WCIN

[RadioBill]

However, I don't recall any period in the early-mid 60s, that WCPO wasn't rockin & rollin...right up to the end...

My memory is pretty fuzzy about that time period, but I seem to recall a year or so when WCPO drifted to a MOR format with some network (CBS?) programming mixed in, which sent me on a hunt for an alternate to WSAI.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

There was also a time about 1963 when WCPO became a "Hootenanney" station; playing that type of music on a fulltime basis. Earlier that same year, as noted, they did become a CBS Radio Network affiliate and carried Arthur Godfrey Time and other CBS shows.

 

[Time Traveler]

There was also a time about 1963 when WCPO became a "Hootenanney" station; playing that type of music on a fulltime basis. Earlier that same year, as noted, they did become a CBS Radio Network affiliate and carried Arthur Godfrey Time and other CBS shows.

That's interesting ..."Hootenanney" is that some form of country and western??? I'll admit that I was pretty young and wasn't completely paying attention to WSAI and WCPO until early 1964 and particularly 1965...Does anybody else remember anything like this??? I do know of course, that WCPO's successor WUBE, went country in 1969...

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

It was a form of folk music that was particularly popular with the college crowd. Prior to that, and perhaps in connection with becoming a CBS Radio Network affiliate, WCPO was playing some middle-of-the-road music although, as I recall, they still used the same DJ's as they had from the rock format.

 

[static_cling]

I remember WCIN's "Tiger Radio" days in the early-mid 1960's. Does anybody remember an afternoon drivetime jock by the name of Smoochy Causey, or something like that? Or perhaps he was on WDAO.

There was a Smoochey Causey on WHOT in Youngstown in the mid to late 60's. With a name like that, I'd assume it was the same guy. Don't know what became of him after his stint at HOT.

 

[RadioBill]

Prior to that, and perhaps in connection with becoming a CBS Radio Network affiliate, WCPO was playing some middle-of-the-road music although, as I recall, they still used the same DJ's as they had from the rock format.

Seems like I recall that CBS would not allow Top-40 (or in the case of WCPO, Nifty-50) affiliates at the time which may have precipitated the format change.

During their rock & roll days in the early 60's, WCPO's post-midnight programming was an automation attempt known as "Night Watch". Anybody remember that? Non-stop music with no interruptions except for periods of dead air. Night Watch might have been a weekend only thing but it was great for taping songs without DJ's walking over the intros. I fondly remember outdoor campouts when we would switch our transistor radios between WCPO's Night Watch and XERF's Wolfman Jack! On many nights XERF was stronger than WCPO and we lived only about a half mile out of the city limit.

Back to the "Track of the Cat"...WCIN's GM lived in our neighborhood and had a son nicknamed "Tiger". I don't know if the station ("Tiger Radio") was nicknamed after him or vice versa. After moving into the new Glenwood Ave facilities, WCIN promoted themselves as "5,000 watts day and night" even though they were only 500 at night. WCIN did pull a cross-over audience from WSAI for awhile until 123-WB came along to fill the void.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

So much of the problem with WCPO at 1230-AM was its weak reception at night. As noted, it really could not be heard very well outside the Cincinnati city limits after dark. I don't remember "Night Watch", but I do remember Steve "Iron Jaw" Palmer doing a Saturday night show called "Requestfully Yours". He invited listeners to call in via series of about seven seperate numbers. The lines were so jammed that when you called in you would not only get the usual busy signal, but you could hear and talk to other callers in-between the beat of the busy singal. It enabled them to get the telephone number of each other so they could call them to talk, perhaps meet somewhere, etc.

 

[major]

Can someone smarter than me list the url from the FCC website with the particulars of the sale to American Broadcasting. There's something in it I'm supposed to look for.

Thanks.

 

[js]

A friend was going through some old tapes and found a reel of WCPO from around 1965. Anyone interested in hearing it? If so, I'll scope it & post it. The sound quality is very good.

 

[microbob]

Go right ahead. I would like to hear what the station sounded like. There are not many airchecks of WCPO floating around as it is.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

Please post it. Interestingly, despite it's power, WCPO had a nice quality sound if you were close enough to hear it. It was kind of a echo-like. Some may recall that most of the time, the AM output was simualcast on WCPO-FM at 105.1 KC. It had nice power and a good coverage area which enabled people far beyond the range of the AM station to listen. It, too, had the echo-like sound.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

Go right ahead. I would like to hear what the station sounded like. There are not many airchecks of WCPO floating around as it is.

While I was a huge fan of Boss Radio 1230 WUBE from 1966 -1968, I don't recall what 1230 sounded like before Big Al Law & Bwana Johnny held court there. I, too, would love to give it a listen. If anyone cares to post any WUBE from the mid 60's, that would be very welcomed as well. Thanks in advance!

 

[js]

I'm working on it. It's a 90 minute tape, so it will take a little time. I'll try to get it done this weekend.

 

[RadioBill]

A friend was going through some old tapes and found a reel of WCPO from around 1965. Anyone interested in hearing it? If so, I'll scope it & post it. The sound quality is very good.

Ahhh man, I'd love to hear that!!!

 

[RadioBill]

While I was a huge fan of Boss Radio 1230 WUBE from 1966 -1968, I don't recall what 1230 sounded like before Big Al Law & Bwana Johnny held court there. I, too, would love to give it a listen. If anyone cares to post any WUBE from the mid 60's, that would be very welcomed as well. Thanks in advance!

