What Was THE POP Radio Station When You Were Young

Pop? Not sure. Maybe WCBS?

Our go-to rock station was WNEW.

r1

If you think it was WNEW than it WAS WNEW

In Pomona during the 70's, on the eastern edge of L.A., we had KKDJ which later became KIIS on the FM dial that played the top hits and KWOW played the oldies on AM radio. Good times with great music.

I'm from Rhode Island. It was PRO-FM.

WAPE, the big ape, in Jacksonville Florida. Their mascot was Bigfoot. Lots of Elton John and Linda Ronstadt.. Groovy.

WBBM FM in 1980s Chicago. B96.

WABC New York.

KISS 108 (WXKS) in Boston.

I listened to KROQ in LA. I guess KIIS was the pop station, but I wasn't into that.

B-94 in Pittsburgh

77 WABC in New York (AM)

In London it was Capital FM or Kiss FM. Radio One was avoided apart from its brief period in the 90s when it got all the headlines.

r3

Did they call it "The KISS"???

The AM station was WABC. What was the FM station that played the #1 hit every Thursday, was it? God, I can't remember as I was the year "Let It Be" was #1 for nine weeks. I can still remember the intro piano chords, but I can't remember the station name. Oh, this was Hicksville, NY, so we got all the NYC telly and radio stations. That's why I'm so stuck up. The best media in the world came out of New York City in the 1960s. That and I'm just an arrogant prick. But I embrace that. I don't care if you do, but it really would be easier in the long run for you. ;`]

In LA it was KRLA back in the old days.

102.7 KIIS FM.

WQAM 560 AM in Miami (1960s)

R14

You must've been a wreck when Dorothy Kilgallen died..

[quote]The AM station was WABC. What was the FM station that played the #1 hit every Thursday, was it? God, I can't remember as I was the year "Let It Be" was #1 for nine weeks. I can still remember the intro piano chords, but I can't remember the station name.

I don't remember #1 hits being played on any particular day, but the NYC FM stations I remember in 1970, when "Let It Be" was released, are WNEW and WPLJ (fka WABC-FM).

WRKO AM with Dale Dorman! Who could forget him if you grew up eastern MA in the 60s and 70s . That was the station almost everyone in my area listened to in those days. If a song was #1 they played once it every hour. I remember My Sweet Lord being played on that station for what seemed like an eternity.

In true St. Louis fashion, there was a white station and a black station.

For white kids, it was KXOK with Johnny Rabbit and Bruno J. Grunion.

For black kids, it was KXLW with Steve Byrd. His opening slogan was: "I'm Steve Byrd, the mighty burner of KXLW, and I'm here to burn, burn, burn and leave it SMOKIN HOT!!!"

In New York, early 60s - WMCA "The Good Guys". (even won a Good Guys sweatshirt for calling in and recognizing "Baby Love".)

Birmingham: WSGN 610 AM, WERC 960 AM, WKXX 106 FM

WMCA!

San Francisco: KYA and KFRC ('60s).

[quote]In New York, early 60s - WMCA "The Good Guys".

[quote]WMCA!

Where in NY did you guys live? I grew up in N. Jersey and the WMCA sound quality kept me from listening for more than a minute or two. It was like a whooshing, wind tunnel noise. So I only listened to 77 WABC, plus WINS-1010 a little at night for Murray the K. But ABC had the best sound. And Dan Ingram, Scott Muni, and Cousin Brucie.

[quote]San Francisco: KYA and KFRC ('60s).

And: KMEL, KEWB, KSAN, KFRC, KMPX

I listened to WMCA Good Guys, but my favorite was WABC in the 1960s. My location: Westchester Cty

WLIR - the best!

In NY it was WACB an with Cousin Brucie.

R30 - I presume you mean WABC.

Anyway, I couldn't stand Cousin Brucie.

I preferred the hilariously wise-ass Dan Ingram.

R2 there were two WNEW's. 1130 on AM with Adult Standards (Sinatra, Cole Porter) known as The American Song Book and 102.7 FM playing current hits.

I lived in PA Dutch Country, but my go-to station in the 70s was also WABC. There was also a "soul music" FM station out of Philly I listened to, but I can't remember the call letters. Maybe someone else does...?

R16 WMCA's transmitter in Kearny pumped out only 5,000 watts. WABC's 50,000 watts from Lodi covered several states.

