WFIL and WiFi 92 remembered

[SUPERCASTER]

Together Radio oldies remembers WFIL Famous 56 and WiFi 92:
www.wifi92fm.com

 

[rtetro]

The 56WFIL.com stream can also be heard on www.56wfil.com, as well as TuneIn, Shoutcast Radio, Wunderradio, etc. The 56WFIL stream is run by some of us at WFIL, as a "labor of love". It is a work in progress, and really an experiment at this point, as we seek to add promos, jingles, and other material from our TOP40 days into the mix.

 

[ajc_trw]

Together Radio oldies remembers WFIL Famous 56 and WiFi 92:
www.wifi92fm.com

CMIIW but WIFI-FM was on 92.5 FM. I used to listen to both WIFI & WFIL (560) in the late 70s & 80 from Haddonfield NJ.

92.1 was/is an oldies station in NJ and never had the call WIFI.

 

[ajc_trw]

Together Radio oldies remembers WFIL Famous 56 and WiFi 92:
www.wifi92fm.com

I remember WIFI92 and it was 92.5 FM not 92.1 though there is an oldies station at 92.1 in New Jersey. I listened from Haddonfield NJ in the late 70s and 1980/81.

 

[cingram]

I'm listening and I'm enjoying it. Speaking as a longtime PD, if I were you, I'd drop some of the older
oldies, doo-wop, and obscure titles. WFIL was, if anything, a hit machine, and that only in the second
half of the 60s and the first half of the 70s. They never played those songs. So, if you want to evoke
Famous 56, that's my suggestion, but by all means, keep plugging!

C.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

When did WFIL go Top 40 ?

Good points cingram. Plus, WIFI and WFIL were somewhat different generations of music.

Terrific stations both. Thanks for the work put into this!

 

[joshzz]

I listened to www.wifi92fm.com but heard no jingles. The music was good.

 

[deepstblu]

When did WFIL go Top 40 ?

September 1966.

 

[cingram]

When did WFIL go Top 40 ?

September 1966.

The late Jay Cook once told me that Walter Annenberg (the owner) didn't like Top 40 and that WFIL
essentially was a "chicken rocker" for the first year or so. After that they were given free reign and
by late 1968 WFIL had passed WIBG, which never recovered.

WIFI was on with an automated Top 40 format by 1970, and a few years later, they went live. Not
sure which year. My first solid memory of listening to WIFI is summer of 1975, with Al Bandiero in
afternoons.

Both were great stations in their day, although I'd give the edge to WFIL.

C.

 

[joshzz]

Would like to see Philly Arbitron ratings for the late sixties. Does anyone have them?

 

[amfmsw]

Dear PD,

Be it known, Famous 56 did indeed switch to Top 40 in Sept '66, BUT the played music from the entire rock era, 1955 to the then present as part of the mix. Especially with "King" George Michael in the evenings and on their "Million Dollar Weekends". EARLY Motown B-sides(Made famous by Wibbage) Duprees, Crickets, Avalon, Berry, the Cameo-Parkway stable (out of business since '65) were always played. I still have airchecks of Jim Nettleton and Michaels and Parks to bear this out.

Jay Cook knew that to win, they needed the older Wibbage listeners in the mix too. They even had a "WFIL History of Rock: The Fifties" 2 lp set.

 

[cingram]

Be it known, Famous 56 did indeed switch to Top 40 in Sept '66, BUT the played music from the entire rock era, 1955 to the then present as part of the mix. Especially with "King" George Michael in the evenings and on their "Million Dollar Weekends". EARLY Motown B-sides(Made famous by Wibbage) Duprees, Crickets, Avalon, Berry, the Cameo-Parkway stable (out of business since '65) were always played. I still have airchecks of Jim Nettleton and Michaels and Parks to bear this out.

Jay Cook knew that to win, they needed the older Wibbage listeners in the mix too. They even had a "WFIL History of Rock: The Fifties" 2 lp set.

