Top 40 in DC

[MsMusicRadio]

Seems like DC could never sustain a long running Top 40 with full metro coverage. WPGC AM was daytime only. WEAM and WEEL were rimshots, WRC was too late. On FM, WAVA got sold to Salem it seemed while it was still viable, Q107and a half flipped to Hot AC, and WBMW flipped to talk. Please correct me if I am wrong, but Baltimore had WCAO and Richmond WLEE then WRVQ. What was the problem in DC?

 

[Gregg]

WPGC-AM was daytime only but I believe they were simulcast with WPGC-FM for as long as I can remember, which ran 24/7.

But I think you're right that there was never a major full-time AM station doing Top 40 that covered the whole market, perhaps due to the nature of Washington, being the nation's capital on one hand and having such a high African-American population on the other. So WMAL and WRC were always full service News/Talk/MOR stations. I suppose WTOP was the same till it went All-News in the 70s. 570 WGMS was Classical for most of its history, something that would not have been the case in most other markets. 1450 WOL was the R&B community station.

I don't know the history of 1260 or 1390, which have decent 24/7 signals.

But you're right. Baltimore had WCAO 600 playing the hits for much of the early Rock & Roll era, before FM became dominent. (It's even part of the plot in the movie "Diner" starring Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Steve Guttenburg and Kevin Bacon, taking place in Baltimore in the late 50s.) But I guess Washington Top 40 fans had to make due with WPGC in the daytime or buy a new FM radio to get Top 40 music at night.


Gregg
[email protected]

 

[boppinvinnieb]

Being from Baltimore this is purely conjecture, but I believe that WINX 1600 in Rockville and WLMD 900 in Laurel were Top-40s, so you listened to them in the MD suburbs, and WEAM and WEEL in the VA 'burbs. Too bad WPGC was a daytimer but having the FM really helped in the '70s when FM came into its own. By the '60s the big D.C. AMs were so well established and successful with their formats that no one wanted to flip. If someone else knows otherwise feel free to correct me!

 

[Dusty Dale Brooks]

Half right on the MD suburbs. WLMD was also a daytimer, as was WDON in Wheaton. WINX was fulltime, but they had a lousy signal, though they did benefit by being just two clicks up from 'PGC-AM.

Very right about WRC. They came along late in the game for AM rock. But they did have a great TSA signal, and they were a good station. Willard Scott did afternoon drive until about 1976.

WWDC at 1260 was very listenable in Montgomery County and it bears mentioning that the Washington market was really all about the District and the four surrounding counties: Montgomery (white upscale liberal), Prince Georges (Blue collar and black), Arlington (old established and diverse) and Fairfax (upscale but very conservative).

WEEL and WEAM were ineffective at night, too. WWDC was 24 hour but their signal had holes in it, too. Stations sold better in some counties than in others and the County Breakouts were used by the sales departments and the buyers a lot.

 

[nocomradio]

Growing up on the Virginia side of the Potomac, back when AM was still pretty much king, WPGC and WEAM were what I remember most. WEEL in Fairfax was there, but not nearly as prominent. Not that it wasn't a decent signal in the VA suburbs, but the big heavy hitters had all the great music, promos, contests, giveaways, and newspaper ads that kept them in the public consciousness all the time. Little 'ol WOHN had some decent music, but they were tiny and unlistenable outside of Fairfax County.

There were others as mentioned above that were certainly listenable, but when you lived and worked in a small area, hearing ads for businesses all the way around the other side of the Beltway seemed a world away!

 

[Wildstyle K]

I could've sworn that the last time I checked, there was a top 40 in DC. I'll check again.

 

[Marv-L.A.]

Hot 99.5 ranks 3rd in the ratings today, and WPGC has lost focus and ratings since Jay Stevens left, but was always classified as a CHR/Rhythmic station, at least when Stevens was the PD.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Now there is with HOT. My thing was that during the Sixties, DC lacked a full coverage AM doing Top 40 unlike NYC, Philly, Baltimore, LA, Pittsburgh, and even smaller markets like Charlotte and Spartanburg SC. Roanoke had WROV. Then in the Eighties there were 3 on FM and all dropped out. Baltimore and Richmond were and are heavily African-American, but they both had consistant Top 40. When I was in DC in the Sixties, I listened to WABC nights cause it came in better than 1390 in the central city

 

[RockTheGlobe]

Seems like DC could never sustain a long running Top 40 with full metro coverage.

WIHT has been Top 40 for almost 11 years now. Is that long-running enough?

 

[RadioPhillyFan]

Seems like DC could never sustain a long running Top 40 with full metro coverage.

WIHT has been Top 40 for almost 11 years now. Is that long-running enough?

