A MCRFB news brief:
DRAKE FORMAT NEWLY REVIVED ON THE FM BAND
From the MCRFB Aircheck Library, featuring:
CKLW.FM.93.9.Looking.Back.With.Dave.Shafer.Roasting.Bryon.MacGregor.9.6.1986.mp3
DETROIT — A big chunk of radio history comes to life at CKLW-FM in Detroit (formerly CKEZ-FM), where the “Big Eight” format was reinstated last week, tentative May 11. Developed by Bill Drake (as in Drake-Chenault), the format ran on CKLW-AM when it ranked, along with WLS in Chicago and WABC in New York, as one of the three most-listened-to radio stations in North America.
That was back in the late 1960s, and CKLW-FM program director and morning man Dave Shafer says he is aiming at the 35-49 demo that grew up on the Motown-based format. It appears the return of the “Big Eight” may draw that demo’s children , too. “Already after just a week,” says Shafer, “we can tell that the younger demos are here.”
Few, if any, jock changes are expected, says Shafer, although he says he’s been chatting with a few of the original format jocks. The “Big Eight,” by the way, refers to CKLW’s AM dial position. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; May 24, 1986).
