Musicradio WABC Pictures of the Week for December, 2010

Week of December 7, 2010: 

The Cover Page from WABC's Top 100 of the Year for 1980

December 9, 1980 was probably the saddest day in the life of WABC as a music station.
John Lennon was killed on the evening of December 8 in New York City.
That night and into the next day WABC dedicated most all of its programming to John and his death.

Rick Sklar once commented that WABC's era as a music station more or less
coincided with "The Beatles Era" and Dan's Ingram's morning show on December 9 reflected that.

On this aircheck, Dan spends a lot of time talking about John.
Dan was one who could speak with experience about "Beatlemania"
since he had been playing Beatles songs on WABC right from the beginning.
Rick Sklar is featured twice on this aircheck and during his second appearance
tells some of the stories of WABC's experience with The Beatles.

     
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Howard Cosell Announces John's Death on Monday Night Football
(a slice of broadcasting history many remember 27 years later)

          
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Happy 50th Birthday Musicradio WABC!

New York Mirror Advertisement
December 8, 1960
(click on image to see larger version)

The original "Swingin' 7 from 77"!

Fifty years ago! 

WABC's official start date as a Top 40 radio station is generally considered to be December 7, 1960.
While it's true the station had been adopting various Top 40 type elements before December 7,
the format officially kicked off on that date.

WABC general manager Hal Neal was brought in by ABC to take over WABC.
He had successfully managed sister station WXYZ in Detroit and corporate was hoping for similar results in New York.
Neal then brought in programming consultant Mike Joseph to get the station moving.
You can read more about it via the above link.

As they say, the rest is history.
And... we're still talking about it fifty years later!

Here's an early WABC aircheck from just over a month after the format change.
This is rare both because of the date and because it's from Farrell Smith... a name people don't remember.
It's an interesting glimpse into WABC's sound in the beginning

Farrell Smith on WABC
January 14, 1961

         
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Week of December 14, 2010:

The Cover Page From The WABC Top 100 of 1968
(click on image to see a bigger version)

Chuck Leonard plays them!

       
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Chuck Leonard on WABC
December 31, 1968