WRVM Rochester

[biggguy]

I'm posting here, hoping that some of the awesome memories here can give me some insight into what seems to be, from what else I've found on the web, a dim childhood memory- WRVM.

Here's what I know this far:

* Daytimer at 680 kHz- to protect 680 in Toronto.
* Flipped to country as WNYR sometime in 1965.
* Format seemed to be beautiful music, or MOR/full service (too foggy to recall). I have also heard they tried
top 40 in the late 50s. From what I understand "The" Johnny Holliday did some time there (according to his
book which identifies it as "WVRM").

If anyone's interested, one of their jingles is posted in a collection at "Northeast Airchecks"- sounds consistent with a beautiful music operation.

As I recall (and I was VERY young then), I had a neighbor that loved it- and even got my parents listening, who had previously believed that radio started and stopped with WHAM- where they wound up after WRVM flipped.

Can anyone else furnish any other insights?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Call Me Sherlock]

I don't know too much about the station, only what I learned while working with Bob Bohrer, and some of the others, when I came to WBBF in 1965. Bob had worked there when the station was Top 40 before coming over to 'BBF to join the news department.

Bob mentioned working with Johnny Holiday, as well as a jock known as Rocky G (Gross) who went on to fame and fortune at the R n' B monster in NYC at the time, WWRL.

When Malrite bought the station and took it country, a fellow named John Chaffee was brought in as programmer and he had the station sounding like a million bucks. They were country - but with a lot of Top 40 formatics.

They also had the single most successful bumper sticker campaign I've ever seen - WNYR stickers were everywhere in the mid to late 60s.

They had a fine run as a country station with some pretty good numbers for a number of years.

Hope this helps!

Larry White

 

[heydaybegone]

Good to hear from Sherlock...he knows his stuff. Wow, Bob Bohrer..one of the nicest guys you could meet..and an addition to the list of premier news coverage people. Also, the bumper sticker campaign sticks (no pun intended) with me even today. I saw those yellow background & black call letters EVERYWHERE! (unless MY color recollection deceives me)

 

[qman]

The evolution of that station took us to Legends 990 in 1999 which is now WDCX-AM. During the station's travels, it moved from 680 to 990 in 1980. In 1988, a year after CHR WMJQ flipped to Country WBEE, WNYR flipped from country to standards as WEZO (Those calls having been parked by 101.3 after flipping from easy listening to soft AC as WRMM). In 1990 990 flipped from standards to a simulcast of 101.3 as WRMM. From there it was a simulcast with CMF, a run with a sports format, religious, standards, and back to religious. Hope you enjoyed your bedtime story

 

[biggguy]

Thanks to all for their comments and insights...

Bob Bohrer...there's a name I haven't heard in quite some time, but remember with respect...

I am quite familiar with the station after its flip to WNYR- had an aunt stay with my family for a while at about that time who loved country music- so I had early exposure to them, and with WNYR's popularity it seemed I was exposed at regular intervals after that. I do remember thinking at that time that the flip improved them- yes I remember the "almost top 40 formatics"- and even though I've never ever been a fan of country, it was better than WRVM, which to my eight year old ears, was boring.

I also remember the WNYR bumper stickers quite vividly- they were black on yellow, and they were all numbered. The same aunt I mentioned above had one on her '59 Studebaker- and they were ALL over the place otherwise.

Why did I inquire about WRVM? I just wanted to see if any of the learned veterans that proliferate here could elaborate on a dim childhood memory.

Thanks again for the replies.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Some of the best years I spent in radio was working for Murray Green and Len Hart at WNYR-WEZO. Both managers treated the staff like family plus they knew broadcasting.

Despite the "elevator music", as it was called, WEZO was #1 in the ratings for a number of years. Meanwhile WNYR managed to beat off opposition from FM competitors when it came to a county music format.

Unfortunately Murray left for Florida to run a Malrite station down there and Len was stabbed in the back by the sales manager who eventually became GM. This person, and the numerous owners, was the start of the decline of both stations and led to call letters and format changes.

