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Top 40 Radio Icon Ron Lundy Passes

I am sure that people in half of the country grew up listening to him as his voice boomed into 38 states overnight. Back then, the skywave brought a lot of distant listeners to compensate for the lower local listeners in the overnight hours.
 
At on point, WABC was pretty high in the Philadelphia ratings, so Ron would have had many listeners, including myself, in this region. At one time, WABC was number 13 in Pittsburg!

Its sad to lose yet another of the truely great radio personalities.
 
jhguthlac said:
At on point, WABC was pretty high in the Philadelphia ratings, so Ron would have had many listeners, including myself, in this region. At one time, WABC was number 13 in Pittsburg!

Its sad to lose yet another of the truely great radio personalities.
Click to expand...

WABC was never 'pretty high' in the Philadelphia ratings and didn't even become the number 1 station in new York until late 1969. It barely had a rating at all in Philadelphia when WIBG had a 35 overall. Philadelphia in the 50's & 60's had a decisively Philly sound on WIBG & WDAS, and then later in the late 60's WFIL before WFIL tightened it's playlist to basically top 20. By 1973-4 WDAS FM was Number 1 in Philadelphia.

WABC was very late picking up a record and by the time they did it was long played out in Philly. And you never heard any 'Philly' hits on WABC. WABC was a great radio station but not in Philly or with the Philly listening audience.

Incidentally, in the 60's WMCA regularly beat, sometimes by double, WABC in the ratings in NY, despite WMCA's directional, 5,000 watt signal, while WABC operated with 50,000 watts non-directional, on a clear channel frequency. Even though WMCA had a signal in about one-third the ratings area of WABC, it consistently still showed up #1. WABC didn't even go top 40 until 1960. Ron Lundy didn't join WABC until 1965. Ron Lundy & Dan Ingram basically joined WABC in 1965 from WIL in St. Louis. Harry Harrison himself didn't make the jump from WMCA to WABC until late 1968 to solidify the daytime lineup the would prevail throughout the 70's.

WMCA played new records faster than WABC. Its weekly countdown was 25 records long instead of WABC's 20, and it included the "Sure Shot" and "Long Shot" speculations. It's countdown was also "faster" than WABC's, in the sense that records climbed to the top quicker, while WABC's rankings tended to follow. A comparison of both stations showed WABC to be two, sometimes three weeks behind WMCA.

Besides the "Good Guys" personalities and the commitment to play new music, WMCA also excelled in on-air production. Each hour, WMCA presented its music, jingles, promotions, contests, stagers and even commercials in a tight, upbeat style that, to the ear of anyone that switched between WMCA and competitor WABC, would make WABC seem as if it were going at a somewhat slower pace. Some experts attribute this stodgy WABC sound to its staff of longtime (and older) studio engineers. The rumor is that WMCA employed younger, more "hip" board-ops who had a better understanding of the top 40 formatics. Whatever the reason, the sparkling sound presented on-air by WMCA also contributed to its ratings success in New York, the nation's largest radio market.

WMCA began to mix album cuts into their mix by late 1968 in an attempt to identify with the sound of album oriented free forum rock stations WOR-FM and WNEW-FM. It was a fatal mistake. By 1970 WMCA flipped to talk. Scott Muni was believe it or not Top 40 DJing on WABC until Lundy & Ingram joined WABC in 1965. Muni then switched to free forum WOR FM. He finally made the move to WNEW FM where he would remain, when Paul Drake flipped WOR FM to the Drake cue card formatted top 40, after drake took over the RKO radio programming helm. That of course occurred as a result of Paul Drake's success with Boss radio KHJ Los Angeles in 1966. Paul Drake failed miserably in New York.
 
Big Dan was on WABC in 1962. Lundy was brought in from Dan's previous station, WIL in 1965.

Check the ratings from the mid 60's, You'll find WABC ranking pretty high, after WIBG and WIP, of course.

WMCA had a large following, its true. But Rick Sklar's tight playlist and mastermind promotions won the day in the New York metro.
 
