Here is an ad from 1939:
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When WABC was owned by CBS
- Thread starter davideduardo
- Start date
I see it says they've prepared a "special study." I take it they didn't have a Neilsen back then. So did each radio station do their own survey? I suspect it was biased in some way.
There were other ratings companies in that era. Arbitron (which is Nielsen today) began in 1975, and was preceded by Hooper, Pulse and others. For some history of ratings, check...
https://worldradiohistory.com/Ratings_Publictations_Papers.htm
...where there are a number of early 40's books about the state of ratings in that era.
Never. The original WABC was the station that is now known as WCBS. In 1946, the station changed its call sign to WCBS to avoid confusion with the newly-formed ABC network. In 1939, the station that is now known as WABC had the call sign WJZ.
WCBS (AM) on Wikipedia
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Here is the listing from the 1939 Broadcasting Yearbook:
At that time, "WABC" was owned by CBS. It was on 860, and moved to 880 after the NARBA reallocation went into effect. Of course, it later became WCBS when the two NBC webs, Blue and Red, were split and one became ABC making those "ABC" calls inappropriate for the Columbia folks.
CBS had their own internal research run by Dr. Frank Stanton, who would later become president of CBS. His doctoral thesis was on radio listening behavior, and he invented a device that measured listening. Hooper research (started in 1934) was done with telephone surveys. Of course, not everyone had telephones at the time.
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ABC had a different meaning when CBS owned WABC it was Atlantic Broadcasting Company.
That was a different "WABC".
Turns out WCBS had its origins in Providence Rhode Island as a Portable Radio Station until the original owners made the final decision to Springfield, Ill. Note the Springfield Station is now known as WFMB-AM.
WFMB (AM) - Wikipedia
And, in fact, this week in 1946 WEAF changes calls to WNBC while WABC changes calls to WCBS.
Yes named after Atlantic Broadcasting Company the then owners of what is now known as WCBS-AM.
In New York WJZ was the affiliate of Blue Network and until American Broadcasting Company was established it took some time for the WABC call letters to move from CBS Radio to the former ABC Radio now owned by Red Apple inc.
Its kind of like how KABC in San Antonio was named after its then owner Alamo Broadcasting Company before ABC American Broadcasting Company aka the former Blue Network made the decision to move the KABC Call letters to Los Angeles to 790 AM and Channel 7 on the TV side.
It was a two-step process that took seven years to happen . In 1946, WABC 880 changes to WCBS, the same year 660 WEAF changes to WNBC.
Then in 1953, 770 WJZ changes to WABC.
So maybe a better way to say it is "When CBS had the WABC call letters." CBS of course never owned what is today WABC.
It's interesting how some of NYC's iconic AM stations have seen several call letter changes over the years. 660 went from WEAF to WNBC to WRCA then back to WNBC and currently WFAN. 1050 went from WHN to WMGM back to WHN to WFAN to WUKQ to WEVD to the current WEPN. 1130 went from WOV to WNEW to WBBR.
Yet a few have never changed their call signs: WMCA 570, WOR 710 and WINS 1010.
Then in 1953, 770 WJZ changes to WABC.
So maybe a better way to say it is "When CBS had the WABC call letters." CBS of course never owned what is today WABC.
It's interesting how some of NYC's iconic AM stations have seen several call letter changes over the years. 660 went from WEAF to WNBC to WRCA then back to WNBC and currently WFAN. 1050 went from WHN to WMGM back to WHN to WFAN to WUKQ to WEVD to the current WEPN. 1130 went from WOV to WNEW to WBBR.
Yet a few have never changed their call signs: WMCA 570, WOR 710 and WINS 1010.
With WNBC-TV the call letters was in New Britain, Connecticut which is now known as WVIT-TV the NBC affiliate in the New Haven area.
Interestingly WNBC-AM was originally based in Hartford, Connecticut from 1935-1944 before they moved to New York and back to Connecticut for the second time for TV 30 and back to New York on TV and AM.
KNBC's call letters likewise had its origins in Dixon, CA (Sacramento Valley) for a shortwave station before those call letters moved to San Francisco and later Los Angeles.
This is also how Imus ended up on WFAN.
Imus was one of the last WNBC-AM Personalities who stayed for the transition as WFAN-AM and stayed there for 2 decades before he left for a rant that got him in hot water with CBS Radio management.
ViacomCBS is a direct corporate successor to Westinghouse (along with the original CBS, Inc., not to be confused with the 2005–2019 CBS Corporation) and Westinghouse of course founded WJZ.
So if you want to really get technical, the current corporate iteration of CBS both had roots in founding the current WABC and owning the original WABC.
"One of the last"? What other WNBC personalities were retained at WFAN, other than Charles McCord, who wasn't a personality on his own but part of the Imus show?
Emmis only hired Imus and McCord, maybe a producer or two, but that was it. They didn’t need to hire him but realized that his show would be a better draw than Greg Gumbel.
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