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WNHC radio,New Haven in 1970

A

alok

Anybody know if this station used board ops in 1970. Since they were connected with WNHC-TV and I think in the same building I'm wondering if the radio had board ops.
Station was Top 40 at the time.

Also,how long was WNHC Top 40 ?

Al
 
The two stations were in the same builidng but but 1970 they had split, Cap Cities owned WNCH TV but the radio station was owned by Westerly Broadcasting Company (Carl Grande). Top 40 ran in various forms thru mid 70's.
 
From a 1977 Broadcasting Yearbook...

WNHC 1340. 1000 watts days, 250 watts nights.
Signed on 1944. Westerly Broadcasting Company (acquired 4/71).
Contemporary. Spanish one hour a week.
Carl Grande, Gen. Mgr.
George Grande, News Director & Local Sales Mgr.
John Ellwinger, National Sales Mgr.
Art Dincholis, Music Director
Vincent Delaurentis, Chief Engineer

No listing for Program Director, although in a small operation like this, Carl Grande probably doubled in that job, since his brother or son wore two hats as well.
 
Gregg said:
From a 1977 Broadcasting Yearbook...

WNHC 1340. 1000 watts days, 250 watts nights.
Signed on 1944. Westerly Broadcasting Company (acquired 4/71).
Contemporary. Spanish one hour a week.
Carl Grande, Gen. Mgr.
George Grande, News Director & Local Sales Mgr.
John Ellwinger, National Sales Mgr.
Art Dincholis, Music Director
Vincent Delaurentis, Chief Engineer

No listing for Program Director, although in a small operation like this, Carl Grande probably doubled in that job, since his brother or son wore two hats as well.
Click to expand...

Was that the same George Grande who went on to have a long career with ESPN?
 
I'll try to answer the original question, since I was a pretty faithful WNHC 1340 listener in 1970. Since the Top 40 format was live around the clock, I doubt they had much call for board ops and I'm pretty certain the WNHC live jocks didn't have the luxury of someone pushing the buttons for them. WNHC had their homegrown version of the Drake "Boss Radio" format in 1970, not unlike WPOP 1410 to the north.

They were a worthy rival to WAVZ 1300 in 1970, but by the mid seventies fewer markets had two or more Top 40 head to head competitors. By 1974 WNHC had switched to the automated "Hit Parade" in the face of fierce competition from "The New WAVZ", one of the slickest stations of its kind in the country. WNHC still had some great talent - Alan Colmes among them - even as its fortunes dwindled. I heard of one instance when UI cut power because they didn't pay their bill! At one point in the late seventies they even tried beautiful music against WKCI's big signal and an FM dial saturated with that format. They found themselves up against WKCI again with a return to pop music in 1979 with similar results. The switch to urban bought WNHC a new lease on life well into the nineties.
 
Jocks ran their own board at WNHC. I know because my friend Gary Peters (Pete Moss then) worked there before and after Triangle sold the station in 1971. Carl Grande actually owned WNHC and Westerly's WERI. George Grande was his brother, who later became a sports and news anchor at Cap Cities' Channel 8. Afterwards, George was one of the original anchors at ESPN.
 
WAVZ

When WKCI became KC101, did WAVZ go to Music of Your Life, or was there a format in between?

I recall something about Ron Rhomer being let go at WELI then suing and turning up at WAVZ. Then, another controversy regarding Mr. Rhomer when WAVZ jumped to -- my memory must be wrong here -- heavy metal.

Does anyone have a better memory than me?
 
Re: WAVZ

mikedow said:
When WKCI became KC101, did WAVZ go to Music of Your Life, or was there a format in between?

I recall something about Ron Rhomer being let go at WELI then suing and turning up at WAVZ. Then, another controversy regarding Mr. Rhomer when WAVZ jumped to -- my memory must be wrong here -- heavy metal.

Does anyone have a better memory than me?
Click to expand...
WAVZ did have a format in between. It was an MOR/soft AC mix... Bread, Gordon Lightfoot, Streisand, etc. Some announcers were from the former easy listening format on WKCI. It didn't last long before the switch to the old standards in an effort to get WELI's older demos. In the Hartford/New Britain market, WRCQ 910 had a similar evolution around that time before going big bands/standards.

