So, I have been thinking about radio. Broadcasting, that is, not radios in general. After all, if there had been no programs to listen to, what would be the purpose of having radios?

Older folks, unfortunately including many who have since passed on, would think of “radio” and remember all of the old radio programs of the 1920s through the 1950s. Lum and Abner, Radio Orphan Annie, the original Gunsmoke, and so many more. But when we late baby boomers think of radio, I believe most of us remember those fast-talking deejays, the wonderful jingles, and all of that great Top 40 music of the 1950s through the 1980s, when popular music was on the AM band.

For me, I can think of three radio stations which meant a lot to me in my youth, plus a fourth which I have only recently really become familiar with, but which had to have meant a lot to millions of people in the eastern part of the USA.

I would like to tell you about my memories of these Top 40 stations. But first, allow me to give you a little bit of history regarding the Top 40 radio format.

Todd Storz once noticed that people would play certain songs on a jukebox over and over. He would use this discovery to develop the Top 40 format, which was based on a very tight playlist of only the top 40 hits on the charts plus a few “oldies”, as well as a very few songs which had the potential to become hits.

He formed Mid-Continent Broadcasting Company and began buying radio stations in Omaha, Kansas City, New Orleans, Minneapolis, and Miami. KOWH in Omaha was the first to utilize Storz’ Top 40 format.

WHB – Kansas City

In the mid-1950s, according to what I have read, WHB became the country’s first station to adopt a Top 40 format 24 hours a day. WHB is the first radio station I remember, as I was born in Kansas City and lived there until I was 12 years old. This is where I first heard those lively, entertaining, high energy deejays such as Johnny Dolan and Phil Jay, along with those memorable jingles “Double-U (snap) H-B, Dial 71! Kansas City, Missouri!” followed by a female voice exclaiming, “The World’s Happiest Broadcasters!”

World’s Happiest Broadcasters. W-H-B. Get it?

Eventually, I discovered that WHB published a free sheet every week – their “40 Star Super Hit Survey” – and it was available at a large store with a little bit of everything, including a record section (Wild Woody’s Bargain Barn). I began to make it a point to pick up a copy every time my parents and I went to Wild Woody’s.

In the summer of 1972, we moved to western Kentucky. Goodbye, WHB.

I read later that WHB remained popular until the 1980s. By then FM radio was taking AM’s place as the home for popular music. WHB tried to continue as an oldies station for a while, but eventually threw in the towel on music and became a sports talk station. After a frequency swap with Kansas City’s KCMO, WHB continues as a sports talk station, now on 810 kHz.

KXOK – St. Louis

Storz’ Mid-Continent Broadcasting purchased KXOK in 1960 and turned it into a Top 40 outlet. I first became familiar with KXOK around 1973 or 74, after having searched for a new popular music radio station to listen to, and initially finding mostly country music on the radio in my new home area. So, for me, finding KXOK was a rock’n’roll oasis in a sea of country.

KXOK did not have any jingles as I recall, nor did their deejays seem to have the high energy of WHB’s jocks. (I did not know until years later that both stations were owned by the same company at the time.) But hey – they were playing the hits, so I was happy.

One problem though – KXOK cut its power at sunset, after which I could not hear them. I remember KXOK did have one deejay I particularly enjoyed – Mason Lee Dixon – but I was never able to hear much of his show due to the power cut at sunset. Then one day, he was gone. Someone else had taken his place, and KXOK was not the same.

I did not know at the time, but St. Louis already had a few FM stations which were programming popular music by the early 1970s, cutting into KXOK’s ratings. By the mid or late 1970s, KXOK had gone to an oldies format (The Station You Grew Up With Plays The Music You Grew Up With). Eventually they switched to news/talk, then soul music; going through a few call letter changes as well. Today, KYFI, 630 kHz, programs a Christian talk format.

WLS – Chicago

While tuning around the AM dial one night after KXOK cut its power, I discovered a radio station which was far better than KXOK, and even better than WHB – WLS Musicradio in Chicago.

