WJPS 1330 & WROZ 1400 in Evansville

[A#1]

Whatever became of the jocks, account execs and ownership of these former Top 40 outlets in Evansville?

 

[radio lover]

Not sure but I have some great jingles from both stations. I even have a Jim Stagg promo, "Hello world!"

 

[radiorob2.0]

Jim Stagg is Jerry Smith and he still sells radio.
Dave Wood is back on the air with "The Hollywood Diner" Sunday nights on 1280
Dale Summers aka WLW's Truckin Bozo worked at WJPS

 

[The King Bee]

I used to travel with my dad from home in Louisville on his business trips to Evansville in the late '60s and early '70s. I remember WJPS-AM 1330 as an outstanding Top 40 station, a close second only to WAKY-AM Louisville in the region. The jocks, music selection and overall presentation were first-rate.

And those jingles ("Wonderfulllll...Thir-teen Thirty!) were classic. Ah, when radio was RADIO!

 

[radiorob2.0]

I used to travel with my dad from home in Louisville on his business trips to Evansville in the late '60s and early '70s. I remember WJPS-AM 1330 as an outstanding Top 40 station, a close second only to WAKY-AM Louisville in the region. The jocks, music selection and overall presentation were first-rate.

And those jingles ("Wonderfulllll...Thir-teen Thirty!) were classic. Ah, when radio was RADIO!

Here's a fun fact; The call letters WJPS stand for J. Porter Smith who helped put the station on the air. Prior to this he was manager of WGRC the predecessor of WAKY.

If you're in the area you can find the 1330 transmitter site way out on St. Joe, just look for three self supporting towers in a row. The transmitter building had been painted to sport the current call letters WVHI. However, the paint used didn't last so the building reverted to the original color and call letters. Once again it says:

WJPS​

ABC-1330 K.C.​

 

[ChiefEngineer]

If you think the building paint's faded, look at the towers. Rust IS a redish color as one manager once observed. Doesn't quite meet the FAA chart however.

Call letters were always a sign of contention after WW2. And to this day locals in the field who fondly recall a former manager still call it Japs.

WROZ was called "Rosie" well before O'Donnel. When I heard she sued KROZ for infringing on her name I guessed she didn't look back too far.

Station has the WEOA calls now on 1400, just sold. 175k? That's 175 dollars a watt! If you place $20 bills end to end in that amount it will far exceed the coverage at night. $50 bills too. Possibly $100 bills. When I lived on Boeke Ave just N of the site I had to drive S ? blocks to confirm it was on. It was about a mile N of the Ohio and still is.

 

[radiorob2.0]

If you think the building paint's faded, look at the towers. Rust IS a redish color as one manager once observed. Doesn't quite meet the FAA chart however.

Call letters were always a sign of contention after WW2. And to this day locals in the field who fondly recall a former manager still call it Japs.

WROZ was called "Rosie" well before O'Donnel. When I heard she sued KROZ for infringing on her name I guessed she didn't look back too far.

Station has the WEOA calls now on 1400, just sold. 175k? That's 175 dollars a watt! If you place $20 bills end to end in that amount it will far exceed the coverage at night. $50 bills too. Possibly $100 bills. When I lived on Boeke Ave just N of the site I had to drive S ? blocks to confirm it was on. It was about a mile N of the Ohio and still is.

The WROZ calls are around Harrisburg, PA. I'm too lazy to see if they call themselves "Rozie" or if Ms. O'Donnell has filed legal action.

I've noticed recently 1330 has a night time signal on the eastside and in Newburgh.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

WEOA was sold? How recently? FCC web site still says it is licensed to South Central Communications.

 

[DouglasB]

WROZ was called "Rosie". When I lived on Boeke Ave just N of the site I had to drive S ? blocks to confirm it was on. It was about a mile N of the Ohio and still is.

Before the move to the river, the tower and transmitter were on top of the old YMCA building downtown. The copper strap ground system ran down the sides of the building, and then was quietly bonded to the water main below ground which helped the signal considerably. As a kid up in Princeton, I could copy them day and night. But after they moved out to the river, the signal level was never the same. OK during the day, but a no-show at night.

 

[bigtime]

Was WJPS still top-40 when 1280 WGBF went top-40?

 

[radiorob2.0]

Was WJPS still top-40 when 1280 WGBF went top-40?

Yes, WJPS was a "Chicken Rock Top 40" but what we call Hot AC today. I'm not sure if they are still archived on this site but I posted Arbitron numbers from that time. In 1974 WJPS was number one 12 plus AQH with a 25 share while WGBF as a MOR had a six share. The next Arbitron in 1976 had WGBF with a 25 share 12 plus and JPS fell to a six share. The following year GBF broke a 30 but second to WIKY and WJPS fell to a 0.6. I'll have to dig them out again to verify the numbers but I'm close.

Anyone noticed 1400 has had almost all of the heritage Evansville call letter? WEOA, WROZ, WIKY, WJPS then back to WEOA. I'll have to research this further but 1400 was connected with WEHT when it signed on the air and later 1400 was co-owned with WTVW. At one time WEOA and WGBF were co-owned before the FCC broke up duopolies.

