From the MCRFB archive files:
THE TOP 35 HITS ON WXYZ ON THIS DATE IN 1966
WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey; Week no. 27 issued October 17, 1966 under Lee Alan, Program Director; WXYZ
(WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey for October 17, this date 1966; survey courtesy the Jim Heddle Collection. For the previous weekly WXYZ October 10, 1966 survey click here).
WXYZ-AM 1270 THE DETROIT SOUND SURVEY
MCRFB FLASHBACK RECORD 45RPM: NEW VOICE Records; 1966
“Devil With A Blue Dress / Good Golly Miss Molly,” Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
Release label: NEW VOICE Records; Peaked highest (date): November 26, 1966. Peaked: No. 4. Weeks on charts: 16. Ranked overall entire year: No. 52 (1966)
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1983
Consultant Joseph Working Top 40 Success Over 20 Years In Business (including Detroit’s WKNR 1963)
— First of two parts —
(see also: Mike Joseph; WJR-FM Seeks New Calls — WHYT-FM July 3, 1982)
M I K E J O S E P H sits in San Francisco putting the finishing touches on KITS. When the station hits the air this month, the Bay Area will become the fourth market in less than two years to experience Joseph’s new “Hot Hits” format.
“New?” chuckles Joseph. The basics for this concept goes back to 1956. This particular variation on a theme I’ve been evolving and perfecting over a 10-year period since 1972.” The name “Hot Hits” first emerged in 1979 on WFBL, Syracuse,” Joseph recalls, “and it was a co-name. The station was called ‘Fire 14’ and the slogan was ‘Hot Hits.’ The difference between 1956 and today is the fact that the music is 100% contemporary, as it was in 1956. The jocks are using the street language of today, as they did in 1956, and everything else that is on the radio station is ‘today.’ ‘Hot Hits’ does not look back to the past, but as far as the basics and philosophy is concerned, there is no difference between now and 1956.”
Defining that philosophy, Joseph, whose own taste runs the musical gamut but leans toward classical (“I probably have the largest privately owned collection of classical music in the country: 33,000 LP’s, every single classical record that has been manufactured since 1956”), says, “Hot Hits” is playing the most popular records, the most popular artists, the sounds that are contemporary, today’s music on a radio station. That’s the way its defined musically. As a format its a little more besides the music. It’s the energy, the excitement, the unpredictability, the charisma, the personality, the flow, the fun, the general good, exciting radio station that everybody stays glued to. You know there’s something new, different and exciting happening every single minute.”
That description fits the top 40 stations of the mid-’50s and the high energy FMs of the early ’70s. Joseph, like several other respected programmers, see this period as ripe for the re-emergence of energy, “because it has so many things going for it today that all the other competitive sounds do not have.
Most radio stations today are dull, boring, bland, and have a degree of sameness. Everyone has gone 25-to-54. Jocks are laid back, non-personalities. Jingles have been deleted. Contests and promotions have been underplayed. Irritations have been taken off the air, and sameness has been dictated.”
Joseph concedes that this is not entirely the case in San Francisco. Going up against KFRC will be a challenge, he says. ” It’s definitely one of the great radio stations in America, and I think that too might be one of the key reasons I decided on San Francisco. It’s always been a tremendous challenge for me to go up against a big one.”
In Joseph’s favor, KFRC is on the AM band, but KITS — at 105.3, with a single he considers “equal to any of the best in this market” — is an unknown entity, having been Spanish-formatted KBRG for several years. Joseph, however, s not one to overlook any detail. He hand-picked the San Francisco market “because in analyzing to top 10 markets and looking at the stations competitively, it seemed San Francisco was a prime target for ‘Hot Hits.’ It was the most desirable market with the best vulnerability.”
Unlike most consultants, Joseph handles only one station at a time, and his involvement with a station varies “depending on the market, the competition, the particular sound. I will spend between three and six months on the scene, although I have spent as long as a year at a AM-FM combination. Normally I will spend two to four weeks jelling and perfecting the sound, working with the jocks, the program director and the entire staff after the sound hits, and when I see and hear that there is no more that I can do, I take off within 24 to 48 hours. I’m then retained for a 52-week period after my leaving the station.”
