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September 11,
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WNBC 660 (AM) "66 WNNNBC"
ON AIR: 1946-October, 1988
TRANSMITTER SITES: City Island, NY
FORMATS: NBC Red Network 1946-1970 (known as WRCS for some of
those years), top 40/adult contemporary 1970-1988
NOTABLE PERSONALITIES: Wolfmann Jack, Soupy Sales, Howard
Stern, Don Imus, Norm N Nite, Bumper Morgan, Alan Colmes, Bob Vernon, Dick
Summer
A BIT ABOUT WNBC: Always in the shadow of cross-town WABC, it so ended
up that 66 WNBC was the last music-playing station in New York.
However, WNBC did have a unique sound of its own. Don
Imus was the premier morning show man for the 1970s and 1980s and frequently
had New York's most listened AM drive during the era. "Lunch with
Soupy", hosted by Soupy Sales, gave life to AM radio with a restaurant
sound effect in the background. WNBC was also big on remote broadcasts,
frequently during sporting events.
Most people will identify WNBC with Howard Stern, who took
New York radio by storm with his "shock jock" persona. With
Imus ruling the airwaves in the mornings, Stern was king of PM drive time and
eventually landed his show in several markets nationwide. Today, his show
can be heard on WXRK 92.3 in the New York area.
Through the era, WNBC played what most would now call a
"hot AC" format, a station that catered to young adults without
alienating the top 40 genre.
In 1986, WNBC experienced a dark spot during the PM drive
show when a traffic helicopter crashed live on-air. Jane
Dornacker's last words "hit the water! hit the water!" were broadcast
live.
Despite flashes of fantastic on-air talent, WNBC
faced some of the same woes that killed the music at WABC. Listeners had
made the switch to richer sounding FM stereo. Although AM stereo had been
available, it was never widely used by the general public.
The music died on WNBC in October of 1988 when the National
Broadcasting Company decided to sell all of its radio outlets. WFAN,
all-sports radio, had been broadcasting on the 1050 frequency and took over the
660 mark on the dial. Music was no longer welcome on AM.
***Please be sure
to visit The WNBC tribute page by Jim Reed . It's a truly fantastic trip back in time to 66 W-NNNNN-BC
Here's a standard station ID 66 WNBC
An interesting promo for the Howard Stern
Show, "Emily Stern's Father"
"Funvibrations 66 WNBC" promo
This has got to be the coolest WNBC
promo. It starts out with jungle-like drums followed by WNBC
Here's a promo for the Don Imus show, still used
today on WFAN
"Time machine weekends" were
popular on WNBC. The station would highlight a certain year for the
entire weekend and feature songs from the era. Here's a Time Machine promo
Here are two jingles produced by the PAMS
jingles company, the same company who featured famous jingles on WABC 770AM
Did you have a request? "We play what you say!"
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