Didn't WIBG try to have some sort of Progressive show in the early 70's on Sunday Night with Rick Menapace...that was ahead of its time on AM...and I remember WCAU-FM in the early 70's having a 4 channel Sunday night. I had one of those Panasonic so-called 4 channel sets, it was a receiver with four speakers, but I never remember four separate sounds coming from the 4 channels on the CAU-FM show which lasted a few months...
 
jhguthlac said:
Big Dan was on WABC in 1962. Lundy was brought in from Dan's previous station, WIL in 1965.

Check the ratings from the mid 60's, You'll find WABC ranking pretty high, after WIBG and WIP, of course.

WMCA had a large following, its true. But Rick Sklar's tight playlist and mastermind promotions won the day in the New York metro.
Click to expand...

Dan Ingram joined WABC in 1961. And as Sam said, Ron Lundy arrived in 1965, first in overnights and then on his long-term shift in middays. Both came from WIL, but Ingram worked at a Connecticut company that created station promotions between WIL and WABC. WABC was one of that company's clients, which gave Ingram access to WABC GM Hal Neal.

Sam is correct that WMCA was #1 in the early 60's. The more powerful WABC was hindered by its ABC Radio Network obligations. It had to carry The Breakfast Club and the evening news block. When ABC split into 4 networks in 1967, WABC was no longer obligated to carry those shows and went music 24 hours a day. WABC zoomed ahead of WMCA. And though WABC didn't become #1 until 1969, the station beating it was WOR and not WMCA.
 
Nick said:
I am sure that people in half of the country grew up listening to him as his voice boomed into 38 states overnight. Back then, the skywave brought a lot of distant listeners to compensate for the lower local listeners in the overnight hours.
Click to expand...

Ron Lundy was daytime, 10 A to 2 P...so the nighttime skywave didn't bring him to those 38 states. But, he covered 5 of them easily during daylight hours. What a talent!

RIP Ron! And thanks for the memories...."Hello, love!"
 
ixnay said:
DToTheJ said:
jhguthlac said:
At one time, WABC was number 13 in Pittsburg!
Click to expand...

Wow, its signal reached Kansas? :eek:
Click to expand...

Forget Kansas - how 'bout the northeast side of the Bay Area in California (where the Sacto and San Joaquin meet)? :D

ixnay
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Did WABC really make it that far nights?? What a killer signal back in the I-a clear days!
 
Sam Lit said:
jhguthlac said:
At on point, WABC was pretty high in the Philadelphia ratings, so Ron would have had many listeners, including myself, in this region. At one time, WABC was number 13 in Pittsburg!

Its sad to lose yet another of the truely great radio personalities.
Click to expand...

WABC was never 'pretty high' in the Philadelphia ratings and didn't even become the number 1 station in new York until late 1969. It barely had a rating at all in Philadelphia when WIBG had a 35 overall. Philadelphia in the 50's & 60's had a decisively Philly sound on WIBG & WDAS, and then later in the late 60's WFIL before WFIL tightened it's playlist to basically top 20. By 1973-4 WDAS FM was Number 1 in Philadelphia.

WABC was very late picking up a record and by the time they did it was long played out in Philly. And you never heard any 'Philly' hits on WABC. WABC was a great radio station but not in Philly or with the Philly listening audience.

Incidentally, in the 60's WMCA regularly beat, sometimes by double, WABC in the ratings in NY, despite WMCA's directional, 5,000 watt signal, while WABC operated with 50,000 watts non-directional, on a clear channel frequency. Even though WMCA had a signal in about one-third the ratings area of WABC, it consistently still showed up #1. WABC didn't even go top 40 until 1960. Ron Lundy didn't join WABC until 1965. Ron Lundy & Dan Ingram basically joined WABC in 1965 from WIL in St. Louis. Harry Harrison himself didn't make the jump from WMCA to WABC until late 1968 to solidify the daytime lineup the would prevail throughout the 70's.

