Sixty Years ago

[CAVEMANager]

If was on July 4, 1958 that KB Radio was born. The new Top 30 format was an instant success and 1520 quickly became the overwhelming top rated station in Western New York. The original lineup included Jack Kelly (John Szczepanik) on all nights, Perry Allen on morning drive, Russ Syracuse on mid days, Art Roberts in afternoon drive, Dick Biondi evenings and Tom Shannon doing weekends. The only ones still alive are Biondi and Shannon. I remember disliking the music because KB was almost always dead last in debuting new songs. Being at the top of the dial didn't hurt the station one bit. In fact for awhile WGR tried to compete with WKBW and the result was disastrous. Radio in those days was much more fun to listen to. Consolidation has done a lot to make radio lifeless. Today 1520 in Buffalo might as well be off the air. Most of the 1958 listeners are probably deceased or can't remember sixty years ago.

 

[davideduardo]

If was on July 4, 1958 that KB Radio was born. The new Top 30 format was an instant success and 1520 quickly became the overwhelming top rated station in Western New York.

There were no ratings for "Western New York" so that statement is just hyperbole.

Hooper and Pulse measured households that were toll free calls from the center zone of the "Market". So that meant that the ratings were for Buffalo and the inner suburbs. While in 1958, urban sprawl had just begun, those outer areas of Buffalo, plus Niagara Falls and the rural towns and areas were not even measured.

We know anecdotally that KB was huge where the day signal could be heard (which, at 1520, was not far) and at night it was likely that the station was the most listened to one in Caribou, ME and the like... but we have no evidence of that other than those anecdotal experiences with early top 40.

 

[Element9]

Well, I suppose that could be filed under 'Pedantic Parsing.'

"Western New York" is the term usually used in these parts to imply and describe the city of Buffalo and Niagara (sometimes spelled and pronounced "NI-gra") Falls. The immediate contingent suburbs fall under the "Western New York" description as well. Equally, one could live in Elma, but if visiting LA or Palm Springs, being asked, "where do you live?" answering, "Buffalo" (also sometimes pronounced "BUF-lo.") Rarely would one answer, "Elma."

And although it may be correct (your assessments typically are) with regard to the parameters of measurement for the market at the time, the fact is WKBW was a near instant success. How could it not be, given the signal, the era, the personalities, the presentation, and most of all... music. WKBW vanquished 250 watt 1400 WBNY and daytime-only, kilowatt 1120 WWOL (with simulcast FM), stations that once hosted personalities who went on to greater success, Casey Kasem (briefly) at WBNY; Tom Clay, Bruce Bradley and Dick Purtan at WWOL.

As to signal strength, it is true that 1520 requires a lot of "push" to cover a substantial land mass, but WKBW, with a three tower directional (DA-1) array protecting co-channel 1530 in Cincinnatti well as 1520 Oklahoma City at night, had sufficient coverage to score daytime points in Rochester, 45 miles east.

The "K-Big" signal blanketed the city of Buffalo, the center of population prior to the exodus to the suburbs, Erie county; and 'adequately' covered Niagara county, two counties which became the primary ratings drivers for Buffalo radio stations.

Today, KB's ground system and ATUs are said by knowledgeable engineering personnel to be in need of "attention." Whether Entercom is addressing those needs is not known. It's possible, given that 1520 and co-owned 550 "share the land." That said, the present 1520 signal is far from the force of the 50s, 60s, 70s and early 80s, prior to Capital Cities selling the facility to Price Communications (often derided as "Half Price" communications) which resulted in the call letters being changed to WWKB ("We Were KB"). Oddly, channel 7 retained the WKBW call letters.

Eventually, ratings of the once legendary station eroded due to increased competition, format diversification, personality flight to FM, listener fragmentation and encroachment by a number of successful FM signals.

And here we are. KB. A memory. Remnant of what it once was. Small consolation that it's not alone in being described as such. One wonders if 60 years hence, FM will be viewed through the same lenses. Stay tuned... or not.

 

[four4rock]

Hmmm. Curious. Is it nothing more than folklore that KB is said to have started in the 1920's as a gospel station? Had always heard that WKBW was a chosen acronym for Well Known Bible Witness. True? Not True?

