at least in my time there.  Once LIN Broadcasting bought the station, we were running 20-22 minutes of commercials an hour in prime hours although I might have a few tunes one Sunday afternoon.

Funny story, but not so funny at the time --

I was on the air and stopped for a five minute newscast at the bottom of the hour.  The new News Director was in from Miami and insisted on as many actualities as possible in each newscast.  News guys and board ops hated him because of it.  The news guys would enter the control room with stacks of 5 inch reels of tape (before they converted the newsroom to carts) before each newscast and plunk them down for the board op to play on one of three reel to reel recorders including a console mounted Magnecorder when called for.

Howard Gates, the news guy, proceeded to ramble on for about 9 or 10 minutes, just banging out those actualities, never once stopping to look at the clock in the newsbooth.  The only problem was that I had to shoehorn in about ten minutes of commercials, plus sports and jingles that remained to be played in what was left of the half-hour.  I might have played 3 records during the remaining 20 minutes.  (Stopsets that rivaled what you might hear today, huh?)

WBBF was an AFTRA station. As I recall, jocks were paid 4% of the selling rate of any commercial that played within their show.  Of course, when I started on the all night show in Jan. ‘65 there were darned few spots and most of them that were on my show were trade commercials (no pay).  Guys like Jerry Fogel, Joe Deane, Jack Palvino and Nick Nickson were making very good bucks back then. Joe, Jack and Nick were also allowed to sell (Nick was the top salesperson on staff, too).

Regarding WENY - as someone who started in radio in the Elmira area I remember those days at WENY. Before and early in my marriage, my wife was the Traffic Director there during '63-'64. I remember they had her schedule short PSA's between the commercials adding further to the unit count.  Go figure!  Maybe they thought it bought them points at the FCC.

Those were the good ol' days...

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

WLTO had to have board ops because the Cuban announcers couldn't get Third Class FCC licenses. What a neat little station, those folks could really party, the food was great!

I'm thinkin' a Beef & Cheese Burrito from Mighty Taco might be in the works this evening. Oh the sheets will be a' flutter.

 

[fybush]

I'm thinkin' a Beef & Cheese Burrito from Mighty Taco might be in the works this evening. Oh the sheets will be a' flutter.

Word has it there will be some Wahlburgers getting consumed tomorrow, along with some radio talk...can't be held responsible for any fluttering sheets that might result, though!

 

[yugoidar]

"Oh, the sheets will be a 'flutter"? Are you boys on the right board. This isn't Craig's List you know. Rox, straighten this out, will you?