The nineties were an unstable time at WAVZ. Z-Rock was short lived, but I imagine the first day of it must've been a rude awakening to the standards nostalgia fans. Their commitment to that format was equally suspect, since at one point they added an afternoon drive Rush Limbaugh show playback followed by a block of Rush the band. You got it: "Rush After Rush."

Standards did come back (from Westwood One I think) after the Z-Rock fiasco and WELI's Ron Rohmer was put on mornings at WAVZ after he sued, but the 1990s wheel of formats would spin again before 2000, with various forms of talk since then.
 
I was working there when WAVZ switched to Z-Rock. Even though Z-Rock came in over the satellite, we did take the station live on occassion. Actually, my first professional air shift was on the weekend we flipped the format. I went by the name Tommy Gunn (I still shiver at that, especially because it was my idea). Kelly Nash was the Program Director. And yes... You should have seen the phones light up in the front office when we pulled the switch. It was like a Christmas tree!
 
radiopromoguy said:
I was working there when WAVZ switched to Z-Rock. ....
And yes... You should have seen the phones light up in the front office when we pulled the switch. It was like a Christmas tree!
Click to expand...

And here is the mp3 of the change-over.
http://bill1820.com/radio/13-zrock.mp3

Question for Radiopromoguy - I can't remember if the changeover was 1992 or 93. Do you remember the exact date? I do remember that WAVZ blew off Rush Limbaugh for Z-Rock, but later brought him back delayed at 3:00. I am assuming Excellence in Broadcasting (pre Premiere / Clear Channel) forced the station to fulfill the contract.

I do remember that CC instituted Z-Rock on WAVZ after buying the station for only $10. CC had paid $15-million for KC101 the year earlier, from a company I believe was called Eastern Broadcasting, which had purchased KC101-WAVZ for $30-million in the mid 80.

To answer Mike's question about Ron Rohmer - he was fired from WELI in 1995, but was then put on WAVZ to do standards in the morning. He was let go in 1999 so CC could use his salary to pay for starting Rush Limbaugh on WELI.
 
Eastern (Roger Neuhoff) had bought WKCI/WAVZ in '82 for $6 million, sold the stations to Noble in '87 for $30.5 million. Then Noble sold them to Clear Channel in '92 for $14,000,010. OUCH.

That $10.00 sale price for WAVZ was really a kick in the pants.
 
Re: WAVZ

GlennO said:
WAVZ did have a format in between. It was an MOR/soft AC mix... Bread, Gordon Lightfoot, Streisand, etc. Some announcers were from the former easy listening format on WKCI. It didn't last long before the switch to the old standards in an effort to get WELI's older demos.
Click to expand...

I was hired part-time to do the in-between format until the new automation system was ready. The six-week job lasted six months.

Here is my December, 1979 WAVZ aircheck (with Jam "Rather be in Denver" jingles) -
http://bill1820.com/radio/wavz-dec79.mp3
 
Bill1820 said:
Here's a 1970 WNHC Legal ID that because a WNHU one. When Bob Radil (now on RewoundRadio.com) did his Friday night oldies show on WNHU, he spliced in the U from a CKLW jingle, and the West from a Mike West one.
Click to expand...

I have to be missing something, where does the "U" come in on the CKLW jingle? I have some reference dubs and I just don't recall that.

btw: he did a pretty decent splice job there.
 
Bill DeFelice said:
Yep, a precise splice would be in order to pull that gem off.
Click to expand...

Bob Radil is excellent with editing. He has created and aired an extended version of the Wildweeds "No Good to Cry". Sounded like the Wildweeds themselves had recorded it in the studio.
 
Bill1820 said:
Bill DeFelice said:
Yep, a precise splice would be in order to pull that gem off.
Click to expand...

Bob Radil is excellent with editing. He has created and aired an extended version of the Wildweeds "No Good to Cry". Sounded like the Wildweeds themselves had recorded it in the studio.
Click to expand...

Why would anyone want to artificially extend a perfect '60s single like "No Good to Cry"?
 
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