Questions On 1960-era Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Radio

[Steve Green NEPA]

See, out little group of DXers heard a lot of S/WB radio out on Long Island back
in the prolific DX days. A few of us indeed heard, at one time or
another, each of the AMs in the market. The 'new' ones made it to the
area near Kennedy Airport as well ; WPTS 1540 and 750 from Olyphant, for example.
Even though two of us wound up in radio eventually, at the time we were teens, and
paid virtually no attention to things like ratings. We just wanted our Rascals and Chiffons
and Beatles and Stones coming ut of the transistor speakers. Local WABC seemed to
play three songs all week, and local WMCA was a bit too hokey (yet somehow too
'Manhattan' at the same time) for us kids way out in the country

Well, wife & I have been living here, 120 miles west of JFK, for 20 years now. But with
this great, convenient forum -- especially with the expressed WARM nostalgia -- helping
keep the portable radio dial handy still , I figured to ask of those who *were here* for all of that
radio, say, from around 1962 - 1969, some questions. No doubt most of the blanks of the
puzzle will be filled in.

Even though there are different counties involved here, I'm basing this as questions about
the two main cities mentioned nowadays in the ratings as being one place.

Was WARM indeed *it* for that time frame?
It was by far the most solid Scranton signal near JFK. We'd get them in the DAY, mixing
with WEEI Boston and WROW Albany......

What was the go-to MoR station for the parents?
You know, S/WB's equivelant of WOR or WNEW?
Was there only one big MoR or maybe one for WB and one for Scr? .......

Pooch's parents were both from Scranton. While Moms brought along her love of
doo-wopp/Presley/Liberace/Andy Williams when they moved to Philly, Paul imported
his love of C & W. Figuring him to've been maybe late 20's around 1963, what
station would have been his main dude-ranch sanctuary for that genre ? ......

For rhapsodies amid the elevators in town, was there a Beautiful Music station on AM ? ....

On the a s s umption that WARM had the big morning show : Which show was the
main MoR listen for adults? .......

How much impact did WCDL 1440 have ? I ask because they were quite the regular
nearing sunset on Long Island -- which had its OWN 1440 station!
And a few of us DXers once heard their FM (94.3, was it?) off a portable while we were
on a ski lift in the northeast Catskills ......

Which would have been the first FM station to play contemporary pop (Top 40 or AoR) and
as such would have begun chewing away at the AM music audience? ......

The closest big NYC pop-music signal would have been WABC 770. Did they get any discernable
audience in those days ? ......

Same thing vis-a-vis WOR 710 ......

WBAX used to come in as the 2nd-most steady station on Long Island, after local WGBB
signed off at 1AM. (Mixing with WBAX, not as loud, would be Top 40 WWCO from
Waterbury CT, a station and city that wound up occupying the eastern end of what is now I-84).
Was WBAX as popular in Wilkes-Barre as WARM was in Wilkes-Barre? ....

How well did the stations in Honesdale, Nanticoke and Tunkhannock fare ? ....

Thanks for the time, NEPA radio folks !

 

[Zenith Transoceanic]

That's a lot of explaining, and I have to catch the bus in ten minutes, but the easy one is:
Yes, WARM was "it"! At times, one of every two radio listeners! (Beats WABC's 1/3).
I'll address some of the other questions in a bit.

 

[Zenith Transoceanic]

All fair questions, Steve Green NEPA - but not as easily answered as you might think.

Station formats often jumped around depending on the time of day. WPTS, 1540 Pittston, for example, ran Country and Western with Cranberry Gilroy in the mornings, top 40 from noon 'til 4, and then polkas 'til sign off. Their 1K signal was all right in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, but barely got past Dallas on many days, so for you to have picked them up on Long Island is truly incredible!
The 750 station in Scranton didn't come on 'til the mid-1990s, so I don't know what you were hearing. They ran about 1700 watts.

The beautiful music elevator station would have been WGBI 910 until the mid - 1960s.. In the evening they ran "Supper Time Serenade" full of Montovani, and so on, then went into a news block ending with Lowell Thomas, and then went into "Amos and Andy"! However somewhere around 1965 they dropped all that and became the dude-ranch sanctuary Paul was looking for.

The nearest to WNEW material would have been WNAK 730 out of Nanticoke, if the program director at WNEW had gone all out for John Phillip Sousa on Independence Day and Memorial Day, and thrown in hymns early in the morning and mid-day. Despite rabid editorials at noon that would make the John Birch Society look like liberal pansies, essentially the Frank Sinatra crowd could be found at this spot on the dial, and the station was quite popular among adults.

