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WJRZ AM 970
- Thread starter Skybird
- Start date
Evening News that a new station was bring CW music to the area. I was not a fan of the British invasion so this was good news to me. Their signal was not good at night because being on 970 they had to alter their night pattern to protect stations on 970 in Buffalo and Pittsburgh. I remember Lee Arnold and Paul Brenner with the latter letting me sit with him in the booth on Saturdays. Dad would drop me off at the Green Street studios in Newark. Got me interested in a career in radio and later into TV. Does anyone remember the CW concerts held at the Mosque Theater in Newark? In the 60s I spent many hours there watching shows with Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Roy Acuff and more. Great memories of a great station.
Very // situation for me as well, Sky.. For whatever justification known at the time peculiar to rock-n-roll city punks like me, I listened exclusively to WJRZ for the better part of a year. Thanks for the names. I remember the morning guy (Ed Nielson?) and Jerry White was on overnight.
WJRZ had quite the Top 40 aura about it, only they played cowboy records! IIrc, they had a top 100 they'd play, even though a top 97 might;ve been a better marketing positioner.
I listened to them so much back then that when I first heard the song 'Windy' on WABC that everyone there at work had been singing, it had been going off the surveys and charts. To me it's still almost a 'new song', lol.
As you know, much as WABC used the 'I'll Take Manhattan' logo for their jingles, WJRZ took their logo from the song 'I'm an Old Cow Hand'. It'd be terrific to find those jingles -- especially the one they played that went 'Another .... WJRZ ... Country Classic!' with the fiddle sting.
I wonder who did that jingle package for them.
Thanks for the memories, pilgrim !
WJRZ had quite the Top 40 aura about it, only they played cowboy records! IIrc, they had a top 100 they'd play, even though a top 97 might;ve been a better marketing positioner.
I listened to them so much back then that when I first heard the song 'Windy' on WABC that everyone there at work had been singing, it had been going off the surveys and charts. To me it's still almost a 'new song', lol.
As you know, much as WABC used the 'I'll Take Manhattan' logo for their jingles, WJRZ took their logo from the song 'I'm an Old Cow Hand'. It'd be terrific to find those jingles -- especially the one they played that went 'Another .... WJRZ ... Country Classic!' with the fiddle sting.
I wonder who did that jingle package for them.
Thanks for the memories, pilgrim !
Dunno about WJRZ's avoidance of twang, DrAkbar.
WHN 1050's version of Country certainly avoided all of those songs that began with the trademark three-fiddle notes to start the tune. WHN's main fare of crossover tunes -- and acts -- emphasized acts like Eagles, Kenny Rogers, some 'outlaw' stuff, et., with a nice delivery. The jocks there were quite comfortable working within that moving window of evolution.
WJRZ's previous run of C&W played survey songs from the actual Country charts. In the mid- and late 60's there existed a stigma -- a decided conflict, anyway -- vis-a-vis what was considered authentic country-western and that newer crossover stuff done by those 'hippies' like the Eagles and Poco and Loggins & Messina. There was a strict dividing line all the way into the early 70's that defined, if not represented, your allegiance.
Me? I liked both genres, lol. Still do.
My recall is that WJRZ did play the twang. Twang was essential. Besides, that's all there WAS on the C&W charts. At the time, twang was unavoidable! WHN avoided it because that demographic window of evolving, newer listener taste was moving -- and in a huge city, too
Great, ironic point about 970turning into WWDJ !
WHN 1050's version of Country certainly avoided all of those songs that began with the trademark three-fiddle notes to start the tune. WHN's main fare of crossover tunes -- and acts -- emphasized acts like Eagles, Kenny Rogers, some 'outlaw' stuff, et., with a nice delivery. The jocks there were quite comfortable working within that moving window of evolution.
WJRZ's previous run of C&W played survey songs from the actual Country charts. In the mid- and late 60's there existed a stigma -- a decided conflict, anyway -- vis-a-vis what was considered authentic country-western and that newer crossover stuff done by those 'hippies' like the Eagles and Poco and Loggins & Messina. There was a strict dividing line all the way into the early 70's that defined, if not represented, your allegiance.
Me? I liked both genres, lol. Still do.
My recall is that WJRZ did play the twang. Twang was essential. Besides, that's all there WAS on the C&W charts. At the time, twang was unavoidable! WHN avoided it because that demographic window of evolving, newer listener taste was moving -- and in a huge city, too
Great, ironic point about 970turning into WWDJ !
WJRZ was country from 1965 to 1971. In 1966, Buck Owens played Carnegie Hall. The man who introduced Buck that night (as captured on the album made from that concert) was WJRZ's Lee Arnold. So they played the twang. Lee was able to make the transition to WHN in 1973, and stayed there until the station became WFAN in 1988.
This was also done by the record labels. They COULD have attempted to target those artists to country stations, but it was determined there was a larger potential audience listening to pop and FM rock stations. Plus none of those records were made in Nashville, so the marketing and promotion was coming from NY or LA. I also think they determined it would be more difficult to get the Eagles and Poco played on the larger southern country stations that aimed older. Those markets were ready for that kind of music unless it came from a trusted place like Nashville. What started to open the door was when Conway Twitty recorded an Eagles song.
This was also done by the record labels. They COULD have attempted to target those artists to country stations, but it was determined there was a larger potential audience listening to pop and FM rock stations. Plus none of those records were made in Nashville, so the marketing and promotion was coming from NY or LA. I also think they determined it would be more difficult to get the Eagles and Poco played on the larger southern country stations that aimed older. Those markets were ready for that kind of music unless it came from a trusted place like Nashville. What started to open the door was when Conway Twitty recorded an Eagles song.
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