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WHO DOES RADIO BETTER...L.A. OR NEW YORK?
- Thread starter airpab
- Start date
I
Indielover
Guest
"Gee... LA radio only had Robert W Morgan, The Real Don Steele, Casey Kasem, Gary Owens ...all nobodies apparently".
I think the reference was to Howard Stern, Imus...etc.."cutting edge" personalities...New York area personalities first.
As for classic DJ's both cities have had their share of greats...WABC overall was in a class by itself...nothing equaled it in the 60's and 70's including great stations like WLS, WCFL, CKLW, etc...KHJ was a great station with legendary DJ's, WABC with Harry Harrison, Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, Chuck Leonard, etc..were equaly as good as anyone on KHJ, but WABC was a huge and very powerful force in music..the station itself reached a good part of the US plus at night...KHJ was a much smaller station by comparison.
I think the reference was to Howard Stern, Imus...etc.."cutting edge" personalities...New York area personalities first.
As for classic DJ's both cities have had their share of greats...WABC overall was in a class by itself...nothing equaled it in the 60's and 70's including great stations like WLS, WCFL, CKLW, etc...KHJ was a great station with legendary DJ's, WABC with Harry Harrison, Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, Chuck Leonard, etc..were equaly as good as anyone on KHJ, but WABC was a huge and very powerful force in music..the station itself reached a good part of the US plus at night...KHJ was a much smaller station by comparison.
B
BACKnUSSR
Guest
Indielover said:"Gee... LA radio only had Robert W Morgan, The Real Don Steele, Casey Kasem, Gary Owens ...all nobodies apparently".
I think the reference was to Howard Stern, Imus...etc.."cutting edge" personalities...New York area personalities first.
As for classic DJ's both cities have had their share of greats...WABC overall was in a class by itself...nothing equaled it in the 60's and 70's including great stations like WLS, WCFL, CKLW, etc...KHJ was a great station with legendary DJ's, WABC with Harry Harrison, Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, Chuck Leonard, etc..were equaly as good as anyone on KHJ, but WABC was a huge and very powerful force in music..the station itself reached a good part of the US plus at night...KHJ was a much smaller station by comparison.
Well...Detroit and DC could certainly make the claim about Stern too....and as for Imus, he'll even admit that his act was
a mix of Robert W. Morgan with some Wolfman Jack thrown in. Suffice to say that the WABC. WINS and WMCA airstaffs were certainly as good as the KHJ, KFWB and KRLA staffs.
WABC was great, but the case could be made, that overall KHJ, KFRC, WLS, CKLW, KCBQ, WFIL and WRKO were every bit as good. The reality, musically is that WABC made very little impact on the music of the 60's and 70's because it was usually LAST in the country on a hit record, often adding the song to its "Superhit Survey" after it had peaked and very often had started to come down the charts nationally. Although Rick Sklar was a very good promotion and contest executor, some of his programming and music philosophies were questionable. And although the WABC was quite formidable, the WABC programming style never did catch on in the same way Drake's did.
Big E said:Gee... LA radio only had Robert W Morgan, The Real Don Steele, Casey Kasem, Gary Owens ...all nobodies apparently.
Funny.
You unwittingly made my point, as I was thinking of several of those EXACT names when writing my post.
Nice doing business with ya', partner!
I
Indielover
Guest
Detroit and DC were steppingstones for Stern, he still had to play music as he did when he first got to WNBC, in fact the Detroit station W4, changed format to country while he was there...
Late to add songs and more limited playlist aside, WABC was still the biggest and most famous station of the time..perhaps it was the New York factor...
Late to add songs and more limited playlist aside, WABC was still the biggest and most famous station of the time..perhaps it was the New York factor...
KHJ and WLS were far more important in influencing music since unlike WABC they actually took chances on music. Listen to WABC from say 1974 and show me other stations that were trying to copy them. You will see far more KHJ and WLS and even KCBQ clones.
John Rook said it best on his blog: "WLS in Chicago and KHJ in Los Angeles virtually dictated the nation’s music direction for several years."
John Rook said it best on his blog: "WLS in Chicago and KHJ in Los Angeles virtually dictated the nation’s music direction for several years."
I
Indielover
Guest
By 1974 FM was taking hold...so WLS and KHJ dictating the nation's music direction for "several years"??.........the heyday of AM was as over as Hillary Clinton's bid for the WH...
B
BACKnUSSR
Guest
Indielover said:By 1974 FM was taking hold...so WLS and KHJ dictating the nation's music direction for "several years"??.........the heyday of AM was as over as Hillary Clinton's bid for the WH...
