THE END OF THE WBAP/WFAA SHARE TIME ARRANGEMENT

[Bob E. Nelson]

The purpose of this posting is expand upon the information that Mike Shannon already has available via his excellent web site. I'm sure that Steve Eberhart and others with an fondness for broadcast history may be interested in contributing to this thread. I hope to get participation on the topic while memories are still fresh on what happened in D/FW more than 37 years ago.

The intent is to focus on the end of the WBAP/WFAA share time arrangement. Although other markets (New York and Chicago) also had stations that shared a frequency, as far as I know, D/FW was unique in that WBAP and WFAA shared time on two frequencies.

Here are some questions as thought starters for anecdotes, facts and reminiscing:

1). How did Pulse, Hooper and Arbitron handle the ratings when the shared time situation was still in effect.

2). Was there listener loyalty to the station of the frequency? Were there actually listeners who ``followed'' WBAP or WFAA up and down the dial as it changed between the 570 and 820 location?

3). To what extent did WBAP and WFAA cooperate in terms of providing programming on each frequency that was compatible with what the other entity was doing?

4). How long had Belo and Carter Publishing contemplated the elimination of the 570/820 sharing?

5). Before the end finally came (1 May 1970), what type of promotion was there in the market to make listeners aware of the change?

6). How did WBAP emerge as the ``winner'' in the deal? And, what incentives were provided by Belo to take the lesser 570 facility?

7). Immediately after the change, what format adjustments, if any, were made by WBAP and WFAA?

8). Were the two present day transmitter sites (near Coppell and Mansfield) already in place when the change was made?

It sure would be valuable to the rich history of North Texas broadcasting to get thoughts chronicled about the unusual WBAP/WFAA share time arrangement. So, I appreciate any contributions that anyone might make here on this forum. Like so many others in the Metroplex, I was out of the market when this all happened. When the 820 skywave was bouncing into my home in Pittsburgh, it was WFAA that I recall best (since they had the 820 slot up until around midnight). It wasn't until one early morning that I first WBAP on 820. That's about the sum total of what I recall. Those who were here in the late 60's will surely recall much more.

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

When the switching occurred there was the standard ID quickly followed by another Id of that station that assumed the freq. The formats didnt compliment each other,simply because you had 2 companies, 2 different radio stations. The "Cowbell' story came in with Bill Mack when the stations swapped. He still has the cowbell to this day.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

When the switching occurred there was the standard ID quickly followed by another Id of that station that assumed the freq. The formats didnt compliment each other,simply because you had 2 companies, 2 different radio stations. The "Cowbell' story came in with Bill Mack when the stations swapped. He still has the cowbell to this day.

Come to think of it, there was *some* programming cooperation, at least to the extent that the network was locked in according to frequency (and didn't change when each station assumed the different frequency). ABC was on 570 and NBC remained on 820.

I also recall an old brochure I obtained from WFAA (around the time that Communications Center opened) showing that that 570 was known as ``Radio Refined'' and 820 used the moniker of ``Radio Alive''. So, at least WFAA used a different branding for the frequencies. I'm not sure if WBAP followed suit.

 

[jd]

Bob, I located an old post with some of my own memories about the end of the time-sharing, and maybe someone can help with the dates. I'd also welcome any corrections:

WBAP and WFAA shared a transmitter site for decades along the old route of Texas Highway 114 east of Grapevine. When land was being cleared for D/FW Airport the highway, which ran through the array, had to be re-routed and the towers had to come down.

It was really strange to see a transmission line running above the highway between the towers! I think destruction of the old towers had occurred by 1973 or shortly afterward, since that's the year that the first DFW runway was at least partially complete.

Both stations agreed to build a new site to the east near Coppell, using a similar in-line tower arrangement: 5,000 watt WFAA 570 would use the three southerly towers for their directional pattern and 50,000 watt WBAP 820's sole tower would be on the north end.

The 570 site isn't really in Coppell; it's within the Dallas city limits along Belt Line Road on the west shore of North Lake. I've been told the land was originally leased from the operators of the power plant at North Lake, Dallas Power & Light, and maybe it still is (from TXU).