With the announcement of its air staff, KITS debut is eminent and Joseph’s work is coming to a close. As with most of his stations, many of his jocks are now unknown entities, but Joseph is confident some will emerge as major personalities. “Personality is extremely important to the format. Going over the last 26 years, if you think about the stations I’ve programmed, all had a very strong format, but they developed some of the greatest radio personalities (including Dick Biondi, Bruce Bradley, Scott Muni, Dan Ingram, Bruce Morrow and Gary Stevens). The same thing is happening today. The same thing is happening today. There are important superstars coming out of ‘Hot Hits.’ Fortunately, I’ve always known how to find them. It is time consuming. You have to go through a lot of work to find out who they are and where they are. But they are there, and I’m still able to find them in the small and medium markets. to bring into the majors. They’re just as good as they were 25 years ago.
“I look for potential. Sometimes that personality has to be molded and developed over a long period of time. There is no such thing as an instant personality, but there are some basics that I look for in a personality. You look for the basic good, strong, projected voice that knows how to express, ad lib, communicate. You look for charisma, that spark, that brightness that gives you a lift. You look for a person who is concerned and has friendliness and love in his voice and in his personality. And you look for a someone who knows how to talk to a listener on a one-on-one basis.”
Joseph has been successful reorganizing these qualities for the better part of three decades. Like most legendary radio figures, his love for the business came early on. “My family was in the nightclub and tavern business, and I was a musician myself — a percussionist. In high school, I guess I was one of the first radio groupies. I was always hanging around the local stations and soaking up all I could.”
From his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, Joseph moved to Cleveland, where he studied pre-law at Western Reserve. “Halfway through college I knew it wasn’t going to be law, but I graduated with a pre-law degree in 1949. Actually, the great education I got turned out to be perfect for a radio career.”
That career started in 1950 in Cochocton, Ohio, where Joseph became program director of WTNS, “one of the most memorable excursions of my life, because that’s where I met my wife.” (Joseph’s wife Eva, had emigrated from East Berlin after World War II). A year later he found himself with Fetzer Broadcasting in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he spent four years as program director of WJEF, a CBS affiliate.
But by 1956, things have changed. “I saw what was happening with network radio. There was a tremendous upsurge in independent broadcasting, and it was the beginning of the Top 40 takeover.
“I felt about top 40 the same way I had felt four years earlier about CBS radio. I did see the writing on the wall, and I did get in on the ground floor at WTAC in Flint, Michigan, which was one of the first top 40 stations in America.
“I went in as program director in December, 1955 and took it top 40 in early 1956. It became one of the highest-rated, most fabled medium-market top 40 stations in America. And that turnaround was so successful that I was made national program director by this particular corporation, Founders, and they gave me their stations in Syracuse, New Orleans and Honolulu. So that was the beginning of my travel era, and I’ve been traveling ever since.”
After two years in that position, Joseph made a bold move. In January, 1958, he decided to go it alone. “That was the first consultancy. In fact, I was trying to figure out what to call myself, and I figured there were management consultants, engineering consultants, why can’t there be a program consultant? So I invented the term.”
Joseph’s first two clients were WMAX Grand Rapids and WROK Rockford, Illinois. “And then I affiliated myself with Avery-Knodel and worked out a deal to consult and program there represented stations,” among which was “the real stepping stone to the big time and a major consultancy for me, the legendary WKBW Buffalo. And that staff I still say is one of the greatest rock staff in the history of rock and roll, including the greatest rock jock ever, Dick Biondi.
“And that was was one of the original “Hot Hits” station. Contrary to what people think today, that the original tight playlist came along in ’65 or ’66, ‘KB’ had 20 records, but it was one of the biggest of that era and is still growing.
