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WABC (AM)
Encyclopedia
WABC known as "NewsTalkRadio 77 WABC" is a radio station in New York City
. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media
, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station
of Cumulus Media Networks (formerly Citadel Media and ABC Radio Networks). WABC shares studio facilities with sister station WPLJ
(95.5 FM) at 2 Penn Plaza (above Pennsylvania Station
) in midtown Manhattan
, and its transmitter
is located in Lodi, New Jersey
.
Since 1982 WABC has programmed a talk radio
format
, and has been one of the most successful talk stations locally and in the United States
. Many of WABC's hosts have now moved on to national syndication. The station also carries reports from ABC News
. Before 1982, WABC broadcast a Top 40 music format, was the dominant music station in the New York City area, and served as a template for many other Top 40 stations in different cities.
WABC also uses on-air slogans such as The Station of the Nation, Breaking News & Stimulating Talk, and New York's 50,000 watt Beacon of Freedom. It serves as the flagship of nationally known talk-radio hosts Rush Limbaugh
, Sean Hannity
, Mark Levin
, John Batchelor
and Don Imus
.
In January 2009, the station began simulcasting on WPLJ's HD3
sub-channel.
. The call letters stood for their original home state, New Jer(Z) sey. It was originally housed in a shack on the roof of the Westinghouse meter factory on Orange and Plane streets in Newark, accessible only by ladder. The station later expanded into the one available space downstairs.
WJZ started off on 360 meters (833 AM) and as one of the first stations to broadcast in the New York City area, was reluctant to share the frequency with other stations. WJZ later recommended that other frequencies be made available for broadcasting, and by 1923, WJZ had moved over to 660 AM. In that same year, WJZ shifted ownership from Westinghouse to RCA
and changed its city of license from Newark to New York City. New studios were on the sixth floor of the building where the famed Aeolian Hall
was located.
WJZ's first major program occurred on October 5, 1921, when it broadcast the 1921 World Series
, but there was no play-by-play direct from the baseball
stadium
. Announcer Thomas J. Cowan in Newark simply relayed the description phoned from the ballpark by a newspaper reporter. Beginning on November 27, 1921, the Vincent Lopez
band's weekly 90-minute show was aired. On March 15, 1922, WJZ broadcast a studio performance of Mozart's Impresario, probably radio's first full-length opera
. In October 1922, WJZ aired its second World Series
, this time feeding it to WGY in Schenectady, New York
.
Program logs from May 15 to December 31, 1923 reveal that WJZ aired 3426 programs, including 723 talks, 67 church services, 205 bedtime stories and 21 sports events. Most of the broadcasts were musical and ranged from Carnegie Hall
and Aeolian Hall recitals to harmonica and banjo solos.
At the end of 1925, WJZ opened its new 50,000 watt transmitter from Bound Brook, New Jersey
. However, it overwhelmed everything else on the air, and engineers visited homes in central New Jersey to deal with the complaints. As a result, WJZ didn't operate regularly at 50,000 watts until 1935.
also became an RCA
station and on November 15, 1926, both WJZ (then on 660 kHz) and WEAF (then on 610 kHz) were under the umbrella of the newly formed National Broadcasting Company
.
On January 1, 1927, the NBC Blue Network debuted, with WJZ as the originating station. In October 1927, WJZ moved into NBC studios still under construction at 711 Fifth Avenue. A month later, WEAF joined WJZ - and both were together under one roof. In July 1928 the two stations changed frequencies, with WJZ moving to 760 kHz and WEAF taking over WJZ's old frequency of 660 kHz. On March 24, 1932, WJZ became the first radio station to broadcast a program from aboard a moving train
; the station aired a variety show produced aboard a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
passenger train travelling through Maryland
. In November 1933, WJZ, WEAF and all of the NBC and RCA corporate headquarters moved to 30 Rockefeller Plaza
. In 1941, the last major frequency change was made, with WJZ moving to 770 kHz and WEAF remaining on 660 kHz, the same two frequencies in use today (although under different call letters).
Over the years, WJZ and the Blue Network presented many of America's most popular programs, such as Lowell Thomas and the News
, Amos 'n' Andy
, Little Orphan Annie
, America's Town Meeting of the Air
, and Death Valley Days
. Each midday, The National Farm and Home Hour
brought news and entertainment to rural
listeners. Ted Malone read poetry and Milton Cross conveyed children "Coast To Coast On A Bus," as well as bringing opera lovers the Saturday matinée Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
.
Occasionally, a show would premiere on NBC Blue, which had a weaker lineup of stations nationwide, and be shifted to the Red Network if it grew in popularity. Fibber McGee and Molly
is one example.
(FCC) ruled that no broadcaster could own more than one AM, one FM and one television station in a market. A year later, on October 12, 1943, WJZ and the NBC Blue Network were sold to Edward J. Noble, then the owner of WMCA
. Technically, this spun off network was simply called "The Blue Network" for little over a year.
On June 15, 1945, "The Blue Network" was officially rechristened the American Broadcasting Company
, when negotiations were completed with George B. Storer
, who had owned the defunct American Broadcasting System and still owned the name.
In November 1948, WJZ and the ABC network finally got a home of their own when studios were moved to a renovated building at 7 West 66th Street. On March 1, 1953, WJZ changed its call letters to WABC, after the FCC approved ABC's merger with United Paramount Theatres
, the movie theater
chain owned by Paramount Pictures
which, like the Blue Network, was divested under government order.
The WABC calls were once used previously on CBS Radio
's New York City outlet, before adopting their current WCBS
identity in 1946. Westinghouse, however, didn't let the WJZ call go forgotten. After acquiring WAAM-TV in Baltimore, Maryland in 1957, Westinghouse applied to change the calls to WJZ-TV
in honor of its pioneer radio station. The FCC granted the unusual request (perhaps because Westinghouse was highly regarded as a licensee by both the industry and the FCC at that time), and the Baltimore TV station retains the call letters to this day.
.
(This would continue until 1960, as the Musicradio 77 era formally began, but WABC was still required to carry ABC Radio's non-music and entertainment shows, including the long-running Don McNeill's
Breakfast Club during the 10:00 a.m. hour, and a long-form news block in the afternoon-drive period. While this was not an issue prior to 1960, such commitments created a programming clash with the Top 40 format up until the network was dissected into four sub-networks in 1968.)
A hint of what was to come came in 1958–1959, when for a time legendary rock and blues disk jockey Alan Freed
hosted a daily evening show on WABC which was formatically (sic) and musically like the early rock shows he had gained fame with on WINS. Freed's time at WABC ended when he was caught up in the investigation of the "payola
" scandals of the era.
At different times in the pre-top-40 era famed comedian Ernie Kovacs
and dean of early disc jockeys Martin Block
were heard on the station.
. He was charged with making WABC successful in terms of both audience and profits. By 1960, WABC committed to a virtually full-time schedule of top-40 songs played by upbeat personalities during the first week of December 1960. Still, WABC played a few popular non-rock and roll songs as well. WABC's early days as a Top 40 station were humble ones.
Top 40 WINS
was the #1 music station and WMCA
, which did a similar rock leaning top 40 format, was also a formidable competitor, while WABC barely ranked in the Top Ten. Fortunately for WABC, the other Top 40 outlets could not be heard well in certain New York and New Jersey
suburbs, since WINS, WMGM
, and WMCA were all directional stations. WABC, with its 50,000-watt non-directional signal, had the advantage of being heard in places west, south, and northwest – a huge chunk of the suburban population – and this is where the station began to draw ratings. Early in 1962, WMGM, owned by Loew's, which then owned MGM
, was sold to Storer Broadcasting
. Upon its sale, WMGM reverted to its original WHN
call letters and switched to a MOR music format playing easy listening and, unlike WNEW
which played limited amounts of soft rock and roll, absolutely no rock and roll except maybe Ray Charles
or Bobby Darin
. WHN was considered MOR because it was vocal based and played about 75 to 80 % vocals and the rest instrumentals.
Sam Holman was the first WABC program director of this era. Under Holman, WABC achieved #1 ratings during much of 1962, after WMGM reverted to WHN. By the summer of 1963, WMCA led the pack, with WABC at #2 and WINS slipping to third place. It has been said, but is difficult to verify, that WMCA dominated in the city proper, while WABC owned the suburbs. This would be consistent with WMCA's 5,000-watt directional signal, although WMCA had the benefit of a lower frequency than WABC.
the program director. He would go on to become a member of the Radio Hall of Fame
and be credited as one of the pioneering architects of the Top 40 format. Under Sklar, the station went to the shortest playlist of any contemporary music station in history; the number one song was heard about every hour and 15 minutes. Top 5 songs were heard almost as often. Other current songs averaged once to twice per airshift. The station played about 9 current hits per hour and several non current songs. The non currents were no more than 5 years old and the station played about 70 of them totally. In his book Rockin' America, Sklar said he was sensitive to payola
concerns and advanced airplay. Through the years, WABC was known by various slogans, "Channel 77 WABC", then "77 WABC", and later "Musicradio WABC". Also, like WMCA did, WABC played no more than two songs in a row and there was heavy talk and personality between every song. The station averaged 6 short commercial breaks per hour but they were short and no more than 3 ads in a row. Voiceovers by the live airpersonality on the air were often part of the commercial.
Early 1960s disc jockey
s included Dan Ingram
, Herb Oscar Anderson
, Charlie Greer
, Scott Muni
, Chuck Dunaway, Jack Carney, and Bob Lewis, but the best known WABC DJs are the ones that followed them in the mid-1960s and 1970s: Harry Harrison
, Ron Lundy
, Jim Nettleton, Jim Perry
, Radio Hall of Fame
members Dan Ingram (who was among the first and held over from the early 60's) and "Cousin Brucie" Bruce Morrow
, Chuck Leonard
, Bob Cruz (a Dan Ingram sound alike), Frank Kingston Smith
, Roby Yonge
, George Michael
, and Johnny Donovan
. Also heard on WABC was sportscaster Howard Cosell
.
Especially in the afternoons and evenings, WABC was the station that teenagers could be heard listening to on transistor radios all over the New York metropolitan area
. Due to its strong signal, the station could be heard easily over 100 miles away—as far as the Catskill Mountains
, Pocono Mountains and outlying areas of Philadelphia. WABC could be heard in the New London
/Waterford
area of Connecticut
, but there was always a slight squeal in the signal due to the nearly 125 mile distance. It could also be heard well after sunset
in Ontario
, Canada
(from Toronto
, north to Georgian Bay
on Lake Huron
) well into the night and early morning hours on home and car radios. Bruce Morrow later spoke about how he felt an almost psychic bond to his young listeners.
