ABC Radio Network

[KeithE4]

Did WXLW also air "Arthur Godfrey Time" (it was a live musical variety/talk show geared at the WW2 generation a sure ratings killer for a Top 40 station) or did WXLW simply clear the spots ? If I recall correctly, Godfrey's show was still a staple on CBS radio in the late 60's early 70's.

WXLW did run Godfrey, but his show ended in April 1972. WXLW went Top 40 a few months later (I forget the exact month, but it was at about the same time WFBM 1260 became WNDE and went Top 40 as well).

 

[strato]

I haven't thought of that in years

As a teenager in the 70's

sneeeeeeeeeeeeeeak preview! with Chuck Leonard

For those of us who want to get down to the real nitty-gritty
(aka the pre-Name Game Shirley Ellis ), when did the
pre-1968 single ABC News feed start--:55 straight up?
And when did it end?

The ABC-C feed at :55 was actually a :54:30 start (to :59:30)
as the network needed a short gap between that and the start
of ABC-I at :00:00 (with the TOH time tone of course).

ABC later added a Contemporary News-In-Brief feed at or around
:50:00 which ran--IIRC--1:30. I recall catching the in-brief feed
on WABC in the '70s during the evening.

That was also the era of two ABC-C net short-form features:
Retro Rock and Sneak Preview. Guessing they were fed at
:25 past certain hours, as was "Broach the Coach." A far
sight better demographically than the '60s-era Flair Reports
at :25. (Ohhhh Rob! ;D)

 

[JeffM]

Oldies Man, who started all this, is right; in the Duluth, MN/Superior, WI market, ABC Contemporary ran on WEBC. Information Network was on WAKX, a smaller, daytime-only top 40 station. Entertainment Network, which at least when it started included Don McNeill's "Breakfast Club", ran on WWJC, an otherwise all-Jesus-all-the-time station (also a daytimer). It took a long time for FM to get established here, probably because WEBC jumped head first into FM back in the 40's and got stung.

WWJC, of all stations, was first to try commercial FM in the 60's, with a mix of classical music and some of the AM's dollar-a-holler preachers. They sold the FM after a few years; it became WGGR (elevator music,) then sold again to become WAVC, changed to KKCB (both country.) There were some more FM stations here by the early 70's, and someone did have American FM, but dog gone if I remember who.

I seem to recall at least early on that ABC Info's hourly newscasts ran ten minutes; contrast that with ABC's new dumbed-down one-minute news McNuggets...

 

[FredLeonard]

The grand design was for ABC to have four demographically distinct affiliates in each market. Rarely, could they get all four cleared. All this sounded good in theory but ABC ended up taking what they could get in some markets.
In Detroit, they put Entertainment on WXYZ, then an ABC-owned station. Information ended up on WEXL, a country station. FM went to WOMC, then a beautiful music station. Contemporary was left out.
Back then, a lot of stations didn't want to bother with a network.
At WXYZ, it took them a while for them to figure out what to call the network news. For years, Wixie had promoted itself as ABC and now ABC avoided use of those initials on radio. Also the idea of "Entertainment News" didn't quite work. They just started calling it "network" (not "the network," just "network"), which also sounded strange. But by 1969, WXYZ was in free-fall and ABC ended up unloading it and selling it to the guy from sales who mismanaged the station into oblivion.
Entertainment wasn't really targeted to small market stations but running news on the half hour (directly up against Mutual) and giving Don McNeil and Paul Harvey to Entertainment sort of created that impression.
ABC would have done better if they'd offered a service like UPI Audio, paid for by network advertisers and carried on class A phone lines, letting stations take whatever they wanted as long as they ran the spots.

 

[JeffM]

According to Leonard Goldenson's memoir "Beating The Odds," ABC radio was doing so badly before adopting the multi-network plan that almost anything would have been an improvement. The four-network system quadrupled the inventory of time they could sell to sponsors, and dividing the cost of Telco lines between the four cut delivery costs as they had previously been using the lines only five or ten minutes per hour for the single ABC service.

