When Disc Jockeys truly were jockeys juggling records they selected

[Art Landing]

When Disc Jockey’s really were jockeys

Rather than hijack the KRTH PD thread I thought this post deserved its own,

We were discussing the discretion enjoyed by old time disk jockeys such as Ira Cook and Andy and Virginia Mansfield. In this connection the topic of the independence of those on the old KGRB came up. KGRB was where George Dvorak landed for awhile after Cox bought the station and went top forty in format.

According to the account below, Dvorak, who was with the station prior to WW2, was the one who brought Dick “polka Parade” Sinclair to the station. The details of this account illustrates the freedom that DJ’s had circa 1954 in totally determining their own play lists – unheard of today!

"After the war, Sinclair returned to the University of Utah, graduated, and was later hired by KFI 640, a radio station in Los Angeles. George Dvorak, a KFI personality who was in charge of the enlisted men in Sinclair's Army unit, got him the job — launching a decades-long radio and TV career.

"By the time Sinclair started at KFI, advertisers were pulling out of radio in favor of TV.

"'The radio networks were falling apart. Blocks of time would open up that needed to be filled ... they said, ‘You're on Friday nights.' We didn't know what to play, so we played polka records ... I knew nothing about polka.'

"He had four weeks of shows to fill, and during that time, the station received 4,000 pieces of mail in support of the new program. Sinclair soon moved to a three-and-a-half-hour time slot on Saturday.

“'That's how I got tangled up in polka music.'

"Sinclair ended up producing five polka albums for Capital Records”

Source: Desert Sun: Army veteran's WWII work led to career in radio broadcasting.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

When Disc Jockey’s really were jockeys

Rather than hijack the KRTH PD thread I thought this post deserved its own,

We were discussing the discretion enjoyed by old time disk jockeys such as Ira Cook and Andy and Virginia Mansfield. In this connection the topic of the independence of those on the old KGRB came up. KGRB was where George Dvorak landed for awhile after Cox bought the station and went top forty in format.

According to the account below, Dvorak, who was with the station prior to WW2, was the one who brought Dick “polka Parade” Sinclair to the station. The details of this account illustrates the freedom that DJ’s had circa 1954 in totally determining their own play lists – unheard of today!

"After the war, Sinclair returned to the University of Utah, graduated, and was later hired by KFI 640, a radio station in Los Angeles. George Dvorak, a KFI personality who was in charge of the enlisted men in Sinclair's Army unit, got him the job — launching a decades-long radio and TV career.

"By the time Sinclair started at KFI, advertisers were pulling out of radio in favor of TV.

"'The radio networks were falling apart. Blocks of time would open up that needed to be filled ... they said, ‘You're on Friday nights.' We didn't know what to play, so we played polka records ... I knew nothing about polka.'

"He had four weeks of shows to fill, and during that time, the station received 4,000 pieces of mail in support of the new program. Sinclair soon moved to a three-and-a-half-hour time slot on Saturday.

“'That's how I got tangled up in polka music.'

"Sinclair ended up producing five polka albums for Capital Records”

Source: Desert Sun: Army veteran's WWII work led to career in radio broadcasting.

So you're saying the polka music was an overwhelming success beyond the wildest dreams of the station owner without the benefit of focused group track testing, DJ liner cards, and outside consultants telling them how many titles they should leave off of the playlist? AND the DJ picks the music? Amazing!

Waiting for Mr. Eduardo to tell us that, assuming this is true, it was simply an anomaly that happened by chance before the station could truly avail itself of all the market driven research tools at their disposal like we have in the modern age and it would be foolish to do anything like that now. In...3...2..1...

 

[TheBigA]

Here's a little hint for you: What year are we talking about? And WHY did DJs have freedom? And what happened a few years later that killed that freedom? Hint: Alan Freed.

Guys...history is nice to talk about. I do it every day. But it's not good when you forget the context.

Thanks. Now I'll go back to listening to Lawrence Welk.

 

[davideduardo]

So you're saying the polka music was an overwhelming success beyond the wildest dreams of the station owner without the benefit of focused group track testing, DJ liner cards, and outside consultants telling them how many titles they should leave off of the playlist? AND the DJ picks the music? Amazing!

Waiting for Mr. Eduardo to tell us that, assuming this is true, it was simply an anomaly that happened by chance before the station could truly avail itself of all the market driven research tools at their disposal like we have in the modern age and it would be foolish to do anything like that now. In...3...2..1...

No, its simply the fact that no radio programming was really consulted with listeners so the average programming was less attractive than it could be. Given that the reference here is to earliest TV years when there were only a small handful of radio stations in LA, anything that was broadcast would get some listening. There was little choice and no non-radio options.