Of course they played some oldies occasionally, but not as current songs. WFIL was a Top 40 station
and listeners remember them best for the current hits they played (and in some cases made). There
is not much point in appealing to the older WIBG listeners now. Most of those listeners are deceased.

I'm not suggesting dropping everything pre-Beatles, just being selective. We remember WFIL for the
Delfonics much more than doo-wop or the Duprees. (BTW, I have the Fifties LP set, along with most
of the others. Would love to hear those airchecks.)

C.

 

[tce]

I like the selection I heard streaming on WFIL. It is distinct from what I hear on HyLit, which is still my favorite. Both give you that "thought I'd never hear that great song again" experience once in a while. Clarke Ingram thinks that experience is bad programming, based on research. Research doesn't diminish the enjoyment, however. I listened to WFIL from their first month as a Top 40. They played HITS from oldies to current songs - nothing I would describe as chicken rock. Jay was very knowledgeable, so I wonder if there was a misunderstanding. And you would only have to be in your late fifties to remember the "old" Wibbage.

 

[cingram]

I like the selection I heard streaming on WFIL. It is distinct from what I hear on HyLit, which is still my favorite. Both give you that "thought I'd never hear that great song again" experience once in a while. Clarke Ingram thinks that experience is bad programming, based on research. Research doesn't diminish the enjoyment, however. I listened to WFIL from their first month as a Top 40. They played HITS from oldies to current songs - nothing I would describe as chicken rock. Jay was very knowledgeable, so I wonder if there was a misunderstanding. And you would only have to be in your late fifties to remember the "old" Wibbage.

I don't think there was any misundertanding. Jay Cook specifically told me they didn't go full-throttle
Top 40 at first because of Annenberg's concern. This is borne out by an aircheck I have from Fall '66,
where WFIL is playing some light-sounding a capella jingles and doing "Aviation Weather," along with
other not-really-Top-40-sounding features. (In fact, it was this tape on which Jay Cook commented.)

Don't count on your memory. Memories are generally faulty, or at best, selective.

And I never quoted research, because I've never done any in Philadelphia. I offered my opinion as a
longtime PD, and as a former WFIL listener in its Top 40 heyday. My opinion, like anyone else's, can
be considered or ignored.

C.

 

[cingram]

Re: WIBG, their heyday was from about '58 to '68, because by '68 WFIL had beaten them. If, as was
asserted, WFIL wanted some of WIBG's older listeners -- let's be generous, and say 35-54 -- and that
was 45 years ago at the most recent end of the age spectrum, those listeners are now 80 to 99 years
old. As I said, most of those listeners are dead.

C.

 

[tce]

I was referring to the discussion on the Pgh board, in which you maintain that playing songs of the type I describe is bad programming because research shows people tune out. If you were not citing resesarch - then it is opinioin, which is often as unreliable as memorny.

A WIBG listener in 1955 could easily have been fifteen - 26 when WFIL flipped - 73 today. Listeners to the "older WIBG" could have been 15 in 1965 - 53 today.

Jingles & features? Then define chicken rock. I consider it the music, not the presentation. And even their presentation was not "soft". The main thing that distinguished WFIL from WIBG WAS their presentation. The tightest anywhere, distinct from most Drake-clones in that the jocks inserted personality into the short breaks (as Drake's actual plan dictated). When WIBG tried to do Drake, Paul Drew either hired people who couldn't pull it off - didn't really allow them to do it - or by comparison to FIL, they were a weak also-ran.

I am not a radio professional, but during that time, I followed the Famous 56-Wibbage confrontation with guys who were already active in programming or were soon to be there.

The point is, that when several of us in Pittsburgh mentioned how appealing it is to hear those "forgotten" hits, you instructed us that it was bad programming - because people tune out when they are played. We still enjoy them and the pleasure our faulty memories of them bring us.

 

[tce]

Typo in second example above: 63 not 53.

 

[amfmsw]

Keep in mind, this is a tribute site for the music, ALL the music. Not the formatics that ruined radio and made formats tight as an ants axx. It's supposed to be fun, not Abitron driven.