WLS had been purchased by American Broadcasting Company – Paramount Theatres in 1960. They switched to ABC’s version of a Top 40 format in May 1960.

At first, I could not hear WLS in the daytime. That changed around 1975 or so when I erected a 100-foot outdoor longwire antenna and connected it to my restored RCA model 5T1 radio. (I had begun collecting old radios in 1974.) Boom – there was WLS, even in the daytime, some 300 or so miles away.

I was so impressed listening to these people who would become almost like heroes to me – John Landecker, Steve King, Yvonne Daniels, Jeff Davis, Tommy Edwards, Bob Sirott – that I would ultimately pursue a career in radio broadcasting. It lasted for 12 years; 10 at one station, two at another before finding other employment. But I digress.

I continued to listen mainly to WLS until the early 1980s. Changes were occurring in my life; I married for the first time, leaving behind the longwire antenna – and WLS.

WLS continued playing music until the late 1980s when they switched to an all-talk format, which continues today on the Big 89.

One more WLS-related note – I was asked to give a presentation on Philco radios at the Antique Radio Club of Illinois’ annual Radiofest in the early 2000s. (Radiofest is always held in the Chicago area.) While driving to the hotel near Chicago, I was listening to WRLL – Real Oldies 1690 AM – which had hired a couple former WLS deejays. WRLL was playing frequent commercials advertising Radiofest. The commercials were voiced by former WLS deejay Tommy Edwards. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to hear Tommy mention my name as one of the speakers during Radiofest. I wish I had a recording of that commercial – hearing one of my radio heroes mention my name on air was, quite simply, phenomenal.

WABC – New York

I had heard of WABC for decades. Sometimes at night when I was a teenager, I would tune around the AM band to see what I could hear. As I recall, I once managed to hear WABC during their “Musicradio” era. After finding WLS, it was strange to me at first to hear another station with a “Musicradio” jingle. Later, of course, I discovered that both stations were owned by ABC at the time.

WABC, 770 kHz, is of course legendary in AM radio (as is WLS). WABC actually started playing popular music after WLS did (December 1960). Some of the deejays which passed through Musicradio WABC became legends themselves – “Cousin Brucie” Morrow, Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy, to name a few.

WABC switched from music to talk in 1982. From 2005 until 2012, WABC broadcast a Saturday night music program hosted by Mark Simone.

In 2020, John Catsimatidis, through his Red Apple Media, purchased WABC. (He also owns the Gristedes Foods chain.) Not long afterward, “Cousin Brucie” Morrow was hired to host a new Saturday night music program. Since Labor Day 2020, Cousin Brucie’s Saturday Night Dance Party airs on WABC from 6 pm to 10 pm Eastern time, followed by a two-hour music program hosted by singer Tony Orlando.

It is through listening to Cousin Brucie’s new Saturday night program, reading his autobiography, and reading more about the station that I was able to familiarize myself with WABC. The station was too far away for me to listen to clearly in the evenings back when I was young; besides, I was already hooked on WLS. But I am sure that if I had grown up closer to New York, WABC likely would have been my favorite radio station instead of WLS back then.

Others?

I recall two other popular music stations I heard in the mid-1970s:

CKLW, 800 kHz, based in Windsor, Ontario, across from Detroit, Michigan. The “Big 8” broadcast a Top 40 format to Detroit until the Canadian government imposed a 30% Canadian music content on all Canadian radio stations starting in 1971, which likely began the decline of CKLW as Detroit’s powerhouse Top 40 station. Today – like so many other AM radio stations – CKLW programs a talk format.

WCFL, 1000 kHz, competed with WLS for the top spot in Chicago music radio for several years. WLS ultimately won the ratings wars, and WCFL switched to easy listening music in 1976. Today, the call letters are WMVP and they air ESPN Radio (sports). Ironically, WMVP is now owned by ABC – which once owned WLS and WABC.

Do you have any memories of your favorite radio station(s) in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s or 1980s? Feel free to leave a comment below! I would enjoy reading about your favorite radio stations from “back in the day”.

Photo at top: A WLS belt buckle from the 1970s.