As much as I liked the Drake format, WUBE enjoyed its highest ratings pre-Drake when they ran the All-American format including the popular Chicken Man series. Bwana Johnny was at his best pre-Drake. The Drake format took a lot of personality from Bwana, even making him change his air name to Johnny Johnson initially.

WCPO's signal, even in the daytime, was relatively weak around the Cincinnati metro area. It was not uncommon on the northwest side of town to null out WCPO/WUBE and hear WCOL from Columbus. If Cincinnati's 1230 would have had a WCOL-like signal, they would have given WSAI a real run for their money. That little stick on the Daylight Building (at the foot of Mt. Adams) just didn't cut it.

 

[Time Traveler]

Prior to that, and perhaps in connection with becoming a CBS Radio Network affiliate, WCPO was playing some middle-of-the-road music although, as I recall, they still used the same DJ's as they had from the rock format.

Seems like I recall that CBS would not allow Top-40 (or in the case of WCPO, Nifty-50) affiliates at the time which may have precipitated the format change.

Very interesting...The Cincinnati Radio guide claims that WCPO became a rock station around 1956. I also have one of those "Nifty Top 50" surveys from 1962, which suggests that the flip to a more MOR approach must have occurred around 1963, and must have been short lived. I certainly remember WCPO being a straight ahead Top 40 station by 1964, and I recall that a few former WSAI jocks defected to WCPO in 1965. They included Mark Edwards, Steve Young and Garry Allyn.
Probably not the best move for those guys, as things turned out...Did WUBE ever upgrade that little WCPO transmitter, or were they destroyed by that facility too? Just curious...I moved out of Cincinnati six weeks before WCPO went under...and only heard WUBE a few times in 1966 and 1967...

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

When the DJ's from WSAI moved to WCPO, the station was using the midst of the "Big Switch" campaign. It was basically, "I made the Big Switch to WCPO, how about you?". This was also used on billboard and similar advertising about 1965.

I don't think the station ever overcame its reception problem on 1230 KC. In fact, I think it has always been there to this day regardless of format and call-letter changes. As I noted in an earlier post, the actual quality sound of WCPO was a good one with a small echo to it, but unless you were with-in ten miles or so of the transmitter, it didn't make any difference.

It might be (again) noted that much of the AM output was simualcast on WCPO-FM at 105.1 MC. The FM station had great range especially for that time. WCPO getting the rights to University of Cincinnati football and basketball games in 1960 is what led me to purchase my first FM radio so I could hear the broadcasts. They later also got the rights to the Cincinnati Royals for the 1961-62 season with some coverage, particularly on FM for 1962-63. It was really only in its sports coverage that the AM & FM would separate; first for UC and Xavier games and later for UC and Royals contests. Otherwise, it was a basic simualcast the rest of the time.

 

[Time Traveler]

When the DJ's from WSAI moved to WCPO, the station was using the midst of the "Big Switch" campaign. It was basically, "I made the Big Switch to WCPO, how about you?". This was also used on billboard and similar advertising about 1965.

I don't think the station ever overcame its reception problem on 1230 KC. In fact, I think it has always been there to this day regardless of format and call-letter changes. As I noted in an earlier post, the actual quality sound of WCPO was a good one with a small echo to it, but unless you were with-in ten miles or so of the transmitter, it didn't make any difference.

I do remember that "Big Switch" campaign...I also remember a promotional announcement run on WCPO at that time...
"There are two stations in Cincinnati that play popular music...This one is WCPO...The other one isn't"....So mild compared to how stations bash each other on the air these days...I do agree with you too that WCPO had a good quality sound. Unfortunately, I had barely discovered FM radio in those days, so I pretty much stuck to 1230. I do remember bumping into WCPO-FM a couple of times, as well as WSAI-FM which I believe was classical in those days.

 

[BobOnTheJob]

When the DJ's from WSAI moved to WCPO, the station was using the midst of the "Big Switch" campaign. It was basically, "I made the Big Switch to WCPO, how about you?". This was also used on billboard and similar advertising about 1965.

I don't think the station ever overcame its reception problem on 1230 KC. In fact, I think it has always been there to this day regardless of format and call-letter changes. As I noted in an earlier post, the actual quality sound of WCPO was a good one with a small echo to it, but unless you were with-in ten miles or so of the transmitter, it didn't make any difference.

I do remember that "Big Switch" campaign...I also remember a promotional announcement run on WCPO at that time...
"There are two stations in Cincinnati that play popular music...This one is WCPO...The other one isn't"....So mild compared to how stations bash each other on the air these days...I do agree with you too that WCPO had a good quality sound. Unfortunately, I had barely discovered FM radio in those days, so I pretty much stuck to 1230. I do remember bumping into WCPO-FM a couple of times, as well as WSAI-FM which I believe was classical in those days.

1230 did have a reputation for good quality audio. I took a tour of the place in 1967 (moments after passing my FCC test for 3rd class with broadcast endorsement at age 14) & remember noting that the modulation monitor was steady as a rock...at 60%. That probably was closer to 80% in reality as those old General Radio 1931A mod monitors rarely topped 80%. Imagine a station with a marginal signal giving up a db or two of loudness in the name of quality. Aside from that, I recall a clothing rack outside the studio where WUBE shirts hung (seems they were blue) and it seems that each jock was required to wear one while on duty.

 

[jcr]

When the DJ's from WSAI moved to WCPO, the station was using the midst of the "Big Switch" campaign. It was basically, "I made the Big Switch to WCPO, how about you?". This was also used on billboard and similar advertising about 1965.

Besides the DJs mentioned earlier, newsmen Carey Mercker and Lou Eberhardt also switched over to WCPO radio, and Al Schottlekotte also used them on TV news