Funny, too... I thought KB had shut down. Gone. Lights off. Kaput. A few months ago a friend got a gig as a sports talk show host on ESPN. I lamented that I couldn't listen to him. He told me that ESPN was on in Buffalo... WWKB. I told him he was nutz. He insisted. Lo and behold, KB still lives. Who knew? lol

 

[TheBigA]

One wonders if 60 years hence, FM will be viewed through the same lenses. Stay tuned... or not.

The way technology is changing, I'd expect that in 60 years the internet as we know it now will be viewed through the same lens. There are already people memorializing AOL and dial-up email, and that's only 20 years ago.

 

[davideduardo]

Well, I suppose that could be filed under 'Pedantic Parsing.'

Good term!

"Western New York" is the term usually used in these parts to imply and describe the city of Buffalo and Niagara (sometimes spelled and pronounced "NI-gra") Falls. The immediate contingent suburbs fall under the "Western New York" description as well. Equally, one could live in Elma, but if visiting LA or Palm Springs, being asked, "where do you live?" answering, "Buffalo" (also sometimes pronounced "BUF-lo.") Rarely would one answer, "Elma."

And my point is that, until ARB rolled out its diary-based system in the latter part of the 60's, local market radio reports from Pulse and Hooper were based on the toll-free calling zone of the central city. It would be an interesting item of curiosity to know what that zone was in Buffalo in 1958.

Of course people use the main city of a market as an umbrella to cover sometimes unknown suburbs. For 30 years, when asked where I lived, I said "San Juan" even though I lived in Guaynabo, Caguas and Río Piedras for most of the time... but who has ever heard of those?

Yet the fact is that those ratings from the early days of Top 40 were based on a very tiny core market, and did not cover the suburbs and, of course, did not include adjacent counties. The Hooper model was developed back when C. E. Hooper worked for Starch decades before when cities were compact and phone calls outside the central area were relatively expensive.

And although it may be correct (your assessments typically are) with regard to the parameters of measurement for the market at the time, the fact is WKBW was a near instant success.

I have a hard time thinking of any well done early Top 40 station anywhere in the US that was not an instant success. Some miserable signals, such as KOBY in San Francisco and WCPO in Cincinnati and WRIT in Milwaukee beat every other station in grand fashion. And the original Top 40 station, KOWH in Omaha, was a 500 watt daytimer and ended up with half the local audience.

Much of that success of poor signal stations had to do with the reticence of owners of big signals to go to Top 40 and the fact that the puny signals were, actually, great signals in the limited survey areas of ratings in the pre-ARB era.

WKBW vanquished 250 watt 1400 WBNY and daytime-only, kilowatt 1120 WWOL (with simulcast FM),

Buth WBNY and WWOL lost due to the superior format execution of WKBW, not the signal. WBNY's signal was just as usable as WKBW's signal in the ratings survey area.

As to signal strength, it is true that 1520 requires a lot of "push" to cover a substantial land mass, but WKBW, with a three tower directional (DA-1) array protecting co-channel 1530 in Cincinnatti well as 1520 Oklahoma City at night, had sufficient coverage to score daytime points in Rochester, 45 miles east.

In the low-noise environment of the late 50's, that was possible. But the day signal was mostly limited to the immediate market.

The "K-Big" signal blanketed the city of Buffalo, the center of population prior to the exodus to the suburbs, Erie county; and 'adequately' covered Niagara county, two counties which became the primary ratings drivers for Buffalo radio stations.

Up until ARB came into Buffalo in the late 60's, the survey area was not even all of Erie County... based on the AT&T tariff data I could find, the Pulse dialing area did not include 70% of that county and non of Niagara County.

Eventually, ratings of the once legendary station eroded due to increased competition, format diversification, personality flight to FM, listener fragmentation and encroachment by a number of successful FM signals.

As important as those factors is the huge rise in man-made noise, which makes the use of even the most powerful AM stations a challenge.

 

[gr8oldies]

When did WCPO ever beat WSAI? Even Bill Drake couldn't make 1kw Day/250 night compete with 5kW

Good term!



And my point is that, until ARB rolled out its diary-based system in the latter part of the 60's, local market radio reports from Pulse and Hooper were based on the toll-free calling zone of the central city. It would be an interesting item of curiosity to know what that zone was in Buffalo in 1958.