...the FCC authorized tests, using varying power levels, on 700kHz [during daytime hours]. That frequency was chosen because it was roughly halfway between 570 and 820. Supposedly that made the calculations closer to the actual coverage they wanted to achieve. When the stations finally signed on using the new site, the resulting daytime coverage for WFAA was very close to that of WBAP, and there were a few accusations that the tuning of the array favored WFAA a little too much. It became a moot point a number of years later when WBAP built their own tower in Mansfield, and the old "north tower" was removed.

I've heard a number of theories about why WBAP wanted to leave, including an engineering study that confirmed WFAA really had got the upper hand in daytime coverage, and problems with some re-radiation from the power plant were also mentioned. Another story, perhaps the most likely, said they just got tired of paying rent.

 

[Huff]

1). How did Pulse, Hooper and Arbitron handle the ratings when the shared time situation was still in effect.

7). Immediately after the change, what format adjustments, if any, were made by WBAP and WFAA?

It looks like some of that can be answered at the www.dfwradioarchives.com website. The Hooper ratings apparently measured strictly by "frequency", and listed the stations as 570/ABC and 820/NBC. There's actually a Hooper ratings sheet from the 50s that shows that.
All the Arbitron numbers show the opposite stance and listed the "stations" of WBAP and WFAA, regardless of the frequency.
There is also a WFAA schedule on the 1963 page that shows how the station was programmed back and forth on the two frequencies. Very fascinating.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

1). How did Pulse, Hooper and Arbitron handle the ratings when the shared time situation was still in effect.
7). Immediately after the change, what format adjustments, if any, were made by WBAP and WFAA?

It looks like some of that can be answered at the www.dfwradioarchives.com website. The Hooper ratings apparently measured strictly by "frequency", and listed the stations as 570/ABC and 820/NBC. There's actually a Hooper ratings sheet from the 50s that shows that.
All the Arbitron numbers show the opposite stance and listed the "stations" of WBAP and WFAA, regardless of the frequency.
There is also a WFAA schedule on the 1963 page that shows how the station was programmed back and forth on the two frequencies. Very fascinating.

Block programming and varying schedules for the two frequencies based upon the day of the week. No wonder that WBAP and WFAA didn't pull any ratings of significance during the timesharing era. Thanks for that link.

To anyone that recalls listening (or perhaps their parents listening) during the 60's, did they ``lock it in and rip the knob off'' or was there real loyalty to the station as opposed to the dial position? Examining the numbers at that website, KLIF and KFJZ were so dominant in their markets, there may not even be a significant sample size of people still alive from that era who recall listening to either WFAA or WBAP.

If only we had the PPM before 1 May 1970...

 

[charlievandyke]

Actually, I was a really young guy back then and remember when the two stations shared the frequencies. Of course as a young radio geek, I went to the trouble of setting up two radios (one set to 570 and one set to 820) to hear it all happen when they changed over.
My father actually liked 570 better...something about more relaxing music. 820 was the frequency that carried "Monitor" on the weekends and seemed more uptempo. One of the old WFAA announcers said that they had the music in rolling racks, marked by frequency. They pulled music from the rack of whatever frequency they were on...perhaps someone can clarify that.

Way back then...my father's actual favorite station was KIXL (AM daytimer at 1040). My first paying radio job was on KIXL-FM ("The home that loyal listeners and adult music built.") way before anyone listened to FM. My next job was at KVIL...way before anyone listened to 1150 (AM daytimer) or what was then "North Texas' most powerful station," KVIL-FM...119,000 watts at 103.7.

 

[Bob E. Nelson]

Actually, I was a really young guy back then and remember when the two stations shared the frequencies. Of course as a young radio geek, I went to the trouble of setting up two radios (one set to 570 and one set to 820) to hear it all happen when they changed over.
My father actually liked 570 better...something about more relaxing music. 820 was the frequency that carried "Monitor" on the weekends and seemed more uptempo. One of the old WFAA announcers said that they had the music in rolling racks, marked by frequency. They pulled music from the rack of whatever frequency they were on...perhaps someone can clarify that.

