WFIL and WiFi 92 remembered

[tce]

I'm not going to argue with Clarke any more on this. We are actually talking past each other regarding the value of seldom heard "hits." He is a programming professional, so I respect his point.

However, he goes to far when he claims most of WIBG's listeners would like to forget them. That just shows an unfamiliarity with Philadelphia radio. By the time I heard Wibbage, I didn't much like them. Their approach to Top 40 was five years out of date when WFIL flipped. Even a slightly updated format would have beat them. WFIL's inspired programming wiped them out. Bill Wright, Sr. sounded one step beyond Breakfast Club.

However, they had been a powerhouse and had a loyal following. A friend who grew up in that market lamented that they got stuck. Joe Niagara and Hy Lit survived the WIBG downfall because they built a following doing good work on a what had been a popular station. If you only compare WIBG of 1966 (which was the same as 1960) with WFIL of 1966, they would be forgettable. But to do that is to forget their former greatness.

By the way, KQV in Pittsburgh made a huge deal out of Jim Quinn leaving to go to Philadelphia "America's fourth largest market." When I heard him, handcuffed by the poorly executed Drake format on WIBG as "Happy Jack," he sounded anything but happy about his decision to go there.

 

[cingram]

However, he goes to far when he claims most of WIBG's listeners would like to forget them. That just shows an unfamiliarity with Philadelphia radio.

That's not quite what I said, and certainly not what I meant. What I meant was that the listeners of
WIBG as a second-place station probably would not want to remember that station. Of course, they
would remember (and want to remember) its glory years.

If you only compare WIBG of 1966 (which was the same as 1960) with WFIL of 1966, they would be forgettable.

That's what I was getting at. And you could extend that for the next 10 years of WIBG, up to 1977,
when WFIL began to falter, and WIBG ceased to exist. Talents like Hy Lit and Joe Niagara were the
exceptions, and indeed the loyalty of their listeners outlived WIBG by many years.

By the way, KQV in Pittsburgh made a huge deal out of Jim Quinn leaving to go to Philadelphia "America's fourth largest market." When I heard him, handcuffed by the poorly executed Drake format on WIBG as "Happy Jack," he sounded anything but happy about his decision to go there.

I remember! And I have an aircheck of his first night back in Pittsburgh, sounding grateful, perhaps
even penitent. He is still on the air here to this day as the morning host at talk station WPGB 104.7,
and is very successful.

BTW, I spent my summers on the Jersey shore from 1965 to 1977, inclusive, so I am not unfamiliar
with Philadelphia radio from that period. My station of choice always was WFIL until the mid-1970s,
when I started listening to WIFI.

C.

 

[qtpieislit]

When or if you get a copy of The Hy Lit Story (Available on the HyLitRadio.com Home Page) you will find out what happened behind the scenes. This will shed a much clearer light on why things evolved the way they did. What happened behind the scenes is generally unknown to most people. Behind the scenes is vastly more influential to why WIBBAGE died than just WFIL beating WIBG during the day.

When Hy left WIBG he still has a 30+ share of nights. George Michael on WFIL never beat Hy Lit in the ratings. Only after Hy left WIBG and John Landecker came in for nights on WIBG did George Michael beat WIBG for the first time. Also Hy had a 71 share on of Sunday Nights right up until the day he left to take over WDAS-FM. Hy also did a year on WDAS-AM (The Soul Patrol) from 1-4 in the afternoon in addition to programming and doing an air shift on WDAS-FM.

After that year WIBG lured Hy back for a one year contract to do afternoons on WIBG, while he still was programming and doing an air shift on WDAS-FM. After that year Hy left WIBG again as his work load became too heavy and WDAS-FM was starting to gain market share and required more of Hy's time. Hy was very interested in the commercialization of FM which had been basically dormant since it's invention. Hy was also doing his TV show on Saturday Nights on Kaiser broadcasting stations from WKBS TV in Philadelphia for the duration.

The true story of Philadelphia Radio with incredible pictures will be all be in the book. Also, among other things, on the Hy Lit Collectors Edition CD will be snippets of when he went back to WIBG for that year. Joey Reynolds did mid-day. Hy did afternoons and Landecker did nights. Here's a snippet of what will be on the Collectors CD which will be choc full of gold nuggets.


http://hylitradio.com/Hy_Lit_WIBG_Promo_1970.mp3


There will also be snippets of Hy on WIFI-92 (1973) on the Hy Lit Collectors CD, only available with the Hy Lit Story, Collectors Edition Book. Go to http://HyLitRadio.com for more information.

 

[cingram]

Thanks, Sam! Hy was the best. A great talent, a true original, and a gentleman. I look forward to the
book.

C.

 

[radioguy39nj]

For about a decade from the mid-50s to 1966 when WFIL flipped, WIBG had a virtual monopoly on the top 40 format in Philadelphia. AFAIK, WIBG had no full market competition. Wilmington, DE and Trenton, NJ had top 40 stations, but both were regional signals that had no impact in Philadelphia. WFIL would change all that. WIBG probably thought no one had the guts to challenge them with their 30+ ratings at night.