 

[TheBigA]

But by 1969, WXYZ was in free-fall and ABC ended up unloading it and selling it to the guy from sales...

Actually ABC hung on to the station until 1984.

The four-network system quadrupled the inventory of time they could sell to sponsors, and dividing the cost of Telco lines between the four cut delivery costs as they had previously been using the lines only five or ten minutes per hour for the single ABC service.

One obstacle to the system was the law preventing one company from owning multiple networks. In 1943, the FCC forced the break-up of the NBC Red and Blue networks, and ABC was very concerned that their new system would be subject to the same law. They got a waiver from the FCC by running the networks on a single phone line. They later added two more networks, making a total of six. Mutual got into the act as well, launching the Mutual Black Network in 1972. A few years later NBC launched The Source, a young adult network.

Satellite broadcasting changed it all in 1980, when radio networks were no longer restricted by phone lines.

 

[FredLeonard]

According to Leonard Goldenson's memoir "Beating The Odds," ABC radio was doing so badly before adopting the multi-network plan that almost anything would have been an improvement. The four-network system quadrupled the inventory of time they could sell to sponsors, and dividing the cost of Telco lines between the four cut delivery costs as they had previously been using the lines only five or ten minutes per hour for the single ABC service.

Even so, none of the four "networks" had anywhere near the cume (or revenue) of the original ABC Radio Network. And truth be told, nobody was making money in network radio at that point. Paul Harvey and "The Breakfast Club" were cash cows (as was Godfrey for CBS) but not enough to carry the entire operation. ABC originally produced distinct content for each of its four hourly newscasts, each with its own writers, editors and news readers, but eventually ended that practice to cut costs. And although TV news had divorced itself from radio news, radio came increasingly to recycle TV audio.

This was not the first time ABC tried something radical to put some life into their radio network. 10 years earlier, the network hired the O&Os station rep to run the radio network. At the point, ABC was feeding the last vestiges of its old time radio programming. Rep Robert Eastman decided the only thing the network had that was viable was The Breakfast Club. So he decided to clone it and create several clones. They dropped the ABC brand name from the radio network and called themselves "The American Broadcasting Network." Each variety show was fed live and the slogan was "live and lively the American way." Hosts (in addition to Don McNeil) included Herb Oscar Anderson (longtime WABC morning drive host), Jim Backus (Mr. McGoo's voice and The Millionaire on "Gilligan's Island"), Jim Reeves (country singer), and Merv Griffin (later a TV talk-variety host). The Breakfast Club clones were gone in less than a year but one innovation from the era stuck. Each variety show ran 55 minutes. In the final five minutes of the hour, ABC started running hourly newscasts ("live at 55"). NBC was already running hourly newscasts as part of "Monitor" (it's weekend show) but ABC was first to go to hourly news on weekdays. The network variety shows really put a crimp in the owned stations early efforts to develop top 40 or talk formats and local managers (as well as Eastman's rep firm) put some pressure on the corporate to end the experiment.

The variety shows were replaced with a more feature oriented magazine show called "Flair," hosted by Dick Van Dyke. ABC allowed the stations to run "Flair" as a single 55 minute show or run individual segments as hourly features. Van Dyke left to trip over ottomans and then Flair morphed into just hourly features with more of news edge called "Flair Reports," in competition with CBS' "Dimension" and NBC's "Emphasis." Flair Reports' hosts included Ted Koppel (who stayed with ABC), Charles Osgood (who moved to help launch WCBS as an all news station and then started doing a feature for the CBS Radio Network) and Lou Adler (moved to teaching at Quinnipiac University). Flair Reports died with the four network concept. A truncated version of The Breakfast Club, moved to a later hour and retitled "The Don McNeil Show" continued for another year, nominally part of the Entertainment Network (but available to existing affiliates who chose another network and wanted to continue the show). Part of the problem was ABC could have only one show airing in a market at any one time. So FM News skipped an hour for McNeil's show and the show was shortened to allow regular newscasts from Information, Entertainment and Contemporary. And the show could be aired on tape delay if another station in the market was running one of ABC's newscasts during that time period.

