wkaj 900 wwsc 1450 Top 40?

[thebeach33445]

Hey Guys:

Can anybody help me out with these questions:

1. Was WKAJ 900 ever a Top 40 and when?

2. Was WWSC 1450 ever a Top 40 and when?

3. Does anybody remember if 900 was WSPN in the 50's and 60's? Was it a college station?

Thanks For Your Help

T.J.

 

[THE_KNICKMAN]

I dont know if either were ever top 40, but I do know that WSPN which had a studio bldg at it TX site on West Ave. that resembled a small livestock barn. A lot of its history is of a big band station. A lot of Mitch Miller, Etc. It was always a commercial station. It was WKAJ the initials of Kent Allan Jones, who owned it for quite a while.It was later bought by Bud Walker and was a country for a while simulcasted with WBUG in amsterdam with the callsign WBGG. Later, Walker teamed up with Dave Covey, (Entertronics), simulcasting 900AM with newly established WCKM-FM 98.5 in Lk. George(Oldies). Later, Anastos broadcasting bought it and today it leases out the time to Time-Warner. It has been WSPN, WKAJ, WBGG, , WCKM, WKAJ (again) and WUAM and still is WUAM today even though it has moved to Watervliet.

 

[Time Traveler]

900-AM was WSPN during the 1950s and early 1960s, becoming WKAJ around 1964. The current WSPN is on 91.1-FM and is Skidmore College's 250 watt eclectic free form rock station.
WSPN is actually the only station licensed to Saratoga these days. 900-AM and 102.3-FM moved out of town some time ago, and 1280-WRSA, which existed during the late 1950s and early 1960s, has been dark since 1962... 900-WKAJ was briefly an automated Top 40 station around 1981, as 90-Rock, I seem to recall, but WWSC was never Top 40. However, 1410-WBZA (Glens Falls) was Top 40 from 1971 through out much of the 1970s....

 

[AMonFM]

900 WKAJ was what would probably qualify as a Hot AC from 1981 til at least '85, when they drifted toward straight AC probably until the station sold in the later 80's, live talent behind the mic for a good chunk of that time (they were a daytimer at that time). They ran news every hour, had local news too. Used to listen to a female jock most afternoons whose name now escapes me. She was pretty good. John Meaney (now on WQAR) was there throughout the 80's as well.
The only thing that threw a monkey wrench in the station's overall sound was the replays of races at Saratoga during August. I used to have airchecks from '82 & '83, the station was community oriented and pretty tight sounding for a small operation. I think the FM counterpart (B-EZ WASM 102.3) was automated most of the time. Signal was pretty dismal (250 watts) and it was 1kc off frequency (901khz) for most of it's existence. When you got out about 10 miles from Saratoga, you would hear the 1kc tone caused by a co-channel station up in Boonville which had a pretty respectable signal compared to '900-KAJ'.

I'm kind of surprised that 101.3 never picked up the old WKAJ calls, which went unused for many years.


WWSC was not Top 40, but in the 70's/80's was full service AC before they went MOR, then news/talk. In the 70's they simulcast on 95.9 until the FM was flipped to Pop/Rock Y-96 (dayparted - Top 40 days, a rocker at night).

 

[rickkelly]

However, 1410-WBZA (Glens Falls) was Top 40 from 1971 through out much of the 1970s....

I remember WBZA well.  in the early 1970's, Albany pirate radio legend John Bulmer programmed WBZA.  They had "fake Drake" jingles from Gwin sound, and they were pretty tightly formatted.  One of their jocks - Dave Story - was there for years.

-Rick Kelly

 

[buoy40]

Remember WWSC slogan for their AM & FM format " Have a Happy Day" ? I think that was late 70"s. WWSC actually started out as a station in The Queensbury Hotel.
Also at one time I believe WBZA was a country western station perhaps early 70's.

 

[THE_KNICKMAN]

WBZA-FM 107.1 was country from about 1970 to 1977.