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WRKO station

R

Rabanvi

Guest
Does anyone remember how there was a time when WRKO was actually a music station?I know it has been a talk show station for a number of years.Actually WRKO made record albums of many songs from the 1960's.Has anyone ever seen the albums?Fee lfree to share your replies with me regarding this subject.
 
I Have a copy...I believe it's called Boss Radio 68....with pictures of a young Dale Dorman, Shadoe Stevens & Joel Cashman...I believe it was released in 1968
 
Prob info on this on Big 68 tribute site http://www.wrko.org

According to http://bostonradio.org/stations/1902 WRKO was music until a flip to talk in early 80s. They had been top 40 then went to a softer pop sound/AC? for awhile
4/27/81 flip to talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtx6ibwUWx0

Note: while the announcer said it was "the last song on WRKO" I do know within the past 15 yrs or so, they did a July 4th or Memorial Day weekend brief return to music ("The top 68 of 1968") similar
to how WABC has been doing oldies on Sat night
 
WRKO was one of the great RKO-owned Drake Top 40 stations of the late 60s and early 70s. I recall listening to WRKO on a college visit to Boston in the fall of 1969. It had what all Drake formatted stations had, tight formatics, a slick sound and "MORE MUSIC", as all Drake stations constantly reminded their listeners. The late 60s are remembered for the rise of album and progressive rock radio on FM but if that wasn't your thing, any Drake top 40 station was a nice place to be!

"NOW RADIO....68 WRKO....BOSTON."

Happy radio memories of a bygone era! :) :(
 
Ah, I remember it well! I was in junior high school.
FM was for audiophiles, and classical music only.
Transistor radio pressed to my ear - no headphones.
Picking up the weekly top 30 list at my local record store.
(back when the current music was actually good!)
Checking out the new stuff - "hit-bound".
I have both of the compilation LP's they put out. Lots of
jingles/processing. Slick, tight. 20/20 news.
It was quite a time!
 
Even on the television side, RKO left an impression. The former WOR-TV (now WWOR) in New York City - or should I say, the NYC area - was sold off... long story...
 
In NY, we had WOR-FM, also owned by RKO. The station flipped to a Drake-formatted Adult Top 40 in October '67 from free-form rock. The jingles and formatics sounded much like WRKO, but OR-FM was more oldies heavy than other Drake Top 40s. Also it was pop music on FM, the audiophile's band! That was radical for a pop station in 1967! :)
 
radioguy39nj said:
In NY, we had WOR-FM, also owned by RKO. The station flipped to a Drake-formatted Adult Top 40 in October '67 from free-form rock. The jingles and formatics sounded much like WRKO, but OR-FM was more oldies heavy than other Drake Top 40s. Also it was pop music on FM, the audiophile's band! That was radical for a pop station in 1967! :)
Click to expand...

Hey, don't forget WRKO-FM 98.5, the first FM Rock station in Boston ("R-KO" airdate October 12, 1966). "R-KO -FM" was THE inspiration to create "Now Radio 68/WRKO" on the AM side some 6 months later in March of '67. WRKO-FM was unique as well. WRKO-FM brought you "The Certified 35" (the 35 biggest hits in town at the time) with a nice blend of the best oldies as well. It was all automated, one of the first truly automated all-music FM stations in the country. And it was presented by "R-KO Matic", ("the shy but friendly robot"). It became an instant hit with the college crowd and some 7 year old kid from Randolph, MA ("Moi"). Even when 680/WRKO was eventually simulcasted on FM from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM, I waited for "R-KO" to begin promptly at 6:00 PM!!! I was never disappointed!! "ARKO-matic!!!"
 
WLYNgm said:
Ah, I remember it well! I was in junior high school.
FM was for audiophiles, and classical music only.
Transistor radio pressed to my ear - no headphones.
Picking up the weekly top 30 list at my local record store.
(back when the current music was actually good!)
Checking out the new stuff - "hit-bound".
I have both of the compilation LP's they put out. Lots of
jingles/processing. Slick, tight. 20/20 news.
It was quite a time!
Click to expand...

sounds like my childhood/early adolescence. I still have a bunch of those old WRKO surveys... along with some for WMEX and the original WBZ-FM
 
Peter Q. George (K1XRB) said:
radioguy39nj said:
In NY, we had WOR-FM, also owned by RKO. The station flipped to a Drake-formatted Adult Top 40 in October '67 from free-form rock. The jingles and formatics sounded much like WRKO, but OR-FM was more oldies heavy than other Drake Top 40s. Also it was pop music on FM, the audiophile's band! That was radical for a pop station in 1967! :)
Click to expand...