Now you know, the rest of the story.

 

[FredLeonard]

Actually ABC hung on to the station until 1984.

Actually? I didn't give dates but otherwise it's what I said. But the station started slipping when Hal Neal left for New York. Dick Purtan managed to slow the slide for a time but was a brief exception that proved the rule.

 

[TheBigA]

But the station started slipping when Hal Neal left for New York. Dick Purtan managed to slow the slide for a time but was a brief exception that proved the rule.

Or one could say the station faced stronger competition from other stronger, better Top 40 stations, like CKLW. Purtan moved to CK in 1978. By then, AM Top 40 radio was dying, and both stations were toast. At the same time, network radio's reliance on AM stations was slowly killing it. That changed in the late 70s as new syndicators, aiming programming at FM stations, came in. Although ABC, NBC and later CBS started FM networks, they were still heavily invested in old style AM broadcasting, and that was a pretty big weight to drag around.

 

[DavidEduardo]

But by 1969, WXYZ was in free-fall and ABC ended up unloading it and selling it to the guy from sales who mismanaged the station into oblivion.

Chuck Fritz took over the station in late 1984 when it had a multi-book average of a 3.3 and he paid $3 million for it. He sold it to to Infinity in 1994 when it had a 5.0 share. He was rewarded for "mismanag(ing) the station into oblivion" with a $23 million dollar check from Mel.

You really need to start checking your facts. You got the sale date from ABC wrong, as BigA pointed out, and you got the post-ABC trajectory totally backwards.

 

[JeffM]

Re Fred Leonard's comment on "The American Broadcasting Network"...ABC seems to have had an awkward time with their own name over the years. During the last years of dramatic radio, they tried dropping "the" from their ID, resulting in "This is...ABC...Radio Network!" Sounded like Tarzan or Tonto was doing the announcing.

When the four-way split came, the nets were identified on-air as "American Entertainment Radio," etc. rather than ABC. Of course this was in the days when ABC was joked about as the "Almost a Broadcasting Company." Re Big A's comment on Mutual, in addition to their Black Network, they also offered a Spanish-speaking service for a while. (Mutual always ID'd themselves by their full name or as "Mutual," they rarely if ever used their initials as did the other networks.)

 

[FredLeonard]

Or one could say the station faced stronger competition from other stronger, better Top 40 stations, like CKLW. Purtan moved to CK in 1978. By then, AM Top 40 radio was dying, and both stations were toast. At the same time, network radio's reliance on AM stations was slowly killing it. That changed in the late 70s as new syndicators, aiming programming at FM stations, came in. Although ABC, NBC and later CBS started FM networks, they were still heavily invested in old style AM broadcasting, and that was a pretty big weight to drag around.

Wixie ceased to be a top 40 station in 1967. It was MOR from that time until Purtan. They brought in a PD from another MOR station (WCAR, then 1150) and a morning team from Cleveland (Martin and Howard). Wixie was done in as a top 40 station by Keener 13, a station with a weaker, worse signal. A signal so poor East of Woodward that when 1310 (then called WKMH) carried the Tiger games (the station owner was part owner of the team) they had to put the day games also on WJBK 1500 and night games also on WJR. It's last owner (CCI) shut it down and the station went silent. And Keener beat the pants off Wixie in the mid 60s. CK hiring Drake was the final nail. And Purtan was doing mornings at Keener during this "golden age" period (until his brief visit to Bal'mer). Ironically, during the early to mid 60's, WXYZ top 40 2.0 had two alumni from 1310: Dave Prince (PM drive) and Lee Allen (evenings and later PD).

