Help: History of Utica radio Questions.

Hey Guys:

I was wondering if you can help me with some Utica radio history:

1. Can anybody tell me what was the Top 40 AM stations in Utica. I know there was WTLB 1310, WRUN 1150 and WKAL 1450. True? What years did they start and end? The braodcasting yearbooks don't give that great of info on this subject. Some say Contemp/MOR, some say just contemp and some actually say Top 40.

2. Was 98.7 WIBQ a Beautiful Music station or an MOR station when it signed on in 1974? The yearbooks say MOR and on some lists that I found it says it was beautiful music.

3. Was WUFM 107.3 a Beautiful Music station or a classical station? And I noticed that 107.3 WZOW was listed as MOR/AC in the broadcasting Yearbooks, True?

Thanks for your help on these questions.

T.J.

1. Can anybody tell me what was the Top 40 AM stations in Utica. I know there was WTLB 1310, WRUN 1150 and WKAL 1450. True? What years did they start and end? The braodcasting yearbooks don't give that great of info on this subject. Some say Contemp/MOR, some say just contemp and some actually say Top 40.

WTLB changed call letters (from WGAT) and formats in 57. They were one of the first full time top 40 stations in the country. They stayed top 40 into the mid to late 70's. While WRUN-AM experimented with top 40 as block programing occasionally in the 50's & 60's, it wasn't until 1974 when they threw out Tony Bennett, Sinatra, etc. completely for the likes of Donna Summer and the Bee Gees and became RUN-Music Radio 1150. It had instant success and became the # one station in the market in it's first book. It pretty much stayed at the top during the John Carucci/Fred Horton era's and died of FM poisoning in the early 80's.
To the best of my knowledge WKAL was never a full time top 40 station. They did block programing. Mostly MOR with some country in the afternoon -Arnie Pugh's Arn's Barn and after 7 pm played a somewhat top 40 format for many years with Jerry Proughty. Every night dedicating Last Kiss by J Frank Wilson to Joanie, Barbie, Bobby, Eddie, Sandy, Kitty, Sam, Etc. & Etc. & Etc. "NightTime" actually got some good ratings at times. Of course, in those years their only competitor was WTLB with 500 watts directional that had no way of covering Rome.

2. Was 98.7 WIBQ a Beautiful Music station or an MOR station when it signed on in 1974? The yearbooks say MOR and on some lists that I found it says it was beautiful music.

WIBQ was a beautiful music station. -"Music Just For The Two Of Us". It was a little more contemporary sounding than WRUN-FM and quickly took away their audience. Hence the change of WRUN-FM to WKGW KG-104

3. Was WUFM 107.3 a Beautiful Music station or a classical station? And I noticed that 107.3 WZOW was listed as MOR/AC in the broadcasting Yearbooks, True?

WUFM was a beautiful music station and was quite succesful for a few years. It was a very early stereo station. Amazing that it could compete with its 3kw (tower on the Hotel Utica) against the 133kw WRUN-FM for as long as they did. They later changed the call letters and owners (WZOW). WZOW continued with the the beautiful music format for a while but it was like beating a brick wall against WRUN-FM , which by that time, was stereo and had a killer signal and sound quality. WZOW experimented with AOR for a while- competing with the up & coming and much more powerful WOUR. WZOW eventially went off the air and was reborn a few years later as WTLB-FM and later WRCK. Hope all this helps. It's just from my memory.

Enjoyed reading the U-R radio history, JM. One thing that always intrigued the daylights outta me was that the owners of WIBX-WIBQ actually let the FM station go dark and turned in the license. A few years later, they realized the value of having an FM and reclaimed the license! That's just stunning. There were a numbe rof AM operators that threw in the towel on their FMs back in the day. Very few of those operators were able to reclaim the license AND the same frequency years later. While I was in U-R, I always thought WIBQ was (a) a great call sign, and (b) a potenial killer signal for "the right format." From what I've read and seen over the years, they certainly did "get it right."