Of course, I'd ask how it was known that the show was "popular"? It was common in those days (just look at the ads in Broadcasting in the late 40's) to equate mail pull with ratings. For lack of real proof, it was good enough.

As I've said before, programming without audience feedback either from ratings or programming research breeds arrogant programmers who think they know what listeners want. I was once one of those... thinking I had a golden ear and that was why I had so many #1 stations in a row. But when I researched an already top station and found 75% of my music assumptions were wrong, and saw what correcting that did in terms of huge ratings increases, I realized I needed that input... even if I was successful, I would do better and better serve listeners by hearing what they wanted.

 

[Art Landing]

I wasn't saying "polka music was an overwhelming success" - it was simply an example of an experiment that clicked at a time when the "golden age" of network broadcating was coming to a close. My point was that "on air" talent had more flexibility than today's ratings-driven model allows, and the resulting diversity had a refreshing flavor.

KFI was still basking in the aftermath of the then late Harrison Holliway, who had previously built KFRC before being made President of KFI by station founder/owner Earle C. Anthony. The station had what some have called a "magazine format" with everything from a fully staffed farm bureau to reading of the Sunday comics. Dick Crenna emceed the Boy Scout Jamboree and there were "Young America Sings" and "Young America Speaks" competitions with the finalists being aired live. Howard Culver's poetry readings followed the Richfield Reporter at 10:15 and of course there was Ben Hunter with his "Night Owls" - predecessor of all of today's talk programs. Chuck Cecil's "Swingin Years" was another program initially used to fill in for the cancellation of network programming that outlived its time on the station (finally ended last year on a college FM station in Long Beach because Cecil is over ninety. Johnny Magnus fills the slot now).

As noted above, despite valiant attempts by such efforts as "Monitor" (of which KFI was a part) the "golden age" was over - and Alan Freed was a key player in what came after (yes, I remember payola too). Earle C Anthony refused to let his sales people use the Hooper ratings books (predecessor to Arbitron and Neilson). In his mind his station was a service to the community more than a business. Consequently the station's programming was based on what he felt the audience needed to hear.

Anthony wasn't an analomy in his day - there were other entreprenurial owners s well. I'm not going to disagree with David that the tools he and others use today help boost ratings - especially for music format stations. They do. But for those of us who remember the former era it seems something has been lost in the process.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm not going to disagree with David that the tools he and others use today help boost ratings - especially for music format stations. They do. But for those of us who remember the former era it seems something has been lost in the process.

What was "lost", if you think it over, is what you accurately mention earlier in the post: the "magazine of the air" radio station that was block programmed with a wide variety of segments, often with no cross-appeal to different listener groups.

That concept moved to TV. It started moving right after the War, but really built up steam when the TV freeze was lifted 8 years later. We ended up with Howdy Doody and Ernie Kovacs and everything in between. And with pictures.

In the meantime, AM station counts nearly doubled from 1945 to 1950 and 1,000 FMs went on the air. With the loss in popularity of radio network programming, the larger markets suddenly had formerly network-dependent stations joining the independents in looking for what to do post-web. So we got music stations. Lotsa' dem.

Were Todd Storz not to have created Top 40 in 1942 in Omaha, someone else would have stumbled on the idea of non-block-programmed stations playing the same music all day long. Doing one thing well was the only way to attract an audience when tne network superstars were all on TV and radio's prime time was no longer nights but daytime!

As more and more stations were licensed, formats became fragmented with each station trying to be one thing to a large group of people. With new FM formats being force-fed via FCC fiat in '67, the fragmentation got more extreme. Instead of 3 or 4 stations in a medium market offering variety programming, now there were 10 or 12, and the variety was in picking those that appealed to each individual listener.

The much used term "paradigm shift" was at work, collecting overtime to boot!

When Traverse City, MI, had one station as it did to around 1960, folks had no choice but to listen. Sure, if they lived on the outskirts of town, WJR and WLS and WBBM and WMAQ and WGN were daytime options... but not always with the best reception. And in the 50's, nights were reserved for TV or going to the movies... not radio. So WTCM had to program its mighty 250 watts to everyone in the area.

Block programming created lots of variety. But generally, what was on the air at any given time might not be what each listener wanted. But those listeners, given zero other local choices besides WTCM, had to accept the good with the bad.

Roll forward to today. The "metro" that includes Traverse City and its area has 43 stations, including 20 Class C FMs. Vastly more variety, just on different stations.

