WABC ratings have not been good so was wondering if they should fill in a format not being offered in New York right now as Oldies on the weekends?
This topic was discussed, with several references to dentistry, in this forum several years ago. Is the situation at WABC more favorable to weekend oldies now than it was then?
Two questions: What's the station's current format? Is it low or full powered?
You probably should have found out the answer to your question before giving a suggestion.
WABC is a 50KW full power AM with a conservative talk format.
As discussed earlier, the station runs paid infomercials on the weekends. So unless someone comes along willing to pay them a few million to play oldies, it won't happen. It's not out of the question. Alan Freed did it in Cleveland in the 1950s.
But with labels not interested in paying for airplay for 50-plus-year-old songs, a modern day Freed would go broke quickly, not having that dependable source of under-the-table income to support him,
WABC ratings have not been good so was wondering if they should fill in a format not being offered in New York right now as Oldies on the weekends?
That's an idea, WABC can play oldies/deep cuts on the weekends, and rotate the usual stuff during the week.
Two questions: What's the station's current format? Is it low or full powered?
WABC ratings have not been good so was wondering if they should fill in a format not being offered in New York right now as Oldies on the weekends?
It's in a narrow race as the most famous Top 40 station of that entire era
WABC is one of the 25 original 1-A clear channel stations and in the 60's and 70's was the most listened to station in the country, showing up in ratings as far away as Pittsburgh and Portland, ME.
It's in a narrow race as the most famous Top 40 station of that entire era, and likely the winner due to good programming, long-term ratings and a huge, monster signal.
Who else is in that close race? ;-)
Who else is in that close race? ;-)
I would have to say WIBG (WIBBAGE) the 55-66 years, although they were 50kw-d, 10kw-n highly directional, it was said they had over 30 percent of the whole listening audience which is unheard of in this day and age. It was reported that stations, KHJ was one, all over the country would send their PDs to Philly just to listen and copy their whole presentation for their stations. That's how good they were, I can attest to that.
I would guess that its only real competition for out-of-market ratings was WLS, with maybe CKLW, WOWO, KAAY, and WCFL following closely. I don't include KHJ or others of lower than 50 kW, because they just didn't have the range.
But, sadly, those days of 50 kW rock blowtorches are gone. And they're not coming back. There are oldies shows on shortwave, via WTWW in Tennessee and WRMI in Miami, but they're only a few hours a day each.