Once again I have to recall on my memory and second hand information. Joe Uzdavinis, who was part owner of WADR told me many years ago that the frequency of the original WIBX-FM caused some kind of interference with nearby Griffiths Air Force Base in Rome. I believe he said a harmonic was the cause. The family that owned WIBX AM/FM worked out some kind of deal with the FCC for the FM to go dark, and return to the air at some future time on a different frequency. Obviously WIBX-FM was not making any money and had almost no audience. I think I do remember hearing WIBX -FM. As I recall my barber had it on in his shop -but it could have been WRUN-FM. That would have been the mid 50's.
Now Joe would have had some inside information on this because he was looking to put on a FM companion for WADR. He thought WIBX's frequency would work, especially a class "A" in a different location.
The confusing part of this is I had read that WIBX-FM was on 96.9. WOUR-FM signed on in the late 60's on the frequency, first as a class A and later upgraded to a B. My conversation with Joe was in the early 70's. WADR did eventually get their FM but it is on 93.3 (?). It was The River now is religious (Joe is spinning in his grave).

As far as AM stations having FM stations that never got off the ground, WFBL in Syracuse had a frequency, WHEC in Rochester, and WKBW in Buffalo. How radio history would have changed if they had stuck with it!

Hey JM:

Thanks for you reply. It really help a lot. WIBX 96.9 was on the air from 1946 to 1954. In the yearbooks I saw that WIBQ was on the air in 1968 at 94.9 (no format given) and then went off in 1970, got a CP for 98.7 in 1971 and went on air as WIBQ 98.7 on Jan 1, 1974.

Hey JM speaking of WTLB 107.3 would you know if WTLB simulcated 1310's Top 40 format or was Country? In the yearbooks I saw that format listed for WTLB-FM was country and Dups AM 50%.

Also would you know any history of WKAL 95.9? I know it went on air in 1968. I also wanted to tell you that on a Radio log I found from 1975 it listed WKAL 95.9 as a simucast of WKAL 1450''s Top 40 format, was WKAL 1450 a TOP 40 in the 70's or was that listing wrong?

I knew there was one thing I did want to ask you that I didn't write in the orignal post:
I saw an air check of WRNY in Sept 3, 1960. It listed the format as Top 40 is that right or was WRNY always an MOR station.

Thanks again for your help!!

T.J.

Help: History of Utica radio Questions. WALY 1420 1956-1970

Hey Guys:

My notes on 1420 are amazingly fuzzy. Can anybody help me sort them out.

It started out as WALY in 1956 to 1984. Format was Country from 1970 to 1975 then became AC.
Would anybody know the format before 1970?

In 1984 1420 became WMYL Music of your Life format.

On 11-18-85 1420 became WLIR, I have no format listing for them.

And in 1986 1420 became WYUT (up to 1994 when it became WNRS Sports) but I also have no format listing for then either between 1986 to 1994.

Can anybody help??

Thanks!!

T.J.

Wow a bunch of stuff to respond to.. First of all Adman can help you with the WKAL stuff. But I can tell you I'm pretty sure WKAL AM was never top 40 full time. Only after 7 PM Monday -Saturday. It was a full similicast on the FM (and mono) up intill the late 70's (80's) Adman would know more.

WRNY was a top 40 format when it first came on. It changed to a mishmash of formats in the early 60's. I e-mailed my friend, Dave Bowers, to check this site and fill in the details. He actually worked at WRNY, before moving up to WTLB in the 60's

WTLB-FM did similicast the AM in morning drive, evenings, and all night. I think on the weekends,too. They ran a country format (that was pretty good) from 9AM to 7PM Monday -Friday.

WALY 1420 did experiment with top 40, too. Probably late 50's early 60's WLFH 1230 did too, but they had a full time signal. The above mentioned Dave could fill you in on that, too. You have to remember a lot of stations experimented with the top 40 formats back then. The talent was there, but they couldn't sell it. Sponsors would cancel as soon as they heard Chubby Checker on the air.
Probably the reason you can't find information about 1420 on those years was because they went dark. Their tower was torn down and they disappeared from the airwaves for several years.