Those two stations were the last commercial operations that I worked at. In the beginning it was great. At the end it was close what what radio is today.

 

[AndrewLawson]

Some of the best years I spent in radio was working for Murray Green and Len Hart at WNYR-WEZO. Both managers treated the staff like family plus they knew broadcasting. --- Those two stations were the last commercial operations that I worked at. In the beginning it was great. At the end it was close what what radio is today.

Given what's been posted on this board and web site, nothing is remotely close to what radio is today.

 

[Bob1370]

WRVM/WNYR's signal got a long way for 250 watts--thanks to that low dial position at 680. Of course fulltime operation is what a station needed to be truly competitive, and while they had it on their FM sister station on 101.3 (which simulcast until the late 60s, and picked up the country music at night after AM signoff, AM still ruled most people's listening habits back in the early 60s, before everyone had stereo radios at home and in their cars. That's why it made such a difference when they finally got off 680 around 1979-80 and wound up with a fulltime signal on 990.

A lot of people passed through the halls of WNYR. New York City radio fans remember Johnny Holliday, who stopped there on his way to 1010 WINS in the early 60s (and ultimately on his way to becoming the voice of University of Maryland sports). They also had a great news department, led in the early 60s by Jim McLaughlin (later of WYSL, WKBW and WBEN) and later by Mark Giardina.

Mark also reminds us of the quality of people who ran the station through the years, like Murray Green and Len Hart. There were other dynamic and creative general managers in the business whose presence is much missed, like John Sayre of WBBF and WAXC (now in the IT business in Chicago), and Larry Levite, former president/owner of WBEN/WTSS who won a well deserved place in the Buffalo Broadcasters' Hall of Fame a few years ago. I had the pleasure of working for Larry and saw first hand how hard (and successfully) he worked to provide a quality product. We need more people running stations who care about the programming they're creating and the markets they're serving, the way these men did. The business would be better, and IMHO a lot more profitable, if more people thought the way they did.

 

[Bill Myers]

I have the jingle package to WRVM and it's interesting to hear how they patterend some of the jingles to the hits of the day - just like 'KB did with their POP jingles. You'd have a WRVM jingle that sounds almost like a Perry Como song or Frank Sinatra song, etc. and this was late '50's.

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I remember my cousin in Batavia listened to WNYR. That 250 watts got out like gangbusters and as Larry said the station sounded like a million bucks! Very well done.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

I remember my cousin in Batavia listened to WNYR. That 250 watts got out like gangbusters and as Larry said the station sounded like a million bucks! Very well done.

Batavia? Feh! It could be heard in LA, Mike! Meaning Lackawanna, of course; and not all that far from the KB transmitter site. WNYR must have had just the right size antenna, in the right location, with a perfect transmitter to antenna impedence, because that 250 Watts really "got out." Yes, I'm aware of the principles of AM propagation, especially on the low end of the AM band, but still, that teapot cooked! It was very cool to hear a station using the Top 40 formatics of a McLendon or Storz station, like forward motion and shotgun segway jingles, while playing country hits by the likes of Jim Reeves and Sonny James.

 

[Play Freebird]

I believe the original call sign on 680 was WRNY, but I'm not sure of the year it was changed to WRVM or the reason for the change. Of course the 'RNY calls are now used on 1350 in Rome, NY.

In my collection of weird radio stuff I've found on the web, I have a PDF scan of Page 2C the Sunday, November 16,1947 D and C, with ads for WRNY (featuring "Songs of Sinatra" at 1:30 PM) as well as WARC 950 On Your Radio Dial -- a "Basic ABC Network" affiliate located at the Sheraton Hotel.

The daily "Guide to Radio Programs" is also on this page, with six stations listed in this order: WHEC, WHAM, WSAY, WRNY, WARC, and CBL.

