Don't forget that RCA had a record label as well as the NBC radio group.
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Songs That Were Much More Popular On WLS And WCFL Than On The Billboard Hot 100
- Thread starter Schroedingers Cat
- Start date
But in an era when ethnic and racial minority groups lived in highly concentrated neighborhoods, that signal very efficiently delivered the target audience.
Yes and CBS owned Columbia. Both companies sold their record labels to foreign companies in 1988
All of the various ABC Record labels are now controlled by the French company Vivendi which owns Universal.
According to the map, at the second link, which shows the 2 mV/m inner contour for WRLL with 1 kW, would mean the 1 mV/m wouldn't get that far out of Chicago, with a 12.5 mV/m estimated NIF with all stations at 250 watts, and it had to be buried in cochannel interference. Which is why they moved to 1390 with 5 kW and about a 3.4 mV/m NIF contour (from WLCM application). Under older skywave interference RSS calculations, it would be closer to the standard Class III-A 2.5 mV/m RSS NIF. This could be calculated from this study, keeping in mind that the skywave model was also different. The WGES...WGRB Night Pattern also has a deep null and small minor lobes over much of the South Side you mentioned.
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Playing devil's advocate, I think there are a few songs that never peaked that high on the charts but the persisted for a long time at a "maintenance" level. Some of those became long lasting tunes from that era.
Brown Eyed Girl peaked at 10th. It became the oldies format's most played song by far.
And, of course, the were many cases of chart manipulation via things like "shipping on credit" of copies of 45's that could be returned for full credit, thus putting lots of copies into the channels... momentarily.
It was assisted culturally by being included in several seminal movies of the 80s and 90s such as The Big Chill. That can revive a song in the minds of people and improve its testing. Whereas this song by Dean Friedman has no such help.
A comment right out of the lyrics of "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" about "laying it between the lines", especially given the fact that the original lyrics to "Brown Eyed Girl" were what caused it to be banned and censored on many stations, suppressing its peak chart position down to #10, in the first place. And "The Big Chill" was also rife with plot innuendo on this topic.
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Absolutely a blatant song about sex, which is why so many young people liked it then, and continue to like it now.
Mom: "How did you get all these grass stains on your clothes?"
I always thought of it a "young love" song, not a sexual song. It's about innocence ("playin' a new game"), youth ("slipping and sliding all along the waterfall") and reflecting back from maturity ("so hard to find my way").
English speaking friends I have discussed the song with, both men and women, have the same interpretation. In many cases, it brings back "first love" experiences which may also explain the lasting appeal of it.
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I listened to WLS just about every night in the early 70's. I listened to WCFL when reception of it was present. During that time WLS played a limited amount of R+B music that was firmly established as crossover and acceptable to their broader audience.
Since our local AM station played pop hits regardless of skin color of the artist or audience, it was apparent WLS played a very short list of R+B songs that were really more like pop songs- like "Fire" by the Ohio Players.
btw- other than noting its presence at night, I rarely listened to WABC. Their programming did not connect with me like WLS, and I thought WLS had a better sounding adjustment on the plate reverb. As I recall WABC reverb was tuned to emphasize lower pitch, compared to WLS. I liked the EMT plate reverb best when it sung in higher registers.
Since our local AM station played pop hits regardless of skin color of the artist or audience, it was apparent WLS played a very short list of R+B songs that were really more like pop songs- like "Fire" by the Ohio Players.
btw- other than noting its presence at night, I rarely listened to WABC. Their programming did not connect with me like WLS, and I thought WLS had a better sounding adjustment on the plate reverb. As I recall WABC reverb was tuned to emphasize lower pitch, compared to WLS. I liked the EMT plate reverb best when it sung in higher registers.
