July 21 In Radio History

In 1969...Six hours after first landing on the moon, American astronaut, Neil Armstrong, stepped on the Moon at 2:56:15 AM and the world watched and listened, all made possible by the tranmission of radio waves.


In 1980...WMCA 570 AM, New York, hosted a reunion featuring Joe O'Brien, Harry Harrison, Dan Daniels, Jack Spector and B. Mitchel Reed.

In 1960, WMCA began promoting itself by stressing its on-air personalities, who were collectively known as the Good Guys. Led by program director Ruth Meyer, the first woman to hold the position in New York City radio,  this was the era of the high-profile Top 40 disc jockey with an exuberant personality aimed at a certain audience segment. With the advent of the Good Guys format, WMCA became more "on top" of new music and started to become known for "playing the hits."

In the early 1960s, the top 40 format was still young, and the field was crowded in New York City. Two major 50,000-watt stations, WMGM (now WEPN) and WINS, had battled each other, playing pop music for years. Then in 1960, WABC joined the fray and started featuring top 40 music. Ultimately, it was WMCA's earnest competition with rival WABC that forced WMGM (in early 1962) and then WINS (in spring 1965) to abandon the top-40 format. There was so much attention on the high-profile WMCA-WABC battle that WMGM and WINS were each summarily forced to find a new niche.


In 2011...WRXP 101.9 FM NYC changes call letters to WEMP



 In 2013…Cabaret singer Page Morton Black, who sang the Chock Full o' Nuts coffee jingle in radio and TV commercials during a two-decade run in the middle of the 20th century, died at age 97.