I've visited DC many times, for many reasons. In my experience, 99.5 (WiHT?) is a pretty decent CHR - It was Kiss 99.5 once, then rebranded to Hot 99.5 (I believe)

Also, PGC can be heard in Southern Chester County (southern tip edge of the Philly Market) - I picked it up on 95.5 - It was pretty clear, lost it fast however. (via heading to Longwood)

And isn't Z104.3 in DC's market?

 

[nocomradio]

When I was in DC in the Sixties, I listened to WABC nights cause it came in better than 1390 in the central city

WEAM had a great signal into Northern Virginia, but as soon as you crossed the Potomac into DC or Maryland, it dropped off to nearly unlistenable day or night.

 

[nd2023]

Seems like DC could never sustain a long running Top 40 with full metro coverage.

WIHT has been Top 40 for almost 11 years now. Is that long-running enough?

I've visited DC many times, for many reasons. In my experience, 99.5 (WiHT?) is a pretty decent CHR - It was Kiss 99.5 once, then rebranded to Hot 99.5 (I believe)

Also, PGC can be heard in Southern Chester County (southern tip edge of the Philly Market) - I picked it up on 95.5 - It was pretty clear, lost it fast however. (via heading to Longwood)

And isn't Z104.3 in DC's market?

99.5 was an AC format. Then it flipped to Jammin' Oldies in the late 90s. After that failed, it flipped to "Survivor Radio" and then CHR. I remember listening to that "Survivor Radio" stunt when I visited DC for the first time, at the time I didn't know what a radio stunt was and I just found it to be an interesting format.
WPGC can't be heard reliably in the Philly market. Maybe there was tropo that day.

 

[stevewillett]

I understand your point about AM top 40 radio in the 60s. Washington DC unlike other markets didn't have that clear channel frequency. The strong signals like WTOP, WRC and WMAL were dominated by adult formats. WPGC had the strongest signal though they were daytime. In the end WEAM, WEEL, WINX and even the Great 98 gave us amazing memories of Top 40 radio of the past. WPGC came out the winner in the battle during the transition to FM. It might have turned out differently if WPGC were 10,000 watts 24/7.

 

[MarkO]

Those with a long memory will recall that there was a well developed plan afoot to convert RKO's 570 WGMS-AM into a full-market top 40 station in the spring of 1972. Consulted by Drake-Chenault, the station was to be programmed by leading format veteran Paul Drew, and feature top national/regional DJs including Charlie Tuna (who had just been edged out of morning drive at KHJ/Los Angeles by a returning Robert W Morgan). The plan was aborted by RKO, after WGMS jingles had already been cut and Drew had relocated to the DC area, when activist classical music fans, including members of congress, began pressing the FCC about delicate RKO licensing issues and a high-profile editorial criticizing the pending format change, from classical to top 40, ran in the Post. This series of developments alerted NBC management to the market opportunity for a full-market AM top 40 station in DC, which led to the roll out of the new top 40 format at WRC later in 1972 (and the ultimate transfer of similar programming to WKYS-FM).

 

[MarkO]

Actually, 'GMS-AM was going to have the new call letters WROQ-AM. Those call letters ended up in Charlotte after the 'GMS flip to top 40 was aborted. They were a forerunner of the also call-letter-appropriate 'Rock of the Capital' slogan which was adopted by WRC.

 

[MarkO]

....and, complete coincidence of call letters or not, Charlie Tuna landed just a few months later, in Sept 1972, at the brand new (subsequently 'world famous') KROQ-AM in L.A.

 

[puddingpop]

And isn't Z104.3 in DC's market?

Z104.3 is in the Baltimore market.

 

[radioguy39nj]

I understand your point about AM top 40 radio in the 60s. Washington DC unlike other markets didn't have that clear channel frequency. The strong signals like WTOP, WRC and WMAL were dominated by adult formats. WPGC had the strongest signal though they were daytime. In the end WEAM, WEEL, WINX and even the Great 98 gave us amazing memories of Top 40 radio of the past. WPGC came out the winner in the battle during the transition to FM. It might have turned out differently if WPGC were 10,000 watts 24/7.

Was WPGC simulcast on 95.5 FM during the 60s and early 70s? ???

 

[stevewillett]

According to amandfmmorningside.com, WPGC had been simulcasting since March 5th, 1958.

 

[viper452]

Now there is with HOT. My thing was that during the Sixties, DC lacked a full coverage AM doing Top 40 unlike NYC, Philly, Baltimore, LA, Pittsburgh, and even smaller markets like Charlotte and Spartanburg SC. Roanoke had WROV. Then in the Eighties there were 3 on FM and all dropped out. Baltimore and Richmond were and are heavily African-American, but they both had consistant Top 40. When I was in DC in the Sixties, I listened to WABC nights cause it came in better than 1390 in the central city

Up until 2 years ago Baltimore was without a top 40 for a long time. They were also without a top 40 from 1991-1997