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What was the first radio station you grew up listening as a kid?

Yes, I was - thanks. It was a very competitive environment post-Watergate. It got pretty intense from time to time.
Columbia was in the conversation for top J-school along with Northwestern and Missouri, although I believe Columbia's school is strictly for graduate students, or was at the time. I wound up at the Newhouse School at Syracuse, which at least had the better basketball program.
 
Columbia was in the conversation for top J-school along with Northwestern and Missouri, although I believe Columbia's school is strictly for graduate students, or was at the time. I wound up at the Newhouse School at Syracuse, which at least had the better basketball program.
Northwestern and Columbia's journalism programs are both graduate level; Missouri is either graduate level or for undergraduates after two years of credits.
 
So maybe not exactly BC, but there was something magical about WWV on 10 Mhz for me. I still dial it up and it takes me back. As for AM/FM, WOKV 690 and many FM outlets in Jacksonville FL. I used to love FM and TV DXing and really miss it in the ATSC age of TV we are in. It amazed me as a child to pick up TV stations all up and down the east coast during a band opening.
 
In the early 50's a local day timer WFRO AM Fremont Ohio. Then when WTVN Columbus went top forty all the time in the later 50's . In the early sixties TVN changed to MOR so I switched to WTOD Toledo another day timer and WXYZ FM at night or WLS or WCFL. In 63 or so WKNR Detroit daytime.
 
Northwestern and Columbia's journalism programs are both graduate level; Missouri is either graduate level or for undergraduates after two years of credits.
Northwestern, Syracuse and Wisconsin were on my first choice college list many years ago. I ended up at the Catholic University in Quito instead, where there were no broadcasting or journalism classes!
 
There were two, mainly.
I grew up 15 miles west of NYC in Northern NJ.
My Mom would always listen to Ted Brown & The Redhead, 6AM-10AM weekdays, on 1050 WMGM NYC, and the kids, like myself would be listening to 1050 WMGM (they played RnR) and 1010 WINS (NYC's first RnR station in Sept.,1954).
This was around the mid-50's.

Also, at that time my cousin, she would listen to 1430 WNJR Newark/NYC. So I got into it too.
They were R&B that my cousin was into, Doo-Wop, etc. Plus they had a large white listening audience for an R&B station back then.

WMCA 570 NYC came around in 1958 or so with RnR, then in late 1960, 770 WABC went fulltime RnR. 1050 WMGM changed format to MOR and calls back to WHN in 1962 . . . 1010 WINS went All-News in 1965.
WABC was beating them big time.
570 WMCA hung in there, finally giving up on RnR in the early 70's.

Additional note . . . kids in their cars all had the last button set for 1520 WKBW in Buffalo,NY, they went RnR I think in 1958 and came in loud at night in the NYC area.
During the day in Northern NJ the 1520 spot was quiet unless you had a good radio and you'd hear the 1520 daytimer out on Long Island, weak but there.

Al
 
Boston market: Back in the day when I was a little kid, 1970’s, it wasn’t really my choice. I had to listen to hard rock 107.3 WAAF in Worcester when my older siblings had control of the radio, but most of the time my parents listened to Beautiful Music stations like the original WJIB (96.9) or WSRS (96.1). Often Classical music 102.5 WCRB. Once my older siblings moved out when I was about 15/16 years old 1979/1980 I latched on to 105.7 WVBF. Great mainstream A/C station at the time! Sometimes I even listened to the original, and fully automated WBZ-FM at 106.7. (Before “Magic WMJX” calls)
 
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Boston market: Back in the day when I was a little kid, 1970’s, it wasn’t really my choice. I had to listen to hard rock 107.3 WAAF in Worcester when my older siblings had control of the radio, but most of the time my parents listened to Beautiful Music stations like the original WJIB (96.9) or WSRS (96.1). Often Classical music 102.5 WCRB. Once my older siblings moved out when I was about 15/16 years old 1979/1980 I latched on to 105.7 WVBF. Great mainstream A/C station at the time! Sometimes I even listened to the original, and fully automated WBZ-FM at 106.7. (Before “Magic WMJX” calls)
Clark Schmidt VT'd " 'BZ-FM" back then....
In the mid-'90s, I ended up working for him at Oldies 99 WNNH in Concord, NH....
 
Born in 1995, so unfortunately my experiences don’t date back that far. But the earliest radio stations I remember listening to were (all in Seattle):

102.5 KZOK (classic rock, still around today)
97.3 KBSG (oldies, RIP)
103.7 KMTT (AAA, RIP)
94.1 KMPS (country, RIP)
95.7 KJR (still around, with different call letters)
880 KIXI (oldies, still around today)
 
The station of my earliest memory (approx. 1959) was KCLW 900 AM in Hamilton, TX. 250 watts, non-directional, daylight hours only. My Grandparents on both sides lived in that area and always had the radio on KCLW during the daytime. Very low budget, one-man local operation. If they had the radio on after dark it was usually set to WFAA Dallas/WBAP Ft. Worth back in the days of the 570/820 frequency changes. My aunt (mid-teens at the time) would listen to KLIF 1190. It came in great until sunset and then it completely disappeared after the power cut. Back then KLIF couldn't even be heard 30 miles away in Ft. Worth at night until they built the new tower array and directed a nighttime lobe straight into central Ft. Worth.
 
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My hometown AM station, WKSK 580 AM (Jefferson, NC), and the 100,000 country blowtorch in our area, WBRF 98.1 FM in Galax, VA
 
When I moved to Texas it was KKDA- Soul 73, KKDA-FM (K104), KNOK 970 and KNOK-FM 107.5.
 
These are the AM stations I listened to in the Norfolk, Virginia market in the 70s.

Country WCMS AM 1000

AC/full-service WTAR AM 790 (Because, for reasons I didn't understand at the time, I could still receive it after dark.)

Soul/R&B WRAP AM 850

Top 40 WGH AM 1310 (The home of AT 40 for many years.)
 
Born in 1995, so unfortunately my experiences don’t date back that far. But the earliest radio stations I remember listening to were (all in Seattle):

102.5 KZOK (classic rock, still around today)
97.3 KBSG (oldies, RIP)
103.7 KMTT (AAA, RIP)
94.1 KMPS (country, RIP)
95.7 KJR (still around, with different call letters)
880 KIXI (oldies, still around today)
I remember listening to KPLZ (still around today) KQMV (still around today) and KRWM during the holidays (still around today). I also remember listening to KCMS (still around today). Sometimes I would listen to the radio when I was 5-9 years old but back then I mostly listened to storybook tapes. Now I mainly listen to Spotify.
 


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