WMCA played new records faster than WABC. Its weekly countdown was 25 records long instead of WABC's 20, and it included the "Sure Shot" and "Long Shot" speculations. It's countdown was also "faster" than WABC's, in the sense that records climbed to the top quicker, while WABC's rankings tended to follow. A comparison of both stations showed WABC to be two, sometimes three weeks behind WMCA.

Besides the "Good Guys" personalities and the commitment to play new music, WMCA also excelled in on-air production. Each hour, WMCA presented its music, jingles, promotions, contests, stagers and even commercials in a tight, upbeat style that, to the ear of anyone that switched between WMCA and competitor WABC, would make WABC seem as if it were going at a somewhat slower pace. Some experts attribute this stodgy WABC sound to its staff of longtime (and older) studio engineers. The rumor is that WMCA employed younger, more "hip" board-ops who had a better understanding of the top 40 formatics. Whatever the reason, the sparkling sound presented on-air by WMCA also contributed to its ratings success in New York, the nation's largest radio market.

WMCA began to mix album cuts into their mix by late 1968 in an attempt to identify with the sound of album oriented free forum rock stations WOR-FM and WNEW-FM. It was a fatal mistake. By 1970 WMCA flipped to talk. Scott Muni was believe it or not Top 40 DJing on WABC until Lundy & Ingram joined WABC in 1965. Muni then switched to free forum WOR FM. He finally made the move to WNEW FM where he would remain, when Paul Drake flipped WOR FM to the Drake cue card formatted top 40, after drake took over the RKO radio programming helm. That of course occurred as a result of Paul Drake's success with Boss radio KHJ Los Angeles in 1966. Paul Drake failed miserably in New York.
Click to expand...

Sam:

I did the first 11 years of my life in North Jersey, until, by the grace of God, my family moved to South Jersey. That said, WABC was the dominant station where I lived, certainly by the mid sixties. WMCA was a strong competitor, and a great station in every regard, but it was no WABC. I remember being on the beach at the then Sandy Hook State Park (now Gateway National Recreation Area, Sandy Hook Unit) in the summer of 1968, walking down the beach, hearing EVERY radio on the beach tuned to 77! I doubt many people could tell you the "Good Guys" lineup, but I bet ya a cold Yuengling that anyone within 60 miles of NYC of our age group (I'm 50) could rattle off the whole WABC jock lineup, dawn to dusk! (Harry Harrison, Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, news block 6-7P, "Cousin" Bruce Morrow, Chuck Leonard, followed by various overnight guys...Charlie Greer is one name that comes to mind).

It's funny, the WABC/WMCA competition is so similar to that of Wibbage and WFIL. I didn't move to the Delaware Valley until 1971, but was familiar with both stations, as we frequently visited family in Burlington County in the Sixties. I always preferred Wibbage, and that continued once we moved South. I arrived during the "Where your friends are" period of Wibbage, and remember one of my buddy's friends saying "why do you listen to that station, you should listen to WFIL." I told him I liked WIBG better...and I did, staying through the many format machinations, including the experiment with album rock...Tee Morgan was on then, until the moment of her death in 1977...your Dad...I can hear the words in my head, to this day...."Joe....she's dying...she's dying...." I teared up...I lost a 'friend' that day.

But, let us not forget, that WABC's 50 Kw non-D I-a signal was a favorite in South Jersey. And it was better, signal wise, than anything in Philly. I doubt you'd of found a car radio owned by anyone under 30 without a preset for 77 in South Jersey! And, in my junkyard jaunts for parts as a teen, I'd check the presets....there was almost ALWAYS a button set for WABC on those old mechanical AM radios! Armand's Sound Odessey record store in the Cherry Hill Mall distributed the WABC weekly charts, along with WFIL's, in the early 70's. I don't know how WABC showed in the Philly books of the day, but I worked at the Mall as a teenager, and walked past a van doing some sort of delivery. Guess what station was playing on the van's radio? 77...WABC...."Listen to what the man said" by McCartney and Wings. 1974...loud, clear, no noise. The van had Pennsy tags, BTW. Geek that I am, I looked to see!