I still recall visiting Atlantic City in the summer of '65. WFIL was the then the Phillies' flagship station. WABC came in fairly strong and of course, there was WIBG and Atlantic City's own WMID.

 

[cingram]

WIBG probably thought no one had the guts to challenge them with their 30+ ratings at night.

WIBG also may have thought that since WFIL was just 5,000 watts, and WIBG was 50,000 watts day
and 10,000 watts night, they wouldn't be much of a threat. Looked good on paper, but in reality the
WFIL signal was better (especially in the suburbs) because of their lower frequency, and it being less
directional than WIBG.

And as almost everybody who has written about this rivalry has noted, WIBG was playing a boatload
of commercials (up to 22 minutes per hour) when WFIL changed to Top 40, while WFIL didn't have a
spot load that heavy. I believe Hy Lit appealed to WIBG management to raise the ad rates and drop
the spot load, to no avail.

C.

 

[qtpieislit]

And as almost everybody who has written about this rivalry has noted, WIBG was playing a boatload
of commercials (up to 22 minutes per hour) when WFIL changed to Top 40, while WFIL didn't have a
spot load that heavy. I believe Hy Lit appealed to WIBG management to raise the ad rates and drop
the spot load, to no avail.

C.

That is correct. In the book we explain that. WIBG would play 1 record and then 4 minutes of commercials, while WFIL was playing music. In fact when Hy quit in late 1968, Georg B. Storer flew up from Miami where the flagship station (710/WGBS) was. George begged Hy to stay, but Hy had had enough. 22 Minutes and hour of commercials and 5 minutes of news against a station, WFIL, that for the first year and a half ran practically no commercials. Then with Paul drew coming in as PD, and trying to force Hy to read cards, Hy had had enough.

Hy's Kaiser broadcasting TV show was top rated in it's time period during that time,and was a big money maker. Plus Hy didn't believe Paul Drew was the answer. They were still going to run the maximum amount of commercials allow by the FCC. Yes, the FCC had rules on the books that dictated a maximum commercial load.

Paul Drew wound up getting fired by loosing and alienating Hy, who Storer considered his franchise player. George B. Storer then quickly sold the station. He sold it to Buckly Broadcasting for 6 million dollars, and that was big money at that time. Well, that’s big money now, but it was really big money then.

I remembered my father explained it to me this way. He said, Sam, it's as simple as this, after I left the bottom just fell out.

 

[athegymtday]

And the bottom did fall out. Drew was difficult to work with even Joe Niagra had a difficult time reading cards. When Drew was fired I remember Joe coming back on in the fall of 1969 and stated this was the "real WIBBAGE", must have been before Buckley took over and an attempt to get some of the old listeners back. I know Niagra did afternoons followed by Joey Reynolds. I went to Vietnam for a year and when I returned at the end of 1970 there was a big change WMMR was in the mix playing a strange but great mix of music with Jerry Stevens as PD for a time and his leginday "The Radio Station" spots. WIFI was around with hit parade '70 and later '71 automated from beautiful Pot Shop road (in what I guess was Mel Galop's basement with the transmitter and tower at the same location).We all started to realize AM radio's days were numbered. By then I had my Marantz receiver and my bose 501's/901's (till the foam deteriated) and never went back to AM.

 

[tce]

Clarke - just to close the loop on WFIL's chicken-ness: Although presence on the survey does not assure air-play, the WFIL survey for 11/7/66 has "Psychotic Reaction" at Number 11. (And it is playing as I type on 56WFIL.com, by coincidence).

 

[cingram]

Clarke - just to close the loop on WFIL's chicken-ness: Although presence on the survey does not assure air-play, the WFIL survey for 11/7/66 has "Psychotic Reaction" at Number 11. (And it is playing as I type on 56WFIL.com, by coincidence).

I stand corrected.

C.

 

[rtetro]

I've been reading this thread with interest, since I am programming the 56WFIL stream. At the risk of giving away the farm, let me give you a little background of just what we are playing in the rotation:

There are five music categories:
64-69 Standard (non R&B, British, etc)
64-69 R&B (Motown, Stax, etc)
70-75 - 2 per hour
Pre-Beatles "Standards"
Doo Wop

The format is definitely post-Beatles 60s centric (about 72%). There are only four pre-Beatles songs per hour: two are "standard non-doowop" (Bobby Rydell, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Ricky Nelson, Little Richard, etc). Two are doo wop (Flamingos, Fankie Lymon, Five Satins, Harvey & the Moonglows, etc). There are also only two 70s songs per hour. The seventies music spans the entire decade, but is heavily oriented to pre-1976 and RnB. And there are definitely, as was mentioned, some "wow factor" songs that are not played as often by oldies stations.

I hope this clears up some of the guess work of what we are doing.

