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The WAVV, Miami, Fl, early to mid 80's. Got taken over by Spanish speaking station. I loved the original, it played alternative and underground alternative that was so peaceful to listen to. You've got me all nostalgic now, thinking of the days
Did all these stations go out of business or just change programming ? Most AM stations i can receive up here in the northeast seem to have all gone talk radio and all have the same host on at the same time.AM music stations seem to be a thing of the past.
It's a case of a change in formats going from top 40 to something else though with many of them the call letters are still with us they just are no longer doing top 40. The only radio stations on my list that indeed went out of business that I can think of was WLEE in Richmond and WVAB in Virginia Beach. In WLEE's case they dumped top 40 sometime in the early 80s and went "music of your life" only to go off the air in the late 80's. WLEE-AM did return to air sometime in the 90s but had moved from their old 1480 location to AM 990. WLEE today is a news/talk station.
WVAB went dark many years ago and to date they have yet to return to the airwaves. Seems to be somewhat of a pattern in Virginia. During the 70s & 80s many small towns in Virginia had their own local AM top 40 station ( that list is endless ) only to run into money woes during the 80s and go off the air even though most of them would sign back on the air again during the 90s doing something else other than top 40. I guess even back then the signs were already there that small town AM music stations were becoming a thing of the past.
Last edited by tantan1968; 12-18-2015 at 07:09 PM..
I don't remember Buddy Deane on radio, but I remember watching his TV show with my mom while she did the ironing because she liked to see the fashions the kids were wearing. I remember Kirby Scott having "The Liverpool Hour" on WCAO and an afternoon TV show similar to Deane's.
Deane finished his stint on WITH-AM in 1957 and went to TV in Sept. of that year. I didn't know that Scott had a TV show. Always learn something new on these boards.
There was only one "Big 8" and there will never be anything quite like it again.
A lot of the unique nature arose from its Canadian location -- it had to play a certain amount of music of Canadian origin; some of us can recall that Van Morrison's "Brown-Eyed Girl" got heavy airplay on CKLW long before it turned up "down South".
Another factor was the play of "rockabilly" artists popular among the thousands of transplanted southerners who came north to work in Ohio and Michigan; I heard singles by Bobby Goldsboro and B J Thomas that I seldom heard played on the East Coast. And Tom Jones, of all people, had a cover of Bobby Bare's "Detroit City".
There was probably a connection between Ric Tic records and the CKLW playlist; Al Kent, the Ohio Players and George Clinton's Funkadelic (a successor to his doo-wop band Parliament) all turned up on that label.
And a lot of us will never forget the recording of Gordon Sinclair's essay "The Americans" popularized on the Ric Tic label by the late CKLW newscaster Byron McGregor, at a time when American pride badly needed a boost.
In short, there was a lot more going on over there on the Canadian side of the river than Tom Shannon, Scott Regan, Mark Richards, and the rest of those guys let on.
Ric Tic records--I LOVE IT!! One of my favorite songs off that great label was Edwin Starr's "Agent Double 0 Soul", released in the Fall of 1965.
This era of music is my favorite and it goes farther than just age. It's called variety. The top 50 songs each week were changing. 5 to 6 songs fell off the charts each week and were replaced by 5 new songs, and of different genres. Most seasoned music collectors will tell you that at first they collected 45's before lp's for reasons more than just affordability. In my case, it started with songs like Johnny Horton's "North To Alaska.' It was a hit on the teen charts and the country charts. Dad was big on country, Mom loved Jazz, Pop, etc. They both loved classical and some show tunes.
I've always sung the praises of 1968 being my favorite year of music. Talk about variety--When the Beatles "Hey Jude" zoomed up the charts, there a half dozen country songs on Denver's KIMN that came and went; here's the 6:
"Harper Valley PTA"--Jeanie C. Riley
"Looking At The World Through A Windshield"--Del Reeves
"Vance"--Roger Miller
"Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye"--Eddie Arnold
"Stand By Your Man"--Tammy Wynette
"Leaves Are The Tears Of Autumn"--Bonnie Guitar
Some of my favorite instrumentals would be:
"Born Free"--Roger Williams
"Take Five"--Dave Brubeck
"Exodus"--Ferrante and Teicher
I bought those 45's on the charts, the lp's were purchased later.
Around 1968, I was REALLY embracing lp's--I think the Beatles "Rubber Soul" started something with me that told me that there was more to records than a 45 with side A and side B.
And the prizes, giveaways, free concerts, continuous free records for guessing the right trivia question on an artist or a musical genre on your station with your favorite DJ at the mike? I miss that.
I loved it then. And love it now as I've bought airchecks from different dealers from different cities over the last couple decades. They say variety is the spice of life. Yeppirs!
Ric Tic records--I LOVE IT!! One of my favorite songs off that great label was Edwin Starr's "Agent Double 0 Soul", released in the Fall of 1965.
This era of music is my favorite and it goes farther than just age. It's called variety. The top 50 songs each week were changing. 5 to 6 songs fell off the charts each week and were replaced by 5 new songs, and of different genres. Most seasoned music collectors will tell you that at first they collected 45's before lp's for reasons more than just affordability. In my case, it started with songs like Johnny Horton's "North To Alaska.' It was a hit on the teen charts and the country charts. Dad was big on country, Mom loved Jazz, Pop, etc. They both loved classical and some show tunes.
