Have to disagree a little with mleach. WEFG 102.5 was top 40 in the 70's. It later changed to gospel. I used to be the music director at WHPL in the early 80's. Scott Sloanaker trained me before he left. Phil Roby was PD of WHPL & WEFG at that time. But in the 70's John P Bell and his wife Kaye managed the stations. Son Mike Bell and Daughter Pam Bell were on the air DJ's during the top 40 days in the late 60's and early 70's.. Pam works at the Northern Virginia Daily in Strasburg........ call her up and ask her, her dad ran the place. I used to go by the name Steve Michaels when I worked there.
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Top 40 stations around Virginia in the 1960's & 70's
- Thread starter bk77
- Start date
Kudos for listing WAVY 1350 and WHIH in Nofolk. WAVY was a good top 40 station and a worthy competitor for WGH and WNOR. Willard Scott, yes THAT Willard Scott worked there for a while. If I remember correctly....(and it's been a while..) WHIH was kind of a Top 40/R & B hybrid...great memories. Four Top 40's to choose between....
After WAVY was WCVU, with an AC format, they became WKLX and tried the Top-40 game again. Tough to beat the great WGH
(Imitates Bob Calvert: "Number one for 145 consecutive months! Famous 1310... WGH, Newport News-Norfolk!
(Imitates Bob Calvert: "Number one for 145 consecutive months! Famous 1310... WGH, Newport News-Norfolk!
S
Sgt Preston
Guest
Re: Top 40 stations ...1960's & 70's
Does anyone remember WANV-AM licensed to WAYNESBORO,VA???
How about WTON in Staunton?
or WHBG in Harrisonburg? (who used to sign off with "DIXIE"...how UN-P.C. would that be in todays world!)
Are any of these still on the air?
Does anyone remember WANV-AM licensed to WAYNESBORO,VA???
How about WTON in Staunton?
or WHBG in Harrisonburg? (who used to sign off with "DIXIE"...how UN-P.C. would that be in todays world!)
Are any of these still on the air?
Does anyone remember WANV-AM licensed to WAYNESBORO,VA???
How about WTON in Staunton?
or WHBG in Harrisonburg? (who used to sign off with "DIXIE"...how UN-P.C. would that be in todays world!)
Are any of these still on the air?
All are still on the air but none sport music any longer. WANV is now WKCI and repeats WKCY AM out of Harrisonburg. WTON Staunton still has those calls but now carries ESPN radio. As does WHBG in Harrisonburg.
The only one of these stations that could have been called "top 40" would have been WHBG...at least in its heydey. The others were pretty much full service. Meaning lots of news, weather and other service elements and the music was pretty much AC...THe big thing about these stations that I remember:
1. WANV. Owned by the Rogers family. Robert was the father. And he would do the WANV editorials in a very monotone voice. The station had/has 4 towers and different patterns for day/night, neither of which serve a huge audience...the night signal blows against the mountain. They built the FM with a huge signal in 1979. Both were sold twice before being absorbed by clear channel. The FM transferred to the Cville market and sold again to Monticello Media. The AM still belongs to CC as part of the Hburg cluster.
2. WTON. Great jingles in the 70's when Al Charles owned them...just remember they had special ones recorded for their sports programming...
How about WTON in Staunton?
or WHBG in Harrisonburg? (who used to sign off with "DIXIE"...how UN-P.C. would that be in todays world!)
Are any of these still on the air?
All are still on the air but none sport music any longer. WANV is now WKCI and repeats WKCY AM out of Harrisonburg. WTON Staunton still has those calls but now carries ESPN radio. As does WHBG in Harrisonburg.
The only one of these stations that could have been called "top 40" would have been WHBG...at least in its heydey. The others were pretty much full service. Meaning lots of news, weather and other service elements and the music was pretty much AC...THe big thing about these stations that I remember:
1. WANV. Owned by the Rogers family. Robert was the father. And he would do the WANV editorials in a very monotone voice. The station had/has 4 towers and different patterns for day/night, neither of which serve a huge audience...the night signal blows against the mountain. They built the FM with a huge signal in 1979. Both were sold twice before being absorbed by clear channel. The FM transferred to the Cville market and sold again to Monticello Media. The AM still belongs to CC as part of the Hburg cluster.
2. WTON. Great jingles in the 70's when Al Charles owned them...just remember they had special ones recorded for their sports programming...
S
Sgt Preston
Guest
The only one of these stations that could have been called "top 40" would have been WHBG...at least in its heydey. The others were pretty much full service. Meaning lots of news, weather and other service elements and the music was pretty much AC...THe big thing about these stations that I remember:
1. WANV. Owned by the Rogers family. Robert was the father. And he would do the WANV editorials in a very monotone voice. The station had/has 4 towers and different patterns for day/night, neither of which serve a huge audience...the night signal blows against the mountain. They built the FM with a huge signal in 1979. Both were sold twice before being absorbed by clear channel. The FM transferred to the Cville market and sold again to Monticello Media. The AM still belongs to CC as part of the Hburg cluster.
I worked @ WANV-AM in 1974 (the night shift) as "Jay Ford" we played TOP 40...then.
I remember WTON being "DRY" easy listening, etc
& WHBG rockin' TOP 40.
THANKS for the updates
1. WANV. Owned by the Rogers family. Robert was the father. And he would do the WANV editorials in a very monotone voice. The station had/has 4 towers and different patterns for day/night, neither of which serve a huge audience...the night signal blows against the mountain. They built the FM with a huge signal in 1979. Both were sold twice before being absorbed by clear channel. The FM transferred to the Cville market and sold again to Monticello Media. The AM still belongs to CC as part of the Hburg cluster.
I worked @ WANV-AM in 1974 (the night shift) as "Jay Ford" we played TOP 40...then.
I remember WTON being "DRY" easy listening, etc
& WHBG rockin' TOP 40.
THANKS for the updates
WHBG for a VERY brief time back in the late 90's tried to somewhat get back into Top 40. I saw somewhat because even though they were airing some 70's satellite feed, the local breaks were covered by current top 40 tunes like The Backstreet Boys and New Radicals for example. However once those tunes would end they would often stumble onto whatever the network was playing like the time I heard N'Sync over Starbuck's Moonlight Feels Right. And that morning show..one minute Top 40 the next country the next something from 50s but that was ok..the best part of WHBG back then was when the mic was turned on only to hear the washing machine in the background or the dog barking or even the time I heard some woman in the background asking her husband/morning guy "...honey I am going to the Food Lion...what would you like to have for dinner tonight?" :
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