Disco radio

In the late 70s, there was a boom in stations specializing in disco music. Hundreds of stations adopted disco formats--only to drop them in a few years. What format were most disco stations before the boom, and what formats did they switch to after the bust? Were they mostly FM, or were there many AM stations? And did stations play dance songs all day long, or did they daypart with other types of music?

In Charlotte NC there were two disco stations. I don't remember precisely what the next format was, but there was one which eventually switched to gospel but I've forgotten the next format. Sadly. the online newspaper archives that would tell us don't go back as far as disco. While I was in college the guy in the next room listened to WPEG, but I wasn't sure just what it was. It could probably be compared to "rhythmic CHR", a term not used for several more years. But it went urban contemporary at some point and still is.

In Myrtle Beach SC the disco station became "beautiful music" and continued with that until a new owner moved AC from a lesser frequency in 2000.

One of the more famous/infamous disco stations was WDAI Chicago. There is tape from that era on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJCVXYUrTBQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5JNcSHHYkY. I also recall KXYZ Houston (1320 kHz) having that format in 1979 as well.

In St. Louis, WZEN (100.3 MHz) went to an all disco format in the spring of 1979, and stayed with the format for a year as "Disco 100." It eventually morphed into a hybrid dance-Top-40 format called "Z-100" in 1980, and in early 1981 switched to an R&B format.

Also in early 1979, Amaturo's R&B KKSS (107.7 MHz) adopted the "Studio 108" moniker, with a format heavy on disco with a few ballads thrown in. By that summer they changed their name to "Majic 108" and then moved in more of what became the Urban format.

WENZ-FM in Cleveland, OH, had a short run as Disco 108 back in the 1970s


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WENZ#Disco_108.2FThe_New_FM_108_WDMT

KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, believe it or not, was also a disco station for a while.

When disco hit its popularity peak, KIIS-FM was a fairly low-rated AC station, the result of the disastrous move in 1975 to simulcast what was then top-40 KKDJ with KIIS, then at 1150 AM. KKDJ had respectable ratings as a top-40, KIIS had almost respectable ratings as an AC, but the combination was a mess, even as they tried to be more top-40, and by 1978 they were ready to try anything to climb out of the ratings basement.

Going disco raised their numbers from the mid-2's in 12+ to the low 3's (yearly averages from Duncan's), but KMET and KLOS (both AORs) were a full point or more ahead of them, so they went back to top-40/CHR in 1980 (adding Rick Dees for mornings in 1981) and were above a 4 in 1982, low 7's the following year, and cracked a 9 in 1984.

For a short time the station now known as KISS FM in Dallas/Fort Worth had a disco format, automated and centering on the album versions of disco hits. I don't know how they did. KISS FM had been just a Denton FM, KDNT FM with KDNT 1440 being the live and local top 40 and moneymaker. For years they had been an automated oldies based format back when stations were about 50% current hits with oldies. As I recall they had very few commercials, maybe one or two an hour at most. As Dallas/Fort Worth grew, the emphasis became on reaching the DFW market versus being just a Denton station. The Disco effort might have been at the point the emphasis went from Denton to serving Dallas/Fort Worth. This would have been around 1979.

DavidEduardo said:

The prototype for all disco stations was WKTU in New York. It played 100% disco and disco-related songs such as ballads by disco artists.

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I remember that station well.... I was an (pardon the next 2 words) avid listener to WKTU 92.3. They started disco in ~ 1978. IIRC the previous format was what was known as "soft rock" which today would be milder than most AC stations. Before WPIX 101.9 FM in NYC went punk rock/new wave, they were "Disco 102" (1975-1976) and that was before WKTU. But as David mentioned WKTU turned out to be the prototype for all who followed in the disco vein. WPIX actually had an adult top 40 format sandwiched around the disco format. One of WPIX's well-known DJs throughout their many format changes was Jerry Carroll he of "Crazy Eddie" fame.

