Morning shows and Top 40

Today I was looking through some articles about legendary rock/R&B DJs, and noticed a lot of them (from Murray the K to John R) did night and overnight shifts. That surprised me, since virtually all DJs today see the morning shift as the prestige shift. So why did so many of the "name" top 40 DJs do late shifts? Who were the first big name top 40 morning hosts, and when did morning shifts become the prestige shift?

installLSC said:

Today I was looking through some articles about legendary rock/R&B DJs, and noticed a lot of them (from Murray the K to John R) did night and overnight shifts. That surprised me, since virtually all DJs today see the morning shift as the prestige shift. So why did so many of the "name" top 40 DJs do late shifts? Who were the first big name top 40 morning hosts, and when did morning shifts become the prestige shift?

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A lot of it has to do with the first tentative steps into R&B and rock and roll...stations that put the "wild stuff" on at night. So the Murray the Ks, John Rs and Wolfman Jacks gained followings...but mostly among teens. As Top 40 became a 24-7 format and expected to make consistent money from advertisers, morning men that could appeal to Mom and Dad as well as the kids became essential...the Robert W. Morgans, Larry Lujacks and Harry Harrisons.

And because there was more money in selling commercials to banks, beers and airlines to an audience that includes a healthy chunk of 25-54 adults than there is in selling spots to record stores and movie studios for an audience of mostly teens, the morning guys were able to command more money. That's where the prestige came in. The night guy on KHJ in the early 70s was making about $45,000 a year. The morning guy, $100,000.

Early big-name Top 40 morning guys would include Gary Owens at KEWB, Oakland and KFWB, Los Angeles. Harry Harrison at WABC, New York. Emperor Bob Hudson at KRLA, Los Angeles. Robert W. Morgan at KHJ, Los Angeles.

After that, the second wave of morning guys would roll in and rule the 70s and early 80s: Charlie Tuna, Charlie Van Dyke, Larry Lujack, Don Imus, Dr. Don Rose and Rick Dees.

installLSC said:

Today I was looking through some articles about legendary rock/R&B DJs, and noticed a lot of them (from Murray the K to John R) did night and overnight shifts. That surprised me, since virtually all DJs today see the morning shift as the prestige shift. So why did so many of the "name" top 40 DJs do late shifts? Who were the first big name top 40 morning hosts, and when did morning shifts become the prestige shift?

Click to expand...

I had never thought of it before, but you're right. When I think of the "legendary" DJs I grew up with in the 60s and early 70s, or at least those I personally consider legendary, I come up with - Robert W. Morgan, The Real Don Steele, Sam Riddle, Emperor Hudson, Gary Owens, Bob Crane, Jimmy Rabbitt, Casey Kasem, Johnny Hayes, B. Mitchell Reed, and The Obscene Steven Clean - only Morgan, Crane, and Hudson were on air in the mornings. I'd consider the jocks on my list "legendary" for different reasons - Johnny Hayes for longevity, Riddle because he was the first LA DJ (that I can remember) to do a TV dance party show in LA, Reed because he was one of the pioneers of FM rock radio, and Owens because he was so damn funny and got famous on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In I'm sure I've missed many.

Morning programs in the 60s and early 70s didn't break format very often - especially not on music-intensive Top 40 radio. Later they did, with comedy, interviews, bits, and schticks taking up much of the morning airtime, and music becoming secondary. But Robert W. Morgan, for example, as great as he was - had to pretty much hue to the music intensive Boss Radio format. He would do short calls with callers, and "Morganize" people, but he had to get most of it done in a few seconds. It was later that morning jocks were given more freedom, and more air time.

Some time in the 80s (don't remember what year), I was listening to Terry McGovern's morning show on K-101, San Francisco. That morning, he called up Rick Dees while he was on the air live at KIIS-FM to congratulate him and admit to envy and jealousy; because Dees had just crossed the $1 million mark in salary, and was reportedly the first radio DJ to do so.

And of course, these days, with voice-tracking becoming more and more dominant in other day-parts, morning drive is often the only place a DJ has the chance to show his talent, or become legendary in any way.

Alan Freed was one of the first of the legendary night DJs. As said earlier, part of the reason was because the music was considered dirty compared to the pop stuff of the time. The other reason was the DJs could buy airtime, sell it themselves, and do whatever they wanted, rather than follow a format. That's what Freed did in Cleveland. He bought a few hours a night on WJW, sold the commercials to a local R&B record store, and played songs the store wanted to sell. He was playing music that was pretty risqué and that attracted a lot of younger listeners. But this wasn't Top 40 music, and there really wasn't a lot of prestige to the shift. It was the best time he could get for what he wanted to do. Even John R and Hoss Allen were on stations that had a different more mainstream format during the day.