Now you want to hear about WADR/WREM?

Hey JM:

Sorry about all of the questions. I should have given them to you one at a time. You have been a real big help. Never knew about 1420. You said "Probably the reason you can't find information about 1420 on those years was because they went dark. Their tower was torn down and they disappeared from the airwaves for several years." JM was that in the 80's when they were WYUT?

Yes!! I would love to hear about WREM/WADR. I never knew 1480 was WREM. Always thought they were WADR.

Thanks JM for all of your help!! You have great knowledge of Utica Radio History. Hopefully Adman will see this post.

T.J.

Gentlemen:

Where can I read the "History of UR radio' referred to in earlier posts?

Might somebody Email it to me: [email protected]

Thanks ....

JM was that in the 80's when they were WYUT?

Yes!! I would love to hear about WREM/WADR. I never knew 1480 was WREM. Always thought they were WADR.

I don't know exactly when 1420 in Herkimer went dark. I have been out of the market since the late 70's (although I visit) Probably in the early 80's. I always thought they went dark as WALY. The tower was near Mohawk/Ilion border, on the South side of the Canal/River. It may have been torn down to build the new Route 5S.

WREM 1480 in Remson went on the air in the late 50's. Among the owners were Ed Slyzarzek (sorrry about the spelling) and Jerry Proughty.
Ed later did a farm shows on WIBX and WTLB and had a rural network. Jerry later did nights at WKAL. What a great voice. Legend had it he was an announcer at Mutual Radio at one time. I remember hearing WREM while picnicking at Hinckley Lake as a child. As I remember they played some top 40 in the afternoon - that's probably why I was listening. TLB was too weak to get into that area. I don't know the power of WREM, but I know it was 1,000 watts or less- daytime only. WREM disappeared from the airwaves probably around 1962.

A group of investors, loosley made of up of the owners of WUFM (now WRCK) and others including, Joe Uzdavinis, Richard Cohen, and Al Bonaparte put 1480 back on the air in about 1968. The group took advantage of neighboring WOLF 1490 bad management (at the time) and got an increase of 5,000 watts nondirectional daytime. WADR was essentially WUFM's AM. A couple years later, I don' t know exactly what happened but somehow the ownership split up. Some stayed with WUFM and I know that Mr. Cohen and Joe Uzdavinis remained as owners of WADR. Joe U. as the manager. Joe made the decision to go full time country. A very good move. WADR became a major factor in Utica-Rome radio in the early 70's. Usually #4 12+ in the ratings behind WTLB, WIBX, & WRUN. I am sure very strong 35-54. Unfortunately they were held back by the daytime only signal. 500 watts pre-dawn, no post sunset in those days. Putting up more towers for a night time signal would have been very expensive and probably would have covered a lot of cow pastures and not Utica, Rome & the Valley. Also, there was a lot of prejudice against country music in those days. So salespeople had a tough time selling the station on the local streets. Did a pretty good national and regional business, though. WADR was a pioneer in the making money from snowmobiles. They had all the major manufacturers on as clients. WADR and Joe U. practically invented snowmobile races. I remember sitting in Joe's office many times listening to him complain that the 4:30 sign off in the winter was killing him. He had no place to put all the spots! Every winter he would give serious thought to getting a FM. Then in the summer he would forget all about it as spots died off after 6:00 PM and they stayed on till 8:45. WADR did get a FM several years later. Sadly, Joe Uzdavinis did not live to see it. He died very young. In his mid 40's. He was a very dear friend and I still miss him. WADR and the FM ended up in Clear Channel hands. I think Utica radio would be a better place if Joe U. had lived. Certainly a lot more fun!
If I ever write a book about my experiences broadcasting WADR will certainly get a chapter. I was very young and inexperienced at the time. The humbling experiences certainly helped take that young chip off my shoulder. I'll never forget producing a radiothon to benefit a local volunteer fire dept. that's fire house had burn down! Talk about getting paid in fun.

