old WCAO 600 and WFBR 1300 AM transmitter sites

Where exactly were these two sites located ?

I recall in the mid 70's , WCAO 600 was along I-695 on the west side of Baltimore ,what was the street that crossed over I-695 near the old WCAO site ,they had 4 in line towers if I remember correctly.
When did they move from this site ? What is there now ?
Were the studios here too ,if not where were they in the 1960's / 70's.
When did WCAO start to play Top 40 RnR and when did they stop ?

Also where was the old WFBR 1300 site ,I think it was near the waterfront , near / on what street/s ? What is there now ?
When did WFBR move from this site ?
Where were WFBR's studios in the 50's / 60's ?
What format did WFBR have during the late 50's and early 60's.
I remember hearing them in NJ at night in the late 50's and if I recall correctly they had a "strong reverb or echo " sound to audio,is this correct ? I think they played RnR but I don't recall them being committed to RnR totally then,correct ?

What other stations in Baltimore played RnR or R&B in the 50's/60's

Al

Can't tell you much about the 50s, but in the 60s WFBR and WCAO both played top 40. WFBR's tower was in Glen Burnie, Maryland; and WCAO's tower was in Garrison Forest, Maryland. In the 70s WFBR had The Flying Dutchman, who is to this day rocking and rolling, but probably semi-retired, last heard in Texarkana. You didn't ask about the 70s, but who could forget the Dutchman?

WFBR is still in Glenn Burnie on 8th.. they have 7 towers that Flips the signal from north to south like a Mirror image.. studios are also at that site.
The Gm recently passed away. his wife now Runs the station for MRBI..

WCAO Transmitter site 1976

In 1976 and 1977 the WCAO was located at US140 (Reisterstown Road) and 695. It was to the right of 140 as you left town and on you right when you were headed north on the Beltway. I belive that the studios were at the transmitter. I remember 4 towers in a line parallel to 140.

alok said:

Where exactly were these two sites located ?

I recall in the mid 70's , WCAO 600 was along I-695 on the west side of Baltimore ,what was the street that crossed over I-695 near the old WCAO site ,they had 4 in line towers if I remember correctly.
When did they move from this site ? What is there now ?
Were the studios here too ,if not where were they in the 1960's / 70's.

Click to expand...

The old WFBR 1300 towers are still there - in fact, I just happened across them last week. The street address was "701 Waterview Ave," which doesn't map out anymore, but the location was where the present Middle Branch Marina is located. One tower is still at full height, and the other one was reduced to about half height. It sits above what's now the marina office.

(And that's not the WFBR in Glen Burnie to which Neal refers - that's the 1590 station that had different calls back in the day.)

too Euclid and fybush,

that is the WCAO & WFBR tower sites I was thinking of ,it looks like there is now a Target Store there ,where the old WCAO site was at ... I-695 and Hwy. 140.

On the old WFBR site ,it was fun looking at the two towers today on " google streetview" , one chopped down to less then half its original height , wonder why they are still there, in use for cellular now ???
If you look at historicalaerials.com you can see the two towers sitting in the water in 1971 ,then in 1994 there are boat docks there.

Al

The first comment contains an inquiry as to what other Balto stations played top 40 in the early days. I was in the city in 1959, and once had a Top 60 Music Survey sheet from WFBR that year ... the station drifted away from Top 40 toward MoR shortly afterward, though it came back to Top 40 later. WITH 1230 was one of the early purveyors of Top 40, but threw in the towel around 1965-66 in favor of easy listening. WWIN 1400 was top 40 around 1961, but it wisely switched to soul about 2-3 years later, once they realized that in a town with significant black population, the only black stations were daytimers (WSID 1010 and WEBB 1360). That's also the apparent explanation as to why WITH, even when it was a straight-ahead top 40, had a black DJ in the 7 to midnight shift, presumably to pick up those listeners cast adrift at daytimer sign-off. Keep in mind WITH and WWIN were Class-IV stations, which meant limited signal, confined pretty much to only the inner-city after dark.