Of course people use the main city of a market as an umbrella to cover sometimes unknown suburbs. For 30 years, when asked where I lived, I said "San Juan" even though I lived in Guaynabo, Caguas and Río Piedras for most of the time... but who has ever heard of those?

Yet the fact is that those ratings from the early days of Top 40 were based on a very tiny core market, and did not cover the suburbs and, of course, did not include adjacent counties. The Hooper model was developed back when C. E. Hooper worked for Starch decades before when cities were compact and phone calls outside the central area were relatively expensive.



I have a hard time thinking of any well done early Top 40 station anywhere in the US that was not an instant success. Some miserable signals, such as KOBY in San Francisco and WCPO in Cincinnati and WRIT in Milwaukee beat every other station in grand fashion. And the original Top 40 station, KOWH in Omaha, was a 500 watt daytimer and ended up with half the local audience.

Much of that success of poor signal stations had to do with the reticence of owners of big signals to go to Top 40 and the fact that the puny signals were, actually, great signals in the limited survey areas of ratings in the pre-ARB era.



Buth WBNY and WWOL lost due to the superior format execution of WKBW, not the signal. WBNY's signal was just as usable as WKBW's signal in the ratings survey area.



In the low-noise environment of the late 50's, that was possible. But the day signal was mostly limited to the immediate market.



Up until ARB came into Buffalo in the late 60's, the survey area was not even all of Erie County... based on the AT&T tariff data I could find, the Pulse dialing area did not include 70% of that county and non of Niagara County.



As important as those factors is the huge rise in man-made noise, which makes the use of even the most powerful AM stations a challenge.

 

[davideduardo]

When did WCPO ever beat WSAI? Even Bill Drake couldn't make 1kw Day/250 night compete with 5kW

Drake came in just as Arbitron was rolling out nationally. In the Pulse / Hooper days of the 50's and most of the 60's, they were very close with WCPO winning early on. Remember, WCPO was a very early convert to the format, with at least part of the day having a published hit parade show going back to at least 1954.

In the '57-59 period, WCPO did a lot of the famous McLendon contests, including the treasure hunt (and its Easter Egg variant) and was the top station at the time.

They even did a "Hidden Ham" version, with certificates for 20 big hams hidden around town.

And speaking of enormously successful 250 watt stations in that period, there is #1 WCOL in Columbus, OH and Dave Morris' amazing KNUZ-1230 in Houston, which in 1957 ran ads in Broadcasting promoting their #1 ratings.

Because the survey area was relatively small in every rated market under Pulse and Hooper, other Top 40's on 250 watt Class IV stations could be highly successful... WAKE, Atlanta, WBSR, Pensacola, WKGN-Knoxville, WBBQ-Augusta, WKDA-Nashville, WLAV-Grand Rapids, and quite a few more.

 

[Element9]

Buth WBNY and WWOL lost due to the superior format execution of WKBW, not the signal. WBNY's signal was just as usable as WKBW's signal in the ratings survey area.

Before moving to WKBW, Dick Lawrence was PD of WBNY, where he created a highly produced product. He brought much of those programming theatrics to KB, and made them bigger. According to the market legacies, WBNY was a tightly formatted, hot sounding Top 40; and WWOL had big, high profile personalities. Many years ago two legacy engineers, both of whom worked at WBNY and WKBW, commented that WBNY's signal was good, but far from great. To paraphrase (ahem) them, "Between the two radio stations, it was no contest. WBNY had 250 watts off a tower on top of the Larkin warehouse and the ground system there wasn't good. Surely not as good as it might have been if the tower had been planted on a field near Caz or Delaware Park, or Frontier rail yard." McLendon bought 1400, changed the call letters to WYSL (AM 1400 & FM 103.3) and challenged KB with a tight format. It too sounded great. McLendon in the early 70s, moved the tower from the Larkin site to a field near Kensington and Filmore. The ground conductivity, mostly rock and shale, wasn't great. And because the tower was more efficient than the Larkin tower, the FCC ordered WYSL to cut power to about 780 watts day and 180 watts night. Still, there are those who believe that had WYSL been planted on regionals 550 or 930, it would have seriously challenged and possibly beaten KB. Who knows. That's one of those "if frogs had wings" things. It took a few years, but KB was finally vanquished by the onslaught of WBEN-FM as Rock 102, WBLK-FM, WYSL-FM later WPHD, and WGRQ FM as a Top 40, but more damaging to KB as AOR "QFM97" later 97 Rock.

