Stopped the bleeding? Is this an opinion based on your personal preferences, or fact?
I'd like to concentrate on just this one comment because I will respond with a rather detailed analysis. The word "bleeding" probably conveys an image that was not my intent. In this case and time, bleeding was not hemorrhaging but a slow, chipping away at AM music's share of the audience, especially evening hours.
Long before the internet, we got our news from TV and the newspapers, and word of mouth. As an avid listener of WABC, I had insights to the station through a number of sources in addition to listening attentively. The "New York Daily News" was quite good in covering radio. Whenever radio ratings came out, there was a story about it. They featured various radio personalities etc. I cut out these stories and had them, by date order, in a big binder. It may have primitive compared to today, but over time, it was a good way to see trends.
In 1984, PD Rick Sklar published a book called "Rocking America, an insider's story." I've referred to that book so often that it is literally falling apart today. While there are embellishments of certain things and incorrect statements, I still find the book fascinating about the business side of radio. I might also add that when my sister got herself an intern position at WPLJ, she became very good friends with one of the WABC engineers. I'll just use his first name - David. Ultimately, I became good friends with him as well. He doesn't live too far from me today as he is retired and lives in West Palm. He engineered for virtually everybody at WABC and he gave me lots of insights and stories about WABC, including George Michael. The engineering team wasn't too fond of George at all because he was beyond being a stickler for precision.
To best explain my previous commentary, especially in how it relates to Bruce Morrow's departure and eventual hiring of George Michael, a good place to start is in the ratings. According to Rick, Bruce averaged a 21 share of the audience in the late 60s, such as 1968. Yes, FM stations existed but only luxury cars had FM and simply FM's time had still not arrived. In 1970, WABC was #1 in every single demo under the sun, including 65+. Imagine that! Musically, 1970 was an incredibly great year in that it defined mass appeal to a tee. There was something for everybody. The Carpenters came on the music scene including The Jackson 5. Even Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" got airplay. That was also the year WABC became the only stand-alone AM Top 40 station. WMCA bit the dust in September of that year. Cousin Brucie was still very much on top of his game.
Competition not only increased and got fine-tuned on FM, but challenges arose even on AM. There was WWDJ from Hackensack, NJ. A small station but for some New Jerseyans, it was nice having a local station. WNBC-AM was a long-time MOR kind of station. Things started to change. Don Imus was brought on for morning drive. In 1973, Wolfman Jack was hired to compete with Bruce. WNBC promoted this heavily. Wolfman never really dented Bruce's numbers but as I recall reading, probably in the Daily News, Bruce's stock dropped a bit. It was inevitable because of competition from AM AND especially FM.
To quote Rick, he said " The night ratings were still number one, but now WNBC mounted a major campaign against Morrow....I heard Wolfman's show and knew it would never be a threat. I was more concerned about the FM challenges to our nighttime audience." Rick became concerned that Bruce's attention and focus was not on his show. To paraphrase, Rick would often find Bruce on the phone talking business while his engineer tended to the show. There was less participation from Bruce.
Rick had to turn things around. He wrote: My concern was that if Bruce didn't deliver, WABC would lose the nighttime ratings - and it wouldn't be to NBC. I had to get him back on track." That's when Bruce's contract was reopened as Rick wanted his compensation to be tied to ratings. Bruce negotiated a deal at WNBC, and with his contract opened, he could leave - and he did in 1974. On a personal note, I lost a lot of respect for Bruce. My two cents is WABC was very good to him and made him a star.
In my previous post, I talked about how I noticed Bruce's on air enthusiasm etc. had changed. On Saturday nights, Bruce did a dance party oldies kind of show. He was alive and kickin' in that venue. They mixed the currents with lots of gold. For a short time, the weekday shows added more solid gold, perhaps as a way to placate Bruce but that didn't last long. 70s teens were probably not interested in hearing lots of oldies all the time. It may have been one more incentive to tune into FM.
It was a fascinating time for sure. So, George Michael was hired to do the impossible. But as far as bleeding goes, George was a band-aid. Some of the bleeding stopped that may have been superficial but we can say with each passing year, the bleeding got more serious. I don't expect everyone to appreciate a jock's on-air style. Perhaps there were dozens of talent who could have performed better. But, I will always believe George gave it his best and that's what those times required. He delivered.
And he also left Chicago for a while.