A famous tape, or aircheck
, of WABC from 1964 features some of the DJs speaking from a window of the Beatles' hotel room during the Fab Four's visit to New York City, while Dan Ingram, back in the studio, played WABC jingles to thousands of teenagers in the streets below, who enthusiastically sang along with them. Ingram later noted that this was actually illegal under FCC rules, but said that they didn't know it at the time. In the wake of the success of "W-A-Beatle-C" (as it was briefly called around the time of the Beatles' U.S. visit), competitor WINS
finally dropped out of the Top 40 battle in 1965, adopting an all-news format. As a tribute to WABC, the television network also called itself "A-Beatles-C" whenever it promoted airings of Beatles-related films.
Just before the famous Northeast Blackout of 1965
, Dan Ingram noted that the studio's electric power was fluctuating and began having fun with the slowed-down music. After playing "Everyone's Gone to the Moon
" by Jonathan King
, he quipped it was played "in the key of R." Ingram then proceeded to run some recorded commercials and a portion of Si Zentner
's "Up a Lazy River", backtimed to the news, while commenting on how everything seemed to be running slower than normal. During the 6 PM newscast, WABC left the air as the outage settled in for real. http://www.musicradio77.com/images/ing11-9-65blackout.mp3 Ingram later drove out to the transmitter site in Lodi, New Jersey, with a box of records, and continued his show from the backup studio housed there.
In the 1970s, WABC was either #1 or #2 consistently, often trading places with WOR
. Once in a while, a station attracting an older audience (like WOR
or WPAT
) would move into the top spot. These stations were not truly WABC's direct competitors because they targeted a much older audience. Chief competitor WMCA
began running evening talk by 1968 and stopped playing top 40 music altogether in the fall of 1970. Then in 1971, Country Music station WJRZ abruptly flipped to a Top 40 format and became known as WWDJ. That lasted until April 1974. WOR-FM evolved from progressive rock to Adult Top 40 playing the hits of 1955 to current product by 1968. They dropped most pre 64 oldies in 1972 and became known as WXLO 99X. That station evolved into more on an Adult Contemporary format in 1979 and a Rhythmic Top 40 format in 1980. Other FM
competitors like oldies station WCBS-FM
, soul
station WBLS
, and album-oriented rock
stations like WPLJ
and WNEW-FM all did well in the ratings, but none rivalled WABC's success. AM
competitor WNBC
also never came close to WABC's audience during this period. WNBC then had a format similar to 99X playing Adult Top 40. In 1977, WNBC tried sounding younger and moved their format musically closer to WABC. Then by 1979 they tried sounding older and somewhere in-between. Until 1978, WABC remained dominant.
WABC's ratings strength came from its cumulative audience, what the radio industry calls "cume". Most listeners didn't stay with WABC for long periods of time, as the station had some of the shortest "time spent listening" (or TSL) spans in the history of music radio—an average listener spent about 10 minutes listening to WABC. It was the price paid for a short playlist and a lot of commercials between songs (the large number of commercials being due to WABC's large audience), but what WABC lacked in TSL it more than made up for with its sheer number of listeners. By 1975, WABC tried becoming more music intensive and decreased its amount of commercial breaks to three per hour. They began playing 3 to 5 songs in a row still with a lot of talk and personality in between but done in a tighter manner.
Fed up with the short playlist, Cousin Brucie left in August 1974 to defect to rival WNBC
. Rick Sklar was promoted in 1976 to vice president of programming for ABC Radio, and his assistant program director Glenn Morgan became WABC's program director. The station's influence could be found in odd places: Philip Glass
' 1976 opera
, Einstein on the Beach
, has as part of the background a recitation of WABC's DJ schedule in the 1960s.
After this initial ratings tumble, WABC panicked and began mixing in several extended disco mixes per hour and sometimes played two back-to-back. Some of the disco songs ran in excess of six, seven or eight minutes. What regular listeners heard was a major change in sound. While the station continued playing non disco and rock songs about a third of the time, familiar format had seemed to disappear and as a result, WABC began to lose its identity. In the late spring of 1979, Billboard
magazine reported that Rick Sklar had demoted program director Glenn Morgan to "moving carts" instead of making programming decisions. WABC's numbers dropped for four consecutive ratings periods.
On August 2, 1979, the Donna Summer
disco hit "MacArthur Park
" was playing during Dan Ingram
's afternoon drive program. During the song, Howard Cosell
interrupted to break the news to the world that New York Yankees
catcher and team captain Thurman Munson
had died in a plane crash. By the late Summer, WABC stopped leaning disco and moved back to their tight playlists but this was very temporary.
, Rick Sklar
was removed from his oversight of WABC and was moved "upstairs." Law cut back the current songs moderately (though still playing the top song over a dozen times a day) and added more 1970s rock, some album cuts, and a few big 1960s hits. He also changed the presentation of the station. The goal was to increase the station's poor time-spent-listening, and for this, he desired a new direction. He tightened personality on the station, limiting length of talk to 10 seconds and that was to always be done over the instrumental intros of the songs played.
Longtime DJs Harry Harrison
, Chuck Leonard
, and George Michael
exited that November. Dan Ingram moved to mornings, Bob Cruz (a Dan Ingram sound-alike, that until 1979 was Dan's designated fill in guy. While filling in he would say he was on the Dan Ingram show. While filling in, he did not identify himself but would not claim to be Dan either) moved from overnights to afternoons, and Sturgis Griffin joined for overnights, while Howard Hoffman
did evenings. Hoffman was one of the first of the 1980s style of contemporary hit radio (CHR) DJs—heavy on brief phone bits from listeners and a sarcastic sense of humor, sounding "hip", as the future Z100
DJs would a few years later.
The time-spent-listening did improve, and WABC was now holding onto decent overall ratings, but they were under extreme pressure to regain the lost ground. The station started to become slightly information-oriented during drive times, adding morning traffic reports by Shadow Traffic
's Jack Packard (aka Bernie Wagenblast
) on December 3, 1979. The station also used veteran traffic reporter Joe Nolan in afternoons. WABC did add New York Yankees baseball games that all-news WINS
was unable to air due to their coverage of the Iran Hostage Crisis
and the 1980 Democratic and Republican conventions. It was the first sign of the beginning of the end for the music format of WABC.
Under Clark, tha station played current music that was leaning more Adult Contemporary (AC) in sound, trying to appeal to a slightly older audience, as most younger listeners had moved to the FM dial. Part of the reason was the Top 40 chart was leaning that way at that point as well. So WABC still played rock and soul crossovers in moderation, but began to move away from album cuts and more toward 1960s and 1970s oldies. They also dropped the "Musicradio WABC" slogan and became "77 WABC, New York's Radio Station", the apparent implication being that the station was more than "just" music.
By early 1981, WABC's cumulative audience was down to 2.5 million—rival WNBC, a perennial also-ran, was by this time beating them with 3 million. Fewer people were tuning in to WABC, listeners who had switched to FM were not coming back, and, while still moderately successful, the ship was sinking. Like Al Brady Law, Jay Clark tried to improve the time-spent-listening. In March 1981, Bob Cruz departed, Dan Ingram went back to his familiar afternoon slot, and the team of Ross Brittain and Brian Wilson from Atlanta moved into morning drive. Ross and Wilson, as the show was known, was very information-oriented, playing exactly four songs in an hour except on Saturdays when they played the usual 12 or so songs an hour. A week later, the station also began airing a weeknight sports-talk show with Art Rust, Jr. from 7 to 9 p.m. WABC's ratings by this point were mediocre and they were still going down.
Also, that March, WABC became the full-time flagship radio outlet for Yankees baseball games, a distinction the station carried through the end of the 2001 season. This would be the longest continuous relationship the team would have with any flagship station (to date). Jay Clark reasoned that Yankee baseball would bring back some listeners to the station and that they would recycle back into the music format, but not even the "Bronx Bombers" could save music on WABC.
In the fall of 1981, WABC dropped the remaining heavy-rock cuts and non-crossover urban hits. They began playing more oldies, as well as songs from the adult contemporary chart, and added an "advice" talk show with Doctor Judy Kuriansky from 9 p.m. to midnight on weeknights. Howard Hoffman and Sturgis Griffin exited at this point. By then, WABC was almost unrecognizable as a Top 40 station, the ratings were languishing, and rumors were rampant that the station would be changing its format.
In February 1982, WABC officially confirmed it would be going to an all-talk format that May. The airstaff began saying goodbye with a comment here and there from February into May. Finally, on April 30, it was announced that the switch to all-talk would occur on May 10 at noon. From May 7 to May 9, the departing station air-staffers said their goodbyes one last time. Staffers that departed included Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Marc Sommers, and Peter Bush. Assistant Program Director Jeff Mazzei left for a similar position at WCBS FM where he would stay for well over 25 years. Marc Sommers also went to WCBS FM and eventually Ron Ludy and Dan Ingram would. Johnny Donovan and Mike McKay remained at WABC as staff announcers and producers. Johnny Donovan remains there to this day.
Monday, May 10, 1982, the day WABC stopped playing music, is sometimes called "The Day the Music Died
". WABC ended its 22-year run as a music station with a 9 a.m.–noon farewell show hosted by Dan Ingram and Ron Lundy. The last song played on WABC before the format change was "Imagine
" by John Lennon
, followed by the familiar WABC "Chime Time" jingle, then a moment of silence before the debut of the new talk format.
(a talk show host and not the late pop star
) from satellite until 4 p.m., another advise show with Dr. Toni Grant from satellite until 6 p.m., and ending with a half hour of news at 6. Sports Talk began at 6:30 p.m. and remained on until 9 p.m. Doctor Judy remained in her time slot. Overnights were hosted by Alan Colmes
, who played some music initially but by mid 1983, he stopped playing it. At that time, he was less politically-based and more entertainment-based. Weekends had Child Psychology adivise shows, Home and Garden shows, talk about religion, and of course, the Yankees.
Ross and Wilson stayed on and continued to play 4 songs per hour (mostly 1960s and 1970s hits) throughout 1982. In 1983, they stopped playing music as well. Ross and Wilson split up in 1983 when Ross went over to WHTZ
. While the station's final ratings as a music station were mediocre, their talk ratings initially were even lower.
Still, the station stuck with the new format. After Brian Wilson left in 1984, Alan Colmes moved to mornings. Jay Clark left that year. He was replaced by John Mainelli and at that point they dropped satellite programming. They added more issues-oriented talk shows, with an increasing number of conservative talk show hosts, although several liberals, including Colmes and Lynn Samuels, also hosted shows. The ratings grew and by the late 1980s, they were a very successful talk station.