“WKBW and then WPRO started my association with Capitol Cities. WPRO Providence was another legendary with another legendary personality, Salty Brine, one of the greatest morning men ever. That was a top 30 station and an immediate turnaround as ‘KB’ was, so I would say that those two stations, more than any other, made me. They created the situation where the entry to WABC became relatively easy.” END
___
(Information and news source: Billboard; February 19, 1983)
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1983
Joseph Also Recalls Radio History In Detroit 20 Years Ago — WKNR ‘Keener 13’
Second of two articles profiling consultant Mike Joseph, the man behind the “Hot Hits” format.
NEW YORK — In March, 1960, WABC was not a factor in New York radio. “They had tried Top 40 two years earlier in 1958,” recalls Mike Joseph. Their night man was Alan Freed. But it didn’t take. It wasn’t believable against WINS, WMGM and WMCA, so they went middle of the road opposite WNEW. That didn’t work either, so they had gone right out of the book.
“I went in and started working with Hal Neal, who had just come in from WXYZ in Detroit. From March on, he and I used to spend our weekends together, coming up with our promotion, marketing and sales brochure, our format, techniques, contests, jingles, staff connections. When I finally got into the station, we put everything together and hit with that sound on December 7.”
The original WABC lineup included Herb Oscar Anderson from WMCA doing mornings, WAKR Akron’s Charlie Greer and WHK Cleveland’s Farrell Smith in mid-days, St. Louis legend Jack Carney in afternoons, Chuck Dunaway in early evenings, and Scott Muni doing nights.
“Six months later there were three very important changes. Sam Holman came in a mid-morning man he became the first program director — there had been no program director when I was on the scene. And in afternoon drive and early-evening, two legends. Dan Ingram and Cousin Brucie.”
Joseph’s WABC success led to his consulting the rest of the ABC chain, which became one of his greatest challenges. “It was extremely difficult for an ABC owned station to do top 40 at that time because of all the network commitments you had, bringing you one inconsistency right after the other, like ‘Don McNeil’s Breakfast Club’ for an hour every morning, or an hour’s news block at night between six and seven. It was really contrary to top 40. And the ABC-owned stations in San Francisco and Los Angeles not only had the ABC national network, they also had ABC West. The Western network was completely different from the rest of the country, and they had to carry them both.
So there was no way that either KGO of KABC could make it as a legit 100% music operation. They found this out both in top 40 and in middle of the road. And so the Ben Hoberman decision to go talk turned out to be extremely smart, and of course you see where KABC is today.”
From there, Joseph dealt with beautiful music in St. Louis, top 40 in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, and then he met the challenge at WLAV Grand Rapids, which led to his success at WKNR ‘Keener 13’ in Detroit.
“It was the worst signal in the market, literally, an AM at 1310 down the dial, station was situated in suburb, Dearborn, 12 miles from downtown Detroit,” Joseph recalls. “You couldn’t hear the station in downtown Detroit. There were three major rockers at that time, all owned by major corporations, and here was this little company owned by Mrs. Nellie Knorr, this little tin can going up against these three giants.”
Joseph describes his WKNR game plan in two words: “Hot Hits.” “Young, ambitious jocks, another legendary team. It was the freshness, the vibrancy, the promotion, 31 hits over and over again. Strong countdowns at the right times. That’s a very important part of this thing: where I place the countdowns. At that particular time I did a top 30 countdown opposite the breakfast club, I did countdowns whenever CKLW was in a long newscast, and at that time they had half-hour news blocks because of their Canadian commitments.
“Detroit was at that time into the same disease that is afflicting the broadcast industry today: a lot of laid-back radio. They were afraid to play black music, they were very cluttered, uncontrolled, everybody doing his own thing. One of the key things I emphasize in my formatics is discipline. That’s one of the reasons that this sound takes over. It’s extremely disciplined and structured, and with everybody doing what they’re suppose to do, when they’re suppose to do it, it works. And that was the case in Detroit. We we were all on target, everything was right, and the station was unbeatable for seven years.”
