SUCCESSFUL DAYTIMERS

[Bob E. Nelson]

The sunrise-to-sunset AMers coming on after WWII were at a disadvantage compared to their full-time market mates. Even then, when AM was still profitable, most daytimers were run on the cheap with brokered programming or niche formats such as religious or foreign language.

There were a few that bucked this trend and were quite competitive, doing mainstream formats often besting fulltimers in Hooper, Pulse and Arbitron ratings back in the day.

Some of the more successful daytimers in large markets of the 50's and 60's that I can recall include:

WXLW/950-Indianapolis: They had a good signal to carry the adult format across central Indiana. Since the 25+ audience mostly switched to TV for entertainment at night, the daytime-only operation was not a major handicap.

WAIT/820-Chicago: Also blessed with a fine signal, the beautiful music format was quite successful before the rise of FM.

WEEP/1080-Pittsburgh: With 50,000 watts, this station did reasonably well with two distinct formats. In the mid-70's a switch to talk led to a nice bump in the ratings. Then, reverting to country, it caught the Urban Cowboy craze at the end of the decade to be a factor in the market. I don't have the data handy, but I recall WEEP scoring above a 5 share in 12+ in at least one book circa 1979.

Can you think of other daytimers that did ``real'' radio and performed well?

 

[landtuna]

If we're talking about the 50's primarily then KTKT "Color Radio 99" in Tucson comes to mind.

Their air staff proved so successful they all seeded many famous stations in larger markets (KYA, KEWB etc.).

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

If we're talking about the 50's primarily then KTKT "Color Radio 99" in Tucson comes to mind.

Their air staff proved so successful they all seeded many famous stations in larger markets (KYA, KEWB etc.).

By that metric, I supposed Storz's KOWH would be near the top of the list. That daytimer at 660 in Omaha garnered impressive ratings and is arguably the birthplace of the limited playlist top 40 format.

 

[trusty]

The Brennen daytimers were VERY popular in their markets. WVOK/Birmingham,AL, WBAM/Montgomery,AL and, the most popular, WAPE/Jacksonville,FL.

They programmed a laid back type of top-40, but had major stations in their markets programming Top-40 after they signed off.

 

[pollitt]

In 1969-1970 I did afternoon drive on WNRK AM-1260 (Newark DE).
I was told then that WNRK was the third most profitable daytime-only station
in the USA. Maybe, maybe not --- but it was pretty darned profitable while I
was there.

Scott Dayton
WKII AM-1070
Oldies 50's-60's-70's
Port Charlotte FL

 

[rwells2265]

The Brennen daytimers were VERY popular in their markets. WVOK/Birmingham,AL, WBAM/Montgomery,AL and, the most popular, WAPE/Jacksonville,FL.

They programmed a laid back type of top-40, but had major stations in their markets programming Top-40 after they signed off.

WBAM and WVOK indeed did very well with their own style of top-40 ... WAPE (which the Brennan family owned prior to selling it off to the Kaplans in 1970) was a fulltimer, although with very low power at night (250 watts, I do believe).

In Huntsville, Ala., WVOV 1000 signed on in the Fall of 1968 which for a number of years competed very nicely against established fulltime top-40 WAAY 1550. Later, as WTAK ("Take 10"), it found a second wind in 1987 as an AOR (!), where it became a monster in Huntsville ratings. Their sign-off, discussed earlier, was a thing of politically-incorrect beauty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrSXNG-rpIg

--Russell

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

The Brennen daytimers were VERY popular in their markets. WVOK/Birmingham,AL, WBAM/Montgomery,AL and, the most popular, WAPE/Jacksonville,FL.

They programmed a laid back type of top-40, but had major stations in their markets programming Top-40 after they signed off.

Indeed. I was working at WAJF in Decatur, AL in 1973. A rating book during that time (it may have been Pulse) placed WVOK at healthy #4 in Morgan County, some 90 miles away from the big 690 stick. That's just one metric, but even if WVOK didn't do well in Birmingham itself, it captured a big audience in the outlying parts of the state.