In 1974, WLS was # 1 in Chicago, KHJ was #1 in Los Angeles, KFRC was #1 in SF and WABC was fighting for the top slot with 99X.
Also, as far as Stern, he played music his ENTIRE time at WNBC....so are you saying he didn't become cutting edge until WXRK (where he also played music while doing afternoon drive originally). Or are you using the motion picture version of Stern's career. BTW, he was VERY "cutting edge" in DC (probably more so than at WNBC).
And yes WABC was the biggest and most famous station in the New York area at the time....but probably not the most famous nationally. If you were to take a survey of 60's radio listeners across the country, I think you'd find more people familiar with "Boss Jocks" than either "All-Americans" or "Good Guys".
I
Indielover
Guest
WABC was the most famous station overall of the AM top 40 era which was beginning to succomb to FM by the mid 70's.
Howard did NOT play music his entire time at WNBC, by 1984 he no longer played music. Yes he did play music in afternoon drive at K-Rock for the 2 months he was on in afternoon drive...once he moved to mornings in early 1986 the music was gone. Obviously he did cutting edge humor since Hartford (which you are forgetting) or there would have been no career. However it wasn't until mornings at WXRK that his career really began to flourish....and no I am not using the motion picture version. New York is where his career took off, all the brief stops prior were just steppingstones...the goal was NYC..
Howard did NOT play music his entire time at WNBC, by 1984 he no longer played music. Yes he did play music in afternoon drive at K-Rock for the 2 months he was on in afternoon drive...once he moved to mornings in early 1986 the music was gone. Obviously he did cutting edge humor since Hartford (which you are forgetting) or there would have been no career. However it wasn't until mornings at WXRK that his career really began to flourish....and no I am not using the motion picture version. New York is where his career took off, all the brief stops prior were just steppingstones...the goal was NYC..
B
BACKnUSSR
Guest
Indielover said:WABC was the most famous station overall of the AM top 40 era which was beginning to succomb to FM by the mid 70's.
Howard did NOT play music his entire time at WNBC, by 1984 he no longer played music. Yes he did play music in afternoon drive at K-Rock for the 2 months he was on in afternoon drive...once he moved to mornings in early 1986 the music was gone. Obviously he did cutting edge humor since Hartford (which you are forgetting) or there would have been no career. However it wasn't until mornings at WXRK that his career really began to flourish....and no I am not using the motion picture version. New York is where his career took off, all the brief stops prior were just steppingstones...the goal was NYC..
To you...yes WABC was the biggest. It was also one of the first major AM's to lose its stranglehold on listeners.
Most folks who grew up on the west coast or midwest never heard it. Although they did have their version of "Boss Radio".
I didn't forget Hartford, (just didnt mention non major market). Howard would tell you that his career was flourishing fine before WXRK. He was #1 in his daypart at both DC101 and at WNBC.
H
Hunter
Guest
Gee, I bet if you asked the Mays at CC, they'd say it's obviously L.A. since there is more money there. Isn't that all that matters?
B
BACKnUSSR
Guest
Texaz said:I vote for L.A.
There are some GREAT radio stations in NY. But market v. market, diversity-wise and overall.
It's LA hands down.
B
Big E
Guest
Like a great scientific mind ( ;D), Al Gore said..."The debate is over.."
I
Indielover
Guest
"To you...yes WABC was the biggest. It was also one of the first major AM's to lose its stranglehold on listeners.
Most folks who grew up on the west coast or midwest never heard it. Although they did have their version of "Boss Radio".
"I didn't forget Hartford, (just didnt mention non major market). Howard would tell you that his career was flourishing fine before WXRK. He was #1 in his daypart at both DC101 and at WNBC".
WABC reached well into the midwest and was known thoughout most of the country, KHJ on the other hand was weak in LA during the night time hours...
Howard's career flourished in New York, (not DC where he still played music) that is after all the point of this thread...
Most folks who grew up on the west coast or midwest never heard it. Although they did have their version of "Boss Radio".
"I didn't forget Hartford, (just didnt mention non major market). Howard would tell you that his career was flourishing fine before WXRK. He was #1 in his daypart at both DC101 and at WNBC".
WABC reached well into the midwest and was known thoughout most of the country, KHJ on the other hand was weak in LA during the night time hours...
Howard's career flourished in New York, (not DC where he still played music) that is after all the point of this thread...
This seems to me to be a bizarre comparison....