WZZD in Philadelphia 990 AM known as "Wizzard 100" also had a disco format on AM in 1979-1980 (?)
Here's a link to a survey from WKTU in Oct 1978 in the earlier disco days

http://las-solanas.com/arsa/surveys...=1&lttl=2&lcnt=30&srt1=tsc_psv DESC&vqry=WKTU

The Nashville station then known as WMAK had a disco format circa 1978-1980. They had previously been one of the two main top 40 stations in town. New Year's Day, 1980, they went to something else. I know that for a time in the very early '80s, this station was WLUY, Lucky 13, a station run entirely by students at an apparently long-gone broadcasting school. But too many students apparently couldn't even be bothered to actually show up for airshifts, so around 1983-1984, the station went to all-Christian talk as WNQM, the format that they maintain to this day.

The San Francisco Bay Area had "Disco 104" KSFX (103.7) - an ABC owned station which had tried a number of rock formats, including an album rock cloning of Rock N'Stereo KLOS in Los Angeles, and "Musicradio" (copying WABC, I guess), but nothing got decent ratings until they tried a soul-intensive format. So as disco got popular, the station just morphed into full-time dance music. When disco crashed, so did the station.

K.M. Richards said:

KIIS-FM in Los Angeles, believe it or not, was also a disco station for a while.

When disco hit its popularity peak, KIIS-FM was a fairly low-rated AC station, the result of the disastrous move in 1975 to simulcast what was then top-40 KKDJ with KIIS, then at 1150 AM. KKDJ had respectable ratings as a top-40, KIIS had almost respectable ratings as an AC, but the combination was a mess, even as they tried to be more top-40, and by 1978 they were ready to try anything to climb out of the ratings basement.

Going disco raised their numbers from the mid-2's in 12+ to the low 3's (yearly averages from Duncan's), but KMET and KLOS (both AORs) were a full point or more ahead of them, so they went back to top-40/CHR in 1980 (adding Rick Dees for mornings in 1981) and were above a 4 in 1982, low 7's the following year, and cracked a 9 in 1984.

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I remember now, KIIS being a disco station, but they also used to broadcast Casey Kasem every Sunday morning. I know because I listened to AT40 on KIIS from about 1977 until May, 1979, when my parents and I moved to Hawaii.

hm insulators said:

I remember now, KIIS being a disco station, but they also used to broadcast Casey Kasem every Sunday morning.

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Thanks for that memory jog. I remember that as well now that you've mentioned it and recall that I thought it was rather odd for that to be airing on KIIS.

K.M. Richards said:

Thanks for that memory jog. I remember that as well now that you've mentioned it and recall that I thought it was rather odd for that to be airing on KIIS.

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Probably a combination of a contractual obligation with Watermark (AT40's syndicator) and the knowledge that at some point, they'd have to find a path back out of disco...and a morph back to Top 40 was feasible.

At some point in time, KKDA-FM in Dallas/Fort Worth was a disco station -- I even remember once or twice seeing old "Disco 104" bumper stickers for the station. After the disco craze faded, KKDA-FM evolved into a mainstream urban format as K-104, which is what they've been since.

While not quite disco stations, there were also a number of Top 40 stations in 1978 and 1979 that leaned very heavily towards disco, sometimes to the point where only a couple of non-disco songs might get played in a typical hour. In Seattle, KPLZ(FM) went this route, with the on-air identity "K-Plus 101". When disco faded, not only did they abandon the disco music, but they left the Top 40 format completely, evolving to an adult contemporary format of some sort for several years. Years ago, someone posted sample hours of the music on WABC(AM) in NYC from 1978/79, and it looks like that station went a similar route, going very heavy on the disco.

I left DFW in 1978 but I recall "Black Rock 108" KNOK playing lots of disco. I recall when KKDA first came on after what had been KIXL's FM sold. The station had a beautiful music format at the time, separate from the AM and the FM only operated 7am to 7pm for many months before KKDA took over. Wish I could recall those call letters then! KKDA FM started as an urban format, very nicely done, and I recall Brickhouse by the Commodores was a hit at the time.

TexasTom said:

At some point in time, KKDA-FM in Dallas/Fort Worth was a disco station -- I even remember once or twice seeing old "Disco 104" bumper stickers for the station. After the disco craze faded, KKDA-FM evolved into a mainstream urban format as K-104, which is what they've been since.