Don't get me wrong, I loved Philly radio from the day, but don't for a minute say that WABC didn't have influence in Philly and South Jersey. That simply isn't true!
 
Don,

There is no question WABC was one of the legendary heritage stations. There's no debate about that. But their music was weeks and weeks behind anything in Philly. So WABC's influence is Philly is simply negligible at best. By the early 70's FM in Philadelphia was gaining strength fast. WIFI 92, WDAS FM, WYSP and so on. In the 60's it was WIBG. From 68-72 WFIL. I can't recall anybody in my social set listening to WABC. Down the shore if it was anything else it was WMID, and lesser still WOND. I simply don't recall any radio on the beach during my entire youth listening to WABC. Except perhaps me because I perpetually scanned the dial to see what I could pick up.

In North Jersey or Northeastern Pa., I'm sure it was an entirely different story.


Incidentally T. Morgan came within 1 share from catching WFIL in the book when he programmed WIBG. Hy Lit had started his carrer just a few years earlier at WDAS FM.
 
WMCA in the 60's was a truly great station and was one of my favorite Top-40 stations of all time, the others being KFRC, KHJ, CKLW and WFIL in its boss days. WMCA had an incredible assemblage of talent, and they were truly a team that put the sound of the overall station in the forefront. The main reason that WABC was on all the radios on the South Jersey beaches was because WMCA was directional toward New York and didn't put a listenable signal, at least for most people, into South Jersey.

That said, I certainly don't think WABC's policy of playing the proven top 20 over and over was a hindrance to the station. It was a strategy that really worked for them and got big ratings. Whether listeners liked the less-tight playlist on WMCA or WIBG was a matter of personal preference and not a negative for WABC. I think local signal and programming targeted to Philly were the reasons the local stations were the ones listened to in Philadelphia.
 
I agree with Sam, while living in north central Jersey (Eatontown), in 1969 WABC could be hesrd everywhere, but I listened to WABC, it just reminded me of WFIL, in fact I believe the late Chuck Browning (Morning man) left WFIL to go against Cousin Brucie.
 
No wonder why my post made no sense, too much multitasking at work I meant I listened to WMCA and it was like WFIL.
I was a projectionist at night in the army in virtnam in 1970 and everytime I played the movie midnight cowboy, the scene where he is arriving on the bus in NYC and from his radio "WABC Ding. Good morning LUV this is Ron Lundy on 77 WABC". It put a tear in my eye and every GI stationed in Ft. Monmouth and Ft. Dix.
 
WIBG had a huge playlist until 1968. The owners at the time seemed to feel the the Drake format under Paul Drew was the path to follow in order compete with WFIL. In hindsight, which is always 20/20, WIBG should have followed a different path. The all star line up of WIBBAGE jocks shouldn't have been blown up. Once WIBG went Drake and introduced "The Big 30", WFIL introduced "The Boss 30" The surveys looked almost identical. WFIL won that battle. If WIBG would have streamlined a bit without blowing the whole thing up...they could have bounced back....but that's just my opinion. WIBG ruled from '57 to '66....Philly was ready for something new.....but bringing in out of town jocks and sounding less "Philly" was probably not the answer. I always liked the original WIBBAGE Good Guys. The signal was always an issue, especially at night. Back to WABC. They ruled in the tri state area and beyond by having an incredible signal, likeable personalities, and hammering that top 20. Whenever you tuned in...you heard a hit. It was mass appeal....and...as a consultant once told me..."the masses are the asses."
 
bossjock 56 said:
WIBG ruled from '57 to '66....
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Actually, it was the daytime that began failing first in 1967, mostly due to the commercial overload. WIBG played 22 minutes of commercials per hour, plus five minutes of news at the top and headlines at the bottom. WFIL ran with practically no commercials. When WIBG was playing commercials WFIL was playing music. At night Hy Lit still had a 51 share as late as the fall of 1967. Even when he quit in late 1968 to become the program director and General Manager of WDAS FM, and work the 1-4pm soul patrol on WDAS AM at the same time, he had a 46 share on WIBG.