Hey, don't forget WRKO-FM 98.5, the first FM Rock station in Boston ("R-KO" airdate October 12, 1966). "R-KO -FM" was THE inspiration to create "Now Radio 68/WRKO" on the AM side some 6 months later in March of '67. WRKO-FM was unique as well. WRKO-FM brought you "The Certified 35" (the 35 biggest hits in town at the time) with a nice blend of the best oldies as well. It was all automated, one of the first truly automated all-music FM stations in the country. And it was presented by "R-KO Matic", ("the shy but friendly robot"). It became an instant hit with the college crowd and some 7 year old kid from Randolph, MA ("Moi"). Even when 680/WRKO was eventually simulcasted on FM from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM, I waited for "R-KO" to begin promptly at 6:00 PM!!! I was never disappointed!! "ARKO-matic!!!"
Click to expand...

WOR (710 AM) had the money demos in 1966, so there was no way RKO would blow it up. When the FCC decreed that AM and FMs in major markets had to be split 50% of the time, WOR-FM 98.7 became the first free-form progressive rock station in NYC. They played album cuts no one else played in addition to current top 40 and oldies. DJs were very laid back compared to WMCA and WABC's high-energy approach.

WOR-FM found a niche but RKO wasn't satisfied. Bill Drake came to town, tightened up the playlist and by late October 1967 installed his format on 98.7 FM. WOR-FM wasn't a pure top 40. It was an Adult Top 40, targeting adults 18-34 who had grown up with rock 'n' roll music. It offered a heavy dose of pre-1964 oldies, lots of soul and pop WMCA and WABC weren't playing and no bubblegum. WOR-FM didn't beat WABC, but they mortally wounded WMCA, forcing them to flip to talk in 1970.

WOR-FM may never have been a #1 rated station, but they forever changed the listening habits of NYers, including me. WOR-FM also showed that FM could be mainstream and not just for audiophiles and progressive rock fans only. ;)
 
RIPStar937 said:
I Have a copy...I believe it's called Boss Radio 68....with pictures of a young Dale Dorman, Shadoe Stevens & Joel Cashman...I believe it was released in 1968
Click to expand...

There were actually 3 double albums WRKO put out in the late 60s/early 70s. "30 Now Goldens" Vol. 1 & 2, and "WRKO Hall Of Fame" (or something like that) released in 1970. I had all 3 at one time. Absolutely dreadful audio quality on them, the first 2 were in muddy-on-the-left, tinny-on-the-right fake stereo, I think the 3rd did have some songs in true stereo.

Lots of stations put out compilation albums around that time, don't think WMEX ever did one though.

BTW, Joel's last name was Cash, not Cashman.
 
WEFWradio said:
There were actually 3 double albums WRKO put out in the late 60s/early 70s. "30 Now Goldens" Vol. 1 & 2, and "WRKO Hall Of Fame" (or something like that) released in 1970. I had all 3 at one time. Absolutely dreadful audio quality on them, the first 2 were in muddy-on-the-left, tinny-on-the-right fake stereo, I think the 3rd did have some songs in true stereo.
Click to expand...

WOR-FM released the same albums under the name "Double Goldens", which when you heard that on the air meant you were getting two oldies in a row. The audio quality on those albums was poor, to say the least. :)
 
WEFWradio said:
RIPStar937 said:
I Have a copy...I believe it's called Boss Radio 68....with pictures of a young Dale Dorman, Shadoe Stevens & Joel Cashman...I believe it was released in 1968
Click to expand...

There were actually 3 double albums WRKO put out in the late 60s/early 70s. "30 Now Goldens" Vol. 1 & 2, and "WRKO Hall Of Fame" (or something like that) released in 1970. I had all 3 at one time. Absolutely dreadful audio quality on them, the first 2 were in muddy-on-the-left, tinny-on-the-right fake stereo, I think the 3rd did have some songs in true stereo.

Lots of stations put out compilation albums around that time, don't think WMEX ever did one though.

BTW, Joel's last name was Cash, not Cashman.
Click to expand...

There was, however, the "Cruisin'" series, one album for each year ("Cruisin' 1961"), featuring stations and personalities from different cities, and the 1961 one featured WMEX and Arnie Ginsberg.
 
MHB said:
There was, however, the "Cruisin'" series, one album for each year ("Cruisin' 1961"), featuring stations and personalities from different cities, and the 1961 one featured WMEX and Arnie Ginsberg.
Click to expand...

"Cruisin' 1963" featured WMCA and B. Mitchell Reid. He spoke faster than Terry "Motormouth" Young on Sirius/XM! Reid was a WMCA Good Guy from 1963-65. :)
 
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