The story of the sound of WLS vs. WCFL.
www.thebdr.net
The late Glen Clark discussed how in the Loop, WCFL had a HUGE signal advantage over WLS. And WCFL/WMVP greatest signal advantage over WLS is in the Northern parts of Chicago and Near Northern and Northwest suburbs. And given the demographics of these areas, it is one factor in the underperformance of WLS (AM) recently in the ratings. Many want to blame the politics of the programming, but let's not get into that, it's just complicated and divisive. The signal ratio near ORD is around 5 to 1, WMVP over WLS. And ironically, it was Glen Clark who designed and built the new WMVP facilities. WMVP is the ONLY station that places a 25 mV/m contour over all of Chicago Day and Night, due to it's Downer's Grove TL and DA maximum at 80 degrees True (essentially East). Due to WLS's signal dominance on the South side, it would seem that more R & B would have increased ratings back in the AM Rock era. WGRT...WNTD has a decent signal with 1 kW Day nondirectional. But before circa the early 1980s, WBEE, WLTH, and WGRT/WJPC were Daytime only, and like I said WVON 1450 had been 250 watts Night. 1510 being so close on the dial to 1450, I would think that the R & B audience would have tuned to WLAC at Night, like many more rural areas did in the South.
If you want to hear a song where the equalization and reverb sound like WABC, listen to "A Patch Of Blue" by The Four Seasons (#94 Hot 100 in 1970). It began, "Going To Tarrytown, everybody knows me there", but missed airplay on WABC entirely.
The Audio Prism Story
[June 2011] In the history of audio processing, the TEXAR Audio Prism holds its own place as one of the key tools in the arsenals of stations fighting to produce their “signature” sound and stand
www.thebdr.net
The late Glen Clark discussed how in the Loop, WCFL had a HUGE signal advantage over WLS. And WCFL/WMVP greatest signal advantage over WLS is in the Northern parts of Chicago and Near Northern and Northwest suburbs. And given the demographics of these areas, it is one factor in the underperformance of WLS (AM) recently in the ratings. Many want to blame the politics of the programming, but let's not get into that, it's just complicated and divisive. The signal ratio near ORD is around 5 to 1, WMVP over WLS. And ironically, it was Glen Clark who designed and built the new WMVP facilities. WMVP is the ONLY station that places a 25 mV/m contour over all of Chicago Day and Night, due to it's Downer's Grove TL and DA maximum at 80 degrees True (essentially East). Due to WLS's signal dominance on the South side, it would seem that more R & B would have increased ratings back in the AM Rock era. WGRT...WNTD has a decent signal with 1 kW Day nondirectional. But before circa the early 1980s, WBEE, WLTH, and WGRT/WJPC were Daytime only, and like I said WVON 1450 had been 250 watts Night. 1510 being so close on the dial to 1450, I would think that the R & B audience would have tuned to WLAC at Night, like many more rural areas did in the South.
If you want to hear a song where the equalization and reverb sound like WABC, listen to "A Patch Of Blue" by The Four Seasons (#94 Hot 100 in 1970). It began, "Going To Tarrytown, everybody knows me there", but missed airplay on WABC entirely.
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Because most of the WLS jocks (in the '70s) were considerably younger than the WABC mainstays, the Chicago station sounded a bit more "youthful." However, WLS had no one like Dan Ingram.
WLS is the strongest Chicago AM in the Lafayette, IN during the day.The story of the sound of WLS vs. WCFL.
The Audio Prism Story
[June 2011] In the history of audio processing, the TEXAR Audio Prism holds its own place as one of the key tools in the arsenals of stations fighting to produce their “signature” sound and stand
The late Glen Clark discussed how in the Loop, WCFL had a HUGE signal advantage over WLS. And WCFL/WMVP greatest signal advantage over WLS is in the Northern parts of Chicago and Near Northern and Northwest suburbs. And given the demographics of these areas, it is one factor in the underperformance of WLS (AM) recently in the ratings. Many want to blame the politics of the programming, but let's not get into that, it's just complicated and divisive. The signal ratio near ORD is around 5 to 1, WMVP over WLS. And ironically, it was Glen Clark who designed and built the new WMVP facilities. WMVP is the ONLY station that places a 25 mV/m contour over all of Chicago Day and Night, due to it's Downer's Grove TL and DA maximum at 80 degrees True (essentially East). Due to WLS's signal dominance on the South side, it would seem that more R & B would have increased ratings back in the AM Rock era. WGRT...WNTD has a decent signal with 1 kW Day nondirectional. But before circa the early 1980s, WBEE, WLTH, and WGRT/WJPC were Daytime only, and like I said WVON 1450 had been 250 watts Night. 1510 being so close on the dial to 1450, I would think that the R & B audience would have tuned to WLAC at Night, like many more rural areas did in the South.