Beating the unbeatable is one of Joseph’s specialties. Case in point: WFIL Philadelphia, where Joseph put together another legendary staff which instantly succeeded. “Jim Hillard was my first program director and I believe we won because WIBG got trapped in their own ego. They used to tell me they couldn’t be beaten. Whenever that happens they turn out to be their own worst enemies.”
From there Joseph went to all-news in Denver, all-talk in Minneapolis and Spanish “Hot Hits” in Puerto Rico. “Musically, the elements are the same. Going back to the ingredients and success of ‘Hot Hits,’ the two things you must have are the constant beat and the melody.” Then came mellow rock in Sioux Falls, and, in 1972, “the beginning of the current phase of ‘Hot Hits’ on FM, which started with ‘Super Hits’ on the Malrite station in Milwaukee, WZUU.
“WZUU was really the station that broke the hold of WOKY and WRIT, and I feel the same things that are beating our competitors today are the things that beat those two stations back then. They were all deep in all the no-no’s at that time. George Wilson was program director and Jack McCoy was involved in Bartell radio, which was totally into gold research, and the young maverick, WZUU came along and knocked them off.”
“WZUU was strictly current, 29 currents. The only mistake was running with such a tight playlist and still dayparting with 30 records. My playlists are much more loose and bring in a lot more new material and turn over much faster than ten years ago.”
One element that has not changed is Joseph’s strong belief in dayparting. “It’s very important. And this is a knack that’s very difficult to master, because you got to know the audience flow and the comings and goings of every single person in that territory. You’ve got to know the start and end times of all the schools and the factories. You’ve got to know the lunch breaks, the traffic patterns, and the exact age of who is where at what time.
“The audience flow changes from hour to hour, market to market, and I’ve got not one clock for a station, I’ve got 24 clocks, and it takes me one week to figure out the clocks for a market. And every market is different, but they all add up and determine the energy of the sound, the music, what I play when, combined with the counter-programming I do from my monitor sheets, monitoring each major station for 20 hours a day.”
While Joseph admits “Hot Hits” is primarily targeting ages 12 to 24, he maintains it is truly a 12-plus format. ” ‘Hot Hits’ appeals to everybody. It’s the mix, and obviously the more mass appeal an artist is, the better I like it and the higher my ratings are going to be. Give me the Diana Rosses and the Kenny Rogerses and the Dionne Warwicks and I’ll put them on a fast rotation any time of the day or night. But I will not put a Joan Jett on a fast rotation because I know that she appeals to a narrow age group.”
Unlike most broadcasters today, Joseph is quite vocal about that narrow age group. “One of the worst things that has happened to the future of our industry is the withdrawal of ages 12 to 24 from the radio dial. Reps, agencies, owners, research people are dictating that the only buys out there are 25 to 54. They see 12 to 24 listeners in radio as absolutely useless. If the movie industry would say the same thing, there would be no movie business today.
“Take away the teenagers from television, what would happen to your all your nighttime sitcoms, your afternoon drive shows, your weekend programming? Let’s put up a rule in the baseball parks that nobody 12 to 24 is to see the Los Angeles Dodgers or the San Francisco Giants. Where would they be?
“How many millions are we throwing away because we’ve outlawed youth programming on radio? No other business would do this. And they are our future. You have got to constantly bring in the growth population.
“So what I do with ‘Hot Hits’ is to keep recycling the teenagers into those stations year after year, and at the same time, we keep the adults. It’s no different than it was 25 years ago. The audience will always be there. The only ‘Hot Hits’ type stations that has disappeared over the years gave their audience away. They threw off their teens, and as a result, they gave their future to someone else.” END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; February 26, 1983)
WJR-AM 760 DETROIT: “THE GREAT VOICE OF THE GREAT LAKES”
WJR-AM 760 DETROIT: “THE GREAT VOICE OF THE GREAT LAKES”
HELLO DETROIT! (It’s me!) An audio greeting from Jim Hampton! And you can listen anytime to Jim Hampton‘s sensational “Radio Recall,” a memorable 12-hour 2009 radio special archived here on Motor City Radio Flashbacks. Hey, check out the first three hours of my program. Here’s hour number one, hour number two and hour number three of the show. ‘Radio Recall.’ It’ll take you back to a time and place when radio was fun in the ’50s and ’60s here in the Motor City. Jim Hampton here. Love you always, DETROIT!