When there is not much competition, and everyone is block programmed, it's easy to get a slice of the pie; it's the hippie comune of early radio. When you have to actually try to stake a claim to one segment of the audience, you have to do a bang-up job or you have a "Field of Nightmares" and they will not come. That's where probing and understanding the listener comes in.

 

[Thomps2525]

David, you credit Todd Storz with launching top-40 radio in 1942. I'm assuming you meant to say 1952. The Storz family bought KOWH in Omaha in 1949. A few years later they bought WTIX in New Orleans and WHB in Kansas City and installed a top-40 format on both stations. I had read that Storz emphasized only the Top Ten hits at KOWH because he noted the success of the Your Hit Parade program. And what do you say is the reason for the name "Top 40"? Was it named after the 40-song playlists that were common or was it named for the number of records a DJ typically played during a three-hour program? I've heard both explanations.

Who remembers Don McNeill's Breakfast Club? My father and I listened every day for many years. The show ran from 1933 to 1968. If I remember correctly, the Los Angeles station that carried the show was KABC.

 

[Art Landing]

Yes, the Breakfast Club (originating from Chicago and divided into fifteen minute segments - first call to breakfast, second call etc) was on KABC from its inception on the old NBC Blue Network. KABC was then KECA, after its owner Earle C Anthony, whose major station of course was Red NBC network affiliate KFI. Anthony had to sell the station per FCC regulations in 1944 but the station kept the call letters for decades afterward because a station in San Antonio had the KABC call letters.

Paul Harvey and I believe commentator Alex Drier also originated their ABC programs from Chicago.

In 1974 control rooms for the KFI studios on Vermont Blvd still had both KECA and KFI jacks - thirty years after the station had been sold. This was because some KECA aired programs still originated there for many years. KFI's new owners built a new facility at 8th and Ardmore and the Vermont building was taken over by a Korean language newspaper.

 

[davideduardo]

David, you credit Todd Storz with launching top-40 radio in 1942. I'm assuming you meant to say 1952.

Yes, and thanks for catching the mistake. It was too late to edit when I saw it.

I had read that Storz emphasized only the Top Ten hits at KOWH because he noted the success of the Your Hit Parade program. And what do you say is the reason for the name "Top 40"? Was it named after the 40-song playlists that were common or was it named for the number of records a DJ typically played during a three-hour program? I've heard both explanations.

The name came after the format was launched. The playlist began in the 50 song range, and when Storz expanded from Omaha to New Orleans, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Oklahoma and Miami the list had become 40 songs.

I have some

Who remembers Don McNeill's Breakfast Club? My father and I listened every day for many years. The show ran from 1933 to 1968.

I've got that, too. http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Station-Albums.htm and scroll towards the bottom and there are a bunch of Breakfast Club annuals for your perusal.

 

[michael hagerty]

When Disc Jockey’s really were jockeys



We were discussing the discretion enjoyed by old time disk jockeys such as Ira Cook and Andy and Virginia Mansfield. In this connection the topic of the independence of those on the old KGRB came up. KGRB was where George Dvorak landed for awhile after Cox bought the station and went top forty in format.

Just in the interests of accuracy, George left KFI in 1965. He was at KPPC in '66 and '67 and KFWB from 1970-77.

KFI didn't sell to Cox until 1973. They did go Top 40 the same year that George arrived at KGRB (1977), but he'd been gone from KFI for 12 years at that point.

 

[Art Landing]

Thank you for the clarifiucation on George Dvorak. Do you happen to know the circumstances of his depsrture from KFI?

Incidentally, I thought the Wesley/Nevins top 40 era began before 1977, but I could be wrong. I do remember that even berfore then Dick Sinclair had been made the financial reporter from the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange and Ed Hart was over on KFWB as their financial reporter.

 

[michael hagerty]

Thank you for the clarifiucation on George Dvorak. Do you happen to know the circumstances of his depsrture from KFI?

Incidentally, I thought the Wesley/Nevins top 40 era began before 1977, but I could be wrong. I do remember that even berfore then Dick Sinclair had been made the financial reporter from the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange and Ed Hart was over on KFWB as their financial reporter.

Art: I don't know the circumstances. There's an ad in the October 30, 1965 issue of Billboard that shows George as part of the KPPC airstaff, but only pulling two weekend shifts, six hours on Saturday and nine hours on Sunday: http://books.google.com/books?id=aS...6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=george dvorak kppc&f=false


Of course, about two years later, KPPC went underground with Tom Donahue and B. Mitchel Reed at the helm.