 

[CAVEMANager]

Seems to me back in the late 1950, Class IV stations were limited to 250 watts at night. So a station on 1400 had a hard time competing with 50,000 watts. Truth be told WKBW had the best daytime signal in the market except for portions of Canada but rarely did Canadian businesses buy advertising from Buffalo stations. Rochester is actually about 70 miles northeast of Buffalo. And yes, it is pronounced "Buff-lo" The natives also have other terms that you won't find anywhere else such as calling hotdogs "red hots" or calling a railroad underpass a "viadock" Most Buffalonians will swear that they have no accent but the way they pronounce the letter "A" is the giveaway. Words like "apple" and "accent" are pronounced differently in the Great Lakes area. A Buffalo accent is nearly identical to a Chicago accent but miles different from a New York City accent. Another fact that fascinates a person who is a long way from WNY is when you tell people that you're from New York State they insist that you must also be from New York City. When you try to explain that New York City and New York State aren't the same they think you are quibbling about minor technicalities.
Hooper and Pulse were well respected rating services in days of yore. They were telephone surveys and quite possibly as accurate as a diary survey. When a station scored well on Pulse you could be sure it wasn't near the bottom of the heap.
All of us who were in the Buffalo area during the KB heyday can attest that it had a big following. I remember one year there was a Christmas promotion that called for people to place big KB signs on their houses. Every day the KB Santa Claus would select the best sign of the day and award some trivial prize. The result: You couldn't go anywhere in Western New York without being in range of one KB sign. It was amazing. They must have received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of outdoor advertising virtually for free.
They also had a contest about what you would do for two cents. The prize was two cents.

 

[Element9]

Would agree with many of the points made, with the exception of WKBW being the "best daytime signal in the market." IMHO that easily would be WGR, with 5kw non DA on 550, easily reached Cleveland to the west and Watertown, NY to the east, as well as Toronto, aka "Toronna." WBEN's daytime signal, 5kw non DA on 930, quite decent as well. WKBW at night was a flamethrower, covering "17 states and two countries."

 

[TheBigA]

WKBW at night was a flamethrower, covering "17 states and two countries."

Which explains why Entercom treats KB as a poor stepchild in the market, because night radio no longer makes money.

 

[Penrod Rightout]

Hmmm. Curious. Is it nothing more than folklore that KB is said to have started in the 1920's as a gospel station? Had always heard that WKBW was a chosen acronym for Well Known Bible Witness. True? Not True?

KB was first licensed November 1, 1926 by the Churchill Evangelistic Association at 1420 Main Street. The calls do stand for "Well Known Bible Witness." Clinton Churchill used to have his religious broadcasts aired on Lockport's WMAK until he signed on his own station. Eventually WMAK would be run by Churchill's Buffalo Broadcasting Association, along with WGR and WKEN. WKBW moved the transmitter the following year in 1927 to a farm next to Ellicott Creek on Sweet Home Road, owned by major BBA financial backer & furniture maker Irvine Kittinger.

 

[Element9]

Which explains why Entercom treats KB as a poor stepchild in the market, because night radio no longer makes money.

Note that past tense was used, also discerning "at night." Purely speculative, heard in engineering circles. "If Entercom could move WGR to Grand Island, they'd probably turn in the 1520 license and sell the Big Tree site to a developer for a healthy sum." Along the lines of speculation come the words, "Ah, but that won't work unless 550 reverts to 1 kW at night." There are likely other reasons related to co-channel and adjacent channel protections. According to several legacies, WGR operated with 1 kw at night many years ago, with a far less restrictive night pattern.

 

[davideduardo]

Note that past tense was used, also discerning "at night." Purely speculative, heard in engineering circles. "If Entercom could move WGR to Grand Island, they'd probably turn in the 1520 license and sell the Big Tree site to a developer for a healthy sum." Along the lines of speculation come the words, "Ah, but that won't work unless 550 reverts to 1 kW at night." There are likely other reasons related to co-channel and adjacent channel protections. According to several legacies, WGR operated with 1 kw at night many years ago, with a far less restrictive night pattern.