WVOK and the other Brennan daytimers defied the odds stacked against sunrise-sunset operations.

 

[michael hagerty]

KGBS, Los Angeles in fall, 1971 with Hudson & Landry mornings, Bill Ballance's Femine Forum in middays and Dave Hull in afternoons did very well.

Tied for #9 with a 3.8:

Pulse November/December 1971 Total Audience Share

1. KHJ (top 40) 9.3
2. KABC (talk) 8.0
3. KGFJ (r&b) 7.0
4. KNX (news) 4.8
5. KJOI-FM (beautiful) 4.5
6. KFWB (news) 4.3
7. KMPC (mor) 4.0
7. KRLA (top 40) 4.0
9. KGBS (a/c) 3.8
9. KPOL (beautiful) 3.8
11. KDAY (top 40) 3.3
11. KLAC (country) 3.3
13. KFI (mor) 3.0
14. KLOS-FM (aor) 2.8
15. KOST-FM (beautiful) 2.5
15. KHJ-FM (a/c) 2.5
17. KFOX (country) 2.3
17. KIIS (a/c) 2.3
19. KALI (Spanish) 2.0
19. KEZY (top 40) 2.0
21. KKDJ-FM (top 40) 1.5
21. KWKW (Spanish) 1.5
23. KBCA-FM (jazz) 1.3
23. KFAC (classical) 1.3
23. KPPC-FM (aor) 1.3
23. KGIL (mor) 1.3
27. XETRA (beautiful) 1.0


---Michael Hagerty

 

[davideduardo]

WVOK and the other Brennan daytimers defied the odds stacked against sunrise-sunset operations.

And I remember that all three signed off with Dixie. I commented on this when I heard WVOK sign off one evening up in NE Ohio in about 1962, and someone (Iralee Benns, I think) sent me a copy of a used transcription of the tune, saying that they ordered them 50 at a time from a specialty recording house.

I promptly took the disk and the letter to work with me... at WJMO... where a group of us had recently visited Newton, MS, on the AL / MS border to work on voter registration... and it got some interesting remarks and comic parodies of "southron gentlemen" and about the whole mentality of the region.

Be on the Lookout... there is one big Brennan station that has not been mentioned.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

WVOK and the other Brennan daytimers defied the odds stacked against sunrise-sunset operations.

...

Be on the Lookout... there is one big Brennan station that has not been mentioned.

Lookout...hmmm. A mountainous puzzle, indeed. I'll have to fly in an expert...or maybe a choo-choo.

 

[davideduardo]

Lookout...hmmm. A mountainous puzzle, indeed. I'll have to fly in an expert...or maybe a choo-choo.

Get on board! We have a winner.

WFLI, Lookout Mountain, TN. Went on the air around 1971 with 10 kw d 1 kw night on 1070. Became 50 kw days eventually.

 

[K4WRF]

If not mistaken, Benns/Brennan later put one on the air in Norfolk, Va 1070 50kw day-timer. They were also famous for engineering blocking facilities like 850 kHz in Forrest, Ms to keep WYDE in Birmingham from getting 50kw for a time at least.

Bob: add to the list WJJD in Chicago….

 

[davideduardo]

If not mistaken, Benns/Brennan later put one on the air in Norfolk, Va 1070 50kw day-timer. They were also famous for engineering blocking facilities like 850 kHz in Forrest, Ms to keep WYDE in Birmingham from getting 50kw for a time at least.

I think that one was on 1110... not 1070 where the Charlottsvile station has lived for a long time. Benns Communincations sold that one in 1988 for $400 thou. It is now WYRM.