Speaking for hundreds (thousands?) of others that visit this board...what a quality posting from one who does surely merit the phrase ``radio legend''. I'm honored that my questions seeking thoughts about WBAP/WFAA got a response from you, Charlie.

...and your recollection about the format variation by frequency squares with the ``Radio Refined'' slogan for 570 and ``Radio Alive'' used by WFAA on 820 that I mentioned upthread.

The only thing that *might* be as noteworthy as CVD's participation would be getting a reply from Dan Ingram reminiscing about ``Wonderful K-B-O-X 14-80 in Dallas'' and the Sportatorium (for those that heard that famous aircheck).

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

Indeed..perhaps we can get Bill Mercer to chime in here. I'l lask him. Charlie it is indeed a pleasure to share your thoughts and knowledge here . I hope the "newbies" would read what you had to say,in hopes that they may learn "when it was radio", not real estate.

 

[jd]

Actually, I was a really young guy back then and remember when the two stations shared the frequencies.

Charlie, I'm sure you also remember hearing how WBAP loved to irritate the folks to the east in early days of the time-sharing. For a number of years, whenever the station switch would occur, WFAA listeners got a rude awakening with the loud clang of a cowbell and the ID "WBAP Fort Worth!" Amon Carter loved to hear that cowbell and wanted it to be very loud.

Way back then...my father's actual favorite station was KIXL (AM daytimer at 1040). My first paying radio job was on KIXL-FM ("The home that loyal listeners and adult music built.") way before anyone listened to FM. My next job was at KVIL...way before anyone listened to 1150 (AM daytimer) or what was then "North Texas' most powerful station," KVIL-FM...119,000 watts at 103.7.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking Harold Smith might have been the guy who hired you at KIXL. And regarding KVIL: I have an original article about you, complete with pictures, from the Dallas Times-Herald. You must have known they were coming that day; you were wearing a suit!

 

[charlievandyke]

jd...
I certainly remember the cowbell. (Can't help but also think of the Saturday Night Live bit about "More Cowbell"!) In those days, there was no love lost between Dallas and Ft. Worth.

Yes, Harold Smith was the P.D. of KIXL AM. Marvin Hillis was P.D. of the FM. It was actually KIXL owner Lee Siegel who decided to hire me. When I went in for an audition (while still a high school freshman) at the KIXL studios, I did not know that Lee was standing in the production control room out of sight. He decided it was worth a shot.

Later, I learned that Gordon McLendon and Lee Siegel were good friends and McLendon borrowed heavily from Siegel in the concepts later to be used on McLendon's KABL in San Francisco.

 

[Holstead]

Anyone know what happened to the contents of WBAP's mini-museum they had next to the receptionists desk when they were on Broadcast Hill? I think it had *THE* cowbell, an antiquated console, a life sized stuffed Indian that belonged to Dick Yaws, acetate transcriber and a bunch of relics and artifacts from 820's history. It was really cool. I recall when I worked at KSCS they were using that space for storage. It would be a shame if that stuff ended tossed out or boxed up.

At one time Larry Shannon and I had discussed finding a place to house/host and display all the old radio junk folks managed to appropriate. I think that would be neat. And Dallas would be the perfect place. 2120 Commerce would be the IDEAL place.

PS-Hi Charlie!

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

A last report,Bill Mack owns the cowbell and it sits in his studio at home for XM

 

[Tom Wells]

WERE on Broadcast Hill?
I visited WBAP late one night in the early 90's. Was that Broadcast Hill? I thanked Bill Mack fo the years of radio I'd enjoyed.
So when did they close that location?

 

[Holstead]

The room I am talking about was just to the left of the receptionist desk as you walked in the front doors, and directly across the reception area from the WBAP control room. It wasn't that big, and if you were there at night, they may have just had the light off so you could not see it.

Then again, if it was the daytime, you may have been gazing at the beautiful Margaret who was the incredibly gorgeous Hispanic woman who answered the phone.

I do not know when they moved out, but it seems to me it was around summer of 1982 when they left the KXAS building and moved down the road to 1 Broadcast Hill.