From the MCRFB archive files:
THE TOP 35 HITS ON WXYZ ON THIS DATE IN 1966
WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey; Week no. 26 issued October 10, 1966 under Lee Alan, Program Director; WXYZ
(WXYZ 1270 Detroit Sound Survey for October 10, this date 1966; survey courtesy the Jim Heddle Collection. For the previous weekly WXYZ October 3, 1966 survey click here).
From the MCRFB news archives: 1966
Billboard Hosts Music Programming Seminar; Reps from Six HOT 100 Formatted Stations Attend, Including WKNR’s Frank Maruca
R A D I O S T A T I O N S C A N N O L O N G E R switch to rock ‘n’ roll formats and automatically seize humongous audience ratings. But don’t get the idea that radio stations which depend on rock ‘n’ roll music formats are falling by the wayside. The truth is that most are doing better than ever. KYA. San Francisco, is a good example.
KYA president and general manager Clinton D. Churchill not only handle the executive chores of his station, but is deeply involved in the programming. He even picks all of the music on his station because he enjoys doing it. At this time, KYA has the highest audience rating and response it has ever had. But it doesn’t depend strictly on one factor.
“You can’t capture a large share of the market anymore by just offering 40 records and time and temperature,” Churchill said. “You must offer more — strong air personalities, audience participation features, news, contests. You must be involved in the community. One of the most successful thing we’ve ever done is organize a basketball team. All of the profits of these games goes to scholarship funds, charities.
“Through these services, we’ve been able to expand our audience . . . to offer more to a wider range of listeners.” Of course, the music that KYA plays have been changing too. And this has brought even larger audience ratings. “The quality of music being produced today has improved tremendously. An example is ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles. And, as a result of this improvement, the music — and thereby the station — has a much wider appeal to a large segment of the audience than, say, Little Richard did several years ago. It’s true that different fads sometimes take over . . . like the British invasion. But quality prevails in the long run and now only the best British product is making it.
“We’ve enjoyed a record business year and there’s always going to be a place for this kind of station. After all, we’re playing the popular records of the day. The big sellers. And these hit records are always going to attract a major share of the audience.”
WLS GO BY SALES
Gene Taylor, station manager of WLS, Chicago, also feels that Hot 100 format stations are doing better than ever and the trend is up. And the reason is that Hot 100 stations depend on record sales. “We play some records early, the one that are just starting, but later play depends on sales.” WLS is having a record first quarter in business.
As for the future, Taylor feels that audiences are becoming very selective in their listening tastes. “If they like rock ‘n’ roll, they listen to us. If they like another type of music such as R&B or country music, they listen to another station. It has almost become a segmented thing entirely. We’ve given some thought in the past regarding aiming our music toward the audience. I think many stations today modify their sound in the morning hours . . . make it softer. This seems to be a trend . . . a tendency to more softening the sound during the day. The object is to hold what audience the station has naturally and try to gain new listeners.”
As for the music itself, Taylor noticed a “leaning away from some of the English groups. Two years ago everything was British. British groups got automatic airplay. Now only the select ones sell only enough to warrant airplay.”
WMCA ROCK IS ART FORM
Herb Mendelsohn, general manager of WMCA, New York, feels it is misleading to put a label such as “rocker” on a station. “That’s only a part of what we do. If some stations are losing numbers in ratings, it may be because of their over-all format. WMCA is doing fine and I think our audience is increasing. I’m not sure I would or wouldn’t attribute our success solely to the music. We’re trying awfully hard to be successful, though, and music is one of the ingredients along with the ‘Good Guys,’ the editorials, the news, the features we present for our audience.
“Rock ‘n’ roll music,whether applied to a radio station or not, is an art form. It may be in vogue, or out of vogue, but it’s going to be here.
