This weekend’s replay of Casey Kasem’s AT 40 on SiriusXM’s 70s on 7 was for the week ended July 21, 1973. During the broadcast, Casey welcomed a new station to the lineup: WIIN in Atlanta. In 1973, I was listening to music on Quixie in Dixie and not much else and I don’t remember this station. Does anyone remember the details –AM or FM, frequency, personalities? And what happened to the station – did it morph into something else?
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WIIN
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J
jimrichvo
Guest
I was lucky enough to work there on weekends during the early 70's. (Picture on GRHOF). WINN 97 had Bobby Harper in the morning (at his very best and most creative). Equipment was really crappy but the station format was actually pretty good. Pepper Tanner type jingles. Small town radio in the heart of midtown.
Back when radio was actually fun!
Back when radio was actually fun!
WIIN was at it's heyday when Ross "B for Boogie" Brittain did mornings. Remember
Carlton Quaalude III? I'm thinking there was also "lite in the loafers" Charles Chastain
and I remember there was a killer jazz show on Sunday afternoons....was it Carl Hayward that did that show?
One of the morning show bits was "Boogie Check." Brittain would use the Emergency Broadcast tuner to tune in all the other Atlanta radio stations for a few seconds. There would be a few seconds of Jim and John with the "Merry-go-Round" on WSB.....a few seconds of the country show on WPLO.....and yes....up the dial to the "WYZE 'ol WYZE." All this with commentary inserted.
Power change was also cool. Brittain was anounce power change time and turned it into a morning event.
You really gotta' have talent to make that kinda' crap entertaining!!
Anybody out there have some good WIIN memories/stories?
Carlton Quaalude III? I'm thinking there was also "lite in the loafers" Charles Chastain
and I remember there was a killer jazz show on Sunday afternoons....was it Carl Hayward that did that show?
One of the morning show bits was "Boogie Check." Brittain would use the Emergency Broadcast tuner to tune in all the other Atlanta radio stations for a few seconds. There would be a few seconds of Jim and John with the "Merry-go-Round" on WSB.....a few seconds of the country show on WPLO.....and yes....up the dial to the "WYZE 'ol WYZE." All this with commentary inserted.
Power change was also cool. Brittain was anounce power change time and turned it into a morning event.
You really gotta' have talent to make that kinda' crap entertaining!!
Anybody out there have some good WIIN memories/stories?
taylorengineer said:
When was this? Can someone give me a time period?
Did 970 have a night signal at the time? I seem to remember 96 Rock AM having to sign off (I mentioned this on another thread), sometimes before sunset. Also, the other poster mentioned that 970 was a daytimer at the time.
That would be cool if ATL had a "lost" AM top 40 station from back in the day--sounds like a lot of big names got their start there.
D
DuckBlue
Guest
They were beautiful music in the late '60s, going top 40 around 1970. Bobby Harper was a riot hosting the am drive show. His "Laverne the Lunch Lady" reported on the school system lunch menu each morning. One morning, he called the Kremlin and asked to speak with one of the big cheese over there. Around 1973, they became album rock. Not long after that, they were adult standards.
J
joeysapp
Guest
The chief engineer at WIIN Radio in late 64 early 65 was Ray Buckles.
He taught as an instructor evenings on Peachtree St. at Southern Business University in which I attended and graduated from. We visited the station as a field trip for class one evening and visited the studio as well. Back then the transmitter site was on Moreland Avenue.
Anyone know what ever happened to Ray Buckles ?
I would like to get in touch again with him.
Joey Sapp
Statesboro GA.
[email protected]
He taught as an instructor evenings on Peachtree St. at Southern Business University in which I attended and graduated from. We visited the station as a field trip for class one evening and visited the studio as well. Back then the transmitter site was on Moreland Avenue.
Anyone know what ever happened to Ray Buckles ?
I would like to get in touch again with him.
Joey Sapp
Statesboro GA.
[email protected]
R
rbrittain
Guest
>WIIN was at it's heyday when Ross "B for Boogie" Brittain did mornings.<
Well, thanks. I worked at WIIN from 74-76... right after the Harper days. I interviewed with the PD the summer after I graduated from Georgia Tech when they had an opening and asked, "why aren't you doing mornings?" He said, "I don't want to have to get up that early." So I got the job.
Later on, I found out why. Turns out the record guys would come in during the PM drive shift, the PD and MD would put an album side on and get high and listen to the new product on the other turntable. The smell would drift down the hall... and one day the lawyers that we shared the floor with got ticked off and called the FCC and they came down and held a surprise inspection. The only people standing after that was the Chief Engineer, who was out at the transmitter, the one and only salesman, who was out on calls, the bookkeeper, who had her door closed and in her office doing billing, and the receptionist, who was next to the front door. The owner fired everyone else and made me Program Director and I had to hire a whole new staff before the next morning. So that was another job I'd never done before.
Shortly afterward, I moved to PM drive because of the workload, and Rex Patton (who did Carlton, Charles and a bunch of other characters) joined me along with a young lawyer named Glen Howard, who did Grandpa Timothy, Dr Damon Hokey and some others as well. Glen later went on to become General Counsel and Sr VP of the Fannie Mae Foundation in DC; Rex is still gigging in Atlanta. It was an ensemble thing and since none of us had any experience, we would try various things out and do skit comedy... just because we could. Very improv. Guy across the street at WQXI-AM --also a PD and doing afternoon drive-- was some DJ named Scott Shannon. We met several times at record functions... I wonder whatever happened to him...? LOL...
