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Philadelphis Radioi Ratings In The 60s ?

Steve Green NEPA

Steve Green NEPA

On another thread here on R-D, the subject of Mom-and-Pop local radio in outlying cities was posed .... the pros and cons and the obstacles. On the thread I listed several such stations to've served their communities in the early-mid Sixties.

It got me wondering about the success -- not financial but ratings-wise -- about similar AM stations with out of town COLs, in other markets, such as Philadelphia.

I'm just guessing, but I suspect that the old WKDN Camden on 800, or the old WCAM Camden on 1310 might have made a dent or two back 'in the day'. Add to that WNAR 1110 Norristown, WXUR 690 Media, maybe WJJZ 1460 Mt. Holly, WBCB 1490 Fairless Hills, WBUX 1570 Doylestown, and WVCH 740 plus WEEZ 1590 from Chester.
Of those nine, six were strict daytimers during that era. But the time frame still was largely before FM.

Anyone here know? Or where I might find out ?
 
Steve Green NEPA said:
On another thread here on R-D, the subject of Mom-and-Pop local radio in outlying cities was posed .... the pros and cons and the obstacles. On the thread I listed several such stations to've served their communities in the early-mid Sixties.

It got me wondering about the success -- not financial but ratings-wise -- about similar AM stations with out of town COLs, in other markets, such as Philadelphia.

I'm just guessing, but I suspect that the old WKDN Camden on 800, or the old WCAM Camden on 1310 might have made a dent or two back 'in the day'. Add to that WNAR 1110 Norristown, WXUR 690 Media, maybe WJJZ 1460 Mt. Holly, WBCB 1490 Fairless Hills, WBUX 1570 Doylestown, and WVCH 740 plus WEEZ 1590 from Chester.
Of those nine, six were strict daytimers during that era. But the time frame still was largely before FM.
Click to expand...

Let me guess... I guess three of the daytimers were WKDN, WNAR, and WVCH, and what were the other three?

ixnay
 
WBUX 1570 started out as a daytimer that closed up shop at night to protect XERF in Mexico (long before The Wall :). Or perhaps to give way to the grandfathered treaty station CKLM Montreal. WXUR 690 locked the doors at sunset because CBF Montreal owned the frequency at night.
WJJZ 1460 Mt. Holly began as a 5000-watt directional daytimer. Wow, were they tough to hear back in the DXing days near JFK Airport. I've caught them up here quite loud after sunrise in PA atop the frequency, using their current calls WIFI.

https://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WIFI&service=AM&h=D

Though they're no longer there, I remember WJJZ My Holly broadcasting from 4 sticks on an island in the Delaware River. One of the nulls was away from our semi-local WVOX New Rochelle NY.

We're between Hazleton and Pottsville at upper left on the map.

I doubt 1460 Mt. Holly ever showed in a Philadelphia ratings book. Nor any of the Trenton stations.
WCOJ Coatesville 1420 used to show reglarly, though. point 4, point 5.
 
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In the early 80s, toward the end of its run, WJJZ 1460 Mt Holly had a pretty poor signal in Camden and Philly compared to the other suburban AMs. There have been stories told in different venues about the disrepair of the 1460 antenna/transmitter plant in the 70s and 80s.

As you mention, WIFI Florence is a different facility than the old WJJZ 1460, sharing only its frequency. When I last checked WIFI's signal a few years ago, it was almost non-existent in Camden. Even with WPAM gone out your way, you'd probably have a tough time DXing WIFI before sunset since they shoot most of their signal toward Long Beach Island, away from Schuylkill County.
 
Hya 1310 ....

Yup; those were daytimers allright. I had been looking for stations not licensed to PHL, though.

During the day we DXers near JFK were able to hear every Philly-licensed AM station except for WDAS and WHAT. Those two were nighttime catches -- and tough ones. And we even could get a lot of the others from 'outside' the Philly COL. WBUX Doylestown on 1570 was usually the bomb at sunset. WVCH 740 from Chester used to nibble away at Long Island's WGSM -- all day long!

Well, after that thread on R-D's New York City panel, I was just curious about how similar outlying stations to the Philadelphia market fared in the ratings. Many were daytime-only. But as was mentioned, back in the years 1963-1965, AM radio was *it*.

Others to come to mind now are WCHE 1520 West Chester, WTUX 1290 Wilmington, and maybe a long shot: WMID Atlantic City.
 
Another three that come to mind are:
1370 WPAZ Pottstown, PA
1510 WFAI Salem, NJ
1440. WMVB Millville, NJ
 
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