If you want to hear a song where the equalization and reverb sound like WABC, listen to "A Patch Of Blue" by The Four Seasons (#94 Hot 100 in 1970). It began, "Going To Tarrytown, everybody knows me there", but missed airplay on WABC entirely.
True, but Larry Lujack was pretty darn good and there was nobody like him at the time. (late 60s and early 70s during his first run on WLS).
WLS certainly wasn't as strong in the Northern suburbs as the other Chicago 50KW, but strong enough to be heard pretty well on a portable transistor radio. WJJD was the strongest, almost in my backyard.The story of the sound of WLS vs. WCFL.
The Audio Prism Story
[June 2011] In the history of audio processing, the TEXAR Audio Prism holds its own place as one of the key tools in the arsenals of stations fighting to produce their “signature” sound and stand
The late Glen Clark discussed how in the Loop, WCFL had a HUGE signal advantage over WLS. And WCFL/WMVP greatest signal advantage over WLS is in the Northern parts of Chicago and Near Northern and Northwest suburbs. And given the demographics of these areas, it is one factor in the underperformance of WLS (AM) recently in the ratings. Many want to blame the politics of the programming, but let's not get into that, it's just complicated and divisive. The signal ratio near ORD is around 5 to 1, WMVP over WLS. And ironically, it was Glen Clark who designed and built the new WMVP facilities. WMVP is the ONLY station that places a 25 mV/m contour over all of Chicago Day and Night, due to it's Downer's Grove TL and DA maximum at 80 degrees True (essentially East). Due to WLS's signal dominance on the South side, it would seem that more R & B would have increased ratings back in the AM Rock era. WGRT...WNTD has a decent signal with 1 kW Day nondirectional. But before circa the early 1980s, WBEE, WLTH, and WGRT/WJPC were Daytime only, and like I said WVON 1450 had been 250 watts Night. 1510 being so close on the dial to 1450, I would think that the R & B audience would have tuned to WLAC at Night, like many more rural areas did in the South.
If you want to hear a song where the equalization and reverb sound like WABC, listen to "A Patch Of Blue" by The Four Seasons (#94 Hot 100 in 1970). It began, "Going To Tarrytown, everybody knows me there", but missed airplay on WABC entirely.
I remember my Uncle had a big boxy Zenith transistor radio from circa 1960. There was noticeable circuit noise on WLS, none on WCFL or the other 3 Class I-As or WJJD. It was about 3 miles from WJJD, 10 miles from WGN and WBBM, and 30 miles from WLS. WAIT and WMBI and even one or more of the 1240s were also stronger than WLS Days. I recall that WMAQ was less noisy with our Sony 6R-11 TRF portable in Genesee County than WLS was near ORD with that old Zenith.
Sony 6R-11.
3f15acd56cc30f0d001bb43a67df6b9e.jpg
sony_6r-11_sm.pdf_2.png
Sony 6R-11.
3f15acd56cc30f0d001bb43a67df6b9e.jpg
sony_6r-11_sm.pdf_2.png
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Yet in Omena, MI, day and night, WLS was the best signal of all. Highly reliable, even when there was summer static.
I should look and see if a large portion of the path is over Lake Michigan. That might explain it. I'd like to do a real world Field Intensity there with an FI meter.
The Night difference might be related to the electrical heights and the distances, hence the vertical radiation characteristic at the angle of departure for each. Rich could do this analysis with his software.
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