In Los Angeles, the fifties we had KFWB, then there was KRLA moving us into the sixties with KHJ, featuring Robert W. Morgan and The Real Don Steel.

WIBG-AM in Philly where the star dj was a guy named Hy Lit.

R32-

IIRC, 102.7 FM was a rock station, not a pop station.

I think their slogan was "where rock lives."

They're the station that has as DJs Scott Muni, Alison Steele, Dave Herman, Pat St John, Dennis Elsas, Vin Scelsa & Carol Miller.

For four consecutive years (1963 through 1966) WMCA had the highest ratings share of all radio stations in New York City, according to Arbitron, in spite of its directional, 5,000-watt signal which could not cover the same geographic region as non-directional, 50,000-watt WABC.

However, WMCA's directional signal is aimed right into Manhattan from just over the river in New Jersey, and its low frequency (570 kHz) results in strong Midtown Manhattan coverage.

In addition to its ratings strength, between 1964 and 1968, Billboard magazine rated WMCA as New York's most influential station for new records. Although every market had one station with record-buying influence, WMCA was in the top market, making it responsible for some songs becoming hits nationwide

GULF 104 Tallahassee, also known as the ass-end of nowhere.

In Fort Wayne, it was the famous WOWO

In Detroit it was WHYT. If you liked soul/R&B It was WJLB. I listened to both.

Growing up in New Jersey we had Philadelphia to listen to also. So NY was WABC-am, WPLJ-fm, the stoner station WNEW-fm. Philadelphia had WFIL-am, and WMMR. I really was into oldies in the 70's do WCBS-fm was my go to. WMMR was like WNEW, during song breaks in the summer they had a wind chime in the background while the DJ spoke.

Moved to Phoenix for college, and one of the most amazing stations was KBBC.

In Providence RI it was WPRO-FM, the WPRO-AM was a talk radio trash bucket. WXKS and WBOS too.

r43

You chose to listen to Providence when Boston was like 30 miles away?

KFRC The BIG 610 KLIV 1590

[quote]during song breaks in the summer they had a wind chime in the background while the DJ spoke.

That may just be the most obnoxious thing I've ever heard of.

In Tulsa it was between 970 AM KAKC and 1430 AM KELI. KELI had the KELI Green Men. At night we could get WLS Chicago and WHB Kansas City. You could also get X-ROC Ciudad Juarez...they weren't under the FCC jurisdiction, so they had way more wattage than the U.S. radio stations. Transmitted in English-great songs. At night we could also get KXXX or K-Triple X, "the voice of the high plains in Colby, Kansas."

Growing up in central NJ, I listened to Z100 until middle school, then found 97.5 WPST, which I thought was "cooler." Right before I left for college, I found an indie station, I think it was 106.3?

Philly’s number one music station Hot Hits 98 WCAU-FM. They had amazing jingles and hyperactive DJs.

Radio was great when I was growing up - WDRE, Z100, Hot 97, KTU. You could hear a great variety of popular and indie music.

R44 - actually Boston is 45 miles away from Providence. I used to list to Kiss 108 all the time.

R49 these hyperactive DJs were probably all coked up!

In the 60's in Boston it was Juicy Brucie Bradley on WBZ and Arnie "Woo-Woo" Ginsburg on WMEX.

Then in the late 60's WBCN came along on the FM dial (playing rock, not pop) and the AM stations morphed into talk radio or all news

R53 Same here. For some strange reason I was thinking about The Cosmic Muffin yesterday.

Okay I'm old, but remember listening to Cousin Brucie out of NYC. Don't remember the station.

r55, it was 77 WABC.

WNEW-FM. I still remember the morning "Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue".

Yes, it was 'BZ in Boston until the mid 60s, then RKO came online in the late 60s, funny I don't remember any of their jocks. Maybe Dave Maynard? Shortly thereafter, BCN-FM was album rock and had Charles Laquidara. I thought it had was the Boston College radio station because of the call letters and all the progressive music which I associated with college radio stations.

[R14], that's hilarious. But I swear I never knew who she was until I heard Frank Sinatra say on the last night at Cal Neva, "If you see Dorothy Killaglen walking down the street, run her over." I think she was more of my parents' generation than mine. I was 10 years old when "Let It Be" was released.