Secondly, the 'chicken rock' station in Philly was always 610 WIP. And they were the best, with the best news and talent stable. "Color Radio 610" in the early days with Tom Brown. WIP was so good, even the kids could tolerate it when mom & dad had it on in the car! Their stable of talent got even stronger when WRCV "good music" switched to all news & KYW '65. They got Wee Willie Webber and others. WIP specialized in Pop crossover hits. No WIP Beatles "I Want To Hold Your Hand", but yes Beatles "If I Fell" and "Till There Was You" mixed with the same Sinatra and Al Martino cuts Bill Wright Sr was playing on Wibbage. That of course ended in '67 when WIBG was forced to look in the mirror.

 

[cingram]

I was referring to the discussion on the Pgh board, in which you maintain that playing songs of the type I describe is bad programming because research shows people tune out.

And that is quite true ... notwithstanding that it was a different discussion on a different board about a
different radio market.

Jingles & features? Then define chicken rock. I consider it the music, not the presentation.

What I hear on the tape from late 1966 is barely a Top 40 station. Maybe they were just getting their
bearings, maybe it was Annenberg's influence, but it sounds half-committed, and there is no song like
(say) "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five that might scream "hey, we changed the format!" That's my
definition of chicken rock.

When WIBG tried to do Drake, Paul Drew either hired people who couldn't pull it off - didn't really allow them to do it - or by comparison to FIL, they were a weak also-ran.

I agree ... and that's part of my point. I am in my fifties, and I remember WIBG. I remember it as a
weak sister, a perennial second to WFIL. They had some great talent at times (somebody mentioned
Tom Kent in another thread), but the station never measured up. They changed the format every six
months, or so it seemed. The Drake period was dreadful, not to mention several years too late. This
isn't a station I particularly want to remember, and I'd bet most of its listeners would agree.

The point is, that when several of us in Pittsburgh mentioned how appealing it is to hear those "forgotten" hits, you instructed us that it was bad programming - because people tune out when they are played. We still enjoy them and the pleasure our faulty memories of them bring us.

"Forgotten" hits are forgotten for a reason. Either they were not big enough to start with or over the
years they lost popularity and are no longer playable. One of my favorite songs from 1970 is Crabby
Appleton's "Go Back," but I wouldn't want to foist it upon a listening audience; it's simply not popular
enough today. My personal opinion of the song (or yours, or the opinion of "several of us") does not
change that one bit.

It's bad programming to play songs that people don't like. That is true whether it's the biggest radio
station in the universe or someone's internet stream, if you want an audience. If the WFIL stream is
a hobby or meant for the creator's personal enjoyment, then it's no big deal, but if it really wishes to
evoke WFIL and draw an audience, then the axiom holds. I made a suggestion in keeping with good
programming practices. Sorry if you don't like it, or agree with it, but I stand by my suggestion.

C.

 

[cingram]

Keep in mind, this is a tribute site for the music, ALL the music. Not the formatics that ruined radio and made formats tight as an ants axx. It's supposed to be fun, not Abitron driven.

I just wrote another post addressing this, but ALL the music is not playable, nor should it be played.

How far do you go? Do you play everything that made the Top 40? Do you play everything that hit
the Billboard Hot 100? What about the "Bubbling Under" songs? There has to be a line somewhere,
and the proper place to draw that line is at songs that the mass audience doesn't like, doesn't know
or doesn't care about any more.

Did the formatics of WFIL ruin radio? No. And they were tight, and it was one of the reasons WFIL
beat WIBG, just as KHJ beat KFWB and KRLA, just as CKLW put WKNR out of business. Don't start
me on formatics.

Secondly, the 'chicken rock' station in Philly was always 610 WIP.

WIP was a MOR station, maybe an AC station, but no one ever confused them with being a Top 40
station. So, I wouldn't call them "chicken rock," even if they played Beatle ballads. What they did
back then, they did very well for many years.

C.