This is the WABC page. Click below to jump to another page.
September 11,
2001 Aircheck Page
Links New York Radio Message Board
Click here to return
to opening page
WABC 770 (AM) "The Sound of New
York," "77 WABC," "MusicRadio," "Newstalk
Radio"
FIRST ON AIR: 1953
TRANSMITTER SITE: Lodi, NJ
FORMATS: Contemporary top 40 1960-May 12, 1982; News/talk
May 12, 1982-present
NOTABLE PERSONALITIES: Jeez, where does one begin? In
no special order: Dan Ingram, "Cousin" Brucie Morrow, Ron
Lundy, Alan James Freed (credited for coining the term "rock and
roll") Howard Hoffman, Jay Reynolds, Chuck Leonard, Harry Harrison, Charlie
Greer, Bob "Bob-A-Loo" Lewis, Howard Cosell, Paul Harvey, Herb Oscar
Andreson, Scott Muni, Steve O'Brien, Joan Rivers, Tom Snyder, Jay Diamond, Rush
Limbaugh, Bob Grant, Sean Hannity, Rocky Allen, Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby.
Let us not forget the great Rick Sklar, who programmed WABC in its heyday.
A BIT ABOUT WABC: There will never be another WABC. Ever.
Often imitated, but never
quite duplicated. WABC's days of music was the icon of top 40 radio.
Widely regarded as the greatest top 40 radio station of
Western Civilization, WABC took to the airwaves in December of 1960.
Before its demise on the sorrowful date of May 10, 1982, WABC entertained
millions and millions of listeners throughout the New York City area and well
beyond. With its 50,000 watt clearchannel nighttime signal, WABC was able
to reach at least two thirds of the nation consistently and could be heard
(under ideal conditions) on the west coast and even Hawaii. It was very
common to drive from New York to Florida on I-95 and hear WABC clear as a bell
for the entire trip.
WABC's trademark
unmistakable sound was the use of its reverb. It made everything from the
jocks to the songs sound like they were being played in a large
auditorium. The sound was not only unique but technically effective; it
made transistor sets, car radios and portables sound absolutely superb.
Remember, the 1960s and first half of the 1970s were before the days of
mainstream FM radio, and long before the invention of FM stereo. Yet for
many years, as the station claimed, "the music sounds best on WABC".
More information on the technical aspects of WABC's
"big sound" as well as the reason for its clear nighttime signal can
be found by visiting Jim
Hawkin's 77 WABC radio transmitter page.
Yet it wasn't just WABC's
high quality sound that made the station so great.
WABC was there when Scott Muni broadcasted from the front of
the Beatles' hotel in 1964. WABC was there during two New York
blackouts. WABC was there the night Martin Luther King was shot.
WABC was truly the soundtrack of American lives during the 1960s and 1970s,
with voices from some of the greatest personalities to ever work in radio.
WABC had the absolute
highest quality of jocks. The level of talent WABC had on the air was
staggering. Can you imagine Dan Ingram, Ron Lundy, and Harry Harrison all
on in one day? In addition to the great air personalities, WABC used its
now-famous jingles to help promote its identity of a fun, progressive
all-American radio station. WABC was a pioneer in the use of jingles, sweepers
and musical station identifications. The practice of incorporating
jingles into programming is one which is widely used on nearly every format
today.
WABC continued as New
York's most listened to radio station throughout the 1960s and 1970s--not just
in the New York market, but in the nation. The late Rick Sklar served as
program director and was primarily responsible for WABC's success, always
keeping the radio station sounding fresh.
In its heyday, WABC was a
simply amazing radio station. Its ingenious programming coupled with
on-air personalities who were the best in the industry made WABC as much of
America as apple pie, baseball and Chevys.
As the FM band improved
in both user practicality and programming, WABC's demise was inevitable.
The improvements in the technology of FM made it more practical to receive
stations. Gone were the large bulky antennas. The FM band wasn't as
prone to static and distortion as its AM counterpart.
To add insult to injury, FM Stereo came into prominence in
the late 1970s. Even WABC's unique reverb-rich sound couldn't compete with
crystal clear static free smoothness of FM Stereo.
But technology wasn't the
only thing that helped kill WABC--better programming by the FM stations did as
well. FM radio stations like WXLO ("99X") competed directly
with the Top 40 Great, playing similar music and using the same type of upbeat
jocks. Some of the jingles even sounded suspiciously similar, as 99X used
many jingle packages from the PAMS jingles company.
Despite rating plummets
as listeners opted for better sounding FM radio, WABC hung on for as long as it
could. The Musicradio top 40 sound incorporated in 1977 evolved into an
adult contemporary format by 1980.
On May 10, 1982 the
station left music for good and switched to an all-talk format. It
was a sad day in the radio industry as well as for those who grew up with
WABC. The day marks a sorrowful event in radio history.
Talk radio suffered its
growing pains through the 1980s. In short, AM radio was considered dead
by most industry experts. There was even some talk of abandoning the
medium altogether.
It wasn't until the summer of 1988 when a little-known
Sacramento talk show host named Rush Limbaugh came to WABC syndicated his talk
show nationwide. Despite attempts by his political enemies to silence
him, Limbaugh revived AM radio.
Today, WABC thrives on
talk personalities like Joan Rivers, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, Sean Hannity and of
course America's best-known conservative Rush Limbaugh.
While the large needle on the car radio dial
pointing to 77 kc has been replaced by a digital "770" readout, and
the likes of Cousin Bruce Morrow replaced by Dr. Larua, the memories of WABC
will live on forever. There is a web site completely dedicated to the
greatest radio station of all time-- Alan
Sniffen's WABC Musicradio website.
It's well worth a visit for anyone who will still get goose bumps when they
hear the familiar "seventy-seven WABC " jingle.
Be sure to listen each Memorial Day
weekend for the WABC Rewind. WABC will abandon its talk format for the
weekend to play best-of memories.
Please enjoy the
sound files below, but also visit Alan Sniffen's WABC Musicradio website.
His site is an
amazing tribute to the greatest radio station of all time. I promise you
won't believe your ears.
EACH ITEM UNDERLINED IS A SOUNDFILE. CLICK IT!!!!
Here are two files from when WABC called
itself just "'ABC" in the 1970s. It was a short-lived era
as WABC ownership decided against dropping the "W" not long after it
was implemented.
WABC prided itself on its weekly music
surveys. From the 1960s, here's a file introducing the week's #1 song: In New York, it's #1!
A quick WABC from
1980
Classic jingle made by the PAMS jingle
company that says the most_music WABC
A drum roll followed by the sonovox"W" and
singers with "ABC". Used
in the late 1970s
Ah, remember WABC "chime
time"? Here's the jingle used for it. To this day, two radio
stations in New Jersey ("New Jersey 101.5" and "Jukebox
Radio") still use the "chime time" jingle. WABC chime time.
The disco era was given its due WABC as
evidenced by this disco sounding jingle from the late 1970s
This is an exclusive demo sent by
Radioboys.com. It's a jingle demo from JAM Creative productions sent to
WABC's Glenn Morgan in 1978. Many of these jingles will sound familiar to
you as currently WTJM "Jammin' 105" in New York uses a similar
package. You'll hear plenty of disco-sounding singles with "Get Off"
by Foxxy and "Best Of My Love" by The Emotions .incorporated in the
IDs Both songs were staples of WABC during its brief disco sounding era
of the late 1970s. . Many of these jingles never made their way to
the air.
Click here to
return to opening page
Send me e-mail by clicking here!