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The NYC Radio Dial in 1977

G

Gregg

From the 1977 Broadcasting Yearbook.....


107.5 WBLS...R&B...New York (co-owned with WLIB)
106.7 WRVR...Jazz/Public Affairs...New York (owned by Riverside Church)
105.9 WHBI...Ethnic...Newark
105.1 WRFM...Beautiful...New York (owned by Bonneville/Church of Latter Day Saints)
104.3 WNCN...Classical...New York (owned by GAF Chemicals)
103.5 WTFM...Beautiful...Lake Success
102.7 WNEW-FM...Progressive Rock...New York (owned by Metromedia, co-owned with Channel 5)
101.9 WPIX...Top 40/Disco...New York (owned by NY Daily News, co-owned with Channel 11)
101.1 WCBS-FM...Golden Oldies...New York
100.3 WVNJ-FM...Beautiful...Newark
99.5 WBAI...Diversified...New York (owned by Pacifica Foundation)
98.7 WXLO...Top 40...New York (co-owned with WOR)
97.9 WEVD-FM...Ethnic...New York (owned by Jewish Daily Forward)
97.1 WNWS...All-News...New York (co-owned with WNBC)
96.3 WQXR-FM...Classical...New York (owned by NY Times)
95.5 WPLJ...Album Rock...New York (co-owned with WABC)
94.7 WFME...Religion...Newark (owned by Family Radio)
93.9 WNYC-FM...Classical/NPR...New York (owned by City of NY)
93.1 WPAT-FM...Beautiful...Paterson
92.3 WKTU...Mellow Rock...New York (co-owned with WJIT)


1600 WWRL...Black...New York
1560 WQXR...Classical...New York
1480 WJIT...Spanish Tropical...New York (owned by San Juan Racing Corp.)
1430 WNJR...Black...Newark
1380 WBNX...Spanish Tropical/Italian...New York (shares time with WAWZ Zarephath NJ)
1330 WEVD...Ethnic...New York
1330 WPOW...Ethnic/Religion...New York (shares time with WEVD)
1280 WADO...Spanish Tropical...New York
1190 WLIB...Black...New York (days only--signs off at sunset)
1130 WNEW...MOR...New York
1050 WHN...Country...New York
1010 WINS...All-News...New York
970 WWDJ...Top 40...Hackensack
930 WPAT...Beautiful...Paterson
880 WCBS...All-News...New York
830 WNYC...NPR/News/Talk...New York
770 WABC...Top 40...New York
710 WOR...Talk...New York
660 WNBC...Bright MOR...New York
620 WVNJ...MOR/Beautiful...Newark
570 WMCA...Talk...New York
 
101.9-WPIX flipped to AOR in 1977 as I recall. Also...970-WWDJ was already religion by that time....having flipped from Top 40 in early 1974...Over time....WPIX became an interesting station....evolving to a 1960's Rock meets New Wave Rock format in 1979....
 
Until it flipped to Smooth Jazz and WQCD in the late 80s WPIX had a long run of formats du jour, often jumping on a format too soon and then bailing too soon. It was AC, top 40 on a couple of occasions, disco (18 months too soon), love songs, and several flavors of rock. Their presentation was often second rate and promotion (even though thy were co-owned with a newspaper and a TV station) pretty much non-existent. Wasn't Mel Karmazin GM there for several years?
 
Karmazin was never at WPIX/101.9. He ran WNEW AM/FM for Metromedia, then was running Infinity when they acquired the then-WKTU/92.3 and WNEW-FM 102.7.

I'm looking at the Broadcasting Yearbook for 1977 right now and it does in fact show WWDJ as running religious:

http://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1977/C-2 Radio Broadcasting Yearbook 1977.pdf

Thanks to David G. (DavidEduardo,) there's an incredible wealth of radio history online. I've been reading for over a year and I've only seen the tip of the iceberg. I highly suggest everyone check it out and search the calls of their favorite station. You'll be surprised what you find.
 
If I remember correctly in late 1976 WNWS became WYNY at 97.1 FM. It was my favorite station in the late 70s and early 80s with a good blend of AC hits and oldies.

Bruce
 
Wow, 1977 and not a single reserved band station in NYC ???
 
WYNY began as Y97, "Movin' Easy Music". It competed against WKTU, then known as "Mellow 92" or "The Mellow Sound". WPIX was both Top 40 and Disco 102 from 9 PM to Midnight. PIX abruptly dropped all disco music on July 4th weekend and went rock. This left 99X (WXLO) as the only Top 40 FM.

WABC was still holding the top spot, but was being heavily challenged by WBLS. Nobody knew it at the time, but WABC was entering its last years as a Top 40 station. 1977 was the year that FM listening overtook AM nationally. One year later, it would happen in New York but that's for another thread. :)
 
WNYC (AM) was a daytimer also; it didn't go 24/7 until the move to 820 AM in the late '80s.