Regardless, Wixie was vulnerable. It was not a clean execution of 60s AM top 40 (as Keener was). Yes, they were saddled with the Breakfast Club and ABC's evening news block but so were WABC, WLS and KQV and those stations managed to work around those defects and have a sharp sound the rest of the time. WLS was able to compete effectively with Ken Draper's WCFL (an outstanding top 40 station, and it was saddled with Mutual). Wixie was cluttered, too busy, not smooth. Their response to competition was to throw more junk into the format: Chicken Man, traffic reports... After MOR, they tried talk and eventually sports. But they could never get their act together. Then management gave the historic call letters to TV and the station that produced the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet and Challenge of the Yukon (Sgt. Preston) finally died.

 

[TheBigA]

Then management gave the historic call letters to TV and the station that produced the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet and Challenge of the Yukon (Sgt. Preston) finally died.

I don't recall it happening that way. Management didn't "give" the call letters to anyone. ABC RETAINED the WXYZ call letters, just as Disney has retained the WABC, KABC, and WLS call letters. Disney currently leases those letters to Cumulus. Truthfully, the station that created the radio drama of the 30s had died many years earlier. It was a founding station of the Mutual network, and that aspect died when it was sold to ABC in 1948.

 

[DavidEduardo]

After MOR, they tried talk and eventually sports. But they could never get their act together. Then management gave the historic call letters to TV and the station that produced the Lone Ranger, the Green Hornet and Challenge of the Yukon (Sgt. Preston) finally died.

You have the timeline wrong. WXYZ went talk well before the sale to Chuck Fritz in 1984. It changed calls upon the sale, since ABC at that time did not want a separately owned station using "their" calls. It continued as a talker under Fritz, evolving later to sports.

 

[DavidEduardo]

They brought in a PD from another MOR station (WCAR, then 1150)

WCAR was originally on 1100 as a 1 kw daytimer in Pontiac. With the NARBA reassignments of early 1941, it was moved to 1130 where it stayed. When it transformed to 50 kw and moved to Detroit, in the very early 50's, WCAR was on 1130. It was never on 1150 in the 60's.

The 1150 station that moved to 1130 was WISN in Milwaukee, not the Detroit station. WCAR was not on 1150

 

[FredLeonard]

WCAR was originally on 1100 as a 1 kw daytimer in Pontiac. With the NARBA reassignments of early 1941, it was moved to 1130 where it stayed. When it transformed to 50 kw and moved to Detroit, in the very early 50's, WCAR was on 1130. It was never on 1150 in the 60's.

The 1150 station that moved to 1130 was WISN in Milwaukee, not the Detroit station. WCAR was not on 1150

Typo: Yes, WCAR was 1130. Or perhaps MOR and 1130 are more strongly associated in my memory with WNEW.

Chuck Fritz took over the station in late 1984

"Took over" as owner. He'd been running the station for nearly a quarter century at that point. The "trajectory" I described was not post-ABC and was on his watch as GM.

I don't recall it happening that way. Management didn't "give" the call letters to anyone. ABC RETAINED the WXYZ call letters, just as Disney has retained the WABC, KABC, and WLS call letters. Disney currently leases those letters to Cumulus. Truthfully, the station that created the radio drama of the 30s had died many years earlier. It was a founding station of the Mutual network, and that aspect died when it was sold to ABC in 1948.

BigA: The owner of both WXYZ and WXYZ-TV was ABC. They (pronoun referring to ABC if you note the context of the earlier post) kept the calls with TV. WXYZ was never a shareholder in Mutual. They had a contract to provide the Lone Ranger to Mutual. They took programming from Mutual briefly and dropped it to take NBC (Blue). For the next few years, until the contract was up, WXYZ fed the Lone Ranger to Mutual, which was heard locally on CKLW (which was a Mutual shareholder). King-Trendle Broadcasting sold WXYZ to ABC in 1948 but retained ownership of the Lone Ranger, which WXYZ continued to produce until 1954. While WXYZ was an ABC-owned station during the late 40s and early 50s, it fed programs to ABC, Mutual, the CBC Dominion Network and the Michigan Radio Network until 1956 (Sgt. Preston carried by Mutual and heard locally on CKLW). That station did not die in 1948; many of the same people remained on staff through the 60s and 70s. Wixie was a union shop and they (whoever you want "they" to be) couldn't fire people so easily.

