I first came to the New York area in 1971. Here are some of my memories of the AM dial during that time. Some of the details may be a little fuzzy, but here we go:
570 – WMCA – All talk format. I don’t remember any of the names, except for one very controversial guy by the name of Malachi McCourt.
620 – WVNJ – Beautiful music, and/or MOR. Sister station was WVNJ-FM (100.3).
660 – WNBC – Top 40 but on the easy listening side, at least for a time. W-N-BC. Brought in Bruce Morrow (“Cousin Brucie”) from rival WABC. Also Wolfman Jack, and of course Don Imus, who came from WGAR Cleveland. Sister station was WNBC-FM (97.1).
710 – WOR – Legendary talk station. Mostly I remember Jean Shepherd. The guy could talk about anything and make it interesting. (He was the narrator of the movie “A Christmas Story.”). Their sister station was WOR-FM (Later WXLO and WRKS) (98.7).
770 – WABC – Legendary top-40 station. Herb Oscar Anderson, Harry Harrison, Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, Chuck Leonard, Jay Reynolds... In 1969, Roby Yonge famously broke format when he started discussing the “Paul (McCartney) Is Dead” controversy overnight. He was fired on the spot when then_PD Rick Sklar was able to get to the station. Sister station WPLJ (95.5).
830 – WNYC – New York’s NPR station. Moved to 820 in 1990. Sister station WNYC-FM (93.9).
880 – WCBS – All news, mostly unchanged. Sister station WCBS-FM (101.1).
930 – WPAT – Out of Paterson. They were easy listening as far as I can remember. Sister station WPAT-FM (93.1). At one time their slogan was 93 AM, 93 FM.
970 – WWDJ – Hackesack. Formerly WJRZ. Top 40 until they switched to a Christian format in 1974. Home of Bwana Johnny. A running joke was that the calls stood for "World’s Worst Disk Jockeys."
1010 – WINS – Like WCBS, they were all news. Mostly unchanged.
1050 – WHN – MOR, Country, a mix of formats. I remember at one point they ran the same Heller jingle package used by WVBF in Boston, complete with “Eeeeelectronic Mama”.
1130 – WNEW – Easy listening, MOR, before going all-news and becoming WBBM. Sister station was WNEW-FM (102.7).
1190 – WLIB – Urban programming. They were a daytimer, until they bought WOWO (Ft. Wayne, IN) for the sole purpose of reducing WOWO’s nightime power in order to themselves be allowed to operate at night.
1280 – WADO – Spanish.
1330 – WEVD/WPOW – These two shared the frequency. I believe they were a mix of religious/ethnic. WEVD’s sister station was WEVD-FM (97.9).
1380 – WBNX/WAWZ – Another shared frequency between WAWZ (Zarephath, NJ) and WBNX. I know WAWZ was a Christian station and their FM was WAWZ-FM (99.1)
1430 – WNJR – Newark. They were urban at the time.
1480 – WHOM. Spanish. Sister station was WHOM-FM (92.3).
1560 – WQXR – Classical. Their sister station was WQXR-FM (96.3).
1600 – WWRL – Urban programming,sister station WBLS (107.5).
570 – WMCA – All talk format. I don’t remember any of the names, except for one very controversial guy by the name of Malachi McCourt.
620 – WVNJ – Beautiful music, and/or MOR. Sister station was WVNJ-FM (100.3).
660 – WNBC – Top 40 but on the easy listening side, at least for a time. W-N-BC. Brought in Bruce Morrow (“Cousin Brucie”) from rival WABC. Also Wolfman Jack, and of course Don Imus, who came from WGAR Cleveland. Sister station was WNBC-FM (97.1).
710 – WOR – Legendary talk station. Mostly I remember Jean Shepherd. The guy could talk about anything and make it interesting. (He was the narrator of the movie “A Christmas Story.”). Their sister station was WOR-FM (Later WXLO and WRKS) (98.7).
770 – WABC – Legendary top-40 station. Herb Oscar Anderson, Harry Harrison, Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, Chuck Leonard, Jay Reynolds... In 1969, Roby Yonge famously broke format when he started discussing the “Paul (McCartney) Is Dead” controversy overnight. He was fired on the spot when then_PD Rick Sklar was able to get to the station. Sister station WPLJ (95.5).
830 – WNYC – New York’s NPR station. Moved to 820 in 1990. Sister station WNYC-FM (93.9).
880 – WCBS – All news, mostly unchanged. Sister station WCBS-FM (101.1).
930 – WPAT – Out of Paterson. They were easy listening as far as I can remember. Sister station WPAT-FM (93.1). At one time their slogan was 93 AM, 93 FM.
970 – WWDJ – Hackesack. Formerly WJRZ. Top 40 until they switched to a Christian format in 1974. Home of Bwana Johnny. A running joke was that the calls stood for "World’s Worst Disk Jockeys."
1010 – WINS – Like WCBS, they were all news. Mostly unchanged.
1050 – WHN – MOR, Country, a mix of formats. I remember at one point they ran the same Heller jingle package used by WVBF in Boston, complete with “Eeeeelectronic Mama”.
1130 – WNEW – Easy listening, MOR, before going all-news and becoming WBBM. Sister station was WNEW-FM (102.7).
1190 – WLIB – Urban programming. They were a daytimer, until they bought WOWO (Ft. Wayne, IN) for the sole purpose of reducing WOWO’s nightime power in order to themselves be allowed to operate at night.
1280 – WADO – Spanish.
1330 – WEVD/WPOW – These two shared the frequency. I believe they were a mix of religious/ethnic. WEVD’s sister station was WEVD-FM (97.9).
1380 – WBNX/WAWZ – Another shared frequency between WAWZ (Zarephath, NJ) and WBNX. I know WAWZ was a Christian station and their FM was WAWZ-FM (99.1)
1430 – WNJR – Newark. They were urban at the time.
1480 – WHOM. Spanish. Sister station was WHOM-FM (92.3).
1560 – WQXR – Classical. Their sister station was WQXR-FM (96.3).
1600 – WWRL – Urban programming,sister station WBLS (107.5).