As for WCAO: it was one of 5 stations in the Plough chain ... others were Memphis, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston ... all 5 were top 40 in the early days, though a couple of them changed to country in the mid-60s. Plough's primary business was manufacturing pharmaceuticals, but had the radio stations as a sideline ... clever way of getting free advertising for your products.

With Wolfman Jack's flamethrower across most of North America (imagine only 50,000 watts at the time from XERB) it was a wonder any stations were coming in very clearly, any time after dark. But then, it was AM.

Silkie said:

With Wolfman Jack's flamethrower across most of North America (imagine only 50,000 watts at the time from XERB) it was a wonder any stations were coming in very clearly, any time after dark. But then, it was AM.

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Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't get how the foregoing comment is relevant to this topic. Moreover, XERB, at 1090 on the dial, regardless of its 50 kw power, did not get anywhere near Baltimore, MD ... and lest we forget, that city is the home of its own 50 kw 1090 station ... WBAL.

Created different post below.

J Alex Bowab said:

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't get how the foregoing comment is relevant to this topic. Moreover, XERB, at 1090 on the dial, regardless of its 50 kw power, did not get anywhere near Baltimore, MD ... and lest we forget, that city is the home of its own 50 kw 1090 station ... WBAL.

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I listened to Wolfman Jack in the Baltimore area with my transistor radio tucked under my pillow. And I listened to him on WCAO. Beyond that I will not go into don't tell me what I listened to, what I heard, what I was able to hear, etc.

Maybe Wolfman was heard in Baltimore when he was on XERF (circa 1963) ... but XERB's DA pattern (away from the east coast) and the presence of WBAL raise a lot of doubts about this occurring on 1090. WBAL in the old days - like many 24 hour AM stations - went off Sunday midnite to Monday sunup. Maybe, just maybe, one could hear something else on 1090 during that 5-6 hour period, one night a week; but otherwise, forget it.

Maybe we should be talking about a Wolfman syndicated show that could be heard who-knows-where.

X - deleted

DavidEduardo said:

But you did not refer to WCAO. You spoke about XERB, and said "With Wolfman Jack's flamethrower across most of North America (imagine only 50,000 watts at the time from XERB) "

XERB, for a variety of reasons, was not receivable in Baltimore. So mentioning listening to the Wolfman and mentioning XERB makes the post confusing.

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Wolfman Jack was receivable in Baltimore, on WCAO, and he was in Mexico, and he was on XERB. Are you saying he was syndicated during the week during the 60s?

alok said:

too Euclid and fybush,

that is the WCAO & WFBR tower sites I was thinking of ,it looks like there is now a Target Store there ,where the old WCAO site was at ... I-695 and Hwy. 140.

On the old WFBR site ,it was fun looking at the two towers today on " google streetview" , one chopped down to less then half its original height , wonder why they are still there, in use for cellular now ???
If you look at historicalaerials.com you can see the two towers sitting in the water in 1971 ,then in 1994 there are boat docks there.

Al

Click to expand...

No, that's not where the old WCAO site was located, but you're close. It was on Park Heights Avenue just inside the Beltway. An expensive housing subdivision is there now. The road that goes from Park Heights Avenue to the Stevenson Road Beltway east entrance bordered the site and was called Radio Tower Road. After WCAO left, it was renamed Brooks Robinson Way.

Speaking of that Target store, the tower just behind it, which was built for WBJC-FM, also holds the antenna for 102.7, which at one time was WCAO-FM.

I came across a 1985 Orioles media guide listing WFBR as their flagship (and channel 2 as their OTA TV flagship).

IIRC 'FBR carried the O's from around 1979-1986, which means the station was there for the 1979 pennant season, Cal's sort-of debut year of '82 (sort-of because Ripken actually came up right after the strike in '81 and was ROTY in '82 when he began his streak), and the WC season of 1983.

ixnay