WBAX was truly the soul of the valley in Wilkes-Barre. It was where you would turn to hear what was going on about town. Johnny Margis and Dick Whitaker (as "the old timer") would kid around a little bit like the current Webster and Nancy on WILK, but music was played. A middle of the road mix of mild rock, country, big band, and novelty. "Speak Up" was on from 10 'til Noon and Jim Ward would take calls about the issues of the day, or just whatever the listeners brought up. Dick Whitaker was on from Noon 'til 3, doing a folksy show with much pontificating between songs by Dick, an avid sports fan, who would get into descriptions of teener league baseball, the NFL, Pocono Downs or offbeat topics from the news.. The music was a mix like what I described for Margis. WBAX would get on kicks and be "Big band" for a while, then top 40, then mor, then it would go back into a mix. Afternoons were mostly music and ads, but in the evening the Night time version of "Speak Up" would come on at 7 or 8, and last 'til 10, when Dolly Holiday would put everyone to sleep for Holiday Inn. Weekends were "Polka Weekend" and that was a wild and somewhat debauched celebration of beer. Heh. The format was very successful, and many times they were biting the heels of WARM and WNAK in the ratings, even with a small 1k by day/ 250 watts by night signal. They did remotes from fireman bazarres, department stores, carnivals, hospitals.

WILK was big band until 1968, when they decided to go Top 40.

The WABC signal was audible here on big radios, but on the small transistor radios it was not heard. We weren't really a part of that scene. WARM was popular, but compared to WABC, WMCA, or WFIL, they were amateurs. Locals didn't know the difference.

WCDL had a good signal in Scranton and in Carbondale and Honesdale, but wasn't too strong in Wilkes-Barre.

WBRE 1340 was popular with adults getting up for work in the morning. Because of its affiliation with channel 28, it was where peple tuned to hear about school closings, what was happening in the world via N BC news, and so on. "Scotts Coffee Shop" featured Joe Scott being convivial and playing mediocre songs from Jack Jones and the like. It was a pleasant and relaxed way to get up to face the day. Other than that , the station was pretty much dead-in-the-water, though at night time they did play relaxing Nat King Cole and Moonlight In Vermont type music, as well as Broadway hits. It was good back ground music for an evening.

Scranton stations WICK and WSCR (later WBQW?) really didn't get into Wilkes-Barre. WICK was definitely elevator music at that time..

One would have to mention WYZZ, the FM station at 92.9. They were the classical music source. They were WVIA and NPR before those stations existed, and Dick Evans wanted the world to know that we had CULTURE here in North east Pa. Against unfair odds, he and his engineers pushed for FM stereo and high power with the FCC. FM as it exists today owes much to this station and its engineers. I hear he was a tough man to work for, but he knew what FM should and could be, and we are better for it.

Stations in Tunkhannock and Honesdale served those areas pretty much exclusively.In spite of the bragging, the only area stations that got out well were WARM 590, WEJL 630 (500 watts daytimer) and WNAK 730. WGBI and WILK did all right mid-dial, but were not "huge",


There are stories. Bill Bachman told me once that WBRE (1000/ 250 watts at 1340) was picked up in South Africa. I can't imagine how that happened, but it certainly was a fluke.

Everyone can post now and correct everything I've written here.

One honorable mention: In the 1960s, WSAN 1470 in Allentown went to album rock. Even though that signal wasn't great here, teens tuned in. We had no WNEW-FM or WPL J (WABC FM). The first FM station to play album cuts other than WRKC's ten watt occasional efforts, was what became Rock 107 in their WEJL - FM days, and there were problems with the transmitter at that time. WWDL (105) would play an occasional pop 45, but the first to stick their neck out was WEJL FM.

 

[Zenith Transoceanic]

Here are some minor adjustments to the post above.

WBAX did play some album rock on Friday or Saturday nights (I forget which) in 1969 and 1970 with the show "The Gibbons Experience", which started around 8PM and went 'til Midnight or so.

WGBI - FM (now Froggy) also dipped their toes into that genre with some soft rock from groups like The Association in the early 70s.

WBAX, WILK, 730 in Nanticoke, and WEJL still use the same towers they did in the 1960s, so the patterns are the same, though WBAX now runs 1000 watts full time, and WEJL now runs 2000 watts by day, compared to the 500 they did in the 1960s.
The WGBI tower which was by Davis Street is gone, and 910 now comes off the WEJL tower with a slight drop in power from their signal in the 1960s.

WSCR was quite popular in Scranton, and would have given WARM a run for its money if they had a better signal. They ran 1000 watts by day and 500 (directional) at night.

 

[samliguori]

Here are some minor adjustments to the post above.

WBAX did play some album rock on Friday or Saturday nights (I forget which) in 1969 and 1970 with the show "The Gibbons Experience", which started around 8PM and went 'til Midnight or so.

WGBI - FM (now Froggy) also dipped their toes into that genre with some soft rock from groups like The Association in the early 70s.

