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WRAL 101.5 Raleigh Drake Chenault Hit Parade Demo 1974

fortmill said:
Sorry, but WNCT-FM most certainly was "Hit Parade," the same automated format played later on WRAL-FM, from 1968 til at least 1970. I was a student at ECU and listened from time to time, since it was one of the few FM signals that came in clearly. WITN-FM, 93.3 also boomed in, with "beautiful music," but I wasn't going to touch that. Oher strong FMs in Greenville at that time--96.9 (WEDR ?) and the Tarboro station on 104.3--ironically both now Raleigh market stations. WRAL-FM also came in, but not as clear. Pretty slim pickins on FM in the "Athens of the East" at that time. At least we had WOOW....
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I think you're mixing up 93.3 and 107.9 (well 107.7 then). 107.9 was always "beautiful music" and 93.3 was the one playing top 40 and rock.
 
w00t said:
fortmill said:
Sorry, but WNCT-FM most certainly was "Hit Parade," the same automated format played later on WRAL-FM, from 1968 til at least 1970. I was a student at ECU and listened from time to time, since it was one of the few FM signals that came in clearly. WITN-FM, 93.3 also boomed in, with "beautiful music," but I wasn't going to touch that. Oher strong FMs in Greenville at that time--96.9 (WEDR ?) and the Tarboro station on 104.3--ironically both now Raleigh market stations. WRAL-FM also came in, but not as clear. Pretty slim pickins on FM in the "Athens of the East" at that time. At least we had WOOW....
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Absolutely not. WITN-FM was the gold standard of "beautiful music" in eastern NC for many years, up until they became WDLX in the late 70s, maybe early 80s.. WNCT-FM 107.7 was also beautiful music prior to 1968, but their short tower would not allow them to compete with 107.7 head to toe. I'm not dreaming that I listened to Drake's Hit Parade on 107.7 on my Sears Table stereo radio while at EZU--at least when I couldn't get WKIX-FM, or when I wasn't listening to WOOW.

I think you're mixing up 93.3 and 107.9 (well 107.7 then). 107.9 was always "beautiful music" and 93.3 was the one playing top 40 and rock.
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Before becoming WDLX, WITN-FM was "Rock 93." I used to work there and read through all of the archives and I don't remember the BM format being mentioned, but I'll take your word for it.

Do you remember the glass studio on the roof of the building? That was mid-70s IIRC. The station was album rock during that time.
 
WITN-FM was "beautiful music" until sometime during the fall of 1974, when they changed to top-40 as "Rock 93". I'm pretty certain of the time frame. I was in eighth grade and had helped my mother with a clock radio she bought specifically to listen to WITN in the den. She was incensed about the format change.

The only other choice for her at the time was, if I recall correctly, WAAV in Wilmington. I don't think we could pick up WNCT-FM where we lived.

Not being in the business as a 13-year old, I wouldn't have known if the format was Drake-Chenault or whatever. As a frequent Rock 93 listener, I do remember a couple of things. You could almost set your watch by some of the segues (I guess the tapes didn't get refreshed very quickly), and there was a pretty good amount of bleedover between the playback decks. It was not uncommon to hear tape rewind chatter mixed in with the song playing on the air.
 
awsherrill said:
WITN-FM was "beautiful music" until sometime during the fall of 1974, when they changed to top-40 as "Rock 93". I'm pretty certain of the time frame. I was in eighth grade and had helped my mother with a clock radio she bought specifically to listen to WITN in the den. She was incensed about the format change.

The only other choice for her at the time was, if I recall correctly, WAAV in Wilmington. I don't think we could pick up WNCT-FM where we lived.

Not being in the business as a 13-year old, I wouldn't have known if the format was Drake-Chenault or whatever. As a frequent Rock 93 listener, I do remember a couple of things. You could almost set your watch by some of the segues (I guess the tapes didn't get refreshed very quickly), and there was a pretty good amount of bleedover between the playback decks. It was not uncommon to hear tape rewind chatter mixed in with the song playing on the air.
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WITN-FM, at least during a summer of 1976 trip, used "TM Stereo Rock".
 
Very neat to see this!!! Please post more related!!!
 
w00t said:
Before becoming WDLX, WITN-FM was "Rock 93." I used to work there and read through all of the archives and I don't remember the BM format being mentioned, but I'll take your word for it.

Do you remember the glass studio on the roof of the building? That was mid-70s IIRC. The station was album rock during that time.
Click to expand...

Were you there when Allan Handelman was there?
 
Does anyone have any air checks of WRAL-FM during this time period??? Thanks.
 
I just posted some more WRAL FM 1977 on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvpLAy0XkgU

The tape squeels a bit but it is still a good aircheck. Too bad the music is cut short so it will be accept by youtube.

I was to be able to hear WRAL in the Philadelphia suburbs after midnight when Trenton NJ went off the air. WRAL would fade in for a few minutes then fade out a few minutes. This would happen all night even in the winter. They were listed as 990 feet above average terrain and 250kw so that would allow for regular 340 mile reception using an outdoor fm antenna. The aircheck posted was recorded when I visited the outer banks in 1977.
 
charlestondxman said:
Wow, you heard WRAL all the way up there every night? Those were the days.
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Who sang that? "Those were the Days My friend?? hahahah
 
Based on a traditional ...Irish?....song, not sure of the country. Not to be confused with the song with the same title sung by Edith and Archie Bunker.
 
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