Musicradio WABC Pictures of the Week for November, 2010

Week of November 2, 2010: 

l to r: WABC GM Hal Neal, Herb Oscar Anderson, Mayor Robert Wagner
(1961)

The above "Proclamation" was awarded to WABC in 1961
for the station's "Stay In School" campaign which included
a "Stay In School Spectacular" staged at the New York Coliseum.

In this season of elections and politicians, this particular promo seems appropriate:

"Super Hit Politicians" Promo
(1968)

             
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Week of November 9, 2010: 

45 Years Ago This Week...

The "Great Northeast Blackout" occurred 45 years ago this week.
At the time, it was the first such event in history and
precipitated one of the all time great Musicradio WABC airchecks.

Dan Ingram was on the air that afternoon between 5 and 6 PM.
the electricity didn't just turn off.  Instead, the voltage slowly
decreased and as it did, mechanical devices slowed down and labored.
WABC ran almost entirely on cart machines which slowed
and caused everything on tape to sound distorted.
Dan, not knowing what was happening, came up with
some of the greatest off the cuff adlibs of all time.

Dan tells the story with part of the aircheck

(Mp3)

 
(Real Audio)

The complete aircheck:

Dan Ingram: November 9, 1965
(Mp3)

Dan Ingram: November 9, 1965
(Real Audio)

Dan... The Next Day:

Dan the next day; November 10, 1965
(courtesy Ed LaPlante)

Dan the next day; November 10, 1965
(courtesy Ed LaPlante)

Week of November 16, 2010:  

In the world of advertising, it doesn't get any better than having a
commercial rise to the level of becoming a sensation.
That's what happened with Coca Cola in 1971.

You can read the story of how it happened:
Coca-Cola Television Advertisements: Hilltop

Coke was a major advertiser on Cousin Brucie's show on WABC so
the station was more than happy to be part of the overall promotion.
It benefited Coke and WABC.
Listeners could write to WABC and get a copy
of the song and this note from Bruce:

This is what the record looked like that WABC sent with Bruce's note:

And... here's the song from the commercial:

        
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Week of November 23, 2010:

WABC Survey Guy Mike Riccio

Mike Riccio has been the main "Survey Guy" for Musicradio77.com since it began in 1996.
He's an authority on WABC's music surveys as well as the music itself.
He's also the moderator of the Oldies Message Board hosted on this web site.
In addition, each year he is responsible for the "Top 77 Favorite Songs Survey" you  see referenced at the top of this page.

Would you like to know more about one of the main people who has kept this web site going for 14 years?
Musicradio77.com's star reporter Scott Benjamin caught up with Mike for a profile:

Mike Riccio Profile by Scott Benjamin

Week of November 30, 2010:

1960 Press Release Discussing WABC's New Format
(click on the image to see a larger version)

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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