If you want to search for more upstate NY history (broadcast-related or otherwise), check out the search engine of 9,157,000 Old NYS Newspaper Pages at www.fultonhistory.com

 

[yugoidar]

There were other dynamic and creative general managers in the business whose presence is much missed, like John Sayre of WBBF and WAXC (now in the IT business in Chicago),,,

Bob, there might be a John Sayre in the IT business in Chicago, but it's not the John Sayre you mention. Although I haven't talked with him in years, a client of mine told me that he's living back in his hometown of Lexington, KY. At his age, nearly 80, I'm assuming that John is probably retired by now.

 

[JIBGUY]

Later WNYR black on yellow stickers were not numbered. I think in later years, they did contesting by license plate number, not sticker number. Must say, WNYR's consistent black & yellow stickers was probably the most successful sticker campaign ever to hit radio. They were everywhere.

 

[Mark Giardina]

WRVM/WNYR's signal got a long way for 250 watts--thanks to that low dial position at 680. Of course fulltime operation is what a station needed to be truly competitive, and while they had it on their FM sister station on 101.3 (which simulcast until the late 60s, and picked up the country music at night after AM signoff, AM still ruled most people's listening habits back in the early 60s, before everyone had stereo radios at home and in their cars. That's why it made such a difference when they finally got off 680 around 1979-80 and wound up with a fulltime signal on 990.

A lot of people passed through the halls of WNYR. New York City radio fans remember Johnny Holliday, who stopped there on his way to 1010 WINS in the early 60s (and ultimately on his way to becoming the voice of University of Maryland sports). They also had a great news department, led in the early 60s by Jim McLaughlin (later of WYSL, WKBW and WBEN) and later by Mark Giardina.

Mark also reminds us of the quality of people who ran the station through the years, like Murray Green and Len Hart. There were other dynamic and creative general managers in the business whose presence is much missed, like John Sayre of WBBF and WAXC (now in the IT business in Chicago), and Larry Levite, former president/owner of WBEN/WTSS who won a well deserved place in the Buffalo Broadcasters' Hall of Fame a few years ago. I had the pleasure of working for Larry and saw first hand how hard (and successfully) he worked to provide a quality product. We need more people running stations who care about the programming they're creating and the markets they're serving, the way these men did. The business would be better, and IMHO a lot more profitable, if more people thought the way they did.

I didn't know that Jim McLaughin was ND at WNYR? There was a fellow who was ND who later went to work for the (then) Genesee Brewing Company. But, as usual lately, I can't remember his name.

As for the bumper stickers; who ever came up with that idea was a genius. Bittner was right; they were every where.

 

[Bob1370]

Yugoidar says, "Bob, there might be a John Sayre in the IT business in Chicago, but it's not the John Sayre you mention."

He could well be retired and back in KY by now, but the info I had from someone who knew him well is that he went into business in Chicago, and did very well, in the years immediately after he left Rochester in 1977. Hadn't gotten an update in about 10 years so he may well have cashed out and taken it easy, the way Larry Levite did in the mid-90s when he sold the WBEN stations to Kerby Confer's Keymarket group (which then passed them on to Sinclair, and finally to Entercom).

Mark Giardina says, "I didn't know that Jim McLaughin was ND at WNYR?" Yep, he told me it was between 1964 and 66. just after he moved back east from a gig in Vallejo, California. Jim was a Rochester native who decided to come back home to Western NY to raise a family. He jumped to McLendon's WYSL in Buffalo to run the news shop there, before being hired away by KB to replace Don Lancer (who had moved on to KYW in Philly). That's where he hired me, then took me along to WBEN when he moved there in '78 to close out his career by running that news shop for 15 years.

 

[Savage]

The last information I had on John Sayre - ex-WBBF GM under LIN until about 1971 and founder/part-owner of WAXC - is that he passed away. AFAIK he never recovered from the financial disaster which followed the collapse of WAXC in the mid- to late 70s. Sherlock may be able to fill in more on this.

