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WOGL vs WPGR in the early '90s
- Thread starter JH_Radio
- Start date
You can listen to PGR on the free TuneIn app with many other stations.
WRCP AM/FM. The AM side 1540 was tradition country a FM 104.5 signal was added easy country, Sunny 104.5 was added. The FM went WSNI with Don Cannon in the morning. WRCP went Philly Gold Radio. A number radio personalities were behind the mike, Tommy McCarthy, Hy Lit, Bob Charger just name a few. Jerry Blavat came on with Geater Gold Radio. The station was sold New World Radio and flip to broker radio. The station went dark.
Just Motown and Beatles. The station was a result of marketing research. And you can see where that went.
It was also a craptacular AM signal. Not saying that idea had merit, but by that time, AM music was a dead man walking.
Their transmitter was on top of hill so a healthy chunk on their 50,000 watts went into the sky instead of ground level where it belonged. That’s why I was able to listen to it on Long Island but couldn’t pick it up in Toms River, NJ.
Music on AM though was already effectively dead in any meaningful way by then. WPEN was hanging around, sure. But what contest could there be between FM and AM for music?
WRCP AM-FM was a contemporary country station (for that era) playing the top 40 country hits simulcast when the AM day timer was on, from 1967 to 1977. That October the FM became Sunny 104 WSNI as ‘beautiful country’ playing orchestrated country songs & crossover country & standards singers singing country songs The AM continued as contemporary country daytime only until 1991. In July WUSL went to ‘continuous country’ in July then WFIL went country in July. A few weeks later WRCP became ‘Philadelphia Gold’ originally programmed by WRCP country dj Ron Cade.
It was PD Don Cannon who said research found that Beatles & Motown were the two must popular types of oldies in The area. They alternated one Beatles song, then a Motown song, with a VT announcer. This was only 9 am to sign off weekdays. Morning drive was a simulcast of Don Cannon’s WSNI morning show, the entire weekend was also a WSNI simulcast. This lasted about 6 months and the WRCP calls became WSNI (AM), then the oldies format returned with the new WPGR calls.
I can deal with talking over some intros to an extent, (just don't do the entire 20 seconds...ie "Hotel California") but babbling directly over actual singing and vocals is a huge turnoff and would cause me to change stations and probably dial in a complaint.
That is a perfect example of how research is only as good as its interpretation and implementation.
In this case, we have something like "research shows that the most popular items in the supermarket are milk and candy. So what happens if a store opens up selling just those two items?
Good research, horrible implementation is a common happening in many areas of business.
Well by the mid 90’s there is no question that AM couldn’t compete with music in FM Stereo. However there were quite a few stragglers that were getting by. WFIL played oldies until about ‘91 when they switched over to beautiful music until ‘93 when they sold to Salem. And there were quite a few others. WWJZ 640 played big band until 1999. 1290 in Wilmington played standards into the 90’s. 1310 WSSJ lasted until the late 90’s with soft AC. Then there was Oldies 1210, 1570 WBUX that played all 70’s well into the 90’s, 1340 Skin Radio in the mid 2000’s which was an alt rock station which eventually became standards, Great Gold 1260 WBUD was very popular in Trenton until the mid 2000’s, 1490 WBCB played all sorts of music back then, and of course there was WPGR and WPEN which you mentioned. None of these stations was lighting the world on fire but they were paying the electric bill every month and had very loyal listeners.
I once knew an engineer who hated FM. He called it “tin can audio.” I won’t mention his name but he had a certain AM station sounding as pristine as the original records when Gene Krupa was beating on his drums or when Benny Goodman played his clarinet. (Of course it should be noted that the original records were made in the 30’s and 40’s)
But anyone who’s interested in the subject of early FM Stereo should read about Enoch Light and his Command record label. He was a pioneer in hi-fidelity audio processing and stereo experimentation in the 60’s. Essentially his early work helped pave the way for future musical artists and sound engineers to make the transition from AM radio to FM Stereo in the 70’s and 80’s.
Jerry Lee owned it, didn't he?
I was thinking so but wasn't 100% on that.
Been a long time and it was kind of a tiny blip on the radar way back then.
The WQAl/WWSH story from Broadcast Pioneers:
By the way: Those that can't stand Blavat talking over everything in sight he also talked over all songs on his "Guess What" album.
By the way: Those that can't stand Blavat talking over everything in sight he also talked over all songs on his "Guess What" album.
"Wish 560" came on as a beautiful music station years after 106 dropped the format and the WWSH call sign. The AM Wish did not use the WWSH call; its call sign always matched 101's (first WEAZ and then, very briefly after Eazy became B101 and just before the AM was sold to Salem, WBEB)
WWSH 106 was beautiful music from 1970-1980 when it switched to soft AC, AC & top 40 before changing call letters. WEAZ dropped instrumentals in 1988 and switched their AM to the competitors old name to appease listeners still mad about the 101 changes. Wish 560 sounded just like the old WWSH voiced by some of the same people like Nelson Hobdell. They ran promos telling listeners “beautiful music is back but only if you support it”, etc. Also WFMZ Allentown was still beautiful music putting a clear FM signal over the northern suburbs. Finally 560 quietly went to a simulcast of 101.1 until Salem bought it.
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