From 1984 to 1996 WABC broadcast the popular Bob Grant
, a controversial, early "right-wing" talk radio host. After years of what many considered inflammatory remarks, he was fired in 1996 for a controversial comment regarding the death of United States Secretary of Commerce
Ron Brown
. After a number of years at competitor station WOR, Grant returned as a host as of July 2007, was removed again in December 2008, and returned again as a weekend host in September 2009. Alan Colmes would leave in 1985 and by 1987 he emerged at WNBC on overnights, where he played moderate amounts of music there. He would move to afternoons on WNBC and eventually drop music there as well. He was on the air at WNBC's sign off in 1988. Colmes eventually returned to WABC.
Within its first years, the revamped WABC brought in Rush Limbaugh
, who would go on to be the anchor program of the local station for two decades, and soon after the giant of talk syndication, the model for countless other conservative radio shows to follow. In the early 1990s Phil Boyce
took over as program director.
On February 6, 2006, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would sell WABC and other radio properties not affiliated with either Radio Disney
or ESPN Radio
, along with ABC Radio's News & Talk
and FM networks, to Citadel Broadcasting Corporation for $2.7 billion. The transaction became final on June 12, 2007. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.
As of September 2009, the WABC broadcast day begins at 5:00 a.m. (Eastern time) with Red Eye Radio, hosted by Doug McIntyre
(formerly of sister station KABC
). The Imus in the Morning program follows at 6:00. Don Imus
joined WABC on December 3, 2007, eight months after being dismissed from WFAN
and CBS Radio
over controversial statements made during a broadcast in April 2007. Charles McCord
serves as sidekick and newscaster for the program, which is also simulcast on the Fox Business Network
cable television network.
Joe Crummey
became host of WABC's 10 a.m. to noon slot beginning in October 2010, permanently filling the void formed by the suspension of Joe Scarborough
's show, which was placed on indefinite hiatus earlier in the year. (Several hosts rotated in the time slot during the interregnum, with Mark Simone
becoming its interim host in May 2010 until Crummey's arrival.) Rush Limbaugh then airs from noon to 3 pm. Sean Hannity
follows as the afternoon drive host from 3-6 PM. Mark Levin
takes over in the evenings from 6-9 PM. From 9 PM-1 AM, John Batchelor
hosts his program. Late-night hours are covered by Red Eye Radio, a nationally syndicated program also hosted by Doug McIntyre.
Previously, WABC carried Paul Harvey
's newscasts during Imus in the Morning (Paul Harvey News and Comment) and in-between the midday host and Limbaugh (The Rest of the Story) up through Harvey's death in 2009.
On weekends, the station plays a mix of political and lifestyle programs. Mark Simone currently hosts two Saturday shows — a morning talk show from 6 to 10 a.m., and the music-intensive Saturday Night specialty show, from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturdays also feature, in addition to Simone's two programs, syndicated programs by Monica Crowley
and Larry Kudlow. Sunday afternoons feature the latest incarnation of Bob Grant's talk show, a local show hosted by Mancow Muller
, a program hosted by Jason Mattera
, and newcomer Aaron Klein
(a frequent guest of John Batchelor's) who interviews terrorists on the air, while on Saturday and Sunday nights, the station carries a newsmagazine by John Batchelor
. Marc Germain hosts the weekend version of the overnight Red Eye Radio.
Flagship-wise, Limbaugh's show was produced at WABC from 1988 until the early 2000s, when he started doing the program from Premiere Radio Networks
and a studio in his home in South Florida. (Substitute hosts for Limbaugh still use the WABC studios, and Limbaugh will still on occasion host from WABC.) Imus in the Morning and Hannity originate from WABC, while Levin originates from Washington, D.C.
sister station WMAL. All three of these shows are syndicated on ABC Radio.
In 2004, the station earned the distinction of being a news/talk radio station even longer than it had been a Top 40 station, by marking 22 years in its present format.
Some of the station's former locally-based hosts include John R. Gambling
, Ron Kuby
, Jay Diamond
, Ed Koch
, Lynn Samuels
, Joy Behar
, Mario Cuomo
, Steve Malzberg
, Richard Bey
, Curtis Sliwa
and Jerry Agar
. Several nationally-syndicated talkers, including Art Bell
, Mike Gallagher
, Lionel, Laura Schlessinger
, Michael Savage
, Matt Drudge
and Laura Ingraham
, have also been heard over WABC's airwaves.
Although the station had good ratings, it underperformed in terms of total revenue, an example being WABC billing $21.3 million in 2008, not even close to industry giant KFI in Los Angeles
at $54.4 million.
Phil Boyce departed as program director in October 2008, eventually replaced in February 2009 by former XM Satellite Radio
programmer Laurie Cantillo.
, as the station is the flagship for the men's basketball team, and the United States Military Academy
, as the station carries Army football
games. In addition to the aforementioned Yankees coverage, the station served two separate stints as the flagship for the New York Jets
and was also the home of the New Jersey Devils
beginning in 1990.
Early in its Top 40 incarnation, WABC served as the original radio flagship of the New York Mets
. A notable aspect of WABC's Mets coverage was Howard Cosell and former Brooklyn Dodgers
pitcher Ralph Branca
handling the pre- and post-game shows. The station lost those rights to WHN
following the 1963 season.
The Jets first called WABC home in the 1980s, but left toward the end of the decade for WCBS
. The team would return to the station in 2000 after spending the previous seven seasons on WFAN
. After then-sister station WEPN
became the Jets' flagship, WABC began simulcasting the games over their airwaves due to its stronger signal. The arrangement ended in 2008 as WEPN began simulcasting all its programming on two other stations.
In December 2001, broadcast rights to the Yankees were lost after 21 years to WCBS
. WABC also lost the radio rights to the Devils in 2005, as New Jersey's hockey team moved to WFAN to substitute for the station's loss of the New York Rangers
to WEPN. WABC served as an overflow station for the Rangers from 2005 through 2009, and also served the same purpose for the New York Knicks
when their games moved from WFAN to WEPN, but those rights moved to WNYM in 2009. The loss of evening sports programming has forced WABC to attempt to solidify its evening talk lineup.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media
Cumulus Media, Inc. is the second largest Owner and Operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States, behind Clear Channel Communications, operating 570 stations in 150 markets as of September 16, 2011. The company also owns Cumulus Media Networks...
, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station
Flagship station
In broadcasting, a flagship is the broadcast which originates a television network, or a particular radio show or TV show, primarily in the United States and Canada. This includes both direct network feeds and broadcast syndication, but generally not backhauls...
of Cumulus Media Networks (formerly Citadel Media and ABC Radio Networks). WABC shares studio facilities with sister station WPLJ
WPLJ
WPLJ is a radio station in New York City owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media. WPLJ shares studio facilities with sister station WABC inside 2 Penn Plaza in midtown Manhattan, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building. The station currently plays a Hot Adult...
(95.5 FM) at 2 Penn Plaza (above Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station (New York City)
Pennsylvania Station—commonly known as Penn Station—is the major intercity train station and a major commuter rail hub in New York City. It is one of the busiest rail stations in the world, and a hub for inbound and outbound railroad traffic in New York City. The New York City Subway system also...
) in midtown Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, and its transmitter
Transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
is located in Lodi, New Jersey
Lodi, New Jersey
Lodi is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 24,136. The borough of Lodi is governed under the 1923 Municipal Manager Law.Lodi owes its name to the Italian city of Lodi...
.
Since 1982 WABC has programmed a talk radio
Talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often feature interviews with a number of different guests. Talk radio typically includes an element of listener participation, usually by broadcasting live...
format
Radio format
A radio format or programming format not to be confused with broadcast programming describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. Radio formats are frequently employed as a marketing tool, and constantly evolve...
, and has been one of the most successful talk stations locally and in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Many of WABC's hosts have now moved on to national syndication. The station also carries reports from ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
. Before 1982, WABC broadcast a Top 40 music format, was the dominant music station in the New York City area, and served as a template for many other Top 40 stations in different cities.
WABC also uses on-air slogans such as The Station of the Nation, Breaking News & Stimulating Talk, and New York's 50,000 watt Beacon of Freedom. It serves as the flagship of nationally known talk-radio hosts Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
, Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...
, Mark Levin
Mark Levin
Mark Reed Levin is a lawyer, author and the host of American syndicated radio show The Mark Levin Show. Levin served in the cabinet of President Ronald Reagan and was a chief of staff for Attorney General Edwin Meese...
, John Batchelor
John Batchelor
John Calvin Batchelor is an author and host of The John Batchelor Show radio news magazine. Based at WABC radio in New York for five years from early 2001 to September, 2006; the show was syndicated nationally on the ABC radio network. On October 7, 2007, Batchelor returned to radio on WABC New...
and Don Imus
Don Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
.
In January 2009, the station began simulcasting on WPLJ's HD3
HD Radio
HD Radio, which originally stood for "Hybrid Digital", is the trademark for iBiquity's in-band on-channel digital radio technology used by AM and FM radio stations to transmit audio and data via a digital signal in conjunction with their analog signals...
sub-channel.
As WJZ
WABC made its first broadcast on October 1, 1921 as WJZ, owned by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation and was based in Newark, New JerseyNewark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
. The call letters stood for their original home state, New Jer(Z) sey. It was originally housed in a shack on the roof of the Westinghouse meter factory on Orange and Plane streets in Newark, accessible only by ladder. The station later expanded into the one available space downstairs.
WJZ started off on 360 meters (833 AM) and as one of the first stations to broadcast in the New York City area, was reluctant to share the frequency with other stations. WJZ later recommended that other frequencies be made available for broadcasting, and by 1923, WJZ had moved over to 660 AM. In that same year, WJZ shifted ownership from Westinghouse to RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
and changed its city of license from Newark to New York City. New studios were on the sixth floor of the building where the famed Aeolian Hall
Aeolian Hall (New York)
Aeolian Hall was a concert hall near Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City located on the third floor of 29-33 West 42nd Street across the street from Bryant Park. The Aeolian Building was built in 1912 for the Aeolian Company, which manufactured pianos...
was located.
WJZ's first major program occurred on October 5, 1921, when it broadcast the 1921 World Series
1921 World Series
In the 1921 World Series, the New York Giants beat the New York Yankees five games to three. This was the last of the experimental best-five-of-nine series....