The regional channels began as being 500 watts or 1 kw non-directional day and night and later, 5 kw day and 1 kw at night. As directional technology advanced, many were permitted to go to 5 kw at night, too, with directional arrays.

There were some lower power exceptions, such as 570 in Marinette, WI, which had 200 watts daytime and 100 watts nights at the beginning. Of course, we are talking about the 30's as radio progressed from the aftermath of the FRC regulations of the late 20's to the FCC actions of the 30's.

So the oldest of the regionals were all (or mostly) originally 500 watts or 1 kw non-directional at night. And that explains WGR.

(This is rather simplified... or over-simplified... and intended to just give some perspective to the reasons why stations evolved)

 

[davideduardo]

Seems to me back in the late 1950, Class IV stations were limited to 250 watts at night.

They were limited to 250 watts day and night until around early 1961, when the day power was increased to 1 kw maximum and most of the Class IV stations increased in the next two years.

Hooper and Pulse were well respected rating services in days of yore. They were telephone surveys and quite possibly as accurate as a diary survey. When a station scored well on Pulse you could be sure it wasn't near the bottom of the heap.

The earlier system was based on coincidental listening... that is, tabulation of what, if anything, was being listened to at the time of the call. No cume, no TSL. And household based.

In 1961, Hooper describes methodology as being "what are you listening to now" in the description in this example report; https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Ratings/Hooper-Roanoke.pdf

When ARB began in 1965, they were miles ahead of Pulse and Hooper in methodology. Dr Roslow at the Pulse countered ARB by adding cume based on an algorithm and he employed 24 hour recall in personal visits as well as phone calls; that was their method until the last book they issued, San Juan, PR, in 1978.

 

[davideduardo]

WBNY had 250 watts off a tower on top of the Larkin warehouse and the ground system there wasn't good. Surely not as good as it might have been if the tower had been planted on a field near Caz or Delaware Park, or Frontier rail yard."

Rooftop antennas with a good counterpoise* system can be very effective if well installed, just as folded unipole antennas can work marveloulsly with only a minimal ground.

* A counterpoise system is essentially a set of unburried radials strung out over a rooftop in similar fashion to buried radials or in the form of mesh. 50 kw KTNQ in LA has what is essentially a counterpoise system covering several acres at a height of about 25 feet and built above a warehouse complex constructed on its site; there was no change in the signal.

 

[Penrod Rightout]

The description of the ground system, from the 1972 FCC License of WYSL - the Larkin rooftop was their aux site then after moving to Fillmore & Kensington: "ANTENNA: 279' (425' overall height) tapered, self-supportting, shunt excited, vertical radiator (roof-top mounted) ...Ground system consiists of a copper mesh screen 105 by 143.5 feet atop the Larkin Ware house building, bonded to structural steel of the building and about the base of the antenna." It should be noted that the remanants of the Little Buffalo Creek flow through a big pipe in the basement of the Larkin Terminal Building, that entire district is known as "The Hyrdraulics" as during the 1800's they had hydraulic canals to power industry in that area. That Blaw-Knox self-supported tower was erected in 1934, and the ground system most likely wasn't subjected to degredation from ground soil, which plagues the site on Big Tree Road in Hamburg for KB/GR. By the way, Grand Island has some serious corrosion issues--it lead to the toppling of WBEN's STL tower a few years back.

Today, the former WYSL now WWWS radiates from a folded unipole at their main site on Kensignton & Fillmore.

 

[Element9]

Very interesting. WYSL-FM also was mounted on the top section. I'm told that was WEBR's tower when it operated on 1340, before moving to 970. The roof appears to contain numerous AC units these days. Wonder if the ground screen remains intact.

 

[Penrod Rightout]

WEBR had the Blaw-Knox tower built on the Larkin Building in 1937, at that time they were on 1310 until March 1941 when NARBA reallocation agreement moved them to 1340. Original owner Howell Broadcasting Co. sold the station in 1936, new owner WEBR Inc. moved the transmitter site from Main & Eagle to the Larkin Terminal (according the the FCC History Cards.)