I've always sung the praises of 1968 being my favorite year of music. Talk about variety--When the Beatles "Hey Jude" zoomed up the charts, there a half dozen country songs on Denver's KIMN that came and went; here's the 6:
"Harper Valley PTA"--Jeanie C. Riley
"Looking At The World Through A Windshield"--Del Reeves
"Vance"--Roger Miller
"Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye"--Eddie Arnold
"Stand By Your Man"--Tammy Wynette
"Leaves Are The Tears Of Autumn"--Bonnie Guitar
Some of my favorite instrumentals would be:
"Born Free"--Roger Williams
"Take Five"--Dave Brubeck
"Exodus"--Ferrante and Teicher
I bought those 45's on the charts, the lp's were purchased later.
Around 1968, I was REALLY embracing lp's--I think the Beatles "Rubber Soul" started something with me that told me that there was more to records than a 45 with side A and side B.
And the prizes, giveaways, free concerts, continuous free records for guessing the right trivia question on an artist or a musical genre on your station with your favorite DJ at the mike? I miss that.
I loved it then. And love it now as I've bought airchecks from different dealers from different cities over the last couple decades. They say variety is the spice of life. Yeppirs!
I like me some tunes--24/7!!
Interesting thing about Denver's KIMN-AM 950...they more/less stayed ( so I have been told anyway ) true to the top 40 format all the way until 1988 !! Over the years I had seen on other websites a debate as to which big city AM station was the last to do top 40. Chicago's WLS "The Big 89" I have seen mention in the past. Even though WLS-AM did stop the music in 1989 I am pretty sure they were mixing oldies with top 40 in it's last years as a music station just as New York's 66 WNNNNNNNNBC were doing in the mid 80's before NBC sold their stations which resulted in WNBC becoming sports talk WFAN.
Below are a couple of links to two of the people who created the "classic top 40" ambience (both since departed, sadly) and to the spirit of those times:
I didn't know that Scott had a TV show. Always learn something new on these boards.
I remember Scott's show being on, but the only specific thing I remember from it was seeing local band Norman's Norts making an appearance and Scott making a joke on "Norman's Norts/ William's Warts".
My top 40 days were the 1950s and 1960s. WCAO AM and WITH AM were the biggies. WCAO called itself "Baltimore's most listened to radio station." WITH had cool jocks like Buddy Deane before he got his TV show which was our imitation of American Bandstand, Hot Rod who was the heroin-addicted R&B guy at night, Jack Gale, Rex Miller, and a number of others. WCAO's jocks were dullards by comparison. I still have some of the top 40 lists from both stations.
WFBR had a top 40 list too but very few rock 'n' roll songs on it. Later in the 70s I guess, they featured rock and of course crazy Johnny Walker was their top jock.
Never heard of WMAR-FM or WLPL at least not in the 50s and 60s.
Baltimore also had two all-black AM stations that featured obscure R&B that did not make the top 40 lists. WSID and WEBB, the latter was owned by James Brown.
WCBM AM had a top 100 list played by Lee Case but they were mostly talk in the 50s and 60s. Went into music full time in the 70s and now talk again.
There was also in the early 60s a popular music and rock station WWIN AM but they had no official top 40 list. Then they went R&B and then believe it or not country, before folding.
My great grandfather was a DJ with WITH and WWIN in the 50s and 60s in Baltimore. His name was Roz Ford. I’m trying to find documents from his time at either station. If you still have some I would love to see them. He passed away when I was very young and unfortunately I didnt get to hear the stories from him but I get to hear them from his kids and I love every bit of it. I’m trying to collect some of these papers and whatnot to give to his daughter, my grandmother.
I enjoy reading all of these stories that involve his career and all of the stories my grandmother tells me. If anyone has any information or paperwork or pictures of any kind, I would love to see copies or show my grandmother!
I lived in Mansfield Ohio and grew up with CKLW in the 70s. The jingles still run thru my head anytime I am reminded of them. More Music...C K L Double UUUuuuuu
At night CKLW's signal deteriorated and I listened mainly to WLS Chicago. I remember hearing stations from as far away as Massachusetts, Georgia, Alabana, Oklahoma, and Minnesota on certain nights when conditions were just right. WLS almost always came in well, while Cleveland's WGAR and WIXY only 70 miles away were generally bured in noise and static. There was a good oldies station I could recieve from Columbus Ohio, WRFD 800, of course back then oldies were songs 3 years old or more.
I was a big fan of WGAR Cleveland back in the 1970s. I wrote to them and got a reply from their engineer. The reason WGAR is difficult to receive in Wayne county, Ohio and further west is that the 1220 frequency is a Mexican Clear frequency. WGAR has to use a directional antenna in order not to interfere with the Mexican 1220 frequency.
1100 Cleveland is an American clear frequency, and has an omni-directional antenna. It is easy to receive it in Wayne county.
The first I ever heard was WOKY in Milwaukee, around 1954. I don't think at the time Chicago had a dedicated Top-40, WGN probably the closest thing. WRIT in Milwaukee was on a little sooner, but had a weaker signal and I couldn't pick it up so well.
Todd Storz invented the format concept at KOWH in Omaha, converting the station to full-time hits in 1953..
I was a Top-40 DJ until 1963 in Huntsville, Nashville, Lexington, New Orleans, Salem OR, Monterey, Portland ME and Montreal. After starting out in Stevens Point, WI. Great memories. Worked alongside Robert W. Morgan in Monterey.
Last edited by cebuan; 05-07-2019 at 03:58 AM..
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