 

[cingram]

I remembered my father explained it to me this way. He said, Sam, it's as simple as this, after I left the bottom just fell out.

Trying to make Hy Lit read liner cards makes about as much sense as trying to make Howard Stern
read liner cards. I'm not a big Stern fan, but I respect his talent. He's not a bland card-reader and
he needs the freedom to perform. Hy was the same, in a different era and style.

WIBG needed to evolve but not in the way it did. Considering that Paul Drew had just come from a
major victory at CKLW (against a dominant 5000-watt competitor), on paper it probably looked like
a good idea. But WFIL was in the ascendancy and as has been noted, the Drake format wasn't well
done at WIBG, for whatever reason.

To everything there is a season, etc.

C.

 

[tce]

rtetro - Thanks for the look under the hood. There are those of us who appreciate the extended playlist and the occasional surprise. Obviously, conventional radio can't figure out how to make this kind of music rotation work - so your efforts are especially welcome. I can honestly say that I have never tuned out when an unexpected song came up - even when it was one I didn't like. On the other hand, I have moved on when "Too Proud to Beg" (a great song) was played too often.

Since there are not enough of us to justify this kind of programming on conventional radio, finding it online is a pleasure. It is great to be reminded of - and even have good-natured disagreements about - the great WFIL. It is sad and even somewhat surprising that the only original Boss Jock still alive is Dave Parks. Those guys, who made you feel like they really enjoyed what we shared, were not so old that such a high percentage have passed away. Good luck with this worthwhile endeavor.

 

[TimeIsTight]

Remembering WIFI 92 in the 70s as a station I would play at home on a big component stereo system, which made it a totally different listening experience than catching WIBG or WFIL on an AM portable or car radio, the only jock name I remember was Bill Figenshu.

I am assuming it was the same guy who later went on to be a very senior executive at many top broadcasting companies including CBS/Infinity, Viacom, Citadel, and Chancellor, which is now Clear Channel. Most recently he is listed as a broadcast consultant and head of his own firm.

Was he just a jock at WIFI 92 in those early days?

Are there any others who passed through WIFI in those days who later made big names for themselves in the business?

 

[stevations]

Clarke mentioned that WIFI was automated Top 40 in 1970. They were automated with Drake Chenault's Hit Parade but it was not Top 40. They played songs like Toast and Marmalade for Tea by the Australian group Tin Tin, Laurie London with He's Got the Whole World in His Hand and Hitching a Ride by Vanity Fair.

Here is a 1970 WIFI Hit Parade aircheck http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhDsNnnv_vk

Does anyone know when WIFI changed transmissions from Norristown to Roxboro? WIFI's signal was good from Norristown considering it was only about 400 feet above average terrain.

WIBG played great Top 40 music back in 1970 but would then play a deep cut from Janis Joplin. People would switch between WFIL and WIBG but some songs on WIBG would cause tune out.....causing more people to listen more often to WFIL. At the time I did not know anyone under 40 who did not like both stations. Even when Wibbage was low in the ratings it was still a great station but it was such a great radio market only the strong survived.

 

[cingram]

Clarke mentioned that WIFI was automated Top 40 in 1970. They were automated with Drake Chenault's Hit Parade but it was not Top 40. They played songs like Toast and Marmalade for Tea by the Australian group Tin Tin, Laurie London with He's Got the Whole World in His Hand and Hitching a Ride by Vanity Fair.

Those were all Top 40 hits (though only the last one had any staying power), but the aircheck you posted
sure puts the lie to WIFI being Top 40 at the time.

I'm not sure of the exact year 92.5 moved to Roxborough but I am pretty sure it was WXTU by that point.

C.

 

[deepstblu]

It seemed to me that for a while WIFI was mixing two automated formats--the Hit Parade and one called Solid Gold Rock & Roll that was formatted similarly but with all oldies songs. Given some of the songs that showed up in that Youtube clip maybe they were really different names for the same thing. I also seem to recall that they tried a mostly automated AOR-ish format for a short time right before they went live as WiFi 92.

 

[Super Jock]

Hello again, long time no posts... in reference to Dave Parks being the only original boss jock who is still alive, that's incorrect...Bob Allen and Frank Kingston Smith are still alive...Frank has a website and is always looking to hear from old friends he may have worked for or with...also, I believe the only WIBG dj other than Hy Lit, who may have come close to beating George Michael, was Doug James in 1973.

 

[tce]

I was referring to the only survivor among the original weekday personalities:

6am -10am : Chuck Browning

10am - 2pm : Jay Cook

2pm - 6pm : Jim Nettleton

6pm - 10pm : George Michael

10pm - 2am : Long John Wade

2am - 6am: Dave Parks

Thanks for the reminder about Frank Smith, who did weekends. I assume Bob Allen did too, but do not remember him.

 

[tce]

As I check, I think Smith did overnights for a short while before doing weekends when they went to all four hour shifts. I can't locate anything on Bob Allen. Can anyone fill me in?