, but there was no play-by-play direct from the baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
stadium
Baseball park
A baseball park, also known as a baseball stadium, ball park, or ballpark is a venue where baseball is played. It consists of the playing field and the surrounding spectator seating...
. Announcer Thomas J. Cowan in Newark simply relayed the description phoned from the ballpark by a newspaper reporter. Beginning on November 27, 1921, the Vincent Lopez
Vincent Lopez
Vincent Lopez was an American bandleader and pianist.Vincent Lopez was born of Portuguese immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York and was leading his own dance band in New York City by 1917...
band's weekly 90-minute show was aired. On March 15, 1922, WJZ broadcast a studio performance of Mozart's Impresario, probably radio's first full-length opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
. In October 1922, WJZ aired its second World Series
1922 World Series
In the 1922 World Series, the New York Giants beat the New York Yankees in five games...
, this time feeding it to WGY in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
.
Program logs from May 15 to December 31, 1923 reveal that WJZ aired 3426 programs, including 723 talks, 67 church services, 205 bedtime stories and 21 sports events. Most of the broadcasts were musical and ranged from Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
and Aeolian Hall recitals to harmonica and banjo solos.
At the end of 1925, WJZ opened its new 50,000 watt transmitter from Bound Brook, New Jersey
Bound Brook, New Jersey
Bound Brook is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. At the United States 2010 Census, the population was 10,402.Bound Brook was originally incorporated as a town by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 24, 1869, within portions of Bridgewater Township...
. However, it overwhelmed everything else on the air, and engineers visited homes in central New Jersey to deal with the complaints. As a result, WJZ didn't operate regularly at 50,000 watts until 1935.
NBC Blue flagship years
In July 1926, WEAFWFAN
WFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
also became an RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
station and on November 15, 1926, both WJZ (then on 660 kHz) and WEAF (then on 610 kHz) were under the umbrella of the newly formed National Broadcasting Company
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
.
On January 1, 1927, the NBC Blue Network debuted, with WJZ as the originating station. In October 1927, WJZ moved into NBC studios still under construction at 711 Fifth Avenue. A month later, WEAF joined WJZ - and both were together under one roof. In July 1928 the two stations changed frequencies, with WJZ moving to 760 kHz and WEAF taking over WJZ's old frequency of 660 kHz. On March 24, 1932, WJZ became the first radio station to broadcast a program from aboard a moving train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
; the station aired a variety show produced aboard a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
passenger train travelling through Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. In November 1933, WJZ, WEAF and all of the NBC and RCA corporate headquarters moved to 30 Rockefeller Plaza
Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National...
. In 1941, the last major frequency change was made, with WJZ moving to 770 kHz and WEAF remaining on 660 kHz, the same two frequencies in use today (although under different call letters).
Over the years, WJZ and the Blue Network presented many of America's most popular programs, such as Lowell Thomas and the News
Lowell Thomas
Lowell Jackson Thomas was an American writer, broadcaster, and traveler, best known as the man who made Lawrence of Arabia famous...
, Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy
Amos 'n' Andy is a situation comedy set in the African-American community. It was very popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s on both radio and television....
, Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie
Little Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and made its debut on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News...
, America's Town Meeting of the Air
America's Town Meeting of the Air
America’s Town Meeting of the Air was a public affairs discussion broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1956, mainly on the NBC Blue Network and its successor, ABC Radio...
, and Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days
Death Valley Days is an American radio and television anthology series featuring true stories of the old American West, particularly the Death Valley area. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was broadcast on radio until 1945. It continued from 1952 to 1975 as a syndicated television series...
. Each midday, The National Farm and Home Hour
The National Farm and Home Hour
The National Farm and Home Hour was a variety show which was broadcast in various formats from 1928 to 1958. Aimed at listeners in rural America, it was known as "the farmer's bulletin board" and was produced by the United States Department of Agriculture with contributions from, and the...
brought news and entertainment to rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
listeners. Ted Malone read poetry and Milton Cross conveyed children "Coast To Coast On A Bus," as well as bringing opera lovers the Saturday matinée Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts
The Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts are a regular series of weekly broadcasts on network radio of full-length opera performances. They are transmitted live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City...
.
Occasionally, a show would premiere on NBC Blue, which had a weaker lineup of stations nationwide, and be shifted to the Red Network if it grew in popularity. Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly
Fibber McGee and Molly was an American radio comedy series which maintained its popularity over decades. It premiered on NBC in 1935 and continued until its demise in 1959, long after radio had ceased to be the dominant form of entertainment in American popular culture.-Husband and wife in real...
is one example.
Birth of ABC
In 1942, the Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) ruled that no broadcaster could own more than one AM, one FM and one television station in a market. A year later, on October 12, 1943, WJZ and the NBC Blue Network were sold to Edward J. Noble, then the owner of WMCA
WMCA
WMCA, 570 AM, is a radio station in New York City, most known for its "Good Guys" Top 40 era in the 1960s. It is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format...
. Technically, this spun off network was simply called "The Blue Network" for little over a year.
On June 15, 1945, "The Blue Network" was officially rechristened the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, when negotiations were completed with George B. Storer
Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting, Inc. was an American company which owned several television and radio stations in the northeast United States. It was incorporated in Ohio in 1927, and sold its broadcasting properties in 1983.-1920s—1940s:...
, who had owned the defunct American Broadcasting System and still owned the name.
In November 1948, WJZ and the ABC network finally got a home of their own when studios were moved to a renovated building at 7 West 66th Street. On March 1, 1953, WJZ changed its call letters to WABC, after the FCC approved ABC's merger with United Paramount Theatres
United Paramount Theatres
Plitt Theatres was one of the largest chain of cinemas in the United States.The theater chain was divested from Paramount Pictures as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. ....
, the movie theater
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
chain owned by Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
which, like the Blue Network, was divested under government order.
The WABC calls were once used previously on CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
's New York City outlet, before adopting their current WCBS
WCBS (AM)
WCBS , often referred to as "WCBS Newsradio 880" , is a radio station in New York City. Owned by CBS Radio, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of the CBS Radio Network...
identity in 1946. Westinghouse, however, didn't let the WJZ call go forgotten. After acquiring WAAM-TV in Baltimore, Maryland in 1957, Westinghouse applied to change the calls to WJZ-TV
WJZ-TV
WJZ-TV, channel 13, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Baltimore, Maryland. WJZ-TV's studios and offices are located on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore, adjacent to the transmission tower it shares with four other Baltimore...
in honor of its pioneer radio station. The FCC granted the unusual request (perhaps because Westinghouse was highly regarded as a licensee by both the industry and the FCC at that time), and the Baltimore TV station retains the call letters to this day.
WABC's first era (1953–1960)
Although WABC continued to air ABC programming during this time, ABC Radio - like the other major radio networks of that era - began to drop significant amounts of long-form comedy and dramatic programming, many of which migrated over to television. In response, WABC began using deejays playing recorded music in greater frequency. Some programs featured "middle of the road" mainstream pop and showtunes, while other portions of the schedule included ABC Radio's remaining long-form newscasts and dramatic program lineup, in tandem with CBS Radio's WCBS and NBC Radio's WNBCWNBC (AM)
WNBC was a radio station that operated in New York City from 1922 to 1988. For most of its history, it was the flagship station of the NBC Radio Network...
.
(This would continue until 1960, as the Musicradio 77 era formally began, but WABC was still required to carry ABC Radio's non-music and entertainment shows, including the long-running Don McNeill's
Don McNeill (performer)
Don McNeill was an American radio personality, best known as the creator and host of The Breakfast Club, which ran for more than 30 years.-Early career:...
Breakfast Club during the 10:00 a.m. hour, and a long-form news block in the afternoon-drive period. While this was not an issue prior to 1960, such commitments created a programming clash with the Top 40 format up until the network was dissected into four sub-networks in 1968.)
A hint of what was to come came in 1958–1959, when for a time legendary rock and blues disk jockey Alan Freed
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed , also known as Moondog, was an American disc-jockey. He became internationally known for promoting the mix of blues, country and rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll...
hosted a daily evening show on WABC which was formatically (sic) and musically like the early rock shows he had gained fame with on WINS. Freed's time at WABC ended when he was caught up in the investigation of the "payola
Payola
Payola, in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S...
" scandals of the era.
At different times in the pre-top-40 era famed comedian Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs was a Hungarian American comedian and actor.Kovacs' uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident...
and dean of early disc jockeys Martin Block
Martin Block
Martin Block born in Los Angeles, California, was an American disc jockey. Walter Winchell is said to have invented the term "disk jockey" as a means of describing Block's radio work.-Early years:...
were heard on the station.
Early years
Harold L. Neal, Jr. was named General Manager of WABC. Neal had been at WXYZ in DetroitDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
. He was charged with making WABC successful in terms of both audience and profits. By 1960, WABC committed to a virtually full-time schedule of top-40 songs played by upbeat personalities during the first week of December 1960. Still, WABC played a few popular non-rock and roll songs as well. WABC's early days as a Top 40 station were humble ones.
Top 40 WINS
WINS (AM)
WINS , known on-air as "Ten-Ten Wins", is a radio station in New York City, owned by CBS Radio. WINS's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in the TriBeCa section of Manhattan, and transmitting towers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.WINS is one of the nation's oldest...
was the #1 music station and WMCA
WMCA
WMCA, 570 AM, is a radio station in New York City, most known for its "Good Guys" Top 40 era in the 1960s. It is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format...
, which did a similar rock leaning top 40 format, was also a formidable competitor, while WABC barely ranked in the Top Ten. Fortunately for WABC, the other Top 40 outlets could not be heard well in certain New York and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
suburbs, since WINS, WMGM
WEPN
WEPN is a 24-hour sports talk formatted radio station in New York City featuring national and local sports talk programs and live broadcasts of sports matches. It is the New York affiliate for ESPN Radio...
, and WMCA were all directional stations. WABC, with its 50,000-watt non-directional signal, had the advantage of being heard in places west, south, and northwest – a huge chunk of the suburban population – and this is where the station began to draw ratings. Early in 1962, WMGM, owned by Loew's, which then owned MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, was sold to Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting
Storer Broadcasting, Inc. was an American company which owned several television and radio stations in the northeast United States. It was incorporated in Ohio in 1927, and sold its broadcasting properties in 1983.-1920s—1940s:...