Both markets have good radio stations....LA has perhaps more "risk taking" formats since not as much is a stake financially but it does seem like the majority of posters on this topic are rock fans and frankly rock wins hands down in LA. NY is not much of a rock town and we all know the only reason NY has 3 rock stations at the moment is because of PPM. If we're talking urban...that's a different story.
That being said when it comes to more varied programming NY is left with thousands of pirates and Mega Media with such abstract ideas of creating a radio station out of 87.7 LP...with the dance station PULSE 87.
NY doesn't have room for niche programming.
It's a shame. New York does have it's strongest formats as those that sell....and sell well.
One reason there is less variety and no country station and the like.....
Both markets have good radio stations....LA has perhaps more "risk taking" formats since not as much is a stake financially but it does seem like the majority of posters on this topic are rock fans and frankly rock wins hands down in LA. NY is not much of a rock town and we all know the only reason NY has 3 rock stations at the moment is because of PPM. If we're talking urban...that's a different story.
That being said when it comes to more varied programming NY is left with thousands of pirates and Mega Media with such abstract ideas of creating a radio station out of 87.7 LP...with the dance station PULSE 87.
NY doesn't have room for niche programming.
It's a shame. New York does have it's strongest formats as those that sell....and sell well.
One reason there is less variety and no country station and the like.....
B
BACKnUSSR
Guest
Indielover said:WABC reached well into the midwest and was known thoughout most of the country, KHJ on the other hand was weak in LA during the night time hours...
Howard's career flourished in New York, (not DC where he still played music) that is after all the point of this thread...
It's not about station wattage....otherwise we'd need to included WLW in this conversation. WABC has/had no real numbers in the midwest....no matter what postcards may have been received, as Mr. Sklar wrote about in his book. KHJ's format was cloned in Detroit, SF, Boston, San Diego and many other markets throughout the country, and off shoots were everywhere, including NYC. Again, I'm not taking anything away from WABC, which was HUGE in the country's biggest metro and surrounding area, but its impact on the rest of the country and especially on popular music was far less than you imagine.
As for Howard, he did very well in his music playing days at WNBC. He honed his act and developed the "shock jock" persona in DC and came to WXRK after 4 years in NYC. But whats the point there anyway?
I
Indielover
Guest
As for the wattage...YOU mentioned areas of the country...such as the "midwest"...not having "ever heard WABC"...although it wasn't a part of ratings per se..this station was very well known..not so for KHJ.
"As for Howard, he did very well in his music playing days at WNBC. He honed his act and developed the "shock jock" persona in DC and came to WXRK after 4 years in NYC. But whats the point there anyway?"
Huh?....as I said the "music playing days" were only half the time at WNBC..as for DC, AGAIN it was a STEPPINGSTONE..as was WNBC in some ways...these were development years of his act, which evolved to what it basically is today by the time he began mornings at WXRK...the POINT is NEW YORK is where his career took off..
"As for Howard, he did very well in his music playing days at WNBC. He honed his act and developed the "shock jock" persona in DC and came to WXRK after 4 years in NYC. But whats the point there anyway?"
Huh?....as I said the "music playing days" were only half the time at WNBC..as for DC, AGAIN it was a STEPPINGSTONE..as was WNBC in some ways...these were development years of his act, which evolved to what it basically is today by the time he began mornings at WXRK...the POINT is NEW YORK is where his career took off..
It could be bias but I vote LA. From what I hear out of New York, it's nothing special, almost canned at times. If it was strictly based on talent, LA would be the number one market. NY is number one because of population. Ok, I admit, NY has some great talent too but LA talent is simply put "Legendary"!
Jeffrey- "since not as much is at stake financially"
David Eduardo will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think L.A. radio overall, bills more than NY? So actually, the top money for radio is in L.A. !
And I could be wrong on this too, but in terms of population and market size, L.A., Orange County, Santa Clarita and the IE (not even counting Ventura, and parts of SD county) comprise a larger radio audience than NY and it's surrounding metro? So technically, SoCal is a bigger market for advertisers than NY?
DE....please chime in?
David Eduardo will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think L.A. radio overall, bills more than NY? So actually, the top money for radio is in L.A. !
And I could be wrong on this too, but in terms of population and market size, L.A., Orange County, Santa Clarita and the IE (not even counting Ventura, and parts of SD county) comprise a larger radio audience than NY and it's surrounding metro? So technically, SoCal is a bigger market for advertisers than NY?
DE....please chime in?
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