While not quite disco stations, there were also a number of Top 40 stations in 1978 and 1979 that leaned very heavily towards disco, sometimes to the point where only a couple of non-disco songs might get played in a typical hour. In Seattle, KPLZ(FM) went this route, with the on-air identity "K-Plus 101". When disco faded, not only did they abandon the disco music, but they left the Top 40 format completely, evolving to an adult contemporary format of some sort for several years. Years ago, someone posted sample hours of the music on WABC(AM) in NYC from 1978/79, and it looks like that station went a similar route, going very heavy on the disco.

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Not entirely true, Kplus was a top 40 station well into 1987.

installLSC said:

In the late 70s, there was a boom in stations specializing in disco music. Hundreds of stations adopted disco formats--only to drop them in a few years. What format were most disco stations before the boom, and what formats did they switch to after the bust? Were they mostly FM, or were there many AM stations? And did stations play dance songs all day long, or did they daypart with other types of music?

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Detroit had two all-disco FM stations in 1979 - 93.1 WDRQ and 102.7 WLBS. WDRQ flipped from Top 40 in late January 1979 and, after several months of poor ratings, went back to Top 40 by the start of 1980. They later went back to dance music as an Urban station in the spring of 1982 and spent three years in that format before flipping to "Lite FM" WLTI in 1985 with Transtar's Format 41. In the summer of 1996, WDRQ was resurrected with a Rhythmic AC format (also in response to a successful format change at WKTU) which played lots of disco, later evolving into CHR by 1999.

An interesting aside... WDRQ's PD told Billboard that the station had to drop "Funkytown" after initially adding it during the spring of 1980 because the station was deluged by angry calls from listeners who thought they'd gone back to disco. They did eventually re-add the song once it became too big a hit to ignore.

WLBS was Inner City Broadcasting's attempt to clone New York's WBLS for a Detroit audience. Inner City bought the former WBRB-FM in suburban Mount Clemens and flipped it in 1978. WLBS evolved into Urban once disco died, but with WJLB and WGPR already doing the format on FM and WDRQ entering the fray in '82, LBS' success was limited and they flipped in '83 into what they called "Dance Oriented Rock," heavy on new wave. That was followed by a brief attempt at CHR in 1984 (programmed by WBLS' Sergio Dean) before Inner City finally sold the station to veteran programmer Paul Christy, who switched it to Oldies as WKSG "Kiss FM" in late '84.

Also in the late '70s, a third Detroit FM station, Greater Media's AC WMJC (Magic 95), had an evening disco block. And an AM soul station, 1440 WCHB, promoted itself as "Detroit's ORIGINAL disco station."

Down I-75 in Toledo, Booth Broadcasting, owners of WJLB, tried disco on 99.9 WKLR (which had been the market's first Soul/R&B station) in '79. 92.5 WMHE also did disco that year after losing an AOR battle with 104.7 WIOT. WKLR went country in 1981, later becoming WKKO "K100," and have never looked back. WMHE flipped to AC after the disco died, later evolving into CHR and becoming WVKS (92.5 Kiss FM) in 1990.

KFMX-FM in Minneapolis/St. Paul was a Disco station from roughly 1978-1980. A few airchecks here: Airchecks radiotapes.com

790 CHIC-AM (great calls for a Disco station; now 530 CHLO) in Brampton, ON (Toronto market) briefly did all-Disco around 1979. IIRC, the Billboard article announcing the change pointed out that CHUM-AM, while it listed disco tunes on its official playlist, didn't play them much because disco music was not popular with their listeners, while competitor CFTR was a bit more disco-friendly. (By the fall of '79, CHUM-AM was basically Rock 40 anyway and was snubbing many big pop songs, let alone disco.) I would wager, however, that most GTA listeners who wanted disco found it on Buffalo stations like WBLK-FM.

WBOS Boston was the first in the market to go disco and they had a huge first book, but WXKS (Kiss 108) launched within a month or so, with a tighter approach and amazing air talent, and soon WBOS was gone as a competitor. Kiss, which had been a Beautiful Music station, went on to become a Boston institution, and still is the primary CHR station there, although the music that fuels CHR is not what it used to be.