. Upon its sale, WMGM reverted to its original WHN
WHN
WHN was a radio station in New York City located at 1050 kHz. Its best known format was country music, which the station played from 1972 to 1987...
call letters and switched to a MOR music format playing easy listening and, unlike WNEW
WBBR
WBBR is a radio station broadcasting at 1130 AM in New York City. It airs Bloomberg Radio, a service of Bloomberg L.P. WBBR's format is general and financial news, offering local, national and international news reports along with financial market updates and interviews with corporate executives,...
which played limited amounts of soft rock and roll, absolutely no rock and roll except maybe Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
or Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
. WHN was considered MOR because it was vocal based and played about 75 to 80 % vocals and the rest instrumentals.
Sam Holman was the first WABC program director of this era. Under Holman, WABC achieved #1 ratings during much of 1962, after WMGM reverted to WHN. By the summer of 1963, WMCA led the pack, with WABC at #2 and WINS slipping to third place. It has been said, but is difficult to verify, that WMCA dominated in the city proper, while WABC owned the suburbs. This would be consistent with WMCA's 5,000-watt directional signal, although WMCA had the benefit of a lower frequency than WABC.
Dominant years
Hal Neal hired Rick SklarRick Sklar
Rick Sklar was an American radio program director, who while at New York City's WABC was one of the originators of the Top 40 radio format....
the program director. He would go on to become a member of the Radio Hall of Fame
Radio Hall of Fame
The National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of the Museum of Broadcast Communications.Although no physical building currently exists to house it, the National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of Bruce DuMont, CEO of the currently homeless Museum of Broadcast Communications, and is purported to be a...
and be credited as one of the pioneering architects of the Top 40 format. Under Sklar, the station went to the shortest playlist of any contemporary music station in history; the number one song was heard about every hour and 15 minutes. Top 5 songs were heard almost as often. Other current songs averaged once to twice per airshift. The station played about 9 current hits per hour and several non current songs. The non currents were no more than 5 years old and the station played about 70 of them totally. In his book Rockin' America, Sklar said he was sensitive to payola
Payola
Payola, in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S...
concerns and advanced airplay. Through the years, WABC was known by various slogans, "Channel 77 WABC", then "77 WABC", and later "Musicradio WABC". Also, like WMCA did, WABC played no more than two songs in a row and there was heavy talk and personality between every song. The station averaged 6 short commercial breaks per hour but they were short and no more than 3 ads in a row. Voiceovers by the live airpersonality on the air were often part of the commercial.
Early 1960s disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
s included Dan Ingram
Dan Ingram
Daniel Trombley "Dan" Ingram is an American Top 40 radio disc jockey with a forty-year career on radio stations such as WABC and WCBS-FM in New York...
, Herb Oscar Anderson
Herb Oscar Anderson
Herb Oscar Anderson was the morning drive-time personality on WABC Radio in New York City December 1960 to September 1968.He is the father of actor John James.-Timeline:1950s—WDGY, Minneapolis1958–WMCA, New York1959—WMGM, New York...
, Charlie Greer
Charlie Greer
Charlie Greer was an American radio personality at WAKR in Akron, Ohio. At New York City's WABC Greer did middays and overnight. Given WABC's 50 thousand watt clear channel signal, Greer became a popular all-night disc jockey heard on more than 38 states punching his way through famous tongue...
, Scott Muni
Scott Muni
Scott Muni was an American disc jockey, who worked at the heyday of the AM Top 40 format and then was a pioneer of FM progressive rock radio.-Biography:...
, Chuck Dunaway, Jack Carney, and Bob Lewis, but the best known WABC DJs are the ones that followed them in the mid-1960s and 1970s: Harry Harrison
Harry Harrison (radio)
Harry Harrison has been a popular American radio personality for over 50 years. Harrison is the only DJ to be a WMCA “Good Guy,” a WABC “All-American,” and on the WCBS-FM line-up when the New York station flipped to the “Jack” format in June, 2005.-WBEZ, Chicago, Illinois—1953:At age 23, Harrison...
, Ron Lundy
Ron Lundy
Fred Ronald "Ron" Lundy was a popular radio announcer in New York City from the early-1960s to his retirement from WCBS-FM in 1997...
, Jim Nettleton, Jim Perry
Jim Perry (television)
Jim Perry is a former Canadian-American television game show host, singer, announcer, and performer in the 1970s and 1980s...
, Radio Hall of Fame
Radio Hall of Fame
The National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of the Museum of Broadcast Communications.Although no physical building currently exists to house it, the National Radio Hall of Fame is a project of Bruce DuMont, CEO of the currently homeless Museum of Broadcast Communications, and is purported to be a...
members Dan Ingram (who was among the first and held over from the early 60's) and "Cousin Brucie" Bruce Morrow
Bruce Morrow
Bruce Morrow is an American radio personality known to many listeners as Cousin Brucie.-Radio work:...
, Chuck Leonard
Chuck Leonard
Charles Wesley "Chuck" Leonard was an American radio personality at WABC in New York City during the 1960s and 1970s. His deep voice and smoothness resonated across 38 states for 14 years at ABC...
, Bob Cruz (a Dan Ingram sound alike), Frank Kingston Smith
Frank Kingston Smith
Frank Kingston Smith is an American radio personality who worked extensively in Top 40 and oldies formatted AM and FM stations in major Northeastern United States markets for almost three decades....
, Roby Yonge
Roby Yonge
Roby Yonge was an American radio DJ, most notable in the 1960s. He was best known for being fired from New York station WABC-AM in 1969, after he reported over the air that the singer Paul McCartney of The Beatles might be dead....
, George Michael
George Michael (sportscaster)
George Michael was an American sportscaster best known nationally for The George Michael Sports Machine, his long-running sports highlights television program. Originally named George Michael's Sports Final when it began as a local show in Washington, D.C...
, and Johnny Donovan
Johnny Donovan
Johnny Donovan is an American radio announcer and producer at New York's WABC .He grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, nicknamed "Sarge," after his father's former rank in the United States Army...
. Also heard on WABC was sportscaster Howard Cosell
Howard Cosell
Howard William Cosell was an American sports journalist who was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these...
.
Especially in the afternoons and evenings, WABC was the station that teenagers could be heard listening to on transistor radios all over the New York metropolitan area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
. Due to its strong signal, the station could be heard easily over 100 miles away—as far as the Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
, Pocono Mountains and outlying areas of Philadelphia. WABC could be heard in the New London
New London, Connecticut
New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....
/Waterford
Waterford, Connecticut
Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,152 at the 2000 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place .-Geography:...
area of Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, but there was always a slight squeal in the signal due to the nearly 125 mile distance. It could also be heard well after sunset
Sunset
Sunset or sundown is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon in the west as a result of Earth's rotation.The time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment the trailing edge of the Sun's disk disappears below the horizon in the west...
in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
(from Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, north to Georgian Bay
Georgian Bay
Georgian Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron, located entirely within Ontario, Canada...
on Lake Huron
Lake Huron
Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...
) well into the night and early morning hours on home and car radios. Bruce Morrow later spoke about how he felt an almost psychic bond to his young listeners.
A famous tape, or aircheck
Aircheck
In the radio industry, an aircheck is generally a demonstration recording, often intended to show off the talent of an announcer or programmer to a prospective employer, but mainly intended for legal archiving purposes...
, of WABC from 1964 features some of the DJs speaking from a window of the Beatles' hotel room during the Fab Four's visit to New York City, while Dan Ingram, back in the studio, played WABC jingles to thousands of teenagers in the streets below, who enthusiastically sang along with them. Ingram later noted that this was actually illegal under FCC rules, but said that they didn't know it at the time. In the wake of the success of "W-A-Beatle-C" (as it was briefly called around the time of the Beatles' U.S. visit), competitor WINS
WINS (AM)
WINS , known on-air as "Ten-Ten Wins", is a radio station in New York City, owned by CBS Radio. WINS's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in the TriBeCa section of Manhattan, and transmitting towers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.WINS is one of the nation's oldest...
finally dropped out of the Top 40 battle in 1965, adopting an all-news format. As a tribute to WABC, the television network also called itself "A-Beatles-C" whenever it promoted airings of Beatles-related films.
Just before the famous Northeast Blackout of 1965
Northeast Blackout of 1965
The Northeast blackout of 1965 was a significant disruption in the supply of electricity on November 9, 1965, affecting Ontario, Canada and Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, and New Jersey in the United States...
, Dan Ingram noted that the studio's electric power was fluctuating and began having fun with the slowed-down music. After playing "Everyone's Gone to the Moon
Everyone's Gone to the Moon
"Everyone's Gone To The Moon" is a song that was written and recorded as the debut single of the British singer-songwriter, producer and impresario Jonathan King. The song, which was released in 1965 whilst King was still an undergraduate at Cambridge University, immediately shot him to...
" by Jonathan King
Jonathan King
Jonathan King is an English singer, songwriter, impresario and record producer. He is also the author of three novels, Bible Two and The Booker Prize Winner , and Beware the Monkey Man , and an autobiography, 65 My Life So Far .King first came to prominence as an...
, he quipped it was played "in the key of R." Ingram then proceeded to run some recorded commercials and a portion of Si Zentner
Si Zentner
Simon H. "Si" Zentner was an American jazz bandleader.Zentner played piano from age four and picked up trombone a few years later. He attended college for music and had intended to pursue a career in classical music, but became more interested in pop music after recording with Andre Kostelanetz...
's "Up a Lazy River", backtimed to the news, while commenting on how everything seemed to be running slower than normal. During the 6 PM newscast, WABC left the air as the outage settled in for real. http://www.musicradio77.com/images/ing11-9-65blackout.mp3 Ingram later drove out to the transmitter site in Lodi, New Jersey, with a box of records, and continued his show from the backup studio housed there.
In the 1970s, WABC was either #1 or #2 consistently, often trading places with WOR
WOR (AM)
WOR is a class A , AM radio station located in New York, New York, U.S., operating on 710 kHz. The station has a talk format and has been owned by Buckley Broadcasting since 1987, after the station was sold by RKO. The station has conservative, or right-of-center hosts.Its call letters have no...
. Once in a while, a station attracting an older audience (like WOR
WOR (AM)
WOR is a class A , AM radio station located in New York, New York, U.S., operating on 710 kHz. The station has a talk format and has been owned by Buckley Broadcasting since 1987, after the station was sold by RKO. The station has conservative, or right-of-center hosts.Its call letters have no...
or WPAT
WPAT (AM)
WPAT is the callsign of a radio station licensed to Paterson, New Jersey. Located at 930 kHz in the medium-wave AM band, the station runs paid ethnic programming....