As for KFI, Wesley and Biggie Nevins came in with Cox in 1973, but didn't go Top 40 right away. In '73, they were still doing "Total Spectrum Radio" (MOR daytime, Chuck Cecil's "Swinging Years" in the evening, Country in late night). In '74 they became a straightforward Adult Contemporary. In late 1976, they hired John Rook as PD and he began slowly transitioning them to true Top 40, which he really didn't get to until '77.

 

[K.M. Richards]

"Sinclair ended up producing five polka albums for Capital Records”

Capitol Records.

He also hosted a television version of "Polka Parade" on channel 5 for many years. Sponsored by Farmer John, as I recall.

 

[radiohistory]

Art,

You earlier stated that after KECA-790 was sold by ECA in 1944, it stayed as KECA for 'decades.' Actually, it stayed with the KECA call letters just short of one decade. KECA changed call letters to KABC (for American Broadcasting Company) on February 1, 1954.

Jim Hilliker
Monterey, CA

 

[Thomps2525]

I saved all the weekly KFI music lists that were printed in the Los Angeles Times. The first one I have is the "KFI Hit Parade" for the week of August 22, 1977. Meco's Star Wars was number one. On May 7, 1979, the words "Music Radio" were added to the 64/KFI logo. The slogan was discontinued on November 3, 1980. For four months, each list included a picture of a big-eared man or a big-eared woman listening to the radio and the caption, "Develop an ear for hit music. 64/KFI, the #1 hit station." Those big ears were plastic and KFI offered them to listeners. Somewhere I have a pair. Beginning March 9, 1981, the list was printed much smaller and the slogans and pictures were no more. The last list I have is from December 7, 1981, when Olivia Newton-John was busy getting Physical. For a few months in 1978, the Times also published the KEZY Top 20.

 

[Art Landing]

Thank you Jim Hilliker for the correction on the date for the KECA/KABC name change. I was relying on memory and it seemed later than 1954, but you are right.

As for Capital/Capitol, the typo there was from the original Desert Sun article being quoted. I probably should have inserted a (sic) note.

http://archive.desertsun.com/articl...ran-s-WWII-work-led-career-radio-broadcasting

And yes, Farmer John was Dick Sinclair's sponsor - as well as an early Dodgers sponsor. I've been told that Farmer John was actually John Clougherty, head of the Clougherty Packing company which manufactured Farmer John meats, but this is not verified. My own research uncovered the below article about purchase of the company by Hormel in 2004. While Joe, Frances and Barney Clougherty are mentioned there is no John.

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/dec/31/business/fi-sausage31

 

[Thomps2525]

Art, the Encyclopedia of Business says that the "Farmer John" name was chosen because "John" is easier to pronounce than "Clougherty." Makes sense to me!

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history/Ci-Da/Clougherty-Packing-Company.html

On the subject of Los Angeles Dodgers radio/tv sponsors, remember in the 1950s and '60s when Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett called the games and Tareyton cigarettes and Roi-Tan cigars were among the sponsors? In 1970 President Nixon signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law and that was the end of cigarette ads on radio and television.

 

[Shannon]

If memory serves me, "Falstaff Beer" was a early sponsor of Dodger games. Or maybe the Angles.

Jim Shannon

 

[Art Landing]

I don't know about the Angels but there is Dodger/Falstaff memorabilia from the early sixties on ebay, so your memory is correct. Falstaff, according to Wikipedia, was a successful regional brand like Rheingold, Hamm's and Olympia. They all tried to go national but eventually got swallowed up in the consolidation wave which affected the brewing industry.

According to the Los Angeles Times the original beer advertiser for the Dodgers was Eastside Old Tap Lager, a Los Angeles product produced by a brewery which had been purchased and renovated by the expanding Pabst Blue Ribbon company in 1948. Pabst (not Budweiser, Miller or Schlitz) was the first brewing company t have coast to coast plants - they also had a weekly boxing series rivaling the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports.

http://articles.latimes.com/1997/sep/07/local/me-29791/2


Two other local beers advertised on Los Angeles pre-1960 radio were Brew 102 and Lucky Lager. The first was brewed in a plant next to the San Bernardino Freeway corridor in downtown Los Angeles and did spot ads on syndicated ZIV mystery programs such as Boston Blackie and Philo Vance. The other was brewed in a plant in Azusa (which was supplanted by the still-existing Miller plant in Irwindale); it is notable for its identical playlists under the "Lucky Lager Dance Time" label hosted by local personalities on multiple stations in the west (locally KFAC and later KMPC) . Regal Pale beer, produced in San Francisco, was widely distributed in Southern California but I'm not aware of any broadcast ads.

 

[Shannon]

Brew 102...six pack of 16 oz. cans for 98 cents. Good stuff when your in high school!

Jim Shannon