 

[A#1]

With the exception of Stagg, Wood and The Real Rodney, always thought ROZ' was a much better Top 40 station, limited only by it's incredibly meager signal. Anyone remember Charlie Shoe, Jack Etzel, Johnny Carr, Mark Clark, Jay Reynolds, Rick Darby and I could go on and on. Now that was real radio maybe only second to the River City Rocker of the mid to late 70's.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

Chicken Rock? Wasn't WJPS the station that wouldn't play the Beatles? Thankfully I wasn't there. I had to endure stories about Tiger Radio way too long...

Is Wood still doing Daddy Dave's Diner? Where is Rodney and Stagg?

 

[skippertthomas]

.....Yep....For a while longer.....

 

[radiorob2.0]

Chicken Rock? Wasn't WJPS the station that wouldn't play the Beatles? Thankfully I wasn't there. I had to endure stories about Tiger Radio way too long...

Is Wood still doing Daddy Dave's Diner? Where is Rodney and Stagg?

Jimbry talked about the Beatles ban in his book and I believe it was Rozie that banned the Beatles.

Daddy Dave was recently on GBF-AM doing "The Hollywood Diner" Sunday Nights. But the last time I checked they were doing "When Radio Was". Stagg/Jerry Smith is still selling radio and voicing the spots.

Off topic......I'm still awaiting the day I play a stopset where each commercial is voiced by a former Evansville morning men. Dave Layman, Jim Stagg, Brian Jackson, Sam Yates, and John Story all appear on various commercials but never in a row but give it time .

 

[skippertthomas]

[Was WJPS still top-40 when 1280 WGBF went top-40?

As I said above, yes it was for a while

The next Arbitron in 1976 had WGBF with a 25 share 12 plus and JPS fell to a six share. The following year GBF broke a 30 but second to WIKY and WJPS fell to a 0.6. I'll have to dig them out again to verify the numbers but I'm close.

Let me clarify for Rob (good buddy and great weekender to work with).....WIKY's numbers were combined AM/FM numbers in those days (820 AM with 104 FM).... 'GBF came in strong three weeks after the Labor Day Weekend format change in 1975... Pulse was the book for Evansville in the fall and Arbitron was the book for the spring in the market.

 

[ChiefEngineer]

Maybe a new thread on the Rockford mafia? Black cars and suits. Seems radio people are pretty reactionary and this helped them a lot.

So where IS Rodney. And Mark Clark? Rodney was at WYNG last time I knew. Old 105.3 WYNG not the other one.

Dave Lehman left WIKY for the mystery super incredible job. Anyone that listened knew what he did and how he did it. After being there 5 days the station let him go. That was a setup to get him to leave WIKY. He was getting paid too much someone thought.

John Story always even keeled and decent sounding on WIKY. Not sure why he left there. Rob George. Mark in the afternoon. Lehman, Story, and George. All part of the original crew that transitioned from standards (or whatever you call what they played) to Hot AC.

And Lehman's replacement Joe Blair? General Manager in the train of Managers says"There's funny and there's (inset word here) funny. And you're not (that word) funny!" God love him he tried. Anytime you walk in to replace a historic artifact you are doomed regardless.

 

[radiorob2.0]

I'm too lazy to format it correctly but you can get an idea.......

Mon-Sun 6a-12m 12 plus A/M 74 A/M 76 A/M 77

1330 AM WJPS (Top 40)* 20.2 6.6 0.8
104.1 FM WIKY (EZ) 15.0 16.3 27.5
1400 AM WROZ (Country) 14.4 12.2 8.3
820 AM WIKY (EZ) 9.7 9.4 8.9
99.5 FM WKDQ (AC) 8.6 9.7 7.2
1280 AM WGBF (MOR)** 6.4 24.1 26.1
860 AM WSON (Country) 4.7 4.7 3.1
98.1 FM WRAY (Variety) 4.4 3.3 3.1
105.3 FM WVHI (Religious) 1.9 0.6 1.7
1250 AM WRAY (Variety) 1.1 1.4 1.1
107.1 FM WBNL (Variety) 0.8 0.3 0.6
1540 AM WBNL (Variety) 0.6 0.3 0.6
92.5 FM WBKR (Country) 1.4 1.7 1.7
96.1 FM WSTO (EZ) 0 1.7 1.7
103.1 FM WHKC (AC) 0 0 0

* WJPS becomes MOR by 77
**WGBF switched to Top 40 9/75

 

[A#1]

Mark Clark was a popular jock on Top 40 WROZ in the mid-60's. Of course, 1400 dropped Top 40 early September 1967 and went Town & Country as they called it with the popular Country Giant jingles. As I said in an earlier post, Rozie was one hot sounding Top 40 from about 63-67, although limited by its lousy signal. Steve Walling, Bob Fox, Charlie Shoe, Jack Etzel, Greg Baker, Jim Embry, Jim Dolan, Jay Reynolds, Dennis Ray, John Patton, Dave Ralston, Johnny Carr, Tom Follis, Rick Darby, Devin Harper, Andy Hopkins and a whole bunch of others come to mind. They had the reverb cranked up and had some decent jingles, too. Not sure who produced their jingles, but I remember "All-American" and the "Think Big" jingles. In fact, I have some of those jingles on a CD. Yeah, 1330 was a great station, but no offense to Daddy Dave, Stagg and the Real One, I had a personal preference for "Rozie".

 

[bigtime]

Jim Wood was the mostly unsung genius who put WGBF on the air & took it to the top. Jim left WIFE Indianapolis to start up the top 40 version of 1280 WGBF. He later programmed KZLA in Los Angeles. At last report he had a promotion company in Nashville.