) would move into the top spot. These stations were not truly WABC's direct competitors because they targeted a much older audience. Chief competitor WMCA
WMCA
WMCA, 570 AM, is a radio station in New York City, most known for its "Good Guys" Top 40 era in the 1960s. It is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format...
began running evening talk by 1968 and stopped playing top 40 music altogether in the fall of 1970. Then in 1971, Country Music station WJRZ abruptly flipped to a Top 40 format and became known as WWDJ. That lasted until April 1974. WOR-FM evolved from progressive rock to Adult Top 40 playing the hits of 1955 to current product by 1968. They dropped most pre 64 oldies in 1972 and became known as WXLO 99X. That station evolved into more on an Adult Contemporary format in 1979 and a Rhythmic Top 40 format in 1980. Other FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...
competitors like oldies station WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM
WCBS-FM is a CBS-owned radio station in New York City. The station's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in Manhattan, and its transmitter is located on the Empire State Building....
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
station WBLS
WBLS
WBLS is an urban adult contemporary FM radio station in New York City, operating on 107.5 MHz. WBLS is owned by Inner City Broadcasting Corporation along with sister station WLIB...
, and album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...
stations like WPLJ
WPLJ
WPLJ is a radio station in New York City owned by the broadcasting division of Cumulus Media. WPLJ shares studio facilities with sister station WABC inside 2 Penn Plaza in midtown Manhattan, and its transmitter is atop the Empire State Building. The station currently plays a Hot Adult...
and WNEW-FM all did well in the ratings, but none rivalled WABC's success. AM
Amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...
competitor WNBC
WNBC (AM)
WNBC was a radio station that operated in New York City from 1922 to 1988. For most of its history, it was the flagship station of the NBC Radio Network...
also never came close to WABC's audience during this period. WNBC then had a format similar to 99X playing Adult Top 40. In 1977, WNBC tried sounding younger and moved their format musically closer to WABC. Then by 1979 they tried sounding older and somewhere in-between. Until 1978, WABC remained dominant.
WABC's ratings strength came from its cumulative audience, what the radio industry calls "cume". Most listeners didn't stay with WABC for long periods of time, as the station had some of the shortest "time spent listening" (or TSL) spans in the history of music radio—an average listener spent about 10 minutes listening to WABC. It was the price paid for a short playlist and a lot of commercials between songs (the large number of commercials being due to WABC's large audience), but what WABC lacked in TSL it more than made up for with its sheer number of listeners. By 1975, WABC tried becoming more music intensive and decreased its amount of commercial breaks to three per hour. They began playing 3 to 5 songs in a row still with a lot of talk and personality in between but done in a tighter manner.
Fed up with the short playlist, Cousin Brucie left in August 1974 to defect to rival WNBC
WNBC
WNBC, virtual channel 4 , is the flagship station of the NBC television network, located in New York City. WNBC's studios are co-located with NBC corporate headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in midtown Manhattan...
. Rick Sklar was promoted in 1976 to vice president of programming for ABC Radio, and his assistant program director Glenn Morgan became WABC's program director. The station's influence could be found in odd places: Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
' 1976 opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, Einstein on the Beach
Einstein on the Beach
Einstein on the Beach is an opera that premiered on July 25, 1976 at the Avignon Festival in France, scored and written by Philip Glass and designed and directed by theatrical producer Robert Wilson. It also contains writings by Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson and Lucinda Childs...
, has as part of the background a recitation of WABC's DJ schedule in the 1960s.
"Disco" Era
The end of the 1970s found FM radio beginning to overtake AM music stations in most markets. In June 1975, an FM station on 92.3, owned by the San Juan (Puerto Rico) Racing Association flipped to Soft Rock and became known as Mellow 92 WKTU. That station had very low ratings and had no effect on WABC. But on July 22, 1978, WKTU abruptly dropped its Soft Rock format in favor of a disco-based top 40 format known as "Disco 92". By December of that year, WABC was unseated, as WKTU became the #1 station in New York City. The first "disco" ratings saw WKTU with 11 percent of the listening audience—a huge number anywhere, let alone in a market the size of New York City—and WABC dropping from 4.1 million listeners to 3 million, losing 25 percent of its audience practically overnight.After this initial ratings tumble, WABC panicked and began mixing in several extended disco mixes per hour and sometimes played two back-to-back. Some of the disco songs ran in excess of six, seven or eight minutes. What regular listeners heard was a major change in sound. While the station continued playing non disco and rock songs about a third of the time, familiar format had seemed to disappear and as a result, WABC began to lose its identity. In the late spring of 1979, Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine reported that Rick Sklar had demoted program director Glenn Morgan to "moving carts" instead of making programming decisions. WABC's numbers dropped for four consecutive ratings periods.
On August 2, 1979, the Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
disco hit "MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park (song)
"MacArthur Park" is a song by Jimmy Webb, originally composed as part of an intended cantata. The song was initially rejected by The Association. Richard Harris was the first to record it, in 1968; the song was subsequently covered by numerous artists. Among the best-known covers are Donna Summer's...
" was playing during Dan Ingram
Dan Ingram
Daniel Trombley "Dan" Ingram is an American Top 40 radio disc jockey with a forty-year career on radio stations such as WABC and WCBS-FM in New York...
's afternoon drive program. During the song, Howard Cosell
Howard Cosell
Howard William Cosell was an American sports journalist who was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. I have been called all of these...
interrupted to break the news to the world that New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
catcher and team captain Thurman Munson
Thurman Munson
Thurman Lee Munson was an American Major League Baseball catcher. He played his entire 11-year career for the New York Yankees...
had died in a plane crash. By the late Summer, WABC stopped leaning disco and moved back to their tight playlists but this was very temporary.
The brief More music less talk era
On September 1979, Al Brady Law took over the station, and according to an account by DJ George MichaelGeorge Michael (sportscaster)
George Michael was an American sportscaster best known nationally for The George Michael Sports Machine, his long-running sports highlights television program. Originally named George Michael's Sports Final when it began as a local show in Washington, D.C...
, Rick Sklar
Rick Sklar
Rick Sklar was an American radio program director, who while at New York City's WABC was one of the originators of the Top 40 radio format....
was removed from his oversight of WABC and was moved "upstairs." Law cut back the current songs moderately (though still playing the top song over a dozen times a day) and added more 1970s rock, some album cuts, and a few big 1960s hits. He also changed the presentation of the station. The goal was to increase the station's poor time-spent-listening, and for this, he desired a new direction. He tightened personality on the station, limiting length of talk to 10 seconds and that was to always be done over the instrumental intros of the songs played.
Longtime DJs Harry Harrison
Harry Harrison (radio)
Harry Harrison has been a popular American radio personality for over 50 years. Harrison is the only DJ to be a WMCA “Good Guy,” a WABC “All-American,” and on the WCBS-FM line-up when the New York station flipped to the “Jack” format in June, 2005.-WBEZ, Chicago, Illinois—1953:At age 23, Harrison...
, Chuck Leonard
Chuck Leonard
Charles Wesley "Chuck" Leonard was an American radio personality at WABC in New York City during the 1960s and 1970s. His deep voice and smoothness resonated across 38 states for 14 years at ABC...
, and George Michael
George Michael (sportscaster)
George Michael was an American sportscaster best known nationally for The George Michael Sports Machine, his long-running sports highlights television program. Originally named George Michael's Sports Final when it began as a local show in Washington, D.C...
exited that November. Dan Ingram moved to mornings, Bob Cruz (a Dan Ingram sound-alike, that until 1979 was Dan's designated fill in guy. While filling in he would say he was on the Dan Ingram show. While filling in, he did not identify himself but would not claim to be Dan either) moved from overnights to afternoons, and Sturgis Griffin joined for overnights, while Howard Hoffman
Howard Hoffman
Howard Hoffman is a voice actor and a radio imaging producer in Los Angeles, CA. He also operates the internet radio station . He was previously a host of Top 40 radio shows in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Providence, Phoenix and Houston....
did evenings. Hoffman was one of the first of the 1980s style of contemporary hit radio (CHR) DJs—heavy on brief phone bits from listeners and a sarcastic sense of humor, sounding "hip", as the future Z100
WHTZ
WHTZ — branded Z100 — is a commercial pop/contemporary hit radio radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey serving the New York metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications...
DJs would a few years later.
The time-spent-listening did improve, and WABC was now holding onto decent overall ratings, but they were under extreme pressure to regain the lost ground. The station started to become slightly information-oriented during drive times, adding morning traffic reports by Shadow Traffic
Shadow Traffic
Shadow Broadcast Services is a broadcasting outsourcing company based in Rutherford, New Jersey. It is a subsidiary of Clear Channel...
's Jack Packard (aka Bernie Wagenblast
Bernie Wagenblast
Bernhard Robert Wagenblast is the founder and editor of the Transportation Communications Newsletter , an e-mail publication with over 7,000 subscribers as of January 2008 which is distributed via Yahoo Groups and Google Groups Monday through Friday...
) on December 3, 1979. The station also used veteran traffic reporter Joe Nolan in afternoons. WABC did add New York Yankees baseball games that all-news WINS
WINS (AM)
WINS , known on-air as "Ten-Ten Wins", is a radio station in New York City, owned by CBS Radio. WINS's studios are in the combined CBS Radio facility at 345 Hudson Street in the TriBeCa section of Manhattan, and transmitting towers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.WINS is one of the nation's oldest...
was unable to air due to their coverage of the Iran Hostage Crisis
Iran hostage crisis
The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian...
and the 1980 Democratic and Republican conventions. It was the first sign of the beginning of the end for the music format of WABC.
Transition to talk
Al Brady left WABC in July and soon became General Manager of crosstown WYNY, which by then had a similar format their then-fraternal twin sister station WNBC, as well as WABC. That fall, Jay Clark took over as program director at WABC. Jeff Mazzei arrived as assistant program director from crosstown WNEW (which was moving from adult contemporary to big bands and standards).Under Clark, tha station played current music that was leaning more Adult Contemporary (AC) in sound, trying to appeal to a slightly older audience, as most younger listeners had moved to the FM dial. Part of the reason was the Top 40 chart was leaning that way at that point as well. So WABC still played rock and soul crossovers in moderation, but began to move away from album cuts and more toward 1960s and 1970s oldies. They also dropped the "Musicradio WABC" slogan and became "77 WABC, New York's Radio Station", the apparent implication being that the station was more than "just" music.