WBAX, WILK, 730 in Nanticoke, and WEJL still use the same towers they did in the 1960s, so the patterns are the same, though WBAX now runs 1000 watts full time, and WEJL now runs 2000 watts by day, compared to the 500 they did in the 1960s.
The WGBI tower which was by Davis Street is gone, and 910 now comes off the WEJL tower with a slight drop in power from their signal in the 1960s.

WSCR was quite popular in Scranton, and would have given WARM a run for its money if they had a better signal. They ran 1000 watts by day and 500 (directional) at night.

you have a pretty good memory zenith transoceaanic...dick whitaker as the old man under the market st. bridge,by the way his wife carol did news at wbax for a while. the gibbons experience was on the weekend for gibbons beer, and jack flynn i believe ran that show. i know when i was doing the polka weekend for gibbons he would come in the control room and set up all his music with candles to give it some atmosphere along with that smelly stuff. also on wbax they had the swap shop that always did well with calls, and the ratings. wpts also did well in some books too. the country show with jerry gilroy was a very popular show, as was joe tipton and his polka show. i know this about the two stations because i worked at both. both bill bachman, and paul grimes were fired by jim ward when they both worked at bax, because they made fun of jims buckskin jim show late at night,and yes jim was tuned in at the time...enjoyed your post..sam

 

[Zenith Transoceanic]

Thank you Sam! You are the one who lived all this! I was just sitting at home twisting the dial!

You and Jim were NEPA's best answer to "Klavan and Finch"!

Steve Green NEPA and the rest of us are honored to have you here in our midst.

I'd love to hear anything you care to add.

 

[samliguori]

Thank you Sam! You are the one who lived all this! I was just sitting at home twisting the dial!

You and Jim were NEPA's best answer to "Klavan and Finch"!

Steve Green NEPA and the rest of us are honored to have you here in our midst.

I'd love to hear anything you care to add.

thank you...putting jim and myself along side of gene klavan and dee finch from 1130am WNEW N.Y. is an honor. jim always seemed to come up with promotions, and ideas to get the radio audience to tune in. i must say working for wpts, warm, and wsjr...in my 45 years of broadcasting, i loved working at wbax the most..johnny margis, jones evans,joey shaver, dick whitaker, who started local talk with speak up by talking about the yankees roger maris, and mickey mantle. i dont want to bore readers about my time in radio,but i must say..for a guy who just got married, and had no radio background, and worked in a dress factory, i enjoyed every minute i had on the air. met alot of great talent,and good people,most of them are gone now,and yes there were good times, and alot of bad times,but id do it all over again...forgive me if i misspelled some words, this getting old is a pain in the butt..sam...

 

[Zenith Transoceanic]

Well said.

RIP Jim
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKrNIZqURvo

 

[samliguori]

thank you for the buckskin jim memory..when he was doing that show at wilk channel 34 back then, i was still in high school.someday i will tell the story about the big round barrel on the set. it involved roy morgan jr. me, and a few others. roy and i were in the same class at forty fort high school. the morgan family ran wilk at that time.

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

This is terrific stuff, folks. I *knew* I could count on youses!

If I may, a few additional DX and listening muses ......

I got a WILK card as a reception verification from right around the time they played Top 40 (at least at night).
But iIrc, it was more from like 1964. And the person who signed the verie said they 'were never a rock and roll radio station.' !! Huh? .......

WCDL indeed was a regular sunset catch, Zenith. Long Island's WBAB 1440 used to sign off fifteen minutes before WCDL did. There were two closer 1440 stations (WMVB from south Jersey and WBIS from Bristol CT) but they both were directional away from where we listened Primarily, those two stations protected at least one station each on 1450 ......

Yes, the reception of 750 from Olyphant was an after-the-fact DX session, Zenith. By that, I mean long after I'd moved from Long Island. Every trip we take to see friends there, though, I still tote a radio and a casette deck ......

On WSAN and their album/progressive stage : A year ago we were driving to the Catskills for Thanksgiving in a rented car with a pretty good AM radio. East of Scranton on I-84 I checked to see if WGMF 1460 was indeed on. They had been having some signal problems.
Heck, WGMF used to be Da Bomb along that stretch, almost to Port Jervis, back when they were country.
Well, WGMF was there. They sounded as though they were running 2% modulation, though.
Next door to them was, loud and clarion, WSAN. They're now Fox Sports, of course.
Both the older coverage map I have and the Radio-Locator map * do * have WSAN sending a bloop or two of back-signal wattage that way, a bit more generous than a lot of the directional regionals are allowed to send. That college-age listening crowd in Scr/WB must have been pretty effective passing along that AoR buzz ......

Cannot remember if it was WICK 1400 or WBRE 1340 as the last one our little crew of four heard on Long Island. You NEPA folks are pretty high up there, and so the signals just simply fell off on their way to the 100-mile long sandbox of Long Island ....

Once more: Thank you very much for all that history!