Hy told me the story many times of WIBG's demise. Hy begged management to raise the rates and cut back on the commercial load. They refused. They were making millions. Then when Paul Drew was hired and walked into the station and said to Hy, just read these 12 cue cards over and over and I'm going to make you a star. Hy said to Paul, I quit. I'm already a star. And he was.

George B. Storer himself flew up from Miami and begged Hy to stay. Hy said no because Paul Drew was not the way to go, and cue card radio will probably fail on WIBG.

When Hy left the bottom fell out of WIBG. Paul Drew killed whatever was left. Paul was gone in less than a year.

Storer would also sell WIBG less than 1 year later to Buckley Broadcasting. Buckley cut a deal with Hy that would bring him back to WIBG in the spring of 1970. While Hy worked early afternoons on WIBG he programmed and jocked on WDAS FM late inthe afternoons for about a year. But by 1971 FM radio was starting to gain major audience attention and WDAS FM required Hy full time. Hy would leave WIBG again in 1971.

As a strange footnote old man Buckley died in the early 70's and his son took over Buckley Broadcasting. One of the first thing Jr. did was return 94.1 WIBG FM's license to the FCC saying FM would never make it.

Buckley sold to Fairbanks Broadcasting by 1974-5. Fairbanks tried everything. Big name jocks, big talent, big promotions, everything. Nothing worked. In the end they would bring Hy back September 5-10 1977 to put the 'Old Girl' WIBG to sleep and change the calls to WZZD and usher in Wizzard 100. (Still at 990kc when digital tuners were just being introduced). The Final Week of WIBG was an instant smash. It was instant, overnight the city was abuzz. Every television station, every newspaper, everyone was talking about it and glued to their radio. The most astounding and amazing strike of lightning probably ever to strike radio. I was there. I engineered and ran the board during the final week of Hy's show. It was magic. Hy was magic. I had never seen anything like it. There were literally crowds at the front door to the station. And press from all over.

All Fairbanks had to do was keep what they had just discovered, in place. Hy Lit in the afternoon noon-6, and Joe Niagara in the morning 6-noon. But no. They were going to do WIZZARD 100 anyway thinking they could parlay the lighting in a bottle to a new format with a young hot shot program director Kevin Metheny. I remember Kevin walking around the station just before he took over holding up this printout on IBM computer paper. Y'know, the kind with the holes on the side. He said these are the cards and the 200 researched songs that will make this station legendary. It failed in less than 8 months and he was gone. And so was WIBG.

I have and I will run the final week of WIBG as it happened in it's chronological order (scoped) September 5-10 2010 on HyLitRadio.com.
 
ixnay said:
DToTheJ said:
jhguthlac said:
At one time, WABC was number 13 in Pittsburg!
Click to expand...

Wow, its signal reached Kansas? :eek:
Click to expand...

Forget Kansas - how 'bout the northeast side of the Bay Area in California (where the Sacto and San Joaquin meet)? :D

ixnay
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Since no one picked up on that, I’m referring to Pittsburg, CA* (like the one in KS, spelled sans the h). 8)

Didn’t Pittsburgh, PA drop the h for a few years in the early 20th C. before reclaiming it?



ixnay
 
ixnay said:
Didn’t Pittsburgh, PA drop the h for a few years in the early 20th C. before reclaiming it?
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The Federal government's Board on Geographic Names told them to drop the "h" in 1890 (the same went for all other places ending in "burgh"). The city government ignored the order, but a lot of people (especially in other cities) went along with it. The order was officially withdrawn in 1911, but I've seen printed references to the "Pittsburg Pirates" from as late as the 1930s.
http://www.carnegielibrary.org/exhibit/hname.html
 
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