Yes, the original callsign of 680 kHz was WRNY. Around 1950 it morphed to WARC, then to WBBF when B. & B. Forman's Maury Forman bought the station, IIRC sometime around 1953. The station also held a CP for a UHF TV station, first WARC-TV, then WBBF-TV, on Channel 15, which was of course never built. There used to be a little barber shop on Clinton Avenue in the South Wedge that had a "WARC 950 kc/s" advertising clock in the front window - it was still there in the 1970s when I was PD at BBF. Our CE Harve Rees tried to buy the clock from the little elderly barber, but no dice. But there is still a faded WRNY 680 sign painted on the east face of a building on East Main Street, a few doors from Nortth Clinton Avenue. Until about ten years ago it was still quite vivid, but has deteriorated badly in recent years. The building is slated for demolition for "Renaissance Square" so check it out while you can.

When I was a student at IC in 1968, I could read WNYR with an excellent listenable signal in my dorm in the Terrace complex overlooking the Lake - despite co-channel WINR only 40 miles distant in Binghamton. As I drove down NY Route 96 towards Owego for my WENE weekend gig, I would be listening to the Country Gentlemen from Rochester - and somewhere around Candor the battle would begin. WNYR wouldn't get stepped on by WINR until most of the way to Owego.

 

[Savage]

Wait a minute - strike all of the last post except for the comments about 680 kHz. Of course none of that has anything to do with WBBF/WARC.

I have a bad cold and must have had a little too much cough syrup. I realized the screwup just as I hit POST and couldn't stop it.

Sheesh. I plead guilty to PWI (posting while under the influence.)

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Wait a minute - strike all of the last post except for the comments about 680 kHz. Of course none of that has anything to do with WBBF/WARC.

I have a bad cold and must have had a little too much cough syrup. I realized the screwup just as I hit POST and couldn't stop it.

Sheesh. I plead guilty to PWI (posting while under the influence.)

Your first offense. Likely you'll get off with only a modest fine and requirement to perform community service.

 

[Paul_Warren]

...When Malrite bought the station and took it country, a fellow named John Chaffee was brought in as programmer and he had the station sounding like a million bucks. They were country - but with a lot of Top 40 formatics...

Actually, John was Malrite's corporate PD. (Earl Morgan, AKA Dennis Westberg, was the local guy when I was there.) John was great programmer, but he got caught up in the same "more music" mentality that brought us the "Music Machine" days (and the beginning of the end) at 'KB. WNYR's version was "Continuous Country." Stripped down, less jock involvement, more segues in an attempt to fend off FM, but still running 18 minutes of spots an hour, usually all :30s. The station still sounded good, but much of the "Country Gentlemen" heritage went out with the bathwater, when it might have remained an asset years longer in that demo.

In fairness, letting the FMs run away with music formats and younger demos, and focusing the AMs on personalities and 35+ makes sense in hindsight, and became a successful strategy for Jacor years later, but it would have looked like throwing in the towel in 1976.

I mean none of this to slight Chaffee. He was a great programmer, did brilliant work with Malrite's Cleveland stations, was always an advocate for programming needs against tightwad GMs, and was a lot of fun to be around when he came to town. I especially recall his sticking up for WEZO's market-dominating TSL and tough standards on commercial production values when sales tried to force crap, even though he personally didn't like the B/EZ format.

I remember being sent to do one remote from a local firemen's carnival in Wayne County somewhere, late-summer, 7pm. The station's top biller made a fortune selling these packages, including a week's pre-promotion underwritten by local merchants, in outlying areas. I was told the remote trailer would be unlocked, so I didn't need a key. It wasn't. I figured I would try to get my car near the phone booth, so I could hear the car radio as a monitor and phone in the breaks, but a parade was blocking the way, and CFTR was blowing WNYR away on 680 at dusk. So I had to listen for cues on the phone, and keep calling the station back to allow kids to call for rides home from the parade.

Memorable times!

I don't know anything about the people running the place the ten years before I got there, but they were geniuses. Besides the bumper stickers, I remember seeing old "WNYR Country Club" listener affinity cards that must have been a loyalty promotion sometime around '66-'70. How far ahead of their time were these guys?