“I don’t apologize in the slightest for the music we play. After all, we play a lot of different kinds of music . . . the Supremes, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, the Beatles, Herman’s Hermits. How can you call all of these artists, rock ‘n’ roll artists?
“As a station, I think we’re pretty good. But I think we can be better. The thing about this business it’s so complicated. No labels imparts the raison d’etre of a radio station. How could it when you’re dealing with so many variables? I consider WMCA a modern radio music station and I think our success is in terms of the empathy we establish with our listeners.”
FORMATS GALORE WABC
Rick Sklar, program director at WABC, New York, offered the theory that all types of formats will continue a successful growth. His reason? The population is expanding at all age levels. And the result will be “room for all.” Hot 100 format stations such as WABC can’t help having a rosy future “because more than half the population is under 25 years old. Look at the recent switch to rock ‘n’ roll by stations such as WCEL, Chicago; WYSL, Buffalo, and KRFC, San Francisco — all major stations in major markets.
“I feel there’s going to be a profusion of of stations in all different kinds of formats. Very few radio stations will be in trouble.” He did think, however, that auto stereo cartridges would limit the growth of FM stereo stations.
No one big change in music was expected by Sklar. Though he’d notice a little less of British product. “Only five tunes at the moment are British songs. We used to have as many as 15. At times, British product was all over the playlist. But now you’ve got tunes like ‘California Dreamin’,’ ‘Ballad Of The Green Berets,’ ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’ ‘ — would you call these rock tunes? And ‘Batman,’ what do you call it?
“If you play what the public likes, it doesn’t matter what you call it. Hot 100 stations play whatever the public is buying. Therefore, I can only see a continuous growth for the teen-aimed type of programming.”
WKNR BIG SHARE
The reason is that 25-30 per cent of the daytime market is the potential share of a Hot 100 radio station. The potential market share of a Hot 100 radio station at night is between 35-40 per cent of the audience. People tune in specifically for that type of entertainment, Sklar said.
In spite of the growing popularity of the Easy Listening format around the country, program director Frank Maruca at WKNR, Detroit, felt Hot 100 formats were in no trouble. “Our station is far and away No. 1 here. It’s true that some good music stations are dominant in some markets in the mornings. But this is nothing new; it has been this way for some while.”
WKNR does not soften its morning sound. It maintains the same playlist 24 hours a day, said Maruca. “I do feel, however, that there is probably more of an overlap between rock ‘n’ roll and good music than there has been in many years. We’re playing good music records, but only because they’re selling. We haven’t changed our method of picking records though.”
“What is happening is that good music stations are getting smart to the fact that some of the old bandleaders are not as popular as they were 15 years ago. They’re playing contemporary music now, realizing that a lot of so-called ‘beat’ records are really good music.”
But, as an example of the popularity of Hot 100 formats, WKNR is sold out in most time periods through June (1967). “We’re very successful,” said Maruca. “We’ve now completed new studios and offices.”
Maruca has noticed lately that there is “a maturity to music we’ve not seen in years.” Evidence, as cultural tastes improve, the people are becoming more selective with their music.”
BUFFALO NEW HOT 100 HOTBED
John Barga is the new program director at WYSL, Buffalo, in its new Hot 100 format. The station switched formats because “there was a feeling we could be more successful in both audiences and billings with a Hot 100 format. If rock ‘n’ roll stations are in trouble anywhere in the nation, it’s because that particular market is overloaded with that format. Here, we felt the market could use another Hot 100 station.” WYSL switched to the new format February 27. END.
This article was presented in conjunction with the Billboard Music Programming Seminar held in Hartford, Conn., earlier in June. The seminar was prepared and moderated by Claude Hall, Radio-TV Editor for Billboard magazine. Participants included radio reps from major radio stations from around the country representing their respective station and format, including Hot 100; Easy Listening; Rhythm and Blues; Country, and Classical.
(Information and news source: Billboard; October 22, 1966).