Hey JM:

I loved reading that story. Sounds like you had a real fun time there.

Getting paid for fun: YES!! I know what that was like when I worked for WOLL 94.3 the beach in West Palm Beach in 1996. The station was classic hits. We played everything from 1964 to 1979. We had a 2,000 song playlist. And the most popular station in the county. Listeners in Ft. Lauderdale bought antennas to put on there roofs to be able to pick up the station. It was a fun place to work. But it all came to an end in 1997 when Clear Channel bought the station and "KILLED" it. Talk about pissing off listeners.

Just one question: You said "Joe made the decision to go full time country" When WADR went on the air in 1968 was the format country or something else?

Thanks again for sharing that story I really enjoyed it. If I need anymore help on Utica radio history in the future may I ask you some more questions?

T.J.

P.S. You should write a book. I would definatley read it!!

WOW...Great information. Let's see if I can remember things from WKAL in Rome and provide some additional information. I remember bothering people at WKAL from age 7. With the big 55 fast approaching, that was a long time ago. Here we go with what I know from the time I can remember.

WKAL was only an AM on 1450 early on then in 1964, added an FM at 95.9 with 3000 watts of power and a mono signal. The signal was never good because they mounted the 3-bay FM antenna on the side of the AM tower which was 268 feet high, BUT only 105 feet above average terrain. The AM tower collapsed in 1968 during a freak storm. I was in the building when it happened at age 14. It was 4:12-PM and Jerry Prouty was reading a tag for Kentucky Fried Chicken when boom. Luckily it fell away from the building. A new tower was put back up and business as usual. KAL always had a decent signal for 1KW during the day and 250 watts at night. But later in the 80's the FCC made one of their normal thoughtless decisions and said that if all I think Class D station would accept each others nighttime interference, they could remain at their daytime power. Sounded good. But it was and to this day is disaster. At 250 watts at night, WKAL got into Utica because there were no other stations in the background. Once everyone went to the same 1,000 watt daytime power, the signal went nowhere. Funny, on 250 watts it went about 12 miles at night. With 1000 watts at night along with every other 1450AM signal at 1000 watts, the signal went about 4 miles. The FM eventually added stereo and moved their frequency to 96.1 when WAQX in Syracuse agreed to move their original frequency. The power was then increased to 25,000 watts where it remains today as WODZ. WKAL is now a religious station on 1450.

So much for the technical stuff. Up until 1972, WKAL was all over the place with the format. In the early and mid 60's, Carmen Paccica did mornings and played big band music, Sintatra, etc. Let me also insert that both WKAL and WKAL FM were simulcast as of 1964 and were owned by Jack and Ruth Maurer, with their son Woody as Sales Manager. After Carmen, Arnie Pugh came on and played country music, then at night, Jerry Prouty took requests and played Top 40. Everything came out of their studios above the Capitol Theatre in downtown Rome.