By early 1981, WABC's cumulative audience was down to 2.5 million—rival WNBC, a perennial also-ran, was by this time beating them with 3 million. Fewer people were tuning in to WABC, listeners who had switched to FM were not coming back, and, while still moderately successful, the ship was sinking. Like Al Brady Law, Jay Clark tried to improve the time-spent-listening. In March 1981, Bob Cruz departed, Dan Ingram went back to his familiar afternoon slot, and the team of Ross Brittain and Brian Wilson from Atlanta moved into morning drive. Ross and Wilson, as the show was known, was very information-oriented, playing exactly four songs in an hour except on Saturdays when they played the usual 12 or so songs an hour. A week later, the station also began airing a weeknight sports-talk show with Art Rust, Jr. from 7 to 9 p.m. WABC's ratings by this point were mediocre and they were still going down.
Also, that March, WABC became the full-time flagship radio outlet for Yankees baseball games, a distinction the station carried through the end of the 2001 season. This would be the longest continuous relationship the team would have with any flagship station (to date). Jay Clark reasoned that Yankee baseball would bring back some listeners to the station and that they would recycle back into the music format, but not even the "Bronx Bombers" could save music on WABC.
In the fall of 1981, WABC dropped the remaining heavy-rock cuts and non-crossover urban hits. They began playing more oldies, as well as songs from the adult contemporary chart, and added an "advice" talk show with Doctor Judy Kuriansky from 9 p.m. to midnight on weeknights. Howard Hoffman and Sturgis Griffin exited at this point. By then, WABC was almost unrecognizable as a Top 40 station, the ratings were languishing, and rumors were rampant that the station would be changing its format.
In February 1982, WABC officially confirmed it would be going to an all-talk format that May. The airstaff began saying goodbye with a comment here and there from February into May. Finally, on April 30, it was announced that the switch to all-talk would occur on May 10 at noon. From May 7 to May 9, the departing station air-staffers said their goodbyes one last time. Staffers that departed included Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Marc Sommers, and Peter Bush. Assistant Program Director Jeff Mazzei left for a similar position at WCBS FM where he would stay for well over 25 years. Marc Sommers also went to WCBS FM and eventually Ron Ludy and Dan Ingram would. Johnny Donovan and Mike McKay remained at WABC as staff announcers and producers. Johnny Donovan remains there to this day.
Monday, May 10, 1982, the day WABC stopped playing music, is sometimes called "The Day the Music Died
The Day the Music Died
On February 3, 1959, a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, killed three American rock and roll pioneers: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The day was later called The Day the Music Died by Don McLean, in his song...
". WABC ended its 22-year run as a music station with a 9 a.m.–noon farewell show hosted by Dan Ingram and Ron Lundy. The last song played on WABC before the format change was "Imagine
Imagine (song)
"Imagine" is a song written and performed by the English musician John Lennon. It is the opening track on his album Imagine, released in 1971...
" by John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, followed by the familiar WABC "Chime Time" jingle, then a moment of silence before the debut of the new talk format.
Early years and success
Initially after the format change, the station ran a lot of satellite talk from corporate ABC's "Talk Radio" network. Initially, WABC's lineup consisted of Ross and Wilson until 10 a.m., Owen Span from Satellite until noon, Art Athens and News until 1 p.m., Money Management talk until 2 p.m., Michael JacksonMichael Jackson (radio commentator)
Michael Jackson is an American talk radio host based in the Los Angeles, California area. Jackson is best known for his radio show which covered arts, politics, and human interest subjects, particularly in the Los Angeles and greater Southern California area in the era before "shock jocks." His...
(a talk show host and not the late pop star
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
) from satellite until 4 p.m., another advise show with Dr. Toni Grant from satellite until 6 p.m., and ending with a half hour of news at 6. Sports Talk began at 6:30 p.m. and remained on until 9 p.m. Doctor Judy remained in her time slot. Overnights were hosted by Alan Colmes
Alan Colmes
Alan Samuel Colmes is an American radio/television host, liberal political commentator for the Fox News Channel, and blogger. He is the host of The Alan Colmes Show, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show distributed by Fox News Radio that also airs throughout the United States on Fox News Talk...
, who played some music initially but by mid 1983, he stopped playing it. At that time, he was less politically-based and more entertainment-based. Weekends had Child Psychology adivise shows, Home and Garden shows, talk about religion, and of course, the Yankees.
Ross and Wilson stayed on and continued to play 4 songs per hour (mostly 1960s and 1970s hits) throughout 1982. In 1983, they stopped playing music as well. Ross and Wilson split up in 1983 when Ross went over to WHTZ
WHTZ
WHTZ — branded Z100 — is a commercial pop/contemporary hit radio radio station licensed to Newark, New Jersey serving the New York metropolitan area. The station is currently owned by Clear Channel Communications...
. While the station's final ratings as a music station were mediocre, their talk ratings initially were even lower.
Still, the station stuck with the new format. After Brian Wilson left in 1984, Alan Colmes moved to mornings. Jay Clark left that year. He was replaced by John Mainelli and at that point they dropped satellite programming. They added more issues-oriented talk shows, with an increasing number of conservative talk show hosts, although several liberals, including Colmes and Lynn Samuels, also hosted shows. The ratings grew and by the late 1980s, they were a very successful talk station.
From 1984 to 1996 WABC broadcast the popular Bob Grant
Bob Grant (radio)
Bob Grant , is an American radio host whose real name is Robert Ciro Gigante. A veteran of broadcasting in New York City, Grant is considered a pioneer of the "conservative" and "confrontational" talk radio format.-Early work:...
, a controversial, early "right-wing" talk radio host. After years of what many considered inflammatory remarks, he was fired in 1996 for a controversial comment regarding the death of United States Secretary of Commerce
United States Secretary of Commerce
The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...
Ron Brown
Ron Brown (U.S. politician)
Ronald Harmon "Ron" Brown was the United States Secretary of Commerce, serving during the first term of President Bill Clinton. He was the first African American to hold this position...
. After a number of years at competitor station WOR, Grant returned as a host as of July 2007, was removed again in December 2008, and returned again as a weekend host in September 2009. Alan Colmes would leave in 1985 and by 1987 he emerged at WNBC on overnights, where he played moderate amounts of music there. He would move to afternoons on WNBC and eventually drop music there as well. He was on the air at WNBC's sign off in 1988. Colmes eventually returned to WABC.
Within its first years, the revamped WABC brought in Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
, who would go on to be the anchor program of the local station for two decades, and soon after the giant of talk syndication, the model for countless other conservative radio shows to follow. In the early 1990s Phil Boyce
Phil Boyce
Phil Boyce is an American program director for Talk Radio Network. He had previously served in the same capacity for NewsTalkRadio WABC in New York City, as well Vice President of news/talk programming for ABC Radio.-Overview:...
took over as program director.
WABC today
Radio Disney
Radio Disney is a radio network based in Burbank, California and headquartered out of the Disney Channel headquarters on West Alameda Ave., from where it has been based since November 2008. Prior to that, the network was based in Dallas, Texas...
or ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio is an American sports radio network. It was launched on January 1, 1992 under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN." ESPN Radio is located at ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut...
, along with ABC Radio's News & Talk
ABC News & Talk
ABC News & Talk was a news/talk and entertainment radio channel programmed and distributed by ABC Radio Networks for satellite radio services. It aired on XM Satellite Radio channel 124, and Sirius Satellite Radio channel 143 both in the United States until 2007-09-24.The channel also existed on...
and FM networks, to Citadel Broadcasting Corporation for $2.7 billion. The transaction became final on June 12, 2007. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.
As of September 2009, the WABC broadcast day begins at 5:00 a.m. (Eastern time) with Red Eye Radio, hosted by Doug McIntyre
Doug McIntyre
Doug McIntyre is the host of "Talking the News" on 77 WABC New York City , the lead-in morning drive show before "Imus in the Morning." He also hosts the four-hour radio talk show "Doug McIntyre's Red Eye Radio", syndicated across the United States on Cumulus Media Networks, and is the page one...
(formerly of sister station KABC
KABC (AM)
KABC is a Los Angeles radio station, and a West Coast flagship station for the Cumulus Media company. A pioneer of the talk radio format, the station went "all-talk" in 1960 and was one of the first stations to do so...
). The Imus in the Morning program follows at 6:00. Don Imus
Don Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
joined WABC on December 3, 2007, eight months after being dismissed from WFAN
WFAN
WFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
and CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
over controversial statements made during a broadcast in April 2007. Charles McCord
Charles McCord
Charles McCord was a news anchor and on-air radio personality in the New York metropolitan area. He was most notable for being the right-hand man of Don Imus during the long run of Imus in the Morning for over three decades.McCord began his radio career at KICK in Springfield, Missouri in 1963...
serves as sidekick and newscaster for the program, which is also simulcast on the Fox Business Network
Fox Business Network
Fox Business Network is an American cable news and satellite news television channel that began broadcasting on October 15, 2007. It is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation...
cable television network.
Joe Crummey
Joe Crummey
Joe Crummey is a conservative American radio talk show host, hosting a local political talk show on WABC radio in New York City. He took over the 10 a.m...
became host of WABC's 10 a.m. to noon slot beginning in October 2010, permanently filling the void formed by the suspension of Joe Scarborough
Joe Scarborough
Charles Joseph "Joe" Scarborough is an American cable news and talk radio host, lawyer, author, and former politician. He is currently the host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, and previously hosted Scarborough Country on the same channel...
's show, which was placed on indefinite hiatus earlier in the year. (Several hosts rotated in the time slot during the interregnum, with Mark Simone
Mark Simone
Mark Simone is an American radio personality. Currently heard on WABC in New York, he also fills-in for ABC Radio hosts such as Don Imus, Mark Levin, and Sean Hannity.Simone occasionally appears on CNN, MSNBC and PBS....
becoming its interim host in May 2010 until Crummey's arrival.) Rush Limbaugh then airs from noon to 3 pm. Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...
follows as the afternoon drive host from 3-6 PM. Mark Levin
Mark Levin
Mark Reed Levin is a lawyer, author and the host of American syndicated radio show The Mark Levin Show. Levin served in the cabinet of President Ronald Reagan and was a chief of staff for Attorney General Edwin Meese...
takes over in the evenings from 6-9 PM. From 9 PM-1 AM, John Batchelor
John Batchelor
John Calvin Batchelor is an author and host of The John Batchelor Show radio news magazine. Based at WABC radio in New York for five years from early 2001 to September, 2006; the show was syndicated nationally on the ABC radio network. On October 7, 2007, Batchelor returned to radio on WABC New...
hosts his program. Late-night hours are covered by Red Eye Radio, a nationally syndicated program also hosted by Doug McIntyre.
Previously, WABC carried Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey Aurandt , better known as Paul Harvey, was an American radio broadcaster for the ABC Radio Networks. He broadcast News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays, as well as his famous The Rest of the Story segments. His listening audience was estimated, at...