 

[K4WRF]

1110 is correct, I was thinking about the long battle they had with WAPI in Birmingham over the WFLI 1070. They had to have worn out several automobiles measuring between them.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

WAMO programming R&B in Pittsburgh at 860 AM
WPGC--a Top 40 powerhouse in DC at 1580
WHLO in Akron during the Sixties
WABQ in Cleveland
KIKK in Houston TX during the Sixties
WSID in Baltimore at 1010.
KDAY in LA during the sixties
WALT in Tampa

 

[MsMusicRadio]

In the early seventies, WEET at 1320 was the "country giant" in Richmond Va and signed off at sunset. It's only competitor, WXGI, was also a daytimer

 

[trusty]

WAPE (which the Brennan family owned prior to selling it off to the Kaplans in 1970) was a fulltimer, although with very low power at night (250 watts, I do believe).

WAPE started as a daytimer in '58 with 25kw. I didn't mention WFLI because it has always been full time.

Florida had some great competition between stations, like WQAM/WFUN in Miami and WLOF/WHOO in Orlando, which was always great for the listener. So, I expected nothing less when my family moved from Atlanta to Clearwater (Tampa).

I tried to keep the faith, but I was really disappointed. WLCY/1380 was #1 with a mixture of Top 40 and Standards and tons of cheesy commercials and no real competition. The only thing it had going for it was the best BASS I ever heard on any AM station. (I found a small beer barrel and a speaker that fit the lid perfectly, so I put them in the back of my '65 VW beetle and let WLCY's bass carry me down the road. On my analog radio, I could tune the dial slightly to the right of WLCY's frequency where it started to sound a little crispy - the mixture of the crispy sound and the big bass made it sound like FM.

But most of the (day)time, I listened to WALT/1110, even though its audio quality wasn't the greatest (OK, it sucked.) It was the station with the most Top 40 energy in the Tampa Bay area at the time. WFLA/970 (NBC-full service) only played Top 40 at night (kinda dead - no reverb), so I listened to them when WALT signed off because WLCY's pattern change cut off Clearwater at night (which was weird because they would have their concerts in Clearwater).

In the evenings in the mid 60's, the radio dial in "greeaat tumpabayee" was a lonely place to be. Many a night, I DXed 560 in search of WQAM whose great signal had no problem making it up the coast, but had a tough time making it across the state.

So, I'd go to the beach and meet some girls; that was good. But, just as I was about to get used to it, my family moved to Ft. Lauderdale - which provided great radio AND the beach.

I learned to keep the faith. ;D.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

In the late Fifties, before NPR, creative FM, or college radio, great jazz came to Pittsburgh on 1150. WKPA was a daytimer out of New Kensington.

 

[davideduardo]

In the early seventies, WEET at 1320 was the "country giant" in Richmond Va and signed off at sunset. It's only competitor, WXGI, was also a daytimer

When I was briefly a GM in Richmond in 1970, WEET changed format twice and then went silent. The big country station was WXGI with 5 kw on 950 and a big tower out on Midlotian Pike.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

In the early seventies, WEET at 1320 was the "country giant" in Richmond Va and signed off at sunset. It's only competitor, WXGI, was also a daytimer

When I was briefly a GM in Richmond in 1970, WEET changed format twice and then went silent. The big country station was WXGI with 5 kw on 950 and a big tower out on Midlotian Pike.

For real? I moved to Richmond in 1971 and WEET had a very slick sound and jocks like Mark Thomas who had a major market delivery. WXGI might have had a stronger signal, but it was like listening to something created to sound as corney as possible with jocks with names like "Pop the Storekeeper" and a top of the hour ID that used a cookoo clock. I remember that it was WTVR flipping to full time country including adding Mark Thomas that finished WEET. I think that they went to B/EZ but I'm not clear on that. I think I have a good memory for this stuff and I remember that it was WEET that brought the country acts to town. But then maybe not. But even stranger, I was in Richmond for 3 months in 1970, so we certainly crossed paths.
On a side note, WEET was playing Joan Baez and John Denver, two acts totally missing from KIKK or KENR in Houston when I spent 8 months there before returning to Richmond and civilization. I lived in an apartment right over the hedges from the WXGI studios on Glenway and the "big tower". Maybe that fried my brains

Can I ask where you were GM?