By the mid to late 60's, Arnie Pugh had left and Jerry Prouty went to days. A number of people then worked nights. I know, because I was this teenager who wanted to be in radio and the night guys let me run the board and play the 45's while they talked from the other side of the control room glass in studio "B". First was George Boyce, then Maurice Burke, then Dick Romano, and finally Dave Eastwood. The first three were all on WTLB at some point. The format and the people listed above would hold true until the end of 1971. Then in 1972, Wood Maurer talked his parents into making on air music changes which obviously did not go well with Carmen and Jerry. So, in the 1972 WKAL did go to a Soft AC with the harder Top 40 edge still at night. Carmen eventually left and Howell Gatchell III was hired ( Mark Howell). He did mornings for awhile which were long 6-hour shifts, Jerry days and I did nights until 11 when we signed off. By 1974 Mark left, Jerry was killed in an auto accident and the music was tweaked again by yours truly. The stations were now Hot AC and were still pretty popular in the area. Let me hurry so I do not bore all of you...by the early 80's, management decided to split up the AM and FM. The AM stuck with the Hot AC while the FM went to a Drake-Chenault Lite format on the SMC automation system. It was called K-Lite 96. If it had more than that 3000 watt signal on the AM tower then went into the trees, it would have done very well. Also in the early 80's, the WKAL-AM went to a Drake-Chenault 60's Gold format. By the mid 80's, the Maurer's sold the station to the Worster Publishing Company and the AM remained Oldies while the FM went to a country format with new call letters...WTCO Top Country. Again, if it had a good signal, it would have done well, but everyone back then was afraid to invest in higher powered FM's. After Worster, Howard Green out of Elmira bought the stations and kept them until Kirby Confer and Don Altfus ended up buying them out in 1988 and turning the FM into the FROG. The old WKAL AM and FM just could not compete with the bigger signals, plus, people were changing and did not care as much about the small, local, community station.

If anyone has any specific questions, let me know. I obviously went too long and I apologize. I hope some of this helps.

Just one question: You said "Joe made the decision to go full time country" When WADR went on the air in 1968 was the format country or something else?

WADR was just a mish mash, of music like a lot of stations at the time. Sometimes, Dean Martin, sometimes the Rolling Stones. They tried to do heavy news but had NO news dept. I did work there for a short time under that regime. It really made no sense. WSEN in Syracuse, and WNYR in Rochester were doing fine with country, at the time, so it was a very logical decision. No one got rich but I would have to say it was a good move. It gave the station an identity and very good ratings. But as I said, it was tough to sell country on the street at the time.

Adman: I saw Fred Miller a couple weeks ago. Always entertaining! He is just a treat to talk to. In fact, WADR is where I first met Fred. Part of the O.C.C. connection.

Now how bout WLFH! I worked there 3 times and at WADR 3 times. Must be some kind of record.

Re: Help: History of Utica radio Questions. to Adman and JM

First thanks Adman for that post. It really helped out a lot!! I loved reading your story too.

Hey JM:

Thanks for the info. WOW some mish mash!! Dean Martin and Rolling Stones in the same format. That must have sounded very interesting. How can you define that type format back then? Music variety? More like Jack fm of today.

YES!! Please tell me about WLFH. I love reading your stories plus I can check my notes to see if I have the correct info.

Thanks JM!!

T.J.

Hi Everyone and the realjm12

Adman: I saw Fred Miller a couple weeks ago. Always entertaining! He is just a treat to talk to.

Fred is a great person and personal friend. We just finished 4 1/2 15-hour days broadcasting American Legion Baseball State playoffs on WIBX in Utica. Fred is one of best out there and is never lost for the best one liners and fast comebacks. He has done the local community a great service with his newspaper, website on local sports talk show.

I guess that is a record working at WADR and WLFH three times. I pretty much stuck with WKAL, 4-years in Chicago, then back to FROG/Lite 98.7/WIBX before doing my current stuff since 1991. Time does fly and how things have changed. Went by the old WKAL site on South James Street in Rome the other day, and all that is left is the cement slab the building was on, and the tower, which is surrounded by so many trees and weeks. Amazing the signal gets past going across the street.

Re:WALY questions .... I worked there briefly in 1964 under Don Alexander. It was mostly Top 40 at the time with some block programming as I remember.

Re: TJ's WRNY/Top 40 question .... WRNY was for a short time a loose 'Top 40' format ... this was before the Dave Derby "Roman Radio" days as Top 40/Rock Music was anathema to DD