Well, thanks. I worked at WIIN from 74-76... right after the Harper days. I interviewed with the PD the summer after I graduated from Georgia Tech when they had an opening and asked, "why aren't you doing mornings?" He said, "I don't want to have to get up that early." So I got the job.
Later on, I found out why. Turns out the record guys would come in during the PM drive shift, the PD and MD would put an album side on and get high and listen to the new product on the other turntable. The smell would drift down the hall... and one day the lawyers that we shared the floor with got ticked off and called the FCC and they came down and held a surprise inspection. The only people standing after that was the Chief Engineer, who was out at the transmitter, the one and only salesman, who was out on calls, the bookkeeper, who had her door closed and in her office doing billing, and the receptionist, who was next to the front door. The owner fired everyone else and made me Program Director and I had to hire a whole new staff before the next morning. So that was another job I'd never done before.
Shortly afterward, I moved to PM drive because of the workload, and Rex Patton (who did Carlton, Charles and a bunch of other characters) joined me along with a young lawyer named Glen Howard, who did Grandpa Timothy, Dr Damon Hokey and some others as well. Glen later went on to become General Counsel and Sr VP of the Fannie Mae Foundation in DC; Rex is still gigging in Atlanta. It was an ensemble thing and since none of us had any experience, we would try various things out and do skit comedy... just because we could. Very improv. Guy across the street at WQXI-AM --also a PD and doing afternoon drive-- was some DJ named Scott Shannon. We met several times at record functions... I wonder whatever happened to him...? LOL...
[
Later on, I found out why. Turns out the record guys would come in during the PM drive shift, the PD and MD would put an album side on and get high and listen to the new product on the other turntable. The smell would drift down the hall... and one day the lawyers that we shared the floor with got ticked off and called the FCC and they came down and held a surprise inspection.
Well as Jim rich posted, this was in the day when radio was fun. We could go on about Bill Drake and Paul Drew starting their careers on WAOK and WIIN but somebody would complain about acknowledging AM radio was far more relevant than some want to remember or admit. From those two stations to WPLO and even when WGST was playing music (Bill Sherrard was pd) and Qixie in Dixie, few markets have the history of Atlanta AM stations.
Later on, I found out why. Turns out the record guys would come in during the PM drive shift, the PD and MD would put an album side on and get high and listen to the new product on the other turntable. The smell would drift down the hall... and one day the lawyers that we shared the floor with got ticked off and called the FCC and they came down and held a surprise inspection.
Well as Jim rich posted, this was in the day when radio was fun. We could go on about Bill Drake and Paul Drew starting their careers on WAOK and WIIN but somebody would complain about acknowledging AM radio was far more relevant than some want to remember or admit. From those two stations to WPLO and even when WGST was playing music (Bill Sherrard was pd) and Qixie in Dixie, few markets have the history of Atlanta AM stations.
My first job in radio was puling a transmitter "watch" at the WIIN Moreland Avenue transmitter site back in the summer of 1961.
The format was Easy Listening and the station was 5 KW daytime only (2 towers DA). I worked vacation relief for each of the engineers who took time off in turns.....
Was there for most of the summer until Quixie called me!
The format was Easy Listening and the station was 5 KW daytime only (2 towers DA). I worked vacation relief for each of the engineers who took time off in turns.....
Was there for most of the summer until Quixie called me!
In earlier days the transmitting equipment was not as reliable as it is today today and the FCC required that an operator with a First Class Radiotelephone license be on duty at all times.
The transmitter engineer (operator) was in charge of the transmission and was on duty to insure legal and proper operation. He was required to enter various meter readings in a log each half-hour and make adjustments to the power output, operating frequency, and modulation.
The First Class license required a written examination given by the FCC and was known as a "meal ticket", in the mistaken belief that having a "First Phone" would guarantee employment in radio.
Times do change...don't they.
The transmitter engineer (operator) was in charge of the transmission and was on duty to insure legal and proper operation. He was required to enter various meter readings in a log each half-hour and make adjustments to the power output, operating frequency, and modulation.
The First Class license required a written examination given by the FCC and was known as a "meal ticket", in the mistaken belief that having a "First Phone" would guarantee employment in radio.
Times do change...don't they.
Ross, your time at WIIN was the best radio I've ever heard. You were funny at WREK too (with Cab Calloway's "Reefer Man" playing in the background). WIIN was wild, crazy and creative. I was in high school in East Cobb and I'd put my cassette recorder in front of the radio, tape the show, and take it to school to play to my friends. I called in as much as I could to try to get a joke in, but my wit was still in development. Thanks for many hours of brilliant radio.
There were times in the early 70's when record promo guys would bring their bands up to WIIN for those incomparable on air interviews. I say incomparable because it didn't take long for the studio to become so fogged-up that it was impossible to see what was happening on the other side of the glass. If you think there was something wrong with the air conditioning system then maybe you're the one who's hallucinating!
R
rbrittain
Guest
Hey --it's nice of you guys to say all that stuff, but the bottom line is that I've been very fortunate during my career to work with EXTREMELY talented people (and somewhat demented in several cases)... all the way from WREK and WIIN to where I am now. Or maybe I just attract wierdos and I'm able to channel that. Whatever the case, it appears to have worked for me. --RB
I didn't know the WIIN calls had been in Atlanta. They had been parked in Jackson starting in 1989 when it was a country station on 98.7. It later moved to 780 AM in the mid-90s after a format and call-letter change on 1995. Recently, 780 went off the air, so those calls may be available now.
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