My main point stands: Wixie was a once great station with a long period of decline. I trust that statement is straight-forward enough so you can't twist it to suit yourselves.


If you care to do your homework, I recommend David Carson's "Rockin' Down the Dial" and Dick Osgood's "Wixie Wonderland."

 

[TheBigA]

They (pronoun referring to ABC if you note the context of the earlier post) kept the calls with TV.

I agree with that phrasing. I disagree with your previous phrasing.

WXYZ was never a shareholder in Mutual. They had a contract to provide the Lone Ranger to Mutual.

There's no question that WXYZ was one of the founding stations of Mutual, along with WOR New York, WLW Cincinnati, and WGN Chicago. All four of those radio stations were independently owned. Mutual didn't get into station ownership until much later. The four first got together for the Quality Network in 1929, and then organized into Mutual in 1934. The two primary shareholders were WOR and WGN, but WXYZ and WLW were still a part of the original group. You are correct that WXYZ left the group in 1935, and the Lone Ranger remained on Mutual through 1942. But the station wasn't owned by ABC until 1948. You characterized WXYZ as the station that produced several radio dramas. That role for the station as an independent producer of radio drama died long before its sale to Fritz.

 

[DavidEduardo]

"Took over" as owner. He'd been running the station for nearly a quarter century at that point. The "trajectory" I described was not post-ABC and was on his watch as GM.

As GM, Fritz was bound by the same constraints as the managers of other ABC O&O stations. That includes the network programming in the 60's and the corporate dictates in the 70's and 80's. Add in the fact that the station had a limited signal... a fact made worse when Arbitron became currency and imposed an expanded MSA definition... and the O&O we can best compare with is KXYZ in Houston (KQV has such immense signal issues that any programming comparison is near-irrelevant).

While Fritz made the most of the ABC inclination towards talk, KXYZ couldn't make it work in Houston despite having arguably a slightly better signal. KXYZ ended up going all Spanish, the only such case in a former ABC O&O. So Fritz did do a good job of making WxYZ perform given the limitations. And once he was unfettered by ABC corporate mandates, he improved the ratings and revenues significantly.

If you look at the period from 1975 to 1985, you can see how many of those once-successful high-band regional channel stations with a Top 40 heritage just died. Examples range from KGB and WHK to KRUX, WEAM, WLCY, WPOP, KQV (another ABC alumnus), WHHY, KCPX, KENO, WIFE, KOIL, KLEO, WAVZ, WSAI and WMAK. WXYZ, under Fritz, did a lot better than most of those top half of the dial stations with similar heritage.

 

[FredLeonard]

Hal Neal was bound by those same constraints when he was at Wixie, and when he moved to WABC (and Fritz took over). Arguably, the constraints were greater in New York with corporate right there watching. But WABC thrived though the 60s and into the 70s; Wixie slid downhill. Yes, AM top 40 was not destined to last forever but top 40 Wixie died before it's time.

 

[TheBigA]

Arguably, the constraints were greater in New York with corporate right there watching. But WABC thrived though the 60s and into the 70s;

The difference at WABC was Rick Sklar. Rick fought to get rid of the Breakfast Club and the nightly news block. Rick fought against all the network clutter that was forced on him. Ironically, when Rick attempted to launch SuperRadio in the 80s, he was unable to get his format cleared on ABC O&O stations. The lack of major market clears is what killed the concept before it ever got out of the box.