When Joe Buck's radio on the bus (of course the signal was perfect) as it was entering Manhattan - Ron Lundy on WABC - told him it was New York City. Midnight Cowboy (1969). I saw the movie when it was re-released in 1972, this time with an R rating (it was originally X). 16 year old me loved that he listed to the same station I did.

KQEO channel 92! Albuquerque NM

I lived in PA, and after the radio stations went off the air (!), I'd get CKLW Detroit (it was years before I realized it was Windsor, across the lake from Detroit, with its bigger transmitters). I heard first airings of so much Motown in the 1960s with the transistor radio next to my ear.

In Pittsburgh it was 96KX for a while, then B-94 in the 80s. (For real oldsters there was one on AM radio but I don't remember what it was.)

Plus WYDD for the cool indie kids pre1986 and WXXP for the cool kids after.

R62 I lived near Lake Erie and was always amazed when I got Detroit or Canadian stations.

Yeah, I remember WRKO Boston with Dale Dormand in the 70s. I had Shaun Cassidy fever! Yikes...how the hell did I get so old??

No one, except the OP, is going to know to what I am referring, but here goes.

'74 - '77: WLS - AM 89 - John Records Landecker - Bob Sirott - Stayed up every NYE for The Big 89 Countdown

'77 - 80: WEFM 99 - They played a lot of disco music including all the 12" single versions. This was a confusing time for my music tastes as I was also listening to FM stations that played classic rock from the early 70s before I listened to the radio, so I acquired a taste for early 70s rock, as well.

'79 - early 90s: WLUP/WLS - FM/AM - Steve Dahl and Garry Meier

Kids today will never know the joys of hearing these "disc jockeys" talking and joking while introducing us to new music.

Here's a WLS weekly chart from September, 1976...

CKLW...the motor city.

WIXY 1260...eclipsed by WMMS

R62: You're the reason we always made fun of people from Pennsylvania. The C should have been your first tipoff.

CHUM FM!

In Buffalo it was WYSL & WKBW. CJRN was a good station out of Niagara Falls (?) Ontario.

In Southern California, we got The Mighty 690, (XETRA—yes, 5 letters) blasted at us with 100,000 watts of power from Tijuana, Mexico. After the sun went down, you could pick up The Mighty 690 from just about anywhere west of the Mississippi. Also from Tijuana was the equally powerful XERB, "The Mighty 1090," which, as I recall, is where Wolfman Jack got his start. As noted upthread, KRLA was also a major contender among SoCal pop AM stations.

FM had been around for a while, but consisted pretty much of classical music and intellectual talk programs. But in the late 1960s, FM started to hit its stride. Some of the better LA pop FM stations of that era were KMET, KLOS, and 93-KHJ..

R55 at one point 77 in New York called themselves " W - A - Beatle - C.

[quote] John Records Landecker

father of Amy Landecker, who played the oldest daughter on Transparent.

I remember WMMS from my summers in Ohio but they were always more rock than pop.

Later on, I listened to 92 something which was more the R&B station when I lived there (circa 1991ish)

Speaking of WABC, Dan Ingram (who I referred to in R31) was good at making snarky comments about some of the songs or artists he played when he didn't like that person.

For example Neil Sedaka was called "the late Neil Sedaka."

And Wayne Newton's "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast" used to be referred to as "Daddy Don't You Walk So Funny."

Radio Luxembourg

And "Frank Sinister," r74.

AFKN. It was THE station to listen to. Hell, it was the only station.

R74, well Dan never commented on Neil's gayety.

[66]. You forgot Larry “Superjock” Lujack.

R66 here -

I never liked Lujack. He was a tool.

He died a couple of years ago. All the others are still alive.

I forgot to mention my post (66) is referring to the Chicago market of the late 1970s.

Clear channel stations in the USA (till recently) had their own channel and could use up to 50,000 Watts

This explains WLS, WCFL, WOWO, WABC and a host of others. At night time those stations could cover half of the USA. (They usually could go from NYC to the Rocky Mountains but the signal was stopped by them.

The Mexican border blaster XERA could put out as much as 1,000,000 watts (The power changed up and down constantly and from the 1930s onward there were always disagreements between the USA and Mexico over this station)

CKLW out of Detroit. I lived in Ohio, but it was THE pop station, with a yuge radius.

I could have listened to CKLW in North Jersey, but it would have meant missing Scott Muni or Cousin Brucie. Wasn't going to miss Scotso or Cousin.

the djs were OK but they're mostly dumb asses now.