Re: Help: History of Utica radio Questions. _WLFH

I have been waiting to get some information from my friends Dave Bowers and Tom Malley about WLFH before I responded. Both worked at WLFH (as did I) over the years.
I have been on Google tracking down additional information, but mostly what I know about WLFH is from personal experience and from what "old timers" have told me over the years. There's my disclaimer.
I have heard differing dates about the WLFH sign on. I have heard 1950 and more often 1952. The station was put on by the Feldman Brothers, Arthur and M. Robert - most people knew him as Mousie. Mousie was a W.W. II vet and Arthur was a Mutual Radio war correspondent in London during the war. I knew Mousie but I don't think I ever met Arthur. Both have died in the last couple years. The Feldman family operated a furniture store next door to the radio studios and transmitter on South 2nd Street. The building is still there and the ground system runs up the side of the old furniture store building. From what Mousie had told me both brothers had always been radio heads and always wanted to own a radio station. So WLFH signed on 1230kc. That was the frequency WIBX had abandoned a few years earlier to make their move to 950kc and 5 kw.
Interestingly, keep in mind, Little Falls was a thriving little city up to that time. There was no local radio. WGY was about 60 miles east and WIBX & WRUN barely got in and didn't sign on til the late 1940's. So a local radio certainly was needed. I don't know if WLFH signed on at 250 watts or the present 1,000 watts. I always knew to be 1,000 watts. It was a Mutual affiliate, originally until ABC split off the four networks in the late 60's and then switched to ABC Entertainment. I guess they thought they would get Paul Harvey.

The Feldman's sold the station in the mid 50's to a husband and wife, Carmen & Walter Gaines. The Gaines operated it under a variaty of formats. Usually a M. O. R. format with a teen time at night when rock n roll became popular. I do remember them running Dick Biondi when he had an afternoon show on Mutual. I believe they experimented with top 40 full time at some time -Dave Bowers would know more about his era. I am sure the first time they played Chubby Checker or Jackie Wilson in the daylight hours most of the sponsors pulled their spots. I do remember Carmen did an airshift. Pretty unusual for a woman dj in those days. Sadly, both the Gaines died fairly young. The station was sold to Lenard Aurbach, who owned an advertising agency in Cleveland. Lenard had dreams of starting a radio empire, starting in Little Falls. Also, enter the junior in high school 16 year old REAL JM doing his first radio gig. Unfortunately, Len Aurbach became seriously ill with a heart condition and had to withdraw from running the station. Too bad he treated me well and seemed to be a sharp businessman. He left it in the hands of locals who ran it into the ground. After a few years, the station had been burned down,allegedly by the night jock. Len Aurbach was well enough to take an interest in his business. He hired a contract manager, Allen Embury, to come to town and clean up the mess. He pretty much fired everyone. So there was the REAL JM, fresh from college, sitting on a bar stool in New Hartford. Sitting on the next bar stool was the new program director of WLFH - Joe Wilson. After a few (ok many) beers Joe talked me into leaving my gig in the Albany market to return to WLFH. Something just clicked. The staff all liked and respected each other. The billing went up and the ratings were great.
So the station was sold again and I moved on, but came back briefly (#3) after another turn of the academic life. That new owner decided that Polka music was what he residents of Little Falls wanted to hear. The station went dark after six months. Aurbach held the mortgage and actually came to town and pulled the tubes out of the transmitter! About that time I left the market. I know a couple guys from Oswego bought the station and it sounded good again. Ken Roser owned it or a while and made the mistake of selling it to Clear Channel. Not a mistake for Ken, just for radio fans in the Mohawk valley. The heritage calls letters were changed to WIXT holding for Ch 9 in Syracuse in case they wanted them back. The station recently was sold to Ed. Levine and Galaxy. It is just a repeater now for sports WTLB.

Edititorial: I believe WLFH could still function as a stand alone station. Little Falls is still pretty much the same as it was 50 years ago. There will NEVER be a Walmart in Little Falls. Main street still has pretty much the same little shops it always has. High school sports alone would pay the bills.
No one would get rich but a living could be made for a local owner/operator.

Real JM. Great story. Take that state pension and get a loan. Buy WLFH or write a book.
(stupid emoticons don't work)

Real JM. Great story. Take that state pension and get a loan. Buy WLFH or write a book.

Believe me, I'm buying those mega lottery tickets.