And I'm also for seeing how the lower end of the FM band looked in '77 as well.
 
Actually 830 WNYC was allowed by the FCC to stay on the air till 10pm NY time. They were given special permission to extend their hours till 10pm during the war years and that authorization was never withdrawn. They really should have been signing off an hour after sunset, since they were supposed to be protecting 830 WCCO Minneapolis.

When WNYC moved to 820, they were allowed to stay on the air around the clock, although at reduced power at night. But by then, clear channels like 820 WBAP Fort Worth no longer had the protections they did years earlier.

In this Broadcasting Yearbook, 1200 WOAI San Antonio had NO station on its frequency, day or night, in the U.S. or Canada and only two low-power daytime stations in Mexico. 700 WLW Cincinnati had only one fulltime station on its frequency, an Alaska station which powered down to 500 watts at night, and three daytime stations in Mexico. They really protected the clear channels in those days.
 
if only that was the dial now...sadly we have no variety in new york city radio. half the artists played on the radio aren't that great live. all the autotuned, songs played to death, why not play album cuts
 
Gregg said:
Actually 830 WNYC was allowed by the FCC to stay on the air till 10pm NY time. They were given special permission to extend their hours till 10pm during the war years and that authorization was never withdrawn. They really should have been signing off an hour after sunset, since they were supposed to be protecting 830 WCCO Minneapolis.
Click to expand...

When I was a kid in the early '80s I listened to WNYC (AM) for an afternoon kids show which aired before All Things Considered. They may have had that special authorization but they never stayed on up until 10 PM unless it was around this time of year (June/July) when sunsets are later both here and in Minneapolis. But in winter they were off by 8 PM, if not earlier.

Once I figured out what was going on, I would always come back to hear the sign-off.
 
In 2013, 36 years later, only WCBSAM,WINS,WOR and WBLS are in the same basic format. CBS FM,while still playing "old" music is still basically the same format, just modernized. WFME was in the same format until January of 2013. Wow..four beautiful music stations, and two on AM.
 
Two questions --

What year did WAWZ 1380 stop sharing time with WBNX ?
I used to like hearing one or the other sign off because there often would be dead air for quite a while and stations from outside the market would gladly come in. In these absences I managed to hear 22 different stations on 1380, over maybe a 3-4 year span. I don't have anywhere near that number on many NON-local NYC frequencies!

And when did the WPOW/WEVD 1330 share end ?
Their swaps and tradeoffs were tighter than 1380's. Still managed to hear 19 different ones on 1330, though. Some of those used to bleed through WPOW at sunset, what with WPOW's sticks being farther away from us than WEVD's were.
 
More relevant:
When is this rediculous FD and NY (the two W**U's) sharing thing gonna end?
At least, they should both use a common transmission facility to cover both campuses or synch the two, switch studios twice each day, and agree on one callsign.
The only good word I have for the Alpine tower is, quaint!
 
ai4i said:
More relevant:
When is this rediculous FD and NY (the two W**U's) sharing thing gonna end?
At least, they should both use a common transmission facility to cover both campuses or synch the two, switch studios twice each day, and agree on one callsign.
The only good word I have for the Alpine tower is, quaint!
Click to expand...

I agree. If Fordham (WFUV), Columbia (WKCR), City College (WHCR, my old haunt), Kingsborough Community College (WKRB) and College of Staten Island (WSIA) can have their own fill-time stations, New York University should have theirs...heck, they should have gotten theirs before the three CUNY schools.
 
Rollo-Smokes said:
I agree.
Click to expand...
well, almost.
Let them merge as equals, continue sharing the airtime, but maintain a signal that would cover the entire area all the time.

It really would have been kewl if the UN had done something with the channel when they controlled it:
Could you imagine programming coming from the old USSR during the Brezhnev years or Presstv today?
 
The reason that Fordham, Columbia, Seton Hall, and others got signals before WNYU is because they applied for them and built them much earlier. WNYU didn't file for a license until the late 60's. It would make sense for WFDU to utilize the WNYU transmitter. With WNYU's better signal, it covers WFDU's footprint quite well.
 
Except for WFUV and WKCR, the WFDU and WNYU signals are quite a bit stronger and cover more of the New York area than most other college stations in New York.

How did NYU and Farleigh Dickenson get decent signals on 89.1 so late in the game? That frequency was set aside by the FCC for the United Nations. When the UN decided not to build a station, NYU and FDU competed for the frequency. Eventually they decided to end the competition and agreed to a shared time arrangement. WNYU got prime time on weekdays. WFDU got fringe time on weekdays and all day on weekends. And that's how it's remained since 1973 when the stations signed on the air.
 
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