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From the MCRFB NEWS archives: 1967
FM Outlet Trending Rock Field in Motor City
DETROIT — WABX-FM, a stereo station owned by Century Broadcasting, has been slowly moving into a progressive rock format, says John Small, station general manager. The station has been programming Vanilla Fudge, Ravi Shankar, Cream, Tim Hardin, Jefferson Airplane and John Hammond, among others. This is good news to record men, who’ve long needed radio exposure for some of the groups who are scoring better in album sales than singles sales.
There seems to be a trend in shaping in the FM field for this type of station. WOR-FM has the college-age crowd sewn up in New York, but dropped the ball, and alert management at WNEW-FM picked it up and will be dipping more and more into the progressive rock bag. Already, Bill (Rosko) Mercer is playing progressive rock and blues on WNEW-FM 7 until midnights. In Los Angeles, KMPX-FM, guided under program director Tom Donahue, has been making an impact on album sales in the rock field. KPPC-FM is slated to go on the air soon with a progressive rock format in Los Angeles. Back in New York, there are also two additional radio shows that give exposure to good rock groups.
WBAI-FM, the non-commercial station in New York, beams a good broadcast after midnight hosted by Bob Fast;this show plays everything from gutty blues to progressive rock to folk (Arlo Guthrie got good exposure via tapes on this station before Reprise signed him). Also, Phil Morris is now hosting a show on a Newark, New Jersey radio station — WHBI-FM — in the wee hours of the morning that gives exposure to good rock groups like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Joan Baez and the Blues Project. His show is expanding to the time of 3-5 a.m. in January and Morris hopes to further expand it midnight-5 a.m. soon.
WABX-FM in Detroit started out a year and a half ago playing instrumentals and “Easy Listening” versions of rock hits. Then the station began programming a few of the smoother rock hits and eventually shifted into block programming devoted to folk and jazz. Folk and rock tunes then were integrated into the daytime programming. Small said the Animals and the Bee Gees, and the Beatles had made an impact on the daytime audiences. The station is now receiving 25-40 letters (from their listeners) a day.
“There’s a lot of meaningful music being produced today in the rock field . . . tunes that are absolutely beautiful. They’re timeless. These are the records I’m trying to sneak into our programming. I’m sure we’re going to be extending this type of thing.” Small said he waited to achieve a “happy medium without trying to sound too bluesy.” There is a possibility that the station may obtain a folk-rock act to emcee a radio show — the Misty Wizards of Reprise Records. The act, composed of Dick Keelan and Ted Lucas, were featured on live remote broadcast from the Detroit Auto Show this past weekend and will also have a two-hour show scheduled for next weekend. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; November 25, 1967)
Steve Dahl, after having left WABX-FM in Detroit for the Windy City in 1978, Dahl made a name for himself nationally while at WLUP in Chicago with his memorable (and most disastrous) “Disco Demolition Night” at Comiskey Park on July 12, 1979. For more on this story and Steve Dahl’s early-career in Detroit radio on WABX, go here. Steve Dahl WLUP promotion photo; 1979. (This image offered on eBay in 2012).
From the MCRFB news archives:
HOOPER RADIO RATINGS REPORT MARCH/APRIL 1970
DETROIT — The March/April Hooper has these total rated time figures: CKLW 19.4; WJR 12.2; WWJ 10.2. It’s to early to tell what WKNR will do, but in this rating WABX-FM has a 6 between 7-11 p.m. Sunday through Saturday, while WKNR had a 4.4. As for WCAR, which is the Ken Draper-consulted station, it’s still pretty far back, except for being second each Sunday during midday. WDEE is already fairly far ahead of WEXL, it’s new Detroit country competition. But the market seems to belong for the moment to Paul Drew, program director of CKLW, except when J.P. McCarthy is on the air mornings over at WJR. McCarthy has a 20.9 in the morning slot over CKLW, who holds a very close second during that same time-frame at 20.1. McCarthy is undoubtedly one of the best morning air personalities anywhere because there are few men indeed who could beat the Drake-consulted formula anywhere in the RKO radio chain. McCarthy, incidentally, is one of the speakers slated to make a presentation at the Billboard Radio Programming Forum to be held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel June 18 – 20 in New York. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; June 6, 1970).
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1971
J. P. McCARTHY NO. 1 IN MORNINGS; WDEE NO. 3 IN DETROIT: PULSE REPORT APRIL/JUNE 1971
DETROIT — Country music seems to be doing well in Detroit where WDEE is third in the market 6 A.M. through midnight in the April/June Pulse. CKLW and the Paul Drew pack is No. 1 with 19, WJR comes in with a 17 and nobody touches J. P. McCarthy in the mornings: this guy has a 21 from 6-10. Across the board, WDEE, programmed by John Mazur, has a 7, 8, 6, and 3 (through hours 6-10 A.M.) Breaking the other stations down CKLW has 17, 20, 21 and 14. WABX-FM has 2, 3, 4, 6. WKNR has 3, 3, 6, 5. WRIF-FM has 0, 1, 2, 3. WCHB was pulsed with 4, 4, 5, 10. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 18, 1971)
From the MCRFB news archives: 1974
Progressive FM Radio Reaping Millions from Recording Industry
LOS ANGELES — The record industry is spending untold millions of dollars in advertising records and recording artists on FM progressive radio and there is speculation there is even more being spent on in the AM Top 40 advertising market across the country.
One of the largest record retailing chain in California is spending $1.5 million alone in radio and television — with a large part of the tab more than likely is being shared by the record companies who are promoting more of their respective product.
The retail chain is spending that much in California and one station alone claims to be earning $140,000 of that. Tower Records, another West Coast chain, is also labeled a “big hitter” by FM progressive radio managers.
One major U.S. market radio station reports that seven record labels all have contracts each of $100,000 or more for the year.
In a general survey of FM progressive radio stations, the percent of total advertising at each station with a record company or concert promoter source range from a low 10 per cent to a high of 40 per cent. The percentage has been higher in years past. Now, with FM growing in popularity with other products, the percentage may be down, but the dollar amount is even higher.
In Detroit, one major major record company is doing $40,000 in advertising this year with WABX-FM, managed by John Detz. Only about 12 percent of his station’s business is record-oriented; “if you’re doing as much as 20 percent in a market like this, it’s because you haven’t developed other market resources.”
WABX-FM has diversified over the years; Ford is an advertiser, for example. “From the standpoint of dollars, however, record company and concert business is bigger than ever. I would have expected a cutback because of the vinyl shortage or general economic conditions, but record company dollars’ sales increase every year than the year before.”
Off the top of his head, Detz, a progressive radio veteran, feels that the top FM progressive stations so far as dollars are concerned — especially from record labels — are: WNEW-FM, New York; KMET-FM, Los Angeles; KSAN-FM, San Francisco; WABX-FM, Detroit; and WBCN-FM in Boston.
Which label is the biggest advertiser? Notes Detz: That’s hard to say. “Warner Bros. Records just had an unbelievable release… 15 big winners in it’s September release. And so they’ll be on with a lot of advertising right now. Columbia Records, on the other hand, didn’t do much in advertising because they were sort of dry.”
Though WABX-FM has diversified its sources of advertising revenues, Detz says: “We still consider record companies a very strong revenue source. Why? Because we talk to the people — our specific demographics — who buy most of the albums today.”
Record company advertising, of course, is not the total support or even half the support of an FM progressive station that could be surveyed. However, considering the gross of many stations cashing in, including WABX-FM in Detroit, the amount of money reasonably being spent by record labels is well into the millions and millions of dollars in promoting further their product. END.
(Information and news source: Billboard; October 12, 1974).