's newscasts during Imus in the Morning (Paul Harvey News and Comment) and in-between the midday host and Limbaugh (The Rest of the Story) up through Harvey's death in 2009.
On weekends, the station plays a mix of political and lifestyle programs. Mark Simone currently hosts two Saturday shows — a morning talk show from 6 to 10 a.m., and the music-intensive Saturday Night specialty show, from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturdays also feature, in addition to Simone's two programs, syndicated programs by Monica Crowley
Monica Crowley
Monica Crowley is an American conservative radio and television commentator, and author based in New York City. She has her own radio show and is a regular commentator on The McLaughlin Group, a Fox News contributor, and Washington Times columnist.-Education:Crowley holds a B.A. in Political...
and Larry Kudlow. Sunday afternoons feature the latest incarnation of Bob Grant's talk show, a local show hosted by Mancow Muller
Mancow Muller
Matthew Erich "Mancow" Muller is an American radio and television personality. He is best known for Mancow's Morning Madhouse, formerly on Rock 103.5 and WKQX-FM , both Chicago-based radio shows that have been nationally syndicated mostly in small markets by Talk Radio Network...
, a program hosted by Jason Mattera
Jason Mattera
Jason Joseph Mattera is an American writer, activist, radio host, and editor of Human Events magazine. He entered conservative activism while attending Roger Williams University and has worked for Young America's Foundation....
, and newcomer Aaron Klein
Aaron Klein
Aaron Klein is an American author, Middle East correspondent, head of the Jerusalem bureau for WorldNetDaily , columnist for The Jewish Press, and a radio talk show host who, among other things, is known for interviewing middle eastern political figures, along with various leaders of terrorist...
(a frequent guest of John Batchelor's) who interviews terrorists on the air, while on Saturday and Sunday nights, the station carries a newsmagazine by John Batchelor
John Batchelor
John Calvin Batchelor is an author and host of The John Batchelor Show radio news magazine. Based at WABC radio in New York for five years from early 2001 to September, 2006; the show was syndicated nationally on the ABC radio network. On October 7, 2007, Batchelor returned to radio on WABC New...
. Marc Germain hosts the weekend version of the overnight Red Eye Radio.
Flagship-wise, Limbaugh's show was produced at WABC from 1988 until the early 2000s, when he started doing the program from Premiere Radio Networks
Premiere Radio Networks
Premiere Networks is an American radio network. It is the largest syndication company in the United States based on popularity of programming...
and a studio in his home in South Florida. (Substitute hosts for Limbaugh still use the WABC studios, and Limbaugh will still on occasion host from WABC.) Imus in the Morning and Hannity originate from WABC, while Levin originates from Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
sister station WMAL. All three of these shows are syndicated on ABC Radio.
In 2004, the station earned the distinction of being a news/talk radio station even longer than it had been a Top 40 station, by marking 22 years in its present format.
Some of the station's former locally-based hosts include John R. Gambling
John R. Gambling
John R. Gambling is an American radio personality. He is the son of John A. Gambling and the grandson of John B. Gambling, and as such was, and once again is, the third-generation host of The Gambling family's very-long-running New York morning radio show...
, Ron Kuby
Ron Kuby
Ronald L. Kuby is a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer, radio talk show host and TV commentator. He has hosted radio programs on WABC Radio in New York and Air America Radio.-Beginnings:...
, Jay Diamond
Jay Diamond
Jay Diamond is an American talk radio host from the Manhattan Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn who began his move to the mic by being a frequent caller to other radio programs, especially New York City's popular Bob Grant show...
, Ed Koch
Ed Koch
Edward Irving "Ed" Koch is an American lawyer, politician, and political commentator. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and three terms as mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989...
, Lynn Samuels
Lynn Samuels
Lynn Margaret Samuels is an American radio personality based in New York City who currently hosts a weekend talk show on Sirius XM Stars channel 107.-External links:****...
, Joy Behar
Joy Behar
Josephina Victoria "Joy" Behar is an American comedian, writer, actress, and a co-host of the talk show The View. Behar has a commentary program, entitled The Joy Behar Show, on CNN's sister network, HLN...
, Mario Cuomo
Mario Cuomo
Mario Matthew Cuomo served as the 52nd Governor of New York from 1983 to 1994, and is the father of Andrew Cuomo, the current governor of New York.-Early life:...
, Steve Malzberg
Steve Malzberg
Steve Malzberg is a radio personality. He most recently hosted The Steve Malzberg Show on the WOR Radio Network.A graduate of Brooklyn College, Malzberg worked at 77 WABC for over twenty-five years in several capacities, i.e., as an overnight political talk show host, a sports commentator, and...
, Richard Bey
Richard Bey
Richard Wayne Bey is an American talk show host. He was popular in the 1990s as host of The Richard Bey Show, a daytime talk show containing ordinary people's personal stories incorporated into entertaining competitive games....
, Curtis Sliwa
Curtis Sliwa
Curtis Sliwa is an American anti-crime activist, founder and CEO of the Guardian Angels, and radio talk show host and media personality.-Guardian Angels:...
and Jerry Agar
Jerry Agar
Jerry Agar is a conservative talk radio personality. In February 2010 he joined CFRB in Toronto as host of The Jerry Agar Show Monday to Friday from 9 am to 1 pm. Agar was born in Manitoba but has spent much of his career on the US talk radio circuit...
. Several nationally-syndicated talkers, including Art Bell
Art Bell
Arthur W. "Art" Bell, III is an American broadcaster and author, known primarily as one of the founders and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM. He also created and formerly hosted its companion show, Dreamland...
, Mike Gallagher
Mike Gallagher
Mike Gallagheris an American radio host and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Mike Gallagher Show, a nationally-syndicated radio program that airs throughout the United States on Salem Radio Network and is also a FOX News Channel Contributor and guest host...
, Lionel, Laura Schlessinger
Laura Schlessinger
Laura Catherine Schlessinger is an American talk radio host, socially conservative commentator and author. Her radio program consists mainly of her responses to callers' requests for personal advice and has occasionally featured her short monologues on social and political topics...
, Michael Savage
Michael Savage (commentator)
Michael Savage is a conservative American radio host, author, and political commentator. He is the host of The Savage Nation, a nationally syndicated talk show that airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...
, Matt Drudge
Matt Drudge
Matthew Nathan Drudge is the American creator and editor of the Drudge Report, a news aggregation website. Drudge is self-described as being conservative and populist. Drudge has also authored a book and hosted a radio show and a television show.-Early years:Matthew Drudge was raised in Takoma...
and Laura Ingraham
Laura Ingraham
Laura Anne Ingraham is an American radio host, author, and conservative political commentator. Her nationally syndicated talk show, The Laura Ingraham Show, airs throughout the United States on Talk Radio Network...
, have also been heard over WABC's airwaves.
Although the station had good ratings, it underperformed in terms of total revenue, an example being WABC billing $21.3 million in 2008, not even close to industry giant KFI in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
at $54.4 million.
Phil Boyce departed as program director in October 2008, eventually replaced in February 2009 by former XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
programmer Laurie Cantillo.
Sports programming
WABC's only current sports contracts are with Seton Hall UniversitySeton Hall University
Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...
, as the station is the flagship for the men's basketball team, and the United States Military Academy
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...
, as the station carries Army football
Army Black Knights football
The Army Black Knights football program represents the United States Military Academy. Army was recognized as the national champions in 1944, 1945 and 1946....
games. In addition to the aforementioned Yankees coverage, the station served two separate stints as the flagship for the New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
and was also the home of the New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
beginning in 1990.
Early in its Top 40 incarnation, WABC served as the original radio flagship of the New York Mets
New York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
. A notable aspect of WABC's Mets coverage was Howard Cosell and former Brooklyn Dodgers
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...
pitcher Ralph Branca
Ralph Branca
Ralph Theodore Joseph Branca is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball.From 1944 through 1956, Branca played for the Brooklyn Dodgers , Detroit Tigers , and New York Yankees...
handling the pre- and post-game shows. The station lost those rights to WHN
WEPN
WEPN is a 24-hour sports talk formatted radio station in New York City featuring national and local sports talk programs and live broadcasts of sports matches. It is the New York affiliate for ESPN Radio...
following the 1963 season.
The Jets first called WABC home in the 1980s, but left toward the end of the decade for WCBS
WCBS (AM)
WCBS , often referred to as "WCBS Newsradio 880" , is a radio station in New York City. Owned by CBS Radio, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of the CBS Radio Network...
. The team would return to the station in 2000 after spending the previous seven seasons on WFAN
WFAN
WFAN , also known as "Sports Radio 66" or "The FAN", is a radio station in New York City. The station broadcasts on a clear channel and is owned by CBS Radio...
. After then-sister station WEPN
WEPN
WEPN is a 24-hour sports talk formatted radio station in New York City featuring national and local sports talk programs and live broadcasts of sports matches. It is the New York affiliate for ESPN Radio...
became the Jets' flagship, WABC began simulcasting the games over their airwaves due to its stronger signal. The arrangement ended in 2008 as WEPN began simulcasting all its programming on two other stations.
In December 2001, broadcast rights to the Yankees were lost after 21 years to WCBS
WCBS (AM)
WCBS , often referred to as "WCBS Newsradio 880" , is a radio station in New York City. Owned by CBS Radio, the station broadcasts on a clear channel and is the flagship station of the CBS Radio Network...
. WABC also lost the radio rights to the Devils in 2005, as New Jersey's hockey team moved to WFAN to substitute for the station's loss of the New York Rangers
New York Rangers
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the borough of Manhattan in New York, New York, USA. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the...
to WEPN. WABC served as an overflow station for the Rangers from 2005 through 2009, and also served the same purpose for the New York Knicks
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, prominently known as the Knicks, are a professional basketball team based in New York City. They are part of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
when their games moved from WFAN to WEPN, but those rights moved to WNYM in 2009. The loss of evening sports programming has forced WABC to attempt to solidify its evening talk lineup.
External links
- WABC Website
- WABC Country (For WABC branded stream of country music)
- Musicradio 77 WABC (1960 to 1982) tribute site
- WABC Fans
- WABC News Historical Profile & Interviews (1978)
- Saturday Night Oldies Message Board
- http://www.marksimone.com
- http://www.WABCTribute.com - WABC Tribute Slideshow Movie
- The 1960s Week-By-Week featuring in-depth news of the WMCA-WINS